REALTORS® are no longer judged solely on their productivity by consumers. Today's top Realtors are also elevating themselves above the crowd by demonstrating their technology prowess. One of the products that most of them find indispensable is multimedia presentation software, a program that delivers photographic images coupled with sound on the computer that can also be sent across the Internet. Multimedia presentations are impressive, but they are also surprisingly easy to use - even for the most technophobic agents.

A picture is worth 1,000 words

The ability to transmit photographic images rapidly across the computer screen and the Internet is an increasingly important competitive advantage for Realtors. They may be working with long distance clients who have no other means to preview homes or with local clients who prefer short Internet searches to long car rides with their agents. Traditional MLS listings which are featured on the Internet typically do not feature more than one photo of the home, so it is up to the agent to supplement his/her listing with additional photos of the home, its amenities, unique features, and the neighborhood. Photos are crucial tools to not only help buyers select homes, they also save time in the elimination of homes. Not just a tool for listing agents, digital cameras and multimedia presentation software are widely used by selling agents, (buyer's agents) too. Smart selling agents get permission from listing agents and sellers to take additional photos of a desirable listing to pass on to qualified buyers via the Internet. And with a $20 microphone, you can add sound to your photo presentation.

What a wonderful selling tool and it causes a sensation in listing presentations and at buyer's meetings. You can email the presentation to your relocating buyers and let them view homes and listen to your commentary as you lead them on the "tour."

How easy are multimedia presentations to make?

PhotoShare is a popular multimedia presentation software that is very easy to learn. J. L. Winn vice president of sales & marketing at TRF Systems, Inc., developer of PhotoShare says, "We designed PhotoShare specifically to be used by a "typical real estate agent" PhotoShare's prototypical agent follows the NAR profile - middle aged, not very computer literate, and much too busy too learn complicated new technologies.

PhotoShare features a multimedia Tour Guide, but unlike most software tutorials, the Guide builds an end result while you learn. Also featured is a voice over which instructs the user how to do various functions and explains what is going to result from those functions.

"When panoramic (up to 360 degrees) photos became popular, we searched for the best solution for our market," says Winn. " We decided that PhotoVista from Live Picture offered the easiest to use and best quality stitching features on the market. But we didn’t stop there. We actually integrated PhotoVista into our Tour Guide so that the end user can download overlapped photos to PhotoShare and PhotoVista automatically reads these photos, stitches them together and reinserts them back into PhotoShare ready for multimedia annotations!

How can you use multimedia in your marketing?

In the PhotoShare Agent Bundle for $599 you get a Digital Business Card (DBC) and 100 copies of a customized Personal Promotion Presentation diskette. The DBC is just a highly compressed Jpeg of a photo of the agent that they sent to PhotoShare. Their graphics team then adds two or three lines of text overlayed graphically on the photo to be automatically inserted in the PhotoShare Multimedia Home Tours. The DBC is displayed statically while the Home Tour presentation plays from slide to slide. The result is that the prospect can identify the particular agent with the technology used to present the Home Tour. Your photo personality is available at all times without being dominant over the Home Tour itself.

The Personal Promotion Presentation diskettes are a great high tech, high touch marketing tool for agents and brokers. This is a two-minute multimedia presentation with text script and professional voiceovers. The script and photos introduce the agent to the consumer and emphasize not just that they use technology, but that they employ specific technology to benefit the seller and buyer - time savings, convenience, market appeal, etc. It’s an incredibly powerful piece that consumers consider unique.

PhotoShare can customize the PPP diskettes in a number of ways. They can insert your DBC, a text only box that starts the presentation and includes as much text information about the agent or broker as they desire, a hot link to the webpage of their choice (home page, featured properties, etc.), and a full color photo label on each diskette with several lines of textual contact information about the agent. You use these as introductions at presentations, direct mailers, handouts at meetings and open houses. You can make these yourself, order more from PhotoShare, or send them electronically.

What's the learning curve?

Agents simply have little time for learning new software applications on their own, so PhotoShare offers a PTA (Personal Training Assistant) to teach agents how to use PhotoShare to its fullest. A client can sign up for a PTA session on the PhotoShare website and request up to three dates and times for their session. The PTA staff then replies via email within 24 hours to confirm one of those times. At the appointed time, the PhotoShare client phones the training staff, and they spend the appointed time teaching the client what they need to learn from the very beginner level to advanced level instruction. PTA sessions last no longer than an hour, and the Tour Guide is then used for day to day reinforcement.

What equipment do you need?

To enjoy the use of multimedia presentations, you can start with any Pentium class PC with Windows 3.1 and up (95 or 98 preferred, of course). The PC needs just 16 MB of memory, more memory is great for higher resolution photos, but it is not required. The PC needs 50 MB of disk for the software and minimal photo storage, a 16 bit sound card, speakers, a microphone, and a 16 bit (65,000 colors) video driver. While you can scan in photos or take them with a Snappy type device, Winn strongly recommends that an agent use any good quality digital camera with at least VGA resolution, standard jpeg files, and an easy way to get the photos from a camera to a PC (removable media or a USB cable). He also suggests the Epson Stylus series for printing photos and flyers, and says that the 1440 x 720 dpi printers start at less than $200. OK, you're sold. What should you do?

One popular multi-media product is the PhotoShare Multimedia Home Tour Marketing System. PhotoShare has been on the market since 1996, and nearly 1,500 real estate agents and brokers use this system around the country. PhotoShare has been a Recommended product by the Council of Residential Specialists since 1997. The RSC instructors demonstrate and teach PhotoShare in their technology, listing, and referral classes around the country to thousands of agents each year.

For $599, you can get the PhotoShare Agent Bundle which includes:

PhotoShare Multimedia Home Tour System Agent version software
PhotoVista stitching software
Digital Business Card
PTA session (up to one hour)
100 copies of our Personal Promotion Presentation with custom graphics and contact info

For $599, you get software that lets you create as many Multimedia Home Tours and other presentations as you want. You can learn how to use it quickly and effectively, and get some graphics and multimedia marketing/promotional pieces that you can immediately begin to distribute to prospects. You also get 60 days of free tech support and a 30-day money back policy.

With tutorials, tech support, and easy to use product design, you can't go wrong. Join the tech-savvy agent club, and learn how to wow your buyers and sellers with multimedia.

Published: August 13, 1999

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