How The Platform Marketing "Fuzzy ROI" Strategy Works To Attract More Referrals

Stacey Springer: On that particular deal was the Tennessee Fitness Spa, which was a private fitness spa that had been here for years. I was in contention with a couple other realtors. Ironically, when you asked me to be on the podcast, I had to call the seller and say, “How did you hear about me again?” It was a referral from a couple other friends of hers that had seen my videos. So, you can trace back the fuzzy stuff. 

Tim Chermak: This is The Platform Marketing Show, where we interview the most creative and ambitious real estate agents in the country, dissect their local marketing strategy, and get the behind-the-scenes scoop on how they're generating listing leads and warm referrals. We'll dive into the specifics of what marketing campaigns are working for them, how much they're spending on those campaigns, and figure out how they have perfected what we call the Platform Marketing strategy. This is your host, Tim Chermak. I'm the founder and CEO of Platform. I love marketing and I talk too much, so let's dive in. 

Tim Chermak: Hey guys, it's Tim Chermak. Welcome back to another episode of The Platform Marketing Show. I'm joined today by Stacey Springer from Columbia area, Tennessee. Stacey, welcome to the show. 

Stacey Springer: Thank you, glad to be here. 

Tim Chermak: So, I should say welcome back because it's actually your second appearance on The Platform Marketing Show. I think we first recorded an episode maybe a year ago or something like that. It was actually probably longer. 

Stacey Springer: Probably a little over a year. 

Tim Chermak: Yeah, and at that point you had been with Platform I think for about a year. You were on pace to have doubled your business at that point. Your business has grown even more now a year later. This year, I know you're on pace to hit hopefully $12 million or more if a couple things go your way. 

Tim Chermak: I know that many agents who picked up a lot of listings this year and they're starting to sit because the market just isn't moving the way we wanted to. Interest rates at the time we're recording this episode, again, I don't know when someone's gonna listen to this in the future, but interest rates are still high. The Fed has not started cutting yet, so listings are still sitting, but that'll probably start changing over the next couple months as the Fed is expected to start cutting. 

Stacey Springer: We sure hope so. 

Tim Chermak: But regardless of all that, you're having a really good year. You have a couple of really cool recent success stories to share. I kind of wanted to do like a mini podcast episode today where we dive into one very specific case study or story that you had recently of how you developed a relationship with a local builder, how that relationship came to be, how you leveraged the Platform Marketing strategy to create that relationship and nurture and cultivate that relationship, and how that's changed your business. Because I know that one thing you didn't necessarily have before Platform, or at least had consistently, was those multimillion-dollar deals. I know already this year, you've done several multimillion-dollar either purchases or listings. I think you said you recently closed one that was $2.3 million? 

Stacey Springer: Yeah, and got both sides of that one. 

Tim Chermak: Yeah, so I mean, both sides. 

Stacey Springer: My husband is out here with a chainsaw. Do you hear that? 

Tim Chermak: Go Mark, go. 

Stacey Springer: Can you hear that? 

Tim Chermak: Yeah, I can. 

Stacey Springer: Let me tell him to stop. 

Tim Chermak: All right, so while she texts Mark to hey, knock it off with the chainsaw, I'm gonna give some context here. I was hanging out at their house in Tennessee a couple months ago because I was in town speaking at a conference in the Nashville area. She gave me a tour of their property. How many acres do you have, Stacey? 

Stacey Springer: We have 64. 

Tim Chermak: Okay, so 64 acres and I was like, “Wow, this is a really cool property.” You basically dammed up your own lake in the rolling hills of Tennessee, like the really, really pretty part of Tennessee. So, it's this epic house and they've done all this custom work to customize their house. 

Tim Chermak: I remember we had barbecue for lunch and you're showing me around the property. Casually, Mark's like, “Hey, check this out,” and I walk into this door off of your kitchen and I'm expecting it just to be, I don't know, your office or something, and it's a full wood floor basketball gym with a legit basketball hoop that comes down from the ceiling. The kind you'd see in a high school gym. So, it's not a barn where they just have a $300 basketball hoop from Walmart with the sandbags beneath it or something. 

Stacey Springer: Mark and I both were college basketball players and all of our kids played and so we're big basketball lovers. 

Tim Chermak: They have a legit basketball court in their house that has a wood floor and everything. So, I was just like, “This is the coolest thing ever.” 

Stacey Springer: You know that floor, remember Mark painted that floor. It looks like wood, but it's actually painted concrete, remember? 

Tim Chermak: Really? Okay. 

Stacey Springer: Yeah, so one of his many things, which is what he's doing out here today. [He’s retaining wall…] 

Tim Chermak: I didn't even realize it. 

Stacey Springer: Yeah, that was a painted concrete floor. 

Tim Chermak: I hung out with you guys for that day and I shot hoops in your basketball court for like 20 minutes. I was just like, “This is crazy,” ‘cause this is an indoor basketball court in the middle of this 60-acre property. 

Stacey Springer: And Mark pretty much does it all. 

Tim Chermak: So, they have a super cool property. They have a home theater in their basement. I watched Band of Brothers with Stacey's husband, Mark, down there and it's just blasting surround sound with this legit home theater in the basement. Good times. So, it does not surprise me at all now that I've met Mark, [you toward] the property. As soon as he start doing that– 

Stacey Springer: Right, that he fires up the chainsaw. I’m so sorry. 

Tim Chermak: Yeah, and just cutting down trees or whatever Mark's doing. He's probably creating a new dam for some river that goes through your property. Yeah, so you had created this relationship with this company called Summertown Metals. That's what I wanted to dive into. We were just making the point that, hey, you recently double ended a $2.3 million deal, so I'd imagine that's one of your largest commission checks ever, if not the largest. 

Stacey Springer: It was. That was pretty life-changing for us. 

Tim Chermak: Yeah, and all this is coming in a pretty slow year for most real estate agents. You've really seen the power of Platform at play because I know that you can point to a lot of these larger deals and you know that part of the reason they're working with you or heard of you in the first place is they saw your marketing. 

Stacey Springer: On that particular deal was the Tennessee Fitness Spa, which was a private fitness spa that had been here for years. I was in contention with a couple other realtors. Ironically, when you asked me to be on the podcast, I had to call the seller and say, “How did you hear about me again?” It was a referral from a couple other friends of hers that had seen my videos. So, you can trace back the fuzzy stuff. 

Tim Chermak: Yeah, that's what we call at Platform all the time fuzzy ROI, because had you not asked that, you would actually never know where that lead came from. You almost still didn't know because they're like, “I don't know. I was a referral from this person,” but they had heard of you from seeing your videos constantly. It's like that indirect effect of someone who knows someone who saw your social media ads refers you. 

Stacey Springer: Right. That's absolutely the beauty of Platform. 

Tim Chermak: Yeah, and that's what's so cool about this Platform Marketing strategy and this concept we talk about of fuzzy ROI. It's hard to measure the ROI. It's fuzzy, it's not clean, it's not clear, and I think it's actually a competitive advantage. If it were really, really easy to just copy and paste ads and know exactly this buyer came from this ad or this listing I got from this ad, it'd be super easy for other agents to replicate what you're doing. But because of how complex the marketing is and the retargeting and people in your sphere seeing this retargeting ad and telling a friend, it's just organic how it happens. It's very difficult for other agents to replicate. 

Tim Chermak: So anyways, tell me about the story of how this relationship with this builder in your area came to be and how you leveraged your marketing, I mean, really, A, to create that relationship in the first place, but B, to create value in that relationship. 

Stacey Springer: We knew of Summertown Metals because we live in a barndominium and we bought most of our supplies for the new addition from Summertown Metals. 

Tim Chermak: And just for those listening who are not familiar with the concept of barndominium, can you explain what that is for all the city slickers out there? 

Stacey Springer: Oh, wow. Yeah, so a barndominium is basically, there's a couple of different ways to do it, but it's a real non-traditional build where they come out and erect more like a pole barn style. You can also get it stick-built too through Summertown Metals, but basically it's more of like a kit and then the inside is customized to your liking. They're usually open floor plans, concrete foundations, metal on the exterior, but you can get other things. They've just morphed into more traditional styles. But yeah, I wish I knew more. I live in one, but they're a lot cheaper, if cheaper’s the word. 

Tim Chermak: More affordable. 

Stacey Springer: More affordable. Yes, more affordable, and they last a long time because usually the exterior’s metal, the roofs are metal. 

Tim Chermak: If you were to pull an average, ‘cause I know there's a huge variance with these ‘cause it totally depends on how crazy you go with how you finish your interiors, but is there an average of, hey, if a normal new build that was the same amount of square feet was $500,000, what would a comparable barndominium style new build be? 

Stacey Springer: I'm not real sure on that, Tim. I know the average per square foot here, 200 square foot now here in Summertown, most homes that are on the market, around $200 a square foot. I'm pretty sure you could get in a barndominium for $130 to $150 a square foot. 

Tim Chermak: Wow. Okay, so it could be, let's just say, again, every situation is different, but potentially 25% cheaper– 

Stacey Springer: I would say so. 

Tim Chermak: Than a comparable house. 

Stacey Springer: …20 to 30. 

Tim Chermak: Yeah, and the shell of the house is really strong because it's built out of, obviously, metal. 

Stacey Springer: If you haven't seen barndominiums, you should check them out. 

Tim Chermak: Actually, they are really cool. They're very popular in more rural areas. If you're listening to this podcast, you just have absolutely no idea what in the hell we're talking about, go on Google and just search barndominiums and you'll see a bunch of really cool examples. It is honestly a cool alternative. If someone wants to build brand new, but they maybe don't have the money to go the normal route, you can do some pretty cool things with barndominiums. So, sorry I cut you off, but I just wanted to explain that for those who had no idea what you were talking about. So, it's a custom barndominium builder in Tennessee. 

Stacey Springer: Yes, one of the top ones. I guess it all started with my God Made a Realtor video. I wanted to showcase them as one of the businesses because I just like what they represented. That's where I was. We watched them go from, 15 years ago when we bought this farm, go from a one-room, two or three of the guys, it was the dad and a couple of brothers, operating this business out of a one room shop. We've watched them grow to multiple offices across the South. Anyway, so I went out there and I shot my video for God Made. 

Tim Chermak: For those again who don't know what she's talking about, there's a video script we use at Platform if you're a Platform client. We call it the So God Made a Small Business Owner. We basically borrowed this really, really famous speech from Paul Harvey. It originally, I think it came out in the ‘80s, was So God Made a Farmer. We just entirely rewrote this speech about So God Made a Farmer and instead, we rewrote it to be about just small business owners in general and the value they provide to the community. So, it's really just a small business tribute video for all the small businesses in your community. It's really not an ad for you as the realtor at all, it's all about the businesses in your community. 

Stacey Springer: …[God Made] a realtor, it's God Made a Small Business Owner. 

Tim Chermak: Yeah, and they just happened to be one of the businesses that you featured in that video. 

Stacey Springer: Yes. So, after that went out, I can't remember if Matt Stoll, the owner of Summertown Metals, contacted me. I think actually I saw that he had over a hundred thousand followers on his Facebook page. I told Mark, I was like, “We've got to hook up with Summertown Metals.” I wasn't sure how, but I just felt like we could help each other in some way. 

Stacey Springer: We scheduled an appointment with Matt, we went out and we talked with him, and the first thing he said was he just loved how Platform showcased his business because it was exactly the way he tries to showcase his business, like God, country, family, hard work. It was just right in line with– 

Tim Chermak: Just the values that you're putting out with your social media marketing. 

Stacey Springer: Yes, and so he loved that first and foremost. That day, we just brainstormed on what a business venture or some type of partnership might look like, how we could help him, how he could help us, obviously. A lot of people that move into barndominiums, they're empty nesters. They've had their home their entire lives, the kids are grown, and they want to downsize into something that's one level, not as much maintenance. Barndominiums are great for that. I knew if I could get that home, sell it, find them some land, and Matt build a barndo or something like that. Anyway, we set up an appointment with his marketing manager, Aaron, and I think you spoke with Aaron. 

Tim Chermak: Oh, that's right. Yep. I remember that. 

Stacey Springer: Because we just weren’t sure what that was going to look like. Long story short, we met with Aaron and we set up $500 a month that he would contribute toward my Platform. In exchange, I would do ads showcasing Summertown Metals in a way like you guys do. It's hard to explain. 

Stacey Springer: I think the first ad that we did for him was Meet Matt Stoll, CEO and Owner of Summertown Metals. It was a question and answer that you suggested. It just performed so well. I mean, that's pretty much it. He saw the retargeting audience that I had. That was really what I sold them, is I have people that are ready and willing to buy or sell. 

Tim Chermak: You've been cultivating a list of people over the years that have been clicking on your ads that we know are in the market to buy or sell in the area because they've been clicking on your ads. Don't go out and waste your money as Summertown Metals blasting out ads to just the average person. I have a highly curated list of people I already know are interested in real estate. 

Stacey Springer: And Aaron saw that. That was real important. 

Tim Chermak: Aaron is their marketing manager. 

Stacey Springer: Yes, so he cuts me a check every month for $500 that goes toward my Platform and my marketing. 

Tim Chermak: Yeah, and the cool thing is that they're helping kick in towards your marketing expenses, but that money you're spending promoting their models and their company, you're in a lot of that content too and it's coming from your page. Every time it pops up in someone's newsfeed, it says Stacey Springer. So, it's not like you're just throwing that money out the window of sponsoring or promoting some other company and there's no benefit to you. You are simultaneously building your brand and it reminds everyone that, hey, if you do decide to go this route, make sure you give a call to Stacey Springer. It's just a really cool example where you can have your cake and eat it too, kind of one plus one equals three. 

Stacey Springer: With that, Matt and I were able to just build this relationship based upon the ad. Because we represented him so well in that first ad, he loved it, the question and answer, so he asked me to list a flip house that he and some of his crews had been working on. He dabbles in all kinds of things. I listed it, sold it. He already had a realtor. He basically fired his other realtor and got me to sell that one. 

Stacey Springer: I listed a $475,000 house that he built in a town nearby, and then I just sold one last week that he had flipped in Pulaski, and then of course the barndominium story here in Summertown. I got that listing through Summertown Metals as well. It was a $500,000 listing. I was adding up before I got on here, probably $1.2 million in either I've got listed or I've sold for Matt since this venture started. 

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