Answers › Getting agents

Ask the agent

How do I sell video with no video portfolio?

I can do it. I don’t know how else to tell you I can do it. I can’t prove it, and a room of agents on March 30 is going to ask.Asked by a photographer on Dominic, central Texas (a strategy call)

You need one video and one true sentence, not a reel. Say "I haven’t really done video yet" in that room on March 30 and you’ve told every agent in it to hire someone else. Nobody asks to see the second video. Make one, say "we just added video," and go find the listing that’s sat 90 days.

You need one video, not a reel

Nobody in that room asks to see the second one. One walkthrough that looks right answers the question.

A reel is for photographers. A room of agents wants to know one thing: does it look like the videos the top agent in town is posting. One good walkthrough answers that.

Call the builder you practiced on. Ask to use his model home for video, and tell him if he likes it he can share it and tag you.

He gets a video of his model home, you get the one piece of proof you need, and nobody paid anyone. That’s the whole deal.

One model home, one walkthrough. That’s the whole video page: a single tile.

Never confess the gap

The part that loses the room is what you say when they ask.

Don’t announce you’re new to video. Nobody asked. Say: "We just added video." It’s true, and it’s all she needs.

Say you’re new to it and every agent in the room hears a reason to wait. Say you just added it and they hear a photographer who’s growing.

For ten years I was the agent in those rooms, and I gave photographers a shot on energy, not a reel. Get the room to like you and someone hands you a listing. Get the room to feel sorry for you and nobody does.

I wasn’t checking a reel. Nobody was. We were deciding whether we liked the person at the front of the room enough to hand him a listing and see.

Say "we just added video." It’s true, and it’s all she needs.

The 90-day listing is your first video client

Your first paid video won’t come from the room. It comes from listings that sat too long.

Pull the listings in your area that have sat 90 days. Her next move is a price cut, and a video is the cheaper thing to try first.

Pull them on Zillow. Ninety days on market means showings slowed, the seller is asking questions, and the agent is about to suggest a reduction. A video gives her something to say instead.

Offer to shoot it before she cuts the price, free, and she pays if she likes it. Shoot the first one free if you have to. Free ends the day you have a portfolio.

The 90-day agent isn’t in the room on March 30. She’s in your zip right now, and she’ll take the call because she’s out of other moves.

The line

Before you do any crazy reductions, I’ll shoot a video for free. If you like it, you pay.

The big lesson

Agents don’t hire the reel. They hire the person they liked in the room.

Do this

This week, make one builder call and shoot one model home walkthrough.

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 roadmap

Straight answers

How do I offer real estate video with no video portfolio?
Make one. A builder’s model home walkthrough is the whole page. Then say we just added video, which is true.
Should I tell agents that video is new for me?
No. Nobody asked. Say we just added video and move on.
Who should I pitch my first real estate video to?
The listing that’s sat 90 days. Her next move is a price cut, and a video is cheaper to try first. Offer to shoot it free and get paid if she likes it.

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.