Ask the agent
How do I look professional when I’m just starting out?
Stop announcing it. That first sentence tells her you’re new, you have capacity, and you want something, and she deletes all three. Nobody’s a beginner in a message. Delete every sentence about yourself and send the one about her listing.
Delete every sentence about yourself
The sentence that says you started three months ago. Gone. The one that offers a trial run. Gone. The one that says you’re new to Houston. Gone.
Each of those sentences hands her a reason. New means risk. A trial means you don’t expect to be paid properly. New in town means no one she knows has used you. She deletes all three and never gets to the question.
Never mention price, experience or availability in an opener. All three read as apology, and an agent doesn’t hire an apology.
You’ve been shooting for three months. Nobody in the message needs to know that, and once you stop saying it, nobody can tell.
Never say portfolio. If she thinks she has something over you, she’ll treat you that way.
One observation about her listing, one question
What’s left when you cut everything about you? One line, and it’s the one she answers.
Nobody’s a beginner in a message. A message is two sentences, and two sentences about her listing look the same whether you’ve been shooting for three months or three years.
"Saw the Maple Ave listing go up with phone photos. You shooting those yourself, or is that the brokerage’s guy?"
It’s about her house, not you. She can answer in four words. Short reads confident. Long reads nervous. Two sentences, then stop typing.
Two sentences and stop. The urge to add a third one, the one that explains who you are, is the urge she’s been deleting.
Be a real company where it counts: the clock
The message gets the reply. Here’s where she decides you’re a real company.
Text back within the hour. Every agent text, every time. Deliver on time, in walk order, with four verticals she can post that day.
Within the hour is the whole standard. Agents are on their phones all day, and a photographer who answers within the hour feels like a company. One who answers tomorrow feels like a hobby.
In ten years as an agent I could tell which photographers were real companies. Not from the photos. From the text at nine in the morning instead of eleven at night.
Walk order means she can scroll the gallery the way a buyer walks the house. Four verticals means she has something to post before lunch. Neither one has anything to do with how long you’ve been shooting.
A real company is the one whose reply lands at 9 a.m. It costs nothing, and almost nobody does it.
Saw the Maple Ave listing go up with phone photos. You shooting those yourself, or is that the brokerage’s guy?
Professional isn’t a word you put in the message. It’s what she notices when you don’t.
Today, cut your opener to one observation and one question. This week, answer every agent text within the hour.
The agent opener scripts
One observation, one question, and the day 3 and day 10 follow-ups. Free. Then take the sixty-second roadmap quiz and I tell you what to fix first.
Get the scriptsGet my roadmapStraight answers
- How do I sound professional as a new real estate photographer?
- Don’t mention that you’re new. Cut price, experience and availability from the opener and send one observation about her listing and one question.
- What makes a real estate photographer look like a real company to agents?
- The clock. A text back within the hour, delivery on time in walk order, four verticals she can post that day.
- Should I mention my experience level when messaging real estate agents?
- No. Nobody asked. Experience, price and availability in an opener all read as apology.
Related questions
Julian Lundgren sold real estate for ten years before he shot a listing for money. He runs Cineminn, a Minneapolis real estate photography studio, and writes these answers from the agent’s side of the table. Send a question to info@cineminn.com.