Best ways to market a service to listing agents?

[Matt Evans]

Hi everyone, I'm looking for some advice on the most effective ways to market a service to listing agents.

I'm starting up a business providing narrated virtual tours, with the goal of making them easy (since agents are pressed for time) and affordable (since they are loathe to waste marketing dollars). I'll spare you the whole pitch here, but what I'm offering is a way to take the photos they already have of a property and, instead of just throwing them into a slide show and putting elevator music behind them, putting them into Youtube videos with custom narrations that provide actual useful information and selling messages.

No surprise, it's slow getting started since while this is hardly a new idea, it's still not exactly a common practice. Some agents buy into the idea quickly and I've also been able to create some relationships with photographers to add narrations as an optional add-on to their service, which is also great. But what I'm finding challenging is just getting the chance to pitch the service to new agents beyond those I already have a relationship with.

I've come up with some ways to make my service easily accessible, including offering every new client a free sample set of tours and also offering a "don't pay until the property sells" deal where I cancel all fees if a listing fails so the agent is risking money on a deal that doesn't pay off. So I feel like I've handled the major objections to trying me out, if I can just get in the door.

Here are some of the things I've tried (with varying levels of persistence, I admit), none of which have proven all that useful so far:

Cold calls - Some aimed at agents I've identified with some level of interest in online marketing, some aimed at agents who I can tell have good photos, etc.

Emails - Same targeting as the cold calls, just trying the approach first with email.

Post cards - Using Zillow, identifying properties for sale and sending a post card directly to the homeowner with a follow-up email to the agent. (I try to make it clear to the agent that in also soliciting their client I'm not trying to put them on hook to spend marketing money unwillingly, since I'd be giving them a free sample.)

Office visits - I've driven around to local real estate offices, dropping off flyers for the agents in the office offering the free sample. I follow up those visits with emails to the managing broker outlining the benefits of the service and asking for an in-person meeting.

Craigslist - I can work with agent in any market, so I've started putting up postings in the "real estate services" ads in other cities (though CL seems pretty hard-nosed about multiple postings!)

My guess is that there are a couple of factors adding to the challenge here. One is that my two "home" markets in Sarasota, FL and Asheville, NC are pretty hot right now, so many agents may feel rightly or wrongly that they don't need any extra help to move properties. Another may be that both markets have a lot of photographers serving them and established agents want to stay "loyal" to who they already use (even though I'm not a photographer).

That's OK, it's all part of getting a new business going. But I'd love any suggestions you all might offer for getting through that wall. What's the best way to approach you, and what approaches turn you off?

Sorry for the long post and thanks for any advice!