Chris: Hi Mark I got your email and I know from past conversations with you a little bit about the history of HDhat.com. So I know that you got your start from a need to add video to a group of RE/MAX real estate offices in Lansing Michigan.
Mark: Yes, what I came up with then is something HDhat now calls a Broker Video Plan. We implemented this in a group of 5 RE/MAX offices. This broker provided service was put in place for very specific reasons.
One we wanted to jump ahead of our local competitors and provide a service to our agents that made them standout in the market.
Two we wanted to create a Broker/Office offered product that added value to the brokerage for both agent retention and agent recruiting and
Three and perhaps most importantly we needed to accomplish this with little or no cost to the Broker/Owner.
Chris: Ok that sounds interesting. So from that, HDHat eventually was born and you now offer this to all real estate brokers?
Mark: Right, that is where HDhat began, was in basically editing the footage of a single person.....what we call a "footage person" who schedules and captures the footage of the agents listings in our offices. This footage of all these homes was then uploaded to me for editing, hosting, and syndication. We equated an agent trying to edit, host and syndicate their own video to something like changing your own oil....sure you can do it but is it worth it? As we all know the editing process by itself is labor intensive with a steep learning curve so at the very least HDhat wanted to remove that, but the Broker Video Plan goes a step further by removing both the editing and the actual filming at a cost to the agent that can't be matched. Since it is Broker provided it also aids in retention, recruiting and increases in market share. In general we can have the service in place for a Broker in a week or so and we assist in all levels of its implementation. The goal is to setup a finished Broker provided Video Product that requires no Broker management yet assures a consistent high quality video tour product at an affordable cost to their agents.
Chris: You said you had a chance to talk a bit with Bob Plesscher about the Broker Video Plan and I will be sure to include that talk in this blogpost.
Mark: Yes, Bob has had great success and currently has approx. 250 of the HDhat video tours active. This Broker Video Plan and video in general is something we are pushing heavy with RE/MAX of course, because that is where the whole idea for HDhat began. However, HDhat is independent now of any particular office and we offer the service to any Broker or any agent with any company.
Chris: I know in your email you mentioned a recent success of video for agent recruiting which is something I hadn't really thought of but now that you mentioned it I can see how a Broker could leverage video to attract agents from other companies to their firm.
Mark: Yes in fact in the past week a top producing agent Jim Pitchford ThePitchfordGroup.com joined Bob's RE/MAX Lansing office. Jim's motivation to switch firms was based largely on real estate video. The large firm that Jim was previously with provides no real estate video service. Jim knew that a large implementation of pro quality video was something that would make him standout in the local market. He also knew he didn't want to spend his time filming, editing, hosting and syndicating his own video so a week after speaking with Bob he joined Bob's Lansing Office!
Now all Jim has to do is enter his order on an online form that HDHat provides the Broker. This info. then goes to both HDhat and the person in charge of capturing the footage and soon after that the tour is scheduled and completed....filmed, edited, hosted and syndicated.
As of this writing which is just over a week after Jim joined Bob's RE/MAX office Jim has 10 video tours on 10 of his active listings with a service that is provided by the Broker! Bob's offices are currently #2 in market share which is up from #5 and quickly closing in on the #1 spot. These large gains were created by being innovative in the market, attracting tech savvy agents, and using things like video to increase listing volume, buyer leads, agent retention, and agent recruiting. It is my belief that in a down market many real estate companies can quickly gain ground on even the biggest competitors if they use the right tools effectively and with the correct timing.
Chris: Wow as usual thanks Mark for sharing it certainly has given me some very interesting ways to re-think the implementation of video on a Broker level. I have to run now but I will sum this all up and post with the video so that hopefully other Brokers can take advantage.
Mark: Thanks Chris
Contact Info.
Bob Plesscher, Broker/Owner
RE/MAX Real Estate Professionals, Lansing, MI
Phone: 517-285-1066
http://www.Lansing.com
Mark Passerby, Founder
HDHat.com Professional Real Estate Video Tour Editing
Phone: 877-245-1488
http://www.hdhat.com
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