It was a scorcher outside. The summer virtual tour business was at its height and I was nearly at my wits end dealing with so many aspects of running the company being a “One Man Show”. I knew that I would be hiring someone very soon as I go the company ready to shift gears and turn that corner that every burgeoning business must take. As I was writing up my ad for the local newspaper in search of my employee the phone rang. It was a real estate agent that had never used me before and got my name from the local MLS that I had just partnered up with.

She hurried me through the entire conversation and insisted that I meet her out at a listing today to shoot a virtual tour. When I finally agreed to meet her at the shoot she asked me the prices for my virtual tours. I was amazed when she questioned my pricing and asked if there was anything less expensive than a 360 virtual tour. I politely told her about my slide shows that I also provided but even I could her my loss of enthusiasm in my voice. She asked me if it would be ok if she decided which product to get when we met up at the listing and being the good entrepreneur that I am I told her that would be just fine.

When I arrived on site the real estate agent was not there but the homeowner let me in and was expecting us. The house was amazing and I could tell from experience that it was at least a two million dollar home. It became very clear when looking around the home that the homeowner had spent HUNDREDS (probably thousands) on staging (the furniture was from a furniture store, according to the homeowner). It looked fabulous and I was very excited to showcase the property with a 360 virtual tour.

Soon the agent arrived, the homeowner went off to do their things and the agent began walking me around the home. It was then that she said to me, “The homeowner thinks I need a professional photographer. Whether you take the pictures or I do it really does not matter to me.” (shakes her head and shrugs her shoulders)

She then asked the difference in price between the slide show and the virtual tour. After I gave her my prices a second time she told me that she could not afford the money for a virtual tour and to go ahead and just get some good snap shots for the slide show. She said that the home owner would not know the difference anyway. Toward the end of the shoot the real estate agent hinted to me that business was very slow for her and she was not picking up very many listings. She insisted that it was just the market and things were like that for everyone. She cut things short at the very end when she looked at her watched and told both myself and the home seller that she was running late here and must be off for a new listing presentation.

I was truly amazed. Mark my words. The homeowner will fire this person for inadequate marketing, the Realtor will be out ALL of the money she’s spent on marketing, and she STILL won’t GET it.

“It takes money to make money.”

Anonymous Real Tour Vision provider