Brand Yourself

Why not to use your broker’s free email account

I had a conversation with a potential recruit last week and one of his objections to moving offices, which admittedly was a better fit for him, was that all his business emails went to his broker- provided email address. I can totally relate to that and told him I completely understood that, and that although he could go through the steps to move most of the business logins to a new account, I suggested he move them to his own email address.

However, I asked the agent his domain name and he told me it was his name. I said why aren’t you using the free email address that comes with most hosting accounts? There are so many advantages to using your own hosted email account. Not g-mail or yahoo; your website and email address should match.

Example as to why…if I send an email with my [email protected] or [email protected], the receiver can use that to check out my site. If you send an email with @yourbrokername.com, then the lead goes to your broker’s site and into your brokerage pocket or the lead can get passed at the discretion of the broker, so you actually are losing business by using the broker’s email address. So are you branding yourself or your broker?

Secondly, what happens to all your emails in your company address inbox if you did decide to change offices? How about if an old client, whose own email address has changed, decides to email you at your last known address, guess who gets that lead?

I recommend keeping yourself in control of your own marketing, and never leaving your most precious form of communication in the hands of your company or broker. Brand Yourself!