Welcome to this week in marketing! My name is Jason Pantana your host and I'm glad you're here for today's episode because this one's going to be super special. I'm with Shane Bergman who runs an amazing small team on the Space Coast of Florida We're going to talk today about how he is truly operationalized video around him as an integral part of his marketing strategy to build a 75 million dollar per year business. and also this is going to be a special Insight because you're going to hear a perspective from somebody who's been a part of our military, a veteran and how he's been able to scale his business and what that means for other folks who are in a similar position foreign. I'm so glad you're on the show today.

Welcome! Thanks! Jason What an amazing uh introduction that was just loaded with words. They love this. That's what I do I love words too I use lots of them, arguably too many of them. Okay, so first and foremost, for everybody watching, give us your back story and give us your kind of state of your business.

We want to hear Who You Are Yeah, uh, so I'm actually coming up on eight years in real estate and um, real estate is the first full-time job that I've held outside of the military as an adult. So I spent a decade in the Navy specifically in the submarine Force I was a nuclear missile technician, did that for 10 years and then got to a point in my career where it was like I'm either going to retire and hit 20 and do a pension or if I'm going to separate. you know, now is the time. And long story short, obviously ended up separating.

Found my way into real estate uh, eight years ago and I've been doing it full time ever since. and this year actually last year was the first year. that I mean it was a huge year for our team, but it was the first year that I had breached a significant milestone in my business. And it's where I personally sold.

you know, 42 million from a from an agent standpoint that's massive. In our County it was literally top five agents in the county. so it was a huge milestone that we accomplished. Yeah, I love that and then also the teams production on top of that, which has been amazing.

So give us sort of the landscape or the makeup of your team. how's it configured? Walk us through your sort of org chart if you will. Yeah, so the team we've we formed uh, going on a year and a half ago and uh, it initially started with just myself and then I brought on an assistant, a full-time assistant, and then we scaled into a full-time videographer and then it was just the three of us. and then it got to a point in the business where, um, it was a good problem to have I just had a a lot of inbound leads and inbound referrals and it was becoming a little bit more challenging to you know handle those.

So started looking to grow the team from a from a high quality agent perspective. people that I would feel comfortable enough, nurturing and working leads that could be you know relationships that I've carved and created over years uh could be family or whatever it was. but I wanted people that I could trust and I ended up finding you know a couple of really really great agents that I still work with to this day and that is the team. So we have in a full scope image to myself, videographer, a full-time assistant and then currently right now I have two full-time sales Partners love that and you made the comment of the videographer which for many listening that might have been like huh? That's an unusual path for an early hire.

What was the motivation there or the thinking behind going early with video motivation? and Thinking Beyond that I mean I have to give you credit I mean you have been an inspiration and a coach and someone that has really given me the courage and just skill set to to be able to scale video which I never kind of thought about before, but ultimately it comes down to the the balance of time and and what is my actual job. It kind of. the lines get a little blurry, but um, being able to produce content at such a high quality and then also output level is challenging by yourself. And I know that's not what I wanted to do.

So bringing someone on the kind of delegate some of those tasks was it had to be done well. You make the comment about the lines getting blurry I Think any business owner would make that same comment. Uh, when you're in business, you're responsible for sales, marketing, operations, All of it. And when you're real estate professional, those lines get very blurry because you are the operations.

You are the product, the service being delivered. And so there's this toggling back and forth between working in my business, working on my business, working in my business, and on my business. You also made mention of inbound leads. So I'm going to make an assumption you correct me or just kind of spill the details on this.

You make a lot of video. I Watch your videos. They're really great videos. You make some of the funniest videos I've seen in the entire industry in particular.

I'm assuming the inbound is the result of all your videos all the social media and it's creating sort of a frenzy of DMS possibly from people who have just found you on social. But also I'm assuming that social media is a big part of how you work and stay in touch with your database. Yeah, I mean you're absolutely correct on that. Uh, from a metric standpoint, about 20 of my annual business is directly correlated to our social media presence.

Um, there is a significant correlation also to about three years ago when I started diving in extremely deep into video and that was the first year that I personally sold north of 20 million. So you know, for at that point being hardly five years in the business, you know, hitting a milestone where most agents might never hit. You know, to me, it was like what are we doing here and how do we? you know? double triple down on that. And yeah, clearly I mean you've seen kind of what we've been doing on social.

Well, that's a perfect Insight I mean there's a a lot, you know. we just attended an event recently. You and I were both there at the same time. We talked a lot about why are folks making video and the rationale between.

well, wait a minute. I started making video and had a record-setting year I should make more video and have an even bigger year and there was a business necessity that drove you into doing that. Um, I wonder your thoughts around that and I didn't mean to take the conversation here per se, but there's a lot of folks who they could make the same observation when they look at open houses or any kind of a marketing channel and say wow, that's really responsible for a large, a large segment of my business. What can I do to redouble my my efforts around that thing I don't know if you have any additional thoughts for others listening in.

I do and I think it's whatever is working, that is what your focus should be on. So for me, it just happened to be video again. I'm not saying that our team does not do open houses because that's also a pretty large source of our business. Specifically, one of the agents on my team I'd say about 60 of the business that she did last year was were a result of open houses and she sold north of 12 million.

So like that was a huge source for her. And yeah, I mean if it's working for your business, you clearly look at the signs and that's something that you should invest in. For me, it just happened to be video marketing. Now this may have already answered itself, but I was going to ask you what would you say is your marketing superpower when it comes to to marketing I think my marketing superpower is this the ability to demonstrate my personality and and being real on camera I mean I Can't tell you how many times that I've met.

You know whether it was other agents that have seen my videos and whether it was at a Tom Fair event or another networking event or even local agents. And when they meet me in person, they're just like you're the same dude on camera that you are here. and I'm always kind of like confused like who else am I going to be but then once I start thinking about there's there's probably a lot of people that put this Persona on of who they are in film and then you meet them in person, they're either you know, like a jerk or whatever it may be. but I think that's my superpowers, the ability to just get across the camera to the viewer of like I'm a real guy.

this is who I am kind of take it or leave it mentality. Yeah, I love that and it's It's an interesting point to bring up because typically people would say oh I'm amazing at Billboards or postcards or they give me a very definitive marketing channel as being their marketing superpower. but your answer is a bit more thoughtful. It's the way you approach whatever that marketing medium is.

Do you feel like or have you experienced a lot of agents in your Marketplace or just in real estate overall who are disingenuous in whatever marketing channels they choose to Leverage I think so I mean I think it's it's probably why the word authenticity is a buzzword or being your authentic self. I mean there's a reason that people search what that even means because no one knows what it means really. So I mean you can ask five different creators what that definition means to them and they're all probably going to answer a different response to it. But to me, you know authentic is you're the same person in person than you are on camera and you are throughout the rest of your day and the rest of your life.

How would you encourage somebody to go about that? Because I would argue that the main reason folks aren't themselves on camera is not because it's usually not because they're arrogant or whatever and they're trying to pretend that they're usually they're nervous. Usually it's like oh, this isn't uncomfortable I'm not used to talking to a camera and so my heart goes out because you want them to be able to convey who they are. This doesn't know you like you trust your business and in order for me to truly know you, like you trust you. it has to be you that's being displayed to me in my marketing as as a consumer.

What would you say to folks to level up their game their authenticity based upon the way you describe it on video? I mean I Think courage is is a is a huge um task for for people to get on video and have the courage to make mistakes? Have the courage to be wrong. Have the courage to get on camera or do your marketing efforts when you don't feel like you're looking your best and just kind of get it done. I Mean the the overarching kind of theme is most of us when we create video, we don't feel like it's perfect, like there's always going to be a problem or something. that where that could have said that better.

I could have not stumbled over those words like I've got a zit on my forehead, whatever it may be, but the fact that it's just like done, you know is better than perfect I believe you've posted that I know Dwayne Carpenter is like a huge uh, proponent of that phrase. I mean that goes such a long way. Just get it done, take care of it. you're gonna get better.

There's always going to be some criticism. There's always going to be someone that thinks you're ugly or doesn't find out like you're smart. Who cares like that's not your audience. Did you always approach your video and your marketing with that kind of? Courage No, absolutely not.

I mean I early early on it was one of those like I was highly critical of of myself and you know to a certain point I still am to this day. but I think as time goes on, you start developing like I don't know whether it's a callus or whatever it may be, but I I know there are people out there that don't appreciate the content I do or don't appreciate the things I say or my knowledge or whatever it may be. But ultimately, deep down I know that they're not a fit for me and that's not my audience and I'm certainly okay with that. That's good stuff.

Well and over time, your Vibe attracts your tribe and so you start to find the people who love what you're doing and you realize there's a large enough sample size of those people that I should continue just to feed that audience because those are my people and not worry so much about everybody else's perspective because I didn't ask for the criticism right I would assume that someone of the mindset, um, what would you say to an agent who's like, okay, I'm on the fence of making my very first video ever I've been terrified and I haven't done it and I've been hearing about doing it for a long, long time. How should I start? Because the first video is arguably the hardest video I think uh, a good way to start is preparation. So when we film, there's a lot that goes into the prep work before we even hit the camera. and I've I've always been doing it like this, even to the days when I was filming on my cell phone.

There's a level of preparation that I'd always go into the shoot with. So for me, it was I would have a piece of paper printed out and I would essentially break the video out in the three parts and intro the the middle. You know what am I actually telling the story and then I'd close it out and then I would actually film it in three parts and knew that I could kind of splice it. edit to get edit it together and then it would be a really good piece.

So so the advice would be do a little prep work on the subject that you're talking about, actually write some lines or bullet points that you're going to be discussing and a little bit of rehearsal you know, can't hurt. You know it's interesting. You say that? Um, we have a technique in coaching that we utilize Sometimes if a client says they want to get more listings, we focus on making their listing presentation better. And the rationale? it seems kind of backwards.

like, well, isn't Are you putting the car before the horse? Don't you need to get the listing appointment first. And what we found is if I can really bolster up your confidence so that you feel compelled that you know exactly what to do when you get the listing, There's generally some obstacle in the way of you going to get that listing because ultimately you feel like you don't know what you're doing. and if I can remove that I don't know what I'm doing I know exactly and I'm actually passionate to go talk about it. You'll naturally go door knock, or call your database or do the things that produce listings fruitfully versus saying I need more tactics to get listings I Think this answer, well, you just gave is the same thing.

if you get really, really committed to the thing you want to talk about to the point where you become you know, passionate about it, there's likely a certain point where you say screw it I gotta do it I Have to say this because it's valuable to my audience. Absolutely yeah, you're providing a value that someone needs to hear. So as long as you go to it with that approach like I'm going to deliver information or knowledge to someone that needs to know this because I just learned about it because my client didn't know about it and now I'm going to tell the rest of the world and hope that I make you know difference in one person at least I mean that's a great mindset to approach it with I Love that let's pivot for a second. Let's talk about your Org chart once again.

So how did you find a videographer and and I'd love to kind of go through your experiences of well here's what some agents do they Outsource they insource walk us through how you approached operationalizing around video. So we the way our operation works as far as video is concerned is um so Conor is my full-time videographer. He is a paid salary and uh it wasn't always like that when we first met he was freelance and then the volume just became to a point where we had this conversation. so it's full time, he's on salary.

He only does video production for me. Um, every Monday we have an email that is blasted out and we call it the Mpoa the Monday plan of action and in that email Connor is stating what we're filming this week, what he's editing, and then what we're posting and that is as much control as I have kind of with him because I think it's important to understand how most creatives minds work. Um I have to let him go through his creative process and do his work and I fully respect that. Uh, so that's Monday I know he's working Monday Tuesday Wednesday We've been filming every Wednesday from 10 to 2 for the last year, so when someone says I don't know how you guys put out three or four pieces of high quality content a week, it's because we've been building a database and we've been archiving content and the stuff that you you see like that we're posting this week.

I didn't film it this week I filmed it last week. The week before could have been last month. we just might have been waiting for relevancy to post it. So from an organizational standpoint, I think it's really incredibly important to have a very clear and concise message and communication between you and your videographer.

I Think having a day where you can block off time to fully devote to filming and knowing what you're going to be filming is another really important aspect of that. and then executing it on the day that you're there. I Mean there are certainly times where Connor and I are shooting and I've got other things to work on, but my phone goes on. Do not disturb because I am there at that moment.

I Know how important this is to my business and I'm fully committed to that process. How much are you involved in the creative process? You made comment about Conor as a creative and I've seen a lot of agents who hire videographers and the agent is sometimes a high D on the disk profile for instance and they just there's a clash. they don't know how to manage a videographer and I'd love if you could dive in a bit deeper. but first explain like what's your level of involvement and the creative side.

So I'm also very high D and uh, so I think it's important to preface with that at first it wasn't the easiest kind of balance I wanted full control over it and now I mean I'm maybe 25 to 30 percent content ideas that go into the bank most of it now at this point is Connor kind of just running with it. He's doing the research on what's trending, What are things we should talk about? Where should we be posting or Distributing this content are we you know? focusing on YouTube or is this an Instagram related poster? Whatever it may be. but we have a shared note that is just full of ideas and we've created that two years ago where I'd be. You know my morning runs and I'd come up with an idea and I would just pull up my phone and I would like to record myself talking about the idea and then I get back and then I'd put it in a note and then Connor and I would collaborate back and forth on it.

and then next thing you know, Boom! we have a full-on script and kind of even shot sequence of what we're going to be filming that upcoming Wednesday or the next week. How long did it take before he was able to exhibit some level of Mastery over actually having input on content? Because I see a lot of Agents get a brand new videographer who knows arguably nothing about real estate or the business or buyers and sellers and what they need to hear about and the agent expects the videographer to say. Here's what we're going to talk about today. and that is and I've used this analogy before.

It's like a lawyer asking a paralegal for legal advice. So Connor I'd say about six months in Uh, was was just extremely confident in the things we were talking about. Instead of this day, he's uncertain about it. Can you explain this like just the other day we're filming a video and I'm talking about a kickout clause and I just kind of go straight into the video and he's like I just need more context I don't really know like when or why you would use this and I was like I love that perspective because I've been doing this long enough to where I'm kind of blinded to that.

So I need that input So he'll bring in a perspective of a first-time homebuyer or you know, someone that doesn't really know what the heck the the jargon is in real estate and then I'm able to kind of bring it down to where the audience can understand it. But now I mean we'll We'll do edits and he fully comprehends and understands a lot of real estate. and it's incredible. Okay, all right so I love that perspective.

You are highly involved in the creative process to the extent of giving input and collaborating on that shared note, but he is pretty self-sufficient these days. I Would also make another comment about your videographer: I've seen a lot of teams hire a videographer who is truly more of a cinematographer, but they have very limited knowledge of social media marketing. They make really gorgeous films, but they don't understand vertical videos and the hook in the beginning and which platforms and picking up on Trends so you can try to ride the wave of Trends and things like that. how have you all gotten to where you are in that uh, slow and steady is kind of the the pace I mean because because both Connor and I are are very, uh, research driven like we both love data and analytics.

So we've you know taken note of certain things that are trending the coaching like So you guys provide us tons of insights on things that we should be focusing on. So just the efforts of all parties involved has helped us kind of pivot our Direction and really know what we need to focus on. But we've never been creators that are like let's jump on the bandwagon of this trending audio. So we catch a bunch of views and hopefully you know inflate our follower account like that's never been our strategy.

It's a point to where I kind of look at our account and I'm like you know the the following count is low but I'm so like just happy about the equality of those followers because if you look at the ratio between an account that has hundreds of thousands of followers and their views are just very very low and then you look at an accountant like ours like there's a there's a huge difference there. So should the focus be on followers or quality content? and for us, it's the content. Yeah yeah, it has to be I Mean even algorithmically, you can sit here and ride a wave and get some trending sound that gets you a bunch of followers that are as good as buying followers because they're not interested in your subject matter. Which means over time they're going to actually drag down the performance of your content algorithmically speaking.

So you are a hundred percent right. What would you say to an agent who's where you were when you started looking for ways to operationalize around video? They're busy in the business and on the business, they are involved in the video created process. It's what they do. I've seen agents take lots of different routes in terms of bringing out support around them.

I Just be curious if you would give your thoughts on. here's how I would approach the decision: Whether you in Source or Outsource you go to the VA or whatever you or you contract. Here's the way I would approach looking to bring somebody around you to support your video. I I Think it's really important to have someone in person that that you know and can develop that relationship with because you spend a lot of time with this videographer and that person starts to pick up on your mannerisms, your Cadence of speech, the way that you talk and just over time they start absorbing that and it helps so much more in the final edit process.

And it's the way that we're able to when when Conor posts on my behalf. because I don't post on our social accounts. people can't tell the difference if I posted it or he did and he's the one literally writing the copy. he's he's talking like me because we spend a ton of time together.

So I find that is extremely a critical um process to be able to have someone in person that you spend a lot of time with I know agents that do it well with va's and and Outsourcing content but their their content will never get to the Quality level of someone that has that relationship that one-on-one relationship. It also seems like you were wanting to look for a person who has passion to make it great and to be involved versus just checking boxes because that's just checkbox marketing and it seems like your videographer is very in it with you building something with you and exclusive to you. Yeah, and we talked about you know incentives from because our our YouTube account is monetized. so I have incentives for our views I have incentives that I that I do with him on a pace structure But Ultimately I think is the thing that really comes down to Connor and I's relationship is he had just started doing video work as a freelance guy and he only had a couple people that truly truly believed in him and at the time I had another company I was working with and we were kind of on our way out of that relationship and someone had said hey you should get give Conor a chance I was like he just started he doesn't know anything about real estate like I don't know and I met him and then I've always had this ability to where I can see someone to know like they might not be really good at what they're doing now but they have so much potential and they are committed to the job and they're someone that will be great and in my mind I was like I gotta get this guy before anyone else does because he's got a lot of talent.

So I was able to kind of build a relationship at that point. bring him on and now you know it's like we do video work together all the time but our relationship has grown so much to the point. I mean I was at his wedding a month ago, sitting next to his sister to give you like an idea of how close we are. It's awesome.

And I'm assuming even your background in the military in a technical role someone equipped you for the ability to recognize good character, the soft skills that show me this person's Got What It Takes I'm guessing yeah, no absolutely I mean I do it sometimes to my detriment you know I'm a very quick Gage and judge of character because sometimes and what I'm used to is it could literally be someone that's a matter of a life or death situation like and I don't want to kind of go too deep into it but I've just learned over time that I need to trust my gut on people because at the end of the day, there could be a chance where I need to rely on you for something that it could be you know, as as big as life or death. and if I don't have that trust in that person then I just don't have the full confidence knowing that I can work alongside that person. That's a good points. A little dramatic, but um, no, it's because it's not dramatic I mean maybe not life or death in the context of our business, but there is a level of flippancy that I think a lot of folks approach hiring with where it's like oh, this doesn't really matter, they're just doing this or that, but you're You're hiring for a path of growth which is a whole different mindset in terms of I believe why you're attracting people who are as committed to the outcome as you are.

Yeah, well. I appreciate that. I mean sometimes I feel like the the analogies can be a little bit on the the more dramatic side, but I mean it's truly how I view people that, uh, even friends, even people that I decide to spend time with I mean even not at this point with clients you know, is it someone that is really worth my time and is it going to be a win situation for for both sides? And if it's a no, then it's It's clear to me it doesn't need to happen. I Love that perspective.

And with that perspective also comes a clear commitment to what you're building and knowing where you're going. And is this person along for the ride in the right kind of way or not the right kind of way? All right. Last question for you, then I'll let you rap and get on with your day. Uh, what's the advice you would give to agents right now just looking to level up, thinking about video, thinking about marketing, thinking about their team, thinking about anything we've alluded to today? Let's say they're where you were three or four years ago.

How would you advise them? Okay, well, there might be a few here. So uh, bring it on the first one. We kind of talked about it earlier. Um, and it's A and it's a say.

and it's a phrase that I really, really love. and it's We've all heard that content is King but everyone should be aware that consistency is Queen. Um, and we all know who runs the marriage and a traditional marriage setup. So um, I think consistency is extremely important I have the the approach where it's very rare that I will not try something for at least 12 months before I make a business decision if it was worth it or not.

Um. second thing on that I think a lot of Agents have an issue asking for help and that that help can be in the format of someone within your brokerage. It could be a peer. it could be an agent that has been doing business for a shorter amount of time you than you.

But asking for help has really gotten me to a point in my career where I can look back and now offer that same help to newer agents as well. So asking for help in the format of even mentorship uh, getting coaching I think is a huge, um, huge asset and something that has definitely taken our business to the next level. If you look at any professional athlete, any professional, anything in the world that is, you know, at the top of their game, they all have one thing in common at least. and it's they have someone else that's telling them how to be better.

I Love that man. it's great stuff. Um, one more. Let me, let me get a couple more.

just don't get on a minute. Bring It On Show us yours. Um I think a lot of us get in the mindset of overthinking things and I am extremely guilty of that. But don't overthink the process in the format of doing video.

Don't overthink how much you need to script, Don't overthink how perfect your lines need to be. Don't overthink how best gear or whatever the best gear that you need like. We all have a really great phone and can film there. Just don't overthink overthinking.

I think I just made that up I feel like that's like a coffee mug. Like don't overthink over thinking it's great. That is pretty good I like that. it is pretty good.

It is good. Okay, you have been incredible man. I know there was I took a lot of value from today's conversation and I can only imagine everybody else did too. I Have two questions for the audience: One, what was your biggest takeaway from today's episode I want to hear it in the comments or read it in the comments and two, what does authenticity mean to you when it comes to your marketing? What does that look like? Until next week.

This is this week in Marketing Foreign.