Do you know what your Professionalism Score is? What!? You say… Many would be surprised to find that there is a Professionalism Score. While not in the same sense as the official Credit Score, it is more of a subliminal Score but it screams volumes about your level of professionalism. This is how you are perceived by the public and perspective clients.
In today’s high-tech world people have easy access to your virtual tour Business which can be great but can also be detrimental to your success if your professional score is not high. Just as in the credit world where a missed or slow payment can bring down your score and cost you that loan or prime interest rate, your lack of attention to your professionalism could could subliminally tell your clients that you are less than professional and result in drastic results for your 360 tour business.
Let’s have a look at some areas that may need a bit of tweaking in the professionalism area. Some may seem more obvious then others.
Professional Dress: The way you present yourself to clients should be a no-brainier but take a hard look at yourself. Do you look as neat and professional as you could? While a three-piece suit is not necessarily in order today, a clean, neat appearance is a must. Hair trimmed, clean shoes (no tennis shoes unless you’re actually playing tennis with a client or you walk on a treadmill all day at your desk like Jason), take a look at your clothing, does it present a professional image? This will be different for everyone depending on client type and /or geographic region.
Business Cards: This in many cases will be your first introduction to a potential new client as business cards are often passed on to others you have yet to meet. Is your card professional or did you print it with your ink-jet printer? Do you have “Free” on-line business cards with the providers ad on the back? Consider a professionally designed and printed Business Card.
Language : This includes how you speak on the phone and face-to-face with clients as well as what you post on social network sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Wrong spellings and improper grammar may be the most glaring offense to your professional standing. Proof read everything you post! Do not rely on spell-checker 100%, it’s a nice guide but not foolproof, use the wrong word and if spelled right, it will not be caught by the spell-checker. Is your language peppered with “like, basically & actually”? Basically, you should like, actually check that! In addition, never use slang or colloquial speech with clients even if they are using it. Speak proper English. Speaking anything less, doesn’t project professionalism. At the same time, make sure you aren’t using words that will go over your client’s head. You don’t want them searching Google to understand what you are trying to convey, as that can also be counterproductive. While your clients may think you’re very intelligent, they will not appreciate you talking over them.
Photography: Are you using your yearbook photo on your web-page, blogs and other media? Are you taking your own listing photos? Do your competitors use professional images and/or a Professional Virtual Tour for their listings? How do your listing images compare to those of your competitors? Will they hold up in side by side comparison with your fellow Realtors when sellers search for a Realtor? Unless you are a professional photographer in your own rite, you should consider hiring a professional photographer or Virtual Tour Provider to photograph your listings. Studies after studies have indicated that a Home with a professional Virtual Tour or professional Images will get more viewings and better qualified buyers then those without professional images. “A Realtors’ association survey found that when it comes to web features that buyers consider “very useful,” 83 percent cited pictures, 81 percent cited detailed property information and 60 percent cited virtual tours.” JR-Signal vs. Noise here is a graph showing the # of clicks a Virtual Tour gets vs the MLS listing.
The difference is crystal clear!
The Front Office: Do you have a front office or do you often work from home? Do you answer your own phone, often putting clients on hold or are your calls going straight to voice-mail? Do you spend a lot of time coordinating viewings, open houses, scheduling Virtual Tours, inspections, closings etc, etc, etc… all of this running around and playing phone tag can lead to missed appointments, unanswered calls and general appearance of being unorganized and unprofessional. In order to exude a professional appearance consider hiring a Virtual Assistant. A Virtual Assistant can help you with as much or as little as you want at a reasonable hourly rate usually billed to the minute. A Virtual Assistant can perform many duties for you such has but not limited to general virtual administrative work, real estate virtual administrative work, transaction coordination, data entry and lead qualification. This would give your business the appearance of a large organization if working from home, free up your time to list and sell many more homes and make you look very organized while at the same time appearing very professional.
Website: Do you have a professionally built Website? Or did you build it yourself? Yes, you can build your own website these days, there are many on-line portals that let you build your own website including your Domain provider but once again, this should be left to the professionals. There are many inexpensive yet professional website builders available that won’t break the bank. Even a template Website geared toward Real Estate Professionals will appear more professional then one you build yourself and lets face it, do you really have time to build your Website from the ground up?
In conclusion, Your professional virtual tour business image determines how others feel, think, and see your business. Moving forward, why not implement the above suggestions to put your business on the professional track and increase your Professional Score.
At the helm of this fast growing company is Dale Hart. He brings over 30 years of professional photography experience to the table, much of it working with interior designers and architects.