alaskacameradude
Veteran
All two of them.
For an industry where quality definitely sells, I have never encountered a higher percentage of nickel-and-dimers in my life. I'm friends with an agent who pays me to produce good stuff for his higher-end properties, but far more of them will balk at a modest charge for full terrestrial and aerial photos AND walkthrough video for a seven-figure property. The real estate industry is brutal.
No doubt! I've told this story before but just in case anyone missed it, I'll
leave it here again. I was called by a realtor. She had seen my demo reel
on my website. She gave me some compliments on my work and asked if
I would be willing to make a promo film for her. I said sure. Her next questions
was:
"Great! How much will that cost?"
Now that was a big red flag but it had been slow so I let it slide. I
explained that much like a realtor wouldn't be able to tell a client
'How much does a house cost?'
without more information (like number of bedrooms, bathrooms, is the
property waterfront etc), I too needed some information on what she
wanted. I explained to her about pinning down who your audience is,
making a story for them, (hopefully one that makes them feel something),
and creating a call to action for the end. So she told me that her audience
is 'DIY (Do It Yourself) types. Sure a person COULD sell or buy a home
yourself without a realtor. But she wanted to emphasize the fact that she
was a professional in the area of buying and selling homes. She could help
someone head off all sorts of problems that they wouldn't even realize were
headed towards them. She would know what comparable properties were selling
for. In essence she wanted me to convince them that yes, you would have to pay
her a fee instead of doing it cheaply yourself, but she was worth her fee!
Because she would make sure you had no problems (the whole pain
avoidance benefit), everything was done right, and you would have
no stress or any issues at all because she'd deal with all that for you.
In other words, yes, her services cost money, but they provide MUCH
more value to you than what they cost.
"OK', I said. "I know exactly what type of film you are looking for now.
I would estimate $$xxx for that."
Long silence. Then she said
"Wow! That is MUCH more expensive than I thought it would be.
Never mind. I'll just do the video myself."
I literally couldn't have made something this crazy up.
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