Despite a booming market demand, especially in the suburban residential sector, real estate agents continue to suffer from the curse of rejection from prospective clients and investors. There’s a market worth US$136.60tn up for grabs, but the real question is — how to improve sales in real estate and overcome existing challenges. 

The answer lies in taking a strategic approach and streamlining every part of the sales process. From prospecting to pitching, every step should be well-planned to achieve sales success.  

Here are the best practices that realtors must implement to grab a slice of the trillion-dollar pie: 

Key Strategies 

1. Prospecting 

Indiscriminate cold outreach, whether calling or emails, is ineffective and a waste of resources. Data-driven prospecting is key to unlocking better conversions.

Creating an ideal buyer persona and using predictive analysis helps target the right prospects. It’s quality over quantity that matters in real estate.  

2. Lead Generation 

The integration of the latest technology like AI tools in lead generation is a game-changer. Studies reveal that 62% of top-performing real estate agents utilize technology to drive better outcomes. 

A branded website that highlights its value proposition, incorporates SEO best practices, and is mobile optimized is crucial to drive engagement, improve outreach, and boost conversions. 

Websites are the primary touchpoint for prospects.  Utilizing the website for lead generation is a smart move for today’s realtors who want to cut through the noise and focus on efficiency. 

3. Marketing and Sales 

Video marketing is the stepping stone to future sales success. 

Hyper-realistic virtual tours positively influence purchase decisions. Virtual tours offer convenience and accessibility to clients, building confidence and developing trust in them which ultimately influences their investment decision. 

Holistic digital marketing inclusive of local SEO for websites, social media activity, vlogs, testimonials, and the like builds a strong online presence that’s non-negotiable to sales success. 

There is no shortcut to improving real estate sales. Making incremental changes and adapting to the changing needs of the customer improves performance, builds resilience, and ultimately contributes to the end goal of generating more revenue. 

While discussing every aspect of the process is beyond the scope of this article, let’s understand the role of virtual tours in improving real estate sales. 

Virtual Tours in Real Estate: Key Role and Benefits 

Virtual tours refer to 3D photorealistic recreations of spaces (indoor and outdoor), properties, aerial views, and more that allow prospective clients to “walk around” the place they want to purchase. They are central to video marketing and present the perfect opportunity to connect with the target audience innovatively. The key role of virtual tours is to act as a sales and marketing enabler for realtors. 

Key Benefits 

State-of-the-art virtual tours offer a plethora of benefits, including: 

1. Improving the accessibility of walkthroughs and offering unmatched convenience that removes geographical and physical barriers to visitation. 
2. Targeting customers irrespective of their online behavior. Well-crafted virtual tours can impress anyone, even those who are not digital natives or do not spend much time online. 
3. Working in favor of both parties. Real estate agents can save time, resources, and money that they would spend on arranging walkthroughs. Clients can “visit” the properties they like from the comfort of their homes at their own pace. 
4. Improving engagement because new-age virtual tours provide a wholly immersive experience, in which clients can interact with the space and objects as they would in real life. These tours can be guided or self-guided, making them a versatile option for various requirements of realtors. 
5. Another significant benefit is that realtors can showcase multiple properties through virtual tours and clients can inspect all of them without setting foot outside their homes. Real estate investments are always preceded by intensive research and visitations. So, anything that enables both parties involved in the transaction to efficiently and effectively conduct prospecting is a winning gamble. 

To sum it up, virtual tours are indispensable to real estate agents who want to improve conversion rates, reduce operational costs, and stand out from the crowd. 

While the initial investment might be on the higher side, the utility justifies the cost.

How to Utilize Virtual Tours in Real Estate Sales

Even though the term virtual tour has been around for a while, technological innovation has heavily impacted its application. Taking one is nearly the same as physically touring the space. The only difference is that it is intangible, however, that is not a deterrent to the appeal of virtual tours. 

When it comes to implementing virtual tours in the real estate sales process, it’s important to understand: 

• They are an enabler for the sales process, not a replacement for salespersons. Virtual tours are ideal for preliminary walkthroughs and creating a stellar first impression, but clients are most likely to schedule physical tours before signing the deal. 
•  Quality is the key metric that makes some real estate agents stand out from their competition. While the term is often used with abandon, not all virtual tours have the same effect on customers, simply because they do not match up to expectations. 
• Interactive and informative features boost customer confidence. Virtual tours are all about giving clients the power to navigate spaces with freedom and authority. They are not simply a video but an immersive VR experience. 

So, to ensure virtual tours can effectively improve real estate sales, they must tick all the right boxes. 

Virtual Tours That Are a Cut Above the Rest

Plus Render specializes in interactive 3D virtual tours that help architects, designers, real estate developers, and other relevant stakeholders sell better. Our cutting-edge virtual tours strike the perfect balance between virtual storytelling and information sharing, offering prospects clarity about the project. 

Through the use of drone photos, motion graphics, and high-quality imagery, we create immersive virtual tours that drive engagement and boost conversions. 

Our virtual tours are developed keeping the customer in mind. These tours are not just interactive but also offer information overlays for improved ease of use. The exceptional PlusXR provides: 

1. Details about the precise footprint of the project development inclusive of plotting dimensions, measurements, and other relevant spatial information.
2. Information about immediate surroundings with a focus on walking/driving distances, points of interest in the project vicinity, etc. 

We closely collaborate with our clients to bring their vision to life. Our iterative process ensures no detail is missed and the USP of the property is prominently highlighted in the showcase.

In addition, we also offer two modes of taking virtual tours. Our clients can choose to run them on autopilot or give their clients the freedom to navigate the property on their own.

Our tours come equipped with multilingual narration and subtitling support. Plus, they can be easily embedded into client websites and social media profiles. The link can even be shared via email. 

Stakeholders of the real estate industry can innovate their sales process by incorporating our state-of-the-art virtual tours in their walkthroughs. To find out how to improve sales in real estate with Plus Render’s virtual tours, reach out to us.