"People Were Blown Away" Brit Adgie - Adgie Images - Ep. 15

This week we are joined by Brit Adgie from Adgie Images in Atlanta, GA. Brit is all about doing things the right way and shares a ton of great insights and knowledge.

You won't want to miss it! Follow @adgieimages and check out their website: www.adgieimages.com

Brit
People were blown away by how much of a difference just having a Matterport scan on their site has made to their staff.

Christian
Hello, everybody, and welcome to another episode of Matterport. Today we are joined by Britt AG from Adi Images. She has been doing virtual tours for a few years now but also provides other services in the space as well. So we're super grateful for Britt taking the time to join us and provide some insights this week for our Matterport audience.

So thanks so much for being here, Britt, Today. We really appreciate it.

Brit
Absolutely. Thanks for having me.

Christian
If you want to take a second, Britt, and just go ahead and introduce yourself and Aggie images, maybe tell us a little bit about what types of services you offer and maybe how you got introduced to the virtual tour world.

Brit
Absolutely. So I've always been interested in technology. My background is really audio engineering and kind of from a musical standpoint. And I was doing a lot of stuff with live shows. And as we all know, the pandemic kind of destroyed all that stuff pretty instantly, right? So I was looking to pivot and I was doing a lot of research on VR and kind of where the future was going to kind of go with that stuff.

And Matterport just seemed so promising, particularly with the pandemic. I mean, if there was like a need and I started this business and essentially immediately got clients from the pandemic, mostly we kind of started in senior livings because it was a place that was borrowed off from people visiting. I mean, they had some of the strictest restrictions during the pandemic.

And so it was a necessity for a lot of these clients. And from there we introduce a lot of video aspects. I do a lot of commercials and snippets. We're all commercially licensed drone pilots, which I feel like that's pretty common for a lot of Matterport people that they pair with drone and kind of explore the 3D realm with drone, which is really cool.

Yeah. So we kind of started this business and now we're just like a full-fledged media company, so. Cool.

Christian
Cool. What has been the response? Obviously, COVID created a need for virtual tours like you're describing with restrictions on people entering buildings, especially senior people that might have certain health conditions. But what has the demand been like for these virtual tours post-COVID?

Brit
Yeah, I guess I have definitely seen more of a spike in our other services. In general, we try to go after clients that need all of our services. That's obviously the best business practice for us. So senior living things are still a very big target for us, but fewer clients that just want Matterport from me personally, I think it's trying to convince them that they need to change their entire marketing strategy and adopt the Matterport way because a lot of people get really scared off by that monthly recurrence that happens with Matterport.

And it's really if you're talking with a big enough company, they have to, you know, say, hey, we want to have this long-term investment and then see multiple benefits from it, not just the marketing side, but also the functional side.

Christian
The interesting you mentioned something that I want to dive into a little bit deeper. You said that sometimes clients get scared away by the monthly recurring Matterport hosting fee. So when you work with clients, do you typically require them to set up their own Matterport accounts or do you typically close those tours for them and build those fees into the price that you charge them?

Brit
It's a great question. I we always try to come from a place with every decision that we recommend to our clients comes from a place of integrity, just like really what is really the best solution for them. Obviously, I want their business, but that is just something that we really take into consideration. So for a lot of my clients, I really think it's better for them to host their own in the long run.

I've had clients that have had me re-scan because the company that they use went out of business or their scan just kind of disappeared. And for some of these larger or like, you know, I'm not talking about a Verizon, I'm talking about more of like a mid-sized small company. It's good for them to have control of their own assets and just use me as a collaborator.

So normally that is what I recommend. But if they're really small, then obviously it makes more sense financially for them to just host through me. So it kind of depends on the size and what they're trying to do with the scans long-term.

Christian
I love the concept of giving them the option of what they want to do. And it really, if you do give them optionality, I think what you said, it shows integrity that, hey, really, we're just here trying to provide you whatever solution works best for you. And if you give them the option to say if you want to control your own assets and not be at the mercy of heaven forbid AGI images goes out of business, then we would recommend you host your own Matterport towards yourself.

But if you want us to host them on your behalf, then we're happy to do it for increasing the price of our services by X number of dollars. So I think that that's really cool. You mentioned that you are a commercially licensed drone pilot, but I'd love to hear what are some of the other services that you offer that maybe provide you a way to get your foot in the door with the client to maybe upsell them or sell them Matterport services in addition to some of the other services that you provide.

Brit
As a lot of our other services are focused on video. So commercials, we do a lot of testimonials. That is a really big one because it kind of works across all business types. You know, obviously, it's great in senior living to hear from people that live there, but really most businesses need some sort of visual testimonial as opposed to a written one.

It's been shown that having video on your website can increase the amount of time people spend on your site by 30%. So having more engaging content on your website. Once I get him in the door with video, then we talk about Matterport because it's like, Hey, okay, we'll keep him on there longer. You know, that's always what we're trying to do, is the longer that they can stay on their site, the longer that they will remember that product or service or company.

And with a lot of these, you know, we'll go back to senior living, but it works across all industries. A lot of people's websites are really outdated and trying to convince them that they need to spend money in marketing is can be challenging, but it's essential because when I look at someone, I'm in my mid-thirties, when I go to someone's website, if they have a bad website, I almost immediately eliminate them as an option.

Really, it's that important to have to take it seriously as you're representing yourself online, so if you don't care about your website, then to me it says a lot about your product or service.

Christian
So totally I whenever I go to a website, whether that's some sort of software that I'm looking to use or just in general if I can see somewhere quickly that there is a video of somebody talking and explaining, I'll definitely click on that before I'll go and try and start reading everything to understand what the product is or whatever type of service I'm looking at.

So like you said, I think video is crucial. And then what I love about what you guys do as the images are coupling the video that you create with the actual Matterport Virtual tour. So I know that when you initially started using Open House that you would layer a video on top of the Matterport Tours itself of somebody explaining what they were looking at and telling them how to navigate the tours.

And it's just a lot more of a romantic, engaging experience. If you have some type of video element that a tour viewer can listen to and watch in the corner as they are walking around those virtual tour experiences. And so I think it's obvious that both the video and the virtual tours can go hand in hand. So I think it's way smart that you don't only just offer virtual tours services, but also video, maybe even video first, and then it's easier to sell Matterport on top of video.

Brit
Well, and having a customized product like that, you know, like obviously Matterport is great, but it does differentiate us between like, why would they not just use Matterport? You don't I mean, that's been a big challenge for a lot of Matterport service providers is, you know, Matterport is kind of competing with us for some of these bigger contracts.

Brit
So having those additional services also make you more appealing to clients because you're you know, you can offer things that Matterport can't. And really the embedding of that video with an open house was made out of necessity because, again, when we're talking about that senior generation, you know, they struggle with technology. And Matterport to me is such an amazing tool and it's so great.

But one thing that it really lacks is navigational tools that make it easy for even people of my generation. You know, unless you're familiar with Matterport, it's not always easy to use. And having Openhaus with that, the menu options that you can do, and then embedding videos for each specific room, giving instructions on how to use the tours.

In the beginning, it was really a game changer and we're still testing stats with I have a test client who's done it for five locations and I'm excited to see in six months like how more, and more engaging it is and just the regular tours.

Christian
Yeah, I agree. It's important, like you mentioned, for Matterport providers to do what they can to differentiate themselves because especially with the acquisition of VD Studios and Matterport basically offering scanning services at really, really cheap prices, there has to be a way for Matterport providers to, you know, sell additional services or differentiate themselves from somebody who's saying, Hey, well, why don't I just go to Matterport dot com and order a scan for 250 bucks, like you're charging me way more than that.

And so I think adding those additional services that the client doesn't really want to get into themselves, it's not their bread and butter to create video content or to go in and add branding to a virtual tour. So offering those services for them, I think at a premium makes total sense. But one question I have for you, Brit, is aside from just doing the scan, once you do the scan for the client, do you help with implementation as well?

So helping them, you know, distribute or embed the experience on their website and show them this is the best way to drive traffic to this experience and this is where you should, this is where you should share it. Or do you just simply create the experience, whether it's Matterport, Openhaus links, or whatever, and then and then give it to them.

What does the process look like after you've finished creating the final product?

Brit
Well, I do trust in my lane a little bit. You know, when it comes to some of the marketing aspects of like where is it best on the website and what's the best way to, you know, adjust your SEO so people will look for this that I normally direct them to someone who is more marketing focused, but I do for all of my clients.

After we do a scan, everything's complete. We do a 30-minute training if longer if they need it because the biggest thing for me is I need them to understand how to use it as a sales tool, because a lot of the people that we're using, you know, for commercial spaces, you know, senior living as realtors, they need to know how to use the tours correctly.

And so taking them through a demo, showing them how to look up the stats, showing them the best way to share it, you know, as far as like even adding the taglines at the end of the web address. So it will auto-play into the highlight reel or whatever they need it to have. It's just important that they understand how powerful a tool it is.

But they only know that if they know how to use all the tools, you know, and there's a lot of people within like commercial real estate that didn't even know that there's a measuring tool on there. So just like even just going through simple of instructions, like you forget how easy that is because we're in the world all day long.

But for people that only see a scan every couple of months, you know, that's it's kind of a newer thing to them.

Christian
So and if you don't take the time to teach them how to use the tool, then chances are after you create it and give it to them, they're going to think, Well, that was kind of a cool thing, but it didn't really benefit us or we didn't see the ROI on it that we expected to. So when it comes to them wanting to come to you again to create another experience, they're probably going to say now probably like that was cool, but it's not a must-have.

It's more of a nice-to-have type of thing. So I think taking the time to teach, obviously, the benefit and how to use these tours is crucial. Yeah. One thing is you mentioned that you're doing kind of some testing with a client that has five locations to see kind of what the results are.

How are you going about testing it with them and what are the metrics that you're trying to show them to test so they can see whether or not it's something that is actually benefiting them?

Brit
Yeah, absolutely. So we compare it through the Matterport stats that they have on, you know, embedded directly through the scan because I think for this client I've done 40 locations. So we've got a lot of data before we added this. We also have data before we converted it to the open House platform. So I think a few of these, they were live on their site for over a year.

So we have pretty good data of how it changed their website. And so so then looking at their website data and see how long people stay on the site as my bounce rates and my bounce rate has it decreased, has, you know, how long are they seeing engage in the scan? And then with open house, you guys have stats built in like, hey, did they click on theirs?

What rooms did they visit? Like, what is becoming most engaging for them within the tour? And I think that that's cool because you can't see all that stuff through Matterport you know, very specific stuff like that.

Christian
So interesting. So you're comparing what the engagement was like with just the standard Matterport embed versus what it looks like if we add the open house elements on top of it.

Brit
Yeah. And then comparing it to before they even added Matterport and then before they added video. So it's I did a presentation for, you know, one of my clients. It's, it's been a really, really great relationship. They've really embraced every aspect of the technology that we're bringing to them, so much so that we're now using like Oculus headsets to do virtual tours of their senior living so they can take them to doctors' offices because doctors, you know, they have a tight schedule.

They're not going to come to visit a senior living to see if they recommend that as a place. So their sales team has been taking the Matterport Tours out to doctor's offices and conferences now using the Oculus. And yeah, so they had me come out to their kind of big jamboree that they have. It's like 250 sales and marketing people for their company.

And I presented stats of all their Matterport scans and people were blown away with how much of a difference just having a Matterport scan on their site has made to their stats.

Christian
Again is teaching and showing If you utilize this then these will be or this. This is the result and you have to teach them how to utilize it properly first of all, and then be able to provide them with the metrics afterward to show them like, Hey, this was something that provided a lot of value for you. When you are looking at things in the future, you should definitely consider creating Matterport tours of whatever office or type of space that you're trying to sell or drive traffic to.

So that's awesome. Well, we need to do a follow-up podcast with you in six months so that we can hear the results because I'm super curious personally, obviously for personal reasons, but I'm curious to hear what the results were of how the know Matterport versus standard Matterport versus open house stacks up. So stay tuned for the results there.

Christian
But Brett, we don't have that much more time. But one last question I have for you before we wrap up is what is a piece of advice that you would give somebody who is new to the Matterport world, maybe just starting out and is trying to kind of get going, find new clients. If you could talk to your past self when you kind of got started, what advice would you give yourself?

Brit
I would say, you know, obviously you need to come from a place of for every business. It's what's in it for me. Why am I paying you money to do this? And so sometimes I think when we see new technology, it's like, Oh my gosh, wow, that's so cool. Sort of your tech head, you know? Wow, that's so cool that it does that.

But for the client, it is. Well, how does that help me increase sales or how does that increase visibility? Like, you need to find out what they are looking for. What problem are they looking to solve, and then use the tools in your toolbox to solve it for them. And if you can't do that, then you're in the wrong field or you're pitching to the wrong client.

And I wish I would have really realized that because, you know, real estate's obviously a very common industry, but it's obviously saturated. You know, that's what Matterport is going after. Most people who are in Matterport are in that sector. And so if you want to branch off into other aspects and use Matterport and this technology and it has so many uses, if you want to pitch to new clients, you got to figure out what the real benefit is to them, not just because it's cool technology.

Christian
I love it. I think it's hard to do that, especially at first because it's so easy to go to that and be like, Look how cool this is. Don't you think you could have a virtual tour of this space? And they're kind of like, Yeah, this is cool, but I'm not. If I want to spend money on creating something like this.

And so the, the angle that you have to take is definitely if you create this, it will increase sales by this amount or the amount of your time on your website where people are taking a look at your store or your showroom or whatever will go up by X percentage. And so you have to be really good at being analytics first or showing, you know, our ROI, right, right out of the gate rather than just being like, Don't you think this is so awesome that you should want to do something like this? Right?

Brit
Well, and it's I feel like at first it's hard to do that because you don't necessarily have the numbers. So I think also finding a network group or people that you can kind of trust that you're not directly competing.

Yet that can help provide those numbers for you. There's a lot of people out there that are willing to help if you're not in their direct market, you know, if you're not competing with them for business, they're happy to give you some of those numbers. So finding people that you can kind of get feedback on and just, you know, kind of work on networking groups online, it makes a big difference.

Christian
Yeah. Have you found a group, Bret, that's been helpful for you when you have had questions that come up or you are looking for certain stats or analytics that maybe you don't have, is there what has been the best way for you to go about finding that information?

Brit
Yeah. So when I first started my business, one of the first things I did is me and my husband talked about was, okay, we just need to do everything the correct way, right? You know, like have an accountant get a business coach, like, do everything. Because when you start a business, you have skills, which is why you're doing this.

But you don't have skills and every avenue, right? You know, you're not necessarily a finance person and a creative. That's hard to be both for a lot of people. So I got people on my board who had different skills than me and now know my business in and out. And I can bring them ideas about certain like, hey, I'm I think I'm going to pitch this industry and they'll bring the kind of aspects I hadn't thought about.

But in terms of Matterport specifically and you mentioned the we get around the network which was a good one for me initially. Dan, the owner is based out of Atlanta, so that was helpful. And now I'm part of RC. So reality capture experts and yeah, both of those have been really useful for just kind of keeping a, you know, my hand on the heartbeat or whatever that saying is, you know, we're, we're kind of still in the industry.

Christian
So we've worked directly with both Dan from we get around Network and Dustin from reality capture experts and can't recommend both of them enough. They're so amazing at support sometimes. It's crazy how fast if I have any question about anything and I send them an email literally within a couple of hours, they will have a response for you with resources at your disposal.

And so I think that's to create places that people can turn to if they do have questions. So I think that's awesome. But Brett, thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us. I think there have been some really awesome nuggets of gold and wisdom that people can take away from this conversation, and so we really appreciate you sharing your experience and your knowledge with our community.

Brit
Absolutely. Thanks for having me on.

Christian
If people want to reach out to you, Brit, to ask kind of follow-up questions, what is the best way for them to get in touch with you?

Brit
The best way would be my email, which is Brit brit@adgieimages.com. Feel free to reach out to me at any time. I'm happy to help anyone in the community pool.

Christian
Thanks so much, Brit. Hopefully, we'll have some people reach out with some follow-up questions, so we really appreciate it. Again, thanks so much for listening to this week's episode and we will catch you all next week.