One Key Ingredient to Successful Realtors ®
Do you ever wonder why some Realtors ® in their office get more listings than others? Where thought goes energy goes, true, but it is also what they do differently that contributes to their success.
Use a Professional Photographer
What attracts brokers and the general public to highly successful boutique brokerages like Investor Jackson & Sotheby’s International is the quality of their marketing! The photographs. Humans are visual creatures. We like shiny pretty things. To help establish value in the service you provide you start with providing the consumer something they can’t accomplish or do on their own.
I have had some Realtors ® say, “I don’t need to take professional photo’s to sell a house”, “I just use my phone to take pictures”. WOW! Additionally, I hear comments like “only a large listing deserves professional photos”. I then ask why they feel that way and they often reply; “because, well the client expects it.” The truth is all clients deserve it if you consider yourself a professional when it comes to marketing property and expect to collect a fee for doing so. After all isn’t that what Realtors ® are known for… the ability to successfully market and sell real estate!
All Realtors ® utilize the same tools but what separates one from the other is how each individual uses those tools. One such comparison is if they are always there to pick up the phone when the client calls or if their call always gets sent to voice mail. It’s called service!
It’s a Process
Counting the ways Realtors ® have to market property can be summarized in this way. They put up a sign, the put it in the MLS, the help a client establish a price of what they think it will sell based on circumstances and market conditions at the time and they pray that it sells! I call that the 4 P’s. What attracts buyers to their listings and prospective clients to them as Realtors is the perception that the Realtor ® brings value to the table. One such way is done through pictures.
If people see value in what you’re asking them to pay, they will pay it. This, by the way, can be accomplished for a home in Charlotte, North Carolina under 2500 sq./ft. for as little as $180 for professional photos, a nominal expense considering what a client pays for real estate services. An enormous value considering the effects it has on the success of a Realtors business overall.
Homes marketed with professional photos sell faster and for more money. That’s a statistical fact. Ask the National Realtor Association ® “Your job as a broker is to sell dreams, my job, as a photographer is to capture it”.
The truth is you charge the percentage to the guy who owns the “lessor valued property” the same as you would the “greater valued property”, so why not deliver the same level of service?
After all, the hope is you will build your practice with repeat clients and if you do a great job you will be rewarded by your clients and receive referrals, so why not give the guy who owns the smaller property the same level of service? They are more likely to call you next time as their family grows and/or their needs change.
The Problem Today
What are some of the biggest problems with that vast majority of photographs being used to market property is listed below!
The use of the wrong camera equipment or inexperienced operator.
They are shot at the wrong height.
They are over processed to the point the images look more like drawings.
The photo is so over-processed; the views through windows appearing in the picture are blow out.
Lack of staging, little things make a big difference.
In addition, the images are taken at the wrong time of day or the weather is too cloudy and does not invoke positive emotions.
Unattended Consequences
So what is the big deal? The consumer places the desired set of features, location, and price on the Internet and they receive 1000’s of search results. You have 15 seconds or less to capture their attention enough for them to move their mouse and click for more information. At that point, they continue to evaluate what they see for the sole purpose of determining if your listing makes the list and worthy of an on-site visit!
With mediocre images at best the property lingers on the market. The seller ends up reducing the price greater than the cost you would spend on professional photos and you either lose the opportunity to make money or it’s much less than once expected for both you and the client.
About the Author
Jeff McClintock is an award-winning Real Estate Architectural, Travel and Landscape photographer. He accepts assignments locally and internationally in the United States, Canada, and Western Europe. Jeff McClintock’s images first started appearing in magazines and publications back in 1988.
Based out of Charlotte, North Carolina Jeff focuses his day-to-day energy providing high-quality real estate images. His services for residential photography extend throughout the United States and Canada. Jeff routinely travels back & forth between Colorado and North Carolina providing high quality still image photos to Realtors, custom builders, architects, hotels, resorts, interior designers and home staging experts.
To view samples of his work visit https://jmcclintockphotography.com