By Eric Berman, MAR Director of Communications
 
As a REALTOR® you understand how valuable you are to your clients, but have you taken a moment to understand how valuable your REALTOR® Association is to you? You’ve been working harder than ever in this market to keep deals together, service your clients, and keep your business running successfully, so there’s a good chance that you have been too busy to realize what an asset your REALTOR® membership is. To help you better understand and capitalize on the benefits of the REALTOR® Association, MAR has launched a Member Value Initiative.

The Member Value Initiative Launch
This initiative was a direct result of the work of the Member Outreach Presidential Advisory Group (PAG), which was put together under 2009 MAR President Gary Rogers. The PAG, comprised of a cross-section of volunteer members, took stock of the range of member benefi ts and services available and developed a fun and memorable way to better communicate them to the membership.

The PAG determined that the benefits REALTORS® utilize from their membership are different depending on where they are in their career and what their job function is. For example, a newer agent is going to need different resources than a member who is a broker-owner and has been in the business for 20 years. The same could be said for a midcareer broker associate.

Therefore, to help convey those differences and to reach every member by highlighting benefi ts and services based on their member type, the PAG has created three branded Member Value Professionals, or MVPs.

Member Value Professionals
Please welcome to the REALTOR® family “Roger REALTOR®,” a newer agent who’s been in the business for less than three years and is focused on building a career; “Roxie REALTOR®,” an experienced agent/broker who is focused on making her business successful and is involved in both the MAR and her local REALTOR® Association; and “Barry Broker,” a broker-owner/office manager who has been in business for many years, is involved in MAR, NAR, and his local association, and is focused on using resources to improve office management and train and motivate his staff.

As the program continues to roll out, you will see Roger, Roxie, and Barry on marealtor.com and in electronic communications live, relaying their message through animation. You’ll also see them in printed communications as they highlight the member benefi ts and services easily broken down into appropriate member types. As you become more familiar with the characters, you will be able to quickly identify the benefi ts and services most appropriate for you and your professional needs.

The intent of this initiative is to help members recognize that membership dues at all three levels of the organization are used for programs, services, benefi ts, and tools that are funneled right back to the membership to help you be more successful in your business, and also to provide incentives that you can use personally. If you were to take advantage of at least one of the many REALTOR® Association member services or benefi ts each month, you would be able to save more than enough money to pay for your Realtor® dues for a whole year.

Roger, Roxie, and Barry can illustrate just a few of the benefi ts and services that would be the most useful to each of them and how they saved real dollars in the process. For more membership saving incentives, visit the Benefits and Member Discounts click here.