Win the Listing with the Perfect 3D Tour Script

Today, we're excited to talk to you about what might be our favorite new technology to hit the market in years: 3D tours.

What's a 3D tour?

We're all familiar with virtual tours, which offer panoramic scans of listing interiors. But 3D tours, like those from Matterport, offer a fully immersive tour where buyers can look up, down or pan a full 360 degrees to see the entirety of a room... then walk from that room into another room, adjacent level, garage, backyard and more.

Virtual tours answer, "What's behind that wall?" and they put an end to questions like, "Why doesn't the listing show the second bathroom?" (The answer, of course, is that it's decorated in a frog theme from 1979.)

If you're just hearing of 3D tours for the first time, learn the basics here.

Matterport's "Dollhouse View" of a home with multiple levels

Are 3D tours just a fad?

We've all seen the latest trends pop up over the years — remember when QR codes were going to revolutionize the industry? — and it's natural to be skeptical of the next shiny object. However, recent studies show that 3D tours are much more than a fad—they're quickly becoming a feature that buyers and sellers love.

In a recent study from realtor.com®, buyers listed 3D tours as the #2 most-desired feature in the home buying experience. (The first was high quality listing photos.) Matterport research shows that 76 percent of agents are using or plan to begin using 3D tours in 2017.

These innovative home tours are here to stay and, what's more, they could be the ticket to winning over even the trickiest seller at a listing presentation.

When should I go "all-in" on 3D tour technology?

If you don't have access to a Matterport camera, you may feel hesitant about purchasing the product before you have a listing that would leverage a 3D tour.

If you're an agent considering the investment, download Matterport's 3D Showcase app for iOS and test out some of the sample home tours from the home screen. If you're not an iPhone or iPad user, you can show off a 3D showcase directly from Matterport's site.

You can use these tours as examples to show potential sellers, allowing you to show off the technology before you make a "commitment to equipment."

Standing out with 3D tours at a listing presentation

Not sure what to say to win a listing that could really shine with a 3D tour? Below is a script you can use to close the deal at a listing presentation.

Part one: Present the seller woe

"Our most important goals as we sell your home are to get you the best price, in the fastest time period, while inconveniencing you the least.

And I want to be honest with you, selling your home can be an inconvenient process if you don't have the right buyers coming through your door. There are plenty of agents who will promise you a daily showing or four daily showings, but I hate talking about the quantity of traffic. I want to talk to you about bringing in qualified buyers who already know they're interested in your home.

The average buyer looks at 15 houses in person before making an offer*. And it's common for buyers to look at six or seven homes in a row, all in one day. If they have a specific feature or layout in mind, they may just walk into your house — which you've spent an hour prepping or cleaning — and then walk right out when they realize it doesn't match their criteria."

Part two: Introduce 3D tours

"When that happens, it's a waste of time for all of us. I've started using 3D virtual tours for all my listings, which allows buyers to "walk through" your home online — go from room to room, and level to level, and even outside and into your garage — so they can get a perfect feel for what your home looks like and how it's laid out.

That way, when they request a showing, they are coming in to validate what they saw online... not to understand how your layout works or what the floors are made out of. When we schedule a showing, you'll know that the people coming into your home are "pre-qualified" and excited. You're not just another house on their list."

Part three: Hit them with the facts + give them a chance to buy-in

"In some cases, buyers may nix your house when they tour it and see you don't have the features they're after. But overall, industry research shows that 3D virtual tours tend to get 4x the number of quality leads**.

So maybe the house down the road got 20 showings in its first week, but only one buyer who was really interested. To me, that's not a great experience for you. That means you cleaned your house and spent dozens of hours away in order to get one measly buyer on the line.

By using a 3D tour, we may see six showings in the first week — but four of the six would be highly interested. I'd take four quality showings over 19 lackluster showings any day.

Do you agree? What do you think of adding a 3D tour to your marketing plan?"

Sources:

*U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
**Inman

Check out Matterport's integration with realtor.com®

We're thrilled to announce that buyers can now see Matterport 3D tours on realtor.com listings! Whether searching desktop or mobile, active, in-market buyers can virtually tour your listings on realtor.com, then request an in-person showing.

Learn more about the integration here.

More Articles in this Series

The realtor.com® Results Series team has been on the road sharing our top 10 tips for drawing in and converting seller leads. And now, we're ready to share them online with you!

For the next few weeks, tune into the Results Series blog to learn how we recommend you engage and convert sellers this spring and summer. So far we've covered:

1. How to become an online video expert
2. How to write compelling, seller-focused calls to action
3. How to write a 9-word email to cold prospects
4. How to identify and engage warm seller leads
5. Export every LinkedIn connection with this five-minute hack
6. Create a custom Facebook audience to retarget your top prospects
7. Send Targeted 'Just Listed' and 'Just Sold' Postcards (without using predictive analytics)
8. Get a Smarter Door Knocking Script from an Outreach Expert
9. Repurpose Your Videos to Build a Captive Email Audience

To view the original article, visit the Realtor.com Results blog.