Latest / The Spiro Podcast: Managing your Real Estate Photography & Videography Business / Broker Deals: A Real Life Story
Transcript
- 0:00Coming up on this episode of The Spiro podcast.
- 0:04you're going to see a lot of them between all of your shoots.
- 0:07So you have an opportunity to build those relationships.
- 0:12And probably if you're an introvert,
- 0:13this is a better platform for you because it's literally like 1 to 1
- 0:18where it's just you and the agent.
- 0:20You have time to go above and beyond.
- 0:21You have time to ask them questions.
- 0:23You have time to show your care for them.
- 0:26Welcome to the Spiro podcast.
- 0:28Managing your real estate photography and videography business
- 0:33with your hosts, Todd Kivimaki
- 0:35and Craig Magrum.
- 0:39Hi, and welcome to the Spiro podcast.
- 0:42Managing your real estate photography and videography business.
- 0:46Spiro is a software platform that we designed for our company
- 0:50Wow video tours to manage and grow our business,
- 0:54but now extend it to you to help you accomplish the same goals.
- 0:58Glad to be here.
- 0:59I'm Craig Magrum, host of the podcast.
- 1:01Just appreciate your time.
- 1:03I want to introduce
- 1:04Todd Kivimaki, our founder and owner and co-host of the podcast.
- 1:08Welcome back to another week, Todd.
- 1:10Craig, Thank you. It's good to be here, y'all.
- 1:12We have something exciting.
- 1:14This is like a breaking news story, and this is like in real life
- 1:18with our business.
- 1:19So one of the cool things about what a perspective that we can bring
- 1:24as a software company, we're also a real estate media company.
- 1:29We own and run a very large media company, over 12,000 shoots
- 1:33a year, millions of dollars of revenue,
- 1:3630 some photographers.
- 1:39And we do this at a very high level
- 1:41so we can bring the day to day as to what we're doing.
- 1:45We have a sales team, we have marketing, we have operations.
- 1:49We have just a great support team that's been with us for a very long time.
- 1:53And this is kind of like in stride with our business.
- 1:56So Craig, accomplish something really awesome.
- 1:58It's probably the question that I get asked the most of how to do this.
- 2:03So this is the answer today, and we're going to take you through the progression.
- 2:07So be sure to tune in, take notes, and let's see if we can't
- 2:11get this for your business, because we would not be anywhere near
- 2:16where near the point we're at without these deals.
- 2:21That little hint there.
- 2:22- Deals. - Deals. Yeah.
- 2:25So a deal was was hammered
- 2:28out this week that yeah it's it was pretty fun.
- 2:31So before we get to that though we always like
- 2:34to start the podcast with some Spiro updates.
- 2:37Anything you want to share this week, Todd.
- 2:39Yeah, let's sell them something.
- 2:40Why not just, you know, hey, so we are working on reshoots.
- 2:44That's going to be a great process, a revamp process, and you all just got Cubicasa.
- 2:51some other things coming out
- 2:51the way that we sync media to the property website.
- 2:54So the teams is putting their head back down again.
- 2:57We're listening to you.
- 2:58I did want to take just this quick minute and just say thank you to all of you.
- 3:02The response and seen all of you coming in is overwhelming.
- 3:06If and I just would ask you, if you're a listener
- 3:09and if you're at a point in the year, many of us in the U.S.
- 3:13are at a point in the year where we're starting
- 3:15to think about our business because we're not so busy with the shoots.
- 3:19If software is a gap, if systems are a gap,
- 3:23if you're tired of sending emails
- 3:25to an editor, tired of sharing Dropbox links, tired of doing task
- 3:30all day, every day of the same thing, Spiro
- 3:33can automate a lot of that for you.
- 3:36Also, Spiro really flexes his muscles when you start to scale your business.
- 3:41Talk about tracking your team,
- 3:43knowing where everybody's at, keeping everybody accountable.
- 3:45That's the slack bot.
- 3:47I mean, it's just I don't pitch you all a lot, but I am asking you
- 3:51that if you're not in the system, if you're in another system and you feel
- 3:54some pain of systems, give us a shot.
- 3:57We do demos.
- 3:58Nick, does demos every week.
- 4:00On Wednesday at 4:30 Eastern, you can use, you can email us
- 4:04hello@spiro.media for an invite or hit our chat bot.
- 4:09It's free to sign up, only pay when you use it
- 4:13and we'd love to guide you through.
- 4:15Also, just a reminder of some ways that specifically
- 4:19I want to connect with you every the first excuse me,
- 4:23the first and third Thursday of the month at 4:30 p.m.
- 4:27Eastern, I hold a tech talk with Todd
- 4:31and it's on our Spiro Superusers Facebook group.
- 4:35So it was great to see all of you.
- 4:36Last time I kind of pleaded with you to come join me
- 4:39and there was a ton of you in there, so thank you.
- 4:43No, I fear of being lonely, but thank you.
- 4:45Come join me.
- 4:46Like I'm literally in there. It's unscripted.
- 4:48You have me. It's live.
- 4:50Ask me a question about Spiro.
- 4:51Ask me a question about real estate, media.
- 4:53The business I'm happy to share with you.
- 4:56This is like a ask me anything session. So.
- 5:00And then one more thing quickly.
- 5:01I know I'm way over my minute.
- 5:03but the content later on is so good the day that it'll be worth it.
- 5:08And I'll keep it quick.
- 5:09But I'm doing a
- 5:12task set up.
- 5:14Shannon called it Task, but Todd Something task.
- 5:17It was a better name than that.
- 5:18But so one of the portions that we see
- 5:20a lot of you get in and you start using Spiro
- 5:22and then you have some questions about task.
- 5:25It's probably the most robust but complicated portion of the system.
- 5:30We're going to set them up live.
- 5:31I'm going to be there in person. We're going to go through these tasks.
- 5:34If you don't like following the guide in Spiro, we have a video series,
- 5:38but if you want a live person, I'm going to be on there.
- 5:40I'm going to ask, I'm going to answer any of your questions.
- 5:43We're going to walk through all that.
- 5:45So that's coming up here in October, I believe the second week of October.
- 5:49You'll see more on all of our social channels about that webinar.
- 5:54Okay, Excellent.
- 5:56And one more thing before we get into the main subject this week.
- 6:00Good memory.
- 6:02Well, let's let's see if it's the same thing that you're thinking of.
- 6:05So last week we talked about the upcoming REPP conference.
- 6:09This week we want to tell you a little bit more about PMRE
- 6:12So you want to set that up, Todd?
- 6:14Yes, we were on the same wavelength.
- 6:17Okay.
- 6:17So, yes, Vegas is coming up.
- 6:19So let me look over my wall calendar here.
- 6:24There is a there are two conferences coming up.
- 6:26You should just go to both of them.
- 6:27PMRE is going to be
- 6:31the 13th, 14th and 15th of November.
- 6:35So just search PMRE conference, a great individual.
- 6:39We've been there.
- 6:39This will be our third year and it is
- 6:43tons of great speakers, great event, great venue.
- 6:46So PMRE 13, 14, 15 and then also the REPP conference,
- 6:51that's Eli Jones is the 15th and the 16th,
- 6:55so they've already sold out the 14th, but that's okay.
- 6:59That was limited.
- 7:00The main conference is the 15th and the 16th of November.
- 7:04I will be there.
- 7:05My team from Spiro will be there.
- 7:08Craig's not joining us this year, so I'm sorry you can get in virtually.
- 7:12Yeah, but also my leadership team from Wow will be there as well.
- 7:17So Steve Musser, my director of sales and marketing
- 7:21and Jess Paxson in my my head of operations.
- 7:24They will both be there with me.
- 7:26So we're excited to meet all of you.
- 7:29Come pick our brains, come see us, come say hello.
- 7:32We're going to be there at everything.
- 7:34It's going to be a blast.
- 7:36Yeah.
- 7:36Good time, great information, great way to connect with others
- 7:40in our industry and just exchange ideas.
- 7:43So check it out.
- 7:44PMRE and the REPP conference both in November
- 7:47and we'll put some information in the show notes for you to find out more.
- 7:52Awesome.
- 7:53All ready, Let's dive into it, Todd
- 7:56Craig, so let me set this up because this is this is going to be mostly
- 8:00you giving us this content. And
- 8:04so I already told you that
- 8:06this has been the biggest impact of how we grew at Wow.
- 8:10And if you've listened to any of
- 8:11the podcasts or listen to me present, I typically share some of this
- 8:15because it is the most asked question I get.
- 8:18How do you do
- 8:19you scale to doing 12,000 shoots a year, millions of dollars in revenue?
- 8:23And it was through what we call broker deals.
- 8:28Now a brokered deal, if you're not familiar, is the broker
- 8:33is the managing broker.
- 8:35So the person who's in charge
- 8:36of the real estate company, so that is the individual in charge
- 8:40and that is where we are going to that individual.
- 8:44And we are showing them the value features,
- 8:47benefits of our services, but not only that,
- 8:50but there's a different set of features and benefits to a broker.
- 8:55So the way a broker uses your media and your program is different in a way,
- 9:00an agent uses us and we'll get into that because that is what Craig
- 9:04was so successful on, on conveying to this client.
- 9:09So the broker deal, we typically sit with the person in charge and we ask them
- 9:15to put together a media program where they promote only our company
- 9:20and they
- 9:22pay or front some of the money of the media
- 9:26so they have skin in the game.
- 9:28So that is the deal.
- 9:29These things are incredibly valuable.
- 9:32We have some where we shoot 600 shoots a year, a thousand shoots a year.
- 9:36We have many, many of the Spiro.
- 9:38Spiro was built around the idea of handling these deals
- 9:43and it knows everything that a broker wants and everything that an agent wants.
- 9:47So with that being said, Craig
- 9:51successfully signed a broker deal this past week.
- 9:54And we just want to run you through the timeline a little bit
- 9:57to help you understand, because you said, okay, that's great, Todd, how do I do it?
- 10:00And that's typically the next question that you all ask me when I tell you.
- 10:05Broker deals are the things that have helped us scale the most.
- 10:08You say, How do I get it?
- 10:09So, Craig, do you want to walk us through just that question?
- 10:15How do I get it?
- 10:15Maybe let's we're going
- 10:17to have to go back in the timeline because this isn't something
- 10:19that you just start off with and you go and sign.
- 10:22Yeah. there's a lot of history. In this one
- 10:27man. Yeah, how do I keep this brief enough?
- 10:30So this broker that I met with, I started shooting for her
- 10:35a couple of years ago, like, not not too long after I had started my own business.
- 10:39So for those of you that might not know,
- 10:41I had my own real estate photography business that I had started
- 10:44and Wow became kind of my back end engine with with various things.
- 10:49With the early version of Spiro, I was, I was the first beta tester.
- 10:53So anyway,
- 10:54I built my business with a little bit different model.
- 10:57I didn't really have broker deals and I was more
- 11:01the boutique type of photographer.
- 11:03I got to a certain point of of clients and a number of shoots
- 11:07that I was comfortable with and how I wanted my company to be
- 11:12were I just I had a different philosophy than, Wow.
- 11:15So I didn't really have broker deals, so to speak.
- 11:18I had a membership deal that individual agents could do, but I built, you know,
- 11:23a lot of a lot of good relationships or this this one individual.
- 11:28She was with one of the larger brokerages
- 11:32in my market.
- 11:33And she had moved from Detroit down to Toledo.
- 11:36So I'm in the Toledo, Ohio market, and she had started in I don't remember
- 11:40exactly how we first met or I introduced myself, but
- 11:45eventually started shooting for her.
- 11:47And we just developed a really, really good working relationship.
- 11:52So part of part of my client's story is
- 11:56she is a female minority,
- 11:59single mom whose husband passed away a couple of years ago,
- 12:02and she wouldn't have a problem with me sharing any of that.
- 12:05She's very public about her story because it's a super inspiring story.
- 12:10So she was on her own looking for a new start in a new city.
- 12:15She yeah, she moved out to Detroit, brought her two smaller, younger
- 12:19kids with her and just has an incredible work ethic, positive attitude.
- 12:25I mean, this woman, you can't help but smile around her.
- 12:27She's just one of those people. You know, Todd
- 12:31found out very
- 12:32quickly, We share a common faith as well.
- 12:35So we just we we just really hit it off on multiple levels,
- 12:39not, you know, not to minimize the fact that she loved our photography
- 12:43and our videography that that I started doing for it.
- 12:47So had shot for her for a little while
- 12:50and towards the end of my business before I transferred things over to Wow,
- 12:56she changed brokerages, which happens a lot.
- 13:00You know, you see agents bounce back and forth all over.
- 13:04She changed brokerages.
- 13:05And in that transition, somehow we somehow we lost a little bit of touch.
- 13:11So some of the momentum I had with her kind of went off the rails a little bit.
- 13:15Nothing bad.
- 13:16She didn't express any dissatisfaction or anything.
- 13:19And then the transition with my business happened.
- 13:22So, yeah, how much how much of this?
- 13:26Okay, so when Wow took things over,
- 13:29Steve took over a lot of the relationships that I had,
- 13:33I had built up here in the in the Toledo market.
- 13:36And he, he tried working with her and getting a hold of her as well
- 13:42at this new brokerage that was she was at and just wasn't getting any traction.
- 13:46She's a very busy person.
- 13:48She's got a lot of irons in the fire.
- 13:50And yeah, just just didn't really get to see
- 13:55much traction in his efforts.
- 13:57No, no fault to Steve at all.
- 14:00She can be hard to track down sometimes, so.
- 14:05So I've, you know, then joined the Wow team.
- 14:07I've been working on
- 14:10reconnecting with a lot of my old clients and, you know, some that had strayed.
- 14:14We got back in.
- 14:16So I reached out to Lorene myself because of that relationship.
- 14:20And I've I've dropped her a couple of emails and messages, and she's
- 14:23written back a little bit here and there, never got her on the phone.
- 14:27So I was kind of having the same challenge that Steve was in, just trying to
- 14:31trying to get a hold of her.
- 14:33Well, I think it
- 14:34was about a month ago, Todd, I sent I checked in again
- 14:37after I think a month and a half or two months and said,
- 14:41hey, Lorene was just thinking about you still would love to connect
- 14:45if you ever have the time, because I really want to hear, oh,
- 14:48I missed I missed a very important critical
- 14:53point to the story.
- 14:54Todd okay.
- 14:56So I was loving it as it was.
- 14:58She had moved brokerages right to a second brokerage.
- 15:01Okay.
- 15:01Well, the beginning of this year, I saw on her social media,
- 15:04she started her own brokerage,
- 15:08though.
- 15:08It's kind of an important point there. Yes.
- 15:11So I definitely wanted to hear what was going on because, again,
- 15:16we had a great relationship and I was really happy for her and really excited.
- 15:20So she you know, part of her distinctive
- 15:24is she's a woman, minority owned brokerage. And
- 15:29the only one
- 15:30in my market that I know that I know of.
- 15:33And the local newspaper did a story on her.
- 15:37She's the first woman owned broker in 38 years in our in our market. Wow.
- 15:42So I just was super super excited for her.
- 15:45And so a couple of times this year I've you know, tried to get a hold of her.
- 15:48See, I really want to hear your story now.
- 15:51Do I want her business? Yes, obviously I do.
- 15:54But I really, genuinely want to hear her story
- 15:57because she's gone through a lot as a human being
- 16:01just with the passing of her husband and everything.
- 16:03So about a month ago, I again reached out.
- 16:06I don't pester, but I try and check in and just, you know, keep touch with people.
- 16:10Well, she responded finally
- 16:12and said, Craig, I would love actually to to talk with you.
- 16:17And we set up a time to talk on the phone.
- 16:19I had that phone conversation and she's like,
- 16:21I want to have you come in and present to my new team.
- 16:24And she very exuberant person, very excited.
- 16:29And I said, I would love to, but I'd love to hear
- 16:32more your story in detail as well.
- 16:35And I said, actually, before I come
- 16:38to present to your team, I'd like to meet with you individually
- 16:41because there's something specific I think might interest you as now a broker
- 16:47that could help grow your business.
- 16:50And I want to see her succeed.
- 16:52I have this thing, Todd, where I'm kind of a David versus
- 16:55Goliath type of guy I always root for.
- 16:59And I've told her this.
- 17:01I said, Don't take this the wrong way.
- 17:02I don't mean it as an insult, but I root for the underdog.
- 17:05You're a small brokerage
- 17:08and it's tough in that market to compete against the big dogs.
- 17:11And she said, Yes, it is.
- 17:13I said, I want to see you succeed.
- 17:15So anything we can do to help you,
- 17:18we want to do so.
- 17:20We set up a time to meet in person before
- 17:24she had become present to her team because she she already sold herself.
- 17:27She said, We need a good photographer that will give us professional marketing
- 17:31because she's got a couple of agents that do their own cell phone photos.
- 17:35She had one person that the seller provided the photos.
- 17:40Oh, wow. Okay.
- 17:41Probably not good.
- 17:43I saw them yesterday.
- 17:44They weren’t good.
- 17:46So that all of that led up to the meeting
- 17:49that we had this week in person at a downtown coffee shop.
- 17:53And we just had a fantastic conversation.
- 17:57Oh, Craig.
- 17:58I mean, so, so much in here.
- 18:00Craig, So Rich, I took some notes here.
- 18:03Would just want to ask you a couple of questions.
- 18:05So you start off by saying and you can't quite remember where,
- 18:08but you met her somewhere.
- 18:11The question I have here, did you meet her by sending a message online or an email,
- 18:16or were you physically like, was this out human to human
- 18:20interacting and promoting your business, but also just wanting to meet people?
- 18:25Yeah, I’m trying to remember.
- 18:28Like I said, I don't remember exactly, but I think it was a referral, Todd.
- 18:31So I was shooting for other agents at this brokerage
- 18:35and I got a lot of referral business in in my early days.
- 18:39So I think
- 18:41if I remember right, I want to say
- 18:43she actually reached out to me and we talked on the phone.
- 18:48So that's how,
- 18:49you know, I started shooting for her, got her got her pricing information.
- 18:53And, you know, we talked about an upcoming listing she had.
- 18:56And so I think it started on the phone
- 18:58and then we met for the first time in person at the shoot.
- 19:02Okay. Okay.
- 19:03So just I think this is a confirmation
- 19:08that it is important for you all out there.
- 19:11If you want to grow your business, that you need to be out with your clients.
- 19:16Yeah.
- 19:16And we've talked about this as to where
- 19:19to some of you it's terrifying to walk into a brokerage.
- 19:23Quite honestly, I don't love it either.
- 19:25You know, I've done it enough times that you just walk in and you know what to say.
- 19:28And then and then it's really not that bad.
- 19:31So you can get over the hump.
- 19:32But some of you are saying, Hey, Todd, you don't understand
- 19:34how big of an introvert I am and how terrified I am.
- 19:37And that's okay.
- 19:38But if you are
- 19:40giving yourself that excuse right now and I say that with love, like I'm not,
- 19:43I'm being hard on you, but I say that with love in my heart to you because like,
- 19:47it's true and some of you need to hear it like, Hey, don't use that excuse.
- 19:51And I've from plenty, I've, I've had coaches over the years
- 19:55I have coached now they're like, oh Todd that is your line yourself.
- 19:58That's a thought air, don't kid yourself.
- 20:01Yeah.
- 20:03Even if you're you're running that
- 20:08thought air right now
- 20:10you are still out with your clients at real estate shoots.
- 20:15I understand they're not at every shoot.
- 20:18I've done this a long time.
- 20:19I understand what it means to go shoot real estate,
- 20:22but you're going to see a lot of them at every shoot.
- 20:24Or you're going to see a lot of them between all of your shoots.
- 20:28So you have an opportunity to build those relationships.
- 20:33And probably if you're an introvert,
- 20:34this is a better platform for you because it's literally like 1 to 1
- 20:39where it's just you and the agent.
- 20:40You have time to go above and beyond.
- 20:42You have time to ask them questions.
- 20:44You have time to show your care for them.
- 20:46So I think it's so important that
- 20:49if you are only relying on digital, there's nothing wrong with it.
- 20:55Okay, We do it too.
- 20:56There's nothing wrong with it.
- 20:58But don't only rely on it because the relationship
- 21:03is automatically what matters.
- 21:06It's what's going to take you down the road.
- 21:09Craig said he was actually referred by another.
- 21:12I still remember our largest client to this date, and she's been with us
- 21:14now for almost 15 years or over.
- 21:18She she called me.
- 21:22This is an agent that does over 100 a year,
- 21:25100 listings just on the list side.
- 21:28She can't I can't tell you how much revenue, but just referrals
- 21:33she's brought us.
- 21:35I can't tell you how many times I emailed her.
- 21:38I was young. I was. I was.
- 21:40I didn't really have a clue what was going on.
- 21:42I was emailing her and I was trying to give away every shoot.
- 21:46Heck, I think I probably even offered to give her my house. So,
- 21:51you know, like, you take this.
- 21:54Take this.
- 21:54Oh, by the way, you can have this.
- 21:56Just use me.
- 21:57She never responded once.
- 21:59Hmm. She.
- 22:01She was referred to me and she called my phone
- 22:04a little creepy because I had her punched into my cell phone.
- 22:07Like, I had her number.
- 22:09I had her punch myself when I didn't call her. It was weird
- 22:11when I saw her name appear, my holy crap, she's calling me.
- 22:14But I can't tell you how many times this has happened to me over my life.
- 22:18Where our largest brokerage deal. I did the same thing.
- 22:21I emailed him. I emailed him.
- 22:22I emailed him one day.
- 22:23He contacts me because it's through a referral.
- 22:26I'm like, Wow, holy crap, this guy, this guy's contacting me.
- 22:31So and it still happens to this day.
- 22:33We're working with a
- 22:34we're working a very large deal
- 22:36and I can't tell the details right now, but it's, it's
- 22:38something we've been working on and it was a referral to me
- 22:44from one of our other very, very large clients.
- 22:47So some of these things in our heads, we get stuck.
- 22:50And I tell you, I love technology.
- 22:52I love technology just as much as anyone.
- 22:55And I for so many years had the thought air of thinking
- 23:00that I was going to digitize myself into success through
- 23:05online advertising or campaigns,
- 23:08and I was going to grab the next latest and greatest piece of marketing software.
- 23:13And that piece of software was going to grow my business to be a success.
- 23:18And I hate to tell you, it's
- 23:20just not going to happen or everybody would subscribe to that.
- 23:242995 a month piece of software and they would grow their business to success.
- 23:30Yeah.
- 23:32So sorry. A little bit.
- 23:33A little bit of a soapbox there. Go ahead, Craig.
- 23:36I think software does have a role
- 23:38in the digital presence, does have a role in developing business.
- 23:43But, it's a it's a what's the term I want to
- 23:47I want to use an add on or in addition to
- 23:51so and I think this is kind of a generational difference
- 23:56that we might have too, Todd. could be I'm I'm Gen X
- 24:01you I believe are millennial
- 24:04I was right on the verge I was 83.
- 24:06So right right yeah yeah just just I think 80 is like the cutoff technically
- 24:11speaking for four for you're Xennial is what they term the term I've heard.
- 24:17So we have a lot
- 24:19we have a lot of millennials grew up in the digital age.
- 24:22Of course Gen Z totally completely in the digital age and everything.
- 24:26We're wired. Pardon the pun.
- 24:30Don't pardon the pun. I did that on purpose.
- 24:32We're wired.
- 24:33We're wired to think digitally and to think online presence.
- 24:37Right.
- 24:38I'm kind of the last of the generation that was more build
- 24:41the relationship in person in the digital didn't happen until later
- 24:46as I was an adult, you know, in college and beyond.
- 24:50So real estate
- 24:52is all about relationships because
- 24:56it's like it's like this really with any kind of sales
- 25:00people buy from people they know like, and trust.
- 25:04Real estate is a very personal
- 25:09transaction.
- 25:10It's a seller's biggest investment probably in their life.
- 25:14There's a lot of pressure on the realtor to handle it well
- 25:17and to get that transaction through in a way that the seller's happy with.
- 25:21So they've got a lot of pressure.
- 25:23So any vendor that a realtor has, a realtor has,
- 25:27they've got to really trust and know that, hey,
- 25:30this partner of mine is going to take care of myself and represent me.
- 25:33Well, you can't do that strictly online.
- 25:38You've got to have some in-person interaction.
- 25:40And so this broker that I met with,
- 25:43this has been a multi-year development.
- 25:47I mean, this didn't happen just overnight.
- 25:50As I was meeting with her, Todd,
- 25:52after she signed the deal, she goes
- 25:55because I know you, I know you're going to take care of my realtors.
- 25:58And there you go.
- 25:58I just I know your track record, so it takes time.
- 26:03You can't expect to necessarily get that broker deal overnight.
- 26:06You might have to build the relationship for a year or two years.
- 26:10Three years for me, it's been since I think I started shooting for her and
- 26:152018 or 19, somewhere in there.
- 26:17Yeah, But yeah,
- 26:20we can't stress enough, especially for you, my fellow introverts.
- 26:25When I discovered that
- 26:26I was comfortable one on one, that's where I put my effort.
- 26:30So we have a couple of other business development specialists that have
- 26:34very different styles in how they develop their business in their markets.
- 26:38It works great for them.
- 26:40Me I love coffee meetings.
- 26:43That's where I really get to know the realtor,
- 26:45and that's where the relationship starts to get built.
- 26:48Yeah, yeah.
- 26:49That's it's, you know, all about understanding
- 26:53where you're comfortable and you know where your gifts are at.
- 26:57- And there's. - Yeah, where is your strengths?
- 27:00Yeah. Don't try to be me. Don't try to be Craig.
- 27:02You know, Joy, for example, in one of our markets,
- 27:06she holds these fabulous, huge events.
- 27:09And she is so good at getting
- 27:10a lot of people to come to these events and she networks of vendors.
- 27:14And she has food and she has drinks and she has presenters and she presents.
- 27:19It's like, that is really cool. Yeah.
- 27:21And if that's not you, that's okay.
- 27:23But that's what Joy is really, really good at.
- 27:26so don't but don't feel the pressure to be any of these things.
- 27:32You have to be you have to see where your strengths are at.
- 27:35Yes, exactly.
- 27:36I mean, Joy and I are in the same company, right?
- 27:39We're on the same sales team,
- 27:41but different markets and totally different approaches
- 27:43to how we're developing our business.
- 27:45I also have the added role of photographer videographers,
- 27:49so I don't have the time to organize those massive events that Joy does.
- 27:53So incredibly well that I'm kind of jealous of to be honest, Todd.
- 27:57But at the same time,
- 27:59I totally would be uncomfortable in in that large group setting.
- 28:04And I just I wouldn't be able to pull it off the same way she does.
- 28:07So, Yeah.
- 28:08Find your strengths in how you start it.
- 28:11Okay.
- 28:12Good advice.
- 28:12Well, that's another note I wrote down.
- 28:14Craig is right time, right place.
- 28:16And I think I think a misnomer of this and it's a question I get ask a lot is
- 28:22you you might have the perception that you're
- 28:25just going to walk in and sign this because we typically talk about
- 28:28when it happens.
- 28:29I mean, that's the culmination of getting that right.
- 28:32So that's the fun point.
- 28:34As humans, that's what we look to like.
- 28:35That's what we consider the success.
- 28:38But this has been a long journey for Craig.
- 28:41And I can tell you almost every single
- 28:44one of our broker deals takes this same journey.
- 28:47You know, Craig said he had been shooting
- 28:50since 2018 for her,
- 28:53and it's not like he walked in in 2018, June 2nd.
- 28:56The first shoot is like, Hey, you want to do a broker deal?
- 28:59She wasn't.
- 29:00She would rather.
- 29:01Right. Yeah.
- 29:02So right time, right place.
- 29:05You have to be consistent.
- 29:06It's something that he told us was he would just check in and email
- 29:10and just he would look for little keys.
- 29:13Okay. He understood. He saw that she
- 29:19started it
- 29:19opened her own brokers is the first woman in 38 years.
- 29:23Like he collected all this information.
- 29:24This is where technology is fabulous, right?
- 29:29Craig It's not like you have a friend of a friend
- 29:31that told you that she started a brokerage, right?
- 29:33Yeah.
- 29:34So this is where tech This is where technology is great.
- 29:36Scan it every once in a while
- 29:38and then just connect with your with your clients.
- 29:42Craig, do you have any tips or do you just do you spend a
- 29:45what is your your social media is at what, once a day do you scroll it?
- 29:50Is it linked?
- 29:51Is it Facebook? Do you have a technique?
- 29:54It's I have a accounts
- 29:56on LinkedIn, on Instagram, on Facebook.
- 30:00I would say I actually look at Facebook the most.
- 30:03Okay.
- 30:03Which I know younger generations aren't using Facebook.
- 30:06Yeah. As you say, we're both showing our age there.
- 30:07Yeah, but realtors are on Facebook.
- 30:10They have business pages.
- 30:13I friend most of my clients.
- 30:15Most of my clients I think I'm friends with on Facebook.
- 30:18So I get to see their person.
- 30:19The personal side of their lives. In addition to the business.
- 30:22Some are more business, less personal,
- 30:25but you get to know them as a human being a little bit more.
- 30:28You know, so I get to see the pictures of her kids
- 30:30going to school that, you know, etc., etc..
- 30:33But that's also where I learned that she started this brokerage.
- 30:37And I was so happy for her because I know she's she's overcome a lot of challenges.
- 30:42And I love hearing success stories.
- 30:44I love hearing, you know, challenges overcome.
- 30:48So, yeah.
- 30:50Craig, that leads me to my last question, and I'm just going to ask you now,
- 30:57do you really care about her?
- 30:59Do you just care about her enough because you want to sell something to her?
- 31:02Like, like we've heard it and you're like you said, I want to see her succeed.
- 31:06I could tell you're smiling when you say this. You're excited.
- 31:09I guess it's just a sales tactic.
- 31:11For some.
- 31:12It could be, and that's when it's manipulation.
- 31:16But me as a person,
- 31:19Todd my background is Christian ministry.
- 31:22I worked in Christian radio for almost 20 years.
- 31:26And what happened to me
- 31:29during that time was I really cared about people because the I know
- 31:34this isn't going to relate to everybody, but we don't all share the same faith.
- 31:38I respect that.
- 31:39That's fine.
- 31:39We're not trying to shove anything down your throats but me as a human being,
- 31:43I truly believe that the gospel that
- 31:46I've put my faith into gospel, meaning good news,
- 31:51almost
- 31:5120 years of my life, spent speaking words of encouragement
- 31:54to listeners on the air building them up, caring about them as individuals.
- 31:59Because I'm not wired for business,
- 32:02money has never actually been my primary motivator.
- 32:05Now, money is important.
- 32:06I have a family to take care of, you know, I want to make sure
- 32:10I provide wealth for my for my wife and my boys.
- 32:14But the idea of of amassing as much money as I can
- 32:17just it's just never been my primary primary motivator.
- 32:22Mm hmm.
- 32:22Relationships with people has been so
- 32:26you know, I now find myself in the business world, right?
- 32:29But doing something I really enjoy.
- 32:31I like the creative aspect.
- 32:32I've always liked media media's kind of whatever I just have always enjoyed it.
- 32:38So being in the business
- 32:40world allows me to take a little bit better care of my family financially.
- 32:44I'm just going to be real ministry is hard.
- 32:46It's if those of you that are listening that have pastors
- 32:50or ministry leaders in your life just know that's that's not an easy life.
- 32:54And they really do.
- 32:55Most of them really do care about you on a spiritual level, on a personal level.
- 33:00So, yeah, I can honestly say and look someone in the eye
- 33:04and tell them I do care about you, and I do want to see you succeed.
- 33:07Now, does it help me financially? Yes.
- 33:10When I do it, regardless whether money was on the line or not. Yes.
- 33:16Yeah, I don't know.
- 33:18Know that so well.
- 33:19So Craig and I, I was a little facetious when I asked that question.
- 33:23It was it was because I do want to make the point, even if so,
- 33:27I'm I'm a I'm different than Craig as to where money is
- 33:33was the
- 33:33start of why I wanted to do any of the businesses I've done.
- 33:37And I think I've shared this before.
- 33:39Honestly, when I think about and look at like, I don't really like that,
- 33:43but it's through talking with people and understanding
- 33:46and and I don't covet the money.
- 33:50I, I know, I know.
- 33:52It's a blessing and I'm just motivated by it.
- 33:55But I use that to be productive,
- 33:58not only for myself, but then I look for ways that
- 34:02our clients, my client, you know, the person
- 34:04I'm talking to, how they can make money in that regard.
- 34:07So again, you don't have to have Craig Craig's personality
- 34:11or my personality, but I'm just sharing because that's that's a kind of bit
- 34:15a complete opposite as to where, like, I'll go to the money first.
- 34:19Craig will go to helping the person first.
- 34:22I think the point I want to make is if you can figure out a way
- 34:26that your clients succeed and grow
- 34:32by using what you provide to them,
- 34:36you're you will be a success.
- 34:39That's no different than any business out there.
- 34:42Like you say, like, that's pretty general.
- 34:44Anything you do if you follow that formula,
- 34:49you that business will be a success.
- 34:51And then at the end of the day,
- 34:53you can define your clients, can define what success and growth is.
- 34:57I, I strategically use those words
- 34:59because I didn't say if you can make your clients more money,
- 35:03I said if you can help them grow and help them
- 35:05be a success, then your business will be a success again.
- 35:09Everybody can define their own terms there,
- 35:12but if you follow that that formula, then
- 35:15you will achieve your goals if you help your clients achieve their goals.
- 35:20So let me let me add two points that kind of tie in with that.
- 35:24First, let's talk about money being a motivator.
- 35:27So, Todd, that is one of your motivators, but that's not necessarily
- 35:31a bad thing because money is a tool, right?
- 35:34I have a father in law who has been very successful
- 35:38financially high level executive has done very well.
- 35:43But probably, I'm going to say the most generous man I know
- 35:48who has used that money
- 35:51that he's amassed to bless a lot of people.
- 35:55Like a lot of people and organizations.
- 35:59So the money itself isn't isn't the problem or issue.
- 36:03There's nothing wrong with trying to earn a lot of money.
- 36:07It's what's your
- 36:08motivation with with pursuing that?
- 36:11Is it a love of money for the love of money and power, or is it
- 36:17using it as a tool to really be a blessing to everybody around you?
- 36:21And I think that goes a long way.
- 36:24We have different gifts. Todd has a gift.
- 36:26My father in law has a gift of amassing, you know,
- 36:30larger money, But they use it as a tool to be a blessing to those around them.
- 36:33So if that's how you're gifted, hey, go for it.
- 36:36There's those of us that are more service oriented.
- 36:38We like to serve, you know, do the hands on work
- 36:42and be a blessing to people at a more
- 36:45ground level.
- 36:47So whatever your motivation is, find that motivation and go for it.
- 36:50So for for this broker, Todd is part of my second point.
- 36:55Her motivation with starting this brokerage is she
- 36:59she has made it very clear I'm a woman, I'm a minority.
- 37:03And part of her motivation in being a broker is serving
- 37:07not just minorities, but she really cares about the minority community
- 37:11and helping them get out of a life of renting
- 37:15where you can't amass any sort of wealth and get them into homeownership,
- 37:19where they can start to build generational wealth
- 37:22and pull their families up out of poverty.
- 37:24That's a very strong passion of hers and something I can totally get behind.
- 37:29Yeah.
- 37:29So if we can bring her tools to help her realtors
- 37:32market well and show their professionalism
- 37:35and help homeowners that get out of it, I'm sorry, help renters
- 37:39get out of renting into homeownership to start to build generational wealth.
- 37:43Hey, I'm all I'm all behind that.
- 37:46So part of what I wanted to do, knowing that that was part of her passion,
- 37:50was that I knew this broker deal was going to help her financially.
- 37:55She wanted to have me come in and just present and wasn't even thinking.
- 37:58She didn't ask about discounts
- 38:00or anything, but I knew we had this broker discount program that would help her.
- 38:04And I also knew as a broker her goal is to recruit more,
- 38:09more agents that will help her business grow.
- 38:11That's just that's just how real estate works.
- 38:15So the reason I wanted to talk with her and I told her,
- 38:18I said there's a broker discount program that we have that I want to talk with you
- 38:22about before I come present to your team, because I don't want to spring
- 38:26that on you and them in in a situation where you're like, Wait, what.
- 38:32Yeah. Yeah.
- 38:33So that's what we sat down a coffee to talk about.
- 38:36First we caught up just on a personal level.
- 38:39You always want to start with that and genuinely care about the person.
- 38:42And then I'm like, Okay, tell me your story.
- 38:46What what led to this? You know what?
- 38:48How is it going?
- 38:49How many realtors do you have now?
- 38:51How many listings?
- 38:52So I just I had a whole list of questions that I worked up top
- 38:56and she started sharing everything with me.
- 38:59And I said, okay, so
- 39:01you've expressed the need for professional media.
- 39:04You've told me the horror stories of some the photos that your realtors
- 39:07are doing right now, and you want to take it to the next level.
- 39:11So yes, we want to help you with that.
- 39:13But ultimately, they still have the choice.
- 39:15You know, to hire somebody to do their photos or do it themselves.
- 39:20So here's the broker program.
- 39:22And I you know, we went through it, talked about volume.
- 39:24How do you think you could do this number of listings in the next year?
- 39:27She's like, Oh, yeah, for sure.
- 39:28Okay, well, then we can discount this.
- 39:30We know you're smaller brokerage, every penny matters
- 39:35so we can discount it based on what you think your volume is.
- 39:39And she's like, Oh, that's fantastic.
- 39:41And she loved it. She's like, Yeah, sign me up.
- 39:43I said, Okay, well, before she I mean, she was ready to decide, right?
- 39:48But again,
- 39:50I had her trust because we built the relationship over multiple years
- 39:53and she knows my work and she knows how I tried to take care of people.
- 39:56I said one more thing before we do that, I said, Let me run an idea past you.
- 40:01And this might sound crazy, but
- 40:03i love this part
- 40:05She looked at her photo only price, and it already said, That's a great price
- 40:09because another competitor in town was a lot more expensive,
- 40:12which is Yeah I think that's that's that should work for my my agents.
- 40:15I said let me ask you one more question.
- 40:18Okay.
- 40:20What are your goals as brokers to recruit more realtors to your brokerage, right.
- 40:24To to grow the business?
- 40:26She's like, Oh, yeah, definitely my goals.
- 40:28My initial goal is I want to get up to ten.
- 40:30Realtors look fantastic.
- 40:33So I asked her, What are your distinctives
- 40:36that would attract another realtor from another brokerage to your brokerage?
- 40:41So she shared a few things and they were nice things, but I didn't question.
- 40:44I didn't think it was anything that would necessarily really instigate
- 40:47a change in a realtor.
- 40:51I didn't say that,
- 40:52but I wanted her to start thinking what?
- 40:55That might have been.
- 40:56The end of your coffee?
- 40:57Yeah, right, Right.
- 41:00But I'm thinking, okay, I'm trying to think like a broker.
- 41:03How am I going to attract, you know, a seasoned and new
- 41:06but seasoned realtors to my brokerage to help me grow?
- 41:10Yeah.
- 41:10So I said, okay, those are you know, those are great things.
- 41:15A lot of personal coaching, mentoring, you know, building a business plan
- 41:19for that realtor, which I thought that actually that was a good idea,
- 41:21building a business plan.
- 41:23I said, What if I said, I don't know if this is going to be in your budget or not?
- 41:28You know, as the broker.
- 41:29But what if is one of your recruiting incentives?
- 41:33You tell your realtors, I will pay for your photos.
- 41:37Love it.
- 41:37Her eyes got super big and she's like, Wait, what?
- 41:42I said, What if you paid for your realtors photos
- 41:45because you have so much value on the professional marketing
- 41:49that you want them doing that, you'll actually cover that for them.
- 41:53Anything they do beyond that, say the video tours,
- 41:56we talk about the importance of video, drone, etc.
- 41:59They cover that part, but you're going to take care of the photos for them.
- 42:02She's like, For those of you that are listening, you're not watching.
- 42:07Her eyes got wide, her mouth dropped a little bit.
- 42:09She's like, I love it. Yes, let's do it.
- 42:13That's a good price.
- 42:14I can do that.
- 42:14I said good price. Plus the discount.
- 42:17She goes, Yes, exactly.
- 42:18She's a give me that paper.
- 42:21I told you, she's a very exuberant person.
- 42:23She wrote that paper.
- 42:24She signed it immediately on the deal.
- 42:27And I'm like, I'm so happy,
- 42:29you know, thank you for this opportunity to be part of your team.
- 42:32And she goes, Absolutely.
- 42:34And that's when she made the comment.
- 42:35Craig, I know you're going to take care of my team.
- 42:37I just I know you as a person and I've I've watched your work and,
- 42:41you know, etc..
- 42:43So it seemed like a fast it was a fast conversation.
- 42:48I mean she had sold herself, but she hadn't even thought
- 42:51about paying for photos for her realtors as a recruiting tool.
- 42:54But that's one of her biggest priorities right now is growth
- 42:58and bringing realtors into her business.
- 43:01Yeah, this is I just love this.
- 43:04Like I if you're not watching, I have the biggest smile on my face.
- 43:08It's just incredible. It's just, you know,
- 43:11and just one thing I want to want to clarify, as Craig said,
- 43:14you know, once he was at that table, it went fast.
- 43:18But I don't want you to forget about all the work he did leading up to that.
- 43:22And that's the important part.
- 43:23Again, I'll say it
- 43:24one more time, but that is why building the relationship is so important,
- 43:28because it will get you past and it takes a long time to build.
- 43:33But once you get to that decision point and they see the value in your service
- 43:37and they see how they're going to use you differently, it's super,
- 43:41super quick because they know like and trust you already, you know,
- 43:45and knowing what questions to ask to start to get them to think
- 43:49and for you to for you to learn what is actually their goal.
- 43:54Because you might be trying to sell something they don't actually need.
- 43:57Find out what their priorities are
- 44:00and see what you have to offer to help them achieve those priorities.
- 44:02That's where the consulting, it's more a consultant role than it is a sales role.
- 44:07Yes. Yes.
- 44:08And that's a great structure to take in any conversation you have.
- 44:12And I do it almost all the time.
- 44:15If I'm talking to a realtor about Wow video tours from talking to a real estate
- 44:18photographer about Spiro or anything else,
- 44:21I ask people what their goals are.
- 44:24I can't tell you how many years
- 44:26I used to walk in and I'd feel great about my products and services.
- 44:30I knew the features and the benefits.
- 44:31I'd walk into the room
- 44:32and I'd spew off the features and the benefits,
- 44:34or I'd tell the other individual the features and the benefits,
- 44:37and it'd be like crickets,
- 44:40because I was selling them some that I
- 44:44they might not even being concerned about the look of the photos,
- 44:48the price of the photos, the turnaround time.
- 44:50They have their own goals and their own
- 44:53objections and understanding what those goals are.
- 44:57You can show how your services
- 44:58will get them past those objections so that they can reach their goals.
- 45:01So that's one thing that I think is so important that Craig said
- 45:06a couple of minutes ago that he started his conversation off with
- 45:09What are your goals as a broker?
- 45:12And then just and Craig, when you say that,
- 45:15I mean, do people talk and tell them to you?
- 45:19Yeah, I've never had anyone
- 45:22refuse to talk about what their ultimate goal is.
- 45:25Yeah. Yeah.
- 45:26And I think the thing is, sometimes we're scared to ask,
- 45:29you know, I think back when I was 20, something just started this.
- 45:32I was, you know, I was a bit terrified when you sit in front of a broker
- 45:36and then if you get in front of a broker,
- 45:37I mean, and especially at a large company, you know, you're like,
- 45:41this could change my life, right?
- 45:44And it's like,
- 45:46sorry, go ahead.
- 45:47Go ahead.
- 45:47I was going to say, you know, can I ask this broker like,
- 45:50what are your goals like that seem so personal?
- 45:52Like, oh, my goodness, worth a kick me out of the room
- 45:56at the realtor level.
- 45:58What I've run into actually more than I expected was when I've asked them.
- 46:04I do ask them how many you know about on average,
- 46:07how many listings do you do a year?
- 46:09And I've had people kind of give me a blank stare and like, well,
- 46:13my mean, my total volume is this.
- 46:15And they're taking in both the buyer's side and the seller side,
- 46:18but they've never actually stopped to think about how many listings
- 46:22they've done and they haven't necessarily set a goal.
- 46:25I was actually kind of shocked. Yeah.
- 46:27So when you asked that question, oh, you know, how many listings a year
- 46:31do you do? And if they're not sure,
- 46:34you know,
- 46:34said, well, I mean do you want to win more listings?
- 46:38And it's always Yes, because that's where they're going to make more money.
- 46:42Yeah. Great.
- 46:42They haven't actually stopped to think through.
- 46:44Yeah. What is my goal.
- 46:46Because then I can tell them okay let's, let's set a number and what can we do
- 46:50on the visual marketing side of things to help you build your brand as a realtor
- 46:55and show potential sellers what you can do for them.
- 46:59You know, in a competitive situation, maybe they're your competition
- 47:03is only offering photos, but you're offering photos and video.
- 47:07You know what?
- 47:08What can we add to you and your business that will help you win more?
- 47:13I mean, who's who's going to look down on that?
- 47:15Yeah. Oh, no, I don't want to help with that.
- 47:17I want to help with, well, like, no one's
- 47:21it. It's such a good question.
- 47:23And it works with every agent out there.
- 47:26And it's, it's not manipulation because you really do want to
- 47:31if you're not helping them grow, they're going to drop you.
- 47:33So you have a vested interest as a real estate
- 47:36visual marketing professional in helping them grow.
- 47:39And if you don't, you need to be checking your own motivations.
- 47:42because if that's not your goal, you're not going to grow
- 47:47because you're not adding any value.
- 47:49Exactly.
- 47:51Exactly. So, Craig, to wrap up here.
- 47:53Yeah, because I wanted to enforce the two things
- 47:56and I have there's a phrase we use and it's called speaking broker.
- 48:00And speaking broker
- 48:02means that you basically understand what's important to a broker,
- 48:06and it's a little bit different than what is important to an agent.
- 48:10And it was kind of cool to see.
- 48:11And Craig's example here, this transition happened
- 48:15because this individual used to be an agent
- 48:17and then transitioned into being a broker and an owner of a company.
- 48:21So the thing that Craig knew coming in there was it was two things can happen.
- 48:26Real quick, just to clarify.
- 48:27So she actually is still a realtor as well
- 48:30and still selling, but she did make it a point to tell me
- 48:34I want to transition out of that and be more full time broker.
- 48:38So you know, it's a young, small broker.
- 48:41She does still have to sell some, but she has a goal of moving out of that.
- 48:46So, yeah, so and knowing that there are some things that she told
- 48:50you, Craig, you knew that there was some agents using cell phones.
- 48:56Agents had a seller take their home photos and they were terrible.
- 49:00So this is the first point of understanding
- 49:04and a term that I use is raise the floor of marketing.
- 49:08So now that she is going to have agents underneath her
- 49:12that are going to have her company name on their listing, that is her
- 49:19her brain, her image, her brand
- 49:22on those crappy cell phone photos.
- 49:25I will tell you, every broker, once they're agents to market their listings better.
- 49:32Yep, every broker.
- 49:34That is the first part of speaking broker.
- 49:37And Craig did a great job by understanding where there were some gaps that he knew
- 49:42some of the media that was being taken and he knew some of these pain points.
- 49:47The second thing is that Craig
- 49:52knew that this broker wanted to grow.
- 49:55Well, how does a broker grow?
- 49:58There's just two ways a broker can grow.
- 50:01It's called market share.
- 50:03I won't go into it now.
- 50:04We did a podcast on it a long time ago, but market share is really one of the only
- 50:10metrics that a broker cares about and they know what their market share is.
- 50:14You grow your market share by getting more listings
- 50:19and getting more agents that have listings.
- 50:23How do you get more listings with your current agents?
- 50:26Well, you help them market their business better
- 50:30so that they stand so that they can get more listings.
- 50:34Do we as real estate photographers, offer anything
- 50:37to agents that help them stand out and help market their business?
- 50:40If, of course, right,
- 50:44The second way a broker grows is through
- 50:48getting more agents to come to their company.
- 50:52Craig did a fabulous job here with understanding that
- 50:56and then just asking,
- 50:59I mean, it's pretty bold
- 51:03to ask a broker to pay for something like if you just think of a face
- 51:06value, like, Hey, will you pay for this for all your people coming in
- 51:10like they're ten, nine, nine subcontractors?
- 51:12Like it's not the norm.
- 51:16And Craig, what what was again, what what was the feedback on that?
- 51:20I mean,
- 51:22I mean, her eyes widen and it's like she had never
- 51:25even thought of that possibility as a tool to help recruit.
- 51:29And it is a bold question, but if you set it up right,
- 51:33you know, and introduce it correctly, it's
- 51:36it doesn't come off as bold or brash or presumptuous.
- 51:40It's it's what you know, Do you do you have a goal of recruiting more realtors?
- 51:46Well, yeah, of course. Okay, great.
- 51:48What if and you set it up very soft.
- 51:51What if you did this? Mm.
- 51:55As an incentive when I actually and I know of one other brokerage in town
- 52:00that does this with a different company, but they're the only ones I know of.
- 52:04Every, every other brokerage makes their realtors pay for their own photos.
- 52:09Yeah.
- 52:10So that's a distinctive that this, you know, this brokerage has over
- 52:13pretty much every other company in town.
- 52:17Yeah.
- 52:18And that's that's the classic way to sell it.
- 52:22And it works because it
- 52:25Agents are out there. Brokers are out there.
- 52:28Everyone who owns and runs their own business, that's agents and brokers.
- 52:31They're looking for a unique advantage
- 52:34on how they can grow and you can offer that to them.
- 52:38So that is across the board.
- 52:39And then when you grow to have enough broker deals, you begin
- 52:43leveraging one broker over another and you can grow on these.
- 52:46So you know that
- 52:47the sell point at the beginning is like, I don't know of anybody in town
- 52:50that's doing that or I think there might be only one other company in town
- 52:54that brokers give back. Holy crap.
- 52:56Like I could say I'm one of two or I'm the only one that offers this.
- 53:01What a great tool to get agents to come to my company.
- 53:04And then when you have four or five or six broker deals
- 53:06and you have the largest companies, you begin to go like,
- 53:08Hey, yeah, I do it with this company, that company that they all do it.
- 53:11And then the brokers like, Wow, I'm behind for fear of missing out who likes FOMO?
- 53:15Nobody, right?
- 53:16And they sign and they sign the deals,
- 53:20but it all
- 53:21ties back to the fact that you understand what their goals are.
- 53:24And those are the goals for every broker. Ask them that.
- 53:26But I can tell you we've done
- 53:28hundreds of these and that is the goal of every broker.
- 53:32Understand them, sell it at the right time.
- 53:35That's the other thing is Craig made a great point, like don't walk in
- 53:38and the first thing you say is, Hey, do you want to pay for your agents photos?
- 53:41You're probably going to get kicked out.
- 53:44Yeah,
- 53:45right time, right place.
- 53:47And just keep building those relationships.
- 53:50Yeah.
- 53:50Anything to close, Craig?
- 53:53I mean, not really.
- 53:55You know, we've said it over and over on these episodes, just the importance
- 53:59of relationship and authenticity, you know, integrity in your business.
- 54:05I mean, I
- 54:05can look her in the eye and say, you know, see what I said?
- 54:09And she knows that I'll follow through.
- 54:12The importance of integrity in your personal conduct,
- 54:15but also your business conduct is is huge
- 54:20because, again, people buy from people they know like and trust.
- 54:25And that trust issue,
- 54:26I mean, it
- 54:28only takes a millisecond to lose trust, but it takes a long time to build it.
- 54:32So make sure that you're consistent and in your personal morals, ethics,
- 54:37worldview, you know, just care about people,
- 54:39take care of people, and you might not win everyone.
- 54:44I don't win everyone.
- 54:46you won't win Everyone.
- 54:48Right? Right.
- 54:49But it will go a long way to just establishing
- 54:53your your reputation in the market that you serve.
- 54:56Yeah. Be consistent.
- 54:58Yeah.
- 54:59And I guess I should say you want one. Everyone.
- 55:01Now, we've had plenty where we've had the conversations.
- 55:04They said no.
- 55:05And in my head when they say no, I'm just like they're saying no, not right now.
- 55:08Great. Let me keep building a relationship.
- 55:12Let me keep showing the value.
- 55:14Let me keep getting more of their agents.
- 55:16And then let's have the conversation again.
- 55:18Right.
- 55:19So just one one thing, one more point that I in closing,
- 55:23because you're all out there. It's like, okay, great.
- 55:25Craig did it, but Craig's been doing this forever.
- 55:26Todd You've been doing this forever.
- 55:27You guys have a, you know, over 100 of these things.
- 55:30Like, it's easy for you guys. It's not easy.
- 55:32That's the process we take literally.
- 55:34We're not holding anything back.
- 55:36But if you're asking like where to start? Okay, Todd, where do I start?
- 55:40Let me just give you a couple of easy things.
- 55:42I'll look at.
- 55:43One, do you know the people who run the companies you work for?
- 55:49Yeah. Do you know the broker of the Coldwell Banker?
- 55:51The Keller Williams or Berkshire Hathaway?
- 55:53The Howard Hanna, Allen Tate
- 55:56You know, insert that company named, you know, the people that are in charge there.
- 56:00Do you know the managers?
- 56:02You can get to know them by one, asking your clients, Hey, who's
- 56:06who's the manager of your office?
- 56:07Who's the broker of your company can get to a close agent?
- 56:10Ask them.
- 56:11You can walk into an office and you can ask who's the manager here?
- 56:15I'd love to meet. I'd love to meet them.
- 56:17And you can start building relationships, relationships that way.
- 56:20So know who those people are first.
- 56:23Because if you don't go to them and you're trying to sell them a broker
- 56:26deal, you're going to have someone looking at your cross.
- 56:28I'd be like, Hey, I'm not the broker.
- 56:29Okay, sounds great, but I can't do that.
- 56:31So understand who those people are
- 56:34and the my other tip there is when you start
- 56:37to get this list and this understanding of who these people are,
- 56:41you might not want to start with the top dogs.
- 56:46It's it's only natural that you want to start with the largest companies because.
- 56:50Thus, if you get the deal, they're going to bring you
- 56:52the biggest amount of business.
- 56:54They have the largest potential.
- 56:56But I will tell you that when you walk in
- 56:59to the top dogs, they know they're the top dogs.
- 57:03They're sitting there going, hey, what we're doing is work.
- 57:06What we're doing is working.
- 57:08Okay.
- 57:08So they might I'm not going to say they won't listen to you.
- 57:11One, that meeting is going to be a lot harder for you to get. And two
- 57:15They're going to move a little bit slower because there's a big organization
- 57:19underneath them
- 57:20and there's a lot that goes into making a change at a large company.
- 57:24So we have found this to be true with agents and brokers, that we find
- 57:29the agents that are in the middle and brokers that are in the middle
- 57:34are hungry to move up the ladder, if that makes sense.
- 57:40You know, sometimes the newbies, they're just getting going
- 57:43and from a financial standpoint, it might be tough for them
- 57:46or impossible or you have a lot of part time agents there.
- 57:50And the middle is where we really find the sweet spot
- 57:53because those are the people that want to be the top dogs
- 57:56that are like, What tool can I get that is different
- 58:01so that I can win the listing I can win the agent to come to my brokerage
- 58:07and not go to the top dog brokerage.
- 58:10And I think I think Craig's example here show that is she was completely open
- 58:15like you said she just started it she was one wanting to grow.
- 58:18That desire was there and just helping her understand that
- 58:22we had a tool to help her get to that growth is super important.
- 58:27So compile the list.
- 58:30I'm not
- 58:30saying don't contact the top dogs, but maybe focus on the middle of the pack
- 58:35because we find that they're more apt to want to listen to you,
- 58:38to want to take an advantage so that they can move up to be a top dog.
- 58:42something.
- 58:43Todd, Let me know what you think of this idea.
- 58:44What if I shared some of the questions
- 58:46that I ask brokers or agents in the show notes?
- 58:49Yeah, that'd be fab. That'd be fabulous. Yeah.
- 58:52I'll put some of those questions that you can ask in the notes for for you guys to.
- 58:56If you're stolen from us, you've stolen twice.
- 59:00Because I learned of terms.
- 59:01I've learned from someone else as well. So,
- 59:04you know,
- 59:06we want to see you succeed, guys.
- 59:08We want to see you succeed.
- 59:10We do.
- 59:10And this is like I said, this is probably the number one question that I'm asked.
- 59:15And the number one reason why we've grown to be where we have
- 59:18grown to, you know, So use it, steal it, go do it.
- 59:22All right. There was a fun week.
- 59:25Hopefully you've found value in this and if you get a deal,
- 59:30you know, so you get your first broker deal
- 59:32and they're going to pay you for the photos.
- 59:34We want to hear that story.
- 59:35Share that with us because we want to celebrate with you.
- 59:38Drop us a line either hello@spiro.media or,
- 59:41you know, leave a comment on on our social media post that you see.
- 59:44Just let us know because we want to hear about it.
- 59:48Your success is our success. So
- 59:51awesome.
- 59:52Todd, I think that's going to wrap it up.
- 59:54Yeah. And when you get them, let us know.
- 59:56We'll help you set up.
- 59:57We can give you guidance because there is a little bit
- 59:59of a different set up in Spiro because you need to build a company.
- 1:00:02So we have company pay and agent pay.
- 1:00:06Like I said, the system was designed around this
- 1:00:08because it's so integral to our business growth.
- 1:00:10So once you get them, just send us a message and chat.
- 1:00:13We'll help you will direct you of how you could set up that deal so that the eight
- 1:00:17the company can automatically get billed, the agents can automatically get billed.
- 1:00:21You don't want to be doing all the paperwork for this.
- 1:00:22It will be a mess you'll get behind. Been there, done that.
- 1:00:25So just send us a message when you do get these will celebrate with you
- 1:00:28- and then we'll help you get it set up. - There you go.
- 1:00:31There you go.
- 1:00:33All right.
- 1:00:33Well, that's going to wrap things up.
- 1:00:35Something we don't do every episode is ask you
- 1:00:38to like an episode or just share it, you know, subscribe.
- 1:00:42But if you're new, you know, new to the podcast and you have value,
- 1:00:47we're going to ask
- 1:00:48it would would you give us a like on those if you find it valuable, share it
- 1:00:52in, you know, in the Facebook real estate photography and videography groups.
- 1:00:57We just really appreciate you helping spread the word about the podcast.
- 1:01:01And you know, by all means subscribe so that you can get notifications
- 1:01:05when the next episode releases, which is generally every week, either
- 1:01:09Tuesday or Wednesday,
- 1:01:10we publish that we record on Fridays and we try to stay consistent with this.
- 1:01:13So yeah, just don’t approach the brokers in our markets.
- 1:01:18I'm just kidding.
- 1:01:19I'm just kidding.
- 1:01:20Y'all know, we got you all your email with me from our markets.
- 1:01:23I tell you what to do to gain business on our market
- 1:01:25I just have to say it though.
- 1:01:27Yeah, it's yeah, I really do is it's just not against us.
- 1:01:34Let's be here.
- 1:01:34All right.
- 1:01:35But, you know, there's.
- 1:01:36There's a ton of business out there,
- 1:01:38and let's all go for it and just do our best to serve our our our,
- 1:01:42our clients well and to set them up for success. So.
- 1:01:46All right, I.
- 1:01:47Look, I love your authenticity.
- 1:01:49I had to.
- 1:01:50And that's just you guys know me like I was just me.
- 1:01:53All right, well, hey, make sure that you take some time.
- 1:01:56Be thankful for the blessings in your life.
- 1:01:58Share those blessings with others because they.
- 1:02:01They love to hear that they might be in a in a downstate.
- 1:02:04Now, you know, maybe you're dealing with a realtor that's just having a hard time.
- 1:02:08You get that unique opportunity to speak into them and just encourage them,
- 1:02:13be their partner in and do what you can to serve them and help them succeed.
- 1:02:18All right.
- 1:02:18So be thankful for your blessings.
- 1:02:20Share those blessings with others. Make sure you take a breath this week.
- 1:02:23Have a good one.
- 1:02:24Thank you for joining us for the Spiro podcast,
- 1:02:27managing your real estate photography and videography business.
- 1:02:31This is a production of Spiro and wow video tours.
- 1:02:34You can find out more about Spiro
- 1:02:36is real estate, media, business management software at our Web site.
- 1:02:40spiro.media.