Live Virtual Showings
Agents and hopeful renters will all be online together as a tour of the property is conducted. The tour will be conducted by you or by the property manager (or in-house agent). We strongly recommend checking out our rental showing best practices as a starting point.
Will you be at the unit conducting the showing?
Traditional rental showing best practices should be utilized, along with the following virtual showing tips:
- Prep the unit. Make sure the lights are on and shades are drawn. Good lighting will be more important than ever!
- Rethink your descriptions. Even using video, some things will be hard for your client to fully understand. Words like “big,” “small,” “spacious,” and the like may not help your client fully understand the space. Instead, make the size tangible and imaginable. A kitchen counter may have “room for two people to eat” or a bedroom may “fit a queen size bed but probably not a king size bed” and so on. Dimensions of the unit are a plus!
- If using your phone’s camera, make sure you are using the normal camera view and not the “selfie” view. This way, you will be able to show your client the property while keeping an eye on their reactions. Check out our live showing technology guide for help.
- Ask questions. It can be much harder to “read” someone when you are not in the same room. Besides, this is just good showing technique, as you can more immediately become aware and react to objections.
- Demonstrate your special expertise. Know something about the property, owner or location? Make sure your client also knows. Bonus points if you placed a previous client nearby and you can reference their feedback. A lead will respond well to hearing an endorsement like, “I recently placed a client in a unit two floors below and they have been thrilled with the building.”
Will the owner, property manager or in-house agent be conducting (or participating in) the showing?
Some things to keep in mind:
- Recommend that the owner/manager prep the unit (as described in 1A above).
- Make sure you ask questions on your client’s behalf, if you feel the owner/manager is not adequately conveying key points. BUT, remember to also be courteous, as you soon may have to convince the owner to take on your client as their tenant. (Also, who knows… this owner may one day be your client!).
- Maintain client control! Remember to re-emphasize to the owner/manager that you will huddle with your client and then contact them on behalf of your client at some point after the call.
Pre-recorded Showings
This type of showing is essentially sending a video of the property to your client.
Will you be recording the showing?
The procedure is nearly identical to hosing live virtual showings. Here are our top agent tips if you are recording the showing:
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- Good lighting!… As with any video, proper lighting makes all the difference.
- As mentioned in above, be aware of your descriptions. Since your client is not in the space, it will be important to help them understand questions they may have about size, lighting, etc.
- Check out Our pre-recorded technology guide.
Will the owner, property manager or in-house agent be recording the showing?
In this case, you will simply get a video from the owner/manager. Here’s our top tips to making sure this video resonates with your client:
- Review the video(s) first so that you can provide additional commentary to your client. Speak with the owner before sending to your client the video(s) so that you will be armed with additional info to impress your client.
- We highly recommend being in touch with the client as they review the video, so you can provide on-the-spot commentary.
- Does the video tour leave too much to the imagination? If the video tour was conducted too quickly, leaves out rooms, or is shot as a poor angle with bad lighting, it is fine to ask the owner/manager to provide some extra footage.
Key Messages
- Keep in mind the basics… good lighting and help-descriptions!
- Make sure the value you bring is clear to your client.
- Be aware of maintaining client control.
- Finally, the overall context is important for you and your client to keep in mind: while you have your client’s interest in mind, the owner/property manager is focused on getting the unit rented. The client is making an important life decision without ever seeing the property. This only makes sense if they have a trusted guide who can ensure everything that can be known about the property, is known!
Related Articles
Live showing technology guide
Pre-recorded showing technology guide
How to conduct a showing
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