Giving A Presentation On Real Estate Photography To An Office Of Agents

Kerry Bern moderates a real estate photography group on Linkedin and pointed out that one of the group members (Ray Kenney) posted a video of a presentation that he gives to real estate brokerages. Kerry says:

I thought he did a great job with his presentation. The important part he didn't go in to the meeting to simply "pimp his services". He showed them how they can create better listing photos. Except he used examples that only a very few agents have the gear to actually create those images.

I agree, I've had the opportunity of being on both sides of presentations in real estate offices. I remember hating to sit through presentations to my office in the early 2000's. There was always someone trying to pimp something to real estate agents. Here are some tips for brokerage presentations:

1. You get to present by contacting the managing broker. Don't be surprised if a brokerage office don't allow presentations. The broker at my old office in the Seattle area quit allowing photographers to do presentations at their weekly meeting about 5 years ago because there were so many wanting to do it. This will be different in different markets.
2. Use the office website (there always is one) to research who the top listing agents are in the office. Just count listings each agent has. In an office of 20 to 30 will 2 or 3 that will stand out with the most listings. They are the top listing agents. They are the agents you want to get to know because they need your services if they aren't already using professional photography.
3. Frequently the top listing agents won’t be at the meeting because they will be out being successful.
4. Kerry is right, don't just pimp your services, give them away valuable information. The fact is that most agents don't want to do their own photography, but they need to understand how it works.
5. Be brief (5 or 10 minutes but be ready to talk for hours if they want you to) and use a hand-out. Make sure it has your name, phone number and website URL on it. You want them to be able to see your work and be able to get hold of you later.
6. Be sensitive to questions rather than blabbing for a long time with your agenda. Your main purpose is to just meet the top listing agents and be perceived as someone that may have a service that they may want to use in their business. You don’t have to close them at this meeting.

The free PDF that anyone can be downloaded on the white ad on the right sidebar of the blog called, What Real Estate Agents Need to Know About Photography is specifically designed for giving presentations to agents. Feel free to use it that way and put your own contact info on it a hand out copies at your presentation. That is what it's for.