Successfully Outsourcing Your Real Estate Photo Editing

Successfully Outsourcing Your Real Estate Photo Editing

Real estate photography editing has been in high demand in the last few years following the rise in online technology. Everything that was once available in brick and mortar have also opened a virtual store. Service have also gone through the internet eliminating the need to create face-to-face encounters for exchange of information and goods. In this regard, realty editor became a vital component in real estate businesses because buying and selling happens online. Photos that are used to display and showcase the property has also been advertised online. In fact, print ads have also been reduced in favor of an online shift in viewing, reading, and advertising spaces.

Having said this, photographers must assess if their capacity in real estate image editing can accommodate the increase in volume of work. It is somewhat of a loss to turn down projects and orders if doing it all in-house will not turn out to meet the deadlines. Photographers must look to outsourcing to gain additional capacity and at the same time, leverage on the fact that outsourcing has numerous benefits. It may also result to outsourcing the entire editing process in order to focus on other aspects of your photography business. In some cases, it might make sense to mix up the in-house and outsourcing model. Whichever the case might be, it will be important to consider outsourcing and in order to successfully outsource real estate photography editing, a few items should be thought of.

Select Which Photos to Outsource

From a collection of photos taken, surely there are some that will require minimal editing and some that would require a mammoth of an effort to correct. Depending on the time you have and the agreements you have with your outsourced contractor, carefully select which photos you believe must be outsourced. Here is a list to help you sort through this decision:

  1. Plot the timing on a calendar for client deadlines

Surely there will be different needs for different clients. You may want to perform the real estate image editing for properties whose listing is needed at a closer date yourself. This gives you control and a peace of mind that you can meet the tighter deadlines and push more volume of longer running deadlines to the outsourced partner.

  1. Outsource the ones that require more correction

The reality of having the contracted service do the heavier lifting means you are getting your money’s worth. Real estate photography editing does take a certain degree of work no matter how beautiful the raw photo is. Some just take more than others. This way, you are able to shift your time to something that is more important, and that is to either promote your business to gain more clientele or take the time to learn a new skill in real estate image editing.

Create a Criteria for Outsourced Service Provider Selection

Looking around for an outsourced service provider may look easy if you search online and a multitude of options pop out of your web browser. The thing is, you have to look for the one that you can work with harmoniously and the ones you believe is right for the standard you demand for. Consider these items when looking for an outsourced service provider.

  • Price – Some would advertise very affordable rates while others will charge you an arm and a leg for real estate photography editing. Try to get a sense of what you are willing to pay for and what your client is willing to pay you. Remember, outsourcing the work will mean paying for that service, and adding a margin to charge you client so you do earn a profit.
  • Speed – Speed is of the essence as real estate businesses would certainly love to get their photos at the soonest possible time. While some lead times would boast one to two days of turnaround, make sure that the outsourced service provider does not extend way beyond this average. An additional one to two days on the average is okay provided that the service provider is operating within your agreed flexible lead times and they are keeping you up to date with potential delays.
  • Quality – Before jumping the gun, ask for some samples from the outsourced service provider. It is important that you know how they see quality and if it is the same as you do, and more importantly how your client sees it. Screen it for acceptability and if the payment is worth the standards they uphold, making sure that your reputation will not be in jeopardy down the line.

Consider the Costs and Benefits

Last thought is to consider the cost and benefits of having the real estate image editing outsourced. Questions you might find worth asking yourself are ‘Do I really need to have these outsourced?’, ‘What are my reasons for outsourcing?’, ‘Am I willing to pay this much to have it outsourced?’, ‘How many more clients can I get if I have spare time to market and advertise?’. These questions will allow you to assess where your current standing is. Some of the benefits you may find from outsourcing is a lot of time to improve yourself through business expansion or learning new techniques. The spare time gained from outsourcing, if used wisely, can be tantamount to having a totally new arsenal of services to offer out there. Disadvantages you may want to think about is if the current capacity you have is still too large, then outsourcing might not be a good idea and going out there to find more clients would be the smarter move.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, outsourcing will have both sides of the coin to it. But if in the case that you are sure that it will be the right decision, make sure that you go through the due diligence of scrutinizing the elements of cost, quality, and speed in order for you not to be short-changed, and ultimately not to let your client down with the finished product. Real estate photography editing is indeed in high demand and when volumes come into the mix, never ever forget that quality will still stand above all as reputation and business will be heavily reliant on it.

 

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