Latest / Know Like Trust for Real Estate / How to Market a Listing Like a Luxury Brand: Photography, Storyboarding & Storytelling

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How to Market a Listing Like a Luxury Brand: Photography, Storyboarding & Storytelling · Know Like Trust for Real Estate

• 0:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: Don't be a friend to fail.
• 0:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: Don't be afraid that it isn't going to be this exceptionally awesome thing in the beginning.
• 0:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: Everybody starts somewhere and you have to learn and you have to be okay with just executing until it gets better.
• 0:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: Welcome to Know Like Trust for Real Estate where I help you craft branding and marketing strategies that align with your unique strengths.
• 0:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm Christine George, an agents who work with me grow their business on average by 40% by aligning their marketing with who they are, not what they sell.
• 0:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: Today's episode is all about best in class, marketing for listings.
• 0:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: My guest today is Carrie Klein Perkins.
• 0:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: She's a second generation realtor.
• 0:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: She's been a realtor for over 30 years.
• 0:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: She works in the Fairfield County Connecticut market.
• 0:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: She's been recognized by Invin News for her excellence in luxury listing marketing.
• 0:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: Carrie takes her listings to entirely new levels.
• 0:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: She actually approaches every listing as an art director and makes sure that every listing has an individual very unique story to tell.
• 1:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: I can't wait until you hear her secrets on luxury marketing, take a listen.
• 1:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: Hi, Carrie.
• 1:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's so great to have you here on the No Like Trust Pod today.
• 1:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: Hi, Christine.
• 1:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thanks for having me.
• 1:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: Always.
• 1:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: That would be.
• 1:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm really excited about our conversation today because it's very different than any of the conversations that I've had with other guests.
• 1:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is a podcast that's been going on for five years.
• 1:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is the 148th episode.
• 1:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I've had a lot of conversations.
• 1:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: This one is brand new.
• 1:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I know people are going to love it.
• 1:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to just get right into it.
• 1:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: People have told you that they know that it's your listing before they even say your name.
• 1:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: What the heck does that mean?
• 1:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: First, I think that's one of the best compliments that
• 1:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: I think anybody could ever receive is that some part of your work is recognizable, just visually, I mean, we all have our ideas about branding but the big successful ones you do tend to recognize a style or a signature look and feel.
• 2:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: And usually when people say that they're talking about either the photography and the quality of it and the way that sort of the energy of the space
• 2:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: or they're talking about just the presentation in general, being maybe a little more elevated or detailed than, you know, what is normal, but I do have a such a passion for all things design and before I can sort of put something out into the world, I have to feel like it's
• 2:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: polished and a good representation of that was the message I was trying to get across and that was the feeling I wanted to get across.
• 2:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: You've been a real tour for 30 years.
• 2:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, how did wind it all this start?
• 2:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: What was your aha moment when you said, okay, we need to be doing things more elevated or differently than what you're seeing, you know, the average listening looks like.
• 3:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: I don't know if I remember what year it was.
• 3:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: I always go by how old my daughter is.
• 3:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I, she's 21 and she was about three.
• 3:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: So at that point, video marketing was a lot more popular out in California.
• 3:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: I would like to think this maybe there's more film.
• 3:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: people there, you know, there's more talent, there's more creativity, and there's a little more out of the box thinking, and I think that things sometimes creatively can start there visually and find their way here or in New York City, you know, I feel like there's a theme bed of photography, videography talent, and people that we're looking to offer more storytelling
• 3:55
  [SPEAKER_02]: smooth, buttery film feeling where you are not jumping around and kind of darting from one space to the next.
• 4:05
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I think that elevated look that you would expect to see in a movie or commercial, to me always comes across as very pleasant to watch and that you're
• 4:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: conveying more than you can with photography and you know when all of those things kind of come together you get the right space at the right time of day with the right lighting and the right atmosphere that visual message is so much more compelling than what I think you know we were doing at that time which was just playing still photos all sort of in the same way like everybody had a box and
• 4:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, when I talk to people and listening presentations also, you know, with the thing about the industry in general is, we all sort of have our price point boxes, we're okay, this goes in the like luxury 10 million in a box and, you know, this is that need be middle of the luxury and then there's the sort of average price point and then there's the
• 5:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: even though it might be a starter home or an entry point, you still want to do something special that makes it feel elevated and polished.
• 5:16
  [SPEAKER_02]: And if you're looking at a hundred listings, how do you make one thing stand out when you only have the same sort of channels of communication?
• 5:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: And normally that's what something translates into visually and how much time did you spend putting that together?
• 5:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: And is it as tailored as it could be?
• 5:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: And you know, so some of it is the
• 5:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think you really, when you talk about sort of it starting out on the west coast, I definitely feel like you were one of the pioneers who brought this sort of elevated, really branding to, you know, listings and you do a lot of not just luxury listings, but ultra luxury.
• 5:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: listings, but you also do sort of the median list price type, you know, homes as well.
• 6:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I want to talk a little bit about the differences between the two, but I would love to sort of start from the beginning and say and ask you, so the minute that you get the listing, from the second that it goes live on the market, what does that process look like from
• 6:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: In some cases, it starts even before we get the listing, so for me the first time we go see a property I like to take it in have a conversation walk around and look at it with my photographers eyes.
• 6:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: sometimes before I look at it with my realtor's eyes.
• 6:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so I'm always looking at a space to say what's going to be compelling to a buyer, what's going to come across best, what could we improve?
• 6:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: But when, you know, when I'm first taking in a space, I'm thinking, what do I want this to look like as for shooting it and what, you know,
• 7:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: what does that mean we have to do to get to that.
• 7:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: And in some cases, it's staging.
• 7:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: In some cases, it's just organizing.
• 7:12
  [SPEAKER_02]: And a few things out of a shot, you know, there can be
• 7:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: rooms where you walk in and they look beautiful, standing in them, but you bring your camera in and things don't quite look the same or they, you know, they're not translating as well.
• 7:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: And to me, like, I just edit relentlessly.
• 7:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: I will take things out and then add things back in until I feel like that's framed up that particular space in the best way possible.
• 7:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: Sometimes
• 7:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: props of various kinds, sometimes it's people.
• 7:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: And then other times it's just making sure that that when we're shooting it, the light is like moving across the windows in the right way, and then it's not coming through glaring and too much, which creates hot spots, or that it's too low, and things tend to feel dark and kind of sometimes moody intentionally is okay, but when it feels dark and depressing, you
• 8:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: either want to light it or come back at a better time, well, you know, the shadows are on this now, we need to come back in the afternoon.
• 8:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: But that sort of like golden hour best light gentle light is always my preference and, you know, looking for that in some spaces.
• 8:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: They look really great at night, you know, you come where and out the windows at all and all you see is the lighting in this room and colors look different and, you know, the vibes feel different.
• 8:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I think to me the best photos and videos have a mix of all of that, it's, you know, what's best for that particular space, that home, that room, that style.
• 8:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I love how you said you, you actually start before the, you get the listing.
• 8:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: because that's very telling to the experience that your sellers have with you.
• 8:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: You're already thinking about what the story of that house is going to be.
• 8:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I also want to follow up on two things you mentioned.
• 9:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: One is you look at the home from a photographers eye.
• 9:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: You, in many cases, are the photographer in of your listings.
• 9:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's a unique...
• 9:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: skill that most agents don't have, right?
• 9:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: So for an agent who doesn't have that skill and brings in a photographer, what's the best way for them also to sort of look at the home from a photographer's eyes so that they can give the best direction to their photographer?
• 9:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: I have a big visual.
• 9:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: communicator and sometimes I find that when I try and explain things, my words are failing all of us terribly.
• 9:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: We were together, you know what I mean.
• 9:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I can show you sometimes it's a better way to communicate for me.
• 9:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so oftentimes like I will pull
• 9:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: magazine ads or, you know, just editorial images sometimes.
• 9:55
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's like a cooler catalog or a beautiful furniture ad, something where something about that spoke to me and I was like, oh, I love that idea.
• 10:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I have, you know, folders, some digital, some actual, you know, paper.
• 10:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: And if I'm working with someone for the first time, is we do have, you know, other photographers that I like to work with because this year we get, which is wonderful.
• 10:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: There's only so many
• 10:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: and having a really robust team, a very talented passionate people, you know, I think that makes all the difference in the world.
• 10:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: And the photographers that we have great ongoing relationships with, it's just a continual conversation, you know.
• 10:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: This looks amazing or when you give me a moment, I'd like to go in and tweak and the ones that I get a lot in with best Don't get irritated that I'm standing over their shoulder kind of look Looking on and you know, they've gotten to the point where they they know me well enough Nicholas and I really rather you be here for this one because I don't want to send rough to the fact and feel like oh shoot We missed that I didn't get what you were trying to
• 11:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: convey.
• 11:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: And especially I find that with the aerial images, a lot, you know, glutes of just roof line and straight down and very non-architecturally interesting things, those bother me.
• 11:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, I love being
• 11:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: in between like where the second floor windows and the top of the door are.
• 11:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: To me, that's the sweet spot.
• 11:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: Photographing a house.
• 11:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: And at this age, no joke.
• 11:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: I don't climb on ladder, that tall anymore.
• 11:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: I've retired that.
• 11:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: I do have a ladder and I will, I will cove these steps.
• 11:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: But the big one's I'm done.
• 11:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so we have a really brilliant aerial photographer that knows what I'm looking for and what time of light I'm looking for.
• 11:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: And tolerates the
• 11:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: out of me in terms of, you know, could, would you mind, could be due to that again, or can you know, can we get a little bit more?
• 12:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: And sometimes you just have to feel your way around a property, you know, so it's oftentimes lower and, you know, just a hair above eye level is really what you're looking for and everyone is a little bit different and often, you know, I'll say do a combination.
• 12:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: shoot some things from the ground, like with your handheld camera and or a tripod, let's do some areas.
• 12:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: Sometimes it's video, sometimes it's still only, it really varies, but working with people that you learn to know and trust and that get a sense of,
• 12:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: the vibe and the energy that you like to convey, like I really do always like that end of day when the light is just even all the way around the property.
• 12:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yes.
• 12:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: We're like just as the sun is rising sometimes in the morning you'll get the most incredible sunrise shots and it's you know
• 12:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: a little more time consuming, you know, when you're trying to rush something to market, you can't always plan that that strategically, but when we can and we have the time to say, okay, we're going to take a week and we're going to look for the best light and the best weather and, you know, the best exposures.
• 13:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: We'll go,
• 13:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: two, three, four times to the same property, different times of day to get different shots.
• 13:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: And that way, you know, when you cobbled them together, you have more a breath of what it actually feels like than just somebody that was there for an hour or two did it all at once, everything sort of is consistent and the same, which isn't necessarily bad, but our listings usually have a combination of
• 13:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: bright full light, that beautiful afternoon glow, and then sometimes evening and twilight and or even full night.
• 13:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, really depends.
• 13:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, serious dedication and like you say, time.
• 13:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: And how do your sellers feel like feel about that?
• 13:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: You coming back?
• 13:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like, are they like, wow, I feel so special or are they annoyed or are they just like, this is the job she's got to do.
• 14:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: So we're going to step aside and let her do it.
• 14:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: The last one is usually, you know, if this is, if this is what you think we need, we'll do it.
• 14:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: And for most people, they either like, hey, we're just going to get out of your way.
• 14:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, I've had finance with very large listings.
• 14:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: Go on vacation for a few weeks.
• 14:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: so that we're not in their way and vice versa.
• 14:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: Other times, people will stay in help.
• 14:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: They will move around lights and we'll get on the phone and I was like, oh, could you turn those extra lights off and not room from the outside?
• 14:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: Sometimes it helps to have somebody inside.
• 14:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's just ink has certain spots or brighter than others.
• 14:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: And if it's not a brand new house with all the same consistent temperature lighting, it can look like one side can be yellow one side can be white.
• 14:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: and to, you know, kind of smooth that all out on the inside takes a little tweaking.
• 14:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I hardly ever shooting, I think by myself, either, you know, I'm there with the photographer, or if I am the photographer often times, you know, Virginia or Susan, are there with me on the inside kind of, you know, working with me to make sure I don't have to run from inside outside inside outside, because I just act like, like, oh, so fast.
• 15:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: You have about 20 minutes.
• 15:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yes.
• 15:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: I like to get all that right.
• 15:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: And, you know,
• 15:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: being prepared and having some help is definitely useful.
• 15:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I can attest Carrie and I do work together and I have seen, you know, the majority of her listing photographs and they're just, they're magazine worthy.
• 15:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: They really are.
• 15:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: They're, they're magazine worthy.
• 15:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: I just love it.
• 15:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: The other thing I wanted to kind of go back to was the vibe I'm getting is all about the feeling of what it's like to
• 15:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: just to be in the home.
• 15:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: You often have talked to me about storyboarding.
• 15:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: That is usually something that only if you're in the ad industry, people know what storyboarding is.
• 15:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: So tell us like what that is to you and how you do that as it relates to bringing the listing to market.
• 16:03
  [SPEAKER_02]: If we're going to be doing, whether it's stills where we're bringing in actors or props, but specifically for video, if you only have a couple of days and you've got people that are there to be either involved in the production or helpful, the more organized you are and more you have your thoughts together, the less apt you are to forget something in the moment.
• 16:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: because there's always a lot going on and if you have your shot list of, you know, this was what I was looking to capture in each space, then you don't look back after the fact and go, oh shoot, we missed that.
• 16:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, I had everybody there and we didn't get it.
• 16:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: You only have to do that once or two times and then you're like, okay, that was a lesson for next time.
• 16:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm going to say hi to my best.
• 16:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: because sometimes you go back and you're like, ooh, I had too many people that's, you know, it's cost prohibitive, we'll fill it in some other way, but for me, you know, seeing how a film might come together, having that storyboard mapped out and knowing who or what we need and having visual representations of it, not only for me that everybody else involved, it makes a big big difference and the one storyboard
• 17:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, I tend to share with people if they say would you send me an example of what that looks like was this beautiful equestrian property that my whole team and I put together at least 10 years ago and we were there for weeks for, you know, different bearing purposes but when we finally got back to do the film, we did it over two days and it started with like a morning scene with
• 17:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: family, family activities, you know, we brought in some of the horses for the shots and then we moved into the house and sort of cooking family meal things and then in the evening we set up this sort of like twilight camping.
• 18:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: glamping outside because the property was so extensive and we had a beautiful fire pit and marshmallows and wine for the adults and you know this beautiful soft diffused light in the background and it happened to be that that night was a full moon so then I like I got the moon kind of rising over the barn which is just
• 18:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: magic, but if I hadn't had all of that thought through and put together, I don't think we could have done it in the tight time frame that we did.
• 18:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: I've worked with a few editorial photographers that we've brought in for a number of days on the very large properties.
• 18:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: And the teasingly will say, like, God, you are a machine.
• 18:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: I never, I need to keep up this piece.
• 18:47
  [SPEAKER_02]: Like you do, but you know, I think that's just how we have adapted to work to be conscious of in our clients' homes.
• 18:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: We're working on their time.
• 18:55
  [SPEAKER_02]: We're wanting to not be in their way anymore.
• 18:57
  [SPEAKER_02]: Impossible.
• 18:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: And when we start to bring in,
• 19:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: actors and models and, you know, all of those things, it's not a long production.
• 19:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: And normally, we have kind of a tight time frame where you're trying to turn things around.
• 19:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: We can't always take as much time as we want, so you only aim for the best.
• 19:16
  [SPEAKER_02]: And then if you end up not getting it all fine, but if you said, these are the four things I absolutely have to have, then you don't miss those four things.
• 19:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: Well, you have everybody.
• 19:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: Amazing.
• 19:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe even the narrative in your films.
• 19:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: How what's your process about going about writing the copy?
• 19:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: It tends to be a little different for each property because everybody's homes are as unique as they are.
• 19:47
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so it's not the same treatment every time and it's learning to look at it with...
• 19:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: our eyes, their eyes, and then, you know, what might be the most compelling to put forward.
• 20:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: And, you know, for example, when we did Zanado, which was a beautiful modern house in Westport, I had both Susan and Michael work on that copy with me and the story with me, and we came up for
• 20:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: the name, just based on ideas that we threw around and they're both very literary and creative, but also have good senses of humor.
• 20:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so we wanted that rock and roll vibe, but also a little bit
• 20:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: that sort of grounding environmental energy because the person that had pulled that home together was very atmospheric just in her nature, you know, there was a different sort of grounding energy to each section of the house like it had a purpose, but it was very,
• 20:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: of the earth in terms of tactile how things looked and felt and came across.
• 20:55
  [SPEAKER_02]: But then there was this also like vibrant color.
• 20:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: And all I could see in my head, no joke, was that old Olivia Newton John movie with the roller skates, Zana do and all the rainbow shooting all over.
• 21:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: It was never supposed to be as sophisticated as it came across.
• 21:12
  [SPEAKER_02]: It was just now a tired
• 21:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, yeah, that's cool, you know, okay, Google, what does that mean?
• 21:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, yeah, that feels right.
• 21:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: Okay.
• 21:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yes.
• 21:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: Sometimes it's just that creative conversation and one thing leads to another and, you know, when all things are working as well as you would hope, then you do tend to hit on something.
• 21:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's not always that easy and you can't force good
• 21:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: creative content and sometimes that or walk away and come back and look at it with fresh eyes and sometimes what we start is not always what we end with certain things like we've gone back in the clients just weren't feeling it and so we also okay you know you have to respect that and you make some changes.
• 22:03
  [SPEAKER_02]: I have certain clients that love the comedy and the likeness of it and the fact that it's human and accessible and then others that are very polished
• 22:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: perfectionist and professional, and they expect a different cadence.
• 22:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: And if that's what makes them happy, then that's what we execute.
• 22:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I think, you know, we feel our way through it very much, but try and make it
• 22:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: different.
• 22:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: No matter what we always want it to be, anything else, but what everybody else is talking about saying or doing.
• 22:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: We want all we want to be the one black sheep in the bunch.
• 22:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: And, and, and it is, it is amazing.
• 22:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I love that process.
• 22:41
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• 22:43
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• 22:45
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• 22:45
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• 22:46
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• 22:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: Done.
• 22:48
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• 22:52
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• 22:57
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• 23:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: And right after the charge came in, Bee sent me this.
• 23:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: We caught the charge and reminded me to send the receipt while it's still in my hand.
• 23:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: Normally, this is the kind of thing that ends up in my pocket, then my car, then gone.
• 23:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: Not anymore, I just snap a picture and text it to be, and here's what comes back.
• 23:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: Be already pulled the amount, the vendor, the date, and the category, straight from the receipt.
• 23:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: If anything needs to be adjusted, I just reply in plain English, but this looks right.
• 23:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: So, I'll just say, done.
• 23:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, if I want to see everything in one place, every receipt, every category, a full report, I go to my portal at my.bkeeper.ai.
• 23:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: Here's my dashboard.
• 23:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: Every expense is right here, organized, categorized, and ready to go.
• 23:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: I can see the full history, filtered by date, or category, and when I'm ready, I can run a report and have it sent straight to my inbox.
• 23:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: And there are real people behind the scenes supporting the process.
• 24:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: No scrambling.
• 24:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: Ready for my bookkeeper or my CPA whenever they need it.
• 24:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's beekeeper.
• 24:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: Tap Snap Text Done.
• 24:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: For more information and to sign up, go to beekeeper.ai.com.
• 24:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: Tell us for those who don't know who are Susan and David, we were very young.
• 24:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: They were living in a city and looking to move to Connecticut and get more space and start their family.
• 24:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: They were by very first clients ever.
• 24:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: And that was over 30 years ago.
• 24:35
  [SPEAKER_02]: We found that the rentals were not going to be
• 24:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: habitable or working for them.
• 24:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: They were so disappointed with what we were seeing.
• 24:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: Gosh, you know, you really could buy with only, you know, 3% down.
• 24:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: Now, is that something that we can explore?
• 24:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so we went from looking for rentals to putting them in their first small home.
• 24:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: And then to years later, as, you know,
• 25:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: work had ramped up and success had happened.
• 25:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: And he was needing to get closer to the city.
• 25:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: We took them from where they were to Westport much further down the train line.
• 25:12
  [SPEAKER_02]: And you know, you know, after our kids were born, I want to say,
• 25:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: He'd be like eight or 10 years old.
• 25:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's been a long time ago.
• 25:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: Just around the dinner, one night, we were having a conversation just about bad, real estate marketing and how annoying was for David who is this incredibly talented, creative to look at our industry and see.
• 25:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: so much opportunity, but so little effort and so little care, you know, for a lot of a word, it was like that was the status quo that was what was expected, why do more, you know, like if that's all you have to deliver, why would you go out of your way, why would you make it harder on yourself?
• 25:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: So for us, it just came from that wanting to elevate it, wanting to let a bit
• 26:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: personalities come through and are other talents and interests.
• 26:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: And for me, that was the photography, you know, videography part of it.
• 26:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: I couldn't necessarily hire people at that point, and that were ready willing and able to do that.
• 26:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: Or if they were, they were literally professional film crews and so astronomically expensive, I couldn't even remotely.
• 26:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: I was already an okay photographer, but I went to this phenomenal creative college in Brooklyn for intensive and kind of just mastered it all and I had some amazing teachers and that was about the same time that David and Susan and I had this like epiphany that we wanted to do more and do it better and use all of the tools that were out there so doing individual property
• 26:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: and just different, and, you know, one thing led to another, and I look at our, like, a first couple of workers, was terrible, because I love looking back at it and I'm like, oh my God, we've gotten so much better.
• 27:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: But at the same time, I, you know, I was brave enough to do it and look stupid, which is what I always say.
• 27:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: I don't be a friend.
• 27:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: to fail.
• 27:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: Don't be afraid that it isn't going to be this exceptionally awesome thing in the beginning.
• 27:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: Everybody starts somewhere and you have to learn and you have to be okay with just executing until it gets better.
• 27:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: And every project you do, you learn a little bit more and your tools get a little bit deeper.
• 27:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: And it gets easier and the quality, you know, evolves with you and whether that you're hiring different people, you're communicating, you're planning better, you're visual, a cutie.
• 27:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: As I think a broker who's used to looking at these spaces, you already know what people want to see and what you need, what you need to do to sell a property.
• 28:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: So just looking at it with both lenses, keeping that eye on it, that then looking at it
• 28:12
  [SPEAKER_02]: every presentation, it's how you want to build a field and they come in, it's how you want them to feel when they're looking at it online, and what is that one thing that you can do that can just give you a little bit of an edge.
• 28:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: Susan, as your design is on the design side and David is really the sort of strategic
• 28:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: and the copywriter, is that right?
• 28:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: They did our overarching sort of brand strategy for Susan when she got her license ages ago and was kind of coming up as an agent.
• 28:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: And that's how we ended up with the space to slow go that was something that he did for her and it has evolved and become a team thing.
• 28:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: But he took all of his years of,
• 28:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: sort of advanced marketing skill and put it together in what you see as reflective of that you know, spaces standard as you call it.
• 29:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: Susan has been with us in different, you know, roles over the years because she, you know, doesn't list and sell today, although I think she's hopefully, you know, transitioning back into that as she has more time, you know, available, but
• 29:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: stageer, happy writer, just whatever needs to be done, she will be there with us in, you know, we're going to move furniture around, and you know, you're all going to props or we're hosting events.
• 29:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: She is masterful at just saying, okay, I understand, I think, what we need to do and what you're looking for.
• 29:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: We've been friends so long, and we work together, so well that there's a short hand there, along the way, like David always has
• 29:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: creative ideas about, you know, where things are going from the marketing perspective.
• 29:57
  [SPEAKER_02]: And then he was talking about AI actors before anybody thought that was possible.
• 30:03
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, having somebody in your life that tells you to do things that scary was to me, the best part of a partnership in any way, form.
• 30:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's, you know, to go keep growing and pushing yourself to evolving and not being
• 30:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: of, you know, that's the only way you get to add new skills.
• 30:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: So, Carrie, we've talked about Susan and David, but we have not talked about two other really important people, Virginia Klein, who's your mom, and Kathy, who is really the foundation that keeps everything together.
• 30:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: So, what are their roles in the overall team at this point?
• 30:47
  [SPEAKER_02]: So Virginia obviously is the OG person that I learned everything from and she is relentless in her pursuit of over delivering.
• 31:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I'm going to say that's definitely where I get that.
• 31:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: she is with me most of the time, so we either are working with clients together or properties together, but she is the one that now comes in and does most of our tailoring
• 31:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: staging, she coordinates whether things need cleaning or repair or whatever has to happen before the creative team shows up to do what they do.
• 31:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: Virginia is that first like burst of energy that just freshens everything up and makes everything that comes after that looks so much better.
• 31:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: She's also, you know, dissenting opinion, and sometimes it's great to have multiple perspectives, and neither one of us is either ever right or wrong, and we, you know, we leave it to say, hey, you tell me what feels right for you, and sometimes we'll have a couple of versions of things, and, you know, you never know how it's going to be at the end, but I will,
• 32:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: Just be beside myself when she finally does retire, which I hope is no time soon because everything is better with Virginia in it so that's that's mom and then Kathy has been with us.
• 32:16
  [SPEAKER_02]: since I literally was in high school, so since 1994, and at the time, you know, she started working with Virginia, and then we went from having one office to two offices to three offices, and she was the office manager for all of that time, and, you know, Virginia sort of right hand,
• 32:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: And as we evolved and I, you know, got more into the marketing and the creative side, she managed the business side of the brokerage and I managed the creative side.
• 32:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: And we each supported our agents differently in that way.
• 32:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: and Virginia was the sort of teacher mentor ethics committee, you know, strategy person that, you know, we each had very distinct strengths, which was what made us so pretty powerful.
• 33:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: together.
• 33:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, you know, we complement one another very, very well.
• 33:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: And Kathy today still works with us as both of our bright hands.
• 33:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: She has gotten her broker's license.
• 33:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: Ages and ages ago and is my go-to for everything on where they can
• 33:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: legally what, you know, what our level of expectation in execution for all, you know, all of the details in paperwork and contracts and specifics, she misses nothing.
• 33:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I couldn't do what I do and do all of that well.
• 33:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, I think knowing your limitations and how much brain power and focus you have at any one given time, and I don't think about it.
• 33:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: I trust much that we have such a brilliant shorthand and understanding of one another, that we will communicate and say, okay, here's what needs to happen today, and it all, you know, gets done beautifully and seamlessly and with.
• 34:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: such trust and respect and I'm so so grateful for that every day because I know how rare it is but to have you know to have three decades to have built that together and to work so wonderfully together as really a family because I do feel that we are all
• 34:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: family, you know, took only and and family, and that is such a gift.
• 34:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: And that is why we do what we do and why we enjoy doing it together.
• 34:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's because we enjoy one another so much, and we have so much respect and love for each other.
• 34:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: And that is such a gift, such a gift.
• 34:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: How many differentiates between a luxury and something that's not luxury in terms of your
• 34:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: the town because, you know, we work in so many different areas that what is luxurious and trouble, wouldn't be luxurious and greenish, necessarily, you know, the average price points are millions apart.
• 35:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: Sometimes it's just what's available in the space, does it lend itself to that sort of treatment and luxury tends to be
• 35:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: just slightly elevated over the norm.
• 35:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: So, you know, when we look at a property, it's
• 35:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: either it was built to be that or, you know, we done to be that.
• 35:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: So for example, a beautiful home that we sold in Westport twice, a couple of years back, it belonged to an architect and an interior designer.
• 35:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: And although it wasn't exactly the price point or a size of what people would think of as a luxury space, their finishes were so exceptional.
• 36:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: They were normally what you would see in a home two or three times.
• 36:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: because they had done it for themselves, they didn't, to sell it, they did it because that was what they wanted and that was what mattered to them and their, you know, day to day enjoyment and property.
• 36:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: So that felt extremely luxurious.
• 36:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: So that particular project, you know, it was in Westport, low 3 million range, which, you know, at the time, 4, 5 and 6 million would have been like,
• 36:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: weekly luxuries, but they got over 1200 foot, which was a very high, you know, sale price per foot at that time.
• 36:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: And it's because it was so beautifully executed and thoughtful, different.
• 36:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: And there's what there was really like only one like it.
• 36:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: And to me, that's also luxury is when you know you haven't
• 36:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: And even if it isn't for everybody, for the right people, they know it'll not are see it again.
• 36:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: And the worst thing I think we can do is go in and tell somebody to like dim it down to make it less than what it is because you want it to appeal to the masses.
• 37:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: But in doing that, you also take away the soul and what would have attracted the right buyer in the first place.
• 37:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: So a lot of my tailoring and strategy around luxury
• 37:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: who are the right people?
• 37:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: And how do we get that message across?
• 37:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: What's the one thing an agent listening could start doing tomorrow that would immediately raise the quality of their listing marketing?
• 37:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: The Togger fee.
• 37:35
  [SPEAKER_02]: I, I, this is, I paid that be a broken record, but I look at a lot of photography in very rarely do I say, oh, I like that looks really good, you know, they did a good job capturing the light or the view and even great photographers can benefit from somebody bringing in some props here or they are.
• 37:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: or, you know, opening doors and waiting for the wind to blow the curtains or looking for the time when the light is sparkling on the pool or the water or, you know, whatever there is, there's always those little artistic opportunity.
• 38:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: moments that happen and if you're rushing or you're just looking for the technical like okay I have to get through all these rooms and you know this number of angles to me that's not looking at it from a creative photographer's lens, you know that's it's a job and I need to get it done and I'm required to output 25 to 75 images.
• 38:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: I don't care how many we have or don't have
• 38:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: and, you know, being able to be there and participate and pull couches and tears out, I really hate to be in a room where I'm looking at the back of a sofa because somebody didn't take the time to pull it five feet out of the way.
• 39:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, go basic, but the energy block that that creates,
• 39:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: just never works for me when I look at it.
• 39:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I like to think of not only what does the room look like but what does what is in the room look like and how do you all make that work and taking time to scooge things around and look at it and say okay does that look as spacious as it can do we need to turn chairs or you know making sure the shades are all up and open
• 39:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: hours just going around making sure all the levelers are the right and same height.
• 39:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: So it's little like adjustments here or there but when you go back and you look at the photos we see somebody's blinds or you know it's here.
• 39:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: I know I totally get it.
• 39:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's so so super helpful.
• 39:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: What do you want people to say about spaces three years from now?
• 39:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: That's somewhere I'd like to be.
• 39:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: I love that.
• 40:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: Where can people find you and find your team carry?
• 40:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: Online we are spaces CT or spaces CT homes.com.
• 40:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: Usually as is true, you know, where you can find us is out in our cars driving around doing well.
• 40:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's very, very funny at any moment, but, you know, typically just showing up where our clients need us to be and whatever about looks like at that time.
• 40:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, my God, I love that so much.
• 40:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you so much for being here.
• 40:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's just been a pleasure and best of what you guys are going to go for nothing out of the park.
• 40:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're excited.
• 40:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's like coming home.
• 40:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: It is coming home.
• 40:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thanks so much for listening.
• 40:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: I hope you enjoyed this special episode on Marketing Your Listings.
• 40:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: If you loved our episode, I would love it if you would share it with a friend.
• 40:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: If you're watching us on YouTube, make sure to click that subscribe button.
• 40:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: And if you're listening on your favorite podcast app, make sure to click that follow button so you never miss another episode.
• 40:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: Sign up for my newsletter, the sunbeam, go to postememeamcreative.com and sign up.
• 41:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: Until next time, I'm Christine George and you're listening to No Like Trust for Real Estate.