Virtual Tour Software ~ Virtual Tour Company

A Dallas Virtual Tour Provider Heads North

2012-05-24T11:29:00.000-05:00

Thanks Jason, Jacque, Ben and the whole team at RTV for putting on the best virtual tour provider conference in the world. My trip began by flying from Dallas to Grand Rapids, MI and driving up with my good friends Dawn Frees and Chris. What amazing people we have as part of the RTV virtual tour network.   Mario Spaghetti -aka Dawn- did an excellent job of driving in the sometimes torrential rain. On the drive, we were keeping in touch with others in route via the RTV Facebook Fan Page.

I was excited to see there were lots of other Disc Golfers in our group. Thursday evening I ran into Larry Jennings and he and I decided to play at 6am the next morning. Thanks for bringing the plastic, Larry! I am not sure if I would have been so excited if I had realized that 6am Traverse City time was actually 5am Dallas time. Ouch, that 4:45 wake- up call was pretty brutal. At any rate, Larry and I played 9 holes of disc golf to begin our conference experience on Friday morning. A most excellent start to the weekend!

Disc golf out of the way, I was ready to be amazed by the new RealTour Fusion virtual tour system training. I was NOT disappointed. The Fusion virtual tour system has everything we need to take our virtual tour businesses to the next level - virtual tour narration, You Tube uploads, flyer creation, exposure engine, lead grabber, 360 x 360 spherical support, full motion video, amazing animated hot spots, and more - this system has it all! Fusion is going to transform real estate virtual tours, as well as give us a fresh look for those commercial virtual tours.

Next up was Jacque Burke and Gabe Clark discussing the new Tour Track system. As a career sales person, I cannot tell you how refreshing it is to have a company basically giving you FREE leads. As part of the RTV network we have the chance to be a part of nationwide contracts, adding to the business of each virtual tour provider. Keep those leads coming, we won't let you down!

The rest of the weekend was full of valuable information for my Dallas virtual tour company on everything from floor plan creation, Photoshop, photography tips and some really great sales training. Thanks to Dawn Frees, Donna Bigg, Dale Hart, Chuck Gullet and Paige Mitts for sharing your wealth of knowledge with us. Something really great happens when you have a bunch of private business owners getting together and sharing what has made them successful. Jimmy Plessinger and I had a great conversation about his marketing strategies.   I hope to use them to get closer to his 600+ virtual tours year!

Besides the classes, it was great to catch up with friends I met last year and build some new friendships.   One of the things I find difficult about having my own virtual tour business and working from home is that I miss the camaraderie of an office. You can begin to feel like you are on an island. Besides, some of my best friends I have met by working side by side. Thanks RTV for giving us a place to get together with other virtual tour providers and discuss what works and what doesn't and build new friendships. The dealer network that RTV has provided is a strong group. I look forward to growing my Dallas virtual tour company, being a part of the RTV family and building these friendships for many years to come.

Lisa and Michael Castro

Dallas - Fort Worth Virtual Tour Company

www.pro360virtualtours.com
Local - 817-676-7176

An Adventurous Virtual Tour Provider

2012-05-23T11:49:00.000-05:00

I’ve always been one to try adventurous new things. I’ve taken lessons to fly a helicopter, followed a mysterious, mumbling Chinese woman into a dark New York apartment because I thought she said she had a good deal on a knock-off watch and against all advice and common sense, even rented a car in Rome. Why was Traverse City, Michigan so nerve-racking?

It had only been 6 months since I first spoke to RTV. At that time, I would have sworn the conversation was about his Christmas plans and the weather here in Tulsa, but after hanging up, I realized that I had just become a RTV dealer and a Tulsa virtual tour provider. Now, I was on my way to RTV’s 2012 virtual tour provider convention. I imagined a tight-knit group of virtual tour jockeys and photography nerds with cameras dangling from their necks. They would be bursting into laughter at geeky photography jokes with punch lines like, “… not with THAT spherical aberration, I won’t!” Would I be expected to prove my skills at shooting a 360 virtual tour? Would I be laughed out of the building because I havethe wrong lens? My fear and anxiety grew as the plane got closer.

I walked into the conference room the first morning and found a seat. As the session was about to start,the man next to me made a funny comment in a strong New York accent. I laughed and he introduced himself as Dale. I knew that I had at least one friend in the room. Over the course of the weekend, my adventurous nature came back. I made a point of introducing myself to the amazing and patient Ben, who never once said, “Would you PLEASE stop calling and emailing me with questions!?” like I’d imagined he would. At the awards banquet, I stalked Jason until he finally got tired of the woman stalking him and got a free moment.When I took the chance to say hello, he actually remembered who I was and where I was from. (I choose to believe it’s because I’ve totally impressed him, not because I’ve got a memorable last name and bother him with lots of e-mails.) On Saturday evening, I stepped out of my shy comfort zone and joined the “cool kids” at Zaiky’s. Had I not gone, I would have missed the opportunity to sit across from Paige Mitts – one of the most talented and lovely women I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. In fact, she was so captivating, I hardly noticed the disgruntled Middle Eastern man throwing a phone at his customers. (Well done, Paige!)

My flight home was cancelled and I had to spend an extra day in Traverse City; but I was okay with that. I took a long walk through the pretty downtown area, my mind filled with new information and great ideas on how to build my virtual tour business and make it successful. I also thought about my fellow RTV dealers and how generous they had been with their advice, help and patience with the newbies.

I’ve started another new adventure and the old saying is true, “it’s the journey, not the destination that’s important.” Because of my previous journeys, I can now hover in a helicopter, miss appointments because my crappy knock-off watch stopped running and I’ve had the most wonderful Italian meal at a tiny place I’d never have found had I not gotten lost driving in Rome. And no matter where my virtual tour business ends up, I’ll always remember that the first leg of this journey began in Traverse City, Michigan.

Go RTV!

Jeanine Persichini
Tulsa Virtual Tours
https://www.facebook.com/VirtuallyAmazingMedia
Order a virtual tour: 214-566-5916

Cocoa Virtual Tour Company

2012-05-22T17:37:00.000-05:00

My husband and I had just joined the RTV Virtual Tour Provider family at the beginning of April. I had been with one of the competitors previously and was a little hesitant at first because of the experience we had with the other Virtual Tour Company. We had not planned on attending the virtual tour conference because we did not think we had it in the budget then we robbed our piggy bank.

We decided we had to make the investment in ourselves and our virtual tour business if we were going to make it work. We wanted to meet the owner/founder of Real Tour Vision, the rest of the amazing RTV team. What a staff!! Additionally we were excited to meet so many virtual tour providers from around the world. Most importantly we wanted to see if Jason was for real!!! He had been a breath of fresh air after my past experience. He was very exciting to talk with and very passionate about his business. He was very responsive and always had time for me if I called with a question. We were pleasantly surprised and relieved to meet Jason and see he was for real, truly an honest business man who cares about our success.(not just his success) RTV was for real, they are the picture of the AMERICAN DREAM and an opportunity for anyone who wants to put some sweat equity into growing a photography and virtual tour business. (A dream come true)

Our flight from Detroit took 2 ½ hours instead of 30 minutes due to storms in the Traverse City area but we were very excited about the RTV Conference and weren’t going to let anything stress us out.

We had to stay at the Holiday Inn down the road because the Park Plaza Hotel was full of RTV dealers when we decided to make the trip. We met another new RTV virtual tour provider at the restaurant Thursday night dinner, Steven Kheir who is going to offer Dubai Virtual Tours. He was amazing and a joy to talk with. The Holiday Inn was a very clean hotel; we had a wonderful room on the Lake. The meals at the Holiday Inn were great and the morning and evening walks weren’t too far and was a nice walk. Gave a chance to see the amazing Traverse City, It is a very clean, friendly town, reminded me of our little hometown here in Cocoa Village, Florida.

We had the opportunity to meet and connect with some amazing RTV virtual tour providers, some who have been RTV virtual tour providers for 5, 8 even 10 years. We had the opportunity to meet Ben who is a wonderful trainer; he shared with us the new technology and the new XS rotator head for spherical panoramas. We attended classes on photography skills from Dale Hart and Chuck Gullet, Photoshop with Donna Bigg, (the photoshop guru), we learned about the Shutterbot (got one on order) Jason and Ben shared with us the changes coming down the road the RealTour Fusion (RTV’s new virtual tour software platform), Paige Mitts shared her expertise with us and the A, B, C’s of Sales and Marketing. Her husband/partner Gregg shared with a few of the newbie’s his work flow and how he sets up and shoots his Virtual Tours, how the Shutterbot works, some tips and things to look for when we are shooting our virtual tours.

We also met the amazing Jacque Burke who did a fabulous job organizing the conference and keeping Jason and the team on schedule. The overall impression was this team is well organized they have a mission and know how they are going to get there. We are anxious to be a part of the journey.

All of the RTV virtual tour providers were so eager to share their virtual tour knowledge and experiences with all of us. It was so exciting and a pleasure to meet everyone. We are so excited about being apart of this team of RTV virtual tour providers and look forward to the growth of our Cocoa Virtual Tour Business. I am proud to be apart of a professional team of individuals who have wonderful products to offer our customers.

We are already planning ahead to attend 2013 RTV Virtual Tour Conference, even though the Holiday Inn was great we would like to stay with the rest of the group next year.
Can’t wait to see everyone again and how we have all grown…..

William & Gay Colleypriest
Cocoa Virtual Tours
www.Coast2Coast360VirtualTours.com
Order a virtual tour: 407-353-5524

Ashtabula Virtual Tour Company Heads North

2012-05-21T13:55:00.001-05:00

Well, I recently attended my first RTV virtual tour software conference – a gathering of professional virtual tour photographers who specialize in 360 interactive virtual tours. It was presented by RTV, Inc. – RealTourVision.com – and held in beautiful Traverse City, Michigan. It was quite a thrill in realizing that my photography business, Scenes From Above, LLC, would be continuing to expand into the realm of being a virtual tour provider. There were so many memorable moments during the long weekend – I left my home at 8:15 am on Thursday morning to drive to Cleveland Airport – and, like many others, had I kept right on driving, I’d have arrived in Traverse City before my flight actually did! There were weather delays on the connecting flight from Detroit to Traverse City, and a one hour flight became a three and a half hour ordeal! But that didn’t dampen my enthusiasm… I knew that Jason LaVanture, Jacque Burke, Ben Knorr, and the ENTIRE RTV team would be putting on quite a show for all of the virtual tour providers attending.

Part of my trip had a diversion built in – I am an avid disc golfer, and I knew of Hickory Hill Disc Golf Course, just west of town. I had intended to play Thursday evening, but with my flight arriving so late, that idea was squelched. Not to worry, our first class didn’t start until 10 am the next morning – so at 6 am the next morning, Lisa Freeman Castro and I took a taxi to the course, getting there just before sunrise. We told the taxi to be back at 8:30, so that gave us time to play about 14 holes… very nice course, and we got to see several deer frolicking around the woods.

So the classes started at 10 am, and we were exposed to the new RealTour Fusion Virtual Tour System. THIS THING ROCKS! I can’t wait to start presenting it to the real estate agents ordering their Ashtabula virtual tours from me. I’m also planning on presenting it to some of the local restaurants, lodgings (bed & breakfasts), and other tourist businesses here in North East Ohio. The next two days continued with other presentations by RTV employees and virtual tour providers – all the presentations were certainly worthwhile and interesting – and it was rather refreshing to hear different points of view about how individuals performed their work (with flash, without flash) – and the clever, creative ways that they get their foot in the door with prospective clients.

After a day of classes, it was time to unwind at the top of the Park Place Hotel – there was such a beautiful view of the city and the lake from the top floor… after dinner and drinks there were several speakers and awards given, but the crowning moment of the evening was the emotion that was summoned up by Jason LaVanture, as he thanked his team – and he brought ALL of us so much closer together, and he made us realize what he and his team have worked so hard for: To give us what will be the BEST VIRTUAL TOUR system on the planet!

More classes on Saturday, with the same high impact messages being delivered by RTV staff and other virtual tour providers as well. I think that everyone was satisfied with the content, and by the end of the day, we were all looking forward to a nice dinner at a local Greek restaurant. And even though there were some delays and other issues at the restaurant, a good time was had by all, especially due to the unique entertainment that ensued there… It’s not like we had anyplace to go…. EXCEPT for room 209… but then that’s another blog all together!

Thanks to all the great people that I met and learned so much from – Jimmy, Cyndi, Lisa, Nancy, Claudia, Glen, Dale, Bobby, Patty, Chuck, Paige, Greg, and all the others: ‘Til we meet again! Keep shootin’ in circles!\

Larry Jennings
Scenes From Above, LLC
Ashtabula, OH 360 virtual tours
www.scenesfromabove.com

Tour My Town Traveles To TC

2012-05-17T11:50:00.000-05:00

Well folks, I did it! I traveled to Traverse City, Michigan to attend the RTV 2012 virtual tour conference. Not only did I meet the owner/founder of Real Tour Vision and the amazing team, I had the opportunity to get connected to the most amazing group of RTV virtual tour providers. Traverse City – clean and the friendliest place I have ever been. Had I drove, it would have been a six hour trip….the plane ride there was 9 hours and lost luggage, but returning home was a whole other thing – 18 hours, and yet again lost luggage. Was it worth it? YES, YES, YES!!!!

My goal, was to meet Jason and Ben and to learn a lot about running a virtual tour company. I was so excited and certainly not disappointed. As for meeting my fellow virtual tour providers from around teh world, I have to say the first one to “captivate” me was Paige Mitts. It didn’t surprise me to later discover she was a super successful virtual tour provider throughout the USA. Then I met Nancy Bain, the sweetheart of sweethearts (a fellow Canadian) Patty Haessig thanked me for keeping her calm on the plane (but she doesn’t know it was the other way around) and Kristen Plaisance is a true southern belle. They were all so eager to share their virtual tour knowledge with me. Right along with them I met the wonderful Glenn Farrell (another fellow Canadian) and I will never forget Dale Hart – he kept everyone in stitches. My bud of all buds was Larry Jennings. He was super and oh so very helpful. It was a pleasure to meet them all!

I attended classes on photography, photoshop, RealTour Fusion (RTV's new virtual tour software platform), learned about the ShutterBot and small business management. Well organized and informative classes. Jacque Burke did an amazing job organizing everything and I am sure we all can’t thank her enough.

I didn’t quite get to see all of the goings on at Zakey’s Saturday night. My friend that traveled with me and I, were a tad late getting to Zakey’s and were seated in a booth. We were unable to be seated at the table with everyone else or share in the conversation,but when we discovered we weren’t able to have a glass of vino with our meal, we quietly left and had a fabulous dinner at the hotel. We must have had some insight that getting served, let alone getting our meal was going to take a very very long time. By the way, props to choosing the Park Plaza Hotel to have the virtual tour convention at. They were amazing!

Being a Northern Ontario virtual tour provider has been a great thing, but being a virtual tour provider with RTV was the best decision I have ever made. I am also a real estate sales representative. I had a client that would only list with me if I did a 360 virtual tour. I didn’t have a clue. So, onto the internet. Who was number 1 on Google search for 360 virtual tour providers???? RTV!! I called and got to speak with a sales rep who in turn “gave me” the opportunity to do an immediate V-slide and I was floored at the ease of use (I am no techie – Ben can attest to this) I jumped at the chance to be an RTV virtual tour provider.

I can’t wait to see what this group of wonderful (and yet crazy) team at RTV has in store for us at the 2013 RTV virtual tour Conference.

Cyndi Ingleton
Tour My Town
705-669-8213
http://www.TourMyTown.ca
Northern Ontario Virtual Tours

Thanks for your persistence!

2012-05-16T17:38:00.000-05:00

One of the challenges in making cold calls for our virtual tour business is knowing when I’m being ignored and when I’m dealing with someone who is just busy. We will be shooting a school virtual tour tomorrow...four months after our first email. I called and emailed the Director of Marketing in January then called again about a week later to see if my email had gotten to her. It took over two weeks before she responded and her response was like many I have received...

Hi Paige –

I’m not ignoring you – as a matter of fact, XYZ company would be very interested in talking to you. Unfortunately, our marketing budget is depleted for the year, so it doesn’t really make sense to talk now. Could you please contact me again in April?

It can get frustrating to send out multiple emails and leave repeated phone calls and not get responses but it’s part of the process of building our virtual tour business. This particular client told me that she had kept my emails in her inbox but she just hadn’t gotten back to me because things kept coming in that were more urgent. It wasn’t that she wasn’t interested in what I was offering - she absolutely was!

It’s been a while since I have been in the corporate world but when I was, my contact information was usually posted on the website of the company I worked for because I was usually my company’s marketing person. In fact, my face was posted on the website as well in many cases. As a result, I got dozens of unsolicited emails, phone calls, and lots of snail mail every week from people who wanted to sell something. That in addition to the hundreds of emails we all receive on a regular basis meant that I had to prioritize what got my attention.

To this day, I have a folder in my inbox labeled “Follow Up” one called “Research” and one called “File”. I have to move things from my working Inbox or else they get lost. By having the Follow Up folder, I can move things that are important but not urgent and deal with them when I have time. The Research folder is for things that sound like they may be interesting but I need more information to decide whether I want to follow up.

When I send out emails now, I figure I have about five seconds or less to make it into the “Follow Up” folder or be deleted. The key to sending an email that will actually get answered is to provide enough information to capture the readers attention without overwhelming them. I have to provide everything they need to know if that email -- if they have to go to my website for more information, then I will likely end up in the trash.

Greg and Paige Mitts
Charleston Virtual Tours
http://www.VisionQuestVirtualTours.com
Order a Charleston, SC virtual tour: 404-863-9769

5 Virtual Tour Marketing Pieces From RPM - WOW!

2012-05-15T11:25:00.000-05:00

Ok RTV virtual tour providers, we are gearing up for the release of RTV's new virtual tour software system, RealTour Fusion. You're going to see lots of customizable marketing documents coming your way and I wanted to write you a blog today and give you some pointers on how to customize these and get them ready for print. First of all please remember, we create all of these materials in Microsoft Word so that you can easily place in your contact information, company logo, and edit text as YOU see fit. We recommend that you have Microsoft Word 2007 and later to get the most mileage out of our marketing pieces. If you login to your www.RockPointeMarketing.com account today you will see that we've uploaded FIVE new marketing pieces for you. I will list them off and describe each one below.

#1 Virtual Tour Features Flyer. This one page, two sided flyer highlights the new fusion player with a large screen shot on the front page and six virtual tour features described in detail on the back page. There are three locations for you to place in your logo and two for your contact information. Simply add your logo inside of these text boxes and eliminate any borders and text box colors. Depending on your particular market you may want to highlight other fusion virtual tour features than those we have put on here. We’ve made this easy for you by placing the feature icons and text descriptions from document # 5 below titled Descriptions & Icons. This way you can pick and choose which features you're going to showcase in your area as you roll out your new virtual tour system. For example, you may not be offering floor plans right away but you know you would like to offer the new gorgeous Flyers or E-Brochure. We recommend that you get this piece customized as soon as possible and sent off to VistaPrint so you're ready to do your whistle stops when fusion rolls out. Remember too, that any time you send items in to print you should have converted the document into a PDF first.

#2 Audio Flyer. This highlights the new audio options for your virtual tours. Add your logo, change the prices if you like and place your contact information along the bottom and you are all set. Some of you have told us that you're going to make the new AudioPal system a value added, while others will be making this an add on. As FORMULA episodes kick back up again I'm sure that we'll hear many more ideas. Either way this is a nice piece to get printed up and ready to hand out. DON'T give out all of these at once either. You should get ready to stop by offices once every few weeks and keep your marketing materials popping up. This way you'll always be on their mind.

#3 Gyro Flyer. Got Gyro? Fusion does and this gorgeous two sided flyer that points out the awesome gyro capability of our new truly interactive virtual tours. Tilt, pan and move your way through our fusion tours! The second page highlights QR codes, Flyers and DeepStats. Once again add your logo, place in your contact information and change the text to fit your needs. Again, please don't forget to turn these into PDF's before trying to send to VistaPrint.

#4 Mini InfoPack. This is a simple, clear and concise, way to get your customers and prospects familiar with your new virtual tour platform. We recommend that you customize this two page, four sided document, rip to a PDF, then use it for your email blast when we go live. Your cover letter should be short and sweet with a sample fusion virtual tour. Use a subject like "Regarding Your Real Estate Photography" to catch their attention. This mini manual will cover the basics of the fusion system and will walk the viewer through the most popular SIX screens throughout the Fusion Experience. It also highlights the gorgeous flyers, amazing new DeepStats, your Exposure Engine and more. Simply add in your logo along with your contact information and you're ready to go blast away. Feel free to give these products a unique name too. We've kept the icons generic enough for that very reason.

#5 Descriptions & Icons. This is a great document for each of you to review. It will fully cover each of the new features found in the RealTour Fusion virtual tour platform and fully describe each one. We recommend that you login to your beta account and try out each feature so you know how it is going to work. You can also expect that RTV will hold several webinars on the new system after launch but it would be a good idea to login and get started sooner than later. On this piece you will find that each feature description has been placed in a text box so you simply have to copy and paste the text box into a new document as well as the icon. This will allow you to easily pick and choose the features that you're going to promote right away. Feel free to use the icons and text on your website too. It's all here for you!

Thank you all so much for your time. It was also great meeting so many of you at the virtual tour show and I'm looking forward to seeing you all again next year.

Please send any suggestion/recommendation or requests to jill(AT)realtourvision.com and remember to login to your www.RockPointeMarketing.com account today and snag all these pieces!!!

Yours Sincerely,

Jill Sill
RTV Virtual Tour Marketing
866-947-8687
Order a virtual tour today
http://www.RealTourVision.com

The RTV Virtual Tour Convention Was Amazing

2012-05-14T11:53:00.000-05:00

The RTV convention was a blast! The best money I have ever invested in my virtual tours business. The convention members were sharing ideas on how to improve the quality of our virtual tours and photography work and also how to open other sources of income by expanding and out-branching our business.

Every day due to the help provided by RTV we become better virtual tour providers and photographers. We are able to do things that we could not even imagine possible. We were able to personally know all these people at RTV that help us on a daily basis giving us support helping with multiple details from the setting of a new camera or lens to how to use our programs more efficiently.

The knowledge and equipment acquired during the virtual tour convention will allow us to go to a new step in our business. Walk through without any vibration to our cameras, enhancing of the quality of our panoramas and adding professional voice to better describe a property are just some of the ways that the new system “Fusion” will enhance the quality of our tours. No longer your tour has to be silent or have a low quality audio on it. We are really excited with all the new possibilities that we will be able to offer our clients. As usual Virtual Florida Tours will go one step further in our efforts to accomplish our motto always we are “Striving for Excellence!”

For your entire marketing needs contact Virtual Florida Tours at 305 331 8960 or visit us online below!

Gabriel Duque
Miami Virtual Tours
www.virtualfloridarealtours.com
Order a virtual tour! (305) 331 8960

QR CODES CAN INCREASE YOUR MARKETING AND SALES!

2012-05-11T11:59:00.000-05:00

Most of you are now familiar with the latest in electronic-internet advertising...THE QR CODE!
When you are cold-calling or establishing new accounts, don't forget to offer your customer QR codes.
We provide our virtual tour clients with a free QR code for both their virtual tours and website.
It is important to demonstrate the QR app and help them use their iphone or android to access the app.
Pick up any print ads that have QR codes to show them that this is the latest in technology.

Of course some of your clients will be familiar with the QR concept, but then again some will give
you the dazed over look when you mention "QR".

Everyone wants the latest technology, even if they are still learning....

To have our virtual tour business clients immediately begin using QR's, we provide them with a window sign

"come visit us..." (placing the QR code on the sign). When the establishment is closed for business, people who come up to the store or restaurant can scan the code and get to the website/tour immediately.

Enhance and increase your sales with the concept.

Hugh & Jean Jordan
NE Mississippi Virtual Tours
http://seeitsellstudios.com
Direct: 662-664-0965

Fusion & Friends

2012-05-10T12:05:00.002-05:00

Wow! I’m on my way home from RTV virtual tour software Conference 2012 and had no idea what I was in for when I whined in my previous Blog about the huge hassle it is to get to Traverse City from Albuquerque. Apparently it only takes one little tornado to throw a wrench into your plans to get home. Oh, Boo hoo!

I thought there might be trouble early on when Brian received a prerecorded message at 1:30 that his 7:30pm flight out of TC was cancelled. Quickly checking my flights status I learned that it was “on time”. Well that was not to be the case. Getting to the airport with the Hotel shuttle would prove to be the easy part of this trip. My traveling companions on the first leg of the trip, Nancy, Patty, Kristin and Carole soon found out that our 3:30 departure to Chicago was delayed multiple times until finally departing at 7:30. BTW Kristin looked Marvelous!

We were not the only RTV conference attendees inconvenienced by the weather. Arriving at the airport there were many getting back on the shuttle to the hotel because their earlier flights were cancelled. Now under normal circumstances this would be just a minor inconvenience. Yes, there’s the added expense of another nights hotel stay, the extra Margaritas at the hotel Bar & of course the extra day of seeing some of the hottest girls ever walking around Traverse City! (well I didn’t get the pleasure of that inconvenience since my flight did eventually take off for the windy city) Anyway, I digress. The real inconvenience is the delay and anxiety of not being able to get home to implement the many things learned at the 2nd Annual RTV Conference!

Yes! RTV hit it out of the park this year! The conference was a huge success Hosted by the RTV team led by Jacque Burque , they provided a stellar program of learning modules starting with the Star of the Conference “RTV Fusion” Jason LaVanture reveled and unbelievable 57 new features to the Virtual Tour Software system! When launched in the next few weeks, it will be the quickly become the Gold standard of Virtual Tours.

We then enjoyed an introduction by Ben Knoor to 360 Spherical Tours. This will be a whole new ball game in the Virtual Tour sphere. Friday night offered a great dinner/ awards/dance party with a great buffet dinner followed by awards going to Glen Farrell, Nancy Bain, Jim Plessinger, Clarence Samelko, & Greg & Paige Mitts. ( there may be more but I had some wine so I forget) Then some of us danced! Until the DJ abruptly stopped Rock Lobster in it’s tracks!! How dare he? Doesn’t he know he’s there for us?? Well, I’ll get over it.

Marketing Superstar Paige Mitts one half of the Vision Quest 360 Tours team, offered up some great ideas to increase business and profits & ideas on how to close the sale. Greg showed the newbie’s how to shoot a Virtual Tour. Donna Biggs took us through the PhotoShop editing with many interesting techniques to enhance our images. And Chuck Gullett offered some advanced techniques for getting a great image , he even shared with us his “Commode Mode” which I will defiantly be trying on my next tour!

There was a lot more with some great meals, snacks and networking in-between. The outstanding presentation was soon to be a distant memory as we arrived in Chicago to a massive crowd of unhappy travelers all stranded by delayed or canceled flights. Brought on by what I would later find out was a Tornado south of the city. It is impossible to describe the feeling when you walk off a plane to find thousands of people on line in the same predicament a you, waiting to be rebooked and only 2 or 3 customer reps at the counter. Helplessness comes close.

At the end of the huge line, a rep was handing out info with an 800# and 40% off hotel vouchers…that was our only recourse. Disheveled, Dejected and Disappointed I sat on the floor, pulled out my laptop and phone and tried to make contact with the airline….LMAO! It was not to happen. I decided I would spend the night in the airport. Soon Patty & Nancy walked by, saw me and eventually convinced me a Hotel would be best. Long story short, (I know, I know, too late) Got a flight out in the morning and was home by 1pm.

Was it all worth it? Well hell yeah! I met some great new friends and caught up with some old ones, learned a lot and had a blast. More importantly I was overwhelmed by the help and advice offered by others to enhance business at the conference and help offered in time of need and desperation at the airport . All creating a renewed faith in mankind and at the same time creating Fusion between Friends & Business.

P.S. We love you Bobby Goolsby…You are our favorite friend!

Dale Hart

Owner - DragonFly 360 Imaging

Albuquerque Virtual Tours

www.dragonfly360imaging.com

Order a virtual tour: 505-359-8885

Traverse City Real Estate Photography Hits The Show

2012-05-08T15:45:00.000-05:00

Gearing up for the annual Traverse City Association of Realtors (TAAR) event is always fun. This year Jim and I are very excited to show off our new BlueLaVa Fusion Tours to the local agents. In preparation we had a very nice virtual tour banner created to promote some of the more powerful features that Fusion brings such as Full Motion Video, Lead Capture, Exposure Engine and more. We have plenty of BlueLaVa pens to hand out and of course we’re all stocked up on logo wear and business cards.

The local event takes place on May 10th at the Haggerty Center here in Traverse City and typically a couple hundred local real estate agents show up. Since we started our Traverse City Virtual Tour company back in 2007 we have been the only real estate photography vendor at this event. We do have some competition here in town but they’re not an affiliate member of our MLS board.

We’ll be sure to keep everyone posted as to how the event plays out for us and the feedback that we get from customers and potential customers on the new system. Go RTV!

Sincerely,

Jason LaVanture
Traverse City Virtual Tours
http://www.BlueLaVaMedia.com
231-946-1360

RTV Launches Rotator XS at Provider Convention

2012-05-07T12:06:00.001-05:00

RTV had much success with the launch of the new RTV Rotator XS over the weekend at the virtual tour convention. Virtual tour providers from all over the world got first dibs on the new enhanced XS Pano Head. A hybrid of our X3 redesigned to photograph and capture full 360 x 360 Spherical virtual tour photography for use in the RealTour Fusion virtual tour system. The XS has a hinged arm to allow the camera to point up and down and also features a quick disconnect camera mount allowing you to quickly remove your camera from the rotator for shooting stills or video clips also supported by the new Fusion platform.

Weighing in at only 2 lbs. 10.3 ounces, the new Rotator XS The Rotator XS was designed with the same engineering excellence as the X3, and RTV is continuing a lifetime warranty on the unit.

The XS rotator will sell for $400 brand new, and will be included in our new FusionMax XS virtual tour builder kit. RTV will continue selling the popular X3 unit for $300.00 and it will be included in our new FusionMax X3 builder kit.

Current RTV providers who are thinking about getting into 360 X 360 photography, RTV has not forgotten about you. The Rotator XS is built with the same rotating base as our Universal, X3, and Mini allowing you to simply purchase the new XS arm and attach for an instant upgrade. The XS has the identical pre-measured 12 clicking positions as its predecessors and depending on the lens you use, our rotators are capable of shooting 12, 6, 4, 3, or 2 picture panoramas.

We’re very excited about the new XS and the new kind of 360 X 360 virtual tours it will bring. Upgrade to an XS today for only $179 or purchase new. We sold completely out of our first batch of XS’s and upgrade arms at the show however RTV plans on having a batch of sixty in stock early next week.

Thank you all for coming to our convention and taking the 11 virtual tour classes that were held. We're going to be looking for a new convention center for next years virtual tour convention since we went over the hotel's capacity at this years event.

Thanks for your continued support!

Team RTV
http://www.RealTourVision.com
Order a virtual tour today: 866-947-8687
Virtual Tour Software & Digital Marketing Training

Like the “Big Bang”, RTV Fusion Explodes!

2012-05-03T10:16:00.000-05:00

As I sit here cruising at 30,000 feet somewhere above Kansas on Screaming babies Airline flight 1190 out of Houston, the second leg of a 3 leg 12 hour journey to the 2nd annual RTV Conference in Traverse City Michigan, I am reminded about how pleased I am to be a part of the RTV family of Virtual Tour providers.

Why else would I endure 6 hrs in a 50 ton sardine can with zero leg room, over-priced food and beverages, the aforementioned screaming babies, chilly temps and downright rude people?
Besides being truly impressed with Jason LaVanture co-founder and Vice president of RTV since that fateful day 5 or so years ago when Jason actually returned my call inquiring about an RTV dealership. I am impressed with this virtual tour company as a whole! Everyone at RTV is very supportive in every way. Suffice it to say support for the RTV Dealers is paramount.

That support translates into the bigest virtual tour technology update in the Virtual Tour industry! Any minute now RTV, in its effort to always stay relevant and up-to-date, will launch the powerful RealTour Fusion, an absolutely revolutionary Virtual Tour platform that is unsurpassed by anything in the industry. Fusion will be what every other Virtual Tour Company out there will try to emulate. Try as they might, they will never be able to come close.

Always striving to stay ahead of the curve, Jason and his highly dedicated team of programmers have created the definitive Virtual Tour platform by which all others will be judged! Soon Realtors all over the Country will be able to blow their competition away with a new HD, full screen 360 Virtual Tours designed to give them full control over many features, save time and increase their bottom line. Translation: Mo money, Mo Money, Mo Money!

This new cutting-edge technology, until now unseen in the industry, fuses all of the elements of 21 century Real Estate Marketing into one cohesive platform that leaves it just a step behind the 22nd Century!

Virtual Tour Features that include:
•    360 panoramas
•    still images
•    streaming video
•    Custom voiceovers for scene by scene voice descriptions!
•    Full bold color flyers as well as printable flyers
•    QR code generator
•    Full Syndication including Realtor.com & Craigslist
•    E-Flyers
•    An Agent back office
•    Interactive, photo-enhanced floor plans
•    Lead capture, YES! Lead capture! Finally you will be able to know exactly who viewed the tour!
•    Thumbs up, thumbs down buttons
•    On-line tour ordering (log-in, order tour, schedule tour, publish tour)
•    YouTube video generator

And so much more your head would explode if I gave it all to you!

So I shall spare you the untimely and painful death and just say that it all comes in a very sexy and visually stunning package with a Full Screen, HD Virtual Tour window designed to make the Real Estate Agent look more state-of-the-art and professional then ever!

Realtors: Sellers will be knocking down your door to sign with you and get one of these cutting edge tours for their home!

As I close this blog we are starting to make our dissent into Chicago. The beverage carts have been stowed, trash collected, my seat is in the upright position and my seat belt is fastened and yes, the babies after a short respite have started to scream again.

So I sit here as turbulence bounces us through the atmosphere (BTW, I love turbulence, call me crazy but I do) I look ahead to my last flight of the day into Traverse City and picture myself at the Hotel sipping a glass of Merlot and look forward to a weekend of Fusion with friends old and new.

P.S. Make no mistake about it, Airline travel is HELL! (After 3 gate changes and a 20 minute delay in Chicago I am finally on a plane that resembles a greyhound bus with wings; on my way to Traverse City) BUT, Fusion is pure Heaven!

Dale Hart

Owner - DragonFly 360 Imaging

Albuquerque Virtual Tours

www.dragonfly360imaging.com

Order a virtual tour: 505-359-8885

Why 10% Does Not Mean 1 in 10

2012-05-02T11:48:00.000-05:00

A new virtual tour photographer asked me today if I could share the secrets of our successful virtual tour business. The bottom line, I told her, is it boils down to is consistency and persistence in making new contacts. Sure, it helps that Greg is a great virtual tour photographer and that RTV, Inc. virtual tour software company provides us with great virtual tour software. But all that really means is that the number of calls I have to make to close a single sale for a 360 degree virtual tour l is a lower than if I didn’t have those things. Closing ratio means that x calls yields y sales. The key is to figure out what your x and y are.

The great thing about sales is the understanding that once you know what your closing ratio is, you can easily extrapolate how many calls you need to make in order to close a set amount of business. I have learned that I have to make about 100 calls to book 10 virtual tours. If Greg was a less experienced virtual tour photographer, then I might have to make 200 calls to book those same 10 business virtual tours. The formula remains the same - the only thing that changes is the x and the y.

To say that I have a 10% closing ratio DOES NOT mean that I win one out of ten times. It means that if I make 100 contacts, I feel pretty confident that we will end up shooting 2 -3 virtual tours and if I make 1,000 contacts, we will eventually shoot 100 virtual tours. Charles J. Givens, author of Wealth Without Risk puts it this way, “Success requires first expending ten units of effort to produce one unit of results. Your momentum will then produce ten units of results with each unit of effort.”

I start a running tally every week knowing that I need to make a minimum of 100 calls if I want to maintain the growth of our Charleston virtual tour business. I write everything in a notebook that I keep with me at all times and I write down the number beside each new call, email or face to face contact. I know that I need to make 100 contacts every week to keep our business growing. The challenge is not giving up on the 95th call. I hear the word NO more than most people because I keep calling. That’s the secret of our successful virtual tour business.

Greg and Paige Mitts
Charleston Virtual Tours
http://www.VisionQuestVirtualTours.com
Order a Charleston, SC virtual tour: 404-863-9769

Resort Photography - Professional Resort Photography Services

2012-05-01T14:40:00.000-05:00

Resort Photography & International Resort Photography Services

Is your beautiful and high scale resort in need of an uplift of new photography and virtual tours? We at RTV, Inc are the leading experts in the field with over a decade of experience, and are here to help you get the quality images you deserve. In today’s world of in depth internet searches, photography and virtual tours are vital to any website and especially a travel destination.

Research and studies have proven that "photos and interactive virtual tours” ranked the highest for ‘most important tool’ while searching for real estate, resorts and more. When consumers are looking for a place to visit, resort photography is going to be the main focus of their search. Being able to vividly see and imagine being at your resort will no doubt be the most convincing factor.

Not only will they be able to search through multiple high resolution resort photography pages, but they will be able to take one of our fully interactive virtual tours through your hotel and be engaged while dreaming about their stay with you! Our resort virtual tours can also play full motion video too! Fascinating an online audience with your characteristic photos and more, will not only help them picture being there with you but will give them the boost to book their tickets and actually make the commitment you want them to!

RTV is located throughout the entire United States and offers services in several other countries as well. We know how important it is to you to find a resort photography company that you can trust and with our experience and passion for the industry, we are sure to deliver you with the quality of images you are looking for. Your new resort photography will be sure to enhance your website and increase your customer base. Call us and get a quote today!

With our vast network of Professional Resort Photographers we guarantee coverage for your Resort photography and virtual tours even in the smallest and most remote areas of the world.

Want to know more?

Give us a call at (866) 947-8687 and we will discuss viable options for your unique business requirements.

See you on site!

Team RTV
http://www.RealTourVision.com
Order Virtual Tours & Photography Services Today: 866-947-8687
Offering Hotel Photography Too!

It's Convention Week!

2012-04-30T12:12:00.001-05:00

It's convention week!! Hello and good afternoon RTV. It's virtual tour convention week here in beautiful Traverse City, Michigan. The temperature this week is going to be in low seventies and high sixties. While there won't be any swimming, or wake boarding behind the RTV Donzi Boat, the Park Place Hotel has a wonderful dome shaped glass windowed pool, a hot tub, tanning booth, and a sauna for you all to enjoy. At least we won't be making snowmen like we did at last year's convention. We're working very hard to prepare for all you virtual tour dealers coming to the show, and also working very hard chopping through the final edits to the new RealTour Fusion virtual tour platform. We're currently still standing at about sixty edit requests to the new system so please be patient with us as we work through these and launch.

For those of you who already have a Fusion account setup. Please note that your login access point has been moved. Please check today's email for the new access point. We're setting it up this way so we have a universal access point for all user types. Additionally we're now using your email address as your username in the system and the system will automatically detect your user account type. If you have trouble logging in please contact Julie Lynn at the number below.

For those of you who do not yet have a Fusion beta account setup yet please feel free to call in and get yours setup this week. Especially if you're attending the convention. To get your own Fusion beta account setup, please contact Julie Lynn at 231-947-0684. She will open up your account and put in some tour credits so you can try out the new system. There is no cost to setup a beta account so be sure to call in. We're going to be taking your setup requests in the order in which you call in and also giving preference to those attending the convention since those individuals will need their own accounts for training on the new system during the convention. It's looking quite nice!
http://fusion.beta.realtourvision.com/tour/78230

http://fusion.beta.realtourvision.com/tour/92491

Finally and most importantly, today is the last day you can purchase your tickets to the convention as we're submitting our final head count to the Park Place. Register here if you have not already done so: http://www.realtourvision.com/VirtualTourConvention.php I believe the Park Place Hotel is at full capacity or very close. Not to worry however since there are many other hotels nearby for you to stay at. In fact there's a Holiday Inn within walking distance from the Park Place.

That's all for now. See you soon convention attendees!! For those of you not attending the convention we'll be making a DVD of the convention events and classes for you to purchase. We'll also be holding this year's first episode of The FORMULA and The IMAGE immediately after Fusion launches so I'll plan on seeing you on the shows. Thank you all for your continued support and dedication to our product line.

Yours Sincerely,

Jason

PS. We don't really have a Donzi.

Jason LaVanture
http://www.RealTourVision.com
Hotel Photography & Virtual Tours

New From RPM Marketing

2012-04-27T14:20:00.000-05:00

How are you going to let your real estate agents know about Fusion all at once? Will you send out a mass email? Will you start pounding out phone calls? How about customizing this nice postcard? Try having fifty or a hundred printed up and start mailing them out just before OR after your email campaign. Most people need to see or hear something two or three times before it clicks. Remember that!!

If you have a custom marketing piece that you would like to have prepared for you please don't hesitate to ask. We're here to help you build your virtual tour business.

Your Sincerely,

Jill

Virtual Tour Software & Marketing

Order a virtual tour: 866-947-8687

Lots of Corinth Virtual Tours

2012-04-26T09:58:00.002-05:00

"Corinth, Mississippi, pop. 14,289. See our Corinth City Virtual Tour

This year the area commemorates 150 years since several Civil War battles were fought in the area. In April, Shiloh, TN., saw it's 150th year reenactment festivities. This October, it will be 150 years since the Union Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans defeated a Confederate army, this time one under Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn.

The town has wonderful centers for one to explore the history of these famous battles. There is the "Interpretive Center", a museum that is a must see in learning about the war's conflict, before driving a short distance to Shiloh's battle field. There is the Railroad Museum, providing additional local history.

See our Railroad Museum Virtual Tour

However, while in Corinth one must visit these establishments:

Pizza Grocery Virtual Tour Located in a old historic building, it is the best pizza in town! Other specialties are available. Enjoy fine dining in the evenings.

Coffee, sandwiches, smoothies, soup....and more go to KC's Espresso Virtual Tour.

Come to Corinth. Incredible place to visit and eat.

Work to promote your community using your HD Virtual Tours. Provide virtual tours at an affordable price to draw tourists and visitors to your home. Good-will goes a very long way in networking for future contacts."

Jean

Hugh & Jean Jordan
NE Mississippi Virtual Tours
http://seeitsellstudios.com
Direct: 662-664-0965

Three Simple Steps To Startup

2012-04-25T10:55:00.001-05:00

In one of our previous posts we talked about why starting a virtual tour business and why adding a virtual tour department onto your existing business would be a great option for you to make some extra income. Today I want to talk to you about some of the basics for those of you who may be new to the idea of running your own business.

Understandably, if you’re not currently living the entrepreneurial lifestyle, the idea of starting a virtual tour business on the side may seem scary, expensive, and like a whole lot of hard work and effort that you don’t have time for. The fact however, is it can be fun, easy, and very inexpensive to do! I have put together some ways that you can easily and most importantly inexpensively promote your new virtual tour business to make the most of your time and money. Read these few steps, talk to some other RTV virtual tour providers back here and you'll see they all started out, to some extent, following the basic steps below.

#1 Flyers and business cards. You would be surprised at the places you’ll find the new clients for your virtual tour business. Being a business owner means always being prepared. Printing out bulk orders of flyers, brochures and business cards from VistaPrint is affordable and a necessity for always being on your game! At BlueLaVaMedia we also use interactive CD Handouts. These are a great way to put an actual HD virtual tour along with some brochures, a link to your website and more into the hands of prospects. It's a proven fact that CD's have a longer shelf life than a flyer. All the above are great to have when you meet an interested real estate agent or restaurant owner in line at the grocery store or at the gym. You will likely lose the lead if you don’t have a business card to hand to them right away. Always carry them around in your wallet, gym bag or purse so they immediately have your contact information!

#2 Websites & Registering. We have held many RTV talk shows on the right things that you need to do to setup your business and one of the first on that list is to get a website. There are many ways to obtain a website even if you don’t know how to create one yourself. At RTV we do provide a free website with our system but you can always purchase a ready to go virtual tour website http://dealers.realtourvision.com or create one on your own. Some sites have very inexpensive and easy to use templates and design programs that will take you on a step by step guide to getting started. Once your website is up take some time and watch some of our other talk shows on SEO and blogging to start building strong virtual tour centric back links to your site.

#3 Cold Calling. Once you’re ready to start finding your virtual tour clients and have established your target audience in your area, make a list of businesses to call and let them know about your services. You can do this from the comfort of your own home. Just sit back and think about your favorite local hangouts such as your gym, your dentist, animal clinic, coffee shop, hair salon, restaurant, and so on. You will find that making this list is fun and once you get started you will be surprised at how many local business owners you already know and enjoy talking with. Making a few calls a day to potential leads can help get the word out about your virtual tour company. Ask if you can send them an e-mail if they don’t have time to talk and make sure to put your Facebook link and website link in the signature of that e-mail as well.

Let me tell you (and I'm speaking from my own experience from running a Traverse City Virtual Tour Company now for four years) owning your own virtual tour business is very rewarding and fun. There are so many options for new businesses out there today and utilizing the internet is a whole advertising plan in itself. We are always here to help you in your journey with us. When you come aboard with RTV, you are never alone; you're in the network!

Go get em!

Yours Sincerely,

Jason LaVanture
VP / Founder
http://www.RealTourVision.com
Order a virtual tour today: 866-947-8687
Assisted Care Photography & Virtual Tours

Get Your $$$'s Worth

2012-04-24T06:58:00.000-05:00

You are in the virtual tour business. You are making money. You are spending money. These three facts are true. Are you getting your money’s worth out of the spending? Are you using a credit card to buy your products, your monthly website subscription, your insider subscription, your virtual tour credits, your Realtor.com inserts, your supplies, etc. etc, the list goes on. You are spending a fair amount of money if you are being successful.

What do I mean by ‘getting your money’s worth’. I don’t suppose that many of you just throw money away carelessly, but the fact is that you may be doing it unknowingly, or at least leaving it behind. If you are using a credit card AND you are paying off your bill COMPLETELY each month, you, first of all, are not paying credit interest and that is the equivalent of a small loan by the credit card company each month! Of course, don’t pay late or it’ll cost you. Best to have automatic payment or debited by the credit card company to your bank each month. That way you won’t forget.

Next if you are not using a rewards card, you ARE NOT getting your money’s worth out of your spending. I.E. you are leaving behind something worthwhile, be it air miles, discount, cash back, etc. Now you may be saying, ‘oh, geez, its only a little each month and it won’t ever add up to anything. WRONG! WRONG! WRONG! I have been using an AMEX Delta card for as many purchases as I can,(some places don’t like AMEX). That is the first of my strategies. Second is that no matter what, the monthly balance is paid in FULL each month.
What does that do for us? Well, if you are putting almost all your monthly debt, on the right plastic, you may find you are adding up thousands of points per month.

For most continental US flights, 40,000 points will take you somewhere and back. Example, the cost to fly to the virtual tour convention from San Antonio to Grand Rapids & return would cost us (2) about $1000. The cost to us: 80,000 points which comes out of our over 340,000 points we have accrued over the years.

Don’t say it! We haven’t had to save this up for years and years and years. In fact I’ve flown to Europe twice using sky miles and the wife and I flew to Hawaii on vacation using sky miles.

You can do it too! Think of it this way, you spend money buying your materials from RTV and in return, RTV is helping you (us www.alamoareavirtualtours.com) get a ‘free’ trip to the convention each year. Now that’s what I call getting your money’s worth!!

James Hoback
L’oeil L’esprit (Mind’s Eye)
San Antonio Virtual Tours
www.alamoareavirtualtours.com
Order a virtual tour: (210) 325-2675

Grab a Paper and Hit the Open House

2012-04-23T18:52:00.000-05:00

Hello RTV. Mike Willett here. I just wanted to let you know of a great tactic that I've used in the past to get some new customers and meet local agents. It's also a great way to get out there and tell people out your new up and coming products and services. I'm talking about taking some on a Sunday to tour the open houses in your area. Seriously, it’s a great way to connect with agents who would LOVE nothing more than to have some company. These may be agents that you already know too. What a great way to sit down at chat about new up and coming enhancements. Trust me, you're not going to find an agent busy at an open house. We don’t want to become pests by intruding on an agent’s selling opportunity, but when things are slow, most agents enjoy a little conversation, especially with someone that is familiar with their business.

Using this approach, you can find out how they feel about the current market, and if they are open to doing something more to bring people to their listings. A warning, however, watch your state of mind. Many realtors are still just coming out of the poor economy and still a little cautious. Some will still whine and moan about it, which simply gives you an opportunity to talk positively about all the ways you can help. What ever you do, don’t get caught in the trap of wallowing in self pity with them. Stay positive, upbeat, and encouraging, and you might just be surprised at the reaction, and, the possible virtual tour business it brings you.

Meeting realtors on their turf can be a great way to get to know your market, and for your market to get to know you. Let them know how knowledgeable you are, what you have to offer, how it can help, but most of all, make a friend. Get to know the agents in your area and become a friend. People like to do business with people they know, especially friends!

We're on our way down to Florida to re-establish ourselves down there and we're excited to launch the new Fusion system when we get there. Good luck everyone!

Mike Willett - 815-758-1171
Using the finest virtual tour software

It's Like Waiting For Summer

2012-04-20T15:43:00.000-05:00

You’ve been patient and the wait is almost over! RealTour Fusion is coming together in a way that is quickly surpassing even our extremely high expectations!

I don’t shoot tours or even process virtual tours like you virtual tour providers do. I merely create virtual tour centric marketing documents that help you maintain a professional look and feel, understand our offerings, and of course convey a specific message to your target audience. I wanted to send in a blog today and let each and every one of you know that I've spent endless hours over the past few months pouring over each new features of the Fusion platform. As of today, I am almost finished with the near 30 page document for our Full Service Dealers that outlines all of the options from RTV, the packages available and pricing.

I also just finished up a new postcard and am working on a four page new technology announcement for you to use. Once I'm finished with that I'll start kicking out other things for you to use like updated power points, brochures, postcards and more. My point is this, I have been working with the words that describe the Fusion player. Last night however, things really changed for me. I finally watched in awe a Fusion tour where video had been embedded, still photos and panos streamed across the screen smoothly, detailed property information was easy to access and I was amazed. Finally, all of the pieces are coming together and they are coming your way SOON! I have no doubts you will be thrilled with the new Fusion virtual tour system and energized to begin creating your own Fusion interactive virtual media!

Go RTV!
Jill Sill
866-947-8687
Virtual Tour Marketing & Hotel Photography

Why Start a Virtual Tour Business With RTV

2012-04-19T09:44:00.000-05:00

I wanted to take the time to talk today about diversifying your income streams. In decades past, and especially today’s economy, who isn’t looking for additional or different sources of income? Whether it’s a necessity for your family or you’re looking for a hobby to gain you some extra cash flow for vacations and luxuries, creating your own Virtual Tour Business through RTV can be just the thing you’re looking for.

Let me start by noting that when you think of 360 virtual tours, you may think of real estate virtual tours and simply let the thought process end there; please read on! RTV virtual tour providers around the world provide professional HD virtual tour services and photography to just about any business entity in existence! From college campuses, to museums and hospitals, resorts, restaurants, cruise ships, assisted care facilities, animal clinics and more. Now, doesn’t that sound fun!

At RTV we offer an exciting and more importantly PROFITABLE side business to your current income stream. If you’re especially good, this can even turn into a full time job and provide you with the bulk of your salary.
Who can start a virtual tour business? Well, just about anyone! We've been around since 1999, have served over a billion virtual tours and have setup thousands of virtual tour providers worldwide. If you have some extra time, are willing to get out and talk with people in your community, enjoy working with technology and photography, and will put forth the energy to get the proper training and education from us, you'll make the perfect virtual tour business owner.

We pride ourselves on taking the time to coach our virtual tour business owners and provide them with all the information they need to get started and stay successful throughout their entire experience. As an RTV full service dealer you will receive your virtual tour business start up, ready-to-go marketing presentations, weekly training seminars, order forms, flyers, brochures, start to finish training, unlimited software updates, toll free technical support, leads, deals from our national accounts and so much more!!

If you’ve been laid off or have limited funds, I’m happy to tell you that a virtual tour business typically has a very low start up cost and a fast turnaround on your investment! Selling just 10 virtual tours makes your money back! This is a great option for teachers with summers off, nurses and airline pilots who have weeks on and off at a time, construction workers who do seasonal work, and so many more!

I would love to invite you to call one of our representatives to see if your area is available and get some more useful and surprising information about why RTV is the right choice for you.

Yours Sincerely,

Jason LaVanture
VP/Founder
http://www.RealTourVision.com
Order a virtual tour today: 866-947-8687

Real Estate Virtual Tours

2012-04-18T10:37:00.000-05:00

For virtual tour photographers frustrated with the slow progress breaking into your local Residential Real Estate market -- DON'T GIVE UP!!! IT'S WORTH IT IN THE END!!

When we started our virtual tour business, we assumed that the majority of our business would be residential real estate virtual tours. We quickly became frustrated as we made calls because we assumed that the Realtors we were talking to would immediately see the value in our product and service and line up to schedule real estate virtual tours. We found it at first difficult to open the doors in the real estate market and refocused our virtual tour business elsewhere and quickly became experts in the commercial virtual tour arena.

In 2011, Real Estate was only 5% of our virtual tour business but it will be much bigger now that we have figured out how important a market stream it is. We now have a real "hometown" and have found a way to focus our efforts consistently on building our Illinois Virtual Tours without sacrificing the time I spend marketing nationally to healthcare and hospitality virtual tours. We started small -- I met a Realtor at an open house and shot two virtual tours for her the same day. She loved the 360 tours and got us an invitation to do a presentation at her office’s sales meeting. My presentation consisted of her bragging about our work and telling her peers that they would be crazy NOT to use us. That day, we booked 7 real estate virtual tours for another Realtor and shot several of them that very day. A week later, we got a call from another, and now we work regularly with most of the Realtors in that office and get referrals from them for other Realtors who see the virtual tour work we’ve done for them.

The hours I spend on booking a big job vs. the phone ringing on a consistent basis with REORDERS from this handful of Realtors was enough to convince me that the Real Estate market is worth the effort. Trust me, we used to say we hated working with realtors but now we love it and it provides us with a base income that allows me to focus on the bigger jobs without having to worry about mortgage and car payment money. While cultivating an initial relationship with Realtors may be a lot of work, they are the ONE very consistent, and ongoing stream of income that we can count on without having to do additional outbound marketing. With commercial virtual tours, we shoot it once and hope for referrals but once you have a loyal and SATISFIED realtor, you don't have to resell them over and over.

We even hired a local photographer so that we don't lose that Illinois virtual tour business when we are traveling. Realtors are the only line of business we have where we GET calls every week instead of me sitting down to make calls every day. We have great relationships, they love our virtual tours and they tell other Realtors about us all the time. It didn't happen overnight but slowly but surely we are converting many of the Visual Tour users over when they see the difference that professional photography and a kick ass tour delivery system makes. All it cost us was a few doughnuts and a lot of persistence - not a bad return.

Greg and Paige Mitts
Charleston Virtual Tours
http://www.VisionQuestVirtualTours.com
Order a Charleston, SC virtual tour: 404-863-9769

Combining Different Property Marketing Tools with Overlapping Benefits

2012-04-17T12:08:00.000-05:00

Recently I fielded a question that got me thinking about the overlapping benefits that are becoming more prevalent in the world of property marketing.

Today, when I provide a complete service to one of my Realtor clients, I am providing them with no less than three URLs for different web enabled systems. Each of these systems was originally designed to accommodate a specific benefit but as development edged on for each of these products they started doing some of the same things.

Inevitably, I got the question, "Which of these do I choose to use?" when dealing with overlapping functionality.

The right answer is "all of them". Even though each tool or service you provide may for example provide a QR code, the details behind that QR code still drive its use. The best realtors realize this and build a market strategy around the benefits of each marketing tool. I believe that the best approach is to position both as complimentary rather than competing tools. It may be a challenge to do this when dealing with two QR codes but if you emphasize to the client that they create a marketing plan that uses all your services everyone comes out a winner. You, of course keep your client and continue to provide them with a unique combination of services. The client Realtor has more comprehensive coverage of the market with different views that attract different buyers or sellers, and the buying or selling home owner has more ways to choose to communicate with your realtor. The final cost, a few extra marketing dollars that likely will be paid for the whole year easily with one extra listing or sale and a little effort to become a better Realtor.

Here is an extra tip: as a 360 home tour maker and property marketing expert, build an entire marketing strategy for your clients that includes all of your services. The Realtor will appreciate your comprehensive view of their business and you create an opportunity to showcase your entire product line. The added silver lining is you will never have to answer to the question, "which service do I choose?".

Exposure Elements is a Silicon Valley virtual tour provider delivering engaging and cutting edge property marketing services to the entire San Francisco Bay Area. Realtors and property managers choose to do their interactive internet media with us because of our creative approach and advanced software. Exposure Elements partners with Real Tour Vision for industry leading virtual tour interfaces and TxT2Look for mobile development services.

Stan Davis
Silicon Valley Virtual Tours