Opinions please? (Real Estate Photography)

[Janie]

Not only did I update myself, but I created a web-based flyer I can e-mail to realtors & real estate companies to show what they should be telling their clients or they can e-mail this to their clients who have already signed listing agreements with them, before making the appointment with me. I'm starting to get quite busy with this and haven't started the advertising yet - i'm training a few people to help me out for times I get toooooo busy and paying them $25 p/hour just to take photos (I do the editing and the rest of the stuff).

http://bizfx.com/fabledphotography/f...hotography.htm

Above is my flyer - does it sound good? Think more like a home-owner who knows nothing about photography!

Thanks! ;-)

[Trevor Ash]

That sounds like a great business opportunity. I'd imagine you could easily sell your services to more than just home owners (maybe agents too?)

Anyway. For a flyer, I think the text is probably a little too long (too many words). Can it be shortened somehow and more to the point?

I have a question. Is the flyer supposed to be a full sized piece of paper? (I imagine it'll be a full sized glossy paper like you'd find in a high quality magazine). When is the customer presented with the flyer?

And it does seem like the start of a great sales pitch too.

I'd love to hear how this progresses for you.

[natatbeach]

whether a web based flyer or print...the use of "bullets to higlight key points such as

Features of the home(complimentary color that adds some zest without being overpowering)
(then a bulleted list of determining key features)

How to de-clutter/simplify for selling
(then a bulleted list of five easy steps to make a quick impact)

Services Included
(bulleted list of equipmemt you provide that'sa value to the customer, how your service is different than their standard snapshot)

Just some ideas...try and keep it to two max three fonts (serifs work well towards heping to read and keep the flow
) sounds like a great business venture...

[another view]

I'm pretty much going to agree with the others but here goes:

This is a great idea. Especially in the last year or two I've seen more people do the FSBO thing, and try to sell the highest priced house on the block with really, really bad pictures on a website. Technically bad and too much clutter, no thought to what they were doing. First impressions like this are bad. If you can give them shots like these, that's a great first impression.

Keep the text simple and direct. Maybe the ideas of turning lights on, etc are best kept for a second sheet given to people requesting more info or booking you. Tell them in a few words why they should hire you, it's something that probably never crosses the minds of most sellers.

[Janie]

Well, i'm targeting this service to realtors who can give this flyer to their clients AFTER the listing agreement has been signed! I've already been doing a lot of work for the agents at Coldwell Banker since i'm also an agent there (learing to hate real estate the more I get abusive buyers & sellers - they want BLOOD!). Now i'm just starting to send flyers to other offices - very cheap way to advertise and since many agents hate taking photos and they can now have 9 photos on the MLS system and 6 on realtor.com they really need to compete hard! Most of the time agents will put up a picture of the front of the house with the sun behind it and the house looks black - and take pictures inside on a sunny day with all that backlight coming through the windows and they wonder why the light, bright and airy room looks so dark! I would actually love to expand my company concept to other areas and hire photographers to do the work and I can do the edits and provide equipment. Want a job? lol

And as for the comments, yes, I think a bulleted list might be better too. It seemed nice when I did it but now it's kind of like bla bla bla, bla bla bla bla bla, huh.

[another view]

Want a job?

Since we're helping you out with some advice: I want a corner office, company car and let's talk about vacation time...

And as for the comments, yes, I think a bulleted list might be better too. It seemed nice when I did it but now it's kind of like bla bla bla, bla bla bla bla bla, huh.

When I clicked on the link, the first thing I looked at was the pictures (big surprise ). When I saw the text, I thought "uh-oh". I'll admit I didn't read all of it but I probably read more than most people would. I'm thinking about the person who's opening unsolicited mail, and how much time I personally spend looking at it before it goes in the circular file. Get them interested in a couple of seconds so that they want to find out more. It's a great idea - do something better than your targeted clients can do themselves, and don't want to do it themselves in the first place. You could probably take out an ad in a FSBO magazine too.