Business opportunity not being exploited?

[Saltwater Servitude]

I exist in the real world as a Realtor. Every day I get inundated with tons of flyers and mailers from mortgage companies, title companies, inspectors, home builders, home maintenance companies, fix-it guys, staging services, web service providers, etc. etc. etc.

You know what I haven't seen in 4 years?

Any photographer making us Realtors aware of how important a good portrait is to our business as it is the lasting impression seen on our cards, mailers, websites, etc.

Now why is this? In the San Antonio area, there are 7000+ Realtors. There are a ton of us that have 3+ year old portraits.

Someone out there has got to be able to make a buck off of us. Let us know how much that lasting impression means to our residual business. Let us know that we need mutliple portraits for our different mailers. Let us know that one portrait does not meet every use that we have for our face shots. Let us know that we need to keep our portraits current. Let us know that we need photos that don't look like they came out of a shopping mall kiosk.

Somebody, get out there and at least send us a flyer letting us know that you're out there for our business!

[Toad]

I've actually had this in mind. I just need more practice on the wife and friends before I start making promises I can't keep.
Toad

[Saltwater Servitude]

Originally Posted by Toad

I've actually had this in mind. I just need more practice on the wife and friends before I start making promises I can't keep.
Toad

Well, if anyone is interested, I can give you a few pointers into how to exploit us via a laundry list of avenues...

[daveb]

So what is the best way to exploit you guys ... without running around shooting houses for 10 bucks each ????

[carrbowl]

MMMMMM....I was thinking he was talking about different head shots? correct me if I'm wrong.

[*Mike*]

Originally Posted by daveb

So what is the best way to exploit you guys ... without running around shooting houses for 10 bucks each ????

Originally Posted by carrbowl

MMMMMM....I was thinking he was talking about different head shots? correct me if I'm wrong.

Yeah, but I think the idea is that realtors aren't known as big spenders when it comes to the photography arena...

I think quite a few actually are using the mall kiosk for their head shots... and then complaining that it cost $2.00.

[CobyPhoto]

Well, at least not in my area they aren't ... "using the mall kiosk for their head shots... and then complaining that it cost $2.00."

I regularly shoot realtors and sell them images for print and web use. I don't try to focus on this as a major money maker, but I am definitely not turning them away, as I have a special pricing structure for them and other business oriented headshots/photography for advertising. (It is aimed at small business.)

If you wanted to market to realtors in your area, you can get on the web and find a listing of them and send your material.

CJ

[Shimmers]

DH contacted our friend who was also our realtor about this 2yrs ago and I was told that they had *people* that did this already and what they needed were people to shoot (wide angle) homes that were going on the market... and yeah they wanted to pay like $10 an hour...

[brad]

I shoot corporate/Realtor headshots at the same rates I shoot actors... simple pricing, etc... and I have shot a few Realtors... would love insight on how to tap into more of them... but as others have pointed out, including the OP.. most don't really think they need to update their headshots.

[Saltwater Servitude]

Well, here's my thoughts on how to get us into your studio, or how to get your studio into our office.

1. Get us when we're captive in class...
In San Antonio, there is a new agent orientation class that we all have to take at SABOR, San Antonio Board of Realtors. Generally speaking, we have to take that class within 6 weeks of getting our license and joining the board. Mind you I speak from the residential side only.

At these orientation classes, we have "sponsors" who bring in tacos and such in the morning, and an afternooon snack. By signing up as a sponsor, you get 10 minutes or so of our undivided attention to speak and hand out related cards, and what have you.

In addition to those orientation classes, you should also look at already licensed Realtors (its pronounced real-tor, not real-a-tor, btw) classes at the different licensing schools. These classes are usually designation classes such as GRI, CRS, ABR, ALHS, etc, etc. These classes at SABOR are also sponsored, and have already supposedly successful Realtors attending, some of which have been in the business for years and years.

Call us the various schools, San Antonio has 3 major to my knowledge, and let them know you want to sponsor a class or classes. To get your GRI for example, you have to take 3 classes of 4 days each spread throughout the year. So just at the board of Realtors school, you have 12 class days each with two sponsorship opportunities. Its not always the same group of Realtors either, only about 20% seem to overlap into each class...

Just FYI, there are often times overlapping Boards of Realtors in any given area. Seguin and New Braunfels have one, but you'll see properties there also listed with the San Antonio Board.

2. Get us when we're in our sales meetings.

Individual offices vary greatly, and I can only speak for two that I'm familiar with.

Some office's monthly sales meetings are NOT mandatory. Some office's are. These too can be sponsored for a set of fruit trays from Jason's Deli. Flip open your local Yellow pages, and go to town. Office sizes vary wildly so keep that in mind when you call an office. If nothing else, ask for the office manager on the phone. Lunch will ingratiate you to his or her favor.

Some offices will have a conference room or other area you may be able to set up a studio in. Go take a look at it beforehand, and make sure it fits what you want to do.

3. Get us in the mail box, but not the USPS mail box.

Every office I've ever been in has a mail center that we receive drop off items from other Realtors regarding contracts and such. Usually the secretary at front gets whatever and then deposits said items correctly so that the office protocol is strictly followed and issues sensitive to time are addressed correctly.

Call up the office, talk to the head, and let them know you have some marketing materials you'd like to distribute and ask how many agents they have. Print yourself up some flyers and drop them off. Some offices will just ask you to go put them in the boxes yourself, so if you're pressed for time Murphy's Law says they will.

Note that we get tons, literally tons of mailers in every day. In my office there's a nice big round file with the words "recyclables" stenciled on the side. It sees those mailers every day as well.

Make yours stand out! You've got 10-15 seconds tops before I drop yours in with the rest of the black copy on colored paper mailers from the 1000 home builders in our area.

Go with color. Slick paper is nice, but not necessary. Be sure to include a business card at the very least.

4. Get us in our publications.

I'm not sure about how well this will work. What I do know is that some schools do not allow solicitations. What they do allow, and encourage, are the homes for sale magazines.

What do students do on their breaks? Read those magazines cover to cover to see all the pretty houses they will be selling soon.

Get a real hook in them at the outset. Make it known in your advertisements that they need a photo BEFORE they even take their test so they will be ready to go and make money from Day 1. I cannot stress this enough. The Texas test isn't "easy" by most standards. It can be as tough as any college final I have ever taken and it can be just the opposite as well. Regardless, not everyone passes their test. Get the photos up front before we've ever had a chance to fail the test because it only gets more expensive as we go along.

5. Think of the associated businesses...

Realtors are not alone in the homes for sale business. We have folks that cater to us as well. Mortgage companies, title companies, and others all need to have their faces in front of us Realtors to get our business.

Selling your home? Buying a brand new home? There you go, another person who needs their photo. The sales reps at new home construction sites all need their photos taken. Many, many of them come and go to new locations all the time so their cards are frequently updated. They also move companies for different reasons. Some are hired straight out of college as well, or it seems like it so damn many times.

You want a list of new home builders? I've got San Antonio covered on my website.

http://www.goseejeff.com

Click on the New Home Builders button and it will take you to a list of links to new home builders in our area, and many of them are nationally based so it works as well for other cities.

Also Google "New Home Guide". That should give you a round about list of new home builders in different price ranges....

6. Overcome Marketing Classes...

At SABOR, there is a wonderful instructor who teaches a marketing class. Its pretty helpful. Its by the book according to the Texas Real Estate Commission.

The only problem is the lady knows nothing about photography. Well, she knows little if anything about the impact of portriature, poses, and how a message is conveyed versus that same pose in real life.

She specifically mentioned one day in that class that all of us should have a photo showing us being "open" or showing an invitation to talk or come towards us. The photo she used as an example, well, it was a glamour pose you see for female models. Arms spread, legs spread, sitting down.

I laughed, she was not amused. I explained to her the differences in poses versus body language in person. She didn't get it. Just something you might run into....

That's six areas covered. If I think of anything else I'll add it here over the next few days.

BTW, many offices shoot their own home interiors and exteriors.

Some idiot Realtors use their friggin cell phones to shoot interiors of $500K+ homes. I got into a little arguement, in front of about 160 of my cohorts, with a Realtor who was hawking her husband's line of cell phones with cameras built in during a break one day in a GRI class.

And YES, I know I need a new headshot on my website. Its 3+ years old....

[Saltwater Servitude]

A few more items....

Realtors do something called "drip" campaigns or drip marketing campaigns. These can be either email or snail mailed. A drip is a series of mailers of different sorts that go out to the areas we are marketing in. Get it into our heads that a different headshot, or seasonal head shot make a better impression on our potential clients. Let us know that the same picture over and over and over shows a lack of connection to our potential clients.

Styles change. Seasons change. We need to know that our photographs in front of our past and future clients need to reflect change as well.

Moreover, let us know you can make us look younger or older if need be. I've PS'd my photo on my cards to give me a bit more age. Some Realtors may be willing to get new photos if you can keep them looking as young as their old photos.

Let us know that you are specifically targetting us as clients. We need to know that you're taking photos that will lend themselves to our marketing.

Edit....

This is like the fourth edit on theses two last posts....

To get an idea of what types of head shots we are using, just run a search for a major metro area, say San Antonio Real Estate.

Find an office website. Cruise over to their "find an agent" or "meet our agents" button. In a big office, you'll run across a few hundred different photos. Look at what is being utilized and see where/how you can emulate or improve on those different shots. I see generally about 4-6 different poses that are pretty common.

Here's my companies site so you can see what we're doing. Also note that even though I'm in that office, we still have agents using horrid photos of themselves, but I really haven't worked that either.

http://realtyexecsa.com/agents.htm

[carrbowl]

I was thinking of Brad's before and after head shot he posted of a lady. The differences were outstanding. I was thinking that would be a good "picuture" to advertise how much of a difference you photo can make..

[kenw]

Real story:

Son worked as a layout artist for a local paper. RE folks would bring 4x6 prints or even polaroids of a house for the usual newspaper ad. always crooked, with the actual house comprising maybe 5% of the print. Like they were taken from MARS.....

He worked his butt off to get the scanned results to be decent. Photoshop can only do so much, folks....He asked a few if they ever thought of using a digital camera, and they said, "Wow, that's a great idea!" Pleased with his suggestion, several agents bought small p&s digitals, more than capable of the task at hand.

So what does he get on the next request?

8.5x11 copy-paper prints of the digital image.......still crooked, still taken from Mars, and probably taken at the lowest possible resolution since the prints are so pixelated that even shrinking them to a 2x2 size won't help.......

yes, there should be a market for a decent RE photgrapher out there, even if just for headshots.

[Tom]

its pronounced real-tor, not real-a-tor, btw)

I'm the customer, it is pronounced real-a-tor. :)

[Gambit]

Originally Posted by Thomas

I'm the customer, it is pronounced real-a-tor. :)

Ah, and do you also wear jool-ery? Do you make fun of people that say nuke-ya-ler?

Originally Posted by Brad

and I have shot a few Realtors

Thought it was supposed to be lawyers?


Sorry, guys, I guess I'm in a mood tonight. Maybe it's that vacation thing.