Brokerage Deals - A Deeper Dive

The Spiro Podcast: Managing your Real Estate Photography & Videography Business

The Spiro Podcast started with an episode about Brokerage deals (find it here: https://youtu.be/5NWcfnWkjvE ) - we wanted to revisit the topic and dive a bit deeper to help you land brokerage deals and grow your business in 2023. Join Todd & Craig as they discuss landing those deals, and being able to get them set up in your Spiro portal!

0:00-1:02 Sneak Peek

1:03-4:08 Intro

4:09-11:20 How the brokerage deal began (for Wow Video Tours)

• Todd’s initial idea: a monthly plan for his largest clients
• The broker liked it and gave him backing by selling it to her agents
• Selling from the top down- speaking the broker’s language and selling what they want, partnering with them
• Not many brokers will guarantee you a number of listings per year because their agents are subcontractors; a broker can not tell their agents what to do unless they pay for it
• Most brokers do not pay the entire bill because it is the agents’ responsibility to market their listing
• Instead of looking for a guarantee, make the brokerage responsible for fronting the bill

11:21-17:25 Agent and Company Pay

• Spiro allows you to split payment between companies and agents
• Suggestion: Don’t sell photos only; start at photos and video
• Put the products into a bundle on an order page just for that brokerage
• Put in your custom pricing for that deal
• Discounting is up to you; a frequent user will like a discount, however, it can be worth it to make brokerages feel good about using you
• Custom pricing and order page can help your image as a high-end company
• Company pricing means you know you will get paid
• You can also ask them to write a check so you can avoid merchant fees
• When the company agrees to front the bill, you can invoice the company, get paid, and the broker and agent work out repayment on their own terms
• Broker bill: The agent’s tab with the company (office fees, commissions, etc.)
• Most brokers don’t mind fronting the money because they see the value of having their agents use you
• Agents will be able to pay the broker bill after closing

17:26-20:17 Companies can make money from your deal by adding an upcharge for their agents

• Use the Advanced toggle in the Bundle setup window
• Put Agent Pay as $0, Company Pay as the bundle price, and Display price as the bundle price + the upcharge
• Agent will see the upcharged price and know what they will have to pay the company (Company receives display price, has already paid you the bundle price, and profits the upcharge amount)
• If the broker does not want their agents to know what they pay, put $0 as the display price to hide what the broker pays
• Contact us for help

20:18-28:38 How do I approach a broker?

• You usually will not be in touch with the broker directly
• Todd’s strategy: get in with many of their agents, especially top agents, and make their agents happy
• Brokers want to work with vendors who make their agents happy
• Suggest to agents- “Wouldn’t it be great if…” - often they will agree
• Ask for a warm introduction or an appointment with them and the broker
• Once you have the meeting: research them and their metrics- number of agents, offices
• You want to show your desire to partner with them
• Bring up what you know and show that you’ve done your research
• Then talk about what is important to them: market share
• Market share: the percentage of the total volume of sales in the market that they do (if your city has 10,000 listings/year, and a company does 2,000 of those, they have a 20% market share)
• You don’t have to know their market share
• Can grow in market share by getting current agents to sell more or recruiting more agents
• A broker is looking for tools to enable them to do those two things so they can grow in market share
• Get soft closes and get them to say yes - ask: “Do you think that if your agents could market consistently with photos and video that your brand value/image would increase? Do you see how your agents could use these tools to be more effective at a listing presentation?”
• This raises their marketing floor (their bottom level of marketing)
• “What if we could put together a process to make this easy for you?” - a custom order page, an easy process for your agents to order, easy access to your media for your marketing department, easy to pay (all features in Spiro)
• “Do you think having a media program like this would help you recruit more agents?” - when recruiting, the broker is trying to present tools that other brokers don’t have
• A brokerage deal is both a sales tool and a recruitment tool for brokers

28:39-30:46 How formal should the contract be?

• It depends on your comfort level with the broker
• Contracts protect both parties; people can also get leery because they may not want to be locked in
• Make sure it’s a win-win
• As long as I am bringing value, keeping the agents happy, and helping the broker grow their market share, I am earning trust and showing my value to the broker
• If you’re planning on writing a contract, enlist the help of an attorney

30:47-32:47 How often should I check back with the broker?

• Todd likes to sit with them once a year; sometimes it may need to be less
• No news is good news
• Make strong connections with their office managers and try to go to their office meetings and events as often as you can
• Just because you have the deal doesn’t mean you have the business
• Build relationships
• The more appearances you make, the more they will view you as their marketing department and part of their business versus an outside contract or vendor

32:48-35:27

• Contact us with more questions; we would be happy to help
• Much more efficient to sell top-down

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You can find out more about Spiro at spiro.media.