Appealing to the International Buyer

With the availability of online presence, agents in the U.S. can use their online marketing tools to appeal to buyers all over the United States and the WORLD. Our interactive virtual tours can be e-mailed and viewed anywhere in the world. They can also be posted to the MLS, your personal broker site, Realtor.com, and many other sites as well. Virtual tour syndication and distribution channels are key.

I created a virtual tour for a Real Estate agency here in Lane County for a United Country Real Estate site and it was seen by buyers in China. The buyers liked what they saw on the virtual tour and came and purchased the property after viewing it in person. With the interactive tours that we create, buyers can see and direct themselves from room to room and get a feel for the layout of the home. It is for this interaction that my clients choose my technology daily over any video virtual tours. Now is the time to use our interactive 360 virtual tours as a marketing tool to appeal to buyers all over the world. According to the Associated Press (AP), now is the first time since 1976 that the Canadian dollar is equal to the U.S. dollar. The AP also said that this could mean an influx of real estate buyers from Canada. Now is the time to use your online virtual tour to bring them your way.



Becky Miles
InSite Virtual Tours
Virtual Tours of Lane and Coos County
www.insitevt.com
Order a virtual tour today! 541-953-2253

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John Cobb Talks Virtual Tours

Interactive 360 Virtual Tours are a great way to enhance your real estate listings. We all know by now that homes with more pictures get more activity than those without pictures. Homes with 360 virtual tours get more activity then those with just still pictures. Letting the prospect and home shopper interact with your listings online keeps people coming back for more and stirs emotion. Even more so than simply looking at still images on the web or watching a real estate video virtual tour! It is that simple call to action a true interactive virtual tour employs such as moving around and clicking of the mouse is really makes the difference.

As far as pricing goes, most of my fellow agents out there already know that the average cost to buy a 360 virtual tour is about $100. One hundred for each listing can really add up, especially if the home doesn’t sell right away. I’m glad I started building my own interactive virtual tours with Real Tour Vision. It a great listing tool to be able to tell my sellers that I have my own equipment and do my own virtual tours on each and every listing.

I am really looking forward to using 360 virtual tours to help promote my builder and get more Pre-solds. The problem with using virtual tours in the past with Pre-solds is that they would expire after one year or when the home sold. The virtual tour I build myself with Real Tour Vision will be good for 2 years. The number of scenes is also greater with tours you build yourself – 30 scenes makes for an outstanding interactive end user experience!! I’ve built two virtual tours so far and the results are very professional.

I do spend a lot more time now producing each virtual tour rather than just picking up the phone and having someone else take care of it for me, but the time is well worth it. I created my own banner by using a program called Banner Maker Pro 7 and it is a free download that was very simple to use. I created the banner, edited my profile, and added two 360 tours for a very professional final product for my buyers and my sellers. Real Tour Vision virtual tour software keeps getting better and better all the time. Thanks RTV!

John Cobb
Coldwell Banker SSK Real Estate Agent
Warner Robins Real Estate
www.johncobbmiddlega.com
Phone Number: 478-396-2440

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Home Visit Virtual Tours Vs BakerB Solutions

We had another assignment to replace our competitions virtual tours with one of our interactive virtual tours. This time our assignment was to replace a HomeVisit virtual tour and it was a switch of agent that prompted the new virtual tour. But interestingly enough, even though the season changed, I think our tour turned out great! See the difference between a Home Visit "slide show" virtual tour and a BakerB Solutions Interactive Virtual Tour.

Notice the 360 panoramic scenes in the BakerB tour? Oh, and we have a slide show option to view all the still shots as well. Which is more effective? Which gives the viewer more choices to navigate and view the property? You decide, here is a link to both:

Home Visit Virtual Tour: HomeVisit.com Virtual Tour

BakerB Solutions Tour: BakeB Interactive Virtual Tour

BakerB Solutions (www.bakerb.com) provides Interactive Virtual Tours with 360 panoramic scenes along with slide show tours. We offer our interactive virtual tours in Gaithersburg, Rockville, Silver Spring, Hyattsville, Frederick, Germantown, Bethesda, North Potomac, Potomac and all other suburbs of the Washington DC Metro Area (including DC and Northern Virginia).

To order one of our interactive virtual tours, or for pricing and options, contact us today!!

at 301.424.8272 or tours@bakerb.com. Don't forget to check out our Web Sign Riders at www.WebSignRiders.com!

-----------------------------
Alex Saenger
BakerB Solutions
Interactive Virtual Tours & Marketing Specialists
Washington DC Virtual Tour Company
www.BakerB.com
alex@BakerB.com
Main: 301.424.8272
Cell: 703.599.7933

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Put Your Hotspots in Line

Everything you do in your virtual tour company speaks to the customer about the quality of your work! When a virtual tour scene is well composed it is easy to look at and it makes a positive impression on the mind. When a virtual tour scene requires multiple hotspots, accurate placement really makes a difference to the viewer.

Here is a great way to bring an extra measure of quality to your 360 virtual tours by placing hotspots precisely in each scene. This process will allow you to line up multiple hotspots easily and quickly in your scene, relative to any reference point and at any angle, up, down, or sideways.

Beg, borrow, build or buy a clear Angle-Linear Ruler like the one pictured here. This device has two see-through ruler arms attached at a pivot in the middle so they can be placed at any angle relative to each other.

Place one section of the ruler along the bottom lip of your monitor and angle the other section so it interacts visually the way you want it within the image in the Tour Builder screen. You can adjust the placement of virtual tour software window on the monitor so the part of the image you are working on is behind the ruler. Look at the cursor through the clear plastic and use the lines and markings on the ruler to guide the cursor for perfect hotspot placement. Voila!


Ross Goldberg
Level Best Interactive
Scarborough Maine Virtual Tours
www.lvlbst.com
Order a Virtual Tour - 207-883-3488

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A Virtual Tour Family

As an Evansville Indiana virtual tour provider, I thought I would pass along my holiday wishes to all of the other Real Tour Vision dealers and the Real Tour Vision home office. As you know, Real Tour Vision is a great company to be associated with. I have been with the company since September and have found nothing but encouragement and help from everyone associated with Real Tour Vision.

Last week it was my turn to give back. I had a new dealer email me about a 360 virtual tour that I had posted to the blog. He had a photography question which I was more than happy to help him with. We emailed back and forth and I gave him several tips on how my business partner and I contact new clients and got our business going. He thanked me for being so forthcoming with advice.

It reminded me of our first week in virtual tour company, when I called several random dealers and solicited advice from them. I was surprised how candid everyone was with the details of running their virtual tour businesses. It was with this advice we were able to try new things and acquire clients. Even though we are a two man operation, I feel like I am part of a much larger family. A family that will do whatever it takes to see each other succeed. Take care and have a safe and happy holiday season and a prosperous New Year.

Brad Hahn
CustomTours360
Evansville Indiana Virtual Tours
www.customtours360.com
Order a Virtual Tour - 812-550-5321

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Building Your Identity

There's a lot of talk in marketing about building a brand identity. It's not just the visual aspect of your logo or brochure, it's what your customer experiences emotionally.

Customer service is what is going to set you apart from the competition. Are you smiling, cheerful and read to go the extra mile? Do you promptly reply to phone messages? Do you make an effort to get to know your customers and their families or hobbies? Ask questions, be genuinely interested and listen...but most importantly retain that information, so you can ask about specific people or topics at a later date. Repeat business will happen once they know they will get the same pleasant experience each and every time.

Quality products and services also help to promote a positive brand identity. High quality = satisfied customers which results in repeat business. We don't have anything to worry about in this area because we are Real Tour Vision dealers. We already provide the highest quality virtual tours available on the market.

You - The RTV dealer is often the brand. What do you say about your virtual tour company? What words, feelings or images do you evoke in your customers? Once you have defined the image and feeling you and your business evoke, the next step is to reinforce your brand with your marketing efforts such as vehicle signage, business cards, logo and customer service strategy.

Loyalty is what happens when your customers receive quality products and virtual tour services combined with consistently excellent customer service. They will become committed and loyal to you. Loyalty is what keeps you in the front of their minds, resulting in repeat business and generating referrals.

Your brand is your competitive edge and what makes you stand out against the competition. Take the time to carefully develop it and make every effort to support it...every single day.





RTV

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Happy Holidays to All Our Virtual Tour Dealers

Happy holidays and warm wishes to all of our Real Tour Vision virtual tour dealers. We hope at this time of year that you have the opportunity to spend time with family, friends, and loved ones.

This is a great time to reflect on the past year. We feel we've made strides in 2007 and look forward to even more updates and enhancements to our virtual tour software and virtual tour system in 2008.

Thank you for choosing to do business with us and be a part of Team RTV as you build your virtual tour company.

Real Tour Vision
National Virtual Tour Company
www.realtourvision.com
Contact us about Virtual Tours - 1.866.947.8687

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Virtual Tour Turn Around Time

Quick turn around is essential in keeping business from floating away. As a professional 360 virtual tour provider we expect to get paid on the day of photography and our customers are entitled to having their 360 virtual tours ready as soon as possible. I recently acquired an account from Obeo because according to the broker, time and time again they were late in delivering virtual tours to their customers. I snagged another account not too long ago from a company that delivers only video virtual tours . The agent thought they were using cutting edge technology but when the tour too forever and then some to publish and they saw the end result they consulted the other people in the office who use my services. Sorry guys....video is viral but after one look when it is used for home tours it is certainly not viable and my new clients agree!! ;)

As an independent virtual tour provider I cannot afford to lose any business so my work has to always be superb and on time. My customers are given my direct line, not a customer service line and can reach may whenever they like. The www.Realtourvision.com support staff and virtual tour software makes my tours ready as soon as they are uploaded to the server facility. To all of you out there in Real Tour Vision land knocking out the competition, 360realhometours is wishes you a great new year!!


Sincerely,
Zivko Grcic
President/Photographer
New Jersey Shore Area Virtual Tours
www.360realhometours.com
Order a 360 Tour 732.299.7895

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2008 Virtual Tour Icons are HERE!

The 2008 virtual tour icons are in and ready for all of our virtual tour providers to begin linking your tours off of. This new set of virtual tour icons can be accessed from the support page of www.realtourvision.com or you can take a look at them now by following the link below:

http://www.realtourvision.com/tourbuttons.php

These new tour icons will allow your clients to not only advertise the presence of a virtual tour but also show that an entire inventory of 360 virtual tours exists.

We have also updated the Real Tour Vision default "Take the tour" icon with one of these new spiffy icons. Thanks again everyone and enjoy the new updates to our system.

Happy Holidays!

RTV

Real Tour Vision
Traverse City Virtual Tour Company
Order a Virtual Tour 866-947-8687

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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 dealer 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 dealer and local online marketing expert!

Andrew Wood
Virtual Marketing Plus, LLC
Central Oregon Virtual Tours
www.virtualmarketingplus.com
20096 McClellan Rd., Bend,OR 97702
Order a Virtual Tour - 541-306-3859

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Single Property Websites and Panorider Show Off

Have you ordered a single property website yet? Still not sure if the PanoRider is an effective marketing tool? Sure this is an intuitively strong tool, but are there statistics to back up that notion? Well, with the NEW Real Tour Vision Hits Report released yesterday, you can now see for yourself!

When used properly, the PanoRider is EXTREMELY effective! Take a look at one specific PanoRider implemented just a week ago at 7021 Hunter Lane, Hyattsville, MD 20782 found at www.7021HunterLane.com. In just over a week, this virtual tour has achieved 212 hits with 145 of those hits coming directly from the individual property website URL that was placed on the PanoRider. That’s over 68% of the visits to this property directly from the PanoRider!

See more examples of single property websites below:

www.240MarionsWay.com - Hit Stats for this Virtual Tour
www.543independence.com - Hit Stats for this Virtual Tour
www.4406belpreroad.com - Hit Stats for this Virtual Tour
www.6504nwoak.com - Hit Stats for this Virtual Tour

Each PanoRider advertises the single property website URL with a high quality photo. The single property website for each tour accounts for at least 45% of the hits and for one virtual tour is as high as 76%! Check out the stats on each one.

The bottom line is that this tool is something every real estate agent should be implementing. And it is your job as a Real Tour Vision dealer to make them aware of these significant statistics! The number that should be used is, “…around 50% or more of traffic to your tour will come from the PanoRider…”.

So if you have not ordered a PanoRider yet, you REALLY should think about getting a sample to use for selling to your real estate agent clients. Once they see the product in person, backed by these statistics (feel free to print out a Hits Report from any of the samples above), there will be no denying that you WILL sell these to your best clients! So place your order today and start generating extra revenue in 2008!

PanoRiders (www.panorider.com) are the best way to leverage your virtual tour. Now available nationwide through your full service Real Tour Vision dealer. Contact Real Tour Vision today to get more details or to find the Real Tour Vision dealer nearest you, at 866-947-8687 or online at www.realtourvision.com.

Interactive 360 Virtual Tours with PanoRiders available in the following states:

AL AK AS AZ AR CA CO CT DE DC FM FL GA GU HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MH MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND MP OH OK OR PW PA PR RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY

Real Tour Vision
National Virtual Tour Company
www.realtourvision.com
Order a 360 Virtual Tour or PanoRider - 1-866-947-8687

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Virtual Tour Traffic Reporting 2.0 is Here!

Real Tour Vision is proud to announce Virtual Tour Hit Reporting 2.0! These all new hit statistic reports will not only show where virtual tour views and leads are coming from but they also display which rooms and scenes from within the 360 tours are being viewed the most. This slick new reporting system works for all Real Tour Vision virtual tour types in the Real Tour Vision system and is made possible because of the layout of the new TMS.

Our virtual tour reporting system has been engineered to work specifically with our new virtual tour window and will only display traffic reports on virtual tours that are hosted by the Real Tour Vision server facility.



Click here to view a Virtual Tour Hit Report

We have opted to keep our original virtual tour reporting system online and older virtual tour hit reports are still available to our virtual tour dealers from withing the virtual tour management system. And, by popular demand, we will be keeping our secret "On Demand" hit stat button active which is located directly on our virtual tour window. Our on demand virtual tour traffic button will now programmed to display our new stat reporting page when pressed.

The new hit reporting system also allows all of our virtual tour dealers to automatically send out weekly virtual tour reports by adding email addresses to a "Hit List". These weekly hit reports will keep everyone involved up to date and able to monitor where marketing dollars and efforts pay off the most.

As with all of the features within the Real Tour Vision system we will continually be making modifications to the hit reporting system based on our client’s feedback. It is our dedication to keep our technology at the cutting edge of virtual tour technology.

Thanks for your support!

Real Tour Vision
Michigan Virtual Tours
www.realtourvision.com
Order a virtual tour 866-947-8687

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Market Trends

Excellent Rates in a Leveling Market

The National Association of REALTORS (NAR) reported in late November that recent problems within the mortgage markets have improved significantly, while lingering effects from overhauls to the subprime mortgage market were still being felt. Overall, October saw the national market for existing homes decrease by 1.2%, and lags behind 2006 levels by over 20 percent.

Lawrence Yun, NAR senior economist, explains how buyers are benefiting from stability in the mortgage industry. " A trend away from subprime mortgages to FHA loans, which often carry much lower interest rates, is a positive development for consumers and the housing market going forward," Yun said. "Still, it will take some time for the change to yield a measurably higher closed sales volume in the aftermath of the subprime collapse. In the near term, we expect home sales to remain fairly stable."

NAR president, Richard Gaylord, emphasizes that the national market remains healthy, with home prices up in 93 out of 150 metro areas.


Are You Ready for Winter?

December is one of our favorite months of the year! We often associate this season with sharing, giving and being with friends and family. It's often easy to overlook your home's needs with so much going on. Here is a simple checklist of items that can save you money through the winter:

• Check for leaks and drafts around the house. Replace weather stripping and re-caulk around doors and windows. Drafty doors and windows will cool off the house and cost you money in heating bills.
• Inspect your attic's insulation. Heat rises so adding good insulation can keep the heat from escaping.
• Check your heating system. Sometimes something as easy as replacing your filter or having simple maintenance done can save on heating costs.
• Consider changing from standard light bulbs to energy saving bulbs. Winter uses a lot of your electricity so even saving a little here and there will help.

Enjoy the holidays!

Susan Hintz
Traverse City Real Estate Agent
www.hintz-rice.com

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Virtual Tours are a Top Selling Tool

NBC’s Today Show quickly caught thousands of viewers’ attention Friday morning when they promised to let them in on facts that real estate agents haven’t told them. I abruptly stopped what I was working on and tuned in myself. They promised to give tips to homeowners for selling their houses.

With the power of the internet and the cutting edge technology that our virtual tours and 2D and 3D floor plans have to offer, I just knew that the virtual tour field as a whole would have to be discussed. I was right - we were the second mentioned!

They introduced an expert from a data collection agency whose information was produced using actual facts, rather than the just opinions. Facts are facts…and after compiling research here is what we can learn:

Don’t overprice the house, you don’t want to have to reduce it later. By reducing the price, you are giving buyers the leverage to bargain price with you, resulting in back and forth offers and usually resulting in a lower price than you were anticipating.

Be Web Savvy! 72% of people are finding their homes online. Use photographs and virtual home tours to grab online viewers’ attention. Look at the price range filters and always go under the threshold of the higher bracket. That way, when viewers put in their search parameters, the listing won’t be left out over a dollar.

Most of us have overheard agents discussing when the best day to list a home is. Many feel in the commercial market, it is on a Monday, for the residential market, it is on a Thursday. In all actuality, the facts are reporting that the best day to debut all property is on a Friday. 7-8% more people look on Fridays than any other day!

List on Craigslist.org. Many agents don’t take the time to list on Craigslist, when 7-12% of people are looking on Craigslist.org rather that the brokerage sites. This is a large percentage of people who use Craigslist daily, as if they were reading the local newspaper. For commercial agents, Craigslist.org is critical. Many people look all over the country for investment properties or businesses. The internet allows them the flexibility to see properties nationwide.

The last fact that the press was eager to share with homeowners is that they need to search for foreclosures in their area. If there is a foreclosure nearby, then they should wait to list.

Jennifer Stiefel
SLP Virtual Tours
Philadelphia Virtual Tours
www.SLPVirtualTours.com
Order a Virtual Tour - 484-410-7601

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Virtual Tour Sales Tips

As a virtual tour company owner, you might face several challenges in promoting your product to potential clients. You may have limited funds for marketing and advertising, or you may feel overwhelmed by the demands of being both owner and employee. Some struggle with the lack of knowledge and experience they have for effectively selling and marketing their product. Too often, individuals “open up shop” and expect, like, in the movie Field of Dreams “if you build it, they will come.”

While there is some validity to this approach with an in-demand product or service, the bottom line is that if you want to be successful in selling your virtual tours you must let people know who you are and what you can do.

This does not mean that you adopt a persona that doesn't suit you, or that you try all the marketing and sales techniques you can find. Potential clients can sense when you are desperate and this may be a pitfall to your success. While research does pay off and it never hurts to check out every book in the library on sales and marketing, I’d like to suggest a more simple approach. In order to sell your virtual tour service - you must first sell yourself! These are my simple tips for being an effective virtual tour provider:

Give Your Clients Clarity.
This refers to spending time to create a clear, compelling, memorable message. It means being very clear about the benefits of your virtual tour service and finding a way to “speak the language” of your potential customers. Do not resort to phrases like, “I shoot virtual tours.” or “I market your listing.” Is there anything particularly compelling or memorable about those statements? Instead, how about these: “I help my clients market their listings through interactive media creating a 24/7 open house available to the World Wide Web.” Or “My clients are able to reach out to more individuals on the web by using my services. A compelling use of virtual tour technology will keep visitors on your site, and will also keep them coming back.” Or “On a typical day, more than six million people take virtual tours in cyberspace and 80% of internet users say images are imperative when deciding to buy or use a company’s product or service.” Do you see how each of the latter statements provides more clarity and gives the potential customer more information about benefits?

Show That You Care.
Sales and marketing is most effective (and easiest) when you have a passion for what you do and absolutely know that it's effective. You really want people to experience your virtual tour service, because you care about their satisfaction. Show your passion by starting a blog on your website. Always, have a bit of excitement in your voice when you’re talking to clients. Excitement makes people curious to learn more and passion leads to many sales!

Actions Are Louder Than Words.
What you say, and what you do, must match. This creates credibility – being who you say you are. If you forget to follow through on the smallest statement, your client will remember and that will stick in their mind the next time they consider your services. If you are consistent between what you say, and what you do, people will be naturally attracted to you and your service.

Be Competent!
The best marketing in the world will not save a professional who is not competent and skilled at their trade. Although you are probably extraordinarily competent already, make sure to maintain this “edge” by continuous learning through more education, training or whatever you need to continue to be extremely skilled. Take an online course in photography and if you work with a lot of real estate agents make sure to stay on top of the market in your area. Those who are very skilled command higher fees and find it easier to attract and retain high quality clients. Also make sure you keep on top of new technology developments at RTV so that you are always offering your clients all the services at your disposal.

Morgan Makowski
Real Tour Vision
Virtual Tour Provider of Michigan
www.realtourvision.com

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Upcoming Webinar

Jacqueline Burke, RTV Director of National Accounts, will be revealing the inside scoop of how to successfully receive, review, accept and complete Tour Track dispatches. Everyone will be able to see the exact process on the screen and you will have the opportunity ask questions during the webinar. This webinar will be recorded and available online for future reference.

Title: "The Inside Scoop on Tour Track"
Date: Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Time: 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM EST

System Requirements
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows(R) 2000, XP Home, XP Pro, 2003 Server, Vista

Macintosh(R)-based attendees
Required: Mac OS(R) X 10.3.9 (Panther(R)) or newer

Register here to register.


Cheryl Waller
Rock Pointe Marketing
RTV Marketing Control Panel Administrator
Real Tour Vision - National Virtual Tour Company

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Jersey Shore Virtual Tours Offers Five Pack

Real Tour Vision suggested that I should pre-sell 360 virtual tours in the form of a "five-pack" to my new and existing customers. Initially, I was unconvinced that this would work. Nonetheless, I implemented a "five-Pack" tour package offering that included five 360 virtual tours at a 10% discount from my ala carte rate.

After a few months I began selling around 2 packages every week! Aside from receiving a 10% discount, customers love the package option because they don't have to worry about making payment arrangements every time they place an order, which actually results in increased order volume. Not only do I receive payment upfront, which satisfies my cash flow demands, but pre-selling the real estate virtual tours has tremendously helped to maintain long term relationships with my real estate agent customers. Word of my "five-pack" offering is catching on and I am now taking calls from real estate agents I don't even know who are interested in buying virtual tour packages after hearing about it from one of their associates.

Do yourself a favor and start by offering a "five-pack" to some of your loyal customers. Make sure there is no expiration date for the virtual tour credits. Once you feel comfortable offering packages to them, you can start offering packages to every other real estate agent and brokerage firm in your area. I now offer packages to every real estate agent I come into contact with and I have a closing ratio of nearly 70%!

Zivko M. Grcic
360 Real Home Tours
Jersey Shore Virtual Tours
www.360realhometours.com
Order a Virtual Tour - 732.299.7895

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Virtual Tour of Roanoke Virginia

I am a virtual tour provider in Roanoke, Virginia. In order to market my virtual tour company I have created a virtual tour of my home city. It was created to be used by real estate agents and businesses on their websites to draw attention to our wonderful area. Allowing these prospective clients to use this virtual tour increases awareness about virtual tours, advertises for my virtual tour company, and enhances their business by providing information to their clients. I bought the virtual tour its own domain name for easier use and so it would look more professional. Please check the tour out at www.roanoke360.com and let me know what you think!


Travis Himes
Syvart Solutions
Roanoke Virginia Virtual Tours
www.syvartsolutions.com
Order a virtual tour - 540-529-2654

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Virtual Tours Sponsored by Mortgage Brokers

Are you looking for a way to “give something back” to the real estate agents that give you referrals? Do you need something that complies with RESPA? Have you thought about a BakerB Solutions Interactive Virtual Tour as that solution?

It’s almost common knowledge that 71 to 84% (or more at this point) of home shoppers use the internet to search for homes. That is a BIG number. One of the most significant tools they use is the 360 virtual tour. But how do Mortgage Brokers leverage this staggering opportunity for exposure to their services? Have a look at a sample BakerB Solutions virtual tour here:

Virtual Tour

In this tour you have the opportunity for exposure in two places. First is a link to your website through your logo at the bottom right corner of the interface. Next we can link YOUR mortgage calculator to the “Mortgage Info” tab at the top. Since you would be paying for the virtual tour, and you would be paying a neutral third party (BakerB Solutions, or one of our Network Dealers), no money exchanges hands from the Mortgage Broker to the Realtor. Thus you are in compliance with RESPA, and still able to assist with marketing.

You can see more sample virtual tours at www.BakerB.com. Contact us and we would be happy to discuss how you can leverage these tours to help your real estate agent, the homeowner, prospective home buyers and your business as well. It’s a win all the way around! We do virtual tours in Maryland and Washington DC. And, yes, we do offer national coverage so either BakerB Solutions can provide you with the virtual home tour or one of our dealer partners can. Rest assured you are covered!

Alex Saenger
BakerB Solutions
Frederick Virtual Tour Provider
www.bakerb.com
Order a virtual tour - 301.424.8272

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3D Walkthroughs as a Sales Tool

3D Walkthroughs are becoming an increasingly popular way of showcasing interior spaces. A few tips to keep in mind when selling a 3D Interior Walkthrough:

1. Displaying the 3D Animations on your Web site will encourage people to contact your business.

2. Mail or drop off a DVD of sample 3D Virtual Interior Walkthroughs to prospective buyers to increase inquiries to your services. Make sure to follow up your mailing with a call. This gives the prospect an opportunity to ask any questions they may have.

3. Consider including a price sheet with a low starting price to ensure interest through affordability.

4. Let the prospect know how the 3D Walkthroughs will act as an aid in their sales process by creating a visual for the prospect.

3D Animations are a perfect way to create an emotional connection between the buyer and the home while helping them visualize their new residence.

Interested in a Virtual 3D Interior Project to showcase your interior space? Let us help you! Click here to fill out a form to contact me about 3D Walkthroughs and 3D Animations!

Morgan Makowski
Real Tour Vision
Northern Michigan Virtual Tour Company
www.realtourvision.com

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Virtual Tour Reminders

At our virtual tour company, Lawrence Virtual Tour, we pride ourselves in helping our customers. With our email software’s calendar feature it is getting easier to keep up with our listings, with the expiration dates and most important the tour updates.

Every month, at the "month-anniversary" date of one of my virtual tours, I have set up an automatic reminder to check in with the realtor to see if they need anything. At the 12 month anniversary I receive an email to remind me to:

1- Give the stats to my realtor on his virtual tour

2- Ask him for any changes on the house (maybe a price reduction in this tough market?)

3- Ask him about any changes he would like to see (like the top banner or contact info updated)

4- And most important, it's my excuse to ask him if he needs any new virtual tours while I look proactive and helpful…

So get to know how your email software can send automatic reminders, and how to manage your calendar! Most email software programs have this function now. Prepare a ‘standard email’ template and just fill in the blanks. It is so much easier to get repeat business from virtual tour clients than to have to go find a new client!!

Kate Huchet

Lawrence Virtual Tour Provider

www.lawrencevirtualtour.com

Order a Virtual Tour - 785-764-2552

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Benefit Your Virtual Tour Company With Organization

Have you ever awoke in the middle of the night with a great business idea for your virtual tour company, but forgotten it by morning? Or perhaps you were driving from one virtual tour to the next, but it slipped out of your mind after you arrived at your destination.

Good businesses always starts with good ideas. But all the good ideas in the world won't help out your virtual tour company if you forget about them and never put them into action. Worse, all those good ideas can be downright distracting, causing you to lose focus and take longer than you should to complete tasks that need to be done now.

Fortunately, there's a simple way to capture those ideas and keep them from interrupting your day. Put them in writing.

Writing the ideas down in a notebook or journal is one good way of capturing your ideas. When you get an idea and don't have the notebook with you, you can jot it down on a sticky note or put it in a Word document or email and print it out - then staple it into your notebook.

Another good way to capture ideas is to put them into a database on your computer. You can set up the database so you can enter categories for the ideas. You might set up categories for new ideas, marketing ideas, sales tactics, etc. When you get ideas and aren't at your computer, write them down on whatever is handy and transfer them to your database as soon as you're at your computer. Or, if you can send and receive email from your cell phone, send yourself an email with the idea, then copy the email into your database later on. I know some people even call themselves and leave a voice mail!!

Writing ideas down like this benefits you in several important ways. Capturing the idea saves it so it doesn't flee away. Recording the idea in a place you can find it later "unclutters" your mind, allowing you to get back to shooting virtual tours or marketing your company without wasting time. Finally grouping all your ideas into a single location can help you see that proverbial big picture, which in turn, can motivate you to put your ideas into action.

So give it a try. Don't let your good ideas slip away.

Real Tour Vision
www.realtourvision.com
Cadillac Virtual Tours

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Using 360 Virtual Tours as Advertising

As an Evansville Indiana virtual tour provider, I thought I would pass along a couple of virtual tours I did recently. Both were promotional and were created to show off what our new virtual tour business could do. The first was for the local Red Cross chapter.

Virtual Tour of Red Cross

I worked closely with their website designer and she was very happy with the results. She put it on the front page of their website and emailed it to 1200 of their corporate partners.

The second was for Crossroads Christian Church, the largest church in Evansville.

Crossroads Christian Church Virtual Tour

Once again, I worked closely with them and they were very pleased with the results. They turned it into a church project and the pastor even provided the music and voiceover. The 360 virtual tour is now on the front page of their website, which is how they communicate with their 2000+ congregation.

I also placed both virtual tours on the front page of our CustomTours360 website.

All this cost me was my time and 2 tour credits, but it has potentially exposed Customtours360 and Real Tour Vision to over 3000 people, many of whom are realtors, business owners etc. All in all, it was a very inexpensive form of advertising for our new virtual tour company.


Brad Hahn & Steve Ricker
CustomTours360
Evansville Virtual Tour Company
www.CustomTours360.com
Order a Virtual Tour - 812-550-5321

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Virtual Tours of Condos

So you're not sure if you should do a virtual tour of your condominium (condo) listing or not? Well, condo and apartment virtual tours are just as powerful as townhouse and single family home 360 virtual tours. Even in the most basic condo we can highlight amenities such as the community work out or party room, swimming pools, club house, tennis and basketball courts, volleyball court, open space parks, playgrounds or whatever other amenities might be in the community. It is really all up to you what you think will help sell the listing.

Still not sure? Well, visit this 360 virtual tour in King Farm, Rockville, Maryland and you will see what we were able to do with a three (3) bedroom condo. This tour has over 20 scenes, which makes it a perfect basic virtual tour provided by BakerB Solutions:

Direct link to the BakerB Solutions Interactive Virtual Tour

With all of our virtual home tours, we link the tour for you to the MRIS or MLS. We can also link the tour to Realtor.com if you select that option. To see how we leverage the power of the "spinning red house" click on this link to go to the Realtor.com listing for this condo. Then just click on the Spinning Red House to see the "Featured Virtual Tour" provided by BakerB Solutions: homes.realtor.com/realestate/rockville-md-20850-1092571505/

BakerB Solutions provides Interactive Virtual tours in Rockville, Maryland for residential real estate including condominiums, townhouses, duplexes, single family homes, luxury homes and vacation homes or properties. We also provide commercial property virtual tours for corporate offices and more. Call to schedule your virtual tour right now!


Alex Saenger
BakerB Solutions
Interactive Virtual Tours & Marketing Specialists
Rockville Maryland Virtual Tours
www.BakerB.com
Order a Tour - 301.424.8272

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Austin Virtual Tour Company Loves RTV

In our Austin, Texas virtual tour company we have the opportunity to work with other organizations and services to market our virtual tours. This gives us a chance to see how other companies handle customer service, do updates, and run their businesses.

We found out this week that we are now going to be charged a large amount of money to upload photos and virtual tours to our real estate agent's MLS listings. We did pay a fee per upload before, but now if we want to use the service we'll be billed bi-annually to participate. We are willing to do this to service our agents but this really highlights the incredible support and updates we receive from Real Tour Vision without these nickel and dime charges.

Thank you RTV for seeing the BIG picture...when we look good, you look good! When you look good, we look good...

Thank you to your incredible staff that is always available to help us with our every technical, sales, or support needs. We love working with your to provide high quality real estate virtual tours to our clients!

Alan Fon
Island Digital Images
Austin Texas Virtual Tour Company

Order a Virtual Tour - 512.799.0805

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Virtual Tours in a Buyer's Market

Right now the real estate market is a buyer's market. In a buyer's market you reach the buyers by giving them what they desire, which is convenience and information. Buyers are demanding 360 virtual tours so they can explore homes online at their convenience. Since there are so many homes on the market, a listing agent really needs to make their property stand out in creative ways. A few still shots of a home will not grab the attention of a tech savvy shopper.

The demand for virtual tours is a great opportunity for real estate agents to take advantage of a very cost efficient marketing tool. Virtual tours offer a 24/7 open house at the fraction of the cost of other advertising methods. The virtual tour also provides the agent with a pre-qualified lead that is interested in buying the home. Encourage real estate agents to go 100% virtual and maximizing their advertising dollars.

I hear stories time and time again of buyers that are searching for a home and have passed up properties that don’t have virtual tours. Then several months down the road the real estate agent will put up a virtual tour on the property and all of a sudden the property generates interest and sells. I had a broker tell me they were so glad they made the decision to put real estate virtual tours on all of their listings because their sales have been increasing and they love the cost efficiency of the virtual tours.

Ben Knorr
Real Tour Vision
Traverse City Virtual Tour Company
www.realtourvision.com

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Google Alerts Keep you on Top of Your Business

I like to keep up with what’s going on in the world of virtual tours. It’s a good idea to have a sense of what, why and how people are using virtual tours. I used to go to Google News (news.google.com) and just type in “virtual tours” once in a while to see what articles it finds, but I’ve found even a better way to get Google news. It’s called a Google Alert. You can set up a Google Alert to send you daily, weekly or “as-it-happens” alerts by email. You can customize the alert to a particular search phrase such as “Virtual Tour”. Google will then search news articles, press releases, blogs, etc… and deliver you the goods. I have mine set up so that once a week, Google will send me an email containing every new article about virtual tours it can find. It is usually about 10-20 articles a week and it gives me a great understanding of what is out there in the virtual tour world. It’s like having your very own Virtual Tour Industry Insider Report sent directly to you in the form of a short one page email complete with links and highlights.

Some of the most informative parts of the newsletter often come from right here in the virtual tour blog. Sometimes I get busy and don’t get a chance to check this blog out every day and it’s a good reminder of the wealth of information found here. It also gives me some great articles and material to link on my own website. Another great thing about Google Alerts is you can create separate alerts to keep up on just about anything. Another Alert I have is for “real estate marketing” which really helps me bring new ideas and services to my clients in my Tallahassee, FL virtual tour company.

Google also has another great tool called the Google Reader. This is great for keeping track of blogs and categorizing them for a better reading experience for the avid blog readers out there. I use it every day to add new blogs, and keep up on my favorites like this one, photography blogs, real estate marketing blogs and news and politics from sites I trust. You can see the results of my article and blog hunting on my website at www.tallytours.com where I keep my own blog and list articles that will help my own customers.

Myles Lasco
Tally Tours Virtual Tours
Tallahassee, FL Virtual Tours
www.TallyTours.com
Order a virtual tour - 850-491-3909

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Treasure Coast Virtual Tours

As a landlord, I was wasting a lot of time showing my properties to prospective tenants and buyers at all hours of the day. After researching various virtual tour technologies, I found that Real Tour Vison offered the best 360 panorama software and support. Although I originally set out to only market my own properties, it was not long before other landlords, investors and realtors wanted the same high quality virtual tours. I realized this was a great business opportunity for me to take a service that was working for me and to offer it to others. Plus, it is a lot of fun!

Today, I own and operate Treasure Coast Virtual Tour Company in Port Saint Lucie Florida. For inquiries, I can be reached on the internet at www.tcvirtualtour.com or by phone at 772-539-8007.

Thank you Real Tour Vision!

Cal Toler
Treasure Coast Virtual Tour Company
www.tcvirtualtour.com
Order a virtual tour -- 772-539-8007

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Virtual Tours from a Homebuyer's Perspective

This week I've been looking for a home in Buffalo Grove, Illinois. My agent did a lot of searching but I also got on Reator.com and looked for myself. Here's the funny thing...if a listing did not have multiple photos or a virtual tour, I just moved on! I really didn't think about it. It's just that if there was only a photo of the front of the house (or no photo) I wasn't interested. I know you think I probably am a little biased, but the reality is that when looking for a home my first thought was if there aren't any photos, what are they hiding?

As a virtual tour provider in Wisconsin and Illinois, I know how important it is to showcase a listing properly with good photos and a virtual tour. Now I an convinced! If you aren't taking multiple photos of your listings or getting a real estate home tour, you are missing out on a large number of potential buyers on the internet.

And now for the good news! I found a house (it's the cutest little thing!) and the owners accepted our offer yesterday. And yes, it did have multiple photos and a virtual tour!

Have a great week,

Peggy ~ Grand Property Tours
Illinois Virtual Tour Company
www.grandpropertytours.com
Order a Tour - 847-541-2154

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Virtual Tours - Beyond Real Estate

My Merrit Island virtual tour company has felt no pain in the current real estate downturn. Restaurants, hotels, gyms, tourist attractions, etc are all businesses that need virtual tours. Do a tour of a restaurant, the dining room, grounds etc. and then offer to do 10 or 15 speciality items from their menu also. That way customers can see what their food really looks like. I add a couple of pans in with the food so it doesn't get boring. I charge a lot more for a business virtual tour than for a real estate virtual tour.

I have an even better idea than just doing a single business. Go to your Chamber of Commerce and offer to do all the tours for their partners. Each partner pays for their own 360 virtual tour and perhaps even offer a special rate. Set up a link that goes to a separate website, belonging to you of course, and maintain that site for the chamber. My chamber has over 2,000 members so I will be busy for awhile. If your chamber is small then spread out to other area chambers. If the website is yours and the chamber and their partners are happy with your work what more could you ask for?

I have expanded my virtual tour business like you would not believe. I have done multimillion dollar businesses and resorts and when I got a little tired of that I went out and did "Lone Cabbage." I did their tour from an airboat and we went out hunting alligators (Cameras only no guns!) for a couple of hours. Check out Lone Cabbage on my website under Chamber of Commerce Partners.

Our virtual tour businesses are a gold mine for each and every one of us. Here's wishing everyone wonderful days ahead with earnings that will meet your highest goals.

Jeannie Nickerson
Advantage Virtual Tours
Florida Virtual Tour Company
www.advantagevirtualtours.com
Order a Virtual Tour - 321-459-1049

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