What should I say when a realtor says she already has a photographer?

Say good. Then ask what happens when he's booked or on vacation and a listing drops, and offer to be the photographer she keeps on file. You're the backup, not the replacement.

Should I criticize an agent's current photographer to win the job?

Never. Not his work, his price or his speed. Make her defend him and the call is over. You're an addition or an upgrade.

How do I get real estate agents who are loyal to their photographer?

Take the specialist lane. Twilight, video and the luxury listing are the shoots most everyday photographers don't do. Ask to be in her back pocket for those.

Answers › Getting agents

Ask the agent

What do I say when an agent says ’I already have a photographer’?

Every conversation dies at the same line: ’I already have a photographer.’ I say okay and hang up. What am I supposed to say?Asked by a photographer on Reddit, r/RealEstatePhotography

Say "good." Every agent who has listed a house before has a photographer, and that’s every agent worth calling. The line isn’t a no. It’s the price of admission, and there are three ways through it: be the backup, ask what they never asked, or take the specialist lane.

Of course she has a photographer. Be the backup

She’s listed houses before. Having someone means she’s worth calling. The agent with no photographer is the one with no listings.

Saying okay and hanging up is the one move that loses every time. It tells her you had nothing to offer past being another photographer, which is what she already has.

So don’t hang up. Say: "Good, you’ve got someone. What happens when they’re booked or on vacation and a listing drops?"

Then: "Most agents keep me on file so they’re never scrambling with a stranger. Want me on file?"

Her guy might get COVID one day. You’re not asking her to leave him. You’re asking to be the name she has when he’s not there.

Of course you have a photographer. I’m the backup. He might get COVID one day.

Ask what they never asked

The backup line gets you on file. These two questions are what she thinks about after you hang up.

"Do they deliver by 9 a.m., or the photos are free?" And: "Do you have a videographer?"

The first one makes her think about her guy’s turnaround for the first time in a year. The second one she usually answers with no, and now she’s wondering why.

In ten years of listing I fired photographers with better work than anyone else’s, because a seller was on the phone asking why the listing wasn’t up yet. A backup would have saved him. The late one gets replaced, not the bad one.

Most agents aren’t unhappy with their guy. They’ve just never heard anyone put a delivery time on the line.

Take the specialist lane

If she’s loyal, and some are, there’s still a lane nobody’s standing in.

Twilight. Video. The luxury listing. Her guy shoots the everyday listings, and most everyday photographers don’t touch those three.

Those are the shoots her guy either turns down or doesn’t love. Twilight means coming back at dusk. Video means gear and editing he may not have. The luxury listing means a seller who’ll notice the difference.

"Want me in your back pocket for those?" Her guy keeps the Tuesday listings. You get the ones he doesn’t shoot.

And the one thing you never say: anything about her guy. Not his photos, not his prices, not his turnaround. The fastest way to lose her is to make her defend him.

Say anything about his work and she stops hearing about you and starts hearing an attack on her judgment. She picked him. Stay on her side of that.

The line

Good, you’ve got someone. What happens when they’re booked or on vacation and a listing drops?

The big lesson

You’re an addition or an upgrade. Never a replacement.

Do this

Tonight, write your backup line on a card and say it out loud ten times before your next call.

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 scripts Get my roadmap

Straight answers

What should I say when a realtor says she already has a photographer?: Say good. Then ask what happens when he’s booked or on vacation and a listing drops, and offer to be the photographer she keeps on file. You’re the backup, not the replacement.
Should I criticize an agent’s current photographer to win the job?: Never. Not his work, his price or his speed. Make her defend him and the call is over. You’re an addition or an upgrade.
How do I get real estate agents who are loyal to their photographer?: Take the specialist lane. Twilight, video and the luxury listing are the shoots most everyday photographers don’t do. Ask to be in her back pocket for those.