Shoot videos that win business

In the real estate industry, gaining the trust of your prospective clients is vital. Video is a fantastic tool that allows people to hear your voice, see your mannerisms and get to know, like and trust you before they even talk to or meet you – but what kind of impression do your videos convey?

Being original and genuine in a video or photo is one of the best ways to get ahead of your competition.

In this video, I sit down with Peter Mochrie, an actor, auctioneer, and teacher. We discuss how real estate agents and agencies can attract and win new business just by being themselves on social media.

Click below to watch.

Following is the video transcript.

Melanie Hoole

Today I’m with Peter Mochrie, who’s an actor, an auctioneer, and a teacher. Thank you for coming.

So what type of content do you recommend is ideal for real estate agents when promoting their brand?

Peter Mochrie

As far as we like to see real estate agents doing stuff, especially with profiles, but if I see one more real estate agent boxing, or running along a beach! Show me selling a house, please. Fluff a few pillows or put up a signboard or something like that. You’re not rockstars; you are in the craft of selling a home that is the vendor’s prize possession. Okay, never forget that. This is their life. And you’re faffing on making you look great. Well, sorry, not interested.

How can you use clients in your social media content?

Melanie Hoole

So how do you put your clients, if you’re a real estate agent, front and centre in your content?

Peter Mochrie

Get them to work on something and tell me who you are in a short amount of time, but make sure it’s authentic. And everything you talk about, we will go and shoot. But here’s the, we always give the person we’re working with the piece of music first. We give them three choices. What do you think? What’s the flavour of what you want to do? There’s nothing better for a mood board than a piece of music. And that gives us a really good idea of who they are. And then, we can work with it when we get into the edit. Interesting stuff, huh?

Melanie Hoole

I like that. So what type of things can an agent talk about to camera that will help people get to know them, six months, twelve months, or two years ahead of them being ready to sell a home?

Peter Mochrie

Their history in the area. That they are an authentic human being. That they do their research, That they have good testimonials. Make sure you’ve got people, but not long ones. You see, you look at an agent profile, and there are so many testimonials. Show me selling a house, show me you signing contracts; I don’t want to see you driving a really smart, fancy car. Great, I’m glad you’re leasing a Maserati, or I’m glad you’ve got a Porsche. But it doesn’t help me as a vendor to say that’s a quality human being that I can trust.

You’ve got 90 seconds to get someone’s trust, and that’s what it’s about. Because guess what? I’m looking at five agents. And if one of them hasn’t got a profile, I’m less likely to use him. If I’m looking at some agents, and they’ve got some really, really good quality videos, I’m more likely to go with that person. I’ve got to be really careful because everybody’s starting to move towards just using an iPhone. And it’s scary. Because you can’t cut it properly, I don’t think.

Using good lighting adds quality. So if you’re a smart vendor, it’s like Gucci. Gucci said long after the price is forgotten, the quality remains. So I’m in the process, or my family and I, are in the process of selling our mother’s home. Because I know McGrath very well, we went with McGrath. But the point was, I wanted to make sure that this guy knew what he was doing. So I did an extensive digital search on him. And that’s what everybody does these days. As you said, we started looking nine months ago, a year ago, for the right person.

Melanie Hoole

And even tenants. You know, as a landlady, I researched the tenants that my property manager gave to me. I researched them online to see what they do and how they portray themselves and any insights I can get before I put them into one of the properties that I own. So yeah, it’s very much part of what we do today.

Peter Mochrie

Property Management is a new area I’m working in because property managers should be doing videos. Yes, so we’re using a lot of stuff. The same models that I’ve used for ages we’re doing for property managers now. That’s a new frontier for us.

Tips and tricks for your next video

Melanie Hoole

Great. What do you consider is an appropriate time to just hold your phone out in front of you and talk?

Peter Mochrie

I will get myself into trouble; I can see it, but never. It’s so, hmmm, what’s the right word? I’ve got to be careful here, Mel. We like using lights. We want to make the agent look good. We want them to look as though they know what they’re doing. So if you’re well-lit, there are no bags under your eyes, there are good drone shots, and you’ve got good styling – I don’t think using an iPhone for business is the way to go. That’s my own personal opinion because I teach people. Yes, we’re teaching more people how to talk down the barrel of a camera. But if you’re not well-lit, you’re not gonna look good. So get a crew together, it costs a little bit more, but your vendors will like you.

Melanie Hoole

I’m not going to disagree with you. I like this. If you’re serious about your business or your brand, then you’re essentially saying, you know, put your money into quality. Then you will give off the right impression to your next vendor that you, you know, if you invest in yourself, you’re going to invest in them and do a high-quality job.

Peter Mochrie

Well, it’s a tax deduction, to begin with; you are getting good teams around you. I mean, a lot of the people that I deal with now, I’ve taught most of McGrath’s agents, a lot of Richardson and Wrench, Raine and Horne. All the big guys. I was with Chris Hanley up in Byron Bay. Just get yourself a good videographer that will be part of your team, and make sure they know what’s quality and what you want. And if you don’t like it, get it out of the way because you’re paying for this at the end of the day. Start up here and move that way, not down here and come here.

Melanie Hoole

I like that because I was thinking as you were talking that maybe it’s a race to damage your brand or a race to the bottom for those who are still using self-recorded videos, then they’re probably damaging their brand more than improving it.

Peter Mochrie

Imagine watching videos shot on an iPhone, four or five of them. And then someone has spent a grand or two grand and lifted it up. You’re going to list with that person. As you say, there is a race to the bottom. My marketing is zero, and it shows, you know what I mean. Spend a couple of bucks and do yourself a favour. You are making a good commission off a person’s home. Be smart about it. You don’t have to cost you an arm and a leg, but it shows when you do quality.

Melanie Hoole

I agree with you wholeheartedly. And that applies to all of your marketing, right? For any type of marketing or content marketing, I believe that it’s best to do less but higher quality. And it’s all about distribution and getting it out there to as many people as possible.

I’m looking forward to hearing more of your insights firsthand at Digital Live. And thank you for being part of this show, the Digital Marketing Show. And I look forward to talking to you again. Thank you, Peter.

About this video series

Hoole.co’s video series brings together the best digital and social media minds in the real estate industry to share the wonders of the web and the magic of mobile. Subscribe to Hoole.co or follow us on social media (below) for free tips and tricks to grow your reputation and attract prospects digitally.

Written by Melanie Hoole

My team and I specialise in helping real estate and property professionals perfect their personal brand, build a first-class digital profile and implement inbound marketing activities to attract leads. If you are unsure which direction to take with your digital marketing contact me for help.