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MarketingPro2

Matterport Reads Every Word of This Forum4775

WGAN Forum
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WGAN-TV Podcast
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DanSmigrod private msg quote post Address this user
Hi All,

On Tuesday (6 June 2017), I published all the slides from the Matterport Pro2 Webinar in this We Get Around Network Forum Discussion:

Matterport Pro2 Webinar - All Slides

Today (Thursday, 8 June 2017), when I joined the Matterport Webinar for Real Estate, I started this Forum Discussion:

Matterport for Real Estate Webinar

... to publish the slide's.

Two things:

1. The first thing a Matterport executive said on the webinar today was, "Please do not publish the slides."
2. All Slides said, Copyright 2017 (That was not the case on Tuesday )

Coincidence?

Given that the We Get Around Network Forum has 12,500+ Visitors Monthly - and 95,000 page views monthly - they might want to share their story first-hand in the Forum with the Community. My impression is that the We Get Around Network Forum reaches more 3D-VR-360º-Street View Photographers monthly than Matterport has sold Cameras

I know many of you are very busy during the day scanning. Seemed like you would like a quick way to get up-to-speed on what Matterport is saying to your clients: Real Estate Agents.

I honored their request not to publish their slides. Honored that Matterport reads every word of the Forum.

If you want the ear of Matterport, the We Get Around Network Forum Community is the place to be heard

Best,

Dan
Post 1 IP   flag post
GeorgeK private msg quote post Address this user
Now if we can just get them to read all the e mails that we send them (wink - Humor implied)
Post 2 IP   flag post
Standard
Member
Windsor, UK
leonvanzweel private msg quote post Address this user
@DanSmigrod, Seeing that MP does not trust you to share the slides, can you give us a summary of what was said? Unless that is a secret too.
Post 3 IP   flag post
WGAN Forum
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Atlanta, Georgia
DanSmigrod private msg quote post Address this user
@leonvanzweel

Yes. Thanks for asking. Likely tomorrow, Friday.

Much of the Matterport for Real Estate was covered in Matterport Pro2 Webinar.

There was a lot of great content in today's webinar that would be helpful for Matterport Service Providers - and those on the fence about buying a Matterport Camera (and related gear and accessories) to get started.

Dan
Post 4 IP   flag post
Ghagendorf private msg quote post Address this user
For some reason I did not get an invitation for the real estate webinar.
Post 5 IP   flag post
GeorgeK private msg quote post Address this user
@dansmigrod that sounds like an FBI director answer..... lol... Oh I got to quit it I am in the sarcastic humor mood..... Matterport is a great product but they are some of the worst business people I have ever seen. They should get a handle on things like billing instead of bringing new products to the market. Unless you want to spend half a day sorting out your bills say three times a year, and factor that into cost and fees.

Funny I have 30 years of Real Estate Experience and all the street creds including Realtor of the Year and I did not hear about this either.

In fact I have written to them about issues and the e mails are never answered. I get more info out of this forum and on Facebook than I do out of Matterport.
Post 6 IP   flag post
North Myrtle Beach, SC
cswartz private msg quote post Address this user
I am going out on a limb, but my presumption is Matterport was borne, fed and bred by some very talented engineers that saw a need and figured out how to solve it. They deserve congratulations! BUT, and I speak from many years of experience in the technology business world, not all engineers are good business people. It has to do with the way our brains are wired. It is also difficult for many of them to recognize and accept that fact.

Should they decide to stop engineering for a while, hire some business related staff (Customer Service, QA, Sales/Marketing) and concentrate on the business, they will do fine and we will become happy customers. If they just concentrate on the 1s and 0s and not the business, we'll be forced to look elsewhere.
Post 7 IP   flag post
Frisco, Texas
Metroplex360 private msg quote post Address this user
Last time I checked, Matterport have one of the most incredible end to end solutions for capturing 3D spaces that offers a very high ROI to those who understand how to sell photography solutions to industries and niche markets that benefit from the product.

Matterport had successfully sustained growth, shipped thousands of cameras, made hundreds of MSPs grow their businesses, and continued to innovate and deliver new experiences to their platform.

The fact that Matterport is still growing as our businesses are growing is cause to rally behind them for our own self interests to help out vendor grow.

I believe that it is very healthy that Matterport is our vendor and not our buddy that comes onto our forum (Dan's) in an attempt to constantly put out fires that are caused by strong opinions, lack of information, impatience and entitlement.

Matterport is a niche product that is growing to be an industry powerhouse. This is evident by their strategic jump into project tango, Google daydream, and now Street View. Each move has been done at the best time possible and has led to more success for us.

With each new initiative, Matterport has increased staff, support staff, documentation, community resources and now with the release of the Pro2, they have increased our capacity to provide the best services we can.

Later this summer, they will allow us to download panoramas in a turn key manner that will exceed what hacking tools could go. In the same regard, they just released a new image downloader that generates higher quality images at higher resolution than previously possible.

While their technology could be stagnating, it is developing and expanding at a rapid pace and all signs point to better support, communication and service.

In an unprecedented move, they have launched a trade in program and a loyalty discount. They have decided to keep CoreVR free. They are only charging a modest fee for Streetview.

What is the point of nitpicking Matterport constantly and continually creating uncertainty in the community?
Post 8 IP   flag post
Helen private msg quote post Address this user
@Metroplex360 Very well said! Although I can be one of those nit pickers every point you made is true!
Post 9 IP   flag post
Premium
Member
North Palm Beach, FL
hometakes private msg quote post Address this user
This isn't a complaint, rather just an observation and opinion. Heres what I don't think Matterport truly understands. That most Realtors are dirt cheap. Even the ones that earn $200,000 + won't eat at Ruth's Chris when they can get a steak at Longhorns. They just don't want to pay for what top quality costs (although they try to get it from you if they can).

Therefore, Matterport shouldn't even contemplate charging for VR or Street view or any other new thing that comes down the pipeline, not if they want to sell to the masses. If they do, its a cost that we have to pass on to an agent that doesn't want to pay for it.

I realized that after being in the video tour business for 3 years where as the least expensive video you could get from me was $600. Id get maybe two to three orders per week. It had to be this amount (or so I thought) due to the back and forth on the editing. Can you do this? Can you do that? Back and forth with the edits until they were happy with it. However, after expenses, I wasn't making enough.

So I changed things up. I came up with a formatted way of editing the video, slashed the price to $200 and added photos to and waddaya know, 20 orders per week were coming in in no time at all. As long as their edit was within the format shown on my samples I could say sorry, edits are extra as the video is within the standards of the sample video. If they wanted an edit, it would cost them $150 to re-edit and re-upload, and the same again if they wanted another edit afterward. Most said, its fine, I was just wondering.

Now the math. 3 X $600 = $1800 or 20 x $200 = $4000. I think I'll take the $4000 please and work harder each week.

Now I could afford to hire a sub-contractor and make a real business out of it. The money is where the masses are. Who makes more money, Ford or Rolls Royce? We all know the answer to that one.
Post 10 IP   flag post
Frisco, Texas
Metroplex360 private msg quote post Address this user
@hometakes - Just a note, Google Street View is not for Realtors regardless of how cheap you feel they are.

And for what it's worth, I -know- that you work with a -lot- of Realtors. I know that many people do. I work with Realtors for a good portion of my scans, and I -know- that some Realtors are cheap -- but then, there are many who aren't. Those are the ones who succeed and who are likely to use Matterport.

I agree with you on scaling and how you adjusted your product for the market that you were able to capture. While I am sincerely a huge advocate of Matterport Spaces -- it's for the very same reason that iGuide is succeeding in their own right while offering a product that in many respects seems less immersive. They are selling a product that can fit a different pricepoint and deliver different things.

They key to being able to sell Matterport Tours to Realtors who are not willing to pay is to train a college kid to scan the tours for you with your camera and to pay them hourly. While this is certainly not the way that I want to build my business - it's a way to get the job done on a budget and offer it at a low rate.

Just like there are videographers who likely would frown upon the compromise that you made in order to create a product that fit your market - there are MSPs would cringe at the thought of cameras being purchased to scale with an hourly workforce behind them. Food for thought.

@Helen & Everyone Else - BTW, I wrote that while scanning on my phone Pardon my grammar / auto correct errors / wrong tense, etc.
Post 11 IP   flag post
Helen private msg quote post Address this user
@hometakes I do the same, charge for re-edits other wise it's back and forth. Like you said most times it's fine once they may have to pay more.
Post 12 IP   flag post
Viewing private msg quote post Address this user
"Later this summer, they will allow us to download panoramas in a turn key manner that will exceed what hacking tools could go."

Just picked this up. You're talking about scan points not 360 Views right?

Can I assume we can export, edit then import?

If that's true then Matterport just blew away any potential competition in my opinion. That was the one feature I've really been holding out for and it changes everything.
Post 13 IP   flag post
Premium
Member
North Palm Beach, FL
hometakes private msg quote post Address this user
@Helen Its the only way to do it at the price they want to pay. I have agents that won't spend more than $199 which gets you 13 HDR Photos and 8 Video Scenes (Front Elevation, a Kitchen, a Living Room etc. = Video scene) on a $2 Million listing. Potential $120,000 commission yet only wants to spend $200. I see it all of the time.

They should be spending up to $10,000 on Marketing for that kind of listing but in Reality, most don't break $1000. Heres a $20 Mill. listing where the agent said, no, don't need a video, just $20 photos and a 3d Tour for $725. $900 total spend on a $20 Mill Home ??? I had a package that did it all for $2000 but said that they didn't want to spend that much. Aerial video, video gib arm, video slider, Twilight photos etc etc the works but didn't want to break more than $900.
Post 14 IP   flag post
Premium
Member
North Palm Beach, FL
hometakes private msg quote post Address this user
Whoops, Forgot the link: http://www.hometakesvideos.com/showcase/web_tour.php?id=8685&cat=tour&style=ub
Post 15 IP   flag post
Viewing private msg quote post Address this user
@hometakes Ever thought hypothetically about pooling the talent within this forum to create a worldwide real estate marketing company?

Or better still, an actual real estate company way ahead of the game. There's enough talent and expertise in different areas to make that feasible.
Post 16 IP   flag post
Frisco, Texas
Metroplex360 private msg quote post Address this user
@Baxter Pano Downloads was discussed briefly in the Pro2 Webinar, I believe. Uploads have not been mentioned.

I'd love the ability to upload additional 360 Views so that I can shoot new ones and move them into old scans... I do a lot of apartment communities during construction wherein amenities aren't available to shoot until a second trip.
Post 17 IP   flag post
Viewing private msg quote post Address this user
It would probably be better for Matterport to offer what I described as an 'Edit Pano' add-on, I'd pay for that for sure.

Even the option to upload new 360s like you've mentioned would be great 😃
Post 18 IP   flag post
Frisco, Texas
Metroplex360 private msg quote post Address this user
My concern with editing panos would be that the 3D Mesh would also need to be updated -- as the 3D Mesh is textured from photographic data. So it's not exactly so simple as just download a pano, edit, and send it back.

Additionally, the Matterport platform has consistency in quality levels and as a tour has so many panos involved, the editor would need to be very skilled and careful...

I'm a bit fearful of the idea of being able to download/upload panos as it opens a massive can of worms that might end up being a bit unproductive in the long run. Uploading additional 360 Views though -- downloading from one tour, uploading to another -- I have many real applications for that. Additionally, downloading 360 Views to STRAIGHTEN them with PTGui is another application I'd go for.
Post 19 IP   flag post
Viewing private msg quote post Address this user
I agree and probably should have elaborated a little. By edit I just mean adding media hotspot (overlays?) for example. Mattertag functionality just as overlays instead of tags like what's possible in Panotour or Seekbeek. A click on a media overlay and subsequent user activity could be tracked just as well as a Mattertag. I'm having to use 360 video for projects to achieve the navigation I want when I would prefer to use Matterport for everything. I'd like to think the Pro3 will incorporate some kind of high quality video capture.
Post 20 IP   flag post
Frisco, Texas
Metroplex360 private msg quote post Address this user
@Baxter They problem is that when navigating through the 3D space, it's much easier to reposition and scale a single point (the MatterTag circle) with the other content coming out from it. Things like overlays start to break the 3D immersion.

Now, what you said about using 360 Videos in the place of panos, however... now THAT is a VERY cool idea that I never considered. That's definitely an out of the box idea.
Post 21 IP   flag post
Viewing private msg quote post Address this user
I guess if that's the issue then the ability to swap custom icons in place of Mattertag circles incorporating perhaps 50 characters of associated text coming out from the right would suffice. The text perhaps doesn't show until you're close-by to avoid font sizing issues.

The tour quality and transitioning (plus their branding within tours) is the differentiator, I don't see the visuals of the current Mattertag as brand recognition so why not let us change them. If it was so important to brand recognition the Mattertag would be part of their logo surely.
Post 22 IP   flag post
WGAN Forum
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DanSmigrod private msg quote post Address this user
Hi All,

Finally, Matterport has taken a positive step forward in their collateral about the Pro Community ...

In the Matterport newsletter Wednesday (12 July 2017), in a discussion about taking print-ready 2D Snapshots within Matterport Workshop, Matterport writes ....

"While you can’t replace the experience and creativity of a true photography professional, these basic guidelines can bring you up to speed."

For regular Forum readers, this is a 180º turn (in the right direction). Previously, Matterport would have said something like, you no longer need to engage a Pro to shoot still images (really!).

Your voice is being heard by Matterport.

If Matterport wants to embrace real estate agents - and professional photographers - two different marketing channels, it needs to walk a careful line being sensitive to Pros.

Best,

Dan
MatterBaby-in-Chief


Post 23 IP   flag post
Frisco, Texas
Metroplex360 private msg quote post Address this user
I noticed that line too - they think VERY hard about what they say in marketing so as to position their product for success and with clarity. They have some great people on their team!
Post 24 IP   flag post
nat_vanveen private msg quote post Address this user
@DanSmigrod that's a great turnaround
Post 25 IP   flag post
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