Real Estate Headshots: Capture Attention and Get Leads

Having a real estate headshot that captures attention and get leads into your business can go a long way. From your realtor headshot on Zillow to a personal one on your social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram.

In this post, we’re talking about the importance of headshot, how to make your headshot stand out, and how to make your headshot become part of a powerful lead generation and conversion process.

Why Invest Into Your Real Estate Headshot

Good headshots, at least those that help real estate agents, don’t happen by accident. They are perfectly crafted and planned for.

And, there is good reason to take your headshot seriously. It’s worth investing both the time and money to get it right.

First Impressions Matter

The most obvious reason is because first impressions matter. Whether a client is searching your on “Zillow’s Agent Finder” or they’re Googling your name from an outbound call you made to a referral.

Potential home buyers and sellers are going to judge you. Right or wrong. It’s reality.

Once a potential client has an impression about you, it takes a lot of work to change that perception.

A picture is worth a thousand words. What is your headshot saying and communicating?

But, let’s be clear… A professional and good-looking headshot doesn’t mean that you have to dress in formal business attire.

In fact, this could work against you if that’s not really who you are. We’ll talk more about the concept of congruence in this article so be sure to keep reading.

You’ve probably seen a real estate headshot that made you cringe — whether it was the one taken as a selfie or the overly-professional photo that seems fake.

We’re going to show you how to avoid that and create a realtor headshot that feels authentic and natural.

It’s you.

Competition

Real estate is competitive and it can be tough getting leads. Your headshot represents an opportunity to stand out in a sea of headshots that all look the same.

You can spend all the money and effort to rank on places like “Agent Finder”, but if you look like every single agent, you’re likely to get passed up.

Since there are so many real estate agents, most clients will often shortlist their options just by the way you look in your agent headshot.

Sure, we would love them to pick us for our ability to create a comprehensive comparable market analysis or ability to negotiate, but that’s not how it works.

The problem with blending in is similar to staring down a soap or salt aisle trying to decide which one to pick. They all look the same to you and you don’t know much difference.

This is the commodity problem. It’s where real estate agents are seen as a commodity. A dime a dozen. An item that consumers often select based on price.

Winning on price is a difficult place to be. It makes creating profitability difficult, and therefore, your take home pay sucks.

Communicate Your Approach

Your real estate agent headshot tells a story. It can communicate to clients what it is like to work with you.

Using brand archetype frameworks, you can let clients know your approach to real estate.

For example, I operate under a sage framework. As a result, I believe in educating my clients, empowering them, and using numbers.

It’s why I wear a green sweater in my profile photo. The specific sweater was chosen for a specific reason.

Finding Your Message

Your first step to creating a powerful agent headshot is determining your real estate agent archetype.

There are twelve brand archetypes: The Sage, Innocent, Hero, Everyman, Outlaw, Explorer, Creator, Ruler, Magician, Lover, Caregiver, and Entertainer.

Finding your archetype starts with understanding your mission, purpose, and core values.

What are the things you believe? How do you approach real estate that is different from anyone else?

By thinking about how you do real estate differently, you can often find your brand archetype.

My personal journey finding a brand archetype started with this process. I realized one of the activities I did differently than every single real estate agent was creating the most comprehensive market analysis.

Rather than simply printing out comparables and showing them to a client, I would make adjustments. I wanted clients to feel empowered and educated. I wanted them to have accurate data. The truth.

A perfect alignment with a Sage archetype.

The reason to start with an archetype is because it makes the headshot process easier. Difficult decisions about your pose, background, or color all become easier when viewing them through the lens of an archetype.

For example, as a Sage Archetype it becomes obvious that your background should be something like a library or behind analytical data.

You can learn more about brand archetypes, from my friend and psychology-driven brand strategist, Kaye Putnam. She has compiled an excellent list of resources to dive deeper into the brand archetypes.

Your archetype is a way to pick a real estate niche without limiting yourself to a very specific market.

By focusing on archetypes rather than demographics or situations, you can appeal to a much wider audience while still attracting and connecting with potential clients.

Let’s dive into the elements of a good headshot under the archetype framework.

Background And Location

With clarity of your brand archetype, you can select a background or location that communicates your archetype to your audience.

Keep in mind the perfect background or location is going to be based on your brand archetype.

For example, as a Sage you may want to have your background be a large bookshelf full of books. Maybe as an outlaw or rebel, your background will be in an urban area in front of some graffiti.

I’ve seen one real estate agent working in Toronto take their image on top of a skyscraper. Their background was the city and all of the buildings were below where she was standing.

This was a classic Ruler archetype.

Here are some ideas for locations:

• Nature backgrounds
• In a coffee shop
• Inside your office
• Inside your home

So, think about your brand archetype. What kind of background would communicate your brand archetype?

Best Poses For Agent Headshots

The best poses for headshots are the ones that align your brand archetype. It should communicate and align with your archetype.

For example, a power pose is a great pose for a headshot. However, it’s really only a great pose for certain archetypes, like Rules, Heroes, and Outlaws.

It would be a terrible pose for archetypes like Everyman or Caregiver.

This way, people will feel attracted to your real estate business. The wrong kind of pose will make you feel yucky and it will detract potential leads and clients.

Of course, each photo should still follow some basic fundamentals. For example, pushing your arms too tight against your body can make your arms look bigger. Slouching or looking too far laid back looks unprofessional.

Dress How You Dress

Earlier I introduced you to the concept of congruence. I mentioned how not being authentic could really work against you.

When it comes to picking an outfit for a headshot, this is where many agents go wrong or overboard. They know they need a professional real estate photo so they tend to dress their best.

At the same time, they’re creating incongruence and being inauthentic.

For example, you may have a female real estate agent headshot where she has over the top make up, but in everyday life she never wears makeup.

You may have a male real estate agent in a suit and tie when in everyday life he is a t-shirt and jeans kind of guy.

This kind of mindset can hurt your credibility. It’s almost like you’re catfishing potential leads and clients.

The best advice I can give is don’t stray too far from the truth. Your headshot should look like you do in everyday life and align with your real estate brand archetype.

You want to avoid creating a kind of bait and switch where a client believes they’re getting one kind of real estate agent and gets another one.

Get Inspiration From Pinterest

Before your photoshoot and before you hire a photographer, it’s a good idea to gather some inspiration from Pinterest.

Browse the different types of headshots using different search terms. Save all of the ones that feel like you. Annotate what aspects you like of the photo.

Is it the background? Is it the color? Is it the pose?

What is it? Try to get as specific as possible so you can combine these elements to create your ideal realtor headshot.

You can also search by the different brand archetypes. While they may not produce specific headshot images, you can get an idea of the feelings trying to be communicated.

Once you have a board, it becomes easier trying to communicate your archetype to your photographer and what your photo should communicate to your audience.

Finding A Photographer

Photographers can get expensive, especially those that rent a studio. In order for the photographer to make a profit, they will need to cover their overhead and that means higher pricing.

I’m a big fan of finding creative headshots and ways to make headshots affordable.

Rather than finding an experienced photographer, I prefer to find photographers who are just getting started.

Often, you can find these kinds of photographers on Thumbtack, Facebook, or through a school photography program.

You’re looking for a photographer that is more concerned about growing their portfolio rather than growing their revenue and income.

But here’s the deal… This only works if you have done the work of discovering your brand archetype and have a solid Pinterest board as inspiration.

Otherwise, the photographer may take their own direction. Then, you will have spent money for a headshot that doesn’t feel like you.

This can happen with expensive photographers, too. By providing as much information to your photographer, you can get a quality realtor headshot.

Any time I have done my headshot, I have been able to get it for less than $100 each time.

Move Clients Forward

Imagine for a second you just held an open house. During your one-hour open house, you had about five different couples or guests walk through your listing.

Maybe you managed to capture their contact information or you simply gave them your business card.

You give your leads from the open house a call. It’s likely they don’t answer as they don’t recognize the number.

They take your number and Google it. Your agent profiles pop up and they see your image.

At this moment, your lead is trying to figure out if they want to move forward with you. They’re thinking about their open house experience with you and now they’re judging you based on your agent headshot and profile.

A potential client decides your headshot is terrible, unprofessional or appears too salesy. So, they decide to ignore all of your calls.

You’re spending a significant amount of effort lead generating, but you’re hurting your results because your agent headshot doesn’t do its job.

The right kind of headshot has the potential to lower your lead generation costs and effort. Imagine paying too much for leads to being profitable.

What would that do to you or your business? Would you take more vacations? Would you scale your business and hire an admin or buyer’s agent?

Would you be able to leave your job and commit to real estate full-time?

What kind of freedom would you create in your life?

Agent Profile Blueprint

Learn to build the perfect real estate agent profile. From your agent headshot to writing your bio.

In our course, Agent Profile Blueprint, you will learn how to create your agent archetype, create a headshot that gets attention, and write a compelling bio even if you don’t consider yourself a writer.

By the end of the course, you will have a real estate agent bio that connects emotionally with buyers and sellers in the most authentic way so that you can generate more leads, convert more leads, and earn more money.

How you make money is different from how you earn it.

Your agent profile can help you do both. It can generate leads at a lower cost.

One of the biggest struggles in real estate isn’t getting leads. Sites like Zillow are always willing and ready to sell you leads.

What is hard is getting leads at a low cost so that you earn a healthy amount of money that allows you to build the life and freedom you desire.

Plus, your agent profile is the closest “set-it-and-forget-it” strategy. Unlike sending constant mailers, holding open houses, or sitting on floor time, you can write your profile once and let it reap benefits.

Get the agent profile blueprint today.