Field Technician Policies & Guidelines Let’s Set Expectations
Table of Contents 1. Welcome to Lighthouse Visuals 1.1. Welcome to Lighthouse Visuals ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ Page 1 1.2. Mission Statement .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. Page 1 1.3. Core Values ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ Page 1 1.4. LHV’s Expectations of You ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ Page 1 1.5. Your Expectations of LHV .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................. Page 1 1.6. The LHV Way of Customer Service ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ Page 2
2. Beginning with LHV 2.1. LHV Academy ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 2 2.2. Probationary Period ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 2 2.3. Mentorship Program ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 2 2.4. Quota Expectations .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 3 2.5. 80% Market Presence & 20% Onsite Work ..................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 3 2.6. Monday Morning Commute Meetings ............................................................................................................................................................................................ Page 3 2.7. End of Month Self Evaluations ................................................................................................................................................................................................................. Page 4 2.8. Board of Directors .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. Page 4 2.9. Quarterly Performance Reviews ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ Page 4 2.10. Maintain an Active Part 107 License .................................................................................................................................................................................................. Page 5
3. Code of Conduct 3.1. Three Strike Rule .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 5 3.2. Appearance .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. Page 5 3.3. Quota Strikes ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 5 3.4. Missing Appointments ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 5 3.5. Interactions with the Law in Your Personal Life ......................................................................................................................................................................... Page 5 3.6. Drugs and Alcohol .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. Page 6 3.7. Theft ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ Page 6 3.8. Social Media Expectations ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 6 3.9. Misrepresentation of the Truth ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ Page 6 3.10. Not adhering to Brand Regulations .................................................................................................................................................................................................. Page 6 3.11. Vacation and Days Off .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 6
4. Brand Representation Policy 4.1. Uniform ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ Page 7 4.2. Email Signature ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 7 4.3. Voicemail ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 7 4.4. Answering the Phone .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 7 4.5. Appointment Confirmation Template ............................................................................................................................................................................................. Page 8 4.6. Request Feedback Template .................................................................................................................................................................................................................. Page 8 4.7. Social Media Posts ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. Page 8
5. Our Systems 5.1. TeamUp Calendar .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. Page 9 5.2. Dropbox ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 9 5.3. Job Tickets ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 10 5.4. Facebook Group – Team Growth ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. Page 10 5.5. Client Portal ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ Page 10 5.6. Gas Card ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ Page 10
5.7. Email ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ Page 10 5.8. Your Phone Notes ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. Page 11
6. Equipment 6.1. Understanding the Difference Between Personal & LHV Dedicated Equipment ........................................................................................... Page 11 6.2. iPad ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 11 6.3. DSLR ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ Page 11 6.4. Matterport Camera ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. Page 12 6.5. Tipod &Tripod Heads .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 12 6.6. Drones............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. Page 12 6.7. Damages, Lost or Stolen Equipment ................................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 12 6.8. Requesting New Equipment ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 12
7. Service Guide Knowledge 7.1. Overall Concept of our Service Guide .................................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 12 7.2. Photo Packages ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 13 7.3. Video Packages ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 14 7.4. Virtual Tour Packages ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ Page 14 7.5. Understanding Hosting on Virtual Tours ........................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 15 7.6. Floor Plans ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 15 7.7. Offering Discounts ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ Page 15
8. Compensation & Bonuses 8.1. Pay Period Schedule ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ Page 16 8.2. Commission Pay Structure ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 17 8.3. Increase Pay with Add-ons ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 17 8.4. Ways to Increase Commission .................................................................................................................................................................................................................. Page 17 8.5. Race to 300 Bonus ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 17 8.6. Yearly Bonus ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. Page 17
9. Client Communication 9.1. Basic Real Estate Terminology .................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 17 9.2. Present Yourself as The Expert .................................................................................................................................................................................................................. Page 18 9.3. Your Phone is your Office ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 19 9.4. Expected Response Time .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................. Page 19 9.5. Communication with New Clients ......................................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 19 9.6. Communication with Existing Clients ................................................................................................................................................................................................ Page 19 9.7. Scheduling & Confirmation Responses ............................................................................................................................................................................................. Page 19 9.8. Answering Unknown Questions ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. Page 20 9.9. Solving Issues & Customer Support ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 20 9.10. Requesting Feedback .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 20 9.11. Escalating Problems ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 21
10.World Class Image 10.1 Why Look Your Best Always? ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 21 10.2. Uniform ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ Page 21 10.3. Footwear ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 21 10.4. Hair .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. Page 21
10.5. Personal Hygiene ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 22 10.6. Basic Language .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. Page 22
11. Onsite Expectations & Procedures 11.1. Early is On Time ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................Page 22 11.2. Arrival Safety ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. Page 22 11.3. Greeting on Arrival .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. Page 22 11.4. Pre-Shoot To-Do’s & Controlling the Situation ............................................................................................................................................................................ Page 23 11.5. Be a Problem Solver ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 23 11.6. Using the Bathroom While on Site ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 23 11.7. You Are Always on Camera ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................ Page 23
12. Post Production Work Flow 12.1. Job Ticket .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 24 12.2. Culling Images & Upload to Dropbox ................................................................................................................................................................................................ Page 24 12.3. Uploading HDR .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 24 12.4. Uploading Matterport .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 24 12.5. How to Order Add-On’s ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. Page 24
13. What Is Market Presence 13.1. A Better Understanding ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. Page 25 13.2. Relationships, Relationships, Relationships .................................................................................................................................................................................. Page 25 13.3. Presentation is Everything .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 25 13.4. Canvas Your Area – Nonstop ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 26
14. Understanding Sales 14.1. Topic of Sales ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 26 14.2. People Buy Emotionally and Back it Logically .......................................................................................................................................................................... Page 26 14.3. Present Solutions ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 27 14.4. First Impressions ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ Page 27 14.5. Key Points to Push ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ Page 27 14.6. Overcoming Objections .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................. Page 28
Onward and Upward The real excitement at Lighthouse Visuals is not just shooting beautiful photos and the pay opportunities from satisfying clients, but also how we conduct our business. We have become crusaders for customer services, professionalism, work ethic, personal development, and constant improvement of our craft. Our goals, ambitions, and dreams of creating a better life for photographers and creatives is a day by day process that takes an incredibly dedicated team of individuals. The group we have at Lighthouse Visuals is a one of a kind, no excuse making, self-driven group of people that have made us who we are today. Lighthouse Visuals is more than a multimedia company, it is a total philosophy of business and an attitude about life. We believe that if the company develops the individual, then the individual develops the company. We are delighted you have joined us in our cause.
Savannah Harper General Manager Lighthouse Visuals
Welcome to Lighthouse Visuals We are proud you have joined our company. You have the talents, skills, traits, and abilities that we desire to continue running a successful company. We are now partnered as you build your career. Together we will develop an even stronger organization. Lighthouse Visuals is a company led by successful individuals, for successful individuals which offer tremendous opportunity for career growth and personal development. Quite simply, Lighthouse Visuals’ goal is to provide maximum value to our customers while creating great livelihoods for our photographers. We do this side by side by creating the maximum quality possible at the most affordable price possible in the market place while in return providing all the available perks, benefits, and resources to our photographers in order to live a fulfilled life that one would be proud of living. What makes Lighthouse Visuals unique is our focus on who is our customer and partner – you. This one focal point sets the tone for everything we do, from how we make decisions, to our compensation opportunities. Everything about Lighthouse Visuals is unique because the company is built around what our associates believe is best for their careers. We believe results come through people and that opportunities abound when careers are built on our philosophical foundation. We believe that if the company develops the individual, then the individuals develop the company. We are more than a multimedia production company. We are a culture and a belief system in action. We are creatives who through the daily operations of our own successful market regions are building a better way of running a multimedia production with customer satisfaction as our main objective. We uncovered a better way of life for ourselves and our associates. Our dollars are invested in your growth and success both professionally and personally. We are dedicated, just as you are to providing the best services possible to your clients. We encourage you to “talk the talk, walk the walk, and live the life” of the Lighthouse Visuals way of doing business. We are committed to supporting, and help to assure, the professional and personal success of our associates. Being a member of the Lighthouse Visuals family is exciting and if we all work together you can gain the competitive advantages you have been looking for. We are excited to see the work you create for your clients!
Will Preslar President of Lighthouse Visuals
Section 1 – Welcome to Lighthouse Visuals Don’t slow down now! Jump in and absorb every word on every page! 1.1. Welcome to Lighthouse Visuals Are you ready to leave the old you and create the new you? This is a decision that has a point of no return with positive consequences but be prepared, it will take effort. Effort is actually the only thing you can control in life. Lighthouse Visuals has been a continual result of an inspired vision since our creation. One monumental goal has driven every decision we made. This goal has been “How do we provide the best livelihood possible for creatives while producing the best quality product at the best available price in the market?” We are constantly balancing the scales to continue to achieve this one goal.
1.2. Mission Statement At Lighthouse Visuals, we believe the relationships we build are equally as important as the images we create. We pride ourselves on always being accommodating to our clients. Our success is due to our self-discipline, integrity, and willingness to go beyond expectations. We believe we do not deserve credit for doing what is required of us. That is why we always do more than what is asked of us at Lighthouse Visuals.
1.3 Core Values When we were jotting down notes on what our core values should be, we knew that parts of the core values had to already be there for an applicant to be a good hire and someone who would fit our culture at Lighthouse Visuals. We also knew that other core values had to be sewn into the cloth of an applicant’s personal character. PREREQUISITE - Talent, desired learner, and a drive for a better life. MANDATORY ASPECTS - Market presence and ability to create service-driven relationships (Most Important) CHARACTER TRAIT PRIORITY - Dedicated, self-motivated, and results-oriented. Always a Problem solver.
With these core values built into your work-life, you will succeed more naturally. If you have gotten to this point after wishing to join our team, we have seen massive potential in you and your overall success due to your talent, understanding of the position, and your willingness to be a continual learner. We saw a fire in you that spoke of a go-getter and someone who would be dedicated to the overall mission of Lighthouse Visuals. We saw someone who would not need micromanaging and would be a self-motivated problem solver. Now it is your choice to create service-driven relationships and show your presence in the market. Always add value to your client’s business needs. Be a problem solver and find solutions to your client’s needs. This is mandatory for your success as a Marketing Content Advisor.
1.4. LHV Expectations of You Being a Market Content Advisor with Lighthouse Visuals is unlike any other job. It is designed especially for photographers and videographers who are passionate about creating high-quality work that will impress their clients. You have been given an opportunity that will require demanding work to become successful. In general, a lot of people are unsuccessful because opportunity is often dressed in work clothes. If you are afraid of a little hard work and persistence, then please pick up the phone and let us know immediately! We will find someone who is willing to do the work. All of our photographers and videographers who are successful are because they have chosen to be successful. LHV is an incentive-driven environment where your hard work and efforts pay off. Nothing will be given to you in this company. It is especially important for you to understand this upfront. We expect quite a bit from you. We expect you to care about your clients more than the next company. We expect you to grow a market presence where everyone knows your name and our company. We expect you to create amazing work that will make your clients call you back. This amazing work will also create word-of-mouth marketing networks that will pay dividends to you in the long run. You have an incredible opportunity that has been granted to you. Grow something that you are proud of and it will pay you handsomely.
1.5 Your Expectations of LHV You should expect just as much out of LHV as LHV expects of you. We will work tirelessly to make sure your images are edited, delivered, invoiced, and money is collected. After that, we will do routine feedback requests to ask about the experience working with you and our company. If you have an issue with a client you cannot solve, feel free to call our admin staff, explain the issue in full, and have one of our customer service representatives reach out directly to your client to solve the issue. You should view our admin and processing team as your personal staff to finalize and support your business as you operate daily.
1
1.6 The LHV Way of Customer Service In our mission statement, it is said that the relationships we build are equally as important as the content we create. It is an understatement. We are a human-based business and with this one factor, excellent customer service is 100% your main responsibility. We have chosen as a company to use humans as the face of our business instead of apps, online scheduling software, and other substitutes for human interaction. By agreeing to this contract, you are agreeing that you will always put the customer first in all situations. You will educate clients about services available, work in unity through issues as they may arise, never allow a problem to go without a solution, and always respond promptly via email, texts, direct messages, or phone calls. EXAMPLES OF EXCELLENT AND EXPECTED CUSTOMER SERVICE (BUT NOT LIMITED TO)
1. When a fellow photographer shares a referral. You are expected to call, text, or email the client immediately. This client is in the buying mode and should never be delayed. 2. When an issue arises, make the conscious decision to call the client and work through the issue together. Never leave a client without resolution. Never text about an issue, always pick up the phone and call. It is much more personal and efficient. 3. When a client is asking your opinion on what services might be best for a listing, educate and offer guidance. This is always a wonderful opportunity to up-sell and educate on a service they may have not known existed. 4. After each completed content creation and delivery, contact the client and request their feedback. Listen whether good or bad and thank them for their willingness to share their opinion and make sure they know you will develop upon their requested needs.
Section 2 - Beginning with LHV Everyone starts somewhere! You can Master the Lighthouse Visuals Way! 2.1 LHV Academy LHV Academy is your first step to your long term success and professional growth within Lighthouse Visuals. You will be teamed up with success coaches whose purpose is to make sure you are successful quickly. You will have to put forth the effort to learn, absorb, and put into practice everything that will be conveyed to you. The ones you will be learning from have started where you are and now are true success stories of the company. Whether it is learning the systems, marketing & sales strategies to your ride along with photographers in the field, there is always something to be learned. Get on your feet, grab a notebook, and get ready! This will start soon for you!
2.2 Probationary Period You will have a 90-day period after your first week of LHV Academy for our leadership team and success coaches to decide whether you are a right fit for the company. This is your chance to show our team that you have what it takes to do the job and that you are going to take full advantage of this opportunity. You will have an entry quota that must be met during this time as well. The overall quota does not count until this probationary period is over. You will be granted a one-month safety net. As you know, this is a commission-based pay work environment. For your first month, it is all about marketing and growing a market presence. You will be given $1,000.00 for your first month to ease some of the expenses of just starting out. Do not take this safety net lightly. It will be pulled out from underneath you the second month and your sole pay will be based on jobs completed. During this first month, your primary task is to grow a market presence. Do not procrastinate on this task. We love incentives at LHV and why wouldn’t we put one in your probationary period? Ready, Get Set, Go! It is time to race to your first 50 houses! During your three-month grace period, you will have an opportunity to secure your position in the company and raise your commission rate. This is your initial challenge and we call it “Race to 50 for 50%”. You must complete 50 houses within a three-month period in order to tightly secure your position within Lighthouse Visuals. For the first 90 days (about 3 months) or until you complete your 50th house, you will be at a 40% commission rate. Upon completing your 50th house you will move to a 50% commission rate. This will grow your paycheck and prove that you have what it takes to develop a market. If you do not actively grow your market presence and do not complete this initial task, either a performance plan will be put in place or you will also be asked to leave. Rare is that a performance plan will be put in place. You will learn more about growing a market presence later in this manual and also from your success coaches.
2.3 Mentorship Program After securing your position in the company. You will be assigned a mentor. This mentor is your Success Coach. This individual oversees answering any questions you may have and offering support during your early developmental days. This success coach will also set marketing goals for you each week as well. This mentor relationship will be a six-month period after your probationary period. 2
Everyone in the company can act as a resource to you and you should never be afraid to reach out to anyone for help. We all want to see you succeed and grow within the company. It’s the people within the company that develop a stronger company.
2.4 Quota Expectations You are required to maintain or exceed a recommended output for the number of jobs per month. This is not only to be a guide for value added to LHV as a company, but also for you to maintain a proper well-being within your own livelihood. QUOTA IS AS STATED 1ST YEAR
January – 15 Jobs February – 20 Jobs March – 25 Jobs April – 30 Jobs June – 30 Jobs July – 30 Jobs August – 30 Jobs September – 30 Jobs October – 25 Jobs November – 20 Jobs December – 15 Jobs QUOTA IS AS STATED FOR YOUR 2ND YEAR AND EACH YEAR AFTER
January – 20 Jobs February – 25 Jobs March – 30 Jobs April – 35 Jobs June – 35 Jobs July – 35 Jobs August – 35 Jobs September – 35 Jobs October – 30 Jobs November – 25 Jobs December – 20 Jobs If the quota is not met, strikes will be added. LHV has a “three strikes you’re out” system. 1.) If you do less than half of the quota in a month (Two Strikes) 2.) If you do ten jobs less than quota except for January, February November & December which will be 5 less than quota. (One Strike) After getting to an efficiency of 45 jobs a month, two months in a row, one strike caused by quota not being fulfilled will be removed. Then, each month with 45 jobs or more, additional strikes will be removed. Upon achieving that efficiency, you can eliminate any strikes that you may have gained due to quota. Behavioral strikes will not be removed.
2.5 80% Market Presence & 20% Onsite Work Your success is built on 80% being an on the ground marketer, educator, and possessing the ability to close sales while providing the utmost professional customer service. 20% of this position is creating high quality content that impresses a large sector of the market. Without the 80% of growing and nurturing a market, client base, and business development of new clients, your ability to shine and perform in the 20% of content creation will be much harder. Your ability to produce exceptional results with photographic equipment is a substantial portion of why you were considered for this position, but in this completely incentive base environment, your success will be fully dependent on your ability to grow a market. It is imperative that you take extreme ownership of your region and the well-being of your clients, the Lighthouse Visuals brand, and your quality of content output.
2.6 Monday Morning Commute Meetings What a better way to rejuvenate each week than our Monday Morning Commute Meetings! These are mandatory for anyone just starting with the company and still in your first year. It is highly suggested that you continue to call in after your first year. You have gained experience and have knowledge to share with the team. 3
This meeting is to talk about issues, set goals, or to discuss ways of improving as a whole. You will get a lot out of these meetings! Call time is 8:15 am and meetings typically last until 8:35 am or 8:45 am as you arrive at your first job at 9 am. Hence why they are called Monday Morning Commute Meetings.
2.7 End of Month Self Evaluations End of Month Self Evaluations are incredibly important. This is required for first year hires and highly recommended for anyone to truly look within and personally gauge their performance for themselves. No one knows yourself better than you. This exercise is personally quantifying how much effort you put in the previous month, what worked for you and what did not work. We are not looking for a novel, but please do not think a few sentences will cut it either. PRIMARY QUESTIONS TO ANSWER. WE ASK THAT YOU PLEASE BE HONEST.
1) What successes did you have this month and what contributed to it? 2) What failures happen and what lessons did you learn? (Failure is the best teacher) 3) What goals did you set last month that you achieved and how? 4) What goals do you plan on setting for next month? Your end of month self-evaluation should be based on the questions above. Submit a copy via email to your success coach to discuss. This will be your strongest point of improving yourself professionally, personally, and growing your market. Just wait, you’ll see!
2.8 Board of Directors It is especially important for you to know during your first few days, that this company is run by not one individual, but a group of individuals that will always have your best interest at heart. This organization was created to add accountability to top management, strategically steer the company towards the goals of product development, business systems, and expansions. No new hire is reading this manual without first being fully analyzed by the Board of Directors for having the talents, traits, and abilities that will cultivate a successful implementation into a new market region. We trust and believe that you have what it takes. Listen and allow us to teach you the Lighthouse Visuals way of doing business and you can successfully grow with his company. BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Will Preslar – Founder and President of Lighthouse Visuals Savannah Harper – Chief Operations Officer Justin Whitt – Carteret County Market Manager & Quality Control Expert Joseph Whichard – NC Triangle Region Market Manager & Success Coach Bradley Strickland – New Hanover Market Manager & Success Coach Tyler McLeod – Mecklenburg Market Manager & Lead Video Department Development These individuals have been instrumental to the success of Lighthouse Visuals and embody the Lighthouse Visuals way of doing business. Each one of these individuals is a phone call, text, or email away from offering advice, insight, and support on any issue you may have at any point. Use this group as an open book. Also use anyone else in the company to learn from, no matter their time with the company. There is always something to learn from each individual.
2.9 Quarterly Performance Reviews At the end of each quarter, there will be a performance review. Two members of the Board of Directors will assess your selfevaluations and cross examine your word against your actual numbers. This is an appropriate time to remember to always be honest in your self-evaluations and if you are not then you are only lying to yourself. Praise will be given where its deserved and concern will be discussed as needed. If your numbers are not what they should be, then a performance improvement plan will be implemented. This is not to be taken lightly. If ignored, and you still are not producing results that are deemed efficient, there is a chance you could be asked to leave the company. **IMPORTANT** - The truest way to be asked to leave the company is in this one statement.
You are the only one in your region that has this opportunity. You are the face of Lighthouse Visuals and your results are a combination of your efforts to grow a market presence, create quality content, and leaving your clients consistently satisfied and proud to share your work with their clients. If you do not take full advantage of this opportunity then you are taking it away from someone else who would love it. In other words, don‘t take this opportunity for granted. It is a privilege to work with a company that cares about your success and well-being as much as Lighthouse Visuals does. Remember it is you and only you in your region, and you should always strive to be #1 in that area. If you are not putting in the effort, we need to examine your employment. 4
2.10 Maintain an Active Part 107 License At this point in your employment with Lighthouse Visuals you should already have or be studying to get your Part 107 license with the FAA. This allows you to fly your drone legally to do commercial work. This is a requirement of our company and the FAA. Please let admin know the date that your Part 107 was issued, so we can track its renewal dates and give you notice of when it needs to be updated. It will take you taking an additional exam, which is easier than the first exam, but this cannot be ignored. You will not be allowed to begin work until you have a valid Part 107 license. If your license lapses you will not be allowed to continue to shoot until you have a valid Part 107. This license will need to be renewed every two years. In the event you have legal issues such as a DWI this needs to be reported immediately to the FAA. At this point, you are at the mercy of the FAA for maintaining a valid Part 107 License. If the FAA stripes your licenses then your employment with Lighthouse Visuals will also be terminated. This is a non-bias reaction that will have no recourse.
Section 3 – Code of Conduct We expect professionalism & we know you can exhibit these qualities! 3.1 Three Strike Rule We work on a 3 Strike Rule. However, that does not mean you cannot get all three strikes in one go. North Carolina is a fire-atwill state, meaning an employer can fire or remove you from a position without any notice or reason. We will be nicer than that, and if you are doing an excellent job, you will know. If you are not doing a decent job, you will know that, too.
3.2 Appearance Presentation is everything in this business. Dressing professionally will promote a positive attitude towards our business and you, their vendor. You are more likely to be respected and deemed the expert in the situation when dressed appropriately. Professional attire for this job is either a LHV polo with either khaki shorts or khakis pants. A belt with your polo tucked in is always a way to go a step above. If we get feedback that you were dressed inappropriately or did not present yourself professionally, we will have a simple conversation and find a solution together. After that, if the problem continues, the offense will be documented and a strike will be given. PLEASE REFER TO THE SECTION 10 WORLD CLASS IMAGE*
3.3 Quota Strikes This is not an hourly or salaried 9-5 job where you show up and wait for the clock to hit 5 p.m. This is a position in which there is a direct correlation between effort put forth and your paycheck. If the quota is not met, then strikes will be added. LHV has a “three strikes you’re out” system. 1.) If you do less than half of the quota in a month (Two Strikes) 2.) If you do ten jobs less than quota except for January, February November & December, which will be 5 less than the quota. (One Strike) After getting to an efficiency of 45 jobs a month, two months in a row, one strike caused by the quota not being fulfilled will be removed. Then, each month with 45 jobs or more, additional strikes will be removed. Upon achieving that efficiency, you can eliminate any strikes that you may have gained due to quota. Behavioral strikes will not be removed.
3.4 Missing Appointments Missing appointments is one of the quickest ways to ruin a working relationship. If you miss an appointment or plan to be late to the listing, call first. A no call and no show is one of the worst things you can do in this business. Calling less than 24 hours ahead of time to say you are going to be late or miss the appointment will cause problems, but problems can be addressed if action is taken. A no call, no show the first time will be discussed. The second time will be discussed, but a strike will be added. I understand things happen. Maybe there was a miscommunication or maybe there was an error during scheduling. Be honest, own the responsibility, and be able to explain yourself to the client and make admin aware.
3.5 Interactions with the Law in Your Personal Life If you commit a crime or get in trouble for something stupid on your personal time, it needs to be reported to our admin staff. Some violations will affect your ability to hold a Part 107 drone license. If you get a DWI or a minor drug charge, then there is a strong chance you will lose your drone license without a compelling case to the FAA that you will have to plead. If something that you do in your personal life causes you to lose your Part 107, then you subsequently cannot do your job legally through our company. You will be let go. 5
3.6 Drugs and Alcohol If we get a report that you showed up to a listing visibly or with the presence of an odor of either alcohol, marijuana, or any other substance, you will be let go immediately. If we believe that your lack of effort is due to substance abuse then you will be asked to take a drug test. If results come back with the indication that our thoughts were correct either an improvement plan will be put in place or you will be asked to leave the company.
3.7 Theft Don’t ever think about stealing! Clients are trusting you and our company with their clients‘ homes. Their homes are their security and contain their personal possessions. If you steal from a house, not only will you be fired immediately, but we will also turn you over to the local law enforcement. Do not steal! It’s against the law! We will make sure that the law handles you accordingly.
3.8 Social Media Expectations Don’t be irrational, use common sense when posting on social media channels. Try your absolute best to stay away from politics on all social media channels. If you add your clients on social media, which is encouraged, please remember that they will see your overall thoughts and opinions in which you share. Some clients will not share your political views and may lose interest in doing business with you. We have seen this happen. Do not make posts or share stories of you intoxicated or doing illegal drugs. If this happens a serious talk will occur, and if illegal drugs are shared then you will be asked to leave. This is a professional organization and the way you present yourself in person and online is imperative to how your market and client base will perceive you and will want to do business with you. Also, if you share posts or stories of content that you created please do so under the Lighthouse Visuals name. Do this always in a good light. Sharing content under a personal branding is against your non-compete agreement and will be viewed as such. Never, and I mind never make fun or show in a way that would be deemed negative of job site due to its uncleanliness or items of interest of the job site. If this is found then you will be asked to explain your reasoning and potentially apologize to the homeowners with additional consequences.
3.9 Misrepresentation of the Truth In other words, LYING. If you lie to LHV admin, clients, or anyone else that you are interacting with for business purposes then your employment will be in jeopardy. Honesty is the best policy. This includes leaving out details and not reporting what needs to be reported. The truth always comes out and lying is not a part of the Lighthouse Visuals way.
3.10 Not Adhering to LHV Brand Regulations In Section 4 you will learn about our regulations for brand representation. Our brand representation is especially important to us and any negative representations will not be tolerated. First offenses will be discussed and additional offenses will be discussed by the Board of Directors. If pure negligence is involved then your employment could be in jeopardy.
3.11 Vacation and Days Off This is a job where you get the privilege and luxury of making your own schedule. This is one of the lures of the job. If you are going to take vacation or multiple days off during the week, do not feel you need to notify our admin team. Just put it on your schedule and we will see it. However, you do need to notify your clients to make sure they are aware of you being out of the field, and that any pending jobs can be done before or after you leave. When you are unable to serve your clients, they may try out another photographer and enjoy the experience. This leaves gaps in opportunities for your local competition to steal your clients. Therefore, it is imperative to communicate with your clients before taking a few days off or leaving for vacation. With your privilege of taking days off and vacation at your own will, you will still be subjected to quota. This will be held firm.
6
Section 4 – Brand Representation Policy You are the face of our brand! Always put us in the best light possible! 4.1 Uniform Our uniform has many purposes. First, it commands respect and that you are the face of the brand. It gives your client and their clients a name that they can trust upon the first impression. YOU ARE REQUIRED AT EACH JOB TO WEAR THIS UNIFORM WITHOUT VARIATION.
1) LHV Polo 2) Khaki shorts, Khaki Pants, slacks, dress shorts or dress pants. *Optional items – LHV Hat or LHV Jacket At the beginning of each year, you will be issued 5 LHV Polos. Keep this maintained. In the event you need more, reach out to admin to explain the need. If you are seen in reflections of images created onsite, social media stories or we receive feedback from clients that you were not wearing your mandated uniform then consequences will happen. 1st offense – Discussion 2nd offense – Write up with Strike against your employment.
4.2 Email Signature For brand consistency and your professional presentation, we expect for your email signature to be as such: Will Preslar Marketing Content Advisor (252) 902-4331 www.lighthousevisual.com
Your name always needs to be first, which is a no-brainer, but your job title needs to be displayed as “Marketing Content Advisor”. This implies that you are the expert and your client needs to learn more from you. You are the knowledge base they have been looking for. Then your phone number for direct contact purposes, then our website, and last our logo to build brand recognition.
4.3 Voicemail We can allow some variations in your voicemail, but you must have “With Lighthouse Visuals” in your voicemail. If you do not have this then your clients calling may think they called the wrong number. A GREAT VOICEMAIL TEMPLATE OPTION:
“You have reached Will Preslar with Lighthouse Visuals. I’m currently servicing clients. Please leave a message and I will respond as quickly as possible!“ **SOUND ENTHUSIASTIC AND EAGER TO SERVE**
You will learn about tonality in LHV Academy.
4.4 Answering the Phone As you know by now, your phone is your office and the direct line to grow your paycheck. Save all contacts for clients that call or that you work with. This is a great tip. When answering calls from clients in your contact list or new numbers that you do not recognize always answer as such:
“Hello this is Will with Lighthouse Visuals” Two things happen with this statement, you give them your name which they can trust, and with the brand name, you are confirming that they have called the right place. This sets the tone for the rest of the phone call. TIP – Smile before and while answering, regardless of what’s going on. It will be conveyed in your tone and will set the mood for the conversation.
7
4.5 Appointment Confirmation Template As you will learn, utilizing your phone’s note system will be crucial for saving time and creating consistency in your responses and introductions. After scheduling an appointment, you need to send a confirmation text to the client. This creates trust from your client that you have the right details and that you will be there for the appointment. It is really a powerful addition to your already stellar customer service approach. TEMPLATE:
(Agent Name) thank you for allowing me to create the marketing content for (Listing Address & City). I look forward to this opportunity and will see you (Day Name ex. Thursday) at (Time). Please share this link with your clients about how to prepare for time on site and how to achieve maximum results by preparing their home. https://lighthousevisuals.com/virtual-tour-prep-checklist/ Thank you! (Your Name) with Lighthouse Visuals
4.6 Requesting Feedback Template Once again, these templates are to increase your clients‘ trust and create a positive experience with doing business with you and our brand. This step is imperative to growing a strong client base and showing that you care about your client’s opinion of the content created. Yes, some feedback will be positive, some will ignore, some will engage and share some criticism while sometimes the feedback will be nothing but negative. All forms of feedback are wanted and should be listened to. This should be sent no more than two days after your time onsite. This will allow for the processing team to finish and deliver content. Also, maybe a reminder for the client to pay their bill. There is more than one reason we send this template. TEMPLATE:
Hi (Agent Name)! Wanted to touch base with you to get your feedback on the content we created for (Listing address). Would love to hear what you and your clients thought about everything! MASSIVE TIP – If the feedback delivered back to you was nothing but negative call the agent as quickly as possible. Have the finished content in front of you and ask the agent to review the content with you. This will show you care and want to learn as much as possible from their opinion. This grows rapport for a working relationship.
Sometimes the negative feedback you will hear was nothing you did, but either something the agent or homeowner did in the staging of the house that the agent does not like. A lot can be learned from a phone call that a text could never convey.
4.7 Social Media Posts Never post under personal brands for work done under Lighthouse Visuals or shot with equipment issued by Lighthouse Visuals. Not only is this a breach of your non-compete, but you should always be pushing the Lighthouse Brand as you are the face for our brand in your market region. Always tag Lighthouse Visuals Facebook or Instagram page and put the brand in the best light possible.
8
Section 5 - Our Systems We’ve simplified a substantial portion of the process so you can focus on market development! 5.1 TeamUP Calendar You will be assigned your own personal TeamUp Calendar that will feed to a Master Read Only Calendar. You will need to bookmark both calendars on your laptop or desktop. This link will be provided to you upon your start date. You will also need to download the TeamUp calendar phone app for scheduling purposes in the field. Each time you schedule a new appointment, it is imperative that you quickly put the appointment into the calendar. It is easy to miss an appointment if it is not put on the calendar. The easiest way to put a new appointment into the calendar will depend on whether you are entering it from your phone or laptop/desktop. For phone/mobile app usage, click the “+” at the top right. For laptop/desktop double click the day of the appointment and begin the process there. Once a new event creation has begun, the first field is the subject/title line. Please try to keep the subject/title line universal. Ex. Time - Address - Agent’s Name Ex. 3 pm - 123 Rondo St - Connie Corey After putting in the correct title line, make sure the date and time are correct in the form. If it’s not, then your appointment could potentially be placed on the wrong day and or time. There are fields in the form that ask who, where, and for a description. “Who“ is a great field to put the agent’s name again. The “where“ field can work seamlessly with your GPS if the address was entered correctly. The “description“ is a great area to put notes about the job. If a home does not need exteriors or a certain part of the house needs more attention, then listen to your client and make notes about their wants and needs. This will help you to always excel with clients. One helpful tip is with vacant listings. I have seen many photographers approach this differently. Most schedule as normal and select a time, but some squeeze vacant listings in as they can during the day. One way to know this more easily is to title the vacant listings as such: “Vacant - 123 Rondo - Connie Corey.”
5.2 Dropbox for Uploading Raw Files Dropbox is one of our primary tools and will be used daily as you begin shooting. LOGIN INFO FOR DROPBOX.COM:
info@lighthousevisual.com $Sampson8* This link is to our processing folder. All raw files must go into this link in the correct correlating folder. Please upload your raw images to the date that correlates with the day that you shot your images. If the folder with the date does not exist, please create it as Month-Day-Year. This is to make sure it is easy for our editor to find the images. After clicking the date that correlates with the day of your shoot, create a folder labeled as “Address-Agent” and then upload your DSLR and aerial raw images into the folder. EXAMPLE: Processing > 5-9-20 > 1111 Arrowhead Dr - Marilyn Turcotte
One other especially important aspect of Dropbox and using this successfully is culling down your images. This is a crucial step that should not be overlooked or skipped. MAX IMAGES ALLOWED TO BE UPLOADED:
25 Images - 3,500 sqft homes 30 Images - Up to 5,000 sqft homes 35 Images - Over 5,000 sqft homes This is to help the speed of delivery and workload stress on processing. The smoother this operation flows, the faster your clients will receive their content. That is the goal of all this! After you finish uploading to Dropbox, please double-check that all intended images have been successfully uploaded.
9
5.3 Job Tickets Job tickets are the only way our admin and processing center know to edit the work that you have created for your clients. The form is self-explanatory. You will be provided with the link to the job ticket and you should review it thoroughly. It is especially important to put all information about the job on this ticket. Many of the fields are generic and only need a quick answer, but for “Explain Price Breakdown Agreed with Client” and “Notes from Photographer,” please elaborate in full to make sure nothing is missed. ”Explain Price Breakdown Agreed with Client”: Please take the time and fill this out to avoid confusion between your client’s needs, your pay, and our processing center. EXAMPLE:
$175 virtual tour + $25 travel fee + $10 virtual dusk = $210 This will vary per job, but it is especially important to explain your price offering in detail. “Notes from Photographer” is a particularly important section on the job ticket. This is where you can tell our admin and processing teams exactly what needs to be done or adjusted to fit each job’s needs. **TIP – If it’s a new client and you forget or negligently miss the agent‘s contact email & phone number then there is a strong chance that your client’s content will be delivered late. When this happens, the client will call you and be unhappy with the process and it will only be your fault.
5.4 Facebook Group – Team Growth If you have access to this manual, then you will also already have been added to our private Facebook group. Team Growth - Lighthouse Visuals on Facebook is our online community. Use this group to ask questions you cannot seem to find an answer to or to ask questions on how others would approach a situation. Also, keep an eye out for important announcements like changes to policies or meeting events that you will need to attend. One thing to make sure you are doing is sharing addresses of homes that you think will show well on our social media. Our social media representatives will take what is shared with them and use it on all our channels. This is great for adding more market exposure to your region. This group is a great tool for our entire organization. Do not ignore this communication platform.
5.5 Client Portal You should be aware of and educate your clients about our client portal. We have developed and built an immensely powerful tool that is a digital warehouse for every job that is done for an individual client. Within the Client Portal, there are sections for FAQs, service request forms, and a form for how the agent would like to be branded on their content. This client portal is how we deliver their newest content and how our clients pay to access their content. No content is to be delivered outside this portal. One thing to always remember when in conversation with clients is that invoices always must be paid to gain access to content. There will be no exception to this unless approved by admin ahead of time.
5.6 Gas Card Gas cards are a privilege that comes with joining our organization. Our admin team has given you your PIN number. The card can only be used for gas and not snacks at the gas station. The card will not work if any other items other than gas are added at the cash register. The easiest way to use the card is at the pump. You will be prompted to enter in mileage of your car. We are not particularly concerned with tracking your physical miles on your car. Feel free to make this number up. The only thing we are concerned with is you using the money that is spent on gas being used for job-related travel. This is an area of our company that can be easily abused. If we see such patterns, it will not last long. You will be out of the job. We constantly cross-reference your jobs on the schedule with gas spent. Once again, gas cards are a privilege that should be used for business-related travel and nothing else. You are already getting paid a portion of travel fees. Do not abuse this privilege.
5.7 Your @lighthousevisual.com Email Address At the beginning of your employment, you will be issued an email address. This email address needs to be added to your laptop/desktop and into your phone. If you need help with this, do not hesitate to ask. This email address is where clients will communicate with you, content distribution emails will be cc’d to you and where new service requests will be sent. This email address is part of your mobile office and should be checked regularly during the day.
10
5.8 Your Phone Notes App One of the most important apps on your phone that you will need to utilize and use daily will be your Notes App. Everyone on our team loves and uses the app for this one purpose of creating templates for basic responses and introductions. Save your templated responses in this app and copy and paste for quick use! It’s so easy and will save you so much time!
Section 6 – Equipment You are provided with the best to create the best quality possible! 6.1 Understanding the Difference Between Personal & LHV Dedicated Equipment When you first begin at Lighthouse Visuals you will be issued a set of equipment to be used for onsite content creation. This equipment will be owned by Lighthouse Visuals and never transfer ownership at any point. You are required to make sure equipment is being well maintained, lenses always clean and not left in a state where accidents such as drops or events of theft could happen. Do not leave equipment in your car overnight or for extended periods during the day with hot temperatures. This could cause long term problems with internal electronics. LHV ISSUED EQUIPMENT
1) Matterport Camera 2) Drone 3) Tripod 4) Tripod Heads PERSONAL EQUIPMENT THAT IS NOT ISSUED BY LHV
1) DSLR Camera 2) Phone or iPad 3) Memory Cards The reason we do not issue DSLR cameras is that you have been asked to join our LHV team due to your skills and abilities to create great images. This is a prerequisite and if you already have this skill it is because you have been shooting on your own camera. When creating Matterport virtual tours you will need to download the Matterport Capture app on to your phone and iPad. An iPad is highly suggested for you to use for creating Matterport virtual tours, but will not be provided. Phones and iPads are personal items that have many benefits outside of your work with Lighthouse Visuals. If you would like an iPad and would like assistance purchasing one, please refer to our Loan Program in section 6.10.
6.2 iPad/Phone To use the Matterport Camera you will need either a phone or iPad. You will need to download the Matterport Capture app and use the login that is issued to you. As mentioned in the previous section, iPads and Phones are personal items and will not be issued to you by Lighthouse Visuals. Always keep a charger packed with your onsite kit if you need to charge your device while scanning for a virtual tour. This will prevent your device from dying due to battery life and you having to tell your client you cannot finish the job.
6.3 DSLR or Mirrorless Camera This style of camera is how you will take your ground level shots. You must own one of these cameras in order to be considered for the position. You will not be provided a camera upon your employment. You also should be proficient with your ability to shoot beautiful images with it as well. Your camera is considered personal individual property and will not fall under LHV’s insurance in the event you drop it onsite. This is important to know and understand. The reason that DSLR or Mirrorless Cameras are not LHV issued or insured is due to your ability to create additional revenue outside of your work from Lighthouse Visuals. If you shoot weddings, portraits, or any other side gigs such as events it‘s highly likely that you will be using this camera. It is also highly likely that you purchased this camera with your own money as well. You should have it insured with a personal plan of some sort.
11
6.4 Matterport Camera Matterport Cameras will be issued upon your employment and will remain property owned by Lighthouse Visuals. This is an immensely powerful tool that is awfully expensive. Treat it with care, keep the battery charged and use it daily! Do not leave this camera in your car during hot temperatures or overnight. The electronics inside the camera can be damaged due to hot temperatures, and the possibility of theft increases when left in a car overnight. Try to limit all risk of damage, theft, or any other negative event that could happen to this camera. This camera is a large part of your onsite work and should stay in working order. All drops and/or error codes should be reported to admin. Do not let this camera be neglected in any form.
6.5 Tripod & Tripod Heads Tripods and Tripod heads will be issued upon your employment and will remain property owned by Lighthouse Visuals. Tripods should be maintained during your possession. Make sure that tripod legs are tightened routinely. It is possible for tripods to become loose and the potential for legs to give way can happen. This can be avoided by proper maintenance. This also applies to tripod heads. When removing a camera from a tripod head, make sure that you have one hand on the camera and one hand on the tripod head as you tighten or loosen the tripod head. Drops/falls can happen when being negligent with tripod heads. Please take your time and make sure you are paying attention to what you are doing.
6.6 Drones Drones will be issued upon your employment and will remain property owned by Lighthouse Visuals. Drones are fun and create beautiful images, but also have the highest risk of being damaged. It is your job to fly with care during every flight. It is also your job to make sure you are packing the drone away properly after each flight as well. This is an expensive piece of equipment you have the privilege of using. Take care of it! Upon being issued a drone an insurance policy will also be placed on your drone. This insurance policy is to cover the event of crashes and major malfunctions of the drone. The cost of the insurance policy will be recouped from you each month. The cost is $6 per paycheck. In the event of a crash and the drone is rendered useless, you will be required to pay the replacement cost of the drone through the insurance policy. Through the insurance policy, two replacement drones are allowed each year and each replacement drone has its own cost. All crashes should be reported to admin. In the event a crash causes over $500.00 in damages the FAA needs to be notified with full flight details. This is not our rule, but the FAA. In short, fly with care and always take care of your equipment.
6.7 Damage, Lost or Stolen Equipment All drops, crashes, and damages to equipment should be reported to admin as soon as possible. A damage or crash report will need to be filled out and an evaluation of the situation will need to be conducted. Accidents happen. In the event your equipment becomes lost, then more questions will be needed to be answered. Your equipment is how you create your livelihood. You should always maintain and know where your equipment is always. In the event your equipment is stolen, you will need to file a police report. Please notify admin as soon as possible.
6.8 Requesting of New Equipment In the event you need new LHV dedicated equipment, you will need to email admin with a written reason for needing new equipment. This request can be granted or denied due to admin‘s discresion. It is important to properly maintain your equipment
Section 7 – Service Guide Knowledge Learning what you sell is half the battle. Knowing how to offer it correctly is the fun part! 7.1 Overall Concept of Our Service Guide When handing over our service guide to any new prospect or a returning client that has asked for another copy, always have a quick message to enforce the service guide‘s usefulness. It helps show that you are business ready.
“Remember we always aim to provide maximum value with speed of delivery, quality, and a price that has your bottom line in mind. We only need 1-2 days lead time for scheduling and guarantee you will have your marketing assets within two business days of shooting. We typically are able to deliver within one business day regardless.”
12
Our service guide is broken down into three sections: Photography, Virtual Tours, and Videography. Also, assume that aerial still photography is included at no additional fee with photo or virtual tour packages. This is a massive selling point for our company. A large majority of our competitors try to offer aerial still images for $50-$150 per listing. Remember: we provide maximum value to our clients and that is why we do not feel comfortable charging more for aerial images. List your clients‘ needs and offer services that are within the lines of what they want, then ask for more by offering add-ons. One easy thing to do is have the link to the guide saved in your phone and ready to text directly to your prospect. While on the phone or meeting in person, ask “Would it be OK if I texted you our service guide?” They will say yes, then you will send over the service guide like this: “Thank you for your time today. Attached below is a link to our service guide. One of our popular service items is our virtual tour package. For $175 for homes up to 3,500 sqft, we offer a Matterport virtual tour, interior, exterior, and aerial photography at no additional cost. Please let me know if I can help you with a listing. https://lighthousevisuals.com/service-guide/
7.2 Photo Packages We have broken our photo packages into three groups: 1) Standard photography 2) HDR photography 3) Aerial only photography STANDARD PHOTOGRAPHY
Standard photography is easy to sell. It is geared to the cost-conscious agent that is more worried about price than quality. Standard photography features images that are taken from a Matterport virtual tour. They are great images, but some agents do not care for the Matterport images. Let them tell you and you let them decide on their own. If they are not happy but call you again, push them to HDR, but let us stay on the topic of standard photography. Standard photography includes interior, exterior, and aerial photography at no additional cost. You will receive still images from the exterior at ground level and from an aerial view from the drone. You’ll also get interior images.
“One thing you might see value in, (Agent‘s Name), is our ECON package. We’ve seen agents use this package for listings like yours. For homes up to 3,500 square feet, you would only be looking at $139 for interior, exterior, and aerial images. Do you think that might work for this listing?” The price will go up as the square footage goes up, but some agents only want photos. There should never be a discount if an agent does not want drone shots. Expect for them to ask, “Can I get a discount if I don’t get drone photos? I don’t need them.” Your response: “We include the drone images at no additional cost, so since we have increased our prices due to offering it, we do not decrease our prices when we do not do them. It’s a free add on we offer to give your content.” HDR PHOTOGRAPHY
HDR photography is to be considered a luxury service. Sell it as such.
“You might consider HDR photography to increase the quality of the marketing assets of this listing. You can see the waves from the windows. This allows the viewers to visualize the lifestyle they would receive if they bought your listing.” Be able to answer the difference between standard/econ and HDR photography like this:
“HDR is a professional technique to illuminate the highlights and shadows of each room. We shoot a series of images from each location and lay the photos over top of each other. This is how we can show the exterior through the window. This technique is considered by many to be magazine quality. Respectively, our standard photography practice produces great results. Sometimes agents and homeowners want a little bit more.” HDR photography is great for clients when the price is as much of a concern and their main goal is the overall quality. Listen and execute the sale when the opportunity arrives. You make more money offering this service either as a standalone service or combined with a virtual tour package. Once again, there should never be a discount if an agent does not want drone shots. Expect for them to ask, “Can I get a discount if I don’t get drone photos? I don’t need them.” Your response: “We include the drone images at no additional cost, so since we have increased our prices due to offering it, we do not decrease our prices when we do not do them. It’s a free add on we offer to give your content.” AERIAL ONLY PHOTOGRAPHY
This is something you will sell a lot of as well. Aerial photography is great for lots, parcels of big tracts of land, and houses that do not have desirable interiors worth showing. It is only $99 and an excellent value for your client. You can have it completed within 20 minutes arriving onsite. For the homes that are being listed with aerial images only, offer to do DSLR images as well for no additional cost or just use the drone for DSLR angle-like images. REMEMBER: You can also use this request to push your client to an aerial video, which would make you more money.
13
7.3 Video Packages Video should always be considered a luxury service. A lot of time is required both onsite and in post-production. This should be explained if a client ever asks why it is priced “high” or tries to negotiate with you. Videos are delivered by providing the client with a Dropbox link to the file, a quick link for social media sharing, and an embed code for placing the video on their webpages. Video packages are typically broken into the length of time the video is expected to be. PROMO VIDEOS - 60-second videos FULL SHOWCASE VIDEOS - Typically 2-3 minutes PROMO VIDEOS
1) Aerial-only videos - $175 for 60-second videos These videos are filmed using only the drone and only highlight the land and exterior of the house. These videos are great for parcels, big tracts of land, or listings that have a lifestyle that is worth showing. This video package includes aerial still photography at no additional cost. 2.) Full highlight-reel promo - $200 - 60-second videos These videos should be sold as social-media promos that include the entire house: interior, exterior, and aerial footage. These are easy to sell, but make sure you are knowledgeable about how to produce quality interior footage. These are great options for clients looking for quick videos. Get creative and show the house off to its fullest potential. FULL SHOWCASE VIDEOS
Depends on the square footage: Up to 3,500 sqft - $250 for 2-3 minutes 3,500 sqft to 5,000 sqft - $350 for 2-3 minutes 5,000 sqft to 7,500 sqft - $450 for 2-3 minutes Full showcase videos are typically for higher-end houses. When you hear a client mention or say, “This is a nice listing,” get ready to offer this service. Full showcase videos show all details of the house in full. Each video is typically 2-3 minutes long. Cameo appearances or audio narration overlay can be added to full showcase videos, but not promo videos. This makes the package cost more. You will need knowledge of how microphones work and how to record audio properly. CAMEO APPEARANCE - $50 additional for an agent to step in front of the camera and speak at some point in the video. Additional audio can be overlaid in the video, as well. AUDIO NARRATION - $45 additional for agents to speak and have their narrative overlaid over the video footage.
Videos will come either branded or unbranded. This needs to be addressed when selling. Unbranded videos are meant for MLS and branded videos are meant for marketing and creating agent/brand awareness. To have copies of both branded and unbranded videos will cost $45 additional. This is fair and stands tall on the price. Also, a key point about video is that there are no hosting fees included with videos. They will own them indefinitely.
7.4 Virtual Tour Packages We are a high-volume producer of Matterport Virtual Tours. We offer them as standalone tours or with standard photography included. These are powerful tools and we are extremely competitive in this offering. 1) MATTERPORT TOUR ONLY
Up to 3,500 sqft - $150 3,500 sqft to 5,000 sqft - $210 5,000 sqft to 7,500 sqft - $260 7,500+ sqft - $325 2) VIRTUAL TOUR PACKAGE, which includes standard/econ photography. This a Matterport Virtual Tour with interior, exterior, and aerial photography at no additional cost.
Up to 3,500 sqft - $175 3,500 sqft to 5,000 sqft - $235 5,000 sqft to 7,500 sqft - $285 7,500+ sqft - $350 3) VIRTUAL TOUR PACKAGE WITH AN UPGRADE OF HDR PHOTOGRAPHY. This a Matterport Virtual Tour plus high-quality HDR photography of the interior, exterior, and aerial photography at no additional cost.
Up to 3,500 sqft - $300 3,500 sqft to 5,000 sqft - $415 5,000 sqft to 7,500 sqft - $510 7,500+ sqft - $635 14
1) Virtual tour only packages will present themselves as agents who already have photos done, but just want the virtual tour. Virtual tour only packages are great for retail stores, too. 2) Matterport with standard photos is a package that is our top seller and typically our first offering when someone calls with questions. It is one of the easiest sales you could ask for. Push it like this: “For $175 for homes up to 3,500 square feet, you’ll receive a Matterport Virtual Tour with interior, exterior, and aerial photography at no additional cost.“ This will be the primary package you will sell. 3) Matterport with HDR photos. This package is for agents with expensive taste or high demands. They have already worked with us once but gave feedback that the interiors were a little too dark or they just wanted something a little bit nicer. This is your chance to sell them HDR photos as a standalone package or with the Matterport Virtual Tour. It is important to let your clients know about Matterport hosting fees. Explain to them that Matterport does not play with others. Explain to them that we are not looking to get rich from these fees, but to have help sharing the cost of hosting. We currently spend over $30,000 a year on hosting.
7.5 Understanding Hosting on Virtual Tours Hosting fees will work like this: 1. The first 60 days after tour creation are free of charge and no hosting fees will be applied. 2. After the initial 60 days of hosting, in order to keep your tour activated, we offer three different hosting options Option 1: $100 for an additional 365 days of hosting Option 2: $30 for an additional 90 days of hosting Option 3: $12.50 for an additional 30 days of hosting MOST IMPORTANT TAKEAWAY: If a client asks where to make a payment or how many days they have left before they need to pay, please direct them to their client portal. This system will have sections where additional hosting can be added or discontinued.
One option for a client who is completely against the idea of paying for hosting is to offer Matterport Videos. MP Videos do not have hosting fees. Once paid for and created, the owner of the video will have it to use indefinitely without hosting fees. The best way to sell the free period of hosting is by telling the agent: “60 days, in many markets, is plenty of time to get a listing under contract. If it is priced right and does not have any issues, then you shouldn’t worry about paying any additional hosting.”
7.6 Floor Plans Floor plans are a wonderful way to generate more revenue for yourself! Agents love them because they save them time on site and, truthfully, agents either are too busy or pretend to be too busy to do it themselves. It is more of a luxury service that offers convenience for them. This is easily sold as an add-on for an additional $45. THE MOST IMPORTANT PHRASE TO LEARN ABOUT FLOORPLANS IS THIS:
“The Matterport Cameras we use to create the virtual tours also use infrared lasers as they scan the home. These lasers measure paint to paint which is perfect for condominiums, apartments, or townhomes. These residences are measured paint to paint for total square footage. For standalone residences, we do add 6 inches for the width of the exterior walls, because this area has to be included for standalone residences.” Another key point to know about floorplans is that only “Heated and Cooled” areas will be included in the total square footage. This means that garages that do not have HVAC will not be counted in the total square footage. This also applies to screened-in porches or unfinished bonus rooms.
7.7 Offering Discounts We discourage the use of offering discounts to individual agents as a way of securing jobs and new clients. You need to set standards with your clients and one of them being that you are firm on your prices and believe in your product. If you start a new working relationship out by offering discounts, then you will be expected to give that discount each time in the future. Please realize that real estate agents are negotiating with you out of habit. It is what they do for their clients on a daily basis. Their whole goal is to get the best price possible for their clients. Why wouldn’t they do it to you? If you do decide to offer discounts know that you are only allowed $200 in total discounts per month. The amount discounted will come from your commission and will not affect the amount Lighthouse Visuals collects. process.
In the event you are approached to negotiate an agreement for an entire firm please contact admin to help you with this
15
Section 8 – Compensation & Bonuses We set no limits on your potential pay. Be results oriented. Set goals and achieve! 8.1 Pay Period Schedule Lighthouse Visuals Pays Commissions on a biweekly schedule. Each pay period is 2 weeks/14 days. Payday is always the Friday after the pay period ends. For example, If the pay period starts on Monday, January 25th it will end on Sunday, February 7th. Payday will be Friday, February 12th. Your paycheck will include every job invoiced through this period. There will be 26 paydays a year. We pay via direct deposit for all employees, the information for this will be gathered during the onboarding process. Savannah will email a spreadsheet on the Monday before payday with all the jobs being paid. The purpose of this to is make sure no jobs are missing or aspects of content delivery was irregular. You will have until Wednesday at 10 am to let Savannah know if anything is missing or needs to be changed. If you do not confirm in a timely manner, the job will be left off until the next paycheck. Any job over $750.00 will be paid out after payment is received. This is to limit the liability of a client not paying or them needing additional work to consider the job finished. We will assist in collecting these funds. Please address any additional Payroll Questions to Savannah. She is always ready and willing to help!
16
8.2 Commission Pay Structure As you already know and are fully aware, Lighthouse Visuals is an incentive-driven environment. All paychecks are commission based on total jobs completed. The formula for your total pay per job is as such: ((TOTAL PRICE OF JOB – COST OF GOODS SOLD) – 8% ADMIN FEE) X 50% COMMISSION AMOUNT = YOUR PAY
Example for our $175 Virtual Tour Package: ((175-19) *.92) *.50= $71.76 FOR YOUR COMMISSION PAY
8.3 Increase Pay with Add-ons Selling add-ons such as floor plans and upgrading/combining services such as our HDR packages and Video packages will positively increase your commission. You should always listen for opportunities to add more value to each job. You should attempt to increase the value of each job sold. At least use each opportunity presented to you to educate your clients about the additional offerings that you can provide.
8.4 Ways to Increase Commission For starters, this opportunity that you have been granted does not have a ceiling. Everyone starts out at 50% but has the potential to grow their commission rate. To grow your commission rate, you will first need to grow a market region well past the point of efficiency and get to a point where you cannot personally handle all the work that is being offered to you. When you get to the point of needing help, you can successfully transition another photographer underneath you. You will have the opportunity to move to 60% and receive 10% of the sales produced for the additional photographer. This will require more responsibilities but will be well worth the effort. Once again, this is an incentive-driven environment where you should always be results-oriented. You can achieve as much as you want with the amount of effort you put forth. Lighthouse Visuals will never put a cap on your earning potential.
8.5 Race to 300 Bonus "Race to 300" is an amazingly simple bonus incentive and everyone will more than likely achieve this within the year. Once you have completed your 300th job for the year you will be given an additional $300. This race starts over every year on January 1st.
8.6 Yearly Bonus Bonuses are paid out on the first weekday of Christmas week in December. 600 Jobs Completed - $750 (Monthly Average - 50, Daily Average 2.3) 700 Jobs Completed - $1,000 (Monthly Average – 58.3, Daily Average 2.69) 800 Jobs Completed - $1,300 (Monthly Average – 66.67, Daily Average 3.07) 900 Jobs Completed - $1,750 (Monthly Average - 75, Daily Average 3.46) 1,000 Jobs completed - $2,000 (Monthly Average - 83, Daily Average 3.85)
Section 9 – Client Communication The relationships you develop are equally as important as the images you create! 9.1 Basic Real Estate Terminology Just like any business sector, people that work in that field speak differently and have terms that they use on a daily basis that are not common in daily conversation. You’ll need to learn these words, understand how they are being used in the conversation, and how to respond correctly. Among the most common terms you will hear will be "listing" and "seller". You work with agents that sell houses that homeowners own. When an agent gets a house under contract, they call it their "listing". A listing comes from how real estate is sold to the public. All regional real estate associations have a collection of listings that are specific to their region called the MLS, or “Multiple Listing Service.” This is where all homes that are for sale to the general public reside until they are sold. You’ll probably hear it on your first day on the job. An agent in conversation will say, “I've got a new listing and the sellers need it to go live by this Thursday. How soon can you shoot it?” This will become a common conversation with you and your clients. What the agent is saying is, “I just got a new client that wants me to sell their home for them and pay me for it. Our contractual agreement states that this particular house needs to be active in the MLS by this Thursday. I need the photos, by the latest, on Wednesday night.” It translates very easily and you will quickly learn what the agent is asking of you. There will be many variations of this that will be thrown at you, but just be ready to accommodate and stay at the top of their vendor list. 17
Another phrase that will be common will be, “I've got a new listing. The sellers are out of town and I will need to let you in. How long will it take? It’s 4,500 sqft.” Let’s break this phrase down. The agent has a new home that they are selling and a homeowner they are representing. They are going to have to meet you at the house to let you in. They need to know how much time to block off of their schedule for you to do your job. The new term that we need to learn is "square feet", "square footage", or "sqft". It will generally appear in those variations. They did not say it is a two-story, sort-of big house. They spoke the language they know and use daily. In this particular conversation, the term is "square footage". A square footage number lets you know how big a home is. In this instance, if it is 4,500 square feet, it is a bigger-than-average size home. If you remember from earlier pages, these homes typically take 1.5 hours to complete from arrival to the last photo taken. So, the correct response to the agent would go along the lines of: “I can do it tomorrow at 9 a.m. or 11 a.m., or the following day at the same times. We would need to budget 1.5 hours to get a home this size done without rushing it. Do either of these times work for you to meet me at the house? Also, what is the exact address?” Let’s add a few more terms that you will encounter weekly, if not daily. These unfamiliar terms will be "vacant" and "lockbox". “Hey, I've got a new listing! It is vacant and needs to be done over the next few days. I need the photos by Monday. There is a lockbox on the property. Let me know when you can do it and I’ll give you the information to access the key.” The agent is telling you they have a new listing. It is "vacant", meaning that it is unoccupied and no one is currently living there. They want you to know that there is a "lockbox" onsite. This means there is a key safe onsite and, with the right lockbox information, you will have access to the key and be able to get inside the vacant home without meeting an agent onsite. You will need to ask the agent what kind of lockbox is onsite. Agents use primarily three different lockboxes. A combo lockbox, a one-day code lockbox, and a supra lockbox. You will only be able to access two of those three. The supra lockbox is for real estate agents only and you must be a member of the regional MLS to access these boxes. The two most common lockboxes you will be using are the combo lockbox and the one-day code lockbox. These are accessible to anyone with the right codes. Most combo lockboxes have dials with numbers that, once properly put in, you will be able to slide open a compartment and get the key. The one-day code lockbox is much fancier. You will need the code. It could be 8-16 digits. You will hit enter or function, depending on the brand of the lockbox, to clear any operations currently still stored on the lock and then enter your code. Then hit the enter button. If done correctly, you will hear a few noises and the lockbox will automatically open. If you entered the code incorrectly or did not clear the saved operations, you will get a red light where and it will say “Error.” Retry your code after clearing the functions. Let’s go back to the phrase now that we have more knowledge of how to respond to it.
“Hey, I've got a new listing! It is vacant and needs to be done over the next few days. I need the photos by Monday. There is a lockbox on the property. Let me know when you can do it and I’ll give you the information to access the key.” A correct first response to this phrase would be: “I can definitely make it happen and have the photos to you before then. I have some time tomorrow that I can swing by and do it. What kind of lockbox is it and what is the code for the lockbox?” One phrase that will typically go along with the lockbox term will be "new construction". The word that is being left off is a new construction “home.” This term will come from home builders or agents that work directly with home builders. A possible phrase will be, “When are you available? I have a new construction that is ready. There’s a combo box on the front door and the code is 369. The builder would like this done sooner rather than later.” I bet you can figure this out without me explaining it, but what the agent just told you is that she has a new construction home that is ready for pictures. It’s obviously vacant because it’s never been sold before and there is a combo lockbox on the front for you to access the home without anyone assisting you. A correct response to this request would be: “I can do it tomorrow between two other listings I’m photographing. I’ll get you the photos as soon as possible.” Easy peasy! The most dreaded words in our field, but some of the most celebrated words in real estate, are “under contract.” This phrase means the agent is about to get paid and you missed your chance to get paid. Let me put together a scenario for you: An agent calls you and you miss their call. Either you didn’t hear it or you didn’t feel the vibrate. You see the missed call and call back the next day. The agent is in a great mood when they answered the phone. “Hey, thanks for calling me back! I had a listing for you to photograph, but it just went under contract within just a few hours of being on the market. I’ll call you for my next listing!” This happens and will happen to you. It’s OK. Let the agent know you are excited for them, apologize for missing their call and tell them to keep you in mind for their next listing. In this particular phrase, the agent is saying that the house they were going to pay you to photograph doesn’t need photography anymore. It sold without having to pay you and they're about to get their commission check! As you can see from this scenario, it’s important to always be in your office and ready to do business. What I mean by this is to have your phone where you can see it, hear it, or sense the vibrations and be ready to answer the call and schedule the request. You do not want to miss an opportunity to make money and continue to develop a relationship with a client. You will see these terms daily and in different variations, but understand and learn to speak like a real estate agent. They will know that you are truly an expert in your field and that you understand what exactly they want.
9.2 Present Yourself as The Expert This sounds like a basic, common-sense statement, but it’s a true concept that needs to be noted and constantly developed. As an MCA, you need to know how all your cameras work, the basic theories of photography, and have a full understanding of Lighthouse Visuals’ service line and products. You need to know how to charge and explain fees as they apply. You will even need to know how to control the workflow of onsite work and how to work quickly. 18
If you want to be an expert and a successful MCA, you need to invest your time into learning all that Lighthouse Visuals offers and how to produce the best quality content possible every time. Consistency is especially important when it comes to knowing how to offer services to prospects and in your approach to onsite work. You will need to know how to approach each aspect the same every time. You will need to master your cameras and know how to produce the best output every time you use them. An agent is not calling you to book your services because you are somewhat good or have a decent idea of how to do your job. You need to take charge, learn the service guide inside and out, and be able to educate your client how what would be best for them. People only want to do business with the best in their field and someone who is sharp as a tack. Invest in yourself and learn all that you can!
9.3 Your Phone is Your Office As you step into this career with Lighthouse Visuals a few things will change. You will not report to an office daily and you will be your own boss. Your phone will become your office. Everything you need to do your job successfully is right there on your phone. Whether it’s building your contact list, organizing your templates in your phone’s Notes App to communication with clients or through email and text messages. Your phone will replace the four walls of any cubicle or office you may have grown accustomed to.
9.4 Expected Response Times When your phone rings, dings or vibrates you should never ignore the notification. It very well could be a client trying to get you to complete a job. Your clients are impulsive and expect an immediate response. You should always try to respond immediately or as quickly as possible. The truth of it is that if you ignore or delay responding to clients then you stand a good likelihood of not getting that job. Do you think your client is waiting on you or do you think your client is trying to get the job done? They are trying to get the job done and satisfy their clients. If you do not respond immediately or lightning-fast, you can bet they have moved on to the next photographer. If they have a wonderful experience with that other photographer then there is always a chance that you might not get a call again. The threat of substitution is high in our field. Not all clients are loyal and will only work with the first to respond. You are expected to handle your clients' demands, questions, or concerns quickly and effectively.
9.5 Communication with New Clients In the event you get an email contact form or a referral from another photographer you are expected to respond quickly. Also, and probably the most important aspect of communication with new clients is actually picking up the phone and calling them as your first point of contact. This is a fantastic opportunity to begin developing rapport with your new client and educate them on all the services we have to offer. Do not send text messages or cold emails. Pick up the phone and call! This will help you grow leaps and bounds.
9.6 Communication with Existing Clients Always pay attention to the medium of communication a client prefers to communicate through. Some clients will prefer a phone call. Others will only text and some will email. It’s particularly important to observe this and learn the format of communication that your client prefers. Also, if you can train your clients to communicate via text after the initial contact phone call, you will always have a record of your conversation in the event there was a misunderstanding. Remember to respond quickly and effectively.
9.7 Scheduling and Confirmation Response Scheduling jobs will be one of the most frequent activities you will be doing. Learn to do this quickly and also learn phrases that push new clients to book during your initial phone call. Since this is a commission-based job, I can only imagine you want to make the most money you can to provide for the lifestyle you wish to live. The best way to do this is to set standards with your scheduling practices that allow for the maximum number of houses per day. This is an easy and amazingly effective practice. Once you have this set, your clients will understand and come to expect what times are being offered. From our experience, homes up to 3,500 sqft take up to an hour onsite. Homes between 3,501 and 5,000 sqft take up to 1.5 hours onsite. Homes over 5,000 sqft can take up to or over two hours. It’s important to always ask the client about square footage for planning purposes. Having a massive 5,000 sqft home as a surprise will throw a monkey wrench in your schedule that was fully avoidable with proper planning. One schedule layout that has been highly effective for many MCA’s is starting at 9 a.m. and offering consecutive times at 11 a.m., 1 p.m., 3 p.m., and 5 p.m. This schedule layout can allow for up to five houses within the day, depending on their size and location in your market. I will speak on this more later in sales tips but do become familiar with the power of alternatives. By offering an agent the times you wish to work, it will make them predictively pick times that work with your intended schedule layout. If you just ask the agent what time is best for them, they may say 10 a.m. or 2 p.m., which could be contrary to your desire to maximize your schedule layout.
19
With the suggestion of the power of alternatives, if an agent contacts you and asks what is your availability for tomorrow, your first step is to get the address and square footage of the house. This allows you to calculate travel time and onsite time requirements. After you’ve done this properly and you know that you can accommodate this request, you provide the agent the two times you wish to do the job by offering two alternatives. The power of alternatives suggests that the client will pick one of the two times offered without suggesting another time that they think is better. You’ll be surprised how well it works. After scheduling and closing the sale, quickly put the appointment on your schedule. If you wait or think you can get to it later, there is a chance you may miss putting it on your schedule and therefore a stronger possibility of missing an appointment. Don’t miss appointments. After putting the appointment on the schedule send a confirmation text to your clients. It will create more trust and will be a reminder for them in your text conversation that the booking is solid. TEMPLATE:
(Agent Name) thank you for allowing me to create the marketing content for (Listing Address & City). I look forward to this opportunity and will see you (Day Name ex. Thursday) at (Time). Please share this link with your clients about how to prepare for time on site and how to achieve maximum results by preparing their home. https://lighthousevisuals.com/virtual-tour-prep-checklist/ Thank you! (Your Name) with Lighthouse Visuals
9.8 Answering Unknown Questions When starting any new job, there will be things you do not know. The best thing to do is to learn your resources. This training manual will cover most everything but will miss somethings. That’s OK. We will modify this as we go along. Use this training manual as a reference guide. This is a powerful tool. The next thing to know is who your resources are. Anyone in this company can help you and answer your questions. As mentioned earlier, one of your main jobs within this company is to be a problem solver and to always be looking for solutions. If you only see problems, then you likely will become a problem, and we know a solution to that issue. Think for yourself and be a leader. Use the Facebook group - “Team Growth - Lighthouse Visuals.” Post your question in there and someone will respond on the thread or call you directly. Remember, if you have a question about something, there is a strong likelihood that someone else has had to deal with the same issue, too. Feel free to call Will Preslar, the owner of this company, at any time. My number is 252-902-4331. If I’m not busy, I will answer the call or be in touch with you as soon as possible if I‘m busy. I’m on my phone probably 70% of the day. Savannah Harper, our general manager can help guide you in the direction, as well. Any of our Board of Directors can help you, too! Do not hesitate to get your answers! We are in this together!
9.9 Solving Issues & Customer Support When a client reaches out and has an issue, they need help with, do not say “I’ll get to it later or tomorrow.” Get it done as quickly as possible! Answer one of a few ways:
”I’m currently photographing a house, but will get a team member to assist you.” ”I understand and am sorry this is an issue. Let me look into this and I’ll be back in touch with you as soon as possible.“ ”That is our error and I apologize. Let me talk to our team and have someone in our support department get in touch with you as soon as possible.“ You can adjust what you say to adapt to the situation, but the main point is that the client knows that they will be taken care of quickly. This is imperative for keeping happy clients. Always go above and beyond to make your clients feel welcomed and that their needs are your highest priority. The quickest way to lose a client is to ignore them, delay responses, or answer in vague terms. Give them your full attention. If that is not possible at the time, ask someone on our LHV team to assist you. There will be consequences such as potential write up’s for leaving clients hanging when problems arise. Do not let problems fester.
9.10 Requesting Feedback Always follow up with new clients to ask what they liked about the content and if they have any constructive criticism. This will give you time to further develop the relationship and show the client you care about the way they feel about the content you delivered. You’ll be surprised. There’s always a chance they will say, “Actually, I have another one I need to be done.” 20
Another significant chance to follow up is after a presentation or initial introduction of your services. This is the easiest and one of the most welcoming times to follow up is when they do not have any criticism or any problems that need solving. An additional time to follow up with clients is when you have not heard from an agent in a while. This is one of the few times you do not have to be 100% business-oriented. If you haven’t heard from a regular client in a few months, shoot them a message saying: “Hey (Agent Name)! Hope you’ve been doing well! Just wanted to check in with you and let you know I’ll be happy to photograph any listings you may have coming up.” You’ll probably get a response like, “I haven’t forgotten about you! I have been on vacation or things have been slow lately.” Just respond with, “Just know I’ll be ready for anything that comes up!” TEMPLATE FOR REQUESTING FEEDBACK:
Hey (Agent Name)! Wanted to touch base with you to get your feedback on the content we created for (Listing address). Would love to hear what you and your clients thought about everything!
9.11 Escalating Problems You should always do your best to avoid a problem being escalated to upper management, but there will be events that warrant it. Lighthouse Visuals will not be disappointed if the problem was not allowed to fester and become a bigger issue than it should have been. We will also not be disappointed if your records show you have been trying to handle the situation with the utmost care. When escalating a problem that you need help solving please present all facts that pertain to the ongoing situation and how the issue has gotten to where it is currently heading. You will need to reach out to either a member of the Board of Directors or the General Manager. We are here to help in any way shape or form, but we will need all the facts and a short amount of time to assess the situation. Once we have a clearer understanding of what is happening, we will reach out directly to the client and begin our internal communication. You will be updated as the problem begins to be solved. We will never let a problem remain unsolved whether for good or bad.
Section 10 – World Class Image Present yourself as you would like to be perceived! 10.1 Why Look Your Best Always? Being well-dressed is a beautiful form of politeness. When you are meeting new potential clients or walking into the home of a seller with an agent on-site, it will be expected of you to dress as though you are a true professional. Don’t you think that your agent/client will want you to dress professionally so they can show off their photographer? Having a professional presentation sets the tone for conversations and how you expect to be treated. Dress less than expected and expect to be treated less.
10.2 Uniform This is where it all starts. With our uniform, we are creating a consistent image that no matter the market the agent or client will be present by the same face of our brand. Uniforms give someone something they can trust upon their first impression. DO NOT DIFFERENTIATE FROM OUR UNIFORM:
1) A LHV Polo Shirt 2) Khaki Shorts, Khaki Pants, slacks, dress pants or dress shorts Highly suggested, but not required, keep your shirttail tucked in with a belt.
10.3 Required Footwear Clean shoes should be a part of your uniform and never wear sandals or shoes without socks. Always offer to remove your shoes when approaching the interior of a house. It’s a nice gesture that most often will not be taken up on, but will be appreciated. Always wear clean socks in the event a homeowner or agent asks you to remove your shoes going into a home. It’s not a fun conversation when they ask you to remove your shoes and you are either wearing sandals or no socks in your shoes. Be prepared for this to happen. Homeowners are funny about bare feet in their homes as you may be from strangers in your home.
10.4 Hair & Facial Hair Your hair and facial hair are a part of your presentation. Always do your best to look well-groomed. Do not look disheveled or like you have just rolled out of bed. This will reflect negatively in your presentation and in how the agent/client overall presences your professionalism. 21
10.5 Personal Hygiene This is personal and I hope we never have to discuss it, but you should always make sure you shower, brush your teeth, and wear deodorant. In the event an agent, homeowner, or coworker reports an issue in this category it will have to be addressed.
10.6 Basic Language When working with clients you should speak with a high caliber vocabulary. Do your absolute best not to cuss onsite, via correspondence, or where your clients may overhear you. Avoid words such as “Brah”, “Dude”, and other street slang that agents may not be familiar with or would deem professional. Try to conform to the language that is being spoken and you will be right in line with what the agent is expecting from you.
Section 11 – Onsite Expectations & Procedures Control the interactions on site, be the expert and create amazing content! 11.1 Early is On Time This should be a no brainer. If you do not understand why then you are not a good fit for this company. When you schedule a shoot with an agent, the agent has had to schedule with the seller to make sure everything is ready and the house will be prepared for you. If the house is not vacant, there is a strong likelihood that the seller/homeowner has to take off of work to be there and the agent has scheduled their day around this appointment. It’s best practice to arrive 15 minutes early if possible. You know the saying: early is on time, and on time is late. This holds true in our company. If for whatever reason, if you are going to be late, call the agent as soon as you know you will be running behind and let the agent know. Be honest and straight forward.
11.2 Arrival Safety When you arrive at each job site, the workflow may be different due to lighting conditions. That said, a few things should always be approached the same way. Always be observant and pay attention to your surroundings. Is the home occupied? Does it look vacant? Is the agent already onsite? Is the homeowner going to be present? These are all things you need to be able to spot quickly and know how to approach accordingly. Many agents will give you the keys to a vacant home and ask you to begin the work as soon as possible. These are easy, but some safety precautions need to be addressed. Always announce yourself as you walk into a house. A quick loud hello is what I typically do. Then, after I don’t hear anyone moving around, I lock the door behind me. Then I walk to each room and turn on all the lights. While I’m turning on all the lights, I am paying attention to make sure things are not out of place as though someone has been in the house or could currently be in the house. Squatters do exist and are a hazard in our line of work that we always need to be aware of. If you ever feel uncomfortable or see something you don’t like, walk outside, and call the agent immediately. Your safety is the first priority. If you are meeting the agent at a vacant house, you might not have to say hello loudly, but take the same steps of being observant and aware of your surroundings. For other homes, where you are meeting an agent or the homeowner, always knock and introduce yourself to the party you are working with. Do not just show up and start walking around the property taking photos of the front and backyard. Especially the backyard! Homeowners get uneasy and nervous when they see what they think is a stranger snooping around on their property. Make your presence known!
11.3 Greeting On-Arrival Make sure you make your presence known when arriving. You will be able to learn to tell if a home is vacant or occupied. When shooting occupied houses, it is particularly important to let the sellers know that you are on site and ready to work. Even if you want to fly the drone first or shoot the ground level DSLR images first, go knock on the door, introduce yourself, and let them know your plans. Knock then say, ”Hi, my name is (Your Name). I am with Lighthouse Visuals and I will be photographing your house today.“ They may offer for you to come in at this point, but if you plan on shooting the outside first, continue with this:
“I wanted to let you know I was here. I am going to go ahead and shoot the exteriors. Is it OK if I get access to the backyard? I will also be flying a drone, so if you hear what might sound like a weedeater flying around, it’s just me." This makes the sellers aware that you are on their property and will begin your working rapport. They will be thankful you did this. I have seen where, in the early days, I did not do this a couple of times. I startled a homeowner. I was in their backyard and they let the dogs out on me. It was not cool. I learned quickly. 22
REMEMBER THIS: The whole point of the greeting on arrival for occupied listings is to let the homeowner know of your presence. You are the expert and a courtesy announcement that you are here to work goes a long way. Having a startled or scared homeowner has cost us money in the past. If you scared a homeowner, the gift card to Amazon is coming out of your paycheck.
We have had police officers called on us before for just flying the drone without announcing we were onsite. Just be smart.
11.4 Pre-Shoot To-Do’s & Controlling the Situation start.
Agents and homeowners onsite while you’re working are expecting you to be the expert in the situation. Take control from the You will likely get these questions from the start: Q: “Is there anything I can do for you?”
A: "Yes. Please help me turn on all the lights. And if fans are running, please turn them off. Also, if any toilet seats are up, please put them down." Q: “What do you think about these pillows?“ This could be anything about any room and how it is staged.
that?”
A - Walk over and adjust them slightly, if need be, or say, “I think they look great there how they are. Did you set them up like
There will be a few consistent questions that will come from agents and homeowners, but the whole purpose they are asking for is to test your professionalism and expertise in this field. They want to know that you know what to look for. It’s a small test, believe it or not. The absolute worst thing you can do when an agent asks if there is anything they can do is to tell them, “No, I can handle it.” Think about it. The agent is in their client’s house and wants to work to show their client they go the extra mile for them and the sale of their home. Give them something to do, even if it is as easy as helping turn on the lights and turning off the fans.
11.5 Be a Problem Solver You will come across many challenges in the field. If you aren’t, then you aren’t shooting enough houses. Pump up that market presence! Your goal when challenges or problems present themselves is to solve them quickly. Always look for a solution. It’ll make your life so much easier, not just in this position but in life in general. Find solutions. If the lights in a vacant house do not work, don’t think, "Let me call the agent." Your first thought should be, "Let me check the breaker box to see if the power is off in the house." Always see if you can solve your issue first before reaching out.
11.6 Using the Bathroom While Onsite It’s funny I am writing on this topic, but I have been in this situation myself. If the home is occupied, ask the agent or homeowner. They will say sure. This one is easy. If the home is vacant, check to make sure the water is on! I‘ve done it. Others have done it. If the water is off at the road and you use the bathroom, there will not be a way to get rid of your waste. Also, keep a roll of toilet paper in your kit just in case. Not every vacant listing has it onsite. You can laugh at this section, but it’s a shitty situation if you get caught in it!
11.7 You are Always on Camera When in a house/listing, act as though you are always on camera. Integrity is doing the right thing no matter who is watching. A growing majority of houses you will be in will have some sort of security surveillance. Remember that these people will not just see you, but they will have recorded video with sound of your actions while onsite. Be smart and act smart.
23
Section 12 – Post Production Work Flow Learn the systems inside and out. The process is always the same! 12.1 – Job Tickets It’s extremely basic. Every job you complete will need a job ticket. Main items that cannot be missed: Client Name, Type of Job, and the Price agreed with your client. Without this information, problems and delays occur with delivery and processing. We cannot send an invoice if we do not know who the client is and the price agreed on. Processing cannot complete the work without the correct job information. This dictates their protocol for job completion. The “Additional Notes” section can be immensely helpful for our editing team if there are specifics that need to be completed for a particular job.
12.2 Culling Images & Uploading to Dropbox Please upload your raw images to the date that correlates with the day that you shot your images. If the folder with the date does not exist, please create it as Month-Day-Year. This is to make sure it is easy for our editor to find the images. After clicking the date that correlates with the day of your shoot, create a folder labeled as “Address-Agent” and then upload your DSLR & aerial raw images into the folder. Example: Processing > 5-9-20 > 1111 Arrowhead Dr - Marilyn Turcotte HELPFUL TO THE EDITOR: cull down your images and do not do a drag and drop. If you know an image does not make the cut, please do not include it in the upload. This will slow your upload, the editor’s download, and add to the amount of time the editor has to shift through useable and unusable images. NEW REQUIREMENTS FOR MAXIMUM IMAGES ALLOWED TO BE UPLOADED:
25 images for 3,500 sqft. homes 30 images for up to 5,000 sqft. homes 35 images for over 5,000 sqft. homes This is to help a speedy delivery and ease workload stress on our editing team. The smoother this operation flows, the faster your clients will receive their content. That is the goal of all this!
12.3 Uploading HDR Raw Files We use offshore editors for this process. They kill it! You will need to upload all images from your bracketed sets. If you need to cull, please do onsite while shooting. As learned, each HDR photo has a set of photos at different exposures taken. You will need to upload each image of the set. The guys we use prefer you to place your images in a folder of the date you shot them. Click the link above -> select or create a folder with the day’s date - > create a new folder “Address - Agent - Number of Total Images - Total HDR Images Need” It’s basic and almost the same process as single exposures, but for a different editing team.
12.4 Uploading Matterport Once trimming and finalizing the tour in the Capture app, upload it. You have probably learned how to upload from Matterport Academy but to reiterate again, you upload the Matterport tours to our cloud account from your login provided for you. You can upload the tour from the individual scan or from the home page in the Capture app. This is quite easy, but one important thing to know is: IF YOU TURN THE CAPTURE OFF OR NAVIGATE AWAY FROM THE APP, THE UPLOAD PROCESS WILL STOP.
12.5 How to Order Add-On’s With each job ticket that you complete, you can make note that the floor plan was ordered by the client or design services are needed. When doing a new job ticket, this is easy because it’s included with the initial order. If a floor plan or design service is needed after the job has already been ordered, you will need to create a whole new job ticket.
24
Section 13 – What is Market Presence The stronger your Market Presence. The larger you pay checks! 13.1 A Better Understanding As you now know, your market presence is one of the most vital aspects of your success. So how do you grow it effectively? There are a few things you can do consistently that will be helpful in this process. One of the first steps in all market presence developments is dropping off service guides and information cards about the company to firms in your region. This is one of the easiest things that can be done. More than likely you will not talk to an agent, but probably the front desk receptionist. The front desk receptionist is the gatekeeper between you and the agents in the offices. Know this, but always ask to see if they are an agent. You never know when you might get to talk to an agent. Introduce yourself and say, “I have some information I’d like to share with you and your agents. Would you mind if I gave you these (lifting and showing information cards) to put in the agent’s boxes?” Nine times out of ten the receptionist will say that is more than fine! Ask how many agents they have and give them information cards accordingly. This is when you ask if the receptionist is an agent, as well. If they say yes, use the information card to quickly explain what we offer and ask them to keep you in mind for future listings. Ask them if they have a business card and also ask to get a business card of the broker in charge or any agents they might recommend. A "broker in charge" is the boss of the real estate firm and someone you should try to get on the good side of. You also want to figure out who the top producing agents in markets are, as well! Another easy way to reach out to agents is directly on Facebook and via text messages from business cards you find and pick up. You can find business cards or contact information from local real estate magazines and cards left behind at houses you photograph. Send them quick messages that explain who you are and what you can do for them. They may or may not respond, and it’s OK if they do not. As far as Facebook messages, only send messages to the agent’s business page and not their personal page. To get a message through a personal page, you must already be friends with them. Their business page gives you direct access to their phone in their pocket! I have won many new clients with this method, but only send one message to each page and wait for a response. Answer quickly to the response, but never resend a message to an agent who didn’t respond. It will turn them away. After you’ve developed a client and they are impressed with you and your work, ask them would it be possible if our company could put together a presentation for their firm. This is probably one of the best chances to reach a large number of qualified clients quickly. Don’t worry, you will not have to present to the firm. If you set up the presentation, one of our members of Lighthouse Visuals will travel and present for you with you in the room! Ask for business cards and be ready to follow up on any leads. This is a huge opportunity to let everyone know what you can do for them! Don’t hesitate to ask. Most real estate firms have weekly sales meetings and love when presenters bring them lunch!
13.2 Relationships, Relationships, Relationships It’s in the first sentence of our mission statement of Lighthouse Visuals and it needs to become your mantra; THE RELATIONSHIPS YOU BUILD ARE EQUALLY AS IMPORTANT AS THE IMAGES YOU CREATE.
This statement is the basis of your success. If you live by this statement, you will have an ever-growing income stream. You will always be cultivating your relationships. Why? Because they know you, like you, and trust you! If you do this properly, your clients will become fans of you and your services and they will let all of their colleagues know it, too. What does this do? Yup, you guessed it. It grows your market presence! See how important this one statement is? If you remember back to the main roles of your position as a marketing content advisor, you are required to execute and create quality content from your onsite work and develop professional relationships. I cannot stress enough how strongly it correlates to your success. Creating professional working relationships that have strong mutual trust will be the leading factor in continuing to increase your income stream. Just call any one of the top producing photographers within our company and ask them what their reason is for having 3-4 photoshoots a day. They will tell you it’s the relationships they built. This will take time and will not be created instantly after first meeting a new prospect or servicing a new client. It will develop as you show them your work ethic, your expertise with a camera, and your understanding of their expectations and demands. Cultivating these meaningful relationships will be more powerful than being quick with your tongue or any other sly sales technique.
13.3 Presentation is Everything When showing up on-site, dress professionally. Use intelligent vocabulary. Control the situation in the sense that you are educating your client for their long-term success. Lighthouse Visuals is continually updating our online and social media presence and delivering the final product through professional means. The one aspect we cannot control is how you present yourself on-site. It’s especially important to show up, present yourself professionally in all aspects, and be the expert that they expect. This is how you gain trust and make the client look good in front of their client. Imagine an agent hires you and you show up looking messy and allow them to control the situation. When you leave, they will have words to say about you. Everyone judges. It’s part of the human factor of life. 25
What you should be looking for is to always show up early, well-dressed, ready to take charge, and able to complete a job that will wow the homeowner. Make the agent look like a rockstar. If you do this each time, you will win client after client. Our whole goal is to make the agent’s job easier and wow their client. If you do this, your wallet will grow with each paycheck!
13.4 Canvas your Area – Nonstop Every day you wake up, you need to have the goal of kicking your competition’s ass. Also every day you wake up, someone is attempting to kick your ass in business. Do you want to let them win or take your market share? You need to study your local competition, find your edge, and what makes you better than them. Use it against them when you can professionally. Do not bad mouth them, but tell your prospects what makes you different and better. Search and find every firm in your region and visit them. Make sure they know you are and how you can serve them to better their business. You will need to know who the big players are and try your best to get involved with them. Look at the listings they are putting on the market and what type of quality they are using. This will give you an edge when approaching them to become their vendor. I cannot stress this enough: You are in a commission-based job that relies on your hard work. Your two job priorities are: 1. Create professional-quality on-site work 2. Develop professional relationships You have joined this team due to your ability to produce exceptional quality content. We cannot control the effort you put forth on growing a market. We can, however, remove you if you are not producing results. I will say it again: You have been given an opportunity that only one person per region is allowed to have. If you aren’t working to grow a market presence, you will be asked to leave. If you are killing it and growing the area, you will be paid very well. I see our achieving photographers’ paychecks. It’s incredible to see what some of them are being paid. Just recently, we had a particular market region whose two-week paycheck was $5,500. This a great livelihood and I expect that to grow next year for this individual. Oh yeah, this individual has the discipline and has earned it!
Section 14 – Understanding Sales Listen and present solutions! Closing sales is way easier than you could imagine! 14.1 Topic of Sales We all love photography, but the idea of loving sales sounds so distant for some that it could seem potentially unattainable. Some may find it almost manipulative in nature. I’m here to tell you it’s not. You have to stop thinking that you are not good at sales or that salespeople are bad people. Maybe you have never worked in sales and that is why you think you are not good at it, but fearing sales is irrational. You didn’t know how to operate a camera, but picked one up and learned. It’s the same thing with sales. No one is going to be an expert salesperson without real-life practice. Sales does not refer to an agent saying, “I do photography so give me houses and pay me money.” Sales is so much deeper than an exchange for goods or services for money. Yes, the term "sold", "sell", or "sale" generally means an exchange of something of value for something else of value, but it’s much, much deeper than that! I am not going to generalize sales; however, we are going to narrow our focus on sales as it pertains to your role at Lighthouse Visuals. Let’s point out a few especially crucial factors in your position. You are on a commission-based income. Even though Lighthouse Visuals will constantly be doing marketing campaigns, Lighthouse Visuals will not directly make your phone ring with clients requesting your service. Let’s say this again: As an RMM, I have a commission-based income and even though I proudly work, represent, and am employed by Lighthouse Visuals, it’s my job to make my phone ring with agents who need my services. This is particularly important to grasp this fact earlier rather than later! If you think our marketing campaigns will be the end-all for your market presence in your territory, then you are sadly mistaken! It’s your responsibility to make sure every agent in your territory knows who you are, the services you offer, and the company you work for. It’s imperative that you understand that the larger your market presence is, the larger your paychecks will be!
14.2 People Buy Emotionally and Back it Logically Our prices & quality emotionally engage our prospects and buyers. Our quality of samples of virtual tours, videos, and guaranteed delivery time of content logically back their decision to use us. When prospects see what we offer, they get emotionally involved and think about how it will benefit them and their current and future clients. It’s up to you logically back the excitement they receive! Selling is always two-fold! Just wait until you experience a new prospect with their eyes glowing as they look at our price guide. That’s when you strike!
26
4.3 Present Solutions Ask more questions and offer solutions. As the old saying goes, you have two ears and one mouth. Listen more than talk. Talk to offer solutions, but know when to shut up! When a new potential client is calling you, this is the best chance to offer solutions. Ask the correct questions. After you introduce yourself and thank them for calling, the prospect will more than likely ask for pricing or process. In this example, let’s touch on if they ask for price: “Hi, I’m calling to get pricing information for having you come to photograph a new listing. What do you charge?” You need to know a few things at this point: 1. Size of the house 2. Where it is located 3. The general idea of what services they are looking for The best response I like to give: ”Yes, absolutely. First, what’s the square footage and where is the listing located?” They’ll say something like it’s 3,500 square feet and it’s located about 25 minutes away in a subdivision they know by name.
”OK, I know where that is! For a listing like this, we offer a few options. We have a virtual tour package that includes interior, exterior, and aerial photography at no additional cost. We also have photo-only offerings. Do you have an idea of what you are looking for?” They will ask the cost for these two package offerings. "For the first offering, most agents choose this, you’d be looking at $175 for our virtual tour and then $140 for our photo-only package. Do you think this listing could benefit from video?” They will skip over the price offering or comment that it’s fair in some type of wording. Then they will likely go straight into asking what you offer for video. ”We have a social media promo offer that is a 60-second video of the interior and exterior with aerials. It costs $200. It’s great for agent branding and adds that little bit extra to a listing.” You’ll know which way to go from here once they respond. Regardless, they will tell you what they are looking for. Accept that you might not be able to upsell them this time. Schedule them for what they want and need. BEST TEST CLOSE: “How soon would you need this done?” Get it on your schedule, send the confirmation email, and keep moving!
14.4 First Impressions This is imperative to grasp and understand; you need to approach every job site as though it was the last time you will ever photograph that particular house or work with a particular agent ever again. Why? Even if the client is one of my regulars? Absolutely! Each time you work with a new client or a regular client, you need to treat them as though their satisfaction is the only thing you are concerned with. Be willing to help them if they ask on site. I’m not saying redecorate a living room with them. But, if an agent needs help moving boxes, do it without complaint. The client needs to see your dedication and willingness to go above and beyond. You need to always go above and beyond with your quality of work, as well. Always look for those ground-level angles that show off the house in an exciting way. Take images of the amenities to show off the lifestyle that a new homeowner would live if they bought the house. Capture images with the drone that really show off the lay of the land and how the house sits on it. Place the Matterport Camera in strategic places that show off the flow of the house and allow our processors to be able to take interesting photos that show off the interior space. I can’t stress this factor enough: if you create boring, lazy photos of the exterior and you are not personable, then you can count on them not calling you again. If you think you are trying, then try harder! Create work that impresses yourself and, in exchange, the client is going to be impressed!
14.5 Key Points to Push When you’ve got someone on the phone, email, text, or in person, you will know when it’s time to push key points that help close deals. I like to start with something similar to this: “Yes, for a listing of that size, we have a couple of options. Our most popular is our virtual tour package that includes standard photography. You’ll receive a Matterport Virtual tour, interior, exterior, and aerial photography at no additional cost. I know many photographers charge extra for aerial photography, but we include it at no additional cost.“ You’ll have some back and forth about what they will receive and how it’ll be received. These are key points to push and they are in no particular order: ”We guarantee two business days for turnaround time on virtual tours and still images. But we typically always strive to have your content delivered the next day by 5 p.m.”
“I have researched all of our competition and no one gives aerial photography away for free. On most of their packages, they are much more expensive.” ”We typically only need one or two days of lead time to get you on our schedule. And when we are on-site, it takes us about an hour or an hour and a half for a 3,500 square foot home.” ”We offer floor plans if you ever need help measuring a house or need a visual aid for your listing.” 27
”These Matterport virtual tours are powerful tools. You can text, email, or share on social media to create a 24/7 open house that digitally allows anyone into the listing. This is great for people out of town interested or for a listing that is further away.” ”One thing we’ve seen agents do successfully is creating a “coming soon” Facebook event and use the virtual tour to grow excitement about an upcoming listing.“ There are so many more ways to word selling points. Remember that language is the clothing of ideas. Test close questions. What is a test close question? It is when you have been engaging with a prospect or a client and you feel they want to hire you, but they have not offered you the listing yet. There are a few things you can say or offer that will give you clues on their level of commitment.
”Do you have a listing coming up that you have in mind?” ”Do you think a virtual tour could help you with winning more listings?” (Great one for office drop in’s) ”How soon will the listing be ready to photograph?” ”Have you thought about doing HDR photography or video for this listing as well? (Test their willingness to spend more money) ”How soon do you want to have this done?” ”I have tomorrow available, would you want to do it then?” ”Can I look at my schedule and see if I have time for Thursday? Would Thursday work for you and your sellers?” ”I can definitely make this happen for you. Are your sellers ready?” The ultimate test close and close question, and how to present it: “How soon do you need this done? I can do it either tomorrow at (time) or the next day at (time). What is the address?” This will work almost every time via text or email. If a person or phone call approaches it goes more like this: “I think I have a good idea of what you’re looking for. Do you need to talk to your sellers? What’s the address?” If you get the address, then you’ve got the job! Confirm the appointment with a follow-up text. It gives you records in your text message history of the agent’s name, address of listing, and time with services needed. “Thank you (agent’s name). I look forward to working with you at (listing address). I’ll be there at (time). Thank you for the opportunity!”
14.5 Overcoming Objections Objection: "I already have a photographer." Response: "I understand that. Many agents have a photographer they are already using or like. We just want to offer ourselves as an option in case your regular photographer is busy or you would like to try something different for an upcoming listing. Who knows a virtual tour might be nice for your next listing." Objection: "I don’t want drone shots. Can I get a discount? Response: "We are already priced for max value and include aerial photography at no additional cost to you. We cannot give a price break for something we give at no cost if we don’t do it." Objection: "I don’t need a virtual tour or like virtual tours." Response: "We hear that from time to time from agents. We believe in the power of the virtual tour’s ability to allow prospective buyers to have access to the listing from anywhere where they have a mobile device. The virtual tours are, in a sense, an open house that’s 24/7 that any can see within your listing without you having to unlock the door." Objection: "I don’t like the Matterport photos." Or, when on-site: “Are you going to use that to shoot the interiors?” (You have to hit this one head-on and stand firm that the images are good. If you show weakness, they will smell it and they will lose faith.) Response: "Yes, we do use the Matterport camera for our interior images. It shoots beautiful images that are wide enough to show the entire room and also does an amazing job with exposure. You’ll be impressed when you see the images. If you would like, we can upgrade the photography of the interior stills to HDR. Would you like that?" (Upsell opportunity) Objection: How soon do I get the photos back? I need them by lunch tomorrow. Response: "We guarantee two business days, but typically get the marketing content back to you the next day by 5 p.m. If you need it by lunch tomorrow, we have a rush delivery option for $50. Would you want to do that? We can prioritize your listing if you’d like." Objection: "Will I be able to see out the windows with your photos? Response: "With our standard photography, there is a chance you will be able to. That will all depend on the lighting conditions within the unit. I can‘t promise it without looking at the lighting situation first. However, if we do the HDR upgrade on the interior images, you will be able to see every detail out the window. This is great for showing the lifestyle that a buyer will receive when they purchase the listing. Please ask me to add more responses to possible objections! Throw anything at me!
28