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Home Sellers Drive Your Virtual Tour Company

Over the last few months providing virtual tours in Bend central Oregon, I have gotten a few calls from realtors whom I call ‘reluctant customers’. Listening to their tone or what they are saying, you can tell they are reluctant to use virtual tours. “My seller wants me to do a virtual tour”. In many cases, the clients are the ones driving this which is GREAT. Often times, agents can’t see the forest for the trees: they are caught up in going to MLS meetings and broker opens; taking out that same advertisement in the Saturday paper, because it is what they and other brokers have done for years. Their clients however know how buyers find and look for homes: on the internet, viewing 360 virtual tours. In many cases, the clients are the ones responsible for bringing their agents (kicking and screaming) into the 21st century.

When I get one of these ‘reluctant agent’ calls, I talk about how we deliver a finished 360 tour, as easy to link to their MLS as updating a listing. Then I make the appointment. Getting this tour booked is pretty easy- I mean their seller is insisting on the tour, so they HAVE to get it done. Don’t make the mistake of talking about all the benefits of virtual tours during this conversation. Just get the booking and make sure they are the ones that meet you to let you in to the home. With no sellers present.

What many of these agents have in mind is getting this tour done, getting their client to shut up, and going right back to doing business the way they always have.

Don’t let them.

When shooting the tour, engage them in conversation. Find out exactly why they are reluctant to do virtual tours. Ask questions and LISTEN.

Often times these agents want to offer interactive 360 virtual tours and other services, but they lack the expertise. Or they don’t have the time. The Real Tour Vision provider can be their technological consultant. Discuss with them how easy it is to link the tour, to email the tour and how we can link the tour to realtor.com. Also remember that publishing the virtual tour to realtor.com now places that 360 tour on over 90 websites!! Take a look for yourself:

Virtual Tour Distribution

If they are successful, comfortable with technology and busy, discuss with them how easy it is to call you and get the tour done. I like to use the analogy of going to Jiffy Lube for an oil change- just because I know how to change my oil does not mean I do. My time is worth too much.

If they indicate that are a little bit shy of new technology, talk to them in terms of being their technology consultant. Show them how easy it is to download the tour (or you can make them a CD Disk). Talk to them about how they can have this virtual tour available to show to their next prospect when they are making a listing presentation. Realtors use consultants all the time: CPAs, attorneys, home inspectors. They don’t have to know everything about the technology: they just have to know you-the RTV provider and local online marketing expert!

Andrew Wood
Virtual Marketing Plus, LLC
Central Oregon Virtual Tours

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“Success with RTV from a Real Estate Agent’s Point of View
In early 2005 as the real estate market here in the Florida Keys started to slow, I could see I would have to brush up on my marketing skills and find better ways to expose my listings to potential buyers. With so many Florida Keys homes and condos sold as vacation homes, an online presence with great photos and virtual tours becomes essential. A few years earlier I was the first agent in our area to do virtual tours. I had tried the two-shot version but the results were not very good. Then the market got so hot, and properties were selling so fast, there was no real need to have tours. I could see the tide turning and I wanted to add virtual tours back to my listings so I started doing some research to find the best solution. After looking at a lot of low quality tours, I found RTV. Having taken some photography courses in college, and with over 30 years in the real estate business taking photos of houses, I decided to do the tours myself. My first RTV tour was of one of the highest priced homes in Key Largo. Shortly after submitting it, I received a call from a buyer who said his wife had seen a virtual tour on the Internet and she wanted him to take a look at the property while he was in the Keys. During the showing he called his wife at home and told her to look at the virtual tour again. They decided then and there to make an offer. They ended up buying the property. The wife never came to see it until closing. The selling price was $3.7 million.

Since then there have been other situations where a buyer’s partner or family member could not be present but the decision to go forward was based on the virtual tour. Many times in the course of showing one of my listings with an agent from another company, I hear the buyers talking about having seen the virtual tour on the Internet. It seems they find the listings and have their agent make the appointment which results in more showings and sales for my sellers. I have a contract pending on a property which is scheduled to close later this month. The buyers have never been inside the house. Asking price almost $3 million.

In spite of our market being down almost 50% in the number of sales, and the inventory being up almost 50% in the number of listings, this has been my best year ever in real estate with over $12 million in sales so far – and it is only April. Thank you RTV for helping take my career to a new level.”

Sharon Nyman

Virtual Tour Provider

Feature List

  • 100% Your Brand & White Label
  • Advanced Customer Storefront
  • Advanced Photo & 4K Streaming Video Delivery
  • Automated Weekly Traffic Reports
  • Built-in 360 Virtual Tour Software
  • Calendar Integration & Job Scheduling System
  • Create Interactive Floor Plans with Hot Spots
  • Custom 360 Virtual Tour Layouts
  • Discounted Virtual Staging Services
  • Easy-to-Use Secure Client Portal
  • Invoice, Prepay, & Pay-To-Download
  • Jobs from RTV’s National Hotel Accounts
  • Photographer Management System
  • Secure HTTPS Links
  • Six Elegant Property Website Layouts
  • Stripe, PayPal, Square, & QuickBooks Integration
  • Unlimited Hosting
  • Unlimited Phone Training & Technical Support
  • Works with ANY 3D–360 Camera
  • Zillow, Matterport, & iGuide Compatible

“RTV, Best Service, Great Products!!!
We opened Photos Sell, real estate photography in January 2015. I found RTV during a search for a portal site so I could send high res images over the internet to my customers. When I called this company I was greeted by the owner himself. Jason LaVanture. Jason explained what RTV was about and what they can do for my new business. Great customer service, training, high res Virtual Tours and much, much more. After I signed up I got all of the above and much, much more. I received excellent training on the system. Instant help from customer support almost never got a voice mail and when I did they always got right back to me ASAP. The product is like nothing else, it set me apart from my competition. Look if your pictures are not good, they will no look good on any medium. I now work for 35 agents and exclusive with two large Brokers in our area. I am busy as hell. I read the complaints on this company and my response to those who complained is: you can’t make a living off the leads you get for RTV. You need to market you self, have a great product and provide great customer service. Look, I am no one special to RTV, just a customer and I have received outstanding service, their web portal works flawlessly and is easy to use and navigate. I can pickup the phone and speak to the Owner any time, he is a great resource and can be depended upon should you have a problem!! Thank you RTV. I prefer not be anonymizes: George Pulizzano, Photos Sell, Tampa, Florida.”

George Pulizzano

George Pulizzano Photography

“I became a RTV Full Service Provider after I researched many different virtual tour software solutions and purchased several different packages from virtual tour companies in the industry. RTV wins hands down! Their tours are truly INTERACTIVE and professional quality. Unlike other software that can distort images and give the ‘fishbowl’ effect, RTV offers a superior software solution that forgives even the most amateur of photographers and allows professional photographers to REALLY show off their work. In the last year my company has produced more than 170 tours for both commercial and real estate applications and that number is growing daily. On top of our own marketing efforts, RTV has sent us MANY qualified leads! 95% of all the leads that they send us result in an immediate order! To top the cake, their support staff is ON THE BALL!! A BIG thank you to Torie, Jon, Jacque (tour track), Ben and especially Jason for all of their training, support and attention to detail. I have been known to be a little ‘fiery’ and passionate about my business, but they have always answered my support requests promptly and professionally! I highly recommend their software to anyone who is even considering doing their own tours in-house OR starting a virtual tour company. You simply CANNOT beat the level of support or quality of software.”

Cheryl Waller

Virtual Tour Provider

“Success with RTV from a Real Estate Agent’s Point of View
In early 2005 as the real estate market here in the Florida Keys started to slow, I could see I would have to brush up on my marketing skills and find better ways to expose my listings to potential buyers. With so many Florida Keys homes and condos sold as vacation homes, an online presence with great photos and virtual tours becomes essential. A few years earlier I was the first agent in our area to do virtual tours. I had tried the two-shot version but the results were not very good. Then the market got so hot, and properties were selling so fast, there was no real need to have tours. I could see the tide turning and I wanted to add virtual tours back to my listings so I started doing some research to find the best solution. After looking at a lot of low quality tours, I found RTV. Having taken some photography courses in college, and with over 30 years in the real estate business taking photos of houses, I decided to do the tours myself. My first RTV tour was of one of the highest priced homes in Key Largo. Shortly after submitting it, I received a call from a buyer who said his wife had seen a virtual tour on the Internet and she wanted him to take a look at the property while he was in the Keys. During the showing he called his wife at home and told her to look at the virtual tour again. They decided then and there to make an offer. They ended up buying the property. The wife never came to see it until closing. The selling price was $3.7 million.

Since then there have been other situations where a buyer’s partner or family member could not be present but the decision to go forward was based on the virtual tour. Many times in the course of showing one of my listings with an agent from another company, I hear the buyers talking about having seen the virtual tour on the Internet. It seems they find the listings and have their agent make the appointment which results in more showings and sales for my sellers. I have a contract pending on a property which is scheduled to close later this month. The buyers have never been inside the house. Asking price almost $3 million.

In spite of our market being down almost 50% in the number of sales, and the inventory being up almost 50% in the number of listings, this has been my best year ever in real estate with over $12 million in sales so far – and it is only April. Thank you RTV for helping take my career to a new level.”

Sharon Nyman

Virtual Tour Provider