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TECH WATCH
Talking points
Audio Tours Promote, Capture Listings
In some markets, providing audio-tour capabilities to potential clients can help you stand out from the crowd.
BY MIKE ANTONIAK
Do your listings speak for themselves?
They can, literally, with a range of services that let you record a descriptive message highlighting the main selling points of a home or property. When played back, that information can help potential buyers narrow their selection before engaging your services. Plus, audio tools can give you a competitive advantage with sellers.
These voice-powered services take several forms:
- Talking House, a service offered by Radio Technologies of Fond du Lac, Wis., taps the open frequencies on AM radio as channels for broadcasting a talking tour of homes within a limited range. The company sells you special transmitters with built-in digital recording capabilities that allow you to record a five-minute description about a property.
Once recorded, plug the transmitter into a wall outlet in the home and it continually broadcasts that recording within a range of 200 feet to 300 feet. Signs in the yard tell potential buyers driving by where on the AM dial they can tune in to hear a description of the listing.
- Audio soundtracks jazz up your online virtual tours. Popular tour solutions, such as VisualTour.com of Coral Springs, Fla., let you include a 60-second recording as part of the tour.
Last month, a three-state consortium of Prudential California Realty, Prudential Nevada Realty, and Prudential Texas Properties announced it would offer TalkingTour virtual-tour option to its 3,800 sales associates working in more than 140 offices in those states. The service allows the practitioners to add voice-over narratives that are 30 seconds to 60 seconds long that consumers can listen to as they view the digital photos and written information on listings in their virtual tours.
- ProQuest Technologies Inc. in Swansea, Ill., offers a phone-activated service that consumers can call to hear recorded information on a listing. If they prefer, consumers can instead receive written information on properties by fax through the same system. The system captures callers’ phone number, time of call, and listing of interest, and then relays that information to you, the subscriber.
- ProQuest has a new competitor in HomeAudioTours.com of Scottsdale, Ariz., which recently launched a phone-activated audio tour. Yard signs encourage prospects driving by participating properties to dial an 800 number and enter a code on their cell phones to hear about homes. Every call is logged by phone number, time of call, and property of interest, and the information is passed along to you. After the audio tour, listeners can press a key to be directly connected to you. The calls can be automatically routed to any of your contact numbers or a voice mailbox. You create the audio tours for your listings from any phone by dialing into your account and recording the listing information.
Information on the yard sign alerts those who use the service that they’ll be contacted by a real estate professional, thereby ensuring callbacks don’t violate the National Do-Not-Call Registry, according to a company spokesperson. In addition to phone-activated features, HomeAudioTours.com also offers a package of Web-based communications services to real estate professionals that includes message retrieval, contact management, e-mail and automated marketing, and fax-back information. Are any of these audio services something you should employ? As with any technology, that depends on the competition you face in your market, your tech strategy, and available budget. Adding these services carries some expense; in the case of the phone-driven service, it may mean a set-up fee, monthly subscription fee, and fees per minute of usage. Since these services track calls and the listings the callers are interested in, the services also can be used to gauge the effectiveness of marketing campaigns and different advertising vehicles. For example, you can assign the same listing a different tour code in different ads, and you’ll know which advertising venue is delivering results and which isn’t. Take advantage of any trial period or try the service on a limited basis before making a significant investment or committing to a long-term contract. Test and give the service the chance to speak for itself. Previously by Antoniak: Don't Be Caught Without Backup " /> Better Computing for Less Money Wireless Insights Tech Companies That Target You Suggest a Topic Do you have technology you’d like to learn more about or a new user twist that you’d like to share with your peers? Let me know about it by e-mailing antoniak@dtccom.net, and I’ll do my best to give it the coverage it deserves. Back to Top " />
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