Latest / The Spiro Podcast: Managing your Real Estate Photography & Videography Business / A Photographer's Streamlined Workflow: Part 2

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A Photographer's Streamlined Workflow: Part 2 · The Spiro Podcast: Managing your Real Estate Photography & Videography Business

• 0:00
  Coming up on this episode of The Spiro podcast.
• 0:04
  if you walk into a house and you realize it's not ready,
• 0:08
  you should not be the person telling the homeowner
• 0:11
  that the house is not ready first.
• 0:14
  Craig said this and it, it's very strategic.
• 0:18
  Are you ready?
• 0:20
  We ask if they are ready.
• 0:23
  Welcome to the Spiro podcast.
• 0:25
  Managing your real estate photography and videography business
• 0:30
  with your hosts, Todd Kivimaki
• 0:33
  and Craig Magrum.
• 0:37
  Hi, and welcome to the Spiro podcast,
• 0:39
  Managing your real estate photography and videography Business.
• 0:43
  Spiro is a software platform designed to help you manage
• 0:46
  and grow your day to day real estate visual marketing business.
• 0:50
  I'm your host, Craig Magrum.
• 0:52
  Welcome to the podcast.
• 0:53
  We always have a good time and and just really appreciate
• 0:56
  hearing back from all of you that are listening and watching.
• 0:59
  Love the comments, love the feedback, but
• 1:03
  just glad to have you
• 1:04
  along with us,
• 1:04
  of course, our co-host and spiritual founder and owner Todd Kivimaki.
• 1:07
  Welcome back to another week, Todd.
• 1:09
  Oh, it's great to be back, Craig.
• 1:10
  Another Friday.
• 1:12
  Our team at Wow Video tours our real estate
• 1:15
  media company putting on a big week.
• 1:16
  So it was a four day week
• 1:18
  and four day weeks are always just you think, oh, it's a short week.
• 1:22
  No, we're going to try to cram everything a five days into four.
• 1:26
  Right?
• 1:27
  And so we had some fun ones this week.
• 1:29
  Probably some that will probably some situations we'll talk about in future
• 1:34
  podcast of how we had a gap, we had a situation,
• 1:38
  what we did for and how we overcame and how we took care of the clients
• 1:41
  and the team and so on, so forth.
• 1:42
  But it has been regardless, it has been a just a very it's been a great week.
• 1:48
  So invigorated by the support of the team.
• 1:51
  Yeah.
• 1:52
  And I would say the floodgates have opened on,
• 1:55
  on the number of jobs, at least here in my local market.
• 1:59
  All of a sudden it's just like I got slammed, which I'm thankful for,
• 2:04
  but it's definitely the summer summer market now, so.
• 2:08
  All right.
• 2:08
  Well, last
• 2:09
  week, before we dive into the topic, I'm just going to give a quick, quick summary.
• 2:13
  So last week we talked about a photographer's workflow
• 2:16
  and we kind of talked about the day before getting ready for,
• 2:20
  you know, for that next day's shoot and just the workflow that we go through,
• 2:23
  how it impacts your business.
• 2:24
  We talked a little bit about gear
• 2:26
  - and why we we - talked about some gear that was something new, huh?
• 2:30
  Right, right.
• 2:31
  Because we've always talked about this podcast being more
• 2:34
  about the business side of what we do in, in real estate media,
• 2:38
  because there's so much other,
• 2:39
  you know, great information out there, other YouTube channels, other, you know,
• 2:42
  groups that talk about the creative side and gear and things like that.
• 2:46
  But we decided to go ahead and talk a little bit about gear,
• 2:48
  because that is part of our business, right?
• 2:50
  And depending on what your goals are and your specific style
• 2:55
  and things like that, you might have different gear needs.
• 2:57
  So we just shared ours and why we use what we do.
• 3:01
  But it kind of we kind of got
• 3:04
  to the end of the podcast and realize, hey, there's more to talk about
• 3:07
  in terms of a photographer's workflow and how that relates to our business.
• 3:10
  So this is going to be part two of that conversation.
• 3:14
  And we got some great comments.
• 3:16
  Somebody actually said,
• 3:18
  great to hear about the technical side, about the kit that we're using.
• 3:21
  That was from jr7055. Yeah. And
• 3:26
  Todd, I have to throw this in here.
• 3:28
  Please do. I can't wait for this.
• 3:30
  So you know how I nerd it out on my trip to hamvention?
• 3:35
  Yeah, the Mecca?
• 3:37
  Yes, the Mecca of ham radio.
• 3:39
  And I said that it was around 30,000 people on average that come to that.
• 3:43
  We got the final numbers.
• 3:45
  Yes. The tally, the numbers of people that come.
• 3:47
  It was actually about 35,000 people.
• 3:50
  Oh, that were at Hamvention in Xenia, Ohio, Greene County,
• 3:55
  little, you know, just county seat of Greene County.
• 3:59
  A lot of people haven't heard of Xenia, but it's still known as Dayton.
• 4:01
  How much Anyway, J.R., in addition to saying he loved
• 4:05
  hearing about the technical side of what we're using,
• 4:09
  said that he actually enjoyed hearing about my trip.
• 4:12
  So. Oh, nerds, unite.
• 4:14
  Yes, he was.
• 4:16
  Did you see J.R.
• 4:17
  with the other 35,000 people?
• 4:19
  If I did, I don't know.
• 4:21
  But he shared his dad is a ham radio operator
• 4:24
  in Canada, called and said, I'm going to tell my dad about hamvention.
• 4:27
  J.R., my guess is your dad, if he's been a ham for any amount of time,
• 4:31
  probably already knows about hamvention.
• 4:33
  If you're a ham, you know about that event.
• 4:36
  But yeah, So kudos to J.R.
• 4:40
  for you with me on on the nerdy part of the puzzle.
• 4:43
  But yeah, cool stuff.
• 4:45
  Thanks. Yeah, thanks for the comment, J.R..
• 4:47
  And tell your dad to send a signal this way and we'll try to pick it up.
• 4:52
  Actually, I don't know if that's technical term or not.
• 4:55
  My antenna is down right now.
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  I actually we had a bad storm blow through and it broke part of my mast, so.
• 5:01
  Oh, yeah.
• 5:02
  Anyway, that's enough that
• 5:04
  we don't want we don't want to waste any more time on the podcast on, on ham radio.
• 5:08
  Okay.
• 5:10
  So just appreciate the comments.
• 5:13
  Okay, let's shift gears.
• 5:14
  We got one more thing to talk about before we dive back in to the topic this week.
• 5:19
  Creo, Todd, tell us a little bit about Creo.
• 5:21
  Yes. So Creo is a photo editing team that we had started at Wow.
• 5:26
  It's in Kosovo.
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  It is its own independent company.
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  So just to be fully transparent, I own my minority portion of it,
• 5:36
  the individuals that work it and run it every day on the majority of it,
• 5:41
  we use that company at Wow Video tours our company.
• 5:44
  They do a fabulous job for us.
• 5:46
  You know, this is I bring it up one because it is a service
• 5:50
  that if you're looking for an Editor.
• 5:52
  CreoLLC.net you can find them at.
• 5:58
  But in the same sense, I see this question asked all the time
• 6:03
  and it's something that we at our real estate media company
• 6:07
  take for granted that we have just always operated like this.
• 6:11
  You know, like last week we talked about gear
• 6:14
  and we just assumed that everyone has
• 6:16
  the gear figured out and they try new gear when it comes out and they but like
• 6:21
  we do this at a very high level and part of that part
• 6:27
  of being successful at that is our editing team
• 6:31
  and being able to send our photos to a team that's integrated into Spiro.
• 6:36
  That Spiro automatically assigns the jobs to them.
• 6:40
  They pick them up, they drop them back in Dropbox.
• 6:45
  Spiro automatically takes them from Dropbox to the property website.
• 6:48
  So that whole pipeline, I just assume everybody has it.
• 6:51
  If you're not functioning with an automated pipeline and a set of
• 6:54
  dedicated editors that know what you want and meet your needs,
• 6:58
  that might be a gap in your business with systems that you need to figure out
• 7:04
  because there's no way we could do
• 7:07
  the number of jobs that we do 12 to maybe 15,000 this year
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  and be successful in expediting
• 7:15
  60, 70, 80 jobs a day.
• 7:19
  And it's just so it's an important piece.
• 7:21
  So if you haven't found that piece, by all means, you don't have to use Creo.
• 7:26
  It's a solution that we've engineered that they do a fabulous job
• 7:30
  at a very high level for us and they have capacity to help more.
• 7:33
  They've just brought in more editors, trained new individuals.
• 7:37
  So reach out to them.
• 7:38
  You'll talk to Lobden or Shend over their some of the two of the owners.
• 7:42
  And if you have that gap in your business
• 7:45
  it might be a good note the right now maybe you don't do it now
• 7:48
  because you're busy but send them a note, see if you can get time on their schedule
• 7:52
  or if you can get time on your schedule with them and automate that process.
• 7:56
  Because if it's a goal of yours
• 7:58
  that you want to grow, you need to fill that gap.
• 8:01
  Absolutely.
• 8:02
  Well, let me just share a personal anecdote on the importance
• 8:04
  of an editing team like this, Creo or otherwise we've talked about in the past.
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  When I was on my own
• 8:11
  doing doing real estate media Spiro was was kind of my back end engine.
• 8:15
  You guys did all my editing and and had that that system in place.
• 8:20
  And it allowed me
• 8:21
  from an independent photographer who was at the time doing my own editing.
• 8:25
  Mm. I was stupid.
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  It was, I was so naive and young Todd in the business.
• 8:31
  It's a progression of business, right? Yeah.
• 8:33
  Yeah, it is.
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  So yeah, I was shooting, I was selling, I was editing.
• 8:37
  Really.
• 8:37
  I was only doing photos only because I, I could not turn video around that fast,
• 8:43
  but to try and turn something around
• 8:46
  in, in basically 24 hours, say a business day by 5 p.m.,
• 8:51
  I would have to work into the night.
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  I mean, you know this story, you lived it yourself
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  and I couldn't scale.
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  I had no capacity because my time was all taken up.
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  But the second I had an outside editing team start doing that for me,
• 9:06
  yes, I made a loss of some creative control, but man,
• 9:09
  it allowed me to scale from, say, doing two shoots a day to up to 6 to 7 a day.
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  I mean, it's just it's a no brainer.
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  You've got to find a great editing team
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  in partnership that can help you scale your business.
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  So yeah, for sure.
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  Check it out.
• 9:23
  - CreoLLC.net - and I can't quite remember
• 9:27
  the numbers Craig, but pre you coming in and allowing
• 9:32
  Wow to be that engine for you the photo expediting and things like that.
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  I can't remember what the numbers were pre and post but the number of jobs
• 9:40
  that it allowed you to grow into was just astronomical
• 9:43
  in order to grow your business to, to give that up to focus on growth.
• 9:48
  Right.
• 9:48
  Well, like I said, I was able to shoot and edit like I was a newbie.
• 9:53
  I was the max I could do was two shoots in a day
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  and still get it edited and turned around and still have time
• 10:00
  to make some phone calls and answer emails, things like that.
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  So going from two to 6 to 7 a day was mammoth.
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  You know, my first half a year when I first started my business,
• 10:10
  I think I did 35 shoots, but I was just getting going.
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  It takes time.
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  You can't just expect this start shooting full time
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  when you first start your real estate media business.
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  And I've seen that question come in lately
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  on our YouTube channel and a couple of other avenues,
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  people asking, you know, how can I get up and running faster and get,
• 10:30
  you know, get realtors to respond to me faster?
• 10:34
  I'm going to be honest, guys.
• 10:35
  It's harder now than it was even just a few years ago
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  because this space has grown.
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  The number of people doing real estate, media, There's more
• 10:44
  people and companies out there doing it.
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  So realtors have more choices.
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  So it's not quite as easy as it initially was, at least from my observation, Todd.
• 10:53
  - But maybe - I would agree.
• 10:55
  - Yeah. - So you've got to kind of build in.
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  If you're just starting your business,
• 11:00
  you've got to build into your thought process that, hey,
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  this is going to take commitment and it's going to take some time and perseverance.
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  You're going to start slow. That's okay.
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  Start it part time.
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  That's what I had to do even as I started part time until I got to the point
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  where I knew I had to devote my entire workday to growing the business.
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  You're going to have to have some savings, probably,
• 11:22
  you know, in reserves to to live off as you try and grow that business.
• 11:26
  It's not easy.
• 11:28
  We don't ever think it's super easy, but there are tools and processes
• 11:31
  you can implement to make it easier, Does that makes sense?
• 11:36
  Yeah, for sure.
• 11:37
  You know, you hit two of my two of some of my favorite sayings.
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  Number one is what you focus on will expand.
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  So if you focus your time on
• 11:48
  let's just take two examples.
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  One, if you're doing your photo editing or you're managing some processes,
• 11:53
  you shouldn't with photo editing, then you'll become a better photo editor
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  and you'll you'll be more efficient at editing.
• 12:01
  But that is not going
• 12:04
  to produce your business growing
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  So if you focus on if you offload
• 12:11
  photo editing and if you focus on client acquisition
• 12:16
  giving fantastic customer service, your business will grow.
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  So what you focus on will expand. I love that saying.
• 12:22
  And then also the second one is if if it was easy, everyone would do it.
• 12:27
  Yes, it was easy to grab your camera, get a gimbal, go out.
• 12:31
  I mean, that's the fun part. Buying the gear right?
• 12:33
  That's the fun part. And then you're like, oh, crap, what do I do with it?
• 12:37
  You know, we talked we talked to an individual is just getting going.
• 12:40
  Nick did yesterday about Spiro and he was just getting go
• 12:42
  and he's like, man, I, I just bought all the gear.
• 12:44
  I'm overstretched. It's like
• 12:47
  if the gear sits, you know,
• 12:50
  you might not be able to do Matterport or Iguide or 360’s right away.
• 12:53
  Like, start with a base,
• 12:55
  and focus on what's going to grow your business, right?
• 12:59
  Yeah.
• 12:59
  If it was easy, everybody would do it.
• 13:01
  Yep, yep.
• 13:03
  You know, along with that.
• 13:04
  Craig another thing, if you have a gap, you, you spoke about video editing
• 13:09
  and this wasn't even something that we had when you came in.
• 13:12
  We did your video editing, we did video editing
• 13:14
  because we just had editors that did video editing.
• 13:18
  But we have since then we've built the merge fleet,
• 13:21
  the merge Fleet is our logic based video editor.
• 13:24
  It is so cool.
• 13:26
  Oh, you know, we do eight, nine, 10,000 videos through it a year.
• 13:30
  We sell a ton of video.
• 13:32
  About 80 some percent of our jobs have video.
• 13:34
  So our photo jobs have video.
• 13:36
  And it's like, why? How do you sell it that much?
• 13:39
  Well, one, we focus on it again, going back to what you focus on will expand.
• 13:43
  We'll look at our business name.
• 13:45
  Yeah. Wow Video tours.
• 13:47
  I mean, that video tours, I was maybe a little short sighted there,
• 13:50
  but it works and we focus on it and it really does help your agents more.
• 13:55
  And we sell some of our brokerage deals because if we didn't have video
• 14:00
  but the merge fleet is our logic based video editing
• 14:04
  engine that will edit your video in 20 minutes.
• 14:07
  You'll shoot it in a particular way.
• 14:09
  You upload it and you'll have it done in 20 minutes.
• 14:13
  And we have free training on this.
• 14:16
  If you are in Spiro, click on the merge fleet.
• 14:18
  There's a training button there you can sign up for the free training.
• 14:22
  We show you how to do it.
• 14:23
  Our head of training, Ryan Lieurance and myself, we did a training video,
• 14:27
  so if you want to increase your average order value,
• 14:31
  if you want to find some systems and some processes, merge fleet might be for you.
• 14:36
  And the beautiful thing is it's built right in this Spiro
• 14:39
  Yeah.
• 14:39
  And again, to kind of stress where you can find that training
• 14:42
  because we've had that question come up a couple of times, hey,
• 14:44
  where can I find the training to how to do the merge fleet video
• 14:48
  - because you do have to shoot at a specific way, - correct.
• 14:51
  Within there's some artistry still involved in that,
• 14:55
  but there is a process on using the merge fleet again to find that training.
• 14:59
  You do need to sign up for a free Spiro account.
• 15:02
  So just go to Spiro.media
• 15:04
  and on the left side NAV, there is a link for Merge Fleet.
• 15:08
  Click on that and then you'll see at the top of the page you'll see a button
• 15:12
  for the merge fleet training where you can sign up.
• 15:15
  We don't put that out there publicly just because that that is our,
• 15:19
  our process, but we'd love to share that with you through your Spiro account.
• 15:24
  Yeah.
• 15:24
  And you don't need to use Spiro process jobs to use the merge fleet.
• 15:27
  So if you have another system or if you have a process
• 15:30
  that's working for you right now, like Craig said, it's a free to sign up.
• 15:35
  Spiro.media sign up for a free account
• 15:38
  instantly be created and then just click Merge fleet and that is right there
• 15:41
  also the thing is, is you can submit test jobs for free.
• 15:45
  So while you're practicing, if you just want to see, hey, what this is
• 15:48
  look like, just upload the clip, submit it and you'll see what it does.
• 15:51
  Just click the test merge.
• 15:53
  It will not charge you.
• 15:55
  You don't even have to enter a credit card in the Spiro when you sign up.
• 15:57
  So we're completely like, Hey, just we feel really confident about our system
• 16:02
  and our process in our workflows and we want you to see it.
• 16:05
  So it's it's a no obligation attempt.
• 16:09
  You know,
• 16:09
  maybe you owe it to your business to see if you can increase
• 16:12
  your average order value and streamline your processes with video, for
• 16:16
  this year or next.
• 16:17
  Good deal already.
• 16:19
  Well, let's get set.
• 16:21
  Yeah. Let's get the part two.
• 16:22
  Yeah, absolutely.
• 16:23
  So a photographer's workflow and how it impacts your business.
• 16:27
  So, Todd, we last week we left off kind of, like I said,
• 16:30
  the night before, using Spiro’s photographer portal.
• 16:34
  What our workflow is.
• 16:36
  We talked about some of the gear, so let's dive into them, the actual appointment
• 16:40
  day in that workflow process and kind of work through that
• 16:44
  and what it looks like and how, how it affects again, our, our business.
• 16:49
  Yeah, this will be a fun one because again,
• 16:50
  this is 20 years of streamlining this process.
• 16:53
  So okay, so Craig, let's, let's pretend you have a day of shoots.
• 16:59
  Maybe you've done this for today already.
• 17:00
  So and you do this every day, but you've you're good to go with your gear.
• 17:05
  That was part one.
• 17:06
  Part two is it's the morning of.
• 17:08
  You know, all your gear batteries are charged.
• 17:10
  You know what you need to take up.
• 17:12
  So as the morning of the appointment, you're just getting up and around.
• 17:14
  You don't need to leave out the door yet.
• 17:16
  Right.
• 17:16
  You're using a app.
• 17:20
  It's a PWI, but it's a website that we call the photographer portal.
• 17:24
  What is your workflow in that photographer portal, Craig?
• 17:27
  So I'm just first I'm going to review the day one more time
• 17:30
  just to make sure that I know what's coming up, what to expect
• 17:33
  at each listing, you know, what I need to shoot, etc., etc..
• 17:37
  But then after that second review, just to make sure I've got everything I need,
• 17:42
  there is a begin day button that I press.
• 17:45
  I click to start the day.
• 17:49
  And what that does is it allows Spiro to then send out
• 17:53
  an automated message to the first client of the day, informing them
• 17:59
  what time that I will be at their listing to start their appointment.
• 18:03
  Mm hmm. Awesome. Awesome.
• 18:05
  And that's and so that would be any subscriber.
• 18:07
  So this could be a homeowner, too.
• 18:09
  This could be a property manager.
• 18:10
  So this is just giving everybody one more final warning to say, Hey,
• 18:15
  you're the next up.
• 18:16
  This is the time will be there.
• 18:18
  You know, make sure the house is 100% ready.
• 18:20
  Yeah.
• 18:20
  That verbiage is we have stock verbiage that we put in,
• 18:25
  of course, to the text message.
• 18:26
  But you can change anything you want.
• 18:27
  At those text messages. Right.
• 18:29
  So one thing that
• 18:31
  let me ask you a question, Craig, so you said you check your schedule
• 18:34
  one more time.
• 18:35
  What if you have had a cancellation or reschedule come in overnight?
• 18:39
  So from the time you went to bed to the time you woke up,
• 18:43
  say you had something canceled or reschedule, but you had an appointment
• 18:46
  be removed off your day, How do you how are you aware of that?
• 18:52
  I believe there's actually two methods.
• 18:54
  One, to get a slack
• 18:55
  notification that there's been an update to the day or a cancellation.
• 18:59
  But I think it comes through email as well.
• 19:01
  If I'm not mistaken.
• 19:02
  Yeah. So yes.
• 19:03
  So you will get those notifications.
• 19:05
  And just again, one point where we were proactive in communicating.
• 19:10
  If you go to bed thinking, Hey, I've got a huge day, I've got six tomorrow
• 19:14
  and two cancel, you're going to adjust your day a little bit.
• 19:17
  You need to know that.
• 19:18
  So we bump you with a proactive, you know,
• 19:20
  you'll get the slack notification, you'll see it in your inbox.
• 19:23
  But understanding that your day is completely different
• 19:26
  when there's a cancel or a reschedule.
• 19:28
  Yeah, absolutely.
• 19:29
  If I've got a gap because I feel the dual role of business
• 19:33
  development specialist and photographer, if I've got a gap,
• 19:37
  I don't want to just sit there in my car waiting for the next appointment,
• 19:41
  so I might make a couple of phone calls or check emails, respond to emails
• 19:45
  that come in.
• 19:46
  If I'm close to a brokerage office,
• 19:48
  I know I haven't stopped in for a while and I actually did this earlier this week.
• 19:52
  I had a gap.
• 19:53
  I stopped in and say, Hi, I had a couple of bags of candy and,
• 19:56
  you know, took in some some Wow video pamphlets and it was funny, Todd.
• 20:01
  the one brokerage I walked in the Sarah who is at the front desk,
• 20:06
  she walks in, she goes, You've got to stop bringing us chocolate.
• 20:09
  I'm like, It's what I do. Sarah.
• 20:11
  She laughed, and she's like, No, don't stop here.
• 20:14
  Give it here.
• 20:16
  So, yeah,
• 20:17
  make, make use of that time, make use of that downtime.
• 20:21
  Now, Craig, I want to that's so
• 20:23
  smart and, and that's the way businesses grow.
• 20:26
  I want to I just want to reiterate something.
• 20:28
  So Craig said, since I'm also a business development manager, that's
• 20:32
  what we call our client sales relations at Wow.
• 20:36
  And Craig also does some of the photography
• 20:39
  in the media for the properties.
• 20:41
  He says, I'm also that.
• 20:42
  So I want to remind you, if you're listening to this podcast,
• 20:45
  you are that, you're the owner and you're photographing,
• 20:49
  you are your business development specialist.
• 20:52
  Okay?
• 20:53
  So any time you see that gap, it should be like,
• 20:55
  Oh, stinks at that drop off my day.
• 20:58
  But look at the opportunity that I now have
• 21:02
  with this hour, 2 hours in the middle of my day.
• 21:05
  Speaking of that, let me let me tell you the rest of the story.
• 21:08
  It just popped in my head of making use of that time.
• 21:11
  So this brokerage that I walked into, not only did I talk to Sarah,
• 21:15
  the front desk person who's also a realtor,
• 21:18
  but their broker and owner was further into the room
• 21:22
  training two new realtors that they just brought on.
• 21:25
  And so I said hi to hi to him real quick.
• 21:28
  And he's like, Hey, come over here, come over here, and introduces me
• 21:31
  to his two new realtors and proceeds to sell us
• 21:36
  to his new realtors and said, Hey, this is one of our preferred vendors.
• 21:40
  You know, they do a great job.
• 21:42
  He he did the selling for me.
• 21:44
  So like these new agents, they're going to know to call Wow
• 21:47
  when they get their first listing.
• 21:49
  And the broker did the job for me, you know,
• 21:53
  I mean, that just, you know, it works.
• 21:55
  It really does.
• 21:56
  You know, if you we don't we talk about gear.
• 21:59
  One time on the podcast last week, we talk about the business aspect,
• 22:03
  all the other time. Why?
• 22:05
  Because if you want to grow a business, that's a goal of ours.
• 22:08
  When I started this 20 years ago, I wanted to grow a large business.
• 22:12
  I wanted to do as many shoots as possible.
• 22:14
  That's our goal.
• 22:16
  That's what we focus on.
• 22:18
  When you focus on it, it will expand.
• 22:20
  now, it's not always easy.
• 22:22
  So Craig could have said, Oh great, I've got 2 hours downtime.
• 22:26
  I'm going to be in this little town two towns over.
• 22:28
  I love this little place to go.
• 22:30
  And he could have easily gone to me now, could have just kick back relaxed.
• 22:36
  It's nice right now in Ohio, could have gone to a park,
• 22:39
  could have gone back home and tried to sleep.
• 22:41
  It's going to take
• 22:44
  just hard work to do this.
• 22:47
  You're going to have to pick yourself up when you're like, Ooh, I got a break here.
• 22:51
  Let me take
• 22:55
  take, let me not take advantage of it.
• 22:57
  Sorry. Let me not take advantage of it.
• 22:59
  And you know, I hate to use the word, but let me get a little lazy with it.
• 23:03
  Right?
• 23:03
  I get lazy sometimes, too, so I can do this too.
• 23:07
  But it just takes that mental toughness of pushing through.
• 23:10
  And like, you know what?
• 23:11
  I've got an opportunity today and I'm going to go
• 23:15
  and I'm going to make sure I do something with it.
• 23:17
  Yeah, the way I'm wired is during spring and summer when I'm slammed with shoots,
• 23:22
  I don't have as much time to do the business development side of things.
• 23:26
  And so as a result, I kind of lose contact and lose that, that connection
• 23:30
  point with a lot of the agents that I work with and work for.
• 23:35
  And I don't like the feeling of not being in regular contact
• 23:39
  or regular cadence of communication
• 23:41
  where it might look like to the realtor that I'm just assuming
• 23:44
  I have their business and I take it for granted.
• 23:47
  I don't ever want them to have that perception
• 23:49
  that I just take their business for granted.
• 23:51
  I want to check in on our regular basis.
• 23:53
  That's hard to do during busy season if you're also doing your shooting.
• 23:57
  So yeah, if I have some downtime, I'm going to, especially during busy season,
• 24:01
  I'm going to try and make sure I'm reaching out to somebody
• 24:04
  just to check in, let them know, Hey, I'm still thinking about it.
• 24:06
  We want to make sure we take good care of you.
• 24:08
  Thank you for the opportunity to shoot this listing, etc., etc..
• 24:13
  Yeah, and you do that enough.
• 24:15
  You build those relationships.
• 24:17
  It's that Wednesday that you walk in on a whim that the broker sitting there
• 24:22
  and then the broker sells your business
• 24:24
  to brand new agents now that are coming to his company.
• 24:28
  So it's just, it's incredible. But it takes hard work.
• 24:31
  I mean, you don't know all the dedication, the hard work that Craig goes
• 24:34
  through to do this and the systems and the processes that we have
• 24:38
  it can be done is not impossible.
• 24:40
  Just take the time and just go care about people,
• 24:44
  you know, be consistent, just be, be present and be consistent.
• 24:50
  Awesome.
• 24:51
  Great advice. Craig Love it.
• 24:52
  Okay, so you've you've click that begin day button.
• 24:56
  Any subscriber on the order will get a text message
• 25:01
  and they know that you're going to be there in an hour let's say.
• 25:05
  So what happens now?
• 25:07
  I leave for the appointment, right?
• 25:09
  Yeah, yeah.
• 25:10
  I've got my gear loaded up in my car.
• 25:12
  I head towards that first appointment and
• 25:16
  let me ask you,
• 25:18
  do you typically leave to be on time?
• 25:21
  No, I leave to be early.
• 25:23
  Okay.
• 25:24
  My my dad taught me if I'm on time, I'm late
• 25:28
  now. Full, full disclosure, my last appointment of the day yesterday,
• 25:31
  I was 10 minutes late too.
• 25:33
  And that's not like me, but I knew I was going to be late because the
• 25:38
  the shoot that I was at my second to last shoot, the sellers were not ready,
• 25:43
  even though the client, the realtor, had the information.
• 25:47
  Some things came up for the sellers
• 25:49
  that pushed back their ability to get ready, and that's going to happen.
• 25:53
  So it made that appointment go longer.
• 25:56
  I when I realized that that was going to happen,
• 25:58
  that I was going to be late to my next one,
• 25:59
  I shot a message off immediately to my next
• 26:01
  realtor and said, Hey, I'm so sorry This listing wasn't ready.
• 26:05
  I'm going to be about 10 minutes late.
• 26:07
  And realtors understand things happen for the most part.
• 26:11
  But she wrote back, Hey, don't worry about it.
• 26:14
  You know, get here when you can get here.
• 26:15
  We're fine.
• 26:17
  So being proactive in communication when those situations arrives is
• 26:20
  is important.
• 26:21
  And they appreciate that that communication.
• 26:24
  But yeah, no, I try to arrive actually about 15 minutes early.
• 26:29
  And even if you can sometimes start early,
• 26:32
  I like to do that if I can, if they're ready and there's the key,
• 26:36
  if they're ready and the seller says it's okay,
• 26:39
  you want to respect the appointment time that you would set, but if they're ready,
• 26:43
  that builds in buffer for me in case something happens later in the day.
• 26:48
  Yeah, yeah.
• 26:49
  Really good advice And and Craig is strategic with that 15 minutes
• 26:54
  we've realized 15 is the max of what you want to arrive early Right.
• 27:00
  You get there 20, 25, 30 minutes early.
• 27:03
  You're now catching them off guard as to where about 15 minutes
• 27:07
  till they It's not absurd that you've arrived.
• 27:12
  It's like, oh, wow, his promt, on time.
• 27:15
  And then it's more or less like, Hey, I'm just here.
• 27:18
  Just.
• 27:18
  And if you can tell as a photographer walking
• 27:21
  in, you can tell if they need 15 more minutes.
• 27:23
  If they do, all means, hey, no promise when they make sure that I'm here.
• 27:28
  I was ready.
• 27:28
  If I could assist you with anything, I'm happy to.
• 27:31
  And most of time you can start.
• 27:33
  But that 15 minutes is strategic.
• 27:35
  Don't. Don't get there.
• 27:36
  If you're going to arrive 30 minutes early, you need to call.
• 27:39
  Yeah, absolutely.
• 27:41
  Yeah. Get.
• 27:41
  Get the realtors permission and
• 27:45
  and that they're always going to check with their seller to make sure it's okay.
• 27:48
  And I always couch it in terms of
• 27:51
  if they can't know pressure to for me to start early.
• 27:55
  That just happens that my day is running
• 27:57
  early and I can start early earlier if you'd like me to.
• 28:01
  Yeah. And sometimes they're like, yeah, no problem.
• 28:03
  That actually that works even better, you know?
• 28:05
  So just ask them.
• 28:07
  Never hurts to ask. Yeah, that's great.
• 28:10
  Okay, so you've left your house, you arrived.
• 28:12
  You know, early.
• 28:14
  You're there promptly. What do you do next?
• 28:17
  You're in your car.
• 28:18
  What happens next?
• 28:19
  Yeah.
• 28:20
  So when I arrive, you know, I'm getting my gear ready.
• 28:24
  I grab an extra battery or two and throw it in my pocket.
• 28:27
  There's nothing worse than having a battery die
• 28:28
  in the middle of your shoot,
• 28:29
  and you have to go back out to the car to get up another battery.
• 28:32
  So just carry an extra battery on you.
• 28:35
  It's it just goes better that way.
• 28:38
  But then I'm using that photographer app again.
• 28:41
  I'm checking into my job.
• 28:43
  And what that does is then it sends a notification to the next
• 28:47
  appointment, the next realtor, to let them know when I'm going to arrive
• 28:51
  for their listing appointment.
• 28:53
  Oh, cool. Or shoot appointment. Yeah.
• 28:56
  I believe it also updates the tracking page, Todd.
• 28:59
  It does.
• 29:00
  So there is a tracking page.
• 29:02
  I think your Domino's Pizza tracking.
• 29:04
  So when you check in to your first job,
• 29:07
  it will show on that page that you have arrived.
• 29:10
  So if anyone you know, say the agent can't be there
• 29:13
  and they go to that tracking page,
• 29:15
  they see the update that you're there
• 29:16
  And then also the cool thing is, is inside the admin portal
• 29:21
  and the on site tracking page, just like our air traffic control page.
• 29:25
  If you have a team looking at that,
• 29:29
  then you can see they can see that you have checked in.
• 29:33
  So there are cool thing is
• 29:34
  if you're a photographer, you're shooting and you say you have a team in the field
• 29:38
  shooting as well, that's an easy place for you to go see.
• 29:41
  Hey, what's my team doing without ever having to ask your team?
• 29:46
  You can see if they're on time, if they've checked in, what appointment they're at.
• 29:49
  So, you know, before even talking to them.
• 29:51
  Right? Right.
• 29:53
  Well cool.
• 29:53
  So you've
• 29:54
  checked in appointment number two as notified when you're going to be there.
• 29:57
  So they're making their last final prep.
• 30:00
  You've got extra battery in your pocket and you're walking up.
• 30:03
  What is your take us there. So you're knocking on the door.
• 30:05
  What's your what's your approach at welcoming,
• 30:08
  saying, hello, how do you do it? What's your stick? Yeah.
• 30:10
  So, you know, every situation,
• 30:12
  every appointments can be a little bit different.
• 30:14
  The sellers might be there, they might not be there.
• 30:16
  You might have locked back
• 30:17
  lock box access, it might be vacant, it might be occupied.
• 30:21
  I always knock, regardless of what the information on my appointment
• 30:25
  says, of whether it's a vacant or occupied, because there are situations
• 30:29
  where it might be vacant,
• 30:31
  but the sellers might be there doing last minute cleaning.
• 30:33
  Yeah, so there actually is somebody there, so I always make sure I knock
• 30:37
  ring the doorbell, whatever,
• 30:38
  and assuming that someone's there, the sellers there, then introduce myself.
• 30:43
  Hey, I'm Craig from Wow video tours here for your realtor.
• 30:46
  Insert your realtor's name here
• 30:49
  to do your photos and video walk through today and you know.
• 30:52
  Oh, fantastic. Yeah.
• 30:53
  If there's anything you need me to move, let me know.
• 30:56
  Sellers are incredibly accommodating, for the most part
• 30:59
  because they want their photos to look good, and so they're trusting you
• 31:02
  as a professional to tell them what needs to be done.
• 31:05
  I mean, 99.5% of the time.
• 31:08
  That's what I hear. Tell me what you need me to do.
• 31:11
  I'll let you know. You know? No, no worries.
• 31:13
  Sometimes they go a little overboard and they're worried
• 31:15
  if a plant is not quite the right.
• 31:18
  No, no, no. Don't worry about that.
• 31:21
  You're
• 31:21
  there to provide just some reassurance.
• 31:24
  Let them know everything's good.
• 31:26
  Your demeanor, it just has to stay really calm because they're stressed out.
• 31:31
  So we have the opportunity to bring in a calming presence.
• 31:35
  We know what we're there for.
• 31:36
  We're going to make this easy for you anyway.
• 31:38
  So what I do is I walk them through the process.
• 31:41
  Set expectations.
• 31:43
  Yeah, the appointment is going to take about this long.
• 31:46
  Here's a services I'm going to be providing for you today.
• 31:50
  I'm going to start with your photos.
• 31:51
  We're going to shoot in a particular order.
• 31:53
  Assuming that everything's ready, I'm going to start a main floor.
• 31:56
  Then I'll shoot your second floor and then the basement.
• 31:58
  And then I'll switch over to video.
• 32:00
  We'll do video.
• 32:01
  I'll need you in a different part of the house
• 32:02
  or a different floor while I'm doing that.
• 32:04
  So I'm not chasing you around.
• 32:06
  I always make it about them.
• 32:07
  I want them to be comfortable who I like.
• 32:09
  Oh, no, You just tell me where you need me again.
• 32:12
  They're usually very accommodating, although you'll have
• 32:15
  that one or two people that want to follow you around.
• 32:19
  I do try to very diplomatically encourage them not to do that
• 32:24
  because I want to be able to concentrate on providing the best media I can.
• 32:28
  If I need anything, I will stop what I'm doing.
• 32:31
  I'll ask you and you know, if there's some
• 32:34
  more comfortable in the house for you to relax, that that would be ideal.
• 32:38
  They're not always going
• 32:39
  to they're sometimes they're still going to follow you around.
• 32:42
  Yeah, they are.
• 32:43
  It is what it is
• 32:45
  you will get that in the you're in their house.
• 32:47
  You really tell them you can try to tell them what to do.
• 32:51
  You know I would
• 32:52
  I would typically phrase it as like, hey, I'm going to start in the main level.
• 32:55
  And then while I'm doing that, I'll have you go upstairs or downstairs
• 32:59
  while I'm on the main level, unless you'd like to be in the photos.
• 33:03
  And I would strategically say that because.
• 33:06
  Because nobody ever wanted to be.
• 33:07
  Oh, no, no, no. I'll, I'll go downstairs.
• 33:09
  - I don't want to be in your way so that - everyone's while you'll get a character.
• 33:14
  Yeah. You know. Yeah.
• 33:16
  They pose for you.
• 33:18
  Those are the fun people though.
• 33:20
  Yeah.
• 33:20
  Yeah.
• 33:21
  So, but I love what you say as
• 33:23
  well is as you know, wherever you're comfortable and,
• 33:27
  you know, just make sure that they, you, you don't have to be Craig or I.
• 33:31
  When you go in, you'll figure out what works for you.
• 33:33
  The biggest thing is, is don't be afraid to take control,
• 33:36
  Set expectations.
• 33:38
  I've I learned that over 20 years ago when I was second shooting weddings
• 33:43
  for a wedding photographer that had done weddings for 20 years.
• 33:47
  He literally some of the things I was like, I could not believe that
• 33:51
  he was saying here or like he would cut in line to go eat
• 33:54
  dinner like the bride and groom and the party would go.
• 33:57
  He would be right behind the parents and the grandparents.
• 34:00
  He'd cut in line and he'd excuse me and he would step in.
• 34:04
  I'm like, I'm just following him, you know, I'm a kid.
• 34:06
  At this point, I'm no clue.
• 34:07
  But I realize he did that because he had to quickly eat
• 34:12
  because the first cake cutting, then the first dance is coming up.
• 34:16
  So if he waits to eat last, he is eating, he's in line
• 34:20
  or trying to eat dinner while he's supposed to be working.
• 34:24
  Right.
• 34:25
  So I picked up on that very quick, like, Hey, just take charge.
• 34:28
  If you don't know what to do, go do what Craig or I do.
• 34:31
  Fake it till you make it.
• 34:33
  Yeah, Yeah. People will believe you. Just be.
• 34:35
  - Just be confident in it. - Yes.
• 34:37
  I have another radio story about being confident
• 34:40
  in people believing you, but we won't go there anyway.
• 34:44
  Yeah, so that's basically what I do when I approach House
• 34:47
  and check in with the seller.
• 34:49
  Okay, so you have that, so you go through your shooting routine.
• 34:52
  Craig What?
• 34:53
  Okay, couple, just a couple random questions.
• 34:55
  This is I mean, only real estate photographers have these questions.
• 34:59
  So what if you have to go to the bathroom?
• 35:02
  You know,
• 35:03
  I'm training a new person on our team here in in my local market right now.
• 35:07
  Yeah.
• 35:07
  And I, I told her, I said, okay, piece of advice,
• 35:11
  completely unrelated to anything we've been talking about today.
• 35:14
  I said, carry extra TP with you.
• 35:18
  And she said, I'm sorry. What?
• 35:21
  I said, you might be in a house.
• 35:24
  Yeah.
• 35:24
  There's certain things we need to do during the day and that vacant house
• 35:28
  might not have any tp carry an extra roll of tp.
• 35:31
  With you, so
• 35:34
  what was the question?
• 35:35
  That's what was it?
• 35:37
  Okay, so let let me make it two parts.
• 35:39
  So if the house is occupied and say the owner or the agent is there
• 35:44
  and you have to use the bathroom, do you hold it?
• 35:48
  Do you shake a leg?
• 35:49
  - No. You ask, what do you do? - Ask permission
• 35:52
  I mean, nobody has ever said no.
• 35:54
  I did have one person say leave a quarter on the toilet. But
• 35:59
  they were fun.
• 36:01
  No, I always ask permission, you know.
• 36:03
  Hey, it was a long drive. Do you mind if I use your restroom?
• 36:05
  No, no, go ahead.
• 36:06
  It's right here.
• 36:07
  Yeah. Don't. Don't. Don't try and hold it.
• 36:10
  I had this dumb belief for quite a few years when I was shooting
• 36:14
  that, like it was rude to ask to use their bathroom, and I think an agent.
• 36:18
  I was in the house with an agent like, Hey,
• 36:20
  you mind if I use your bathroom real quick?
• 36:21
  And like, I know, just like what Craig said. Oh, no problem.
• 36:23
  It's right here.
• 36:24
  It was like Todd, Like all the pain I'd gone through
• 36:29
  and tried to hold it for an appointment.
• 36:32
  Just not that.
• 36:33
  If you have to use the bathroom, you all,
• 36:35
  you just ask politely to use the bathroom.
• 36:39
  We're human beings.
• 36:40
  We all get it. We understand. Yeah. Nobody's.
• 36:42
  Yeah, nobody's going to say no.
• 36:44
  Okay, so what if it's vacant? Craig?
• 36:46
  What's your bathroom routine?
• 36:47
  If the house is vacant, this feels like this should be a T-shirt.
• 36:51
  It'd be a weird T-shirt.
• 36:52
  Well,
• 36:54
  I use the bathroom.
• 36:56
  Okay, I can check. I check for TP first.
• 36:59
  If there's nothing there, I go out to my car and grab my roll.
• 37:02
  Okay, Now, this.
• 37:04
  This is weird. Todd. No, no, I.
• 37:07
  Well, this is so sort of like, maybe this is maybe only a pain point in mind, but.
• 37:12
  Okay, if the house is vacant and looks like no one's been in there,
• 37:17
  you check for toilet paper, what else do you check for in the bathroom?
• 37:21
  Is the water running? Is there water?
• 37:23
  Is there water in the tank? Yes. Yes,
• 37:27
  I made that mistake once.
• 37:28
  So did I. Yes, so did I.
• 37:32
  Yeah.
• 37:33
  I had no idea that the episode was going this way, Todd.
• 37:37
  Yeah, we might as well. It's going down.
• 37:39
  It's going down the toilet.
• 37:40
  Oh, I should have left that for you, Craig.
• 37:43
  It's a really crappy subject.
• 37:47
  Oh, okay.
• 37:49
  We got to stop.
• 37:50
  Okay. Okay.
• 37:50
  So how does this impact our business?
• 37:53
  So when you watch this, So when in a house, it's vacant
• 37:59
  and it looks like no one's been there for a while,
• 38:02
  you go in toilet paper check.
• 38:04
  Okay. I'm good with toilet paper.
• 38:06
  Mm. I check to see if the water is on.
• 38:10
  So I used to only open the tank and look or like if you open the toilet seat
• 38:15
  and you see water in there, you're like, I'm good.
• 38:17
  Well, no, you're not actually good because the tank can hold water.
• 38:20
  Yeah, so but if you use the strategy
• 38:24
  that I'm going to flush the toilet to see if there is water,
• 38:28
  you could also fail as well, because I did.
• 38:31
  So I was in a house one time and the house was actually furnished.
• 38:35
  I didn't realize they were in Florida.
• 38:37
  It wasn't even winter anymore.
• 38:38
  In Ohio, I flush the toilet flushes.
• 38:41
  I'm like, I'm good to go.
• 38:42
  I use the bathroom and realize I flush.
• 38:46
  I flushed the last gallon and a half or whatever out of the toilet.
• 38:51
  So I frantically go to the sink and I turn on a little bit, spits out,
• 38:55
  and then nothing.
• 38:56
  I'm like, Your house is winterized.
• 38:58
  I'm like, Darn it, Todd.
• 39:00
  So I hate to even admit this, but you guys can laugh at me.
• 39:04
  So I'm in a panic now because I'm like, I got to flush because I can't leave.
• 39:07
  And it was just number one.
• 39:08
  But like, I don't want to leave number one in the toilet
• 39:11
  because these people might not be back for months
• 39:14
  Oh my gosh.
• 39:15
  So I don't know what to do.
• 39:17
  I get the idea that I'm going to check the other toilet.
• 39:21
  So I check the other toilet and there's water in the tank.
• 39:25
  I remember I have a water bottle in my car.
• 39:29
  Oh, no. you didn't.
• 39:31
  Yeah, I did.
• 39:32
  I filled up the water bottle from the tank in toilet number two
• 39:36
  and took it to toilet number one back, you know,
• 39:39
  going back and forth hand underneath because there's a hand underneath the
• 39:43
  you know, this is like 20, 20 year old Todd.
• 39:46
  Like, this is what I like.
• 39:47
  I don't think to just go to the store and get a gallon of water.
• 39:51
  So anyways, I transfer tank water
• 39:54
  from tank two to tank one and then I flush the toilet.
• 39:57
  How how long did that take with that water bottle?
• 40:00
  Far too far too long.
• 40:02
  Far too long. Yeah.
• 40:04
  And not that
• 40:05
  not to mention that I'm siphoning water out of a tank of the toilet, which I get.
• 40:09
  It's clean water, but it's a.
• 40:11
  Anyways, after that I learned to keep I keep two one gallon
• 40:14
  jugs of water in my car.
• 40:16
  I never thought about that.
• 40:18
  It's a good idea.
• 40:19
  So anyways, toilet problems of a real estate photographer.
• 40:24
  Let's let's take us back to how that impacts your business.
• 40:27
  So what expense account does that gallon of water come out of?
• 40:33
  Oh, I put that in the cost of goods.
• 40:36
  cost of goods. okay, sold.
• 40:42
  Oh, my gosh.
• 40:44
  Okay. So that is okay. Another question.
• 40:46
  So this is fun. Let's just we might we might have to do a part.
• 40:49
  We might have to part seven by the time we go, Oh, yeah, Holy cow.
• 40:52
  Okay.
• 40:53
  Okay. Vacant house.
• 40:55
  A little flexibility.
• 40:56
  That's where it's like, okay, cool. I'm at a vacant house.
• 40:58
  I'm here by myself.
• 41:00
  Do you listen to music? Listen to podcasts?
• 41:02
  Just shoot the house. What?
• 41:03
  Yeah, You vacant house routines that you do
• 41:06
  sometimes? Nothing. I just.
• 41:08
  I shoot it. Work in silence.
• 41:10
  I like. I like quiet. I'm an introvert.
• 41:13
  And so sometimes I do play some music on, you know, I carry two cell phones on me.
• 41:19
  So my business phone, I don't ever want to have headphones in
• 41:23
  because if my business phone rings,
• 41:25
  I need to answer that call from a client, right?
• 41:28
  So I don't want to have my earbuds in listening to music on my other phone
• 41:31
  and not hear that call come in.
• 41:33
  So I generally don't do that.
• 41:34
  If I am listening to music, it's through the speaker of the phone.
• 41:37
  I got the phone in my pocket and if a call comes in then
• 41:41
  I can answer it that way.
• 41:42
  - But yeah, - yeah, just, just a preference.
• 41:45
  I used to do the same thing.
• 41:47
  If, if it was vacant
• 41:49
  and I was in the mood, I would play some music and listen to it.
• 41:52
  No, the only thing to be aware of and I don't have a crazy story for this
• 41:55
  because I haven't shot since IP cameras are in house cameras.
• 41:58
  You know, I've been available,
• 42:00
  but just be aware, it's pretty common for people to have cameras.
• 42:04
  And that's true.
• 42:05
  Yep. So, you know, as a business owner, I don't think you all
• 42:09
  would ever do anything that would be out the norm.
• 42:11
  But just know that you you might and probably have someone watching you.
• 42:16
  And if you play music, I don't think there's a problem with that.
• 42:19
  No one would ever be appalled at that.
• 42:20
  But just be aware that there's eyes and houses and it's very common nowadays.
• 42:25
  Maybe be mindful of what music you're listening to.
• 42:28
  Yeah, you know, that's good. Yeah.
• 42:30
  My Brandon Lake Christian music, they would,
• 42:32
  you know, I'm sure they would be bobbing their head too.
• 42:34
  But yeah, if you listen to another genre of music, maybe just keep it PG.
• 42:40
  There you go.
• 42:41
  All right.
• 42:41
  That's, that's the I'm done with my just off the wall questions.
• 42:45
  But okay, listen, if you're
• 42:46
  still listening to us at this point, thank you to the seven of you
• 42:49
  that are like you have these we all have these problems, right?
• 42:52
  - Like, you know, - any semblance of professionalism
• 42:56
  we might have had might have taken a little bit of a hit to it.
• 43:00
  But it's real life, right?
• 43:02
  It is.
• 43:02
  Yeah.
• 43:03
  - It's real life day - day in the life of a real estate photographer.
• 43:05
  - Right. - Exactly.
• 43:07
  Okay. So sorry.
• 43:08
  So let me go back and let's let's see if we can bring some value
• 43:11
  to everyone other than how to use the bathroom.
• 43:14
  So you.
• 43:16
  Oh, Craig, what if the house is not ready?
• 43:18
  This this is going to bring value.
• 43:20
  This is a pain point of everyone.
• 43:21
  So you mentioned in your day yesterday you had a house that was
• 43:24
  how do you handle this situation?
• 43:26
  You walk in, you're like, holy crap.
• 43:28
  They're just they're hoarders or, you know,
• 43:29
  whatever, But the house is not ready.
• 43:31
  So it depends on how unready the house is.
• 43:35
  You're going, okay, you got to take it case by case.
• 43:38
  So yesterday, most of the house was ready.
• 43:41
  They were still picking up a few things on the main floor,
• 43:44
  but they said second floor is completely ready.
• 43:47
  So this was a great teaching opportunity for harmony
• 43:50
  my new photography here in my market.
• 43:53
  I said, no problem.
• 43:54
  We'll start upstairs, We'll shoot all the photos and video up there.
• 43:58
  Give you time to get tidy up, whatever you need here on the bottom floor.
• 44:02
  In the end, you know, the wife said, you know, my husband's out on the back
• 44:05
  porch painting the porch back there.
• 44:08
  that's never a good sign when there's paint out.
• 44:11
  Oh, no.
• 44:12
  So I'm like, So do you not want the backyard shot?
• 44:16
  Oh, she's okay.
• 44:18
  You just you can't walk on the deck, but we can clear out
• 44:21
  for you to take the picture. So my. Okay, okay.
• 44:23
  So you just need to ask some clarifying questions.
• 44:25
  Establish how unready are they?
• 44:29
  So in that case, I just I had
• 44:31
  I did have to wait a little bit for them to clean up some stuff in the backyard.
• 44:36
  But I started on the second floor, just changed my order of my normal shoot
• 44:40
  to accommodate them so that I could still keep the appointment.
• 44:44
  Number one, because the realtor is going to need those photos
• 44:47
  depending on when that listing is going active.
• 44:50
  But you know, number two, putting again, putting the sellers at ease.
• 44:54
  They had some things that they couldn't control.
• 44:57
  Come up in life that put off them being ready for that that shoot.
• 45:01
  Now, about a month ago I had an appointment or there was just
• 45:05
  a total communication breakdown between the realtor and the sellers,
• 45:08
  and the entire house was just not ready and it was not ready to shoot at all.
• 45:15
  I had a sidebar conversation with the agent.
• 45:17
  Thankfully the agent had come, explained what my opinion was.
• 45:21
  I said, But we'll do what you need and I can't stay extra,
• 45:27
  but we can shoot it as is.
• 45:29
  If you absolutely have to have this media or we can reschedule,
• 45:33
  I said.
• 45:34
  He said, Let me go talk to the sellers and take a look at things.
• 45:37
  I said, Yeah, absolutely.
• 45:38
  He comes back out, his head's hanging down.
• 45:41
  Craig, I'm so sorry. You're right.
• 45:43
  That's not ready at all.
• 45:45
  He's said, I'll pay whatever reschedule fee I need to.
• 45:48
  I mean, I didn't even mention the reschedule fee.
• 45:51
  He knew that he'd put us out of, you know,
• 45:56
  off of our schedule. Right.
• 45:57
  And we get it. That's.
• 45:59
  That's part part of the cost of doing business.
• 46:02
  but, you know, I came back, we got the shoot rescheduled,
• 46:05
  came back, shot it. He was super happy.
• 46:07
  The sellers were happy.
• 46:08
  Yeah, it cost me an appointment.
• 46:11
  But that reschedule fee somewhat made up for it.
• 46:14
  So. Yeah, just take take each each instance individually.
• 46:20
  Determine what can you do, what can’t you do and just make a judgment call
• 46:24
  from there.
• 46:26
  Yeah, a small thing, Craig, that I want to point out because it,
• 46:29
  it took some learning, and, and to craft this message was
• 46:34
  if you walk into a house and you realize it's not ready,
• 46:38
  you should not be the person telling the homeowner
• 46:41
  that the house is not ready first.
• 46:45
  Craig said this and it, it's very strategic.
• 46:48
  Are you ready?
• 46:50
  We ask if they are ready.
• 46:53
  Just a real quick side story.
• 46:55
  We had I had a situation once where I had a very unhappy client call me
• 46:59
  and about the fact that we had said that the house wasn't ready.
• 47:04
  We, the photographer, let the homeowners know that the house wasn't ready.
• 47:08
  Like, hey, you know, I don't think we should shoot it the way it is.
• 47:11
  Well, basically, long story short, this homeowner was basically a hoarder
• 47:16
  pre getting the house ready.
• 47:19
  And this is the agent's word.
• 47:20
  So from basically being a hoarder
• 47:23
  to what we consider not ready was worlds different.
• 47:28
  Like it was a thousand times better than what it was.
• 47:32
  You know, they just hauled like, you know, truckloads out of their house
• 47:35
  to get it to where it was at.
• 47:36
  So they're very proud of what they've done.
• 47:40
  And if you walk in and say, hey, you're not up to snuff,
• 47:42
  no matter how nice you say it, you could put yourself in a bad situation.
• 47:47
  Yeah, Yeah, that's a good point.
• 47:50
  So please ask them, are you ready?
• 47:52
  And they'll tell you, like Craig said in his example, the homeowner said,
• 47:57
  Oh, well, my husband's out back painting and then he asked more questions.
• 48:01
  So please, you don't tell them. They're just ask.
• 48:03
  Are you ready? They'll tell you yes or no.
• 48:05
  If they say yes, great.
• 48:07
  And then one more thing I want to point out,
• 48:08
  because this is very important to at the second example that Craig had,
• 48:12
  he said he had a sidebar conversation with the realtor.
• 48:17
  Please do. the realtor is your client.
• 48:21
  Yeah, but you have to make the client's client.
• 48:24
  The homeowner, happy.
• 48:26
  Do not have that conversation with the homeowner.
• 48:29
  Do not please have it with the agent.
• 48:33
  If the agent's not there, call them.
• 48:35
  All you have to do in your portal is tap their number on.
• 48:38
  And your photographer portal, over there, they're just tap, tap them and
• 48:42
  tap the call button and it'll bring it up on your tile pad
• 48:46
  and you'll be able to call them.
• 48:47
  So don't have that conversation with the homeowner.
• 48:49
  Let the agent decide. Decide.
• 48:52
  And if for some reason you can't get a hold, the realtor,
• 48:55
  then you shoot it as is.
• 48:56
  Just explain, Hey, you know, we'll do what we can here.
• 49:01
  We're going to go ahead and shoot it,
• 49:02
  you know, as it is, I can start a different area.
• 49:06
  I do have I would
• 49:08
  tell me if you agree with us or not,
• 49:10
  I would inform in that particular situation, I would let the seller know
• 49:14
  I do have another appointment at this time that I need to leave by this time.
• 49:18
  So that's just just to inform you.
• 49:20
  I will need to get going by this time. But let's get done.
• 49:23
  We can and take care of you the best we can.
• 49:27
  Yes. No.
• 49:28
  Oh yeah. That's very strategic as well.
• 49:30
  Like we set expectations of when we need to leave by
• 49:34
  and we say we'll do everything we can for you until that time.
• 49:38
  But in order
• 49:38
  not to be late to my next appointment, this is when I need to leave by.
• 49:43
  Right.
• 49:44
  And that that's been fine tuned
• 49:46
  that message has been fine tuned over the years as well.
• 49:49
  So that's just the way the you set expectations.
• 49:51
  That's a way you can tell them no, that's the way you don't have to tell them no,
• 49:55
  but you're really telling them no because it's like a course.
• 49:58
  Do they want you to stay two extra hours and clean their house?
• 50:00
  Of course they do.
• 50:02
  But you can't tell them. No, I'm not going to do that.
• 50:04
  You can say, Hey, I'll do everything I can.
• 50:06
  We'll shoot everything we can right now,
• 50:08
  but I need to leave by 4:30 so I'm not late to my next appointment.
• 50:12
  Awesome.
• 50:12
  So those are some difficult situations that we talked about,
• 50:16
  but all part of your workflow.
• 50:18
  all part of your workflow.
• 50:19
  You know, another one we mentioned, what if you can't get in, Craig?
• 50:22
  You got to the house no one answer, No one answer.
• 50:24
  You can't get in?
• 50:25
  right
• 50:26
  Call the realtor or have your office.
• 50:28
  You know, if you're well, you're the owner.
• 50:31
  We're assuming you're the owner.
• 50:32
  Yeah, I would.
• 50:32
  I would call your realtor, explain what the situation is.
• 50:35
  And actually, I started to have that happen this week.
• 50:40
  I had a key that I could not get that locked to release and get in.
• 50:45
  So I was on the phone to the realtor, started explaining, and I'm still jiggling
• 50:50
  the key and as I'm explaining that, I can't get in.
• 50:53
  it turned.
• 50:54
  Finally, I'm like, Debbie, no worries.
• 50:56
  Actually, it just turned, okay, so I just want to make a note that this
• 51:01
  this lock is a little challenging for other realtors
• 51:03
  because there's going to be showings at that house.
• 51:05
  So letting them know of any potential issues that could affect their business
• 51:10
  and and affect their showings,
• 51:12
  I would let them know.
• 51:14
  Yeah. Yeah, that's great.
• 51:15
  Speaking of, if you use a lockbox, you use a lockbox.
• 51:18
  You put the key in the door, you open it up.
• 51:21
  What do you do with the key? At this point?
• 51:22
  I leave it in the door.
• 51:24
  again, a one mistake occurrence that never happened again.
• 51:30
  Don't put that key in your pocket.
• 51:32
  Do not. Holy cow.
• 51:33
  You're going to.
• 51:34
  You're going to forget.
• 51:35
  You're going to, you know, hand turn the lock on the door.
• 51:38
  You're going to walk out. You're going to go to your next listing.
• 51:40
  And there's a showing scheduled after you just shot.
• 51:43
  And now that next realtor can't get in that house, Oh, you're in trouble
• 51:47
  and you're in your 45 minutes across town at the next shoot,
• 51:51
  right
• 51:52
  Not that we've ever done that. You know, we're just.
• 51:55
  We're just never
• 51:55
  Leave that key in the door.
• 51:58
  It works everytime. Yeah.
• 52:00
  You take that key out the door.
• 52:01
  Well this could happen to you as you put it back in.
• 52:04
  Just make sure you hold onto that thing because you if you fumble that thing
• 52:08
  and the front door is a deck
• 52:12
  and that key goes, you drop that key.
• 52:15
  Moore's Law says that that darn key is going to hit.
• 52:17
  It's going to bounce completely vertical and it's going to go down a slit
• 52:21
  that it can barely fit through.
• 52:23
  And it's going to be at the bottom of that deck.
• 52:25
  So hold onto that sucker.
• 52:26
  When you get out of the door, turn Murphy out.
• 52:29
  She's a piece.
• 52:30
  Yeah. Okay.
• 52:31
  So those are some fun, but not fun ones to how we handle them.
• 52:34
  Things happen.
• 52:35
  Just communicate to your agent
• 52:37
  right
• 52:39
  So you are all done. Let's see.
• 52:41
  So we talked about shooting out of order a little bit.
• 52:44
  So, Craig, we have a thing in the system
• 52:46
  we call office alerts and recently notes.
• 52:49
  Right? What are some things?
• 52:51
  Examples of notes that you might need to leave or note down
• 52:54
  about an appointment so that you don't forget it later?
• 52:59
  Yeah.
• 52:59
  So when I'm when I check out of the job.
• 53:02
  Yeah.
• 53:02
  That our photographer portal through Spiro asks some different questions.
• 53:06
  Pace you know how was it?
• 53:07
  Green, yellow, red, you know, traffic light situation.
• 53:11
  I might note that it was shot out of order or if there was a room that the seller
• 53:16
  said, Don't, please don't shoot this room that the realtor didn't tell you.
• 53:20
  I would put a note in there so that we can inform the realtor
• 53:25
  if, you know, if, say, you had drones scheduled
• 53:28
  and it was raining and you weren't able to complete all of the services
• 53:32
  scheduled for that appointment marking it, it was shot partial
• 53:36
  and then explaining in the notes of why that particular service was not completed.
• 53:42
  So that, again, you're informing your team back to the office,
• 53:45
  informing the realtor of the why, taking care of that, rescheduling,
• 53:49
  possibly a service that needs to be done still.
• 53:52
  So yeah, just anything that's out of the ordinary that might need
• 53:55
  to be addressed and just a record kept of is when I would
• 53:58
  add that note to the comments section on the appointments.
• 54:02
  Yeah, that's great.
• 54:03
  That's great advice if you think you're going to remember it
• 54:06
  you're going to as soon as you pull away
• 54:09
  and you get you're forgetting that
• 54:11
  whatever you thought you were going to remember is out of your memory.
• 54:13
  You have no clue.
• 54:14
  And it's a time that you'll get a call two weeks later in the age,
• 54:17
  it's like, Hey, why don't you shoot that third bedroom?
• 54:19
  And you're like, Oh, crap, why didn't I shoot it?
• 54:21
  well, if you left in your notes when you're in your car
• 54:25
  completing the job, homeowners said, Do not shoot the third bedroom.
• 54:30
  You simply go back, you check your notes.
• 54:32
  She's like, Oh, yeah, the homeowner.
• 54:33
  You know, Joyce said she didn't want the third bedroom shot.
• 54:36
  They're like, Oh, okay.
• 54:36
  I okay, well, and then it's not your fault anymore, so please just leave it.
• 54:40
  You know what I do?
• 54:41
  And I don't know if you do this, Craig, but I tapped that location and I hit
• 54:45
  talk the text this probably shown how old I am, but I literally just talk
• 54:49
  what my notes are in the my phone and it just types it out
• 54:52
  and then I hit save and it just saves me from, you know, pecking on my phone.
• 54:57
  I probably should do that.
• 54:58
  But I've gotten pretty fast at pecking on my phone.
• 55:01
  But my mother in law does that.
• 55:03
  She does talk to text for everything.
• 55:06
  Yeah.
• 55:06
  Which can be pretty entertaining, actually.
• 55:09
  Oh, yeah.
• 55:09
  Nick Kellis does in the office here.
• 55:12
  Yeah.
• 55:12
  Everybody calls me Nick Kellis when I talk to text on the phone and in public.
• 55:15
  And I just
• 55:17
  you know,
• 55:17
  what's great is when you leave a voicemail like you're doing, talk to text.
• 55:21
  Hey, Amy, it's so great to hear from you, period.
• 55:29
  Anyway,
• 55:30
  love it.
• 55:31
  Yeah,
• 55:31
  well, Craig, that that, that really takes us through the process.
• 55:35
  So we kind of just skipped over.
• 55:37
  We talked a little bit about the completion process.
• 55:39
  There's 20 years
• 55:40
  that have gone into that completion process and asking, you know, selecting
• 55:44
  a few simple answers and leaving notes and it ties your office together.
• 55:48
  You can leave editor notes. That's all in there.
• 55:51
  You can see that as a demo on the Spiro website if you want.
• 55:53
  But that is pretty.
• 55:55
  You've completed that job and then pretty much rinse and repeat, right?
• 56:00
  Pretty much, yeah.
• 56:01
  It's I mean, it makes it easy in
• 56:05
  what's the word I'm looking for.
• 56:07
  Easily
• 56:09
  replicated.
• 56:10
  Replicated
• 56:11
  Yeah.
• 56:12
  You get into a good pattern and it just that processes make things efficient
• 56:17
  and predictable.
• 56:18
  And realtors like consistency.
• 56:21
  They don't like surprises.
• 56:22
  They deal with enough surprises in their job as it is.
• 56:26
  So if we can provide an efficient workflow
• 56:29
  that serves our clients well, that's going to put their mind at ease and
• 56:35
  they know, okay, I can I can rely on this company
• 56:39
  to give me a consistent product and service,
• 56:41
  and you're not giving them a reason to leave you.
• 56:46
  They're going to stick with you.
• 56:47
  They're going to be more loyal because they know that your system works
• 56:50
  so that workflows are important.
• 56:54
  Yeah, such a good point.
• 56:55
  If any good agent has
• 56:58
  the same workflows for their business, they're very strategic
• 57:02
  about how they list a house, how they market, how they get a house ready.
• 57:06
  And if you have a system and you have a process
• 57:09
  and you can communicate it to them, it just fits into their system.
• 57:13
  I can't tell you how many people,
• 57:14
  how many realtors over the years have built some of their system
• 57:17
  around our system because they just know what to expect.
• 57:19
  They appreciate it.
• 57:19
  They can count on it every single time.
• 57:22
  And these are relationships, some of them I've worked with for 20 years
• 57:25
  still use us.
• 57:26
  So yeah, it can really be an asset to your business.
• 57:30
  Craig Yeah, just ending here.
• 57:31
  Craig, Hey listeners out there, do you do something different?
• 57:34
  Do we miss something today, Do you disagree with I'm
• 57:38
  I'm not saying we have the end all, be all, but tell us your bathroom story.
• 57:42
  I mean, keep it PG in the notes below, but tell us what you do
• 57:45
  when the house is vacant. Maybe.
• 57:47
  I don't know. We talk about listen to music.
• 57:49
  Maybe some of you are
• 57:51
  more productive and you do something else.
• 57:53
  I don't know what it is, but tell us your stories.
• 57:55
  This is kind of the fun where we can bring the community together.
• 57:58
  Or if you want to email it to us.
• 58:00
  hello@spiro.media emailed to me.
• 58:02
  We'll read some of them over the next couple of weeks in the podcast.
• 58:06
  This is how we build community.
• 58:07
  We all have the same problems and gaps out there, so
• 58:11
  hopefully you laughed at me a little bit today
• 58:14
  and my ideas and yeah, I always love it when that happens.
• 58:19
  So it was, it was it was nice to have the tables turned a little bit
• 58:22
  and may not be the one that was getting Yeah, I think we are
• 58:25
  - now I'm getting the face tattoo - there there you go.
• 58:30
  So send us your story and will laugh at you.
• 58:33
  Laugh with you.
• 58:34
  You know.
• 58:38
  You’re killing it, Todd.
• 58:40
  Save me, Craig. I'm done. I'm out of words.
• 58:42
  So if if you haven't subscribed to this podcast,
• 58:46
  - They’re going to do it now - and we haven't insulted you,
• 58:49
  please click the like and the subscribe button.
• 58:54
  Any shares are greatly appreciated as well.
• 58:56
  If you find and found some value or at least some entertainment
• 58:59
  in this, at the very least, feel free to share this.
• 59:03
  You know, if you're part of the Facebook
• 59:05
  real estate photography groups or whatever.
• 59:07
  Yeah, yeah. We just any way we can
• 59:11
  contribute to this community, we'd love to.
• 59:14
  And just thank you guys for for watching, for listening,
• 59:17
  for sharing comments, asking questions.
• 59:19
  We appreciate all that.
• 59:20
  And again, you can email us hello@spiro.media.
• 59:24
  We do try to respond to the YouTube comments.
• 59:28
  Usually it's me responding.
• 59:30
  I don't always get to them right away because I'm out shooting and dealing with customers
• 59:34
  as well.
• 59:35
  But we will try and respond to those those comments as well.
• 59:38
  But just appreciate you guys.
• 59:40
  Make sure, Todd, Anything else you have before I
• 59:44
  Echo that, you said it much better than I.
• 59:47
  You're too kind.
• 59:48
  Anyway, Make sure if you have the time.
• 59:51
  No, make the time.
• 59:52
  Not if you have the time.
• 59:53
  Make the time to be thankful for the blessings in your life.
• 59:56
  Not just your business, but all the blessings in your life.
• 59:59
  Make sure you take a breath and have a great week.
• 1:00:02
  Talk to you guys later.
• 1:00:04
  Thank you for joining us for the Spiro Podcast,
• 1:00:06
  Managing your real estate photography and videography business.
• 1:00:10
  This is a production of Spiro and wow video tours.
• 1:00:14
  You can find out more about Spiro
• 1:00:16
  is real estate, media, business management software at our Web site.
• 1:00:20
  spiro.media.