Beyond Photos: Why Customer Service is King in Property Media w/ Agent Casey G

This podcast episode of the Prop Media podcast features an interview with Agent Casey G.. Casey G. is the owner of Agent4M and City 360 Tours in Arizona. His companies complete about 15 to 20 shoots a day. The episode provides insights into how this entrepreneur is scaling his business in Arizona. Casey G. also shares his interesting ideas, including using 3D tours.

Casey G. obtained his real estate license in 2014. His initial reason for getting the license was to use the commission to make a down payment on a house. He found getting the license easy, but making money afterward was difficult. Casey G. found real estate too stressful and became too emotionally attached to his clients. He found less stress in photography. Casey G. is still a licensed realtor, but he stopped doing real estate business completely about two years prior to the interview.

Casey G. transitioned to photography about three years after getting his license. He was dissatisfied with the quality of the real estate photography and media companies he was using as an agent. For example, a photographer took a picture of a luxury home's pool house bathroom with two giant floaties left in the shot. This was the last straw for Casey G., who decided he could do better. He admits that it was a lot harder than he initially thought, and the white balance in photo editing almost made him quit.

Casey G. grew his media business through YouTube and word of mouth. His current team consists of three full-time, hourly photographers and freelancers who are paid per job for extra work in their areas. His youngest daughter recently joined the business as the chief marketing officer, focusing on social media and other administrative tasks. Casey G. currently uses Spiro for all booking and photo delivery.

Customer service is the number one priority of Casey G.'s company. He advises that photographers should promote the realtor to the homeowner, act like they are best friends with the realtor if they are present, and promote the service. Casey G. is a contributor to YouTube. His YouTube content teaches people about real estate photography, social media, and how to create income through various social media platforms. His channel teaches someone how to start their own company with just a Canon M50.

Casey G.'s side hustle, City 360 Tours, is a newer venture. The idea is to provide a virtual tour of the city for city tourism boards or similar entities, where a drone view of the city links to virtual tours of individual businesses. Businesses pay to have the virtual tour created and then a monthly service fee to keep it updated with menus and videos. This business was started because of the difficulties with editing Matterport tours, particularly when people show up in the middle of a scan. Casey G. still uses Matterport in some cases, such as an empty restaurant where editing isn't a concern.

Regarding his YouTube channel and social media, Casey G. notes that many photographers fail because they are not posting enough of their content, whether it is photos or videos. He suggests posting at least three times a week, but his company posts daily, sometimes a couple of times a day, to platforms like Instagram and Facebook. Personal posts and behind-the-scenes content do particularly well.

Casey G. believes that to succeed in the future of real estate media, photographers need to continually "take away their headaches" by offering services like floor plans and post-installation/sign-hanging, even if the agent technically could do it themselves for free.