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Answering Real Estate Photographer Questions · The Spiro Podcast: Managing your Real Estate Photography & Videography Business

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Coming up on this episode of The Spiro podcast.
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So we're going to answer some just general business questions, if I'm correct, Todd.
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So we're going to answer some just general business questions, if I'm correct, Todd.
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So we're going to answer some just general business questions, if I'm correct, Todd.
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Welcome to the Spiro podcast.
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Managing your real estate photography and videography business
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with your hosts, Todd Kivimaki
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and Craig Magrum.
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Hi, and welcome to the Spiro podcast,
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Managing your real estate photography and videography Business.
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Spiro is a software platform designed to help you manage
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and grow your day to day real estate Visual Marketing Company.
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I'm your host, Craig Magrum.
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Welcome to the podcast.
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We're all about growing your business, sharing business knowledge
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in the real estate media field and with us each and every week,
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our co-host, and Spiro founder and owner Todd Kivimaki.
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Welcome back, Todd.
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Craig, Hello, It's great to be here.
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Good to be back on with all of you all.
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Sorry we took a week off last week, but
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have some exciting things in the show today and just great to be back on.
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- And it is busy season and holy cow, - no doubt.
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Yeah. All of a sudden it's like the floodgates opened.
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Yeah, it's like we felt like our head was sewn to the carpet.
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Our hair was on fire.
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Use what ever expression you want, but
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we're feeling it at our company, so hopefully that means you are too.
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And I told the team this this morning on our Friday
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morning meeting that we have once a week is that
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we're doing numbers and at our real estate media company, we're going to eclipse
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any numbers in the past that we've ever done.
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I haven't started yet.
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Okay.
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So for those of you that might not know, there was on April the eighth,
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we had an eclipse total, you know, totality, full lunar
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solar eclipse go through our neck of the woods.
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Actually, the center line was almost directly
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right over our main office, wasn't it, Todd?
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It was, yes. Yeah.
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So there was a bunch of hype.
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So, yeah, for this part of the world, it was a big day on, on Monday the eighth.
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So I saw what you did there, Todd.
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Yeah. Excuse.
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And I didn't even do it.
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I have to admit, I stole it from Steve in our meeting
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because Steve did this morning, so I'm not even that clever.
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I just. I'm lazy, and I reuse things.
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I used to have a colleague that said, Hey, if you.
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If you steal it for me, you've stolen twice.
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Yeah, I love it.
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Yeah, that's true for me.
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Right.
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Anyway, okay, so yeah, so I told the team this morning that we are going,
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we are heading towards numbers
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and volume that we have never done before.
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Now we've done a lot of jobs before.
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We did 12,000 jobs two years ago, just over 10,000 last year.
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We think that's going to
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I don't want to jinx, but we think that's going to be upwards to 14,000 this year.
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So those that is a big jump considering we go from 10000
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to 14000 in a year.
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So I just reminded the team that we're going to break the shell
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so think of your business as the shell.
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And in order to grow the shell,
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you have to put cracks in the shell.
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Cracks are painful.
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Cracks need some attention,
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but cracks are a good thing if you want to grow.
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So sometimes we just have to step back when we are very busy.
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And I I'm not saying it's not stressful.
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I'm not saying that your clients aren't rude.
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I'm not saying that you are doing more and working longer than you ever have.
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But I'm saying that if you want to grow your business,
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those cracks are a good thing because they
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conclude that you are growing.
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So just if that's you this morning
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and you're listening and it's been a long week
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or you're back on the road again and you are maybe dreading it a little bit
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after a nice weekend off, some of those feelings are natural.
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That's just you being a human.
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Try to take your thoughts above the line.
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Look at the positive you've done.
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And I'm a firm believer, and I know you are Craig as well, that the
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glass is always half full.
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And yes, I might be a little naive on some things,
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but I would rather be a little naive and be positive because I believe
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that can take me further than being pessimistic and negative on everything.
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So give yourself the credit for what you're doing.
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It's not easy.
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- If it was easy, everyone would do it - right.
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And let me be real, Todd.
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You were very kind. And to say, Craig, I'm sure you're the same way.
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The glass is half full, even even trying to live that way.
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There are times, though, where it does flip a little bit and you do
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kind of get a little pessimist.
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You can get pessimistic and see the glass is half empty.
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And I would just encourage you during those times, take a step back,
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take a breath.
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That's what Spiro explains, is take a breath
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and surround yourself with some people that are going to speak live and breathe
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some life into and just encourage you, because we can't do this on our own.
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Being a business owner, a lot of times it feels like you're on your own
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and sometimes you are.
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But try and be purposeful in surrounding yourself
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with people that will invest back into you and get that.
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That mindset and that outlook
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changed back around to that optimistic look that you're known for.
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Yeah, I agree.
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And Craig, I might just be speaking on a limb here,
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maybe too much and maybe this is going to cause you to turn this thing off
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and that's okay.
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Maybe maybe this will just be too much for you. But
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one thing that I've done lately,
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my wife is incredibly intelligent, insightful, and always calm, you know?
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So we had a we had a day yesterday, a day in quotations.
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And every, you know, the clients, we shot a ton of tours.
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Clients were unhappy, like they're always going to be
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and not percentage wise more, but just more of them were unhappy.
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It's a little bit harder to get on the schedule.
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People.
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Agents are a little more busy, so they wait a little bit longer.
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They want it all tomorrow morning at 9 a.m.
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and then when they do something, they want you to change it, even though
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they've done it and it's not their fault and they're grumpy and they're angry.
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And we had a little bit of bickering
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among the team because we were all stressed out and busy.
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And, you know, it was just I felt like I was trying to manage emotions yesterday
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and I was preparing tw presentations and no violin for Todd.
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Like, I love the day. It was great.
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And and it was fitting that as I went to go walk out, I looked up at the ceiling
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in the office and I don't know, for some reason something caught my eye.
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I looked up at the ceiling and of course I have a leak in the roof
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and I just smiled and I was like,
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That is just a complete fitting end to the day
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that now it's been raining for two days here in Ohio.
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My roof is leaking.
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And when I bought the building
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that had a new roof, so I never thought the roof was going to need any adjustment.
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But that is just life.
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So let me fast forward, go home, talk to my wife, Jessica, about some things.
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And and she's like, do you ever pray for these people, like in their office?
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And I'm like,
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and again, if this makes you turn it off, then I'm sorry.
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But and even if I was like and they're like, well, that's kind of uncomfortable.
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But no, I don't.
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And, and I did this morning and I did for the team.
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And and that is important to me, I think being intentional.
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And I think no matter what your feelings are like,
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I believe truly that God is my source of joy
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and he can do everything and he is going to provide for me.
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So why wouldn't I lean on him?
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So that was one thing that I'm doing.
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If you're a believer, if you're not praying for those around you, then
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then I would encourage you to.
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I might incredibly intelligent and thoughtful wife was like,
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Well, why aren't you doing this?
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It's like, Well, why aren't I?
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So And if that makes you uncomfortable, I'm sorry, but not sorry.
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But that was something that my wife shared with me that I'm practicing now
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and literally went into the offices this morning and
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and I you know, I'm excited about what the future is going to bring.
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And I trust that he is going to have a plan for me.
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So, yeah, that's my soapbox, Craig.
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And, you know, thanks for listening to me.
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But I, I do believe that there's a lot to it.
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Yeah.
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You know, there's times
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you said, no, I don't pray for people. And,
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you know, there's times where even if you're a solid believer
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and you have a strong faith in God, you go through desert times
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and times where you get involved in your work day
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and you just kind of it's not that you're trying to do it on purpose,
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but you kind of forget about God
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because we've just got
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so many immediate things that we have to address right in the moment.
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And, you know, funny enough, this came up.
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I'm part of a men's leadership cohort at our church
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and we talked about that exact situation where we're in our work day
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and it's easy to just get caught up in our day to day activities.
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There's nothing wrong with that.
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We have responsibilities, we have work we have to do.
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We're called to be productive, right?
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But rather than relegate God to a Sunday morning,
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if we truly say we believe what we believe, then he should be
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part of every moment of our life, including our work.
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But man, it's so easy to forget about that
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in in the hustle and bustle, especially of a busy season.
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Right.
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But yeah, what a good reminder.
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And our white men, our wives, our spouses, if you're a woman watching this as well,
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or if you have a spouse, what it is that we might have tough times with them.
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We all do.
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You know, relationships aren’t perfect, but what a blessing they are, especially
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when they compliment us and encourage us to keep our focus where it needs to be.
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So kudos to Jessica for doing that.
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Gayle does the same thing for me, so very lovingly, very gently.
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Hey, have you considered this?
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And it's like, Yeah, you're right.
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Craig? Yes?
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You and I picked some good ones.
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It's important, though, then.
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Seriously, you know, if I look back over the growth of Wow and Spiro and,
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you know, my wife was always there for me.
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It's important to have good support.
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And if you don't have that person right now, find those people in your life.
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I'm not saying you have to go out and find that,
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you know, a significant other, but find a support system in your life.
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It's incredibly important because when you feel like it's all you.
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I went through periods of my life where I felt like it was.
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I had to do everything. It was all on my shoulders.
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No one could help me.
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And those were some really, really tough years of my life.
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good stuff.
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All right, well, let's shift gears and get into things
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before well, before we get into our main subject material this week.
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Some Spiro Wins happening right now.
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Yeah, I'm excited. I'm going to read them here.
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So I'm going to look away on camera.
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But Kenny with REPP sent us over about one of his coaching students.
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Tyler and Tyler messaged in and said, I hit the 15
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K month mark and it's no coincidence. Yes.
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And it's no coincidence that less than a month since I switched to
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Spiro, it's been less than a month since I switched to Spiro and raised prices.
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So awesome. Super excited. Yeah.
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Got in there, made
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the switch, got his packages bundles, made some adjustment to his prices
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made it easier for agents to order more and he hit 15 K So what an accomplishment.
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Great job. Tyler Awesome.
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Another one.
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Marcus. So Marcus said I made my first merge Fleet video yesterday
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at the last job I shot for free for a client just to give it a shot.
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I'm excited to sell more of these on my transactions.
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We're just cool. Like, I think it's pretty cool.
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You went through that.
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He did some of the training and then he's like, Hey, just impromptu.
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Do you want a video? And he shot one.
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But this was cool.
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This was even the better, this message after he said, I had an old client
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from three years ago hit me up and ask me if my pricing has changed.
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Originally he wanted my 299 package, but then after realizing
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he could, I could get them a video for 149.
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He said his budget opened up
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and he ended up purchasing
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over $600 worth of services
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and booked fully through Spiro.
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Awesome.
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It was incredible, really.
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It was an incredible moment and I'm really thankful to be part of Spiro.
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I'm very, very excited to continue to grow into the full Spiro workflow.
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That's awesome, man. That's exciting.
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Yeah, so that's pretty cool.
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You know, you see double what the client one of the one of the order
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and this is just this is the power that our real estate
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media company, Wow Video Tours have had and we've done forever
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we've always coupled video, we've always given video.
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When I started 20 years ago and it seemed like next year was always going
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to be the year of the video and it still seems like that.
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I said that for 20 years, like this year, next year is the year of video
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and there's never going to be like a year of video.
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Video is a huge proponent of marketing.
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No matter what you look at out there,
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all of the social media channels favor it.
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It's more captivating.
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It can create emotion,
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and you've got this cool tool that we call the merge fleet
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that allows you to go out and be creative and shoot.
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And we have training for you.
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We tell you how to do it. It's free training.
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You can come back, upload your clips and for as little as $10,
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that edit will be done for you
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and you'll have a sellable product.
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You know, I'm just reading through the lines here
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a little bit, but Marcus said I could get them a video for Yeah, he charged.
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149 so. 149 your cost is $10.
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You're in the house like 20 minutes and we tell you how to shoot it.
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We give you all the training right?
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I mean, if you're saying, Hey, I don't do video, I know photos.
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I really like taking photos.
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I have no clue about video.
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We've done the hard work for you, Ryan.
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My head, my director of training, who's done this
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for over a
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decade, knows video, teaches video.
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He created the course.
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It's out there, it's free, and you can add video to your services
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and then you can start putting it online in your Spiro shopping cart.
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And you can be and you can if you're used to taking a 299 order,
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you can be pleasantly surprised that there's a $600 plus order
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sitting for you that you didn't have to do anything, you didn't have to upsell.
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It's just sitting there waiting for you to go and shoot.
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I started with photo only when I first started my business
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before I teamed up with Wow and and Spiro eventually.
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And I went through video training as well.
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Folks, I'm telling you, this training is so well laid out
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and so thorough and down to earth that
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if I can do it, anybody can do it.
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Did, didn't we? Trained?
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Didn't Ryan trained his daughter as well in this course.
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Yeah. So Ryan has an 11.
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Well, she was 11 at the time, 11 year old daughter Stella.
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And he trained her that that was our that was our motto.
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And use test, dummy.
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You know, that was our figuratively test dummy.
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Let's hope Ryan doesn't watch this.
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Yeah.
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When she's almost like a daughter to me.
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I know Stella well, so literally, we took his 11 year old daughter
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through the training, and she shot really good video
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cinematic walk through videos that the merge fully edited. Yep.
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So she can do it.
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You can do it. - right right.
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Great way to grow your business.
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If you want more information about what Spiro is,
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maybe this is your first time tuning in or you've been listening for a while
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and you're curious about Spiro or the merge fleet.
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You can visit Spiro.media.
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There's a demo on there.
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There's features and benefits on there.
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There's a chat bubble if you have questions.
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Also, once you sign up and it's free to sign
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up, we also give you 20 credits to play with.
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So you can sign up. You can have a system.
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There's a full nine step video series that gets you up and running,
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and a couple of our two, two or three hour time
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blocks, you can go through the series, be completely up and running,
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have that on your order page and get those orders coming in for you.
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Right.
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And if you're like, Hey, I'm just really comfortable in my system.
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We know there's some other good systems out there.
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Yep, of course we think we do things better.
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But if you want to add video,
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you can just use the merge fleet as standalone.
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Sign up for Spiro. It's in there.
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You can run as many test projects you would like through the system
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and it's free.
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So once you log in to Spiro, click merge fleet,
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upload your clips, click test output.
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It's free.
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We put a watermark on there.
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Yeah, but it doesn't cost anything.
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You can train for free. We all the training for you.
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So some really great tools for you to grow your business.
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There are things that we use.
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They're kind of like our hidden secrets,
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hidden gems, and we're happy to give them to you.
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It's taken us 20 years to get here, and we're happy to share them with you
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Our our whole thing is we like to see you succeed.
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That I mean, that's the purpose of this podcast
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is we talk about the business side of of real estate media, right?
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There's a lot of great channels, YouTube channels and podcasts out there
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on the creative side.
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Fantastic information that we encourage you to check those things out,
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but we want you to have a solid business that is sustainable
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and you can grow as well to take care of yourself, your family,
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your, you know, your loved ones and your clients obviously.
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So yeah, we're happy to celebrate your successes with you.
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Yeah.
18:18
And it's so interesting that I'll be done with this shortly, Craig.
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But if I, if you think about like how life changing
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it is to, like, hit that first 15K month, you know, Tyler
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hit his 15, how would that change your life to have a business that
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you have started and you own this thing, This is your baby and you hit 15k?
18:38
We had another listener.
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We had another viewer last night, Eli Jones and I, we did a
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a YouTube live on metrics.
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If you'd like to check it out, go over to YouTube, search
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@it'sEliJones and click the live tab.
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But we talked all about metrics and Jeremy message
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and he's like, Yeah, it's like I went to Metrics and he's like,
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I realize I did a 35K last month and I believe he's a single photographer.
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Yes, I believe he's a single photographer.
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He might have won part time losing, but I believe it's mostly him.
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And you know, that's really cool.
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Like all those metrics are in there, the metrics that we run,
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you know, we do a few million dollars a year in our business.
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That's all there for you to realize what your business is.
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It's it's a track to run on.
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And we're excited to hear all this,
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you know, great feedback about how your business is growing.
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Yeah, absolutely.
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Already while some great wins.
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Thanks for sharing those, Todd.
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- That's awesome. - Yeah, my pleasure.
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All right.
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Well, anything else?
19:39
Any updates for Spiro before we dive into the main meat of the topic this week,
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we've got exciting things coming.
19:46
We just did a soft launch of translation.
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I know some of you this does not impact, but we had a lot of international users
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and there is no one that translates out there.
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So that is launched and that's in there.
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If you'd like to be included in the pre launch,
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let us know it's by invite only.
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So just messages in the portal that's coming.
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A lot of UI finesse is vertical for merge fleet.
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Lots of cool things come in but let's get on with the show.
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I've talked a lot about Spiro. This is a shameless plug.
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for Spiro, rightfully so.
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yeah, well, the Facebook groups that I talk about real estate photography
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and videography and whatnot always have such great questions,
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a lot of spirited debate and input and whatnot.
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So we thought we'd we'd take some some
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listener and
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viewer and participant questions and just kind of answer some of those questions.
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This isn't necessarily meant to be answered, questions about Spiro,
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but we're answering just questions
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about business in general and in real estate, photography and video.
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And if you are looking and I say this because the last time we did a user's
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question episode, we got a little bit of feedback,
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Hey, are you going to give us some answer,
20:59
some questions about Spiro or do some tutorials and whatnot?
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You can get all of that at our website.
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I just want to give this to you right now, just so you know what to expect in
21:07
in the next few minutes, you can get all that tutorial information
21:10
and answers about questions about Spiro at Spiro.media.
21:14
And in the top of there is a link called Knowledge Base.
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If you click on knowledge base,
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there's a lot of great information, tutorial videos, tutorial articles,
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a lot of FAQs on the Spiro software,
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a lot of FAQs on the Spiro software,
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and that would be the best place for you to go to find that kind of information.
21:31
So we're going to answer some just general business questions, if I'm correct, Todd.
21:32
So we're going to answer some just general business questions, if I'm correct, Todd.
21:33
So we're going to answer some just general business questions, if I'm correct, Todd.
21:34
So we're going to answer some just general business questions, if I'm correct, Todd.
21:37
We are, Yeah.
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I went through the groups. I typed out the first five.
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I thought, they're all good questions. They're going to vary a little bit.
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Some are business, some aren’t, but I thought this would be a great round robin.
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And also if you have questions, email us.
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Hello@spiro.media.
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We'll throw them on here, give you a plug and give you an answer.
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There you go.
21:55
All right. So what is the first question you ran across?
21:58
Yes, first question, Craig, what is the best way to study for your part 107?
22:06
well, I'll give my initial It's been a while since I studied.
22:11
I don't have to renew for another year, I think.
22:14
But the FAA provides a study
22:17
guide that you can download right from the Part 107 website.
22:21
I don't remember what that link is right now, but I'm sure you'll answer that.
22:24
But I also, when I first got my license,
22:27
I subscribed to a service called Remote Pilot 101.
22:31
I believe it is dot com.
22:33
Shoot, I forget the guy's name.
22:35
He's down in Ocala, Florida.
22:37
Really good guy.
22:38
I'm going to have to go back and find that information.
22:40
But I subscribe to that study course.
22:43
He updates videos, the changing rules and regulations.
22:47
Yeah, Every time I have to renew my part 107
22:50
I just go back to that website
22:51
and go through the tutorial videos and study that way as well.
22:56
Awesome.
22:57
I got to I have to raise my hand here that I,
22:59
I've never studied for it because I don't have it.
23:02
I, I remember I'm the old person here in the room.
23:07
I used to fly drone before you had to have had a 107
23:12
So that is, that is, you know, we flew them before.
23:16
There was no phantom like you had the piecemeal
23:19
engines and batteries and transmitters and receivers together
23:23
and it was like this Franken copter there was
23:27
107 wasn't even a thing.
23:29
So that's the last time I flew a drone.
23:33
But I've gone to our wow training that Ryan has put together.
23:36
He's linked a few documents here.
23:38
I'm just going to give them to that FAA document.
23:43
Craig, I believe is called remote pilot, Small unmanned
23:47
aircraft systems, Airman's certification standards.
23:50
So if you search that, I have the URL, he notes, but it's on FA.gov.
23:55
But if you search that, that's a PDF we have that linked in our training.
23:59
Also Ryan has link.
24:02
They have a study guide.
24:05
So again on the FAA website, remote pilots,
24:08
small unmanned aircraft system study guide.
24:12
That is something that we give our photographers.
24:15
And then on YouTube and there's a ton on YouTube.
24:18
I know that Robert, this is just the one we have linked.
24:21
It is by Tony and Chelsea Northup.
24:24
It's called Free Drone Certification Study Guide
24:26
FAA Part 107 SUAS Test.
24:31
They probably lots out there.
24:34
They have great content.
24:36
If you've never watched their channel before, just photography in general.
24:40
I recognize that name when you said it.
24:43
Oh, I have to check.
24:43
I feel embarrassed to say I have not check them out, but I'm going to do it.
24:48
And and yeah, give give them give them a look in.
24:52
Go study for that thing and go take it.
24:54
Okay.
24:55
Craig, Question number two, How do you communicate to your realtors
25:00
that Cubicasa floor plans are not to be used
25:03
for official MLS measurements?
25:08
well, does that depend on the MLS?
25:11
It does because
25:13
some MLS is throughout the country.
25:16
They require
25:19
they require dimension
25:21
or they require total square footage for the house.
25:25
Typically you get total square footage by measuring each room
25:29
and then adding up the rooms.
25:30
Or you can take the exterior minus the wall thickness and a few other things.
25:35
But yes, there are some MLS is that do require that and then others that don't.
25:40
So Craig, most of hours they
25:43
you can put your measurements into the MLS,
25:45
but there's no standard to say that these measurements need to be accurate.
25:49
They need to be taken by a professional
25:52
and they need to be within 5% accuracy.
25:56
Right?
25:57
I was gonna say, because I know one of our markets is very strict on that,
26:01
but the market that I'm in and serve
26:04
there, those requirements don't exist.
26:07
Yes. Craig Correct.
26:08
In one of our markets, Charlotte, North Carolina, they do have that requirement
26:12
that accurate room measurements need to be provided.
26:17
And what we do, because we use Cubicasa to scan
26:21
and we know that it cannot be used to meet those requirements.
26:26
So we put down that the floor plans are for marketing only.
26:30
And actually in it we state that
26:33
they're not to be used for
26:37
dimension or total square footage.
26:41
And then also one other step beyond that, because a lot of people,
26:44
you know, they'll only read so much of your description.
26:48
We literally
26:50
we call those individuals and just confirm when they do order those measurements.
26:54
So if it's if it's a client that's never order measurements before we call them,
26:58
I guess we still find that they see measurements
27:01
on the order page, like, Oh great.
27:03
Or they see floor plan and they don't pick up for the fact
27:06
they don't pick up right away that we say it's for marketing only.
27:09
Don't use this for measurements. They don't read that.
27:12
So we call them and say, Hey, you know, thanks so much for the order.
27:15
I see that you ordered our floorplan option.
27:18
I do just want to make sure that you understand that
27:20
this is just for marketing.
27:22
So we’ll scan it.
27:24
You'll get a floor plan.
27:25
These are rough measurements.
27:28
They cannot be used to meet the MLS requirements,
27:32
but I just want to make sure that that, that you still wanted
27:34
this, that you wanted us to keep floorplan on your order
27:37
or did you want to change it and hire another company to do a floor plan?
27:41
I'll bet you they appreciate that phone call
27:44
and the honesty and the integrity that we're providing as a company.
27:47
When we do that,
27:50
they do an in,
27:50
even though sometimes sometimes it's like, Yeah, I'll use it.
27:54
It's no problem because some of them
27:56
are I don't know, I don't want to speak for them,
27:58
but some of them it's like, yeah, I'm just going to use it.
28:00
But some of them don't understand that and they do appreciate that.
28:04
And even though
28:05
they have to call another provider that's licensed in that state to do it,
28:08
it's being proactive with your clients.
28:11
And also that call is a lot easier
28:15
to make than receiving
28:18
the call from an unhappy agent who is like, Why did you give me
28:23
measurements that are 300 or 500 square feet less
28:28
than what
28:29
the last measurements were a year ago when the house sold?
28:32
Yeah,
28:33
not a fun conversation to have to have.
28:36
No, not at all.
28:37
So that's the way we do it.
28:38
- Pick and choose what you want from there. - There you go.
28:41
All right, question number three.
28:43
Question number three, what file size you deliver, your high quality
28:48
and web images to your clients?
28:51
Good question.
28:53
I'm not going to answer that.
28:58
Sorry.
28:58
I just I sat there for a minute because I,
29:02
I should have picked up on that quicker that you were passing it back to me.
29:04
Yeah, I'm not I'm not answering that.
29:06
I don't know that off the top of my head,
29:10
what we do and we've done it for a long time,
29:12
3000 pixels on the long end, the horizontal side at 300 DPI
29:16
for high quality images, a 3000 by 300 DPI.
29:21
You can print that sucker pretty big.
29:23
Okay, you're not going to a billboard, but you're printing anything
29:26
that the agent needs, any type of publication.
29:29
Then inside of Spiro, we have our system set for 2000 pixels
29:34
at 72 DPI, so Spiro is going to automatically resize for you.
29:39
You can pick anything from 2500 pixels and below.
29:42
Some of this is it might be good to make a quick phone call to your MLS and ask
29:46
if they have any requirements
29:49
for photos that the agents upload to the MLS
29:55
because they're all different.
29:56
Let me ask this question then, Todd.
29:59
Does Spiro offer an option to set a custom size,
30:04
say because of a different requirement that an MLS might have?
30:10
Yeah, great question. It does.
30:11
So you can just go
30:12
right into your settings, my company, and then you will be to set.
30:15
So if your MLS says, Hey, we really need them at 1500 pixels,
30:20
then you can go in there and select 1500.
30:23
Just a quick user tip is typically
30:26
an MLS isn't going to tell you the pixels that they need.
30:29
They're going to tell you a size requirement, a limit.
30:33
So if you're finding your files are too large,
30:37
then go ahead and go into settings my company and make your web
30:41
optimized image size a little bit lower and see what that does to the file size.
30:46
That's how you can get your agents what they need to go to the MLS.
30:50
Got it. Good information.
30:52
Craig, number four. Any recommendations
30:55
on insurance, good question.
30:59
Not a fun one, but it's a good one.
31:00
Now remember a couple of weeks ago, maybe a month or two ago,
31:03
you made fun of me for saying that we should talk about insurance.
31:06
Oh, Craig, you're talking about the exciting stuff there.
31:08
Safe, legitimate question right here.
31:11
I feel like I would never give you a hard time or make fun of you.
31:14
I feel vindicated right now.
31:18
Legitimate business question.
31:21
And I'm even the one that that found these questions.
31:23
Why did I not leave that off the question lists?
31:29
I'm just going to sit back and enjoy this one.
31:32
You should usually. I'll take this one.
31:34
Okay. You enjoy this one. This is a great question.
31:37
It's an easy answer.
31:39
Yes. Call someone local, so don't fill out online.
31:43
No, no, don't do it yourself.
31:45
Call someone local.
31:46
If you don't know someone local, call calling a real estate agent.
31:50
They know an insurance person.
31:52
Call your mother, then call that
31:56
right. mom
31:58
Call the insurance.
31:59
Yeah, Mom, who do we use for insurance?
32:01
All right, then call that person and say, Hey, I've started a business
32:04
or I have a business.
32:05
This is what I do.
32:06
I just want to make sure that I'm protected.
32:08
I have a few questions about liability insurance.
32:11
What about equipment? Insurance? Will you insure my drone?
32:13
Whatever your questions are, take it to them and then ask them.
32:17
Do you see any other places
32:19
where I might have some liability where I need coverage?
32:22
Yeah, they might have some great suggestions
32:25
as to how you need to be protected.
32:29
I use a local guy in Lima and so if you're in Ohio,
32:32
you can using this is a shameless pitch because he's a good buddy of mine.
32:36
But Michael Sarno with Webb insurance, WEBB
32:39
Insurance, look him up.
32:41
He's taking care of me forever.
32:43
He saved me a lot of headache.
32:46
And it's great to work with a local company.
32:48
And speaking of Michael, Todd, I don't know if you should remember this, but early
32:52
in the early days of our podcast, we actually had Michael join us on the podcast
32:57
to talk about insurance and we'll put a we'll put a link
33:02
in the
33:03
description and maybe even one of those cards
33:06
that you can click on on the video if you're watching YouTube that links
33:09
you back to that, that video as well, if you want to check that out.
33:14
Yes, it's of those things that it's like, oh, I have to be an adult and go get it.
33:20
Yes, you do.
33:20
But when something bad happens, you have to have it.
33:25
There's this sense of security that, wow, you're taking care of
33:28
because it can be devastating if you don't have it, right.
33:32
Yeah.
33:33
Ask about umbrella policies.
33:34
You just get educated what you need.
33:36
That's a good one.
33:37
Yeah, that's a good one. Craig Yeah, Yeah.
33:39
Because it's been raining a lot here lately, but
33:43
yeah, that was terrible.
33:45
Sorry, that was pretty bad start.
33:47
That was really bad.
33:48
All right, you all can boo me.
33:50
We need a button where you can boo me. Like, just
33:53
we're going to get some thumbs downs on the on the YouTube channel.
33:56
What is said on there?
33:59
I think it is, yes.
34:02
Please, y'all we love.
34:03
You were nice. Don't thumbsdown.
34:05
Okay.
34:06
Craig, do you have a pre shoot checklist that you send to your clients?
34:10
Yes, we do.
34:12
And it goes out with every appointment confirmation
34:15
sent out from Spiro as well.
34:17
That funny enough,
34:19
your realtors are still going to miss.
34:22
I actually just had that happen in the last week
34:24
or two, Todd, where the seller was not ready.
34:28
And when I got to the appointment,
34:31
it was kind of an outlying appointment in the house was just a disaster.
34:36
And the people were like, Well, we're we're trying to still get ready.
34:38
And the agent, thankfully, the realtor came up
34:42
and I waited outside and said, Hey, look, the house just is not ready.
34:47
It's, you know, for professional photos and video, we'll shoot it
34:50
as is if you'd like us to still do it.
34:54
But my suggestion would be we really should reschedule.
34:57
And he I said, But I want you to go in and take a look.
34:59
Let me know what you want us to do.
35:01
And he went in and he came back out real sheepish, is like,
35:04
Craig, I'm so sorry that I brought you all the way out here.
35:08
Yeah, we had a misunderstanding.
35:09
They didn't understand.
35:11
I said, Did you happen to get the getting ready guide?
35:13
He goes, I know you said that, and I didn't send it to him.
35:16
He forgot.
35:17
So yes, getting ready
35:19
guide is a great tool.
35:20
Even when they miss it, they the realtor knew it was on him.
35:24
We gave the suggestions of what you know, the house needs to be
35:28
what needs to be done, preparation for that professional appointment.
35:31
But yes, always, always, always
35:34
have that checklist ready and sent through your system.
35:38
Get it to them, get it in their hands,
35:40
make sure they understand they need to get that to their client in spiro.
35:44
Tell us about that feature where you can even include the seller on.
35:48
Yes. So inside of
35:49
Spiro, and this is just a cool moment where, you know, Craig
35:53
recognized that it wasn't ready the agent is like, oh goodness, I messed up.
35:57
I didn't get it.
35:58
This is a point, to where, you know, we can educate the client.
36:01
And when you have this, you can educate your client that, hey,
36:04
you don't even need to send it to your seller.
36:07
All we have to do is put your homeowner the seller on the order,
36:11
and then the system will automatically send them a welcome message
36:15
that has a link to the Getting Ready website, set expectations
36:19
and let them know when and the time of their appointment.
36:24
It lets them know the name of their photographer
36:27
how to prepare, the length of their appointment.
36:30
So it's very important to set proper expectations.
36:33
They'll get that welcome message they get a one day before reminder
36:37
with much of the same information and then they get in
36:40
one appointment before reminder automatically.
36:43
So this is just a really cool thing that you can give your agents
36:48
and you it shows that you understand them in the process.
36:52
And it's again, it's something that took us nearly two decades to create
36:56
and figure out, but it just works and it shows support for your agents.
37:00
So now that agent that Craig talked about, I'm sure he'll put his homeowners on
37:04
every single time
37:05
and then he doesn't have to worry about for him the getting ready guide.
37:09
Yeah, yeah.
37:10
It's funny when when you do your professional work of preparing the agent
37:15
and the seller for that appointment with that Getting ready guide,
37:18
they know what's on them.
37:20
And he said, I know there's a reschedule fee.
37:24
Excuse me, I know there's a reschedule fee.
37:26
Whatever it is, I will take care of that.
37:28
I'm sorry I brought you out here.
37:30
He knew we did our part, and a good client is going to recognize that.
37:35
And in understand and work with them.
37:38
They won't put it back on you.
37:40
Yeah, for sure.
37:41
I do.
37:41
Just want to point out real quick
37:42
is this is another great question because this is a difficult situation.
37:45
I just want to make sure because Craig does a great job at this.
37:48
But he recognized the house wasn't ready.
37:51
He had a private conversation with the agent.
37:53
You don't do that in front of the seller. You
37:57
don't do that even if they know,
37:58
even if they know they're not ready, like don't do it in front of seller.
38:01
That seller is not your client.
38:03
Yeah, hold the agent aside and say, Hey, you know,
38:07
I can shoot it as is.
38:09
That's our policy when we show up.
38:11
If they're not going to be ready in like 5 minutes,
38:13
you know, we might wiggle to 10 minutes.
38:16
But if they're not going to be ready, we need to shoot it as is because,
38:20
you know, the next appointment and we want to get behind.
38:23
And agents understand
38:24
that sometimes they're emotional like way we started this podcast.
38:27
But that's our policy.
38:29
It doesn't have to be your policy, but we're firm on that, that we can shoot it
38:33
as is or we need to reschedule and, you know,
38:36
sometimes it just takes putting your foot down the get a little respect.
38:40
But I'll also concede the fact to say that there are times that we just recognizes
38:44
the VIP client.
38:45
This is a special situation and we need to wait a little bit of time
38:48
because we don't have another appointment after this.
38:51
So we do break that rule.
38:52
But for the most part, we're pretty firm on that rule
38:55
Right.
38:56
So we
38:57
hope that this is helpful today if you have questions.
39:00
Those were the first five I found online.
39:02
Hey, it's easy to get questions on the podcast just email me.
39:05
hello@spiro.media will answer your questions.
39:08
If we don't know them, we're going to find someone that knows that.
39:11
- We're going to get you an answer. - There you go.
39:13
All right.
39:14
Well, that was that was a fun one.
39:16
Kind of a little relaxed, but hopefully some good
39:20
change of pace. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
39:22
But some good information for you.
39:23
Just But like Todd said, if you have specific questions
39:26
that you'd like to see answered again, email us.
39:29
hello@spiro.media
39:31
All right.
39:31
Well, that's really that's going to wrap things up this week.
39:34
We know everybody is getting busier, you know,
39:37
especially with spring getting round here.
39:40
So you might be listening to this.
39:42
You know, in your car, on your drive to your next shoot
39:45
if you're still shooting and maybe you're listening or watching in the office.
39:49
But we know you've got a lot on your plate.
39:50
So thanks for making the time to again watch or listen to the Spiro podcast.
39:55
We really do appreciate you, our viewers and our listeners
39:58
and just the great feedback that you provide us.
40:01
So keep that rolling.
40:04
We just we appreciate you.
40:06
I don't know how else to say it.
40:07
All right, Todd, you have a great week.
40:10
We'll all be back next week.
40:13
And until then, you guys take a moment, be thankful
40:16
for the things that you've been blessed with in your life.
40:18
Make sure you take a breath this week and have a good week.
40:22
Take care.
40:22
Thank you for joining us for the Spiro podcast,
40:25
managing your real estate photography and videography business.
40:29
This is a production of Spiro and wow video tours.
40:33
You can find out more about Spiro
40:35
is real estate, media, business management software at our Web site.
40:39
Spiro Dot Media.