Give them the grand tour
Part 2

Have you thrown out the photo albums and slideshows yet? Replaced them with virtual tours? No matter what your answer, this four part series on virtual tour marketing is for you. Jump on the virtual bandwagon and read on…

6. Listing Presentation
During your preview inspection, take photos and create a virtual tour to show at the listing presentation. Prospects will be excited to hear, “List with us now, and this tour will be on the Internet later today.” You can also use a prelisting inspection virtual tour to remind yourself of the floor plan and items to address at the listing presentation.

Sellers appreciate being involved in the marketing of their property. Ask them what features they like best about the house so you can photograph them for the tour. Show them pictures of the same areas taken from different angles and ask which one they think best represents their home. They’ll respond positively to your personal attention and sales skills when you create their virtual tour during the listing presentation. End the presentation with several previous listings labeled “SOLD” and let your success breed more success.

7. Prospective Buyers
Upon signing a listing, e-mail a link for its virtual tour to all prospective buyers in your active buyer pool, giving them advance notice before the property is advertised, held open or posted on the MLS.

8. Visual CMA
If sellers think their home is worth more than the other comparables you’ve printed out for them, show them the difference with a virtual tour of the comparative market analysis (CMA). To really show homeowners why your pricing strategy is the right one, get photos (with permission) of other comparable homes for sale and create a feature-by-feature comparison.

9. Disk Copies
Copy the virtual tour to CD or DVD with an attractive label (a photo of the house on the label is a nice touch), and leave a supply with the sellers to give to their friends, family and potential buyers. And providing sellers with specially labeled CD-mailer envelopes with your information and branding is an unexpected but powerful touch.

10. Open Houses
When emailing invites to an upcoming open house, include a tour link. Leave CDs of the virtual tour as “Take One” handouts next to the property profile sheets or, better yet, offer to e-mail a virtual tour to open house visitors who leave their e-mail address. Set up a laptop or use the sellers’ computer in their home office to continuously show the virtual tour during the open house. Use the virtual tour when you follow up with no-show prospects and co-brokers. Tell them, “If you missed the open house, here is the virtual tour.” You might even consider creating and playing another presentation of all your other listings, thus “exposing” additional properties to open visitors.

Tips are courtesy of Dan Gooder Richard. He is a Virginia-based writer and author of “Real Estate Rainmaker® Guide to Online Marketing” and “Real Estate Rainmaker Successful Strategies for Real Estate Marketing” published by John Wiley & Sons.

• Give Them the Grand Tour, Part 1