The power of iGUIDE: Nashua Tour’s business transformation

Do you have trouble scheduling enough photo shoots in a day to make the most money? As a small business owner, ensuring you’re using your time well is important. Focusing on higher-paying jobs is one way to do this, but have you considered improving your products to make more money easily?

Successful businesses are driven by hustle, hard work and opportunity. Depending on who you talk to, one may be more important than the other, but if you ask Fred Light from Nashua Video Tours, it’s opportunity.

Initial challenge

Fred found success by constantly evolving and adapting to both the industry’s and customers’ needs. He started his business building websites in the 90s, transitioning to creating videos when YouTube was introduced in the 2000s. As his business continued to evolve, his passion for video and photography eventually led him to specialize in real estate photography, where he found his niche.

While his real estate services were in high demand and he had a full calendar, he was looking for a way to stay ahead of the trends and broaden his services. His clients shared that modern buyers wanted more than a 3- to 7-minute video showcasing a property. They asked for a more interactive experience featuring virtual tours and floor plans.

Fred started exploring different 360° cameras, evaluating features and talking to clients about what they were looking for. It was a frustrating journey. He invested a lot of time in testing out the industry leader and received nothing but negative feedback from clients and consumers. It just wasn’t the right solution, and he couldn’t find an alternative that fit what his clients were looking for.

Fred’s challenge wasn’t unique. Like many real estate photographers, he knew the more services he could offer to clients, the happier they would be and the more profitable his business would become.

Discovering a solution

When he came across iGUIDE and the PLANIX camera system at an industry tradeshow, he knew he had found a solution with everything his clients had requested. He was excited, sharing: “It was faster. It was lighter. It was smaller. It made more sense to me. The interface just made more sense to me.”

He gave it a shot and found it was easy to implement into his business. Initially, he didn’t promote it, as he wanted to take time to test it with his clients and gauge their reaction. It was a hit and became an easy way to increase his revenue with additional add-ons.

“I don’t want to go to eight houses and shoot photos; I want to go to three houses and shoot photos and video. Now I do more per house and less traveling and bigger invoices.”

Seeing benefits and results

Increased revenue quickly

Fred was clear when asked about the biggest benefit of starting to use iGUIDE. Very quick and very clear.

“Bigger invoices. The biggest benefit since I’ve been using iGUIDE is my invoices are higher.” He goes on: “I mean, I can charge more, and people like it. People… request it!”

iGUIDE gives Fred another service to offer his clients. He’s already at the property to take videos of photographs. Now, he can add a virtual tour or floor plan, too.

Ability to work quickly

Often, Fred has the complete floor plan files in his inbox the next morning. Everything about iGUIDE is quick and simple. “I’m a get-in, get-out kind of guy. Time is money,” Fred affirms. He finds that iGUIDE takes much less time to capture a property than alternatives.

“I did a 21,000 square foot house last week, and I was dreading the floor plan, because it’s just such a big house, and it still didn’t take me that long to do it and, much to my surprise, I got home at six o ‘clock at night, uploaded this hot mess of a floor plan and I got it back the next morning and it was perfect.”

That’s Fred’s experience.

By leveraging a combination of artificial intelligence and human approvals, floor plans and virtual tours are delivered within a 24-hour turn-around time. “Next morning” results aren’t uncommon.

Accurate measurements

As a real estate photographer, you might not often think about the importance of accuracy.

“The only complaint I’ve ever had with that is an agent was mad because [the iGUIDE] was so precise and so accurate that it would say like 10 foot, 3 /4 of an inch. And I can’t you round it off? And I’m like, well, the whole point is it’s accurate. That’s the kind of the idea, you know?”

When you use the iGUIDE PLANIX camera system, you’ll receive accurate measurements of each room plus an interactive floor plan that your clients will love!

Meeting client needs

Fred finds real estate agents always want to be different. iGUIDE helps. It’s a unique offering that many agents in the U.S. market don’t yet offer.

The best part? His real estate clients find that their listings sell faster with a 3D virtual tour and 2D floor plan than with static imagery and video. They love the analytics and its easy integration into the MLS listing platform and website.

According to Fred, his success was almost an accident. He didn’t realize just how easy it would be to elevate his services.

Are you ready to add another revenue stream like Fred did? Your first step is to book a free virtual demo with an iGUIDE Specialist to see how it can help your real estate photography business grow.