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Craig's Grade Card · The Spiro Podcast: Managing your Real Estate Photography & Videography Business

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Coming up on this episode of The Spiro podcast.
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I mean, we're so comfortable with each other.
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Hey, how's your kids doing?
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You know, they'll ask about Zeke. They.
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I friend most.
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I think I'm friends with pretty much every client I've got, on Facebook.
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So they see my updates on my family, and they'll ask how my son Zeke's doing.
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And, you know, it's just it's living life
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together and doing business together.
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Hi and welcome to the Spiro Podcast, managing your real estate,
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photography and videography company.
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Spiro is a software platform.
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It's designed to help you run your day to day
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real estate media business and ultimately help it grow.
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Help it scale,
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give you the support that you need
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on the back end of things so that you can really be, customer
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centric, customer focused, and serving your clients well.
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I'm Craig Magrum, and welcome to the podcast.
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Let me introduce our co-host and Spiro, founder and owner, Todd Kivimaki.
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Hello, Todd.
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Craig. Fabulous to be in here.
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We've got an exciting topic. We have almost it.
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We're diving back into the day in the life of Craig Magrum
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into his brain and what he's done.
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So I think this will be fun.
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Come along with the journey for us, and we hope that
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if this gets some questions stirred,
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ask us, you can reach out to us.
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hello@spiro.media.
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We want to make sure that we're continuing to bring value to you all.
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We appreciate this time with you.
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We know your time's limited, so we want to know what you want to know,
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and we will do our best
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to help you along with that, or find someone that knows a lot about that.
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So feel free to comment below or contact us directly.
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hello@spiro.media.
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There you go.
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Well, before we dive into this riveting topic.
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That was sarcasm.
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I know, I know, I think yeah, it was
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well, it's just day the life of Craig.
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Yes, I
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but it's been a good year
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and yeah, I'd love to to share some things as, as you set me up.
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But before we do that, let's,
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let's jump into some Spiro updates, events, things like that.
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Todd, what do you have for us?
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Yeah, some things to mark your calendar with.
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So the repp conference is coming up here soon.
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This is the first week in November, so sixth, seventh and eighth, I believe.
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Again, don't quote me I apologize.
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Go to reppteam.com.
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Look for the conference link.
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It is almost sold out.
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So if you're going to go it's time to make those accommodations.
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So get your your plane booked, get your tickets, come see us there.
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It's going to be a great time.
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That is the first week in November.
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Again reppteam.com.
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And look for the conference link.
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Secondly, another event
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that we hope to see you at is our event the Spiro Sync.
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So this is January 22nd and 23rd of 2026 in Dayton, Ohio.
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So you're going to get more information to come.
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But this is going to be a day where you're going to come.
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We're going to build. We're going to learn.
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We're going to breathe. It's going to be a great time.
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This is also an event where you can bring your team members.
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So if you're looking just for an outlet and a way to build culture,
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this could be a great option for you.
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And the reason why we did that is because last year I brought more of the team
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at Wow to the REPP conference and they loved it.
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Like the memories we have, the things we learned.
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It was great to be human to human with them outside of the office setting,
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and it did so much for our culture especially.
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I brought my leader, Steve and Jess with me.
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It did so much just to continue to push us along
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as a, as a as a unified and aligned group.
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So that's why you can bring your team members.
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We're also going to have a streaming option that will make available for you.
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So look out for more information.
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Best way to find information from us is the Spiro Super User Facebook group.
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Heck, if you're not even a Spiro user, we let you all in.
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We want you in there so we don't discriminate
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even though it says you need to be a Spiro user, but just put in there
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that you're interested, or you want to know more information
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about the event and we'll let you in and, help you along the way.
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Okay. Rebel. You rebel. Oh,
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hey, I do.
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This is a shameless thing.
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We don't sell a lot or hardly ever on this podcast, but now is a great time.
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If you're thinking about making a switch, you like.
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If you like what we say, if you like the things we've put in,
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the updates we've done, we've done an outrageous amount of updates.
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If you're in another system, you're like, hey, I'm not really getting these
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updates, or you talk about automating task and all of these other things.
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The on site tracker, the semester homeowners, the two upsell potentials
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with a bundle selling the idea of Titus, the idea of CRM functions coming.
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If you're like, hey, I really wish I had those things, we would love to help you.
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And we have a program for you, Spiro concierge.
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If you want us to do it for you, press the easy button.
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Let us know. Go to Spiro.media.
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You can chat with us there or email Nick on our team.
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nick@spiro.media.
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He'll have a conversation with you.
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We're humans were real people.
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He'll here talk to Nick.
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He's going to find out what you need,
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how we can help out, and then he can get you connected with the onboarding team.
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So we would love to earn your business.
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We're excited about the future of what we have coming up.
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And, if you are wanting those features and feeling a bit
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left out in another system, hey, come join the movement here.
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Come over to Spiro.
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Lastly, updates.
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They're coming.
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By the time you've listen to this, they're out.
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Titus, pay at close.
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It's huge. I've talked about it a ton.
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We are on Eli Jones's YouTube channel last night talking about it.
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We did a tech talk about it.
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I've talked a ton about it.
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I think this is a ace in your pocket as a real estate
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photographer, to get into a room of agents and say, hey, I understand you.
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I can help you with pay at close, order everything you want,
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choose the agent on camera because you're going to have listing babies.
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Yeah.
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We want you to get listings from more listings.
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Choose the better marketing packages.
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You don't have to pay me at all right now.
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Do it through, Titus. Pay it close.
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And by the way, just as a side note, you photographers, you get paid immediately.
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11 seconds later, I think is is the time you get paid.
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You have it down to 11 seconds, Yes.
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Nick at Nick at Titus.
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He's like, you know, you get paid immediately.
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He's like, well, that's not technically correct.
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I think it takes 11 seconds.
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Geez, I don't know, 11?
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That's a long time. Todd.
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I might be might be a deal breaker.
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Yeah, I love it.
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Some of you are talking out of my cheek there.
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Anyway,
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but that's it for me, Craig, I said, let's I said I wanted to keep the intro short
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and here I am talking, but, all relevant things.
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Again, if you want information, just talk to us.
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The pink chat bubble. hello@spiro.media
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Yep. There you go.
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All right. Thanks for those updates. Done.
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All right, well, let's just dive in.
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This week, Todd and I were talking, before we started recording here,
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and it's going to be a little bit of a kind of shooting from the hip.
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You know, it's been a crazy week or two here.
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Just a lot of things on a lot of people's minds.
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Just some heavy things,
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that might have
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us a little distracted or introspective.
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But we just wanted to kind of dive in.
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Look at the year so far,
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things that have been good, things that have been challenging.
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I don't know how to set this up exactly, Todd.
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So I'm going to turn it over to you.
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Yeah.
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I feel like this is the end of, of a school period.
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Craig.
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And we're going to look at your report card.
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Oh, boy, oh, boy.
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Great.
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So I'm getting my job review in front of everybody.
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Well, that's an angle of it, I guess.
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No. Okay. Go ahead.
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You can review me next week. Okay.
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Yeah. No, that's not happening.
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I think that actually be a fun.
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That'd be a fun podcast, but.
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Well, okay, so Craig's report card, everyone.
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Okay? Remember, you get report cards.
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You used to come home, they were green for me.
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I know they they they're probably all digital now, but they were green.
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They were a bifold.
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And it had, you know what?
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Your grades satisfactory.
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Unsatisfactory. Extremely.
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And I am pulling up Craig's report card
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and the way this has done and I've gone in the Spiro, I've clicked
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on metrics and reports and for us we have many different divisions.
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So I filtered down to just Craig's division.
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Okay,
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okay.
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And Craig is
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I'm looking at year to date revenue.
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So we have these beautiful cards in here and we have all the information here.
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And Craig is up 19% over last year
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in revenue year to date.
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I'd say
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that's an A+ Craig I mean all right about 20% being up.
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That's great.
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That's great I'm glad to hear that.
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Yeah I mean here's some more confidence builders Craig
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month today and you because you've done a great job month to date.
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You're up 32% versus last month
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last last month or last September last September.
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Excuse me month over a month from the year
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So you're up 32%.
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So a couple of questions Craig.
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So this year when I told you you were up 19%,
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has it felt like that was like, oh yeah I know I'm there.
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You probably re review these metrics.
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You probably know them.
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But has the market felt like that to you?
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That's a good question.
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I mean, I definitely know that
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I've been busier this year than last year.
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I haven't necessarily looked at the year over year numbers.
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I tend to just look at what's what's my goal this month
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or what's my goal for this year.
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And I just keep trying to chip away
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at that and keep building it and kind of hitting those numbers.
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I do like to see what the change has been from the previous year,
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but that usually doesn't happen till closer to the end of the year.
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So it's interesting that you've brought these up.
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Yeah.
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I don't know if that answered the question or not, but
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let me let me ask something slightly different.
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But okay.
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Are you happy with that 19% up.
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Well, yeah
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okay.
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Very very happy.
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And the reason I ask that, Craig, is because sometimes
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I think as business owners we are too hard on ourselves.
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And I know you can be too hard on yourself Craig.
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So it's good to hear you say.
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Yes I'm happy with that because I'm, I'm over the moon
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with that as the owner of the business, I'm over the moon with that.
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So I'm, I'm actually very pleased that you're happy with that
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because if you're like, oh no, I like, what's 19%?
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Then we have an alignment problem. Hey.
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And I have found out the hard way over the years
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that I've been unaligned with some of my employees.
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Yeah. We're either.
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Yeah, we're either think they're doing a good job
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and they don't, or vice versa.
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I think they're doing up.
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There's room for improvement, I think.
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And they think they're doing a great job.
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And I think the way you get aligned with
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that is you just connect more with your employees.
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And I know you're saying, well, Todd, you just found out
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that Craig's actually happy with being up 19%.
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So you're not connected.
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Okay. Fair enough.
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I would say, though, that
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Steve and Craig or Chris and Craig have these conversations.
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Is that is that fair? Craig?
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Somebody has these conversations with, you know, where you sit at with
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Steve and Chris, right?
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We have like a monthly, basically a monthly report with, you know what?
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What is the goal this month?
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What's the actual numbers?
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You know, at this point in time.
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And then we also have a breakdown for the trend for the end of the month.
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Am I on pace to hit the goal for the end of the month?
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And I watch that really closely.
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The trend and I if if I see that
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I have less activity than I really I want to hit that goal,
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out there trying
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to trying to build more relationships, earn,
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you know, earn more appointments and, and the like,
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yeah. Oh, okay.
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What a question, clarifying question.
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So you said that
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as we're looking at trends versus
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what the goal we set versus what our actual is okay.
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So if we want to do 100 shoots this month and we've done 80
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and there's two days left in the month, or let's say there's a week last
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and that left in the month, two days, there's not much you can do.
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Let's say there's a week or two left in the month.
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You said that.
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What would you do again, Craig?
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If my appointment
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activity isn't where I would like it to be.
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Seat. My schedule is not for.
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I try to take that time to reach out to current clients,
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check in on how things are doing, ask for referrals.
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The referral thing is, is big,
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and I have found that that is probably the easiest way
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to get traction in growing business is just ask for referrals.
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The something that we were talking about, talking about before we started,
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recording was the fact that there's a lot of teams,
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you know, real estate teams.
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And I just was talking with a realtor about this,
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about how that's a relatively new model compared to the old days of real estate.
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We're an experienced, real estate agent will start to build their team
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and bring in kind of new, new realtors and make suggestions to them,
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you know, mentor them, suggest vendors to them in when we were going over
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some of the new clients that that I brought in and my market,
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a lot of them were referrals from team leaders to new realtors,
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and I thought I really hadn't thought a ton about that.
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But when you have the report in front of you,
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you're like, oh, yeah, that's how I got that.
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That client, it was a team leader.
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Oh, there's another team leader that brought on, you know, a new client.
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So. Yeah.
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Yeah, I think
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that's called as the referral business.
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And what the referral business is, I think the best way to grow.
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But is would you rather get a referral or make cold calls?
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Craig.
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referrals
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hand over fist, I mean, let's be honest, it's easier.
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It's it's a warm introduction.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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My personality is that one that just make a cold call.
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I like to have some sort of set up in reaching out to somebody, you know,
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even if it's, Hey, do you have a colleague in your office
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that you think could benefit?
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Is it okay if I use your name is, you know, a current client
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and at least have that if I'm doing a cold call?
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That's great. So.
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What I want to do now is we'll pivot a little bit.
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And I think this would be great
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to actually let's go through your new client list Craig.
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And we'll keep all these names.
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Craig and I both glance at this list a little bit and we'll keep the names private.
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But I think what's important
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here is I know many of you are saying, oh, yeah, that's great.
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Todd, I, I really prefer a referral versus a cold call as well.
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Just how do you get the referral?
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And that's where I think we can dive into as we see these names on here.
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And we might see some names on here that are not referrals.
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And I think it'll be fun to talk about how those people came in.
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But Craig, do you want to pick I know there's a couple do you want to go
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through?
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Let's start from the top down client list as you're going through these.
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But let's start with I think the first one was Dawn and Dawn.
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Yeah. Tell us about Dawn.
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So Dawn works for a
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brokerage that we, we are not a preferred vendor for,
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we've had a relationship with the brokerage in the past, back
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when I had my own company, doing real estate. But,
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Dawn came in
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from a referral from her son who is on her team.
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So she's she's actually the team leader.
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She's the experienced realtor.
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Her son is newer in the business.
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But he reached out to us,
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and this was not someone I pursued admittedly.
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I had never heard his name even before,
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but he was looking for,
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somebody outside of their inside marketing department and got our name
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and reached out to us, and, and, so I had a discussion with him.
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We got a shoot set up.
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He was super happy with everything that we did.
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You know, the team did for him.
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And, I think it was maybe three weeks later.
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All of a sudden, I see somebody with the same last name
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and turns out it's his mom and he's on her team.
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And so in talking with her, you know, it's
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she said, I've heard nothing but good things about you from my son.
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I'm like, well, that's awesome, Dawn.
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thank you for reaching out.
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And, you know, she's
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established in the business is, you know, a lot of business over the years.
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And, we have very quickly formed a great relationship with her as well.
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So. Yeah.
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That's great.
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So this company, I want to ask you a quick question about the company,
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because one thing you told us
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is this particular company, they have an in-house program
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They have preferred vendors, they have, they
18:20
and they work to push everyone into that.
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So management, they're all line like,
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they want their realtors to use the in-house company.
18:29
Correct? Correct.
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So do you still feel there's any potential there or what is your
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what are your actionable items with this particular company?
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Do we just write them off?
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Oh heck no.
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Because we still have a lot of loyal clients from that company
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that have stayed with us because they know the consistency of our work.
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But they know me.
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They know I'm going to be probably 10 to 15 minutes early,
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and if I'm actually getting it close to the actual appointment
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time, they're getting nervous because Craig is always early. So,
19:02
but in that
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they once in a while they maybe have to use the inside company
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because maybe I'm not available or something like that.
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And they, they come back to me and I get some interesting
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reports and stories, and I'm just going to leave it at that.
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But I'll, I'll mention to them, hey, you know, thank you.
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Thank you so much.
19:22
I don't take that for granted.
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I know you have choices.
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If you happen to hear of anybody else that is maybe
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looking for a different solution, maybe they're not completely satisfied.
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You know, we've got this referral program, and I just
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we want to say thank you for any referrals you can provide.
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It's just kind of a natural conversation is they're telling me
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stories about why they like working with us so much.
19:44
Yeah.
19:45
Agents will tell you everything.
19:50
Well, I've heard some interesting things.
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I, you know, Todd.
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Sometimes I feel like a priest or a pastor for they're confiding things in me
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that they wouldn't tell anybody else.
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Like, I got to keep my mouth shut.
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I've got a confidentiality thing, you know, it just
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it makes me chuckle a little bit sometimes.
20:08
Craig, do you do you have any tips or tricks?
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Because I, I think you have a natural knack for people
20:13
confiding in you, and I don't think that goes for everyone.
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I think sometimes,
20:19
you know, there's
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some people I talk to, I'm like, I'm not telling this person anything.
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And, you know, versus you where it's like, I feel super confident.
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Do you have any just simple tips for just interactions and a house with an agent?
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Well, I mean, it usually starts
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we've talked about this a bazillion times.
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Those of you that maybe are new, I love coffee meetings and sitting down
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to get to know a potential client or a new client as a human being,
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hearing their story.
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And I always start with, so tell me, how did you get into real estate?
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You know, do you mind sharing your story?
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And I've never had anybody not want to tell me their story, you know,
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and how they're excited to be in this and just the journey that led up to that.
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And then I'll usually try and briefly.
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It's hard sometimes share my story of how I got into it.
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And we connect as humans first.
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I'm not even talking about what are their marketing goals.
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You know, what products or services or I don't I don't start with that because,
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I mean, nobody likes that.
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It just we're human beings.
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We have to connect.
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So, I just I start with, tell me your story.
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You know, I'd love to get to know you.
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And then that leads into what?
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What are their dreams? What are their hopes?
21:31
What are their aspirations?
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You know, and then
21:34
based on that, well, here's here's what we could potentially do.
21:39
That area I don't know necessarily we could help you, but here's what we can
21:43
do. And let's just try and find the right solution.
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So it's not pushing any one product or, or service.
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It's connect as a human being first, build the trust
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and then work as a team to accomplish the the realtors goals.
21:59
Right? I just try to be real with people. Maybe.
22:01
Maybe I'm too transparent sometimes.
22:03
I don't know, but it's just it's just how I'm wired.
22:07
I guess.
22:08
Yeah, I think it's sincere. I think people,
22:12
trust that and people respond to that.
22:15
Well, so that's a gold nugget for y'all.
22:17
If you're in the house with an agent.
22:20
Hey, how'd you get started in a real estate?
22:22
And just a little asterisk note here.
22:25
If the real estate agent's client, i.e.
22:28
the homeowner, the builder, if they're in the property,
22:32
are you going to ask that same question, Craig, or do you handle
22:35
do you approach that a little bit differently?
22:38
Yeah. No.
22:38
If the if there's a seller there
22:40
their focus is on their on their client, but you know, on the home seller or.
22:44
Yeah. Like you said the, the
22:47
developer or builder, I'm there to do a job.
22:50
So I'm not I'm not hobnobbing or socializing.
22:54
I'm I'm there. Get the photos, the video,
22:57
assure the
22:58
seller that, hey, you made a great choice in choosing Dawn as your realtor.
23:01
You know, she's gone above and beyond for you, which the realtor loves that
23:05
because you're building their brand for them to the seller,
23:08
my goal is to have that seller then refer that realtor and who you know what?
23:12
Realtor wouldn't love that, right?
23:15
And I can say that because they're using us and,
23:18
and we're doing our best job for the seller as well.
23:21
I love that, Craig.
23:21
So let me just ask one clarifying
23:24
real quick because you gave us a little tip there.
23:25
So give us the cheat sheet for if it's just you and the homeowner
23:29
in the house again, what's a good way to start a conversation? There?
23:35
Or just the homeowner?
23:37
That's right.
23:38
Well, usually I, we, and or home and or agent.
23:40
That's fine.
23:41
Yeah. Well, if it's just the homeowner,
23:44
a lot of times they'll say, I take it you're the photographer,
23:47
and my camera is, you know, hanging on my hip.
23:48
I'm like, what gave it away? There you go.
23:51
Just, you know, just have some fun.
23:53
And it usually, usually gets a smile.
23:56
And so then I'll introduce myself and, and just kind of then step them through.
24:01
Well, here's what we're doing for you today.
24:03
And, you know, go through what services
24:05
we're going to be doing about how long it might take.
24:09
You know, if, if the,
24:10
if we're doing something above and beyond, you know, say just photos,
24:14
again, that's
24:15
that's where I'll tell them your realtor is really going to bat for you.
24:18
They're they're doing a lot of marketing.
24:19
So, you know, it's going to take about this amount of time,
24:23
at the end of the shoot, I let them know, hey, we'll have everything,
24:26
you know, to, your realtor by the end of the day tomorrow,
24:29
and then they'll take it from there.
24:31
Do you have any questions?
24:32
Just try and serve the the the home seller.
24:35
Well,
24:37
with, you know, with it
24:38
being the realtor that might just be there.
24:42
Are you talking to a established relationship
24:44
or a new client that we're working with?
24:48
Just with the realtor or just with the homeowner?
24:50
Just with the realtor?
24:51
Hey, let's ask for both, okay?
24:54
If you really say it's a brand new realtor
24:57
to. Yeah, a new client to you.
24:59
Excuse me? It's a new client to you.
25:02
You know, it kind of depends.
25:05
I don't know that I have a consistent approach on that, to be honest.
25:09
Because I if I'm there on the appointment to actually do the shooting, I have found
25:14
if I get too chatty, I can miss a half bath or something like that, right?
25:19
Yeah.
25:20
I'm not concentrating fully on the shoot, so I don't necessarily do a ton of,
25:24
getting to know you type conversation with them.
25:28
But if I haven't had that initial, say, coffee meeting or,
25:32
you know, office meeting or whatever, I'll try and get that set up.
25:35
And, and again, let them know, hey, you'll have everything.
25:39
And a day tomorrow, if you have any questions, let me know.
25:42
And I'd love to sit down with you and get to know you better and get to know
25:45
your business better. Can can we set up a time to meet?
25:48
So, yeah, I would probably say there's
25:50
not a ton of social interaction if they've hired us before.
25:55
I've had the chance to sit down and get to know them.
25:58
That's great. Yeah.
26:00
If it's an established client.
26:05
I mean, we're so comfortable with each other.
26:06
Hey, how's your kids doing?
26:08
You know, they'll ask about Zeke. They.
26:10
I friend most.
26:11
I think I'm friends with pretty much every client I've got, on Facebook.
26:15
So they see my updates on my family, and they'll ask how my son Zeke's doing.
26:19
And, you know, it's just it's living life
26:22
together and doing business together.
26:26
Yeah that's great.
26:27
And then those are all the little things.
26:29
So that's a great timeline of a new client show.
26:32
The client you're there for business.
26:33
You're going to be friendly.
26:36
You're going to do what they need.
26:37
You're going to try to build a relationship with them.
26:39
Extend the olive branch to have the coffee meeting.
26:43
Also, one thing Craig did that we feel is very important
26:46
is setting those expectations in the property at the house,
26:49
just so they know what happens next, what's happening today, what happens next.
26:54
Those are very important.
26:55
And then from there, as you get to know these clients and you care about them.
26:59
And that's one thing I, I think you guys sense it coming through here.
27:02
Craig cares about his clients.
27:05
It's it's not artificial.
27:07
It's a true care to serve them.
27:10
That's what gets your clients
27:14
to refer you to other clients because they want you to win as well.
27:21
It's hard.
27:21
I think for me, a lot of that comes just from my past employment and career.
27:28
I mean, obviously, you know this, but pretty much my entire career
27:32
was was in the nonprofit sector in, in nonprofit Christian ministry.
27:37
And I've never been primarily business
27:40
minded or profit driven or anything like that.
27:43
It's been more about trying to encourage people,
27:47
sharing God's Word with people.
27:50
Just,
27:52
yeah.
27:53
Serving people.
27:55
That's it's like, I don't know how to do anything else.
27:58
Well, I don't consider myself, you know, a great businessman
28:02
or business strategist or CEO or a.
28:09
It's it's it's all I know.
28:11
So in the context of the business world, I just take, okay, that's who I am.
28:18
That's who God made me to be.
28:20
And I'm going to do my best with that.
28:22
Learn what I can about the business world and implement, you know, good,
28:27
good principles that are,
28:29
principles of integrity and just serve people well.
28:33
And I don't tend to overcomplicate it
28:36
a whole lot.
28:39
Yeah.
28:41
Craig, I think that's why you're up
28:43
19% year over year.
28:47
It's just because you do what's correct for the client.
28:50
It's not the next tactic.
28:52
It's not the next buzz word in a book.
28:55
It's not the next social media post or landing page or technique.
29:00
It's it's not.
29:01
And I'm not saying those things don't have value.
29:04
You all.
29:05
But I read what you guys ask on social media.
29:09
And I read what comes in and it's like,
29:13
you just it's so far away from what is really going
29:16
to change your life, your business and your client's life.
29:20
Right? Right.
29:22
I have a confession to make, Todd.
29:24
You said I love this part of the program.
29:27
You said it like we need a jingle right now.
29:31
Craig's flashbacks.
29:32
So you you use the phrase, buzzwords right
29:36
there are there are definitely business buzzwords.
29:39
And I had a role,
29:41
doing inside sales at a particular company here.
29:44
This was one of my, non ministry related jobs.
29:49
And we had the guy.
29:51
He was nice guy.
29:53
And he was he was just very,
29:56
very sales manager, driven
30:00
and had a lot of business buzzwords, vocab.
30:03
And it might have been disrespectful of me, I don't know.
30:07
I mean, I liked the guy.
30:09
I did what I could to, you know, to hit my goals and work with him.
30:13
I didn't not like this guy, just I just want to set this up.
30:17
But he used business buzzwords so, so much
30:21
that it got to be a little bit of an inside
30:22
joke with our inside sales department maybe driven by me,
30:26
a little bit of what business buzzword is he going to use next?
30:30
And we actually we would have these inside sales department meetings right.
30:36
And I may or may not have created a business buzzword.
30:39
Bingo card for us to keep track of.
30:44
During the meetings, we'd see who would get a bingo
30:47
based on the terms that we know he would use.
30:51
Did anybody call out bingo during the meeting?
30:55
Not that I recall.
30:56
I would have gotten so much trouble,
30:59
but, I'm not usually like that,
31:01
but but that's how, like, non-business I am.
31:04
It's like, yeah,
31:05
I know there's good words, you know, it's like synergy was one of the synergy.
31:09
Synergy? Yes.
31:10
Big word that he like to use and check.
31:15
So all that to say, there are
31:18
tons of listeners or viewers right now that you are a whole lot smarter than I am
31:22
when it comes to business and building a business and growing it.
31:26
Kudos to you.
31:27
I'm we're not making fun of you.
31:29
I mean, I'm kind of jealous of how smart many of you are,
31:33
and I don't consider myself that.
31:36
But if we can be real with people,
31:39
be compassionate,
31:40
serve well, that I mean, I really think that's.
31:44
Yeah, that's just a lot of
31:47
what contributes to success and and doing well in your business.
31:50
Just be real with people.
31:53
Yeah. It's what people want.
31:55
And again, you're selling salespeople.
31:57
You also don't get too clever because they have probably already heard it.
32:02
There's a phrase it might have come from you, even Todd, I don't I don't remember.
32:05
You can't sell a salesperson.
32:08
And our clients are they might call themselves
32:11
consultants like we do, but ultimately we're all salespeople.
32:14
You can't you can't sell a salesperson.
32:17
We all know the same techniques.
32:18
You know.
32:19
Yeah, a phrase I. You stole it from Shannon.
32:22
She probably stole it from someone else. So just for
32:26
tracking purposes, that is who it's.
32:29
It's not a me phrase, but I do say it.
32:31
I agree 100%.
32:32
Okay, Craig, let's,
32:34
I'm going to go down to one more and let's talk about this one more name.
32:37
And I think there's a couple of different connections here.
32:40
So we have a Michelle at a, a company
32:44
that we have an agree we have a relationship with.
32:48
Can you tell us about Michelle?
32:50
And then as I saw Michelle in that company name,
32:52
I saw a whole bunch of new names from that company.
32:56
What do we do there, or what did you do there?
32:59
I did nothing, Michelle was at a different brokerage when I first met her.
33:04
And she has since moved to this this new brokerage for her new,
33:08
quite a few years old. Now.
33:10
But, yeah, we we have a
33:12
brokerage agreement with this particular brokerage that I
33:16
then introduced that, agreement in that program to Michelle
33:21
and to the offices that are up here in my service area.
33:25
And because of the relationship that I've had with her
33:27
and having shot for her before, she was very enthusiastic about,
33:32
introducing us to the the regional offices that we serve here in my market.
33:38
And, they I mean, there's not a whole lot more to say.
33:42
It was a combination of the program and relationships and her knowing
33:49
our consistency in, in quality and in the way we serve.
33:53
And so I've had the opportunity to do a lot of,
33:55
presentations in, you know, the 3 or 4 offices in our area.
33:59
And I do that multiple times a year, and she she will mention us.
34:03
She's asked us to sponsor events that they do for their realtors.
34:07
So we've, you know, we've we've sponsored several events.
34:10
And I get to every one of those events that I can there every once in a while.
34:14
My schedule is two full.
34:15
We shoot so I can't make it, but we'll still have, you know, our presence
34:18
with our logo and maybe some swag that we give.
34:22
And she'll even when I'm not there, she'll make a,
34:25
you know, an announcement about thinking, wow and and whatnot.
34:28
So it's just been a good, good relationship.
34:31
She's enthusiastic about us and we serve her and her team well. So.
34:35
Yeah.
34:36
Yeah.
34:36
One thing, one thing I love about the industry, Craig.
34:39
And I know this probably drives the brokers crazy.
34:42
The owners of the companies crazy.
34:44
But if as you build good relationships
34:47
with agents and they know, like and trust you,
34:51
it's just a matter of time before agents at one company
34:54
sprinkle throughout and go to other companies.
34:59
It's just the way the business is.
35:01
Agents go from one company to the next.
35:05
Brokers and recruiters try to get them to give them
35:08
a better deal, a better payout, a cut, whatever it may be.
35:11
They switch because they know people.
35:13
They switch for some reason, but it's going to happen.
35:16
And that's a beautiful thing, that Craig had a relationship with this Michelle,
35:20
and she changed companies and happens to be a manager at this new company.
35:27
And thus we have that new referral.
35:31
It's like Michelle's almost a salesperson for us inside of that company.
35:35
Yeah.
35:37
Going back to the the brokers she was with before, it was
35:40
the same brokerage that we we don't have a preferred vendor relationship with.
35:45
And I, I would be pretty confident
35:48
in saying that the new business that we have with her new brokerage
35:52
might be as big as, if not bigger than, what we had with the former brokerage.
35:57
Wow. And I'm sure she switched because she was so unhappy
36:00
that that former brokerage did
36:02
no longer had a relationship with us, that she's like, I got to go to wherever Wow’s at.
36:06
Well, that sure, I bet that's it.
36:08
I bet that's the
36:10
that's more of that sarcasm,
36:14
Yeah.
36:15
So, yeah, I'm.
36:15
I'm completely kidding, y'all. I had no bearing on it.
36:17
But the beautiful thing is, is that Michelle got to the new spot.
36:20
Like, I know a guy.
36:22
Yeah, and I want him to come here as well.
36:25
The brokerage agreement didn't hurt things by any means.
36:30
Yes, because there are.
36:31
Let me just count them.
36:32
There are immediately under her,
36:36
17 names right there
36:39
that came in from the brokerage agreement.
36:43
So again, just if our listeners are just joining in
36:46
for the first time with like, what is it?
36:47
What is what is a brokerage agreement?
36:50
Craig, a broker dealer, as we call them.
36:52
Well, Todd, you know, we've talked about this brokerage
36:54
agreement and we've talked about it in the past before, like you said.
36:57
Can you can you explain what a brokerage agreement is?
37:03
I love to, because it's
37:04
one of my most favorite things to talk about.
37:07
It's top down selling at a brokerage.
37:10
So it's where you go out and you build a relationship with the person in charge,
37:14
the decision maker, and you say, hey, I've got this great media program
37:18
that's going to give you the solution to help you get your agents
37:23
to market properties better, which in turn gets them more listings.
37:27
And then also, this is going to be an incredible recruiting tool for you
37:31
because you're going to go tell all the agents that are not
37:35
at your brokerage that you have a brokerage brokerage deal
37:39
where you you have a media program for all agents at your brokerage,
37:43
where you front the costs for their media, take it out at closing,
37:47
and it's a convenience to them to market their listings better with a no impact,
37:53
a no risk to them if the property doesn't sell.
37:58
There you go.
37:59
That's a very quick it exist in many different ways.
38:03
Shannon and I are going to spend an hour talking about this
38:07
at the REPP conference this year.
38:08
So we've got a featured spot there.
38:10
We're going to talk all about it, and we have many podcasts on this.
38:14
And I think the interesting thing is, as I look at this list, Craig,
38:18
and while you have a ton of names on here,
38:20
there's still 17 that are related to this company.
38:22
It's the largest driver this year in your market
38:26
of new clients coming in by far.
38:27
Yeah.
38:28
And admittedly, Todd, I've.
38:30
I've actually not been prospecting new business.
38:33
Primarily because I'm actually the only photographer currently for us
38:37
in, in my market, and I'm at capacity.
38:40
I've, I can't take on additional clients, so I've not been actively
38:45
seeking out new clients, but we've still had them
38:47
trickle in because of referrals and things like that.
38:50
So I'm very appreciative to our current clients
38:53
for, for sharing our name and,
38:56
hoping to get somebody very soon so that we can continue
38:59
to build the business and serve more realtors.
39:04
Craig, I okay.
39:08
Record scratch here.
39:09
Like, I'm so happy that you shared that with us
39:14
because you all we have,
39:17
we encounter the same gaps that you encounter.
39:21
Okay, I talked to many of you
39:24
and you are like, I am so busy shooting right now.
39:30
Or whatever the gap is.
39:31
I am doing no shooting right now.
39:35
I wish I had clients, everybody.
39:38
This is the ebbs in the flows of business, right?
39:41
And so our problem right now is not new business in Craig's territory.
39:47
In fact, it's not our problem in any of our territories, thankfully,
39:51
because we have focused on getting new business.
39:57
What you focus on will expand.
40:00
It has it's worked. Okay.
40:02
So now we have a new gap.
40:04
That is, we need to grow the team.
40:07
That is what we're focused on
40:10
and we're finding, you know, there's always
40:13
going to be different gaps that you have.
40:17
We're finding this one happens to be a challenging gap in Craig's market
40:20
right now.
40:21
And we're finding that we have to pivot.
40:23
We've hired hundreds of photographers all throughout the years.
40:28
We know what it takes to hire a photographer.
40:30
This one's a little bit different
40:32
and we're learning as we go along.
40:36
Craig's helping with that.
40:37
Jess is helping with that.
40:39
But it's no different than anything you get to.
40:41
What we're going to do is we're going to bring this photographer on
40:44
and then what we have then once we get this photographer up to speed, is
40:48
we have a new gap where we need new business.
40:51
So, Craig, when that gap happens, it's probably
40:54
going to be February, January, February of next year.
40:58
What are you going to do?
41:00
Yeah, I switch to now prospecting mode.
41:03
I'm actively now looking for new business
41:06
to get that new photographer schedule as full as I can and keep them busy
41:10
and happy doing what they're doing and earning earning their money.
41:15
But I can't do that.
41:17
And I and I won't do that until I know we have the capacity.
41:20
And I was just very honest with with Chris and Steve, my, my managers
41:24
on the sales side of things, that if we continue
41:28
to try and bring in new clients when we don't have the capacity,
41:31
they're going to get frustrated
41:32
because they can't get schedule when they want
41:34
and they're going to go to other other businesses.
41:38
And that that is going to make a really, really bad first impression,
41:42
and it's going to make it
41:43
a whole lot more challenging to try and win their business.
41:46
Back when I didn't even have it in the first place,
41:49
because they've already had a bad experience with us.
41:51
So I want to minimize that until I know that, okay, we've got more capacity,
41:56
somebody that can serve you and, and, and grow from there.
42:02
Yeah, that that is,
42:04
we talked about holes in a bucket a few podcasts ago.
42:08
If you don't have any capacity, but you're selling like crazy,
42:12
you have a much larger hole in your bucket than what's coming in.
42:16
So you're losing more in your bucket because agents, you're doing all this work
42:21
building relationships.
42:22
Agents are excited to come and use you.
42:24
They get to your order page and they can't use you for two weeks.
42:28
You know?
42:30
Yeah, that's pretty much it.
42:32
Yeah.
42:33
Awesome.
42:33
Well,
42:33
that that has been fabulous, Craig, thank you for sharing about these clients.
42:37
If any of you out there have some stories, have a question.
42:41
If you're nurturing a client along right now, we'd love to help you
42:45
post it in the chat below.
42:46
Again, hello@spiro.media
42:48
If you're like, hey, I talked to this client two weeks ago and they said this,
42:52
how should I how should I contact them?
42:54
How can I move this along? Why?
42:56
When should I check in? We're here for you.
42:58
We hope this has been helpful, but please ask us.
43:00
Post it in the chat below and, we will do our best to help you move that along.
43:06
Absolutely.
43:06
You could also email us Spiro or hello@spiro.media.
43:10
And if you're a Spiro user,
43:14
I suppose I could use the pink chat bubble too, right?
43:17
Yeah. Pink pink chat bubble. They'll get it over.
43:19
This customer support team will get you over to myself or Craig.
43:23
So the pink chats. Great as well. Awesome.
43:25
Well, dad, thanks for the opportunity to share this week.
43:28
Craig. Thank you for letting me put you on the spot.
43:31
I feel like I kind of missed an opportunity
43:33
to do something a little bit more, but regardless,
43:37
I'm just glad they're going through my report card.
43:39
You didn't hit my math class because, I mean, math was always fun.
43:43
I lost out, I lost out one more quick story.
43:47
And so back when I was 13 or 14, my mom and dad said,
43:51
if you get straight A's on your on your grade card, we will get you a moped.
43:56
Now, mopeds were big back in the 80s, 90s, right.
43:59
For, for, you know,
44:02
early teen pre drivers.
44:05
I was that I wanted that moped so bad
44:08
and I got all A's
44:10
except for that stupid, stupid math class
44:14
that I tried my, To this day, I hate math.
44:18
That's part of why I'm not a business person.
44:19
I hate math right.
44:22
So you're kidding. I'm going to.
44:23
You going through my grade card, just, you know, brought back that trauma time.
44:26
Thanks a lot.
44:28
Well, Craig, I feel like I.
44:29
I should send you a moped,
44:31
but I've got I've got my, my Honda 1300 out in the garage.
44:35
I'm good. Now,
44:38
will you just take the moped to one, shoot for me and record it?
44:42
I'll take.
44:43
Well, my wife has the scooter/moped.
44:47
I should do you know what?
44:48
Maybe I'll.
44:49
Maybe I'll do that.
44:51
I guess you told me to get some video.
44:53
Maybe I'll do that on video.
44:54
Okay, you guys, more to come, right?
44:57
More to come.
44:58
You guys have a great week.
44:59
Thanks so much for joining us this week.
45:01
Make sure you take some time to be thankful
45:03
for the blessings in your life, like maybe a moped.
45:05
And, take a breath.
45:07
You have a great week. Take care.