VIDEO TRAINING FOR REALTORS -STRATEGIES TO GET STARTED
SUMMARY
What kind of videos should you work on first as a real estate agent? It’s probably NOT what you think! The place to start is also the most simple with these two killer strategies:
1. Start using Facebook LIVE videos to introduce a new listing or promote your open house event.
2. Make a personalized Introduction Video and/or a follow up video for every lead or appointment that you get especially when it’s someone who you have never met face to face. Then you text or email them a link to the video. Be excited, happy, and in business dress with good lighting in the video. People will always watch it and it makes you a real person to them.
The most important thing is to start and do it until you get comfortable with it. Practice a few times and then start shooting and sending. These two strategies are awesome at giving your credibility with people you meet and at improving your skills on video.
Do it! And then share your comments about how it went.
FULL TRANSCRIPT
We’ve been talking about video marketing for realtors, and I want to do another video here on what is the content that you should do, what do you say on a video, what do you put on a video? So I wanted to talk, I want to do this video that’s going to be very, very simple and what I would call the basic. Here’s how you start using video first as a real estate agent that is going to give you the most bang for your buck that is going to be the most powerful use for you.
Now, I’ll do another video on content, like if you’re going to do a weekly video blog or market updates, or if you’re really going to get into video marketing. But I think that the real power of videos for real estate agents is in using it, one is on social media, with what’s happening today, what’s going on now, and two is on using video to connect and position yourself with people that either you have not met yet or that you’ve just met. I want to share with you today two video strategies that will be a massive game changer for you in your business.
Number one is what I call a personal video intro approach. What a personal intro video approach is, when I talk to somebody, and let’s say you get an online lead, and you call them, connect with them, have a conversation with them, maybe you set an appointment with them, or maybe they’ve just become a lead, or whatever, or maybe it’s a referral and you call somebody, or maybe your prospecting expires, or for sale by owners, and you talk to somebody, you have a conversation with them, you set an appointment but they’re an expired listing. They probably talked to 17 other real estate agents, they’ve set three other appointments. You’re just one of many, many agents that they’ve never met.
So what can you do between now and your appointment with them to really lift yourself, elevate yourself up in their mind and to differentiate yourself from the other agents. I believe that the strongest thing that you can do is what we call a personal intro video. Again, if you haven’t watched yet the video on basic video equipment for realtors, you can go back and we’ll put that link in the description below to go back and watch what I would give you as a basic video set up. Your smart phone is your primary, it’s your video camera. This is just a little holder and a mini tripod that I can use and literally set on my desk so that I can shoot a video for someone.
Now, you can also use your built-in webcam on your computer, totally cool. What a personal intro video is, it’s somebody I just talked to or somebody I just met that I’m shooting a quick video that’s personal just to them to say, “Hey, it was great to meet you,” and so forth so that when they get that video, they will remember me. Let me give you one scenario. Let’s just say you prospected, you just called an expired listing or for sale by owner. We’ll say an expired listing, and you set an appointment with them for three days from now.
So you set the appointment, you talk to them for a few minutes, but they’ve never seen you, they don’t know who you are. They’re talking to a lot of other agents, and probably their agents are calling. What can I do to help me stand out from the crowd? So here’s what I do. As soon as I get done prospecting, I’m going to take that seller that I just talked to, pull my camera out. I’m going to turn on my video camera, my camera on my phone. I’m going to set it to video, and I’m just going to start recording the video.
I’m going to say, “Hey Tamara. It’s Kevin Ward here with YesMaster’s Real Estate, and it was just … We talked on the phone a few minutes ago. It was great to talk to you, and I’m looking so forward to meeting with you and your husband this Thursday evening to talk about helping you actually get your house sold so you guys can move to your new home in San Diego. I wanted to shoot a quick video to introduce myself, and also to let you know if you have any questions or need anything before we meet on Thursday, please feel free to reach out to me. You’ve got my cell phone number here, my email, and so forth, so let me know if there’s anything I can do to help. I will look forward to seeing you and your husband this Thursday at 4:15. We’ll see you then.”
Boom. I just shot a quick 30-second video to introduce myself to this lady that I talked to on the phone who has no idea who I am, but now I’m going to send her this video. Now, you can literally take the video, and I can text it directly to her cell phone, which is probably the simplest thing to do in a situation like this. I can text it to her. If it’s a longer video, or if you want to you can also use bombbomb.com, which is a great video software that is great for shooting videos and emailing it out to people.
Another you can do is you can actually upload the video to YouTube, and then you unlist it, take the link, screenshot it, copy it and paste it into an email and you can email it to people that way. Nowadays, it’s just as simple, I talk to them on the phone. I’ve got their cell phone number. I can just text them the video and just, here’s the video. Now, that was an example of somebody that I just set an appointment with that now, when they get that, it tells them several things. One, it lets them see me, so they’re seeing me. Now I’m a real person to them.
When you watch somebody on video, you watch them and you get to feel like you know them now, like you met them, right? So when you watch this video of me, and maybe you’ve watched several videos, we may have never met but you feel like you know me a little bit. Why? Because you’ve seen the look in my eyes. You’ve talked to me … You haven’t talked to me, but you’ve actually felt like I’ve talked to you. So when you talk to people on video, now you become a real person other than just a voice on a phone. Huge difference when we see somebody compared to just listening to them.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, I’m going to say that a video is worth a thousand words than a conversation where they just hear your voice because now you’re a real person. So I now shoot the video, shared it with them, so now they really feel like they get to know me a little bit. I now stand out from the other agents that they’ve talked to that they’ve never seen, and so they’d remember that. It also tells them something else. I use technology. I actually am not afraid of video. When they surveyed buyers and sellers, all of them value the power of video, both in marketing for sellers and in buyers, they obviously enjoy seeing videos and so forth.
It makes you relevant, it makes you powerful, and it makes them remember you powerfully. Now, another, you could use this also with somebody you met at an open house, and you met. You were at their open house. 25 people came through, they signed up, you met all these people and you just met them for a second. You know they’re out looking at 10 other houses, they’re meeting a lot of other agents out there. How are they going to remember you? Well, they signed in, so I’m going to take … I’ve got their cell phone number or their email address. At the end of the open house, or maybe Monday morning, the next day, I’m going to just shoot a bunch of videos.
I’m going to take a video to every person that came in there, and I’m going to say, “Hey Bill. It’s Kevin Ward here at YesMaster’s Realty. Hey, you came to one of my open houses yesterday or this weekend at 123 Beach Avenue. I just wanted to shoot a quick video to let you know how great it was to meet you, and also to let you know if you have any questions or like to see any other properties, or anything I could do for you, please let me know. I’m also going to send you the link with this to the full listing information on that property. If you have any questions or like to see it again, or even write an offer on it, I’d be happy to help you and look forward to talking to you soon.”
Boom. I text that to them. If I promised them a link, I’m going to send them anything else I’ve promised. I can do it by email. I’m going to do that, and then I’m going to follow up with a phone call. The video separates you night and day. They may never answer your phone, but they will never forget you because they got the video. So that is what I call the personal intro video. Extremely powerful tool to use in marketing. I’m telling you, it doesn’t require any video production, it doesn’t require you to be savvy. The only thing you want to do is you want to make sure you look good, and when you do the video you’re smiling and you’ve got great energy.
Now, that’s one. The second video strategy that I want to share with you today is the listing introduction video. That’s where I’m actually introducing a new listing, and that’s where I’m actually going to be probably out in front of a new listing that I’m bringing to the market. I could do it one of two ways. One is I could put this on a tripod. I can put my video on a tripod, and you want to use a plugin microphone because you’re outside, there’s noise. I could set it there, and I could do it one of two ways. One, I can shoot the video, upload it to YouTube, but I recommend you do this as a live stream on your Facebook page, whether it’s your personal page or your business page.
Business page, a little better. I’m not going to get into all of that on this video because that’s not the purpose of this video, but just to give you the strategy. Here’s the strategy. Let’s just say I’ve got a brand new listing. I’m standing in front of the new house. It’s not on the MLS yet, but I just want to put the word out, so I do a video and I set the camera up on my tripod in front of the house. I’m standing there, I’ve got my microphone so from the previous, from the last video, in case you haven’t watched it, again the link is there, I’ve got my microphone. I’m wired up, I’m standing in front of the house, and I turn on the video camera.
I look at it and go, “Hey everybody. It’s Kevin Ward here, and I’m standing in front of my brand new listing at 123 Beach Avenue. It’s a lovely home. It’s about to come in the market. This weekend will be an open house on Sunday, January the 17th from 2 to 4 PM. I just wanted to tell you about it. It’s a four bedroom, three and a half bath home, been completely renovated. It’s got this, this,” blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. “Beautiful house. The list price is X,” and so forth. I’m just going to be in front of the house, and I’m on location breaking news type video. I’m showing them the house, and I’m doing that on live stream.
I’m inviting them to come see the open house. “I’m going to be posting some pictures of the house also for you to get an idea of it, but I’d love for you to come by, shake my hand, say hello at the open house. If you know anybody that’s looking at moving into the area, make sure you invite them. Share this video with them. Share the link with them. Hopefully we’ll see you at the open house this Sunday. Again, Kevin Ward, YesMaster’s Real Estate. If I can help you with anything, please let me know.” Again, it’s a real quick two, three, four minute Facebook live stream where I’m just introducing the house that is about to come onto the market, and then I’m going to tell them about the house. Then I’m going to invite them to the open house event this weekend.
That’s one very powerful open house event or new listing to the market strategy that you can use. Now I’ll give you, there’s others. I can also do it where I’m actually doing it and then I can actually take them and do a video tour of the house. A little more advanced, but you can do that. Another thing you can do is you can do that video, live stream, where you’re introducing them to the thing for this weekend’s open house, and then at the open house, when the open house is getting going and a lot of people are coming in the house, if you’ve got somebody there helping you at the open house, which I always recommend that you do, is take a quick second, set up a live stream on your Facebook and actually broadcast a live stream from the open house.
Depending on the traffic, and depending on how much help you have, you could actually do a tour of the house or you can just do a quick, “Hey. Just wanted to give a shout out. If you guys were here live at the open house, this beautiful new luxury home, 123 Beach Avenue, if you’re out and about this Sunday, come on out and check it out. We’ve got some great refreshments and stuff. It’s a beautiful house. The price, the home is prices incredibly good at 1.3 million,” blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. “Come on out and see us. As you can see behind me, we’ve got a lot of traffic, a lot of interest in this home. Probably going to go very fast, so if you know anybody that’s looking to move here, make sure you get in touch with me quick so you don’t miss it. Hope you have a great weekend, and we’ll talk soon.”
Boom. You end the video, live stream, but what you’re doing when you do that is you’re simply, you’re letting the world, you’re letting the people that know you on social media, you’re not selling yourself, you’re not actually selling the house. You’re letting them see you in action doing real estate, and you’re letting them see you use technology. It’s great you’re serving your seller by helping get the word out, and so forth. It’s such a great and powerful way to make people go, “Wow. That agent is making stuff happen.” The fact that you use video helps them realize you know what you’re doing, that you’ve got confidence, that you understand technology, and you’re leveraging the tools of technology to help your clients.
So those are two very simple, very powerful strategies. Before you start worrying about doing weekly blogs and all this kind of content, and doing tips and updates and all that kind of stuff, start with things that will give you immediate connection with people and get immediate attention with people that might be interested in buying or selling that help you build a relationship with somebody, build credibility with somebody, that make you stand out from the crowd. Those two simple strategies that I’ve shared with you today will be huge toward helping you maximize and use video to help you get more business for yourself.