September 24, 2025 • 45 mins
Craig is put in the hotseat as the owner of Spiro and WOW Video Tours, Todd, goes through Craig's Grade Card. Does Craig pass? Watch & listen to find out!
Chapter Timestamps:
0:00 Episode Open
02:18 Spiro Updates & Events
07:27 Craig's Grade Card
42:37 Episode Wrap-up
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Coming up on this episodeof The Spiro podcast.
(00:04):
I mean, we're so comfortablewith each other.
Hey, how's your kids doing?
You know, they'll ask about Zeke. They.
I friend most.
I think I'm friends with pretty muchevery client I've got, on Facebook.
So they see my updates on my family,and they'll ask how my son Zeke's doing.
And, you know, it's just it's living life
together and doing business together.
(00:37):
Hi and welcome to the Spiro Podcast,managing your real estate,
photography and videography company.
Spiro is a software platform.
It's designedto help you run your day to day
real estate media businessand ultimately help it grow.
Help it scale,
give you the support that you need
on the back end of thingsso that you can really be, customer
centric, customer focused,and serving your clients well.
(00:59):
I'm Craig Magrum,and welcome to the podcast.
Let me introduce our co-host and Spiro,founder and owner, Todd Kivimaki.
Hello, Todd.
Craig. Fabulous to be in here.
We've got an exciting topic.We have almost it.
We're diving back into the dayin the life of Craig Magrum
into his brainand what he's done.
So I think this will be fun.
Come along with the journey for us,and we hope that
(01:22):
if this gets some questions stirred,
ask us, you can reach out to us.
hello@spiro.media.
We want to make sure that we're continuingto bring value to you all.
We appreciate this time with you.
We know your time's limited,so we want to know what you want to know,
and we will do our best
(01:43):
to help you along with that, or findsomeone that knows a lot about that.
So feel free to comment belowor contact us directly.
hello@spiro.media.
There you go.
Well,before we dive into this riveting topic.
That was sarcasm.
I know, I know, I think yeah, it was
(02:04):
well, it's just day the life of Craig.
Yes, I
but it's been a good year
and yeah, I'd love toto share some things as, as you set me up.
But before we do that, let's,
let's jump into some Spiroupdates, events, things like that.
Todd, what do you have for us?
Yeah,some things to mark your calendar with.
So the repp conference is coming up heresoon.
(02:28):
This is the first week in November,so sixth, seventh and eighth, I believe.
Again, don't quote me I apologize.
Go to reppteam.com.
Look for the conference link.
It is almost sold out.
So if you're going to go it's timeto make those accommodations.
So get your your plane booked,get your tickets, come see us there.
It's going to be a great time.
(02:49):
That is the first week in November.
Again reppteam.com.
And look for the conference link.
Secondly, another event
that we hope to see youat is our event the Spiro Sync.
So this is January 22nd and 23rd of 2026in Dayton, Ohio.
(03:10):
So you're goingto get more information to come.
But this is going to be a daywhere you're going to come.
We're going to build.We're going to learn.
We're going to breathe. It'sgoing to be a great time.
This is also an eventwhere you can bring your team members.
So if you're looking just for an outletand a way to build culture,
this could be a great option for you.
(03:31):
And the reason why we did that is becauselast year I brought more of the team
at Wow to the REPP conferenceand they loved it.
Like the memorieswe have, the things we learned.
It was great to be human to humanwith them outside of the office setting,
and it did so much for our cultureespecially.
(03:52):
I brought my leader, Steveand Jess with me.
It did so muchjust to continue to push us along
as a, as a as a unified and aligned group.
So that's why you can bring your teammembers.
We're also going to have a streamingoption that will make available for you.
So look out for more information.
Best way to find information from usis the Spiro Super User Facebook group.
(04:15):
Heck, if you're not even a Spiro user,we let you all in.
We want you in thereso we don't discriminate
even though it says you need to bea Spiro user, but just put in there
that you're interested,or you want to know more information
about the event and we'll let you in and,help you along the way.
Okay. Rebel. You rebel. Oh,
(04:36):
hey, I do.
This is a shameless thing.
We don't sell a lot or hardly everon this podcast, but now is a great time.
If you're thinking about making a switch,you like.
If you like what we say,if you like the things we've put in,
the updates we've done, we've donean outrageous amount of updates.
If you're in another system, you're like,hey, I'm not really getting these
updates, or you talk about automating taskand all of these other things.
(05:00):
The on site tracker, the semesterhomeowners, the two upsell potentials
with a bundle selling the idea of Titus,the idea of CRM functions coming.
If you're like, hey, I really wish I hadthose things, we would love to help you.
And we have a program for you,Spiro concierge.
If you want us to do it for you, pressthe easy button.
(05:23):
Let us know. Go to Spiro.media.
You can chat with us there or emailNick on our team.
nick@spiro.media.
He'll have a conversation with you.
We're humans were real people.
He'll here talk to Nick.
He's going to find out what you need,
how we can help out, and then he can getyou connected with the onboarding team.
(05:43):
So we would love to earn your business.
We're excited about the futureof what we have coming up.
And, if you are wanting those featuresand feeling a bit
left out in another system,hey, come join the movement here.
Come over to Spiro.
Lastly, updates.
They're coming.
By the time you've listen to this,they're out.
Titus, pay at close.
(06:04):
It's huge. I've talked about it a ton.
We are on Eli Jones's YouTubechannel last night talking about it.
We did a tech talk about it.
I've talked a ton about it.
I think this is a ace in your pocketas a real estate
photographer, to get into a room of agentsand say, hey, I understand you.
I can help you with pay at close, ordereverything you want,
(06:25):
choose the agent on camera because you'regoing to have listing babies.
Yeah.
We want you to get listingsfrom more listings.
Choose the better marketing packages.
You don't have to pay me at all right now.
Do it through, Titus. Pay it close.
And by the way, just as a side note, youphotographers, you get paid immediately.
(06:46):
11 seconds later,I think is is the time you get paid.
You have it down to 11 seconds, Yes.
Nick at Nick at Titus.
He's like,you know, you get paid immediately.
He's like, well,that's not technically correct.
I think it takes 11 seconds.
Geez, I don't know, 11?
That's a long time. Todd.
I might be might be a deal breaker.
(07:07):
Yeah, I love it.
Some of you are talking out of my cheekthere.
Anyway,
but that's it for me, Craig, I said, let'sI said I wanted to keep the intro short
and here I am talking, but,all relevant things.
Again,if you want information, just talk to us.
The pink chat bubble. hello@spiro.media
Yep. There you go.
All right. Thanks for those updates. Done.
(07:28):
All right, well, let's just dive in.
This week, Todd and I were talking,before we started recording here,
and it's going to be a little bitof a kind of shooting from the hip.
You know, it'sbeen a crazy week or two here.
Just a lot of thingson a lot of people's minds.
Just some heavy things,
that might have
us a little distracted or introspective.
(07:50):
But we just wanted to kind of dive in.
Look at the year so far,
things that have been good, thingsthat have been challenging.
I don't know how to set this upexactly, Todd.
So I'm going to turn it over to you.
Yeah.
I feel likethis is the end of, of a school period.
Craig.
And we're going to look at your reportcard.
Oh, boy, oh, boy.
(08:11):
Great.
So I'm getting my job reviewin front of everybody.
Well, that's an angle of it, I guess.
No. Okay. Go ahead.
You can review me next week. Okay.
Yeah. No, that's not happening.
I think that actually be a fun.
That'd be a fun podcast, but.
Well, okay, so Craig's reportcard, everyone.
(08:33):
Okay? Remember, you get report cards.
You used to come home,they were green for me.
I know they they they're probablyall digital now, but they were green.
They were a bifold.
And it had, you know what?
Your grades satisfactory.
Unsatisfactory. Extremely.
And I am pulling up Craig's report card
and the way this has doneand I've gone in the Spiro, I've clicked
(08:54):
on metrics and reports and for uswe have many different divisions.
So I filtered down tojust Craig's division.
Okay,
okay.
And Craig is
I'm looking at year to date revenue.
So we have these beautiful cards in hereand we have all the information here.
And Craig is up 19% over last year
(09:16):
in revenue year to date.
I'd say
that's an A+ CraigI mean all right about 20% being up.
That's great.
That's great I'm glad to hear that.
Yeah I mean here'ssome more confidence builders Craig
month today and you because you've donea great job month to date.
(09:38):
You're up 32% versus last month
last last monthor last September last September.
Excuse me monthover a month from the year
So you're up 32%.
So a couple of questions Craig.
So this yearwhen I told you you were up 19%,
has it felt like that was like,oh yeah I know I'm there.
(10:01):
You probably re review these metrics.
You probably know them.
But has the market felt like that to you?
That's a good question.
I mean, I definitely know that
I've been busier this year than last year.
I haven't necessarilylooked at the year over year numbers.
(10:23):
I tend to just look at what'swhat's my goal this month
or what's my goal for this year.
And I just keep trying to chip away
at that and keep building itand kind of hitting those numbers.
I do like to see what the change has beenfrom the previous year,
but that usually doesn't happentill closer to the end of the year.
So it's interestingthat you've brought these up.
(10:44):
Yeah.
I don't knowif that answered the question or not, but
let me let me ask somethingslightly different.
But okay.
Are you happy with that 19% up.
Well, yeah
okay.
Very very happy.
And the reason I askthat, Craig, is because sometimes
I think as business ownerswe are too hard on ourselves.
(11:08):
And I know you can be too hard on yourselfCraig.
So it's good to hear you say.
Yes I'm happy with thatbecause I'm, I'm over the moon
with that as the owner of the business,I'm over the moon with that.
So I'm, I'm actually very pleasedthat you're happy with that
because if you're like,oh no, I like, what's 19%?
Then we have an alignment problem. Hey.
(11:29):
And I have found out the hard wayover the years
that I've been unalignedwith some of my employees.
Yeah. We're either.
Yeah, we'reeither think they're doing a good job
and they don't, or vice versa.
I think they're doing up.
(11:49):
There's room for improvement, I think.
And they think they're doing a great job.
And I think the way you get aligned with
that is youjust connect more with your employees.
And I know you're saying, well, Todd,you just found out
that Craig'sactually happy with being up 19%.
So you're not connected.
(12:11):
Okay. Fair enough.
I would say, though, that
Steve and Craig or Chris and Craighave these conversations.
Is that is that fair? Craig?
Somebody has these conversationswith, you know, where you sit at with
Steve and Chris, right?
We have like a monthly, basicallya monthly report with, you know what?
What is the goal this month?
(12:33):
What's the actual numbers?
You know, at this point in time.
And then we also have a breakdownfor the trend for the end of the month.
Am I on pace to hit the goalfor the end of the month?
And I watch that really closely.
The trend and I if if I see that
I have less activity than I reallyI want to hit that goal,
(12:54):
out there trying
to trying to build more relationships,earn,
you know, earn more appointmentsand, and the like,
yeah. Oh, okay.
What a question, clarifying question.
So you said that
as we're looking at trends versus
what the goalwe set versus what our actual is okay.
(13:15):
So if we want to do 100 shoots this monthand we've done 80
and there's two days left in the month,or let's say there's a week last
and that left in the month, two days,there's not much you can do.
Let's saythere's a week or two left in the month.
You said that.
What would you do again, Craig?
If my appointment
activityisn't where I would like it to be.
(13:36):
Seat. My schedule is not for.
I try to take that timeto reach out to current clients,
check in on how thingsare doing, ask for referrals.
The referral thing is, is big,
and I have found thatthat is probably the easiest way
to get traction in growingbusiness is just ask for referrals.
(13:59):
The something that we were talking about,talking about before we started,
recordingwas the fact that there's a lot of teams,
you know, real estate teams.
And I just was talkingwith a realtor about this,
about how that's a relatively new modelcompared to the old days of real estate.
We're an experienced, real estateagent will start to build their team
(14:21):
and bring in kind of new, new realtorsand make suggestions to them,
you know, mentor them, suggest vendorsto them in when we were going over
some of the new clientsthat that I brought in and my market,
a lot of them were referralsfrom team leaders to new realtors,
and I thought I really hadn'tthought a ton about that.
(14:43):
But when you have the reportin front of you,
you're like, oh,yeah, that's how I got that.
That client, it was a team leader.
Oh, there's another team leaderthat brought on, you know, a new client.
So. Yeah.
Yeah, I think
that's called as the referral business.
And what the referral business is,I think the best way to grow.
(15:04):
But is would you rather get a referralor make cold calls?
Craig.
referrals
hand over fist,I mean, let's be honest, it's easier.
It's it's a warm introduction.
Yeah.
Yeah.
My personalityis that one that just make a cold call.
(15:24):
I like to have some sort of set upin reaching out to somebody, you know,
even if it's, Hey,do you have a colleague in your office
that you think could benefit?
Is it okay if I use your name is,you know, a current client
and at least have thatif I'm doing a cold call?
That's great. So.
(15:45):
What I want to do nowis we'll pivot a little bit.
And I think this would be great
to actually let'sgo through your new client list Craig.
And we'll keep all these names.
Craig and I both glance at this list a little bit and we'll keep the names private.
But I think what's important
here is I know many of you are saying,oh, yeah, that's great.
(16:07):
Todd, I, I really prefer a referral versusa cold call as well.
Just how do you get the referral?
And that's where I think we can dive intoas we see these names on here.
And we might see some names on herethat are not referrals.
And I think it'll be fun to talk abouthow those people came in.
But Craig, do you want to pickI know there's a couple do you want to go
(16:29):
through?
Let's start from the top downclient list as you're going through these.
But let's start withI think the first one was Dawn and Dawn.
Yeah. Tell us about Dawn.
So Dawn works for a
brokerage that we,we are not a preferred vendor for,
we've had a relationshipwith the brokerage in the past, back
when I had my own company,doing real estate. But,
(16:51):
Dawn came in
from a referral from her sonwho is on her team.
So she's she's actually the team leader.
She's the experienced realtor.
Her son is newer in the business.
But he reached out to us,
and this was not someone I pursuedadmittedly.
I had never heard his name even before,
(17:12):
but he was looking for,
somebody outside of their insidemarketing department and got our name
and reached out to us, and, and,so I had a discussion with him.
We got a shoot set up.
He was super happywith everything that we did.
You know, the team did for him.
And, I think it wasmaybe three weeks later.
(17:35):
All of a sudden,I see somebody with the same last name
and turns outit's his mom and he's on her team.
And so in talking with her, you know, it's
she said, I've heard nothingbut good things about you from my son.
I'm like, well, that's awesome, Dawn.
thank you for reaching out.
And, you know, she's
established in the business is, you know,a lot of business over the years.
(17:59):
And, we have very quickly formeda great relationship with her as well.
So. Yeah.
That's great.
So this company, I want to ask youa quick question about the company,
because one thing you told us
is this particular company,they have an in-house program
They have preferred vendors,they have, they
(18:20):
and they work to push everyone into that.
So management, they're all line like,
they want their realtorsto use the in-house company.
Correct? Correct.
So do you still feel there'sany potential there or what is your
what are your actionable itemswith this particular company?
Do we just write them off?
Oh heck no.
(18:41):
Because we still havea lot of loyal clients from that company
that have stayed with us because they knowthe consistency of our work.
But they know me.
They know I'm going to be probably 10to 15 minutes early,
and if I'm actually getting it closeto the actual appointment
time, they're getting nervousbecause Craig is always early. So,
(19:02):
but in that
they once in a whilethey maybe have to use the inside company
because maybe I'm not availableor something like that.
And they, they come back to meand I get some interesting
reports and stories,and I'm just going to leave it at that.
But I'll, I'll mention to them,hey, you know, thank you.
Thank you so much.
(19:22):
I don't take that for granted.
I know you have choices.
If you happen to hear of anybody elsethat is maybe
looking for a different solution,maybe they're not completely satisfied.
You know, we've got this referral program,and I just
we want to say thank you for any referralsyou can provide.
It's just kind of a natural conversationis they're telling me
stories about whythey like working with us so much.
(19:44):
Yeah.
Agents will tell you everything.
Well, I've heard some interesting things.
I, you know, Todd.
Sometimes I feel like a priest or a pastorfor they're confiding things in me
that they wouldn't tell anybody else.
Like, I got to keep my mouth shut.
I've got a confidentiality thing,you know, it just
(20:04):
it makes me chucklea little bit sometimes.
Craig, do you doyou have any tips or tricks?
Because I, I think you havea natural knack for people
confiding in you,and I don't think that goes for everyone.
I think sometimes,
you know, there's
some people I talk to, I'm like,I'm not telling this person anything.
And, you know, versus you where it's like,I feel super confident.
(20:27):
Do you have any just simple tips for justinteractions and a house with an agent?
Well, I mean, it usually starts
we've talked about this a bazillion times.
Those of you that maybe are new,I love coffee meetings and sitting down
to get to know a potential clientor a new client as a human being,
hearing their story.
(20:47):
And I always start with, so tell me,how did you get into real estate?
You know, do you mind sharing your story?
And I've never had anybodynot want to tell me their story, you know,
and how they're excited to be in thisand just the journey that led up to that.
And then I'll usually try and briefly.
It's hard sometimesshare my story of how I got into it.
(21:07):
And we connect as humans first.
I'm not even talking aboutwhat are their marketing goals.
You know, what products or services orI don't I don't start with that because,
I mean, nobody likes that.
It just we're human beings.
We have to connect.
So, I just I start with,tell me your story.
You know, I'd love to get to know you.
(21:28):
And then that leads into what?
What are their dreams?What are their hopes?
What are their aspirations?
You know, and then
based on that, well, here's here'swhat we could potentially do.
That area I don't know necessarilywe could help you, but here's what we can
do. And let'sjust try and find the right solution.
So it's not pushing any one product or,or service.
(21:51):
It's connect as a human being first,build the trust
and then work as a team to accomplish thethe realtors goals.
Right?I just try to be real with people. Maybe.
Maybe I'm too transparent sometimes.
I don't know, but it's just it'sjust how I'm wired.
I guess.
Yeah,I think it's sincere. I think people,
(22:12):
trust that and people respond to that.
Well, so that's a gold nugget for y'all.
If you're in the house with an agent.
Hey, how'dyou get started in a real estate?
And just a little asterisk note here.
If the real estate agent's client, i.e.
the homeowner, the builder,if they're in the property,
are you going to ask thatsame question, Craig, or do you handle
(22:35):
do you approach thata little bit differently?
Yeah. No.
If the if there's a seller there
their focus is on their on their client,but you know, on the home seller or.
Yeah. Like you said the, the
developer or builder,I'm there to do a job.
So I'm not I'm nothobnobbing or socializing.
I'm I'm there. Get the photos, the video,
(22:57):
assure the
seller that, hey, you made a great choicein choosing Dawn as your realtor.
You know, she's gone above and beyondfor you, which the realtor loves that
because you're building their brandfor them to the seller,
my goal is to have that seller thenrefer that realtor and who you know what?
Realtor wouldn't love that, right?
And I can say thatbecause they're using us and,
(23:18):
and we're doing our best jobfor the seller as well.
I love that, Craig.
So let me just ask one clarifying
real quickbecause you gave us a little tip there.
So give us the cheat sheet forif it's just you and the homeowner
in the house again, what's a good wayto start a conversation? There?
Or just the homeowner?
That's right.
Well,usually I, we, and or home and or agent.
(23:40):
That's fine.
Yeah. Well, if it's just the homeowner,
a lot of times they'll say, I take ityou're the photographer,
and my camera is,you know, hanging on my hip.
I'm like, what gave it away? There you go.
Just, you know, just have some fun.
And it usually, usually gets a smile.
And so then I'll introduce myself and,and just kind of then step them through.
(24:01):
Well, here'swhat we're doing for you today.
And, you know, go through what services
we're going to be doingabout how long it might take.
You know, if, if the,
if we're doing something aboveand beyond, you know, say just photos,
again, that's
that's where I'll tell them your realtoris really going to bat for you.
They're they're doing a lot of marketing.
So, you know, it's going to takeabout this amount of time,
(24:23):
at the end of the shoot, I let them know,hey, we'll have everything,
you know, to, your realtorby the end of the day tomorrow,
and then they'll take it from there.
Do you have any questions?
Just try and serve thethe the home seller.
Well,
with, you know, with it
being the realtorthat might just be there.
Are you talkingto a established relationship
(24:44):
or a new client that we're working with?
Just with the realtoror just with the homeowner?
Just with the realtor?
Hey, let's ask for both, okay?
If you really say it's a brand new realtor
to. Yeah, a new client to you.
Excuse me? It's a new client to you.
You know, it kind of depends.
(25:05):
I don't know that I have a consistentapproach on that, to be honest.
Because I if I'm there on the appointmentto actually do the shooting, I have found
if I get too chatty, I can miss a halfbath or something like that, right?
Yeah.
I'm not concentrating fully on the shoot,so I don't necessarily do a ton of,
getting to knowyou type conversation with them.
(25:28):
But if I haven't had that initial, say,coffee meeting or,
you know, office meeting or whatever,I'll try and get that set up.
And, and again, let them know, hey,you'll have everything.
And a day tomorrow,if you have any questions, let me know.
And I'd love to sit down with youand get to know you better and get to know
your business better.Can can we set up a time to meet?
(25:48):
So, yeah, I would probably say there's
not a ton of social interactionif they've hired us before.
I've had the chance to sit downand get to know them.
That's great. Yeah.
If it's an established client.
I mean, we're so comfortablewith each other.
Hey, how's your kids doing?
You know, they'll ask about Zeke. They.
(26:10):
I friend most.
I think I'm friends with pretty muchevery client I've got, on Facebook.
So they see my updates on my family,and they'll ask how my son Zeke's doing.
And, you know, it's just it's living life
together and doing business together.
Yeah that's great.
And then those are all the little things.
So that's a great timeline of a new clientshow.
(26:32):
The client you're there for business.
You're going to be friendly.
You're going to do what they need.
You're going to try to builda relationship with them.
Extend the olive branchto have the coffee meeting.
Also, one thing Craig did that we feel isvery important
is setting those expectationsin the property at the house,
just so they know what happens next,what's happening today, what happens next.
(26:54):
Those are very important.
And then from there, as you get to knowthese clients and you care about them.
And that's one thing I, I think you guyssense it coming through here.
Craig cares about his clients.
It's it's not artificial.
It's a true care to serve them.
That's what gets your clients
to refer you to other clientsbecause they want you to win as well.
(27:21):
It's hard.
I think for me, a lot of that comesjust from my past employment and career.
I mean, obviously, you know this,but pretty much my entire career
was was in the nonprofit sectorin, in nonprofit Christian ministry.
And I've never been primarily business
minded or profit drivenor anything like that.
(27:43):
It's been more about trying to encouragepeople,
sharing God's Word with people.
Just,
yeah.
Serving people.
That's it's like,I don't know how to do anything else.
Well, I don't consider myself,you know, a great businessman
or business strategist or CEO or a.
(28:09):
It's it's it's all I know.
So in the context of the business world,I just take, okay, that's who I am.
That's who God made me to be.
And I'm going to do my best with that.
Learn what I can about the business worldand implement, you know, good,
good principles that are,
principles of integrityand just serve people well.
(28:33):
And I don't tend to overcomplicate it
a whole lot.
Yeah.
Craig, I think that's why you're up
19% year over year.
It's just because you dowhat's correct for the client.
It's not the next tactic.
It's not the next buzz word in a book.
(28:55):
It's not the next social media postor landing page or technique.
It's it's not.
And I'm not saying those thingsdon't have value.
You all.
But I read what you guys askon social media.
And I read what comes in and it's like,
you just it's so far away fromwhat is really going
(29:16):
to change your life,your business and your client's life.
Right? Right.
I have a confession to make, Todd.
You said I love this part of the program.
You said itlike we need a jingle right now.
Craig's flashbacks.
So you you use the phrase, buzzwords right
there arethere are definitely business buzzwords.
(29:39):
And I had a role,
doing inside sales at a particular companyhere.
This was one of my,non ministry related jobs.
And we had the guy.
He was nice guy.
And he was he was just very,
very sales manager, driven
(30:00):
and had a lot of businessbuzzwords, vocab.
And it might have beendisrespectful of me, I don't know.
I mean, I liked the guy.
I did what I could to, you know,to hit my goals and work with him.
I didn't not like this guy, justI just want to set this up.
But he used business buzzwords so, so much
(30:21):
that it got to bea little bit of an inside
joke with our inside sales departmentmaybe driven by me,
a little bit of what business buzzwordis he going to use next?
And we actually we would have these insidesales department meetings right.
And I may or may not have createda business buzzword.
Bingo card for us to keep track of.
(30:44):
During the meetings, we'dsee who would get a bingo
based on the terms that we knowhe would use.
Did anybody call outbingo during the meeting?
Not that I recall.
I would have gotten so much trouble,
but, I'm not usually like that,
but but that's how, like, non-businessI am.
(31:04):
It's like, yeah,
I know there's good words, you know,it's like synergy was one of the synergy.
Synergy? Yes.
Big word that he like to use and check.
So all that to say, there are
tons of listeners or viewers right nowthat you are a whole lot smarter than I am
when it comes to businessand building a business and growing it.
(31:26):
Kudos to you.
I'm we're not making fun of you.
I mean, I'm kind of jealous of how smartmany of you are,
and I don't consider myself that.
But if we can be real with people,
be compassionate,
serve well, that I mean,I really think that's.
Yeah, that's just a lot of
(31:47):
what contributes to successand and doing well in your business.
Just be real with people.
Yeah. It's what people want.
And again, you're selling salespeople.
You also don't get too clever becausethey have probably already heard it.
There's a phrase it might have come fromyou, even Todd, I don't I don't remember.
You can't sell a salesperson.
(32:08):
And our clients arethey might call themselves
consultants like we do,but ultimately we're all salespeople.
You can't you can't sell a salesperson.
We all know the same techniques.
You know.
Yeah, a phraseI. You stole it from Shannon.
She probably stole it fromsomeone else. So just for
tracking purposes, that is who it's.
(32:29):
It's not a me phrase, but I do say it.
I agree 100%.
Okay, Craig, let's,
I'm going to go down to one moreand let's talk about this one more name.
And I think there's a coupleof different connections here.
So we have a Michelle at a, a company
that we have an agreewe have a relationship with.
Can you tell us about Michelle?
(32:50):
And then as I saw Michelle in that companyname,
I saw a whole bunch of new namesfrom that company.
What do we do there,or what did you do there?
I did nothing, Michelle was at a differentbrokerage when I first met her.
And she has since moved to thisthis new brokerage for her new,
quite a few years old. Now.
(33:10):
But, yeah, we we have a
brokerage agreementwith this particular brokerage that I
then introduced that, agreementin that program to Michelle
and to the officesthat are up here in my service area.
And because of the relationshipthat I've had with her
and having shot for her before,she was very enthusiastic about,
(33:32):
introducing us to the the regional officesthat we serve here in my market.
And, they I mean, there's not a wholelot more to say.
It was a combination of the programand relationships and her knowing
our consistency in, in qualityand in the way we serve.
(33:53):
And so I've had the opportunityto do a lot of,
presentations in,you know, the 3 or 4 offices in our area.
And I do that multiple times a year,and she she will mention us.
She's asked us to sponsor eventsthat they do for their realtors.
So we've, you know,we've we've sponsored several events.
And I get to every one of those eventsthat I can there every once in a while.
(34:14):
My schedule is two full.
We shoot so I can't make it, butwe'll still have, you know, our presence
with our logoand maybe some swag that we give.
And she'll even when I'm not there,she'll make a,
you know, an announcement about thinking,wow and and whatnot.
So it's just been a good,good relationship.
She's enthusiastic about usand we serve her and her team well. So.
(34:35):
Yeah.
Yeah.
One thing, onething I love about the industry, Craig.
And I know this probably drivesthe brokers crazy.
The owners of the companies crazy.
But if as you build good relationships
with agentsand they know, like and trust you,
it's just a matter of timebefore agents at one company
sprinkle throughoutand go to other companies.
(34:59):
It's just the way the business is.
Agents go from one company to the next.
Brokers and recruiterstry to get them to give them
a better deal, a better payout, a cut,whatever it may be.
They switch because they know people.
They switch for some reason,but it's going to happen.
And that's a beautiful thing, that Craighad a relationship with this Michelle,
(35:20):
and she changed companies and happensto be a manager at this new company.
And thus we have that new referral.
It's like Michelle's almost a salespersonfor us inside of that company.
Yeah.
Going back to thethe brokers she was with before, it was
the same brokerage that we we don't havea preferred vendor relationship with.
(35:45):
And I, I would be pretty confident
in saying that the new businessthat we have with her new brokerage
might be as big as, if not bigger than,what we had with the former brokerage.
Wow. And I'm sure she switchedbecause she was so unhappy
that that former brokerage did
no longer had a relationship with us,that she's like, I got to go to wherever Wow’s at.
(36:06):
Well, that sure, I bet that's it.
I bet that's the
that's more of that sarcasm,
Yeah.
So, yeah, I'm.
I'm completely kidding, y'all.I had no bearing on it.
But the beautiful thing is,is that Michelle got to the new spot.
Like, I know a guy.
Yeah, and I want him to come here as well.
The brokerage agreementdidn't hurt things by any means.
(36:30):
Yes, because there are.
Let me just count them.
There are immediately under her,
17 names right there
that came in from the brokerage agreement.
So again,just if our listeners are just joining in
for the first time with like, what is it?
What is what is a brokerage agreement?
Craig, a broker dealer, as we call them.
(36:52):
Well, Todd, youknow, we've talked about this brokerage
agreement and we've talked about itin the past before, like you said.
Can you can you explainwhat a brokerage agreement is?
I love to, because it's
one of my most favorite thingsto talk about.
It's top down selling at a brokerage.
So it's where you go out and you builda relationship with the person in charge,
(37:14):
the decision maker, and you say, hey,I've got this great media program
that's going to give you the solutionto help you get your agents
to market properties better,which in turn gets them more listings.
And then also, this is going to bean incredible recruiting tool for you
because you're going to go tellall the agents that are not
(37:35):
at your brokeragethat you have a brokerage brokerage deal
where you you have a media programfor all agents at your brokerage,
where you front the costs for their media,take it out at closing,
and it's a convenience to them to markettheir listings better with a no impact,
a no risk to themif the property doesn't sell.
(37:58):
There you go.
That's a very quickit exist in many different ways.
Shannon and I are going to spend an hourtalking about this
at the REPP conference this year.
So we've got a featured spot there.
We're going to talk all about it,and we have many podcasts on this.
And I think the interesting thingis, as I look at this list, Craig,
and while you have a ton of names on here,
(38:20):
there's still 17that are related to this company.
It's the largest driverthis year in your market
of new clients coming in by far.
Yeah.
And admittedly, Todd, I've.
I've actually not been prospectingnew business.
Primarily because I'm actuallythe only photographer currently for us
in, in my market, and I'm at capacity.
(38:40):
I've, I can't take on additional clients,so I've not been actively
seeking out new clients,but we've still had them
trickle in because of referralsand things like that.
So I'm very appreciativeto our current clients
for, for sharing our name and,
hoping to get somebody very soonso that we can continue
to build the businessand serve more realtors.
(39:04):
Craig, I okay.
Record scratch here.
Like, I'mso happy that you shared that with us
because you all we have,
we encounterthe same gaps that you encounter.
Okay, I talked to many of you
(39:24):
and you are like,I am so busy shooting right now.
Or whatever the gap is.
I am doing no shooting right now.
I wish I had clients, everybody.
This is the ebbs in the flowsof business, right?
And so our problem right nowis not new business in Craig's territory.
(39:47):
In fact, it's not our problemin any of our territories, thankfully,
because we have focusedon getting new business.
What you focus on will expand.
It has it's worked. Okay.
So now we have a new gap.
That is, we need to grow the team.
(40:07):
That is what we're focused on
and we're finding,you know, there's always
going to be different gaps that you have.
We're finding this one happensto be a challenging gap in Craig's market
right now.
And we're finding that we have to pivot.
We've hired hundreds of photographersall throughout the years.
(40:28):
We knowwhat it takes to hire a photographer.
This one's a little bit different
and we're learning as we go along.
Craig's helping with that.
Jess is helping with that.
But it's no differentthan anything you get to.
What we're going to do is we're goingto bring this photographer on
and then what we have then oncewe get this photographer up to speed, is
(40:48):
we have a new gap where we neednew business.
So, Craig,when that gap happens, it's probably
going to be February,January, February of next year.
What are you going to do?
Yeah, I switch to now prospecting mode.
I'm actively now looking for new business
to get that new photographer scheduleas full as I can and keep them busy
(41:10):
and happy doing what they're doingand earning earning their money.
But I can't do that.
And I and I won't do thatuntil I know we have the capacity.
And I was just very honestwith with Chris and Steve, my, my managers
on the sales side of things,that if we continue
to try and bring in new clientswhen we don't have the capacity,
(41:31):
they're going to get frustrated
because they can't get schedulewhen they want
and they're going to goto other other businesses.
And that that is going to make a really,really bad first impression,
and it's going to make it
a whole lot more challengingto try and win their business.
Back when I didn't evenhave it in the first place,
because they've alreadyhad a bad experience with us.
(41:51):
So I want to minimize that until I knowthat, okay, we've got more capacity,
somebody that can serve youand, and, and grow from there.
Yeah, that that is,
we talked about holes in a bucketa few podcasts ago.
If you don't have any capacity,but you're selling like crazy,
(42:12):
you have a much larger hole in your bucketthan what's coming in.
So you're losing more in your bucketbecause agents, you're doing all this work
building relationships.
Agents are excited to come and use you.
They get to your order pageand they can't use you for two weeks.
You know?
Yeah, that's pretty much it.
(42:32):
Yeah.
Awesome.
Well,
that that has been fabulous, Craig,thank you for sharing about these clients.
If any of you out therehave some stories, have a question.
If you're nurturing a client along rightnow, we'd love to help you
post it in the chat below.
Again, hello@spiro.media
If you're like, hey, I talked to thisclient two weeks ago and they said this,
how should I how should I contact them?
(42:54):
How can I move this along? Why?
When should I checkin? We're here for you.
We hope this has been helpful,but please ask us.
Post it in the chat below and, we will doour best to help you move that along.
Absolutely.
You could also email us Spiroor hello@spiro.media.
And if you're a Spiro user,
(43:14):
I suppose I could use the pink chatbubble too, right?
Yeah. Pink pink chat bubble.They'll get it over.
This customer supportteam will get you over to myself or Craig.
So the pink chats. Great as well. Awesome.
Well, dad, thanks for the opportunityto share this week.
Craig. Thank youfor letting me put you on the spot.
I feel likeI kind of missed an opportunity
to do something a little bit more,but regardless,
(43:37):
I'm just gladthey're going through my report card.
You didn't hit my math classbecause, I mean, math was always fun.
I lost out,I lost out one more quick story.
And so back when I was 13 or 14,my mom and dad said,
if you get straight A's on your onyour grade card, we will get you a moped.
Now, mopeds were big back in the 80s,90s, right.
(43:59):
For, for, you know,
early teen pre drivers.
I was that I wanted that moped so bad
and I got all A's
except for that stupid, stupid math class
that I tried my, To this day, I hate math.
That'spart of why I'm not a business person.
I hate math right.
(44:22):
So you're kidding. I'm going to.
You going through my grade card, just,you know, brought back that trauma time.
Thanks a lot.
Well, Craig, I feel like I.
I should send you a moped,
but I've got I've got my,my Honda 1300 out in the garage.
I'm good. Now,
will you just take the mopedto one, shoot for me and record it?
(44:42):
I'll take.
Well, my wife has the scooter/moped.
I should do you know what?
Maybe I'll.
Maybe I'll do that.
I guess you told me to get some video.
Maybe I'll do that on video.
Okay, you guys, more to come, right?
More to come.
You guys have a great week.
Thanks so much for joining us this week.
Make sure you take some timeto be thankful
(45:03):
for the blessings in your life,like maybe a moped.
And, take a breath.
You have a great week. Take care.
Coming up on this episodeof The Spiro podcast.
(00:04):
I mean, we're so comfortablewith each other.
Hey, how's your kids doing?
You know, they'll ask about Zeke. They.
I friend most.
I think I'm friends with pretty muchevery client I've got, on Facebook.
So they see my updates on my family,and they'll ask how my son Zeke's doing.
And, you know, it's just it's living life
together and doing business together.
(00:37):
Hi and welcome to the Spiro Podcast,managing your real estate,
photography and videography company.
Spiro is a software platform.
It's designedto help you run your day to day
real estate media businessand ultimately help it grow.
Help it scale,
give you the support that you need
on the back end of thingsso that you can really be, customer
centric, customer focused,and serving your clients well.
(00:59):
I'm Craig Magrum,and welcome to the podcast.
Let me introduce our co-host and Spiro,founder and owner, Todd Kivimaki.
Hello, Todd.
Craig. Fabulous to be in here.
We've got an exciting topic.We have almost it.
We're diving back into the dayin the life of Craig Magrum
into his brainand what he's done.
So I think this will be fun.
Come along with the journey for us,and we hope that
(01:22):
if this gets some questions stirred,
ask us, you can reach out to us.
hello@spiro.media.
We want to make sure that we're continuingto bring value to you all.
We appreciate this time with you.
We know your time's limited,so we want to know what you want to know,
and we will do our best
(01:43):
to help you along with that, or findsomeone that knows a lot about that.
So feel free to comment belowor contact us directly.
hello@spiro.media.
There you go.
Well,before we dive into this riveting topic.
That was sarcasm.
I know, I know, I think yeah, it was
(02:04):
well, it's just day the life of Craig.
Yes, I
but it's been a good year
and yeah, I'd love toto share some things as, as you set me up.
But before we do that, let's,
let's jump into some Spiroupdates, events, things like that.
Todd, what do you have for us?
Yeah,some things to mark your calendar with.
So the repp conference is coming up heresoon.
(02:28):
This is the first week in November,so sixth, seventh and eighth, I believe.
Again, don't quote me I apologize.
Go to reppteam.com.
Look for the conference link.
It is almost sold out.
So if you're going to go it's timeto make those accommodations.
So get your your plane booked,get your tickets, come see us there.
It's going to be a great time.
(02:49):
That is the first week in November.
Again reppteam.com.
And look for the conference link.
Secondly, another event
that we hope to see youat is our event the Spiro Sync.
So this is January 22nd and 23rd of 2026in Dayton, Ohio.
(03:10):
So you're goingto get more information to come.
But this is going to be a daywhere you're going to come.
We're going to build.We're going to learn.
We're going to breathe. It'sgoing to be a great time.
This is also an eventwhere you can bring your team members.
So if you're looking just for an outletand a way to build culture,
this could be a great option for you.
(03:31):
And the reason why we did that is becauselast year I brought more of the team
at Wow to the REPP conferenceand they loved it.
Like the memorieswe have, the things we learned.
It was great to be human to humanwith them outside of the office setting,
and it did so much for our cultureespecially.
(03:52):
I brought my leader, Steveand Jess with me.
It did so muchjust to continue to push us along
as a, as a as a unified and aligned group.
So that's why you can bring your teammembers.
We're also going to have a streamingoption that will make available for you.
So look out for more information.
Best way to find information from usis the Spiro Super User Facebook group.
(04:15):
Heck, if you're not even a Spiro user,we let you all in.
We want you in thereso we don't discriminate
even though it says you need to bea Spiro user, but just put in there
that you're interested,or you want to know more information
about the event and we'll let you in and,help you along the way.
Okay. Rebel. You rebel. Oh,
(04:36):
hey, I do.
This is a shameless thing.
We don't sell a lot or hardly everon this podcast, but now is a great time.
If you're thinking about making a switch,you like.
If you like what we say,if you like the things we've put in,
the updates we've done, we've donean outrageous amount of updates.
If you're in another system, you're like,hey, I'm not really getting these
updates, or you talk about automating taskand all of these other things.
(05:00):
The on site tracker, the semesterhomeowners, the two upsell potentials
with a bundle selling the idea of Titus,the idea of CRM functions coming.
If you're like, hey, I really wish I hadthose things, we would love to help you.
And we have a program for you,Spiro concierge.
If you want us to do it for you, pressthe easy button.
(05:23):
Let us know. Go to Spiro.media.
You can chat with us there or emailNick on our team.
nick@spiro.media.
He'll have a conversation with you.
We're humans were real people.
He'll here talk to Nick.
He's going to find out what you need,
how we can help out, and then he can getyou connected with the onboarding team.
(05:43):
So we would love to earn your business.
We're excited about the futureof what we have coming up.
And, if you are wanting those featuresand feeling a bit
left out in another system,hey, come join the movement here.
Come over to Spiro.
Lastly, updates.
They're coming.
By the time you've listen to this,they're out.
Titus, pay at close.
(06:04):
It's huge. I've talked about it a ton.
We are on Eli Jones's YouTubechannel last night talking about it.
We did a tech talk about it.
I've talked a ton about it.
I think this is a ace in your pocketas a real estate
photographer, to get into a room of agentsand say, hey, I understand you.
I can help you with pay at close, ordereverything you want,
(06:25):
choose the agent on camera because you'regoing to have listing babies.
Yeah.
We want you to get listingsfrom more listings.
Choose the better marketing packages.
You don't have to pay me at all right now.
Do it through, Titus. Pay it close.
And by the way, just as a side note, youphotographers, you get paid immediately.
(06:46):
11 seconds later,I think is is the time you get paid.
You have it down to 11 seconds, Yes.
Nick at Nick at Titus.
He's like,you know, you get paid immediately.
He's like, well,that's not technically correct.
I think it takes 11 seconds.
Geez, I don't know, 11?
That's a long time. Todd.
I might be might be a deal breaker.
(07:07):
Yeah, I love it.
Some of you are talking out of my cheekthere.
Anyway,
but that's it for me, Craig, I said, let'sI said I wanted to keep the intro short
and here I am talking, but,all relevant things.
Again,if you want information, just talk to us.
The pink chat bubble. hello@spiro.media
Yep. There you go.
All right. Thanks for those updates. Done.
(07:28):
All right, well, let's just dive in.
This week, Todd and I were talking,before we started recording here,
and it's going to be a little bitof a kind of shooting from the hip.
You know, it'sbeen a crazy week or two here.
Just a lot of thingson a lot of people's minds.
Just some heavy things,
that might have
us a little distracted or introspective.
(07:50):
But we just wanted to kind of dive in.
Look at the year so far,
things that have been good, thingsthat have been challenging.
I don't know how to set this upexactly, Todd.
So I'm going to turn it over to you.
Yeah.
I feel likethis is the end of, of a school period.
Craig.
And we're going to look at your reportcard.
Oh, boy, oh, boy.
(08:11):
Great.
So I'm getting my job reviewin front of everybody.
Well, that's an angle of it, I guess.
No. Okay. Go ahead.
You can review me next week. Okay.
Yeah. No, that's not happening.
I think that actually be a fun.
That'd be a fun podcast, but.
Well, okay, so Craig's reportcard, everyone.
(08:33):
Okay? Remember, you get report cards.
You used to come home,they were green for me.
I know they they they're probablyall digital now, but they were green.
They were a bifold.
And it had, you know what?
Your grades satisfactory.
Unsatisfactory. Extremely.
And I am pulling up Craig's report card
and the way this has doneand I've gone in the Spiro, I've clicked
(08:54):
on metrics and reports and for uswe have many different divisions.
So I filtered down tojust Craig's division.
Okay,
okay.
And Craig is
I'm looking at year to date revenue.
So we have these beautiful cards in hereand we have all the information here.
And Craig is up 19% over last year
(09:16):
in revenue year to date.
I'd say
that's an A+ CraigI mean all right about 20% being up.
That's great.
That's great I'm glad to hear that.
Yeah I mean here'ssome more confidence builders Craig
month today and you because you've donea great job month to date.
(09:38):
You're up 32% versus last month
last last monthor last September last September.
Excuse me monthover a month from the year
So you're up 32%.
So a couple of questions Craig.
So this yearwhen I told you you were up 19%,
has it felt like that was like,oh yeah I know I'm there.
(10:01):
You probably re review these metrics.
You probably know them.
But has the market felt like that to you?
That's a good question.
I mean, I definitely know that
I've been busier this year than last year.
I haven't necessarilylooked at the year over year numbers.
(10:23):
I tend to just look at what'swhat's my goal this month
or what's my goal for this year.
And I just keep trying to chip away
at that and keep building itand kind of hitting those numbers.
I do like to see what the change has beenfrom the previous year,
but that usually doesn't happentill closer to the end of the year.
So it's interestingthat you've brought these up.
(10:44):
Yeah.
I don't knowif that answered the question or not, but
let me let me ask somethingslightly different.
But okay.
Are you happy with that 19% up.
Well, yeah
okay.
Very very happy.
And the reason I askthat, Craig, is because sometimes
I think as business ownerswe are too hard on ourselves.
(11:08):
And I know you can be too hard on yourselfCraig.
So it's good to hear you say.
Yes I'm happy with thatbecause I'm, I'm over the moon
with that as the owner of the business,I'm over the moon with that.
So I'm, I'm actually very pleasedthat you're happy with that
because if you're like,oh no, I like, what's 19%?
Then we have an alignment problem. Hey.
(11:29):
And I have found out the hard wayover the years
that I've been unalignedwith some of my employees.
Yeah. We're either.
Yeah, we'reeither think they're doing a good job
and they don't, or vice versa.
I think they're doing up.
(11:49):
There's room for improvement, I think.
And they think they're doing a great job.
And I think the way you get aligned with
that is youjust connect more with your employees.
And I know you're saying, well, Todd,you just found out
that Craig'sactually happy with being up 19%.
So you're not connected.
(12:11):
Okay. Fair enough.
I would say, though, that
Steve and Craig or Chris and Craighave these conversations.
Is that is that fair? Craig?
Somebody has these conversationswith, you know, where you sit at with
Steve and Chris, right?
We have like a monthly, basicallya monthly report with, you know what?
What is the goal this month?
(12:33):
What's the actual numbers?
You know, at this point in time.
And then we also have a breakdownfor the trend for the end of the month.
Am I on pace to hit the goalfor the end of the month?
And I watch that really closely.
The trend and I if if I see that
I have less activity than I reallyI want to hit that goal,
(12:54):
out there trying
to trying to build more relationships,earn,
you know, earn more appointmentsand, and the like,
yeah. Oh, okay.
What a question, clarifying question.
So you said that
as we're looking at trends versus
what the goalwe set versus what our actual is okay.
(13:15):
So if we want to do 100 shoots this monthand we've done 80
and there's two days left in the month,or let's say there's a week last
and that left in the month, two days,there's not much you can do.
Let's saythere's a week or two left in the month.
You said that.
What would you do again, Craig?
If my appointment
activityisn't where I would like it to be.
(13:36):
Seat. My schedule is not for.
I try to take that timeto reach out to current clients,
check in on how thingsare doing, ask for referrals.
The referral thing is, is big,
and I have found thatthat is probably the easiest way
to get traction in growingbusiness is just ask for referrals.
(13:59):
The something that we were talking about,talking about before we started,
recordingwas the fact that there's a lot of teams,
you know, real estate teams.
And I just was talkingwith a realtor about this,
about how that's a relatively new modelcompared to the old days of real estate.
We're an experienced, real estateagent will start to build their team
(14:21):
and bring in kind of new, new realtorsand make suggestions to them,
you know, mentor them, suggest vendorsto them in when we were going over
some of the new clientsthat that I brought in and my market,
a lot of them were referralsfrom team leaders to new realtors,
and I thought I really hadn'tthought a ton about that.
(14:43):
But when you have the reportin front of you,
you're like, oh,yeah, that's how I got that.
That client, it was a team leader.
Oh, there's another team leaderthat brought on, you know, a new client.
So. Yeah.
Yeah, I think
that's called as the referral business.
And what the referral business is,I think the best way to grow.
(15:04):
But is would you rather get a referralor make cold calls?
Craig.
referrals
hand over fist,I mean, let's be honest, it's easier.
It's it's a warm introduction.
Yeah.
Yeah.
My personalityis that one that just make a cold call.
(15:24):
I like to have some sort of set upin reaching out to somebody, you know,
even if it's, Hey,do you have a colleague in your office
that you think could benefit?
Is it okay if I use your name is,you know, a current client
and at least have thatif I'm doing a cold call?
That's great. So.
(15:45):
What I want to do nowis we'll pivot a little bit.
And I think this would be great
to actually let'sgo through your new client list Craig.
And we'll keep all these names.
Craig and I both glance at this list a little bit and we'll keep the names private.
But I think what's important
here is I know many of you are saying,oh, yeah, that's great.
(16:07):
Todd, I, I really prefer a referral versusa cold call as well.
Just how do you get the referral?
And that's where I think we can dive intoas we see these names on here.
And we might see some names on herethat are not referrals.
And I think it'll be fun to talk abouthow those people came in.
But Craig, do you want to pickI know there's a couple do you want to go
(16:29):
through?
Let's start from the top downclient list as you're going through these.
But let's start withI think the first one was Dawn and Dawn.
Yeah. Tell us about Dawn.
So Dawn works for a
brokerage that we,we are not a preferred vendor for,
we've had a relationshipwith the brokerage in the past, back
when I had my own company,doing real estate. But,
(16:51):
Dawn came in
from a referral from her sonwho is on her team.
So she's she's actually the team leader.
She's the experienced realtor.
Her son is newer in the business.
But he reached out to us,
and this was not someone I pursuedadmittedly.
I had never heard his name even before,
(17:12):
but he was looking for,
somebody outside of their insidemarketing department and got our name
and reached out to us, and, and,so I had a discussion with him.
We got a shoot set up.
He was super happywith everything that we did.
You know, the team did for him.
And, I think it wasmaybe three weeks later.
(17:35):
All of a sudden,I see somebody with the same last name
and turns outit's his mom and he's on her team.
And so in talking with her, you know, it's
she said, I've heard nothingbut good things about you from my son.
I'm like, well, that's awesome, Dawn.
thank you for reaching out.
And, you know, she's
established in the business is, you know,a lot of business over the years.
(17:59):
And, we have very quickly formeda great relationship with her as well.
So. Yeah.
That's great.
So this company, I want to ask youa quick question about the company,
because one thing you told us
is this particular company,they have an in-house program
They have preferred vendors,they have, they
(18:20):
and they work to push everyone into that.
So management, they're all line like,
they want their realtorsto use the in-house company.
Correct? Correct.
So do you still feel there'sany potential there or what is your
what are your actionable itemswith this particular company?
Do we just write them off?
Oh heck no.
(18:41):
Because we still havea lot of loyal clients from that company
that have stayed with us because they knowthe consistency of our work.
But they know me.
They know I'm going to be probably 10to 15 minutes early,
and if I'm actually getting it closeto the actual appointment
time, they're getting nervousbecause Craig is always early. So,
(19:02):
but in that
they once in a whilethey maybe have to use the inside company
because maybe I'm not availableor something like that.
And they, they come back to meand I get some interesting
reports and stories,and I'm just going to leave it at that.
But I'll, I'll mention to them,hey, you know, thank you.
Thank you so much.
(19:22):
I don't take that for granted.
I know you have choices.
If you happen to hear of anybody elsethat is maybe
looking for a different solution,maybe they're not completely satisfied.
You know, we've got this referral program,and I just
we want to say thank you for any referralsyou can provide.
It's just kind of a natural conversationis they're telling me
stories about whythey like working with us so much.
(19:44):
Yeah.
Agents will tell you everything.
Well, I've heard some interesting things.
I, you know, Todd.
Sometimes I feel like a priest or a pastorfor they're confiding things in me
that they wouldn't tell anybody else.
Like, I got to keep my mouth shut.
I've got a confidentiality thing,you know, it just
(20:04):
it makes me chucklea little bit sometimes.
Craig, do you doyou have any tips or tricks?
Because I, I think you havea natural knack for people
confiding in you,and I don't think that goes for everyone.
I think sometimes,
you know, there's
some people I talk to, I'm like,I'm not telling this person anything.
And, you know, versus you where it's like,I feel super confident.
(20:27):
Do you have any just simple tips for justinteractions and a house with an agent?
Well, I mean, it usually starts
we've talked about this a bazillion times.
Those of you that maybe are new,I love coffee meetings and sitting down
to get to know a potential clientor a new client as a human being,
hearing their story.
(20:47):
And I always start with, so tell me,how did you get into real estate?
You know, do you mind sharing your story?
And I've never had anybodynot want to tell me their story, you know,
and how they're excited to be in thisand just the journey that led up to that.
And then I'll usually try and briefly.
It's hard sometimesshare my story of how I got into it.
(21:07):
And we connect as humans first.
I'm not even talking aboutwhat are their marketing goals.
You know, what products or services orI don't I don't start with that because,
I mean, nobody likes that.
It just we're human beings.
We have to connect.
So, I just I start with,tell me your story.
You know, I'd love to get to know you.
(21:28):
And then that leads into what?
What are their dreams?What are their hopes?
What are their aspirations?
You know, and then
based on that, well, here's here'swhat we could potentially do.
That area I don't know necessarilywe could help you, but here's what we can
do. And let'sjust try and find the right solution.
So it's not pushing any one product or,or service.
(21:51):
It's connect as a human being first,build the trust
and then work as a team to accomplish thethe realtors goals.
Right?I just try to be real with people. Maybe.
Maybe I'm too transparent sometimes.
I don't know, but it's just it'sjust how I'm wired.
I guess.
Yeah,I think it's sincere. I think people,
(22:12):
trust that and people respond to that.
Well, so that's a gold nugget for y'all.
If you're in the house with an agent.
Hey, how'dyou get started in a real estate?
And just a little asterisk note here.
If the real estate agent's client, i.e.
the homeowner, the builder,if they're in the property,
are you going to ask thatsame question, Craig, or do you handle
(22:35):
do you approach thata little bit differently?
Yeah. No.
If the if there's a seller there
their focus is on their on their client,but you know, on the home seller or.
Yeah. Like you said the, the
developer or builder,I'm there to do a job.
So I'm not I'm nothobnobbing or socializing.
I'm I'm there. Get the photos, the video,
(22:57):
assure the
seller that, hey, you made a great choicein choosing Dawn as your realtor.
You know, she's gone above and beyondfor you, which the realtor loves that
because you're building their brandfor them to the seller,
my goal is to have that seller thenrefer that realtor and who you know what?
Realtor wouldn't love that, right?
And I can say thatbecause they're using us and,
(23:18):
and we're doing our best jobfor the seller as well.
I love that, Craig.
So let me just ask one clarifying
real quickbecause you gave us a little tip there.
So give us the cheat sheet forif it's just you and the homeowner
in the house again, what's a good wayto start a conversation? There?
Or just the homeowner?
That's right.
Well,usually I, we, and or home and or agent.
(23:40):
That's fine.
Yeah. Well, if it's just the homeowner,
a lot of times they'll say, I take ityou're the photographer,
and my camera is,you know, hanging on my hip.
I'm like, what gave it away? There you go.
Just, you know, just have some fun.
And it usually, usually gets a smile.
And so then I'll introduce myself and,and just kind of then step them through.
(24:01):
Well, here'swhat we're doing for you today.
And, you know, go through what services
we're going to be doingabout how long it might take.
You know, if, if the,
if we're doing something aboveand beyond, you know, say just photos,
again, that's
that's where I'll tell them your realtoris really going to bat for you.
They're they're doing a lot of marketing.
So, you know, it's going to takeabout this amount of time,
(24:23):
at the end of the shoot, I let them know,hey, we'll have everything,
you know, to, your realtorby the end of the day tomorrow,
and then they'll take it from there.
Do you have any questions?
Just try and serve thethe the home seller.
Well,
with, you know, with it
being the realtorthat might just be there.
Are you talkingto a established relationship
(24:44):
or a new client that we're working with?
Just with the realtoror just with the homeowner?
Just with the realtor?
Hey, let's ask for both, okay?
If you really say it's a brand new realtor
to. Yeah, a new client to you.
Excuse me? It's a new client to you.
You know, it kind of depends.
(25:05):
I don't know that I have a consistentapproach on that, to be honest.
Because I if I'm there on the appointmentto actually do the shooting, I have found
if I get too chatty, I can miss a halfbath or something like that, right?
Yeah.
I'm not concentrating fully on the shoot,so I don't necessarily do a ton of,
getting to knowyou type conversation with them.
(25:28):
But if I haven't had that initial, say,coffee meeting or,
you know, office meeting or whatever,I'll try and get that set up.
And, and again, let them know, hey,you'll have everything.
And a day tomorrow,if you have any questions, let me know.
And I'd love to sit down with youand get to know you better and get to know
your business better.Can can we set up a time to meet?
(25:48):
So, yeah, I would probably say there's
not a ton of social interactionif they've hired us before.
I've had the chance to sit downand get to know them.
That's great. Yeah.
If it's an established client.
I mean, we're so comfortablewith each other.
Hey, how's your kids doing?
You know, they'll ask about Zeke. They.
(26:10):
I friend most.
I think I'm friends with pretty muchevery client I've got, on Facebook.
So they see my updates on my family,and they'll ask how my son Zeke's doing.
And, you know, it's just it's living life
together and doing business together.
Yeah that's great.
And then those are all the little things.
So that's a great timeline of a new clientshow.
(26:32):
The client you're there for business.
You're going to be friendly.
You're going to do what they need.
You're going to try to builda relationship with them.
Extend the olive branchto have the coffee meeting.
Also, one thing Craig did that we feel isvery important
is setting those expectationsin the property at the house,
just so they know what happens next,what's happening today, what happens next.
(26:54):
Those are very important.
And then from there, as you get to knowthese clients and you care about them.
And that's one thing I, I think you guyssense it coming through here.
Craig cares about his clients.
It's it's not artificial.
It's a true care to serve them.
That's what gets your clients
to refer you to other clientsbecause they want you to win as well.
(27:21):
It's hard.
I think for me, a lot of that comesjust from my past employment and career.
I mean, obviously, you know this,but pretty much my entire career
was was in the nonprofit sectorin, in nonprofit Christian ministry.
And I've never been primarily business
minded or profit drivenor anything like that.
(27:43):
It's been more about trying to encouragepeople,
sharing God's Word with people.
Just,
yeah.
Serving people.
That's it's like,I don't know how to do anything else.
Well, I don't consider myself,you know, a great businessman
or business strategist or CEO or a.
(28:09):
It's it's it's all I know.
So in the context of the business world,I just take, okay, that's who I am.
That's who God made me to be.
And I'm going to do my best with that.
Learn what I can about the business worldand implement, you know, good,
good principles that are,
principles of integrityand just serve people well.
(28:33):
And I don't tend to overcomplicate it
a whole lot.
Yeah.
Craig, I think that's why you're up
19% year over year.
It's just because you dowhat's correct for the client.
It's not the next tactic.
It's not the next buzz word in a book.
(28:55):
It's not the next social media postor landing page or technique.
It's it's not.
And I'm not saying those thingsdon't have value.
You all.
But I read what you guys askon social media.
And I read what comes in and it's like,
you just it's so far away fromwhat is really going
(29:16):
to change your life,your business and your client's life.
Right? Right.
I have a confession to make, Todd.
You said I love this part of the program.
You said itlike we need a jingle right now.
Craig's flashbacks.
So you you use the phrase, buzzwords right
there arethere are definitely business buzzwords.
(29:39):
And I had a role,
doing inside sales at a particular companyhere.
This was one of my,non ministry related jobs.
And we had the guy.
He was nice guy.
And he was he was just very,
very sales manager, driven
(30:00):
and had a lot of businessbuzzwords, vocab.
And it might have beendisrespectful of me, I don't know.
I mean, I liked the guy.
I did what I could to, you know,to hit my goals and work with him.
I didn't not like this guy, justI just want to set this up.
But he used business buzzwords so, so much
(30:21):
that it got to bea little bit of an inside
joke with our inside sales departmentmaybe driven by me,
a little bit of what business buzzwordis he going to use next?
And we actually we would have these insidesales department meetings right.
And I may or may not have createda business buzzword.
Bingo card for us to keep track of.
(30:44):
During the meetings, we'dsee who would get a bingo
based on the terms that we knowhe would use.
Did anybody call outbingo during the meeting?
Not that I recall.
I would have gotten so much trouble,
but, I'm not usually like that,
but but that's how, like, non-businessI am.
(31:04):
It's like, yeah,
I know there's good words, you know,it's like synergy was one of the synergy.
Synergy? Yes.
Big word that he like to use and check.
So all that to say, there are
tons of listeners or viewers right nowthat you are a whole lot smarter than I am
when it comes to businessand building a business and growing it.
(31:26):
Kudos to you.
I'm we're not making fun of you.
I mean, I'm kind of jealous of how smartmany of you are,
and I don't consider myself that.
But if we can be real with people,
be compassionate,
serve well, that I mean,I really think that's.
Yeah, that's just a lot of
(31:47):
what contributes to successand and doing well in your business.
Just be real with people.
Yeah. It's what people want.
And again, you're selling salespeople.
You also don't get too clever becausethey have probably already heard it.
There's a phrase it might have come fromyou, even Todd, I don't I don't remember.
You can't sell a salesperson.
(32:08):
And our clients arethey might call themselves
consultants like we do,but ultimately we're all salespeople.
You can't you can't sell a salesperson.
We all know the same techniques.
You know.
Yeah, a phraseI. You stole it from Shannon.
She probably stole it fromsomeone else. So just for
tracking purposes, that is who it's.
(32:29):
It's not a me phrase, but I do say it.
I agree 100%.
Okay, Craig, let's,
I'm going to go down to one moreand let's talk about this one more name.
And I think there's a coupleof different connections here.
So we have a Michelle at a, a company
that we have an agreewe have a relationship with.
Can you tell us about Michelle?
(32:50):
And then as I saw Michelle in that companyname,
I saw a whole bunch of new namesfrom that company.
What do we do there,or what did you do there?
I did nothing, Michelle was at a differentbrokerage when I first met her.
And she has since moved to thisthis new brokerage for her new,
quite a few years old. Now.
(33:10):
But, yeah, we we have a
brokerage agreementwith this particular brokerage that I
then introduced that, agreementin that program to Michelle
and to the officesthat are up here in my service area.
And because of the relationshipthat I've had with her
and having shot for her before,she was very enthusiastic about,
(33:32):
introducing us to the the regional officesthat we serve here in my market.
And, they I mean, there's not a wholelot more to say.
It was a combination of the programand relationships and her knowing
our consistency in, in qualityand in the way we serve.
(33:53):
And so I've had the opportunityto do a lot of,
presentations in,you know, the 3 or 4 offices in our area.
And I do that multiple times a year,and she she will mention us.
She's asked us to sponsor eventsthat they do for their realtors.
So we've, you know,we've we've sponsored several events.
And I get to every one of those eventsthat I can there every once in a while.
(34:14):
My schedule is two full.
We shoot so I can't make it, butwe'll still have, you know, our presence
with our logoand maybe some swag that we give.
And she'll even when I'm not there,she'll make a,
you know, an announcement about thinking,wow and and whatnot.
So it's just been a good,good relationship.
She's enthusiastic about usand we serve her and her team well. So.
(34:35):
Yeah.
Yeah.
One thing, onething I love about the industry, Craig.
And I know this probably drivesthe brokers crazy.
The owners of the companies crazy.
But if as you build good relationships
with agentsand they know, like and trust you,
it's just a matter of timebefore agents at one company
sprinkle throughoutand go to other companies.
(34:59):
It's just the way the business is.
Agents go from one company to the next.
Brokers and recruiterstry to get them to give them
a better deal, a better payout, a cut,whatever it may be.
They switch because they know people.
They switch for some reason,but it's going to happen.
And that's a beautiful thing, that Craighad a relationship with this Michelle,
(35:20):
and she changed companies and happensto be a manager at this new company.
And thus we have that new referral.
It's like Michelle's almost a salespersonfor us inside of that company.
Yeah.
Going back to thethe brokers she was with before, it was
the same brokerage that we we don't havea preferred vendor relationship with.
(35:45):
And I, I would be pretty confident
in saying that the new businessthat we have with her new brokerage
might be as big as, if not bigger than,what we had with the former brokerage.
Wow. And I'm sure she switchedbecause she was so unhappy
that that former brokerage did
no longer had a relationship with us,that she's like, I got to go to wherever Wow’s at.
(36:06):
Well, that sure, I bet that's it.
I bet that's the
that's more of that sarcasm,
Yeah.
So, yeah, I'm.
I'm completely kidding, y'all.I had no bearing on it.
But the beautiful thing is,is that Michelle got to the new spot.
Like, I know a guy.
Yeah, and I want him to come here as well.
The brokerage agreementdidn't hurt things by any means.
(36:30):
Yes, because there are.
Let me just count them.
There are immediately under her,
17 names right there
that came in from the brokerage agreement.
So again,just if our listeners are just joining in
for the first time with like, what is it?
What is what is a brokerage agreement?
Craig, a broker dealer, as we call them.
(36:52):
Well, Todd, youknow, we've talked about this brokerage
agreement and we've talked about itin the past before, like you said.
Can you can you explainwhat a brokerage agreement is?
I love to, because it's
one of my most favorite thingsto talk about.
It's top down selling at a brokerage.
So it's where you go out and you builda relationship with the person in charge,
(37:14):
the decision maker, and you say, hey,I've got this great media program
that's going to give you the solutionto help you get your agents
to market properties better,which in turn gets them more listings.
And then also, this is going to bean incredible recruiting tool for you
because you're going to go tellall the agents that are not
(37:35):
at your brokeragethat you have a brokerage brokerage deal
where you you have a media programfor all agents at your brokerage,
where you front the costs for their media,take it out at closing,
and it's a convenience to them to markettheir listings better with a no impact,
a no risk to themif the property doesn't sell.
(37:58):
There you go.
That's a very quickit exist in many different ways.
Shannon and I are going to spend an hourtalking about this
at the REPP conference this year.
So we've got a featured spot there.
We're going to talk all about it,and we have many podcasts on this.
And I think the interesting thingis, as I look at this list, Craig,
and while you have a ton of names on here,
(38:20):
there's still 17that are related to this company.
It's the largest driverthis year in your market
of new clients coming in by far.
Yeah.
And admittedly, Todd, I've.
I've actually not been prospectingnew business.
Primarily because I'm actuallythe only photographer currently for us
in, in my market, and I'm at capacity.
(38:40):
I've, I can't take on additional clients,so I've not been actively
seeking out new clients,but we've still had them
trickle in because of referralsand things like that.
So I'm very appreciativeto our current clients
for, for sharing our name and,
hoping to get somebody very soonso that we can continue
to build the businessand serve more realtors.
(39:04):
Craig, I okay.
Record scratch here.
Like, I'mso happy that you shared that with us
because you all we have,
we encounterthe same gaps that you encounter.
Okay, I talked to many of you
(39:24):
and you are like,I am so busy shooting right now.
Or whatever the gap is.
I am doing no shooting right now.
I wish I had clients, everybody.
This is the ebbs in the flowsof business, right?
And so our problem right nowis not new business in Craig's territory.
(39:47):
In fact, it's not our problemin any of our territories, thankfully,
because we have focusedon getting new business.
What you focus on will expand.
It has it's worked. Okay.
So now we have a new gap.
That is, we need to grow the team.
(40:07):
That is what we're focused on
and we're finding,you know, there's always
going to be different gaps that you have.
We're finding this one happensto be a challenging gap in Craig's market
right now.
And we're finding that we have to pivot.
We've hired hundreds of photographersall throughout the years.
(40:28):
We knowwhat it takes to hire a photographer.
This one's a little bit different
and we're learning as we go along.
Craig's helping with that.
Jess is helping with that.
But it's no differentthan anything you get to.
What we're going to do is we're goingto bring this photographer on
and then what we have then oncewe get this photographer up to speed, is
(40:48):
we have a new gap where we neednew business.
So, Craig,when that gap happens, it's probably
going to be February,January, February of next year.
What are you going to do?
Yeah, I switch to now prospecting mode.
I'm actively now looking for new business
to get that new photographer scheduleas full as I can and keep them busy
(41:10):
and happy doing what they're doingand earning earning their money.
But I can't do that.
And I and I won't do thatuntil I know we have the capacity.
And I was just very honestwith with Chris and Steve, my, my managers
on the sales side of things,that if we continue
to try and bring in new clientswhen we don't have the capacity,
(41:31):
they're going to get frustrated
because they can't get schedulewhen they want
and they're going to goto other other businesses.
And that that is going to make a really,really bad first impression,
and it's going to make it
a whole lot more challengingto try and win their business.
Back when I didn't evenhave it in the first place,
because they've alreadyhad a bad experience with us.
(41:51):
So I want to minimize that until I knowthat, okay, we've got more capacity,
somebody that can serve youand, and, and grow from there.
Yeah, that that is,
we talked about holes in a bucketa few podcasts ago.
If you don't have any capacity,but you're selling like crazy,
(42:12):
you have a much larger hole in your bucketthan what's coming in.
So you're losing more in your bucketbecause agents, you're doing all this work
building relationships.
Agents are excited to come and use you.
They get to your order pageand they can't use you for two weeks.
You know?
Yeah, that's pretty much it.
(42:32):
Yeah.
Awesome.
Well,
that that has been fabulous, Craig,thank you for sharing about these clients.
If any of you out therehave some stories, have a question.
If you're nurturing a client along rightnow, we'd love to help you
post it in the chat below.
Again, hello@spiro.media
If you're like, hey, I talked to thisclient two weeks ago and they said this,
how should I how should I contact them?
(42:54):
How can I move this along? Why?
When should I checkin? We're here for you.
We hope this has been helpful,but please ask us.
Post it in the chat below and, we will doour best to help you move that along.
Absolutely.
You could also email us Spiroor hello@spiro.media.
And if you're a Spiro user,
(43:14):
I suppose I could use the pink chatbubble too, right?
Yeah. Pink pink chat bubble.They'll get it over.
This customer supportteam will get you over to myself or Craig.
So the pink chats. Great as well. Awesome.
Well, dad, thanks for the opportunityto share this week.
Craig. Thank youfor letting me put you on the spot.
I feel likeI kind of missed an opportunity
to do something a little bit more,but regardless,
(43:37):
I'm just gladthey're going through my report card.
You didn't hit my math classbecause, I mean, math was always fun.
I lost out,I lost out one more quick story.
And so back when I was 13 or 14,my mom and dad said,
if you get straight A's on your onyour grade card, we will get you a moped.
Now, mopeds were big back in the 80s,90s, right.
(43:59):
For, for, you know,
early teen pre drivers.
I was that I wanted that moped so bad
and I got all A's
except for that stupid, stupid math class
that I tried my, To this day, I hate math.
That'spart of why I'm not a business person.
I hate math right.
(44:22):
So you're kidding. I'm going to.
You going through my grade card, just,you know, brought back that trauma time.
Thanks a lot.
Well, Craig, I feel like I.
I should send you a moped,
but I've got I've got my,my Honda 1300 out in the garage.
I'm good. Now,
will you just take the mopedto one, shoot for me and record it?
(44:42):
I'll take.
Well, my wife has the scooter/moped.
I should do you know what?
Maybe I'll.
Maybe I'll do that.
I guess you told me to get some video.
Maybe I'll do that on video.
Okay, you guys, more to come, right?
More to come.
You guys have a great week.
Thanks so much for joining us this week.
Make sure you take some timeto be thankful
(45:03):
for the blessings in your life,like maybe a moped.
And, take a breath.
You have a great week. Take care.
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