There's a line about life being too important to take seriously, or something in that vein at least, and it's an interesting thought to apply to work. Working in real estate, we're dealing with what is an incredibly important decision for many people. With this in mind, of course you need to approach your employment in the real estate industry with professionalism, but I've learned that sometimes you don't have to be so serious to be taken seriously.
Having a sense of humour is an incredibly important part of personal interactions and most people respond well to someone who can make them laugh, or who is at least capable of eliciting a smile. The corporate world is renowned for training employees to behaving in a certain way, and some employee manuals I've seen even outline how to behave down to what I consider to be fairly ridiculous levels. So when you start your own business, like our Century 21 franchises have, it can take a little while to work out your own style of doing things. But realizing you can be yourself – and not so serious – means you'll end up doing business with likeminded people who want to work with you because of you, and the great things you can offer. Of course you still need to run a successful business, and if your personal brand of humour is based around prejudices and sarcasm for example, chances are people may not warm to that, and you should probably stick with being serious.
Even if you join an international network like Century 21, you are still your own brand within that, and your potential customers will either connect with you, or they won't. A big internationally recognised brand may get your phone to ring, or the people to your door, but it's your responsibility to keep them there and close the deal. Humour can be a big part of this – at the end of the day yes, your customers want professional service and a real estate expert, but they also want to deal with a real person. And nothing makes people warm to you faster than the ability to make them smile. Or selling their home in 24 hours, of course.