Real estate photography possible in this economy? -- Please review my sales plan

[dude wheres my canon]

I easily get over my head on ideas --looking for advise from the pros before diving into this. I'm located in South Florida--metropolitan area.

My marketing basics
40-60 calls daily to schedule sales meetings.
Strive for 6-8 sales meeting 5 days/week.
Visit all open-houses time allows (striving for 4-6 on Saturdays and Sundays). *Question* Is it advisable to call the broker/realtor hosting the open house in advance, or just show up with camera and portfolio in hand. Theory with latter is my portfolio compensating for my weak sales pitch on the phone.)
Heavy online marketing, website, blogging, RE forums, CL, facebook, myspace, large email campaign.
Direct mail to all RE offices once a month.
24 hour turnaround time of photos.
Heavy followup. Bake the RE office a cake, mail thank-you letters, ect.
Pricing will be very competitive-to-lower than competitors.Are realtors paying pro photogs these days?
How's my sales/promotion plan?


Thanks

[Scott McLoud]

I'd advise against going in direct with camera as this will show you are desperate for a sale and they can exploit this.

PRACTICE your phone skills, and give the real estate agents a call, ask to talk to the manager or somebody incharge and get a meeting setup. Take along your portfolio and show the work you can do and explain why hiring you would make the sales go better than of their current images.

[Tigershark]

Get to know the owners and business managers of the Real Estate agencies, once they see your work you won't need to make many calls they will call you when they need something. I have never approached been to an open house but I have been to the Main offices and sat down and discussed ideas with the Managers and that is where I get my business from

[Pinto]

Join local Chamber of Commence and local business organizations. Find out what organizations your local Realtors belong to and call to see if you can get invited to a meet-and-greet at the meetings. That's much more effective than cold calls.

[hypertech]

In our area the vast majority of this work is taken up by big virtual tour companies which made it easier just to work for them.

The pay isn't real high, but I don't have to do any post processing and I do very little in terms of sales work. I get an email to do a job, go out and shoot it, upload the photos and get paid.

[dude wheres my canon]

Thanks for all advise.

Thank you Pinto, I completely forgot the importance of networking events and organizations. Attending those armed with a solid, confident 'elevator pitch' and business cards--I think is most effective.

[thumper 8]

Are realtors paying pro photogs these days?



As a realtor with 25+ yrs experience (and over 35 years looking through a viewfinder), I would say that some do, but not many agents will pay a pro photog - unless they are doing real top end, multi-million dollar properties. The photogs that get the business are often affiliated with a "group set-up"... by that I mean a company that will take photos, measure the house and produce a floorplan for marketing, and probably upload them all to the realtor's website if needed, and maybe do the layout for a sales brochure with the pictures and floorplan set out for proofing. The total cost locally for this package can be as little as $195.00 - for everything!

I thought about doing it, but there is very little money in it. And top earning realtors can be a PITA to deal with and be very, very demanding... I have turned down many of my colleagues and competitors because it is not worth the aggrevation dealing with them. I have taken some shots for some of my favorite local agents, but I don't promote my services.

Also, many real estate websites will automatically downsize uploaded photos to a minimal size (as low as 640 x 480) to keep the servers humming, so when I take photos for my sites, I often use my $99 Olympus P & S, and leave the glass at home. However, if there is a brochure to be printed, then obviously you need the quality shots.

Good luck, but even in a hopping, overheated market, this seemed like a tough business proposition. In today's slower market, I am not sure how many agents will spend the $$$ for quality shots.

(I hope I sound realistic, and don't come across as overly negative :) )

[Pinto]

As a realtor with 25+ yrs experience (and over 35 years looking through a viewfinder), I would say that some do, but not many agents will pay a pro photog - unless they are doing real top end, multi-million dollar properties. The photogs that get the business are often affiliated with a "group set-up"... by that I mean a company that will take photos, measure the house and produce a floorplan for marketing, and probably upload them all to the realtor's website if needed, and maybe do the layout for a sales brochure with the pictures and floorplan set out for proofing. The total cost locally for this package can be as little as $195.00 - for everything!

I thought about doing it, but there is very little money in it. And top earning realtors can be a PITA to deal with and be very, very demanding... I have turned down many of my colleagues and competitors because it is not worth the aggrevation dealing with them. I have taken some shots for some of my favorite local agents, but I don't promote my services.

Also, many real estate websites will automatically downsize uploaded photos to a minimal size (as low as 640 x 480) to keep the servers humming, so when I take photos for my sites, I often use my $99 Olympus P & S, and leave the glass at home. However, if there is a brochure to be printed, then obviously you need the quality shots.

Good luck, but even in a hopping, overheated market, this seemed like a tough business proposition. In today's slower market, I am not sure how many agents will spend the $$$ for quality shots.

(I hope I sound realistic, and don't come across as overly negative :) )

I've heard this appraisal of the photo/real estate market many times. As for your concern about coming across overly negative, it's a thousand times better to approach a potential business with a realistic analysis rather than an unrealistic optimism. That generally leads to only frustration and disappointment.

[mattograph]

I am doing some research on this idea as well.

What I have found is, like many business propositions out there today, if the barrier to entry is low, differentiation becomes more important.

Realtors, I have found, are frugal. Many are cheap. This isn't a personality defect; rather, its a function of their "feast or famine" lifestyle. Since they work on commission, they eat only when they sell.

In addition, most of their clients do not fully appreciate what they do, and try to chisel them out of every dime they can.

In a normal market, listings are hard to come by. In this market, good listings are the only way you will survive. No one eats on a house that takes 18 months to sell, including the photographer.

What I have been bouncing around in my head is aligning myself with the best "self promotors" -- those realtors in the area that bust their butts to get the word out about themselves. These are the people that can appreciate a total marketing effort.

My approach to them will be fairly simple. To get the good listings, they need to impress their potential customer on as many fronts as they can. When they lay their "service portfolio" on the table for their customers, the idea bringing in a pro shooter is a bonus to the seller.

In this model, they might even be able to build in some front loaded fees -- certainly, my services can help them defend their commission.

In this way, I am not making pictures, but giving my realtor partner another benefit to offer their customers.

No one does this in Louisville -- I am sure that they do in Miami.

So, I would suggest, focus on finding the right partners. Target the top 100 guys in town, and build a plan to help them. Also, these will be the guys who will be most likely to PAY you! Many folks are realtors today, and insurance agents tomorrow.

I also recommend the book "Winning through Intimidation". A great read for this type of thing.

[Karizmatik]

Certain Real Estates where I live do a percentage deal -- So, you take the shots, give them to the real estate, etc, etc... Then once the house is sold, you get 0.1% or something of the entire price - Which sounds good - If it's a $300,000 house, you get $300. Not too bad for a couple of quick shots, huh?

But you have to take into consideration the amount of time a house will sit on the market, that after a certain time period they may hire someone else to re-take the photos and scrap yours because yours aren't selling the house.. Etc etc.

But I would definitely bring up this course of action in a meeting where the Real Estate that may be hesitant on the idea of using a pro' photog -- Make the sales pitch like this -- "If the house doesn't sell from my photos, then I wont charge you a cent!" -- But on the flip side of course offer the 0.1% or whatever you consider fair as the base price. Of course if it sells for more, then ducky!