How can you get the most of your real estate photo editor? Read on to find out.

A good real estate photo editor has the potential to transform your real estate photography business. Allowing you to increase the number of jobs you can take on and providing a consistent high-quality image for your clients.

But, like any good relationship, it requires time, effort, and communication in order to flourish and grow into something that is beneficial and lasting for both parties.

People often make the mistake of thinking that a remote relationship with a co-worker is not important to manage. In fact, it’s more important than ever to keep lines of communication open when you’re working with someone from another country or in a different time zone, especially in the early days.

The Two Types of Real Estate Photo Editors

There are different types of real estate photo editing services that you can use. You’ll need to decide what kind of relationship works best for you.

Real Estate Photo Editing Company

You can either work with a dedicated real estate photo editing company that knows the industry back to front. In that case, you will send large batches of images to a team of editors who understand your goals and can deliver quickly thanks to their large capacity of in-house editors.

The Pros

  • Turnaround times – Real estate photo editing companies typically have a larger workforce which means that they can guarantee fast turnaround on your images.
  • Other products and services – Large photo editing companies typically offer additional services like floor plans, virtual staging, and other types of outsourced editing services that you may not be able to get if you work with an individual editor.

The Cons

  • Price – Because of increased overhead, support teams, and other auxiliary services, larger editing companies can sometimes be more expensive than working directly with an individual editor(s). The standard cost per image is around $1.00.
  • Inconsistent results – Working with a large team of editors also means that your images could be assigned to a number of different people. If you have a very specific style and editing process, this could create inconsistent results from job to job.

Individual Photo Editor or Virtual Assistant

The other option is to hire an individual photo editor or virtual assistant who works only for you and therefore becomes a member of your team. This allows you to have direct communication with your editor(s), provide direct training and feedback, and know exactly who is working on your images each and every day.

The Pros

  • Price – By working with an individual editor or virtual assistant, you can potentially save money. The more efficient they become at editing your images, the higher volume they will be able to handle without having to drastically increase their rate.
  • Quality – Hiring an individual editor or small team of editors allows you to control communication and training on your style. It also guarantees that you’ll know exactly who is working on your images day in and day out.

At Photoup, we offer both individual and team editing options, allowing you to choose what is best for you and your business.

No matter who you choose to work with, you’re looking for these same things from any real estate photo editor – speed, reliability, flexibility, quality, good communication skills and a positive attitude are non-negotiables.

Four Ways to Improve Your Relationship with Your Photo Editor

Follow these four tips in order to derive maximum benefit from your real estate photo editor.

1. Constant, clear communication

It’s so important to let your real estate photo editor know what is expected of them. Make sure they understand your style, delivery timeline, the required format, and any other important information that you have regarding the editing of specific images (object removals, specific sky replacements, or any other information specific to each set of images). You’d always rather over-communicate when sending photos to your editor so that you know that they have all of the information needed in order to do the job correctly.

2. Continued feedback (both positive and negative)

If you love the work that your photo editor has done, let them know! And if you’re unhappy, you should communicate that as well. After all, how else will they know how to improve on your images without good, consistent feedback? Don’t presume your editor sees the images the exact same way that you do. Be polite but firm about what you want and don’t want. That’s the basis for any successful remote relationship. All people react to feedback in different ways, but a majority of people will react positively to positive feedback so always make sure to let your editors know when you truly love their edits! Your affirmation will go a long way!

3. Use incentives

You can show your photo editor that you really value their work by offering them tips and bonuses that reward great performance. Photo editing is not exactly a lucrative career, so any contributions that go over and above a basic wage will be greatly appreciated by your editor or editing team. Tips or bonuses will encourage editors to provide you the same great results and pay close attention to your requests on your upcoming edits.

4. Empathy

No matter what industry you’re in, everyone has bad days. You need to be understanding and encouraging in order to get the best out of your editor(s) each and every day. Make allowances for mistakes but be vocal in your feedback so that it doesn’t happen again. Building a relationship with your editor or team of editors can help build empathy and in turn builds trust, and trusting your editors with your photos is critical to any real estate photography business.

A good real estate photo editor or editing company can transform your business, and it’s worth investing heavily in the relationship. Forget the fact that they are working remotely – treat them with the same respect that you give every other member of your team and you’ll get the kind of results that will allow you to take your business to the next level.