Building a Sales Pipeline Takes Time

We accomplish most of our virtual tour sales with "cold-calling". It has been said that things move slowly (like at a snail's pace) in the South. Being "Yankees" (not to be confused with Damn Yankees), we were accustomed to moving at high speed in every aspect of our lives. What have we learned after living 3 years in the South? Sales take time!

Our longest time from start to finish was over a year. Sometimes, however, you need to just "start" the virtual tour and build upon it later. That's what we can do for you at www.seeitsellstudios.com, your North East Mississippi Virtual Tour Provider

That was our experience at the gourmet restaurant "Park Heights" We are not yet finished with this virtual tour---it is a work in progress. To see what is now available go to:

http://rtvpix.com/RT-0266-ASI47D-01?h=500&w=700

First , we stopped in one day to drop off our card. Second, we sent an informal email with examples of our work as well as a narrative regarding the benefits a virtual tour offers a business. Third, we set up a meeting with the owner to demonstrate the 360 tour features. Finally, we began the virtual tour with some banquet room 360 scenes. We put in writing that we would be completing additional scenes as the areas of the restaurant were "staged".

We will be doing some additional patio 360 scenes as well as their roof-top dining. This is a fantastic restaurant. If you are ever in Tupelo, MS., perhaps visiting Elvis' birthplace, you simply must have a meal here.

Moral of this blog? Sales occur when you forge a relationship; they cannot be rushed.






Hugh Jordan
16 Tadpole Lane
Corinth, MS. 38834
www.seeitsellstudios.com
Order a virtual tour today: 662-664-0965

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Consistent Approach to Property Marketing

How property marketing was presented just a few years ago

Today the world of Real Estate marketing is radically different from just a few years ago.  Back then on-line 360 virtual tours  with a small set of pictures on a limited size screen was a marketing plan that could sell houses with diligent follow up from your neighborhood Realtor.

Internet property exposure has changed the process radically

Today bandwidth considerations are much more permissive enabling technologies that absorb the viewer into a more complete visualization of the home.  Virtual Tours use all types of marketing phrases for photography techniques, engaging technologies and delivery techniques. There are 360 degree panoramic images, Photoshop retouches, traffic reporting for your virtual tour, marketing plans, floor plans, video clips, HD and full screen delivery and HDR imaging just to name a few and 101 different other ways to present a home to home hunters on line.  The Realtors role has changed to being an expert advisor in the process of buying a home and an expert in negotiating the financial aspects of a home purchase.  Developing a compelling property marketing plan is a challenge to accomplish with all the other demands placed on a Realtor.

A lot of features but no real plan to build a complete property marketing plan

Many Realtors realize that virtual tours are a central piece to the marketing plan for a listing today but all too often virtual tours are just a set of images with modern bandwidth demanding features but no real delivery plan behind the images.  A Realtor should have a marketing strategy that ties all of their tools in to a cohesive system.  A marketing system that addresses the prospective buyer's questions during the internet search,  at the point of interest and in casual meetings with interested prospective buyers or other Realtors is needed to create a consistent message about the listing that is easily identifiable no matter what Realtor is showing the property or what research is being done on the internet.  With statistical data being the constant factor the variables are the Realtors property description and the photography images available on line and in the virtual tour.  The message in these subjective elements of the plan need to be synchronized so complete marketing system can be a compelling orchestra of information.

A Complete Property Listing Marketing Plan

While we take care to discuss each element of a listing marketing plan below, the key fundamental of a successful system is cross-marketing.  Cross-marketing of programs ties all the different programs together and validates interest by reinforcing one marketing source with another.  People like to hear the same story from different sources, even if those sources originated from the same place!

During the Internet search

Just posting a virtual tour on the internet isn't enough anymore.  Home hunters are looking at multiple sources of information that validate property credibility.  Sometimes when an outstanding listing is available it gets cross-marketed by other Realtors that want to increase their chances of selling the favorable property to their clients.  This is a good thing in some ways but can be confusing if the message about the property isn't consistent.  The end result can be loss of potential buyer that couldn't sort out the selling message of the Realtor and the selling message of the property images made available by the selling Realtor.
The best option is to launch a desk top internet marketing program that includes posting at the top internet home hunting sites.  Exposure Elements offers a comprehensive Exposure Engine to solve this challenge through controlled distribution.  The reasonable cost saves your nights and weekends from the drudgery of listing posting hell as well.  We post to 80+ sites for you and include cross marketing for all the marketing services you choose at the time you book the virtual tour.

At the point of interest

While while the best virtual tours can drive flocks of interested potential buyers to your property it is impractical or just plain impossible to meet every interested party.   Most Realtors use the "property flyer" to solve this challenge. A printed sheet that varies from a 50 cent/sheet budget color copy to productions that can cost as much as $3.00 or more per flyer.  The added challenge is that the fliers can drain out of the flier box at a rate of 30-50 per week or more without leaving any clue to who was interested or taking the fliers.  There is no measurable return on this investment and no way to engage with an interested party.

At Exposure Elements we recommend that Realtors consider using an SMS mobile marketing tool that we offer to provide an accountable and a measurable alternative to the flier.  Our TxT2Look single property mobile website delivers images, a detailed property description, a realtor background and even a link to a mobile virtual tour or YouTube video.  This tool was developed to replace the old single property website that is still being used today by uninformed realtors.  Single property mobile websites get your listing on a home hunters phone providing that  valuable second look that can engage a buyer well after they have made the visit to the home and neighborhood.  It provides information to interested parties 24 hours a day and NEVER runs out.  It presents the information in a data format so it can be easily forwarded.  The service uses SMS text messaging to deliver initial data and to simplify access to the mobile internet.  SMS text messaging is found on 98 percent of the mobile phones in the US today and virtually every cell phone sold today supports SMS text messaging. An included reporting feature can give you the validation and valuable insight to visitor interest and as a silver lining, it will capture their mobile phone number for follow up.   If this home isn't the right home for the mobile inquirer you may be able to help them find another home that will work for them.

In situations where Information on Demand is required

Anywhere and everywhere the listing Realtor goes they encounter potential home buyers that could be the buyer for their listing.  Usually the common response is to send the interested person home to view the property on the internet.  The problem here is twofold.  In today's world of information access at your mobile phone anytime, people want information now and are becoming accustomed to getting it.  Being without an engaging tool to share your listing at the moment can potentially lose a buyer and most assuredly can cause you to lose the opportunity to get that interested persons ongoing communication.
Sending people home to see a property on the internet is a lost cause today as they likely forget and move on to another listing.  Sending them to a desk top website on their mobile phone is another lost cause that will only frustrate your potential home buyers.  The Exposure Elements Single Property Mobile Website solves these challenges and does it in an elegant and engaging way using SMS text messaging to access the mobile internet.

Validation of marketing efforts is imperative to a successful marketing plan

Quality images, single property mobile websites, a cohesive distribution strategy, virtual tours,  these are all elements of a marketing strategy that when put together correctly can drive home hunters to your listing BUT they are not worth much if you can't prove that they are working!  Reporting mechanisms need to be in place to monitor the success of the strategy and understand what parts of the plan are driving the interest.  As I mentioned above, the single property mobile website has some very good reporting tools included in the service delivery but that isn't enough.  Exposure Elements also offers a virtual tour reporting tool that provided weekly reports showing the number of visitors by day, which tour images are the most popular and how those people are getting pointed to the virtual tour.   With the ample amount of data proving that home shoppers want to see virtual tours it becomes a no brainer to point all your marketing efforts towards the virtual tour ultimately providing the validation or rejection of marketing sources and your property listing strategy.

Tying all the services together to create one cohesive and consistent marketing service

In review, the three components for a successful marketing plan are internet property marketing at real estate portal sites, internet property marketing at the point of interest and an internet property marketing tool that is easily accessible to a Realtor in his/her daily public activities.  Creating a unified approach using cross-marketing techniques that tie the images, the property description and the property statistics into one consistent message focusing on the same value points eliminates home hunter confusion and ultimately builds buyer confidence in the property.   Adding validation reporting that can be delivered to the seller increases seller confidence and validates the value of the marketing system by proving the marketing plans effectiveness.

Exposure Elements is a growing Silicon Valley Virtual Tour and SMS Mobile Marketing company wrapping these services together to create the first complete property exposure marketing company in Northern California.  We are committed to creating a better, more efficient method of marketing property that adds value to everyone in the selling process.  To order an Exposure Elements listing marketing program in the San Francisco Bay Area call us at 408-440-2278 or 408-431-0461.

Stan Davis
Silicon Valley Virtual Tours

www.exposureelements.com
Order a virtual tour: 408-431-0461

text Stan to 43766 for contact info and text business card

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Tallahassee Testimonial

I have been a virtual tour provider for several years. RTV is hands down the best virtual tour software company in the industry. RTV provides lighting fast support, online seminars that are fun and informative on various topics like marketing, photography techniques, business strategies, and the product the product is fantastic to boot.

The major draw for me is that they offer a system for businesses like myself that streamlines the entire tour process from shoot to production to hosting. They even send my customers weekly stats. As a provider with RTV they often send me leads and direct jobs through their 32 national partnerships they have under contract.

My company produces nearly a thousand virtual tours annually, and I could not do it as efficiently any other way. There are other virtual tour building software companies, hosting companies, panoramic stitching software companies, equipment companies, and it is possible to spend a lot of time and money putting together your own system that works.

But you won't find a single system that works for you like RTV does. You won't find a system built from the ground up specifically for Real Estate photography and business virtual tours. You really can't do any better if your in the business and depend on quality AND quantity with a fast turnaround for your customers. Is there room for improvement in their system? Yes. They aren't a huge corporation with an unlimited budget. But they listen to the needs of their customers, prioritize their upgrades, and always surprise me with new and improved services.  I can't wait until the new RealTour Fusion system comes out any day now!!



Tally Tours Inc
Tallahassee Virtual Tours
www.TallyTours.com
Order a Virtual Tour (850) 491-3909












Myles produces all of the final products and virtual tours for Tally Tours.  He turns Aaron's photos into virtual tours, photo tours, and digitally enhanced still photos.

Myles started Tally Tours in 2005. He is a professional photographer with a degree in Digital Media Production from Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison, NJ.

Myles worked in television and film production from 2002 - 2004.  His credits include working with Good Morning America, VH1, various national television commercials, and many large TV & film productions such as MTV's Making the Band, The Jamie Kennedy Experiment, and M. Night Shyamalan's The Village.

Myles began producing Virtual Tours and photography for real estate in Philadelphia before moving to Tallahassee with his girlfriend who has since completed her graduate degree in Classical Archeology from FSU.

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Improving Your Photography

Interior photography can be tricky sometimes and sometimes the photos don’t come out quite like you or the client hopes.  I myself have been noticing some problems with photos coming in for Tour Track jobs.  It seems that lately people photographing interiors of model homes and hotels have been framing their pictures in a way that shows quite a bit of the ceiling, too much ceiling really.  While showing the ceiling may seem to give the feeling of a larger room, if it cuts off the furniture as a result it should not be done.  It may seem natural to walk right in and point and shoot, but stop, take a look, adjust your camera and then really scrutinize what you see through the view finder.  If all else feels, take your shot, then re frame it and take another from a lower perspective or angled so more bed/furniture shows than ceiling. 

Remember, your photography and virtual tour client is expecting you to be the creative eye.  They get their rooms ready but they are not doing so with the knowledge of how a room will photograph, that is your job.  So take a look around, check each shot when you take it.  Are you showing up in a reflected mirror?  If you’re using your on-board flash don’t shoot directly at a surface that will reflect (I see this a lot with wooden furniture and plants)-in fact just turn off the flash and try shooting that show on a tripod with a low shutter speed instead (try bracketing and combining exposures).  Make sure your aperture is set small so the room is in good focus, there is nothing worse than having an sharply focused object in the foreground and everything else blurry.  Open your eyes, is there a garbage can that should be moved, pillows crooked, can furniture be rearranged to make the space seem larger and more appealing?  Ask yourself all of these each time you enter a new space.

I found this article online and it offers some good tips on how to best shoot your interiors.  http://www.photocentric.net/real_estate_interiors.htm He has some great examples of images along with what is wrong with them and how they can be better.

Educating yourself on your trade is key.  In efforts to offer good feedback and advice to our virtual tour photographers, RTV has established a Photography Review Board (RTVPRB) consisting of a few reputable volunteer photographers from our system.  Now, when a client complains about a photo shoot, RTV uploads the images in question to a gallery of photos for the RTVPRB to go over and offer comments and tips.

It may seem easier just to send someone back out to try to fix their error or reassign it all together, but that does the photographer a disservice.  It takes away their opportunity to learn and grow in their art and it would be saying either, I don’t have the time to help you do better, or I don’t think you’re capable of doing better.  RTV wants to work with you to help you be the best you can be.  Because we believe in you and we know you are capable of doing amazing things.




Jacqueline Burke
Director of National Accounts
Virtual Tour Software & Hotel Photography
Toll Free 866-947-8687 ext 493
www.realtourvision.com
Like us on Facebook

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How it all Started - RealVision History

This all started about about 34 years ago. At age 16 I was photographing weddings and already doing portrait photography. I had a love of photography that stemmed from my Grandfather. He was not a professional but he also had the same passion. I worked in Allen Brooks Studio in Westland, Michigan for many years as a portrait and, wedding  and commercial photographer. In the early 90's I was burned out and decided to make a career change. I decided that I would work in the computer field and worked as the lead Technician for Michigan Mulitple Listing Service now known as MIRealSource. In 1997 I met the love of my life Joy and we were married in 1998. Joy also share my same passion for photography and computers. She graduated from Eastern Michigan University with degrees in business and computers. Joy was working for JC Penny as a manger and was not happy. I told Joy that we should start a web design company.  From there Web Wizard Creations we born.

Joy started the web design company in 1999 and that's when things really started to change. Joy was working very hard and building the new business. In 2001 I decided that it was time for me to focus on our future and continue building our business. I left the MLS came to work with Joy.  To this day she always reminds me that I work for her (smile). When I was working at the MLS virtual tours where just staring to come out. I thought that they where pretty cool and would make a great marketing piece. I immediately know that I had a passion for virtual tours and as a professional photographer I knew the quality of the tours I was seeing was horrible. I started doing research and I found a virtual tour software company here in northern Michigan called Real Tour Vision (RTV) they had the process for doing virtual tours that I liked and they looked great. At that time we where doing web design for real estate agents and resorts, both of which could benefit from virtual tour technology. In 2001 Joy and I decided that we would make the investment and start offering virtual tours. Real Vision Studio, a Metro Detroit virtual tour company was born.

After a very short time the virtual tour company took off and we found we had made the right decision. We where shooting virtual tours all over Michigan and also traveling across the US for larger accounts. Also we discovered the benefits of being a part of the worlds largest virtual tour network that spans into 50 countries and with over 2000 photographers offering  360 tour technology. No matter where the job was located we had the network to get the job done.

Present day, we have two very unique companies to help anyone with online marketing. Web Wizard Creations  and Real Vision Studio. With our years of experience in photography, web design, and digital marketing we know how important online presence is and we help build stronger brands every day.

Remember that everything is all about perception. More people today use the Internet when making decisions that affect their life from buying a home to going on vacation, so make sure your web site has everything they need to make an educated decision about you!

Michael & Joyce Thompson
Real Vision Studio
Southeast Michigan Virtual Tours
www.RealVisionStudio.com
Order a virtual tour today: 734-727-2276

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Excellence is Our Standard

At Vision Quest Virtual Tours, we photograph all of our tours using a secret technique that provides an incredible level of clarity and detail that is not available in traditional photography.  For each individual image, we photograph many exposures and then blend these together to provide an image that shows both the dark and bright areas equally well.  To see the difference that HDR makes, take a look at this tour...http://rtvpix.com/BU-0966-L16DVB-01?h=500&w=700


We photographed 350 tours in 31 states last year and drove 39,000 miles to shoot tours.  We photograph a wide range of virtual tours and our prices range anywhere from $100 to $2,500 per 360 tour depending on the size and scope of the job.  I read a Facebook comment earlier today from a photographer that said that he would not consider shooting using HDR unless it was on a higher price tour because he felt like it was extra work and the extra time made it cost prohibitive.

That confounds me!  We pride ourselves on providing an excellent product no matter if we are shooting a one bedroom condo or a huge hospital.  Like I said earlier, we charge according to the scope of the job but every single image we shoot is photographed using the multi exposure technique because it gives us the best results every time...and we think that's why our customers choose to work with us!

By the time we publish a virtual tour, we will have used no less than 6 different software programs to create the end result.  Because of the volume we do, we have streamlined our processes and invested in our systems so that in actuality it takes us almost the same amount of time to shoot a tour using our technique as it does to shoot without it. Even if it does take a little longer, we find it easier to just do our best work every time and trust that it will all even out in the end.



















Greg and Paige Mitts
Quincy Illinois Virtual Tours
http://www.VisionQuestVirtualTours.com
Order a virtual tour: 404-863-9769

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The Drive to 1000 Tours

So far our local virtual tour company, "Perfect Images" has done 500 virtual tours. We've done tours for 80 realtors and over 35 real estate companies, some commercial business too. Does this make us experts on Virtual Tours? I believe it does. I remember the days when our first virtual tours would take us about two to three hours to finish. Of course, it did not take us long to bring this time down to one hour or less. I am talking about the whole process.

Taking the pictures takes approximately 30 minutes and the stitching process another 30 minutes or less. You know, that what's so great about working with a virtual tour software company like Real Tour Vision. The process is simple and fast. Their customer service is outstanding, and for that reason we can guarantee our customers the links the same day of the photo shoot! Isn't that incredible?

It's amazing the horror stories I here about other virtual tour companies. Some take a whole week to send the links out and some just don't do it at all.

Real Tour Vision is an example of what a virtual tour company should be, outstanding customer service and a pioneer in technology. I see myself and my company being a part of Real Tour Vision for a very long time.  Great Job Real Tour Vision!

Claudia Jaramillo
Perfect Images
www.360perfectimages.com

Ivan Herrera & Claudia Jaramillo
Vero Beach Virtual Tours

Perfect Images
www.360perfectimages.com

Call us today - 772-559-2364

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Recuva to the Rescue!

It was a long day and after getting home from a 4 hour virtual tour at Macedonia Baptist Church in Detroit. I was sitting at my desk and my dog Maggie was being so cute and playing doing something I have been trying to get on video for months, but every time I pick up the camera she always stops.

I grabbed the camera out of the camera bag and started filming and she quite doing it, as usual.  Not thinking I went to erase the video and selected "all" and pushed the delete button.  I knew the very moment I did it and said aloud "oh Sh**".  It was too late, all 17 spins where gone!

I wanted to cry. I told my husband Mike and he said, "Hold on a second, they are still there, the FBI recovers erased data all the time we should be able to do the same."  I searched online and found a FREE program called Recuva and downloaded it, after I installed it and ran the program, it recovered ALL the deleted images on my memory card.  I couldn't have been happier! 

Important fact to note, if this happens to you DO NOT take any other photos or it will start overwriting where your images were stored. Pull the card from the camera and set it aside, download the software from here http://www.piriform.com/recuva and follow the instructions. This was a happy ending, even though I still don't have my cute video of Maggie.


 
Michael & Joyce Thompson
Real Vision Studio
Southeast Michigan Virtual Tours
www.RealVisionStudio.com
Order a virtual tour today: 734-727-2276

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More Secrets from The Traveler’s Gift

The book The Traveler’s Gift by Andy Andrew is about Seven Decisions That Determine Personal Success and I am reflecting on how these decisions apply to our virtual tour business. I wrote earlier about the first Decision - “The buck stops here. I am responsible for my past and my future.”  The next three decisions are somewhat interrelated as they are all about our actions.

The second Decision of the book came from King Solomon and was “I will seek wisdom. I will be a servant to others”.  It seems strange that the man who is considered the wisest man ever would advise the traveler to seek wisdom.  But there is truth in the idea that the more you learn, the more you realize how little you know.  Our virtual tour technology provider, RTV, Inc. has a national conference that we will be attending in May.  I will be teaching other virtual tour providers about how to market their virtual tour business but the real reason we are attending is to learn from other virtual tour dealers about their best practices.  Even after almost 15 years as a professional photographer, Greg is always open to learn better ways of improving his skills and systems as a photographer.

The third Decision of the book is “I am a person of action. I seize this moment. I choose now.”  This decision was shared by a Civil War colonel at a critical time in the war.  Given the choice to surrender or charge, the colonel gave the order to charge and in doing so changed the outcome of the war.

Quitting is often a temptation but as the colonel in the book said, “When I am faced with the choice of doing nothing or doing something, I will always choose to act.”  Most of us will never face a physical battlefield but we must make this same decision on a daily basis in the battlefields of our minds.  Armed with this simple philosophy, we can usually win our battle at least for the day.

I have found a way to work my way through a quagmire is often not to focus on the big picture but instead to break my actions down into manageable pieces.  I have a goal of making at least 100 contacts every week and that number can be overwhelming so when faced with the temptation to take a break or quit before the end of the day, I force myself to make 5 more calls.  Usually, the 5 turns into 10 and the 10 turns into 20 but by deciding to do SOMETHING, I am often able to get over the hump.

The fourth Decision, “I have a decided heart. My destiny is assured” was shared with the traveler by Christopher Columbus during his journey to find the New World.  Armed with little other than a dream, Columbus was passionate about his vision of an undiscovered land.  This passion allowed him to push on despite months of travel with no land in sight...and despite the fact that almost everyone thought he was crazy to try.

Having your own business requires just this sort of determination - especially the sales part.  Like I said earlier, I know that when I am calling for a new area, I need to make about 100 calls in order to book two or three tours.  What that means is that I am going to get no one on the phone or get told NO about 97 times a week.   I got an email last week from a business that said they were interested in doing a tour but needed to pass for now.  I exclaimed my disappointment and Greg said, “I think sometimes you think everybody that shows any interest is a Yes”.

I realized at that minute that there’s a reason that he’s the photographer and technical guy and I’m the salesman.  He’s right...I absolutely believe that everybody that I talk to would benefit from what I am selling because before I call, I have researched their websites to see if a virtual tour would be a good addition to their marketing efforts.  I know the value and quality of our tours so I am absolutely flabbergasted every time someone tells me “No”.  If I did not think that way, I would become overwhelmed by the 97 No’s I get and I would want to quit making the calls.
But like Columbus, even though I may not see dry land, I have a clear vision of where I am going and I know without a doubt that if I put in the hours on the phones, the results and my destiny are guaranteed.  There are many things you can’t control when you own your own business but you ARE in control of your actions and your attitude.

















Greg and Paige Mitts
Quincy Illinois Virtual Tours
http://www.VisionQuestVirtualTours.com
Order a virtual tour: 404-863-9769

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An RTV Testimonial

I discovered RTV virtual tour software company after going through the economic downturn and a layoff, subsequently losing my home and the death of my father all at once in 2008. Needless to say, I did not want to waste any money on some fly by night venture. RTV has proved to be one of the biggest blessings of my life!

I eventually went back to work in my field, and still do the virtual tour business part time, which will eventually be my full time business. Team RTV is without a doubt one of the most honest, straightforward company I have ever met. They define the meaning of technical support. When you join RTV, you join a family. They are a no pressure, learn as you go, extremely positive group, and it is contagious.

Everyone I meet, whether it is a fellow RTV dealer, or the folks at RTV in Traverse City, is ready to help in any way they can. I highly recommend them as a media consultant, a virtual tour provider, SEO guru, a franchise business, but most importantly, as a friend.


Buffy Crosby
Owner
Virtual Tour Success
www.virtualtoursuccess.com
Harrison virtual tours

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The Inappropriate Status Update

Hey everyone out there it's your Nova Scotia virtual tour dealer with a little Facebook rant.

Sometimes when writing blogs about my virtual tour company, I get the opportunity to store up all the bitterness I collect day-to-day and spew it forth under the guise of ‘Opinion’. Today is one of those days so get ready! There are few things I find more pathetic and distasteful than people who misuse Facebook by posting inappropriate status updates or using Facebook as a weapon to hurt people.

Status updates are great (they’re probably my favorite thing about the social networking site), but sometimes they offer serious TMI. FACEBOOK is the 2nd most popular word that starts with an F and ends with a K.

You've all seen this type of update "i'm sorry our love/hate relationship has turned into a hate/please die motherf%^ *#r relationship"  Come on! It sucks you two broke up – but, keep it to yourself and get over it already. Do you really think the object of your aggression is going to read what you’ve written, sensibly digest and modify their behavior accordingly? I think not. Hostility breeds hostility.

Facebook is a great way to communicate with friends, family, and co-workers. You can update everyone on your life and you can do it all at once in a status update. Status updates are normally a very positive feature on Facebook. However, they can get you in trouble.

I finally had to block all of a “friend’s” status updates because I realized, over the course of a couple of weeks, that she was one of the most consistently negative people. Her status updates were a litany of how difficult her life as a stay at home mom is, how unappreciative her husband and children are of her many sacrifices, and so on. No one’s life is a bed of roses, but when Facebook status updates are your outlet, and that’s how you’re choosing to express yourself to the immediate world, then something’s wrong.

Ultimately, it’s up for you to decide where social boundaries exist in the digital world.  I really like this article of the 5 Do's and Don'ts of Facebook etiquette.

Book your Nova Scotia virtual tour today. www.supernovastudios.ca

Nancy Bain

Nova Scotia Virtual Tours

http://www.supernovastudios.ca/
Call now - 902-298 0052

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Back up Your Flash!

I absolutely love my Olympus for taking virtual tours. It is light weight and compact for the results it produces. And it is a powerhouse camera producing crisp images with a long lasting battery life. But what happens when you stress out a compact zoom to its limit? BOOM - the flash blows WHAMMY you just cooked your shutter!  I had the pleasure of hearing my flash explode while I shot a Maryland virtual tour It scared the crap out of me with an explosion merely inches from my eye ball! Yup it finally happened to me. What did I do to deserve this?  Maybe a few thousand virtual tours with shots blasting out one after the other non-stop, and most using the flash.

So if you add in that each tour captures at least 100 photos with 3000 tours, that's roughly 300,000 photos taken with that flash. Now I'm no light bulb scientist, but if you stress out any bulb that hard its bound to blow. And it did. Luckily I had taken all 5 360 real estate tours for the day and only had 1 panoramic and 2 stills left to take. I simply set up the camera on the tripod and used existing light. But what would have been better is to have an external flash! So now my hand is forced to have one. But realistically I am glad. The external flash gives much more control of the lighting with angles and also has a separate power supply. Sure the camera will not be as nimble, but at least I had my camera up and operational the next day. Although I do have other virtual tour cameras as backups.

The moral of the story is use the flash on your camera as a backup, not the primary flash. Then if your external flash runs out of juice or breaks during a shoot, you at least have the built-in flash as a backup.

Alex Saenger

BakerB Solutions, Inc.

Maryland Virtual Tours

www.BakerB.com
Order a virtual tour:301.424.8272
Real Estate & Technology
Marketing Experts

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To my Fellow Realtors

For all my fellow REALTORS – and specifically listing agents:

Interesting thing happened to me on my way to show some homes. As I perused our local MLS searching for listings to show my buyers, I came to the realization that virtual tours actually do sell homes. Perhaps, I should qualify that – QUALITY virtual tours actually do sell homes (funky virtual tours and slide shows do a listing an injustice and drive buyers away in droves, many times laughing all the way – What's up with the pan of the toilet in that cramped master bath?).

O.K, granted, I didn't have quite the epiphany I describe above, since I must admit I have come to this realization before. Moreover, I understand, too, that once you know that I'm a real estate agent as well as a virtual tour provider you may think my positive view towards virtual tours a rather biased one. I'd need to stop you right there, though. Providing a virtual tour for each one of your listings is a no-brainer. When you look at the sheer numbers, and I swear it seems to go up a percentage point each month, there's no disputing the fact that more buyers start their home search on-line than not. The actual figure was way past 70% at last glance. That's a phenomenal amount of prospective buyers out there in cyberspace searching in earnest for their next home. I know this to be true since I work with buyers on a daily basis; they are extremely tech-savvy and ever searching.

So, here's the deal – with my market experiencing a huge buyer's market, there is entirely too much inventory to focus my searches on listings with no pictures, let alone no real estate virtual tour. And interesting thing is, my buyers feel the same way. The fact is that houses with the most pictures will generate the most interest and will get the most showings while those listings that have no pictures will get placed at the very bottom of the "to see" list at warp speed. Case in point – on a recent weekend, I showed 31 houses to a buyer who was only in town (from Japan, I kid you not) for an extended weekend. There was absolutely no interest on his part in seeing anything without pictures (and believe it or not, there were many). Imagine if your picture-less listing was on our list and, therefore, at the bottom of the 54 that met his search parameters. What's the likelihood of him seeing your listing? You don't think he would've found his dream home among the previous 53.

All that to say, the seller's market that we are experiencing right now will absolutely separate the wheat from the chaff. It's time for you to be the best listing agent you can be, pull out your bag of tricks, rev up your marketing, call your virtual tour provider, and get your listings sold. Spend the marketing dollars necessary to get your listings in front of all those web-browsing buyers, then experience the return on your investment many-fold.

Dan Hammar
Remerica Country Homes
Detroit Area Realtor
dhammar((AT))remerica.com

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What is your Professionalism Score?

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. http://www.picturesdosellhouses.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/mls-average.jpg
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.

DragonFly 360 Imaging is a locally owned and operated virtual four company providing a wide range of photographic services and real estate marketing services to the Greater Albuquerque NM area.

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.

Dale Hart

Owner - DragonFly 360 Imaging

Albuquerque Virtual Tours

www.dragonfly360imaging.com

Order a virtual tour: 505-359-8885

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7 Decisions that Determine Personal Success

I just finished reading the book “The Traveler’s Gift” by Andy Andrews and it had a profound impact on me.  This simple little book describes the journey of a man who travels back through history to learn important lessons from historical figures such as Christopher Columbus and Abraham Lincoln.  As I read the book, I couldn’t help but think about how these same lessons apply in my life and business.  The subtitle of the book - Seven Decisions that Determine Personal Success - refers to these seven lessons.

The first decision was explained by Harry Truman and the lesson is that “The Buck Stops Here” or in other words, we all must take personal responsibility for where we are.  Andrews writes, “I am where I am today -- mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally, and financially -- because of how I think”.  In order to change where I am, I must change how I think.

How I think determines how I act and the decisions I make.  The decisions I make today, directly control the outcome of where I am tomorrow.  Every day we face the cumulative effect of all the other decisions we have made.  I have a terrible habit of staying up way too late which means I wake up late which means I lose valuable business hours. I have the same amount of hours that everyone else does in a day but it’s how I utilize them that determines my success.

Not only must I focus on working hard, I must also work smart.  Not all of those hours are equal.  Sure it would be a great idea for me to go for a run but right now may not be the ideal time for that.  A run would take me away from my desk during business hours and right now I need to be talking to people about virtual tours.

We feel blessed to have a successful virtual tour business, Vision Quest Virtual Tours.  We frequently hear people tell us that we are so lucky or that they are jealous of the life we live but many decisions go into our success.  Here are 7 of the decisions that were critical in getting us where we are today:

We chose to downsize our stuff so we could supersize our lifestyle.  We live in a tiny house with a tiny payment and very little overhead.  We have just one car.  Because we have chosen to travel, we don’t need a bunch of stuff or a big house.  Because we don’t have a bunch of stuff, we are free to travel.
                          
We live entirely on cash and have chosen not to utilize credit cards.  This sometimes affects where we are able to travel or the timing of certain purchases but it gives us a sense of certainty in knowing that we haven’t gone into debt to start or run our business.  It also means we have to carefully watch our balance sheet to make sure we are keeping the pipeline of future virtual tour business full.

We decided that one shared income was enough since it meant that we get to work together every single day.  There are times we would love to have at least one steady paycheck but this is the risk we chose in being self employed running a virtual tour company. The rewards greatly outweigh the risks.

We decided that we would focus our time on what we do best.  For us that is two main lines of business - healthcare and education and Vacation rentals and hospitality.  By having a crystal clear focus, we can streamline our efforts and create an impressive portfolio in those distinct lines.

We dedicated our virtual tour business to serving others and we give back a portion of every dollar we make.  We think “luck” has very little to do with our success so we honor the giver of the gifts through donated tours and charitable contributions.

We decided that we would price our virtual tours in a manner that made the accessible to almost any business.  We believe so highly in the value of the 360 interactive virtual tour and have seen what it can do for a business.  We would rather have many smaller jobs than try to gouge a few people.  We believe that by offering a high quality product at a fair value, everyone wins.

We decided that having the right partner changes everything and we are so grateful that we chose RTV, Inc. virtual tour software company for our virtual tour technology.  They are constantly evolving and refining their systems so we don’t have to spend any of our time, money or efforts on researching and development.  We have a back office that makes us look even better than we are and we are eternally grateful for the support of the RTV team.

These are Seven Decisions that have helped determine our personal success.  What are the decisions you have made that have gotten you to where you are today?  What decisions could you make that could change where you are tomorrow?  I’ll be blogging about the other decisions over this week but for now, it’s business time and I need to get back on the phones.

Vision Quest Virtual Tours is a full service virtual tour provider specializing in virtual tours for Healthcare, Hospitality and Education.  We split our time between Charleston, SC and Quincy, IL however have photographed over 350 business virtual tours in 31 states.

Greg and Paige Mitts
Quincy Illinois Virtual Tours
http://www.VisionQuestVirtualTours.com
Order a virtual tour: 404-863-9769 

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Home Buyers & Renters Choose by Disqualification

Qualification for Living Accommodations Before
15 years ago and to a lesser degree 5 years ago home buyers and rental hunters chose their living accommodations by a process of qualification.  They had a wish list of  features that they sorted out based on realtor description, newspaper advertisements and some magazine publications.  They started with a short list of choices and filtered those choices through description, a few available images and visual appraisal.  The choices were frequently dictated by filtered delivery through a property manager or realtor.  While the process in theory could go on forever, in practice the efficiency of looking at a significant number of properties was outweighed by the urgency to find your next living accommodations.

Qualification for Living Accommodations Today
Fast forward to current home buying and rental hunting processes.  Today people looking for accommodations have the choice of previewing virtually any property available for lease or purchase from their home computer through the wonder of the internet.  They also have detailed neighborhood metrics and statistics available at the touch of their computer pointing device.  This incredible amount of information provides buyers and renters with an astonishing amount of choices they can  filter through without the help of a realtor or property manager.  Consequently the roles for realtors and property managers have changed quite a bit from a position of market knowledge to position of product knowledge.  It also means that realtors and property managers engage with their clients at a stage later in the living accommodation selection process.  Usually a result of this is that the client already has a clear idea of the objectives they want to accomplish and the features that they want included in their living accommodations.  Frequently they also have narrowed the selection process down to a few options.

A Shift in the Marketing Process
Often what goes unnoticed though, is how this shift affects the marketing process.  Most realtors and property managers have come to the realization that images readily available on the internet help buyers and renters with this early on evaluation process but many times they fail to realize that a fundamental change has taken place that significantly affects the qualification process.

Because there are so many choices available to buyers and renters today these consumers no longer use the "old" qualification process for selecting living accommodations.  Time and decision resources require them to be more efficient in their selection process.  This means that while they may start with a qualification list, if they still have to many options to chose from after applying their qualifications they employ a process of disqualification.  Disqualification is the process of eliminating selection choices based on speculation drawn from the available data and the images available.  While not scientific, it represents a method of logic for narrowing the list of appraisal worthy properties to a manageable task that can be completed in a timely manner.

Disqualification based on available data is more often than not objective and if the realtor or property manager finds that it is subjective but not to the point it can be easily changed without much impact. 

How you can take advantage of this change
Realtors and property managers can use disqualification to their advantage though by understanding the competitive nature of the early search process and taking advantage of their slower to adapt to competition.  By consciously recognizing that you want your photography to be of the top two to three choices among similar properties and including high quality, feature laden virtual tours (high definition full screen viewing, floor plans, professional staging, etc)  your property or listing will stand out in the disqualification process resulting in more interest, more demand and less disqualification.

Discover the Property Marketing Experts that can help you leverage this change.
Exposure Elements, a San Francisco Bay Area virtual tour provider, understands property marketing and the buyer or renters typical decision process.  Our photography is distanced by image quality that incorporates sound photography technique and uncommon digital editing experience.  Our virtual tours, developed by our partner Real Tour Vision,  are the most comprehensive tours available today with support for floor plans, full motion video, high definition imaging and full screen viewing. 

Real Tour Vision is the largest network of independent virtual tour providers in the world providing them the leverage to deliver the finest real estate virtual tour software available. Email Exposure Elements for more information or visit our website to see our virtual tour gallery for real estate.  If you are a property manager or business, visit or image gallery of San Jose and the Greater Silicon Valley area business tours and apartments at http://www.siliconvalleyvirtualtourblog.com.




Best Regards,

Stan Davis
Exposure Elements
408-431-0461 (m)
408-440-2278 (d)
text Stan to 43766 for contact info and text business card

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Unthink.com - What were they (un)Thinking?

Your Nova Scotia virtual tour dealer on the latest social network – Unthink.

There’s a lot of noise out there about social media. Unthink is the latest social network, and was supposed to rival Facebook.  Should you sign up? Where do you find the time for (yet) another social network. Have a read, I may be able to save you some time so you can all get back to focusing on building up your virtual tour business.

Yesterday I became an “Unthinker”. After nearly four years in secret development, feisty Unthink.com is the newest social network on the block. Their goal is to kick Facebook and Google+ out of the social media realm. Unthink promises to be the start of a social revolution, but hardly delivers.

Their anti-Facebook videos say  “It’s FU time” Check out the YouTube video  

The key difference is about data and security. You have full control over how much you show various groups of people. Unthink have made all the default options restricted, so you need to ‘enable’ your data to be shared.  Unthink has given your URL a “Deed" agreement stating that this is your property and they will not interfere, force changes to your setup, spy on you or collect data to sell to advertisers about you. You will be allowed to use a Pseudonym name on Unthink. There will be an identifier to let others know you are not using your real name but your confidentiality is protected.

You must create four separate profiles:
•    Basic - The fields here remind me of those on a dating site. Very personal, but never shown.
•    Social - For your family and friends
•    Professional - To be sure to present yourself appropriately to your work connections
•    Lifestyle - How you connect with brands
You can post status updates for each individual profile, and only followers of that specific profile ie-professional can see it in their stream. Very similar to creating friends lists on Facebook and targeting your updates to those lists - but more cumbersome.

Unthink  has a long way to go to become a Facebook killer. A friend called it a “grown up version of MySpace and equally as slow”.

Start-up pains are to be expected and Unthink had  database issues from the get-go: after I (finally) received my invitation with the activation code I got a password error message. I requested my password to be sent via email, it never arrived. Other friends had the same issue.

But the biggest problem - it is overly complicated without an intuitive interface. This is a very big deal and will deter most users. It is not user friendly, with many (too many) tabs and navigating. It took several minutes to find the invite tab. This is not a site for an inexperienced user. The help menu only reveals two promotional videos, no help at all. I like the idea of Unthink, but what I don’t like is how much I have to THINK about how to use their platform.

Top right hand corner (prime real estate) goes to the Brand that you choose to endorse you. Should you not choose to have a brand endorse you, users must pay $2 annually. #fail Social networkers will not pay for services they are already getting for free.

When I asked Carole Nickerson (a Facebook friend) what she thought of Unthink she said, “It’s not usable by today’s standards. They are trying to repackage the delivery of content and interaction with a structure that is now obsolete. We process data online much faster than we did 10 years ago. Heavy graphical design does not promote interaction. This looks like a generic cms script basically just tweaked a little.” And “I don’t even dare invite my Facebook friends. Way too much”.

The Lifestyle tree is an interesting idea. Designed to organize the brands you’re interested in. By adding a company’s leaf to your virtual tree, you choose the information that interest you, and the frequency per channel. It is completely anonymous. Some brands offer rewards for every message you read..

Unthink has two main types of pages, Suite and Stage. Suite is for Personal pages and Stage is for Businesses.

Although I’m not jumping up and down (like I was with Google+) at the user experience, I am looking forward to the business experience on Unthink.  Stage Pages seem well thought out.  Imagine a Business page that acts like a Fan page but where you can offer (all on one page) discounts, coupons, rewards, job listings, B2B communications events.

Expect mobile apps in a few months.

While there is definitely demand for more privacy and control within social networking sites, and the concept of owning your virtual space online instead of just building your presence to make someone else’s “digital property” more powerful, the start-up has a long road ahead.

Check out our Guide to Unthink .

Well there you have it fellow RTV Dealers, here’s a social network that (in my opinion) isn’t worth more time than it took to read this blog.

Book your Nova Scotia virtual tour today. www.supernovastudios.ca

Supernova Studios
393 Lower LaHave Road
Riverport, NS
B0J 2W0

Phone 902-766-TOUR (8687)
Toll Free 1-877-745-TOUR (8687)
Fax 902-766-4489

Got Facebook questions? Ask me on my fan page:
http://facebook.com/NovaScotiaVirtualTours

Are we following each other on Twitter?
http://twitter.com/nancyebain

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2012 & Beyond Tour Track Payment Policy

RTV is pleased to announce that effective immediately we will begin making payments to Tour Track photographers 30-35 days after the tour is marked complete.  We will be cutting checks each week and the longest you should have to wait for your check to be cut is 35 days. 

For example:
Tour Track virtual tour marked complete on 1/3/12
Due in 30 days = 2/2/12
We will pay every job due within that week – Sunday Jan 29th through Saturday Feb 4th on Friday, Feb 3rd.


Please allow processing and mailing time before inquiring about a status of a payment, if you haven’t received your check within 40 days feel free to drop us a note.  I want to thank all of you for your patience and commitment to our brand over the years. As our Tour Track program grew so quickly it's been tough coordinating everything and this payout process has been something that we've been looking to fix for some time now.  I hope you're all as excited as I am about our new Tour Track 2.0 system that's built into the RealTour Fusion platform.  It will save you all SO MUCH TIME! Of course it will help me out too. Finally, I hope you all have a prosperous and happy new year!

Yours Truly,


Jacque Stevens-Burk
Director of National Accounts
http://www.RealTourVision.com
Virtual Tour Software & Lots of Photography Jobs







PS. Don't forget to send chocolate!

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Get Ready Traverse City!

2011 was an amazing year here at BlueLaVaMedia.  Jim and I produced nearly 400 Traverse City virtual tours in the Northern Michigan market helping homes sell faster.  We were pleased to see that many of you noticed several enhancements Jim and I implemented throughout the year including significantly widening our still shots with a hardware upgrade, increasing the quality of our still images with our TrueBlue technology, delivering your listing images to you in a much cleaner and faster way, and finally, we increased the size of your virtual tour window to take full advantage of our High Definition images. 

What most of you don’t know, is that behind the scenes we’ve also been working on a brand new virtual tour software engine and back end management system that we’ll be releasing to you here in January.  Our BlueLaVa Fusion system is a one of a kind that’s loaded with more bells and whistles than you can imagine.  We’ve been listening to you over the last four years and we know the feature sets you’re looking for. 

Get ready to enjoy the following new enhancements on our BlueLaVa Fusion platform:

•    Full motion video support among your stills and panoramas
•    360 x 360 imaging support for those of you who want to go from ceiling to floor
•    HD Download virtual tours for MAC and PC
•    Hit reporting system with more details about your viewers than ever before
•    Multi agent tour support
•    Agent Toolbox allowing you to login and make instant changes or edits to your own listings
•    New HD virtual tour player
•    New DIY system for those of you currently using other DIY virtual tour systems
•    Much much more!

Jim, Heather and I would like to thank you so much for your continued support and we’re looking forward to "wowing" you and your team here in 2012.   When we launch the new system, Jim will be setting up office presentations to demonstrate our new platform, features and how to fully utilize the agent toolbox.

Yours Sincerely,

Jason, Jim & Heather
Traverse City Virtual Tours
Order a virtual tour: 231-946-1360

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New From RTV Marketing

At RTV we know that it is truly worth the money to pay for professional photography and virtual tours. A professional-looking photo dramatically increases the likelihood that a potential buyer will click through your virtual tour. Obviously this will drive more buyers to tour your home in person.

The more people interested in your house, the better your chance of receiving an attractive offer. A great looking photo really can be worth a thousand dollars, so be sure to take this opportunity to download and customize this month’s marketing piece and remind your customers and prospects of this simple fact. Great Photographs Sell Homes Faster!

Good luck out there everyone.  Get ready for lots of new marketing pieces to rally around the RealTour Fusion platform system!!

RTV Marketing
Hotel Photography and Digital Marketing Training
Order Virtual Tours: 866-947-8687

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