This episode of a casual conversation with the Pixlmob team features co-founders Moses Nickerson and Mattie, who live at the intersection of media and real estate. Moses is a long-time real estate industry veteran who has launched real estate teams, brokerages, and a real estate media company (Pixlmob media company). Mattie has a background primarily in film and TV, specifically producing and directing television commercials and other advertising. They discuss the business models and functions currently working in the real estate industry, focusing on the conversation between real estate agents and real estate photographers.
The co-founders explore what it takes to start a successful real estate photography business, using the goal of making $100,000 in a year. A basic framework for success is: make $100,000, net $100,000, and give $100,000. For a photography package priced at $200 (a common price across the country), achieving $100,000 in revenue requires completing 500 shoots in a year. This breaks down to around 45 shoots per month or 10 per week.
The discussion then moves to strategies for obtaining shoots. While pure volume is one approach, raising the average order value by adding services like video and drones can lead to reaching the $100,000 goal faster. The first step in sales is getting in front of enough realtors.
Key sales advice for new real estate media professionals:
- Think of yourself as a business-to-business salesperson, providing value to help a realtor grow their business.
- Focus on forging a quality business relationship rather than just selling the quality of your photography. The quality of the media is "table stakes".
- Find ways to make yourself indispensable to realtor partners. This could include offering ancillary services like sign installation or lockbox management, which busy agents highly value.
- Targeting a consistent rhythm of outreach is more likely to succeed than relying on sheer willpower.
- Higher context communication, such as in-person meetings, leads to a higher conversion rate for those with little sales experience, compared to low-context mediums like DMs.
- Track and measure your conversion ratio (e.g., how many calls/meetings it takes to get a new client) to transform your business.
- Engage with the local realtor association through sponsorships, lunch-and-learns, or teaching classes.
- Focus on building relationships for repeatable business.
- When courting teams, you must make the administrative assistant's life easier by providing convenience through services like availability and simple delivery.
- Boutique brokerages (5 to 25 agents) may be easier to partner with than large franchises, as they are often looking for differentiators and may mandate or pay for professional photography for their agents.
- Find opportunities to create a beneficial alliance with a gatekeeper (like a broker who is also a high-volume seller), which can unlock business with multiple agents.
- Be humble, ask questions about what is valuable to agents, teams, and brokers in your area, and be curious to build connections.
Finally, the discussion briefly touches on the difference between netting $100,000 while working in the business as an operator, versus netting $100,000 in passive income where the business doesn't depend on you.
