How Tom Closed A $69K Retainer - Master Filmmaker Case Study

What's going on, guys? I'm here with one of my clients, Tom, from Ten Studio, who closed a 69K retainer with a bank, I believe. Tom, what's going on? How are you?

Hey, how's it going, Eric? Thanks for having me.

Absolutely. Dude, I love the. That's the LED wall behind you, right?

Yeah, it is. It's our new Vue 1 mini virtual production setup, so.

That's sick, dude.

I love it. It's pretty slick, man. I mean, I can just, like, hop to a different location and all the lighting should follow and whatnot. It's pretty wild, you know.

That's awesome. I guess if anyone doesn't know kind of about you, 10Studio, do you mind just giving us, like, a little bit of background on kind of you, the production company? Obviously, you guys just got a thing. You just got a studio when we first. When you first joined the program. But, like, just give us a little bit of background, if you don't mind, and just a little bit about you guys.

So, I mean, I have a bachelor's degree in visual Effects Motion graphics. Before that, I was a graphic designer. Led to me going into marketing and advertising, and I did that thing for a long time. And in 2019, my wife Lindsay and I started Ten Studio. And we've never looked back. It's been great. And in 2019, we were like, oh, we're going to have a fully remote team. It's going to be really disruptive for all these other agencies, and we'll be able to get a lot of work. And we were able to do that until March of 2020, when everybody was forced to figure out how to manage and run things remotely. So it became clear, like, that's not disruptive anymore. And it's honestly of the expectation of a lot of talent out there is like, no, I got a faster computer at home. I'll just do it here. Yeah, you want to work with the best talent. That's. That's how you have to go about doing that. And we knew that virtual production was kind of interesting to a few of our clients and had been a good solution for, like, maybe budget limitations or access to specific places. We have a Spanish literacy product that we work on and they wanted to do a classroom. But, like, the logistics and red tape of getting access to a facility to do that were really cost prohibitive and timeline prohibitive. And so we were like, okay, this. There's something really to this. Let's look at that even more closely. And decided to go full head on into Virtual production. And this is the first LED volume virtual production facility in Colorado now. And we're really proud of that.

Killing it, dude, I love it. Are you doing some of the stuff for the bank, the deal that you closed on virtual, or is that more in person? What does that look like?

It's going to be a mix of that. And I think what's really interesting is we can go like they have five different branches. We can go to those branches and shoot back plates just like this that's behind me right now. And I was able to just scrape some stuff off their website and be able to like, you know, pump up some ideas and compositions and, you know, sell some storyboards that way. And to be able to walk the bank president through our facility here and explain to him that like we could be at any one of his branches and they're actually our neighbor, like two doors down the bank is. Yeah. So he's got 50 yards to walk and save himself a two, three hour drive to some of these branch locations. That's fair.

That's huge. I love it. And kind of switching gears a little bit, I guess, like how did you initially find us and what was kind of the main issue you guys had coming into the program from your standpoint?

So we initially found you guys through some other people in our creative community here in Colorado. We are part of Inspired Minds, which is a creative meetup community and it's sort of underground, you know, and the people who end up there are definitely like world class people and creatives. But I say that to say it was a good source who told me, hey, I've been following these guys and they've got some interesting points and it seems like maybe something right up your alley. So I checked it out and I think I was honestly in your ad funnel, Eric, for like two years.

Sorry, no joke, just annoying the crap.

Well, I'm a hard sell, especially on good.

I could be some weirdo.

I know how the sausage is made. I know what we're doing here. And so it was a longer sell for me. But then when we were like, okay, we found a facility, a new place to grow into. This is the path that we are on. We need to start planning, you know, now we're getting it all situated. So we knew that we need a CRM elite funnel not only for ourselves, but I know how important data and that analysis is to us, proving the return on investment to our clients.

Yeah.

So we kind of treated it like a guinea pig project. And we're the guinea pigs. And if we can learn how to do this for ourselves, then we're going to have no problem doing it for the clients. And you know, knew that we want.

You become a double threat when you're virtual production plus helping them actually generate tangible, tangible results for their business as well. Like that becomes huge because you can work with anybody and then help them get results and then you can demand a higher price because of it as well, which is huge.

Yeah. And the way I'm thinking about it, man, it's like we'll do the data and analysis upstairs in the conference room and then we'll come down here and get that new stuff.

Well, and I've always said, man, like it's always so much easier because like if you can, if you can get the production done faster, it's all about speed of testing. Testing new ads, testing new angles, testing new concepts. It's like if you can think about it upstairs and then just come right downstairs and film it like it's a game changer that a lot of other production companies can't do because they have to go out and go on set and like build these big productions and like it just takes a ton of time. And then by the time you're done with that, it's like that angle might not work anymore because you were trying to do it for like a holiday or like some specific season or whatever. And it's like that ad might not perform. And it's huge that you can be that quick with it. And you know, speed of implementation is everything, you know.

Yeah, I think. And we're thinking pretty big here. You can have 12 month retainer and can shoot a quarter's worth of content in a full day, maybe two days.

Yeah.

Fill out that content calendar for people and then put on autopilot and start working on the next course stuff. And so we're going to be so far ahead of the game at that point that then the, the testing.

Yeah, yeah.

No, speeding everything up allows us to yield our customers more content and that allows them to test more, keep it fresh. Fatigues shut off, don't let over fatigue because maybe you want to bust out again like, oh, we need a new thing. And it's like by that point it's already so fatigued and then we gotta make that thing and, and then market. It's like you, it's too late, so much time. And I want our customers to be confident in what they're putting out in the world and be able to prove that return as well. So yeah, you guys offer that that sort of done with you set up. And that was really interesting for us because I wouldn't have even know where to begin to build that pip. And it's up and running and ready to go and we're just getting ready to plug more and more content in it and speed up that whole process for ourselves because it's been a slog trying to just keep up with our own content.

Yep.

Clients too, so.

And had you guys previously ever offered anything like this to clients where you're, you're actually helping them get results or had it just been the animation, the. The content? Like, what does that looked like previously?

That's a really good question, Eric. We've pitched it a lot. We've never been able to sell it and just figure out how to sell that and how to talk about that better. And improved my sales process tremendously. It's.

What do you feel like was kind of lacking before? Was it more so just like not having the tangibility around it or like explaining it or what did you feel like kind of was missing the mark previously?

I think it was probably framing and just like, you know, setting frame and trying to control that through the conversation that I was lacking would kind of let the client meander wherever the conversation went. And found ourselves in that order taker position and you know, reframing it more from a strategic partnership and a collaborative place of equals in the same, you know, on the same team here that really helped us position ourselves as more of a partner than us.

Yeah, well, and I think that's more important now than ever, especially with AI with content creation tools with, you know, there's tons of ways they can make content. They really are looking for a leader to lead them on what type of content to create and what's actually going to get results. And so like, I think a lot of agencies need to, they need to show up more as a leader for their clients being like, no, you're not going to tell me what you need. I'm going to guide you on what you need based on the things that you told me to get you the best results. And I think clients are really craving that right now. Like people really want that. Like, lead me, be the expert in content and tell me what we need to create to get the best results. Right. And you guys have stepped into that, which is huge.

Yeah. And I think the client knows it could be done more efficiently with these AI tools and with some of the stuff. And now that's their expectation and content with AI and they will learn that it Is not that simple. But guys, this is the worst it's ever going to be. So yeah, like, you know, it's going to be really dangerous really soon and understand where they can use it as a hidden and to create and facilitate true like artistic work, authentic human experiences like that successes. Yeah, I don't think it's a rectangle much longer. I Covid made us all tired of rectangles. And so there's this degree of like in person too that's becoming very interesting. And I don't know what that looks like exactly, but I did used to work in experiential marketing. So it's kind of like one of those mindsets and having authentic people either using or interacting or having an experience on of your product on behalf. That's cool because they'll see it and be like, oh, I wish I had done that. And then the next time they'll sign up for your sweepstakes or you know, email list to that sort.

Yeah, absolutely. And last question, Tom, and I'll let you get back to using the awesome virtual wall behind you. Dude, if anyone's maybe like on the fence about joining the program, seeing if it's right for them, just like booking a call and speaking with us, kind of knowing what you know now, being on the other side, being in the community, being on the calls, like what advice would you give them coming from kind of the place you came in because obviously you're a tough seller, which is great. And I want people to do that. Do your due diligence, like make sure people are the right fit. But like, what advice would you give them knowing what you know now?

I would give them the advice that like, you know, this is what you make of it and it is what you want it to be. It is done with you and your participation is a huge part of that. I could have been better about it. I have a lot going on and was like as good as I possibly could have been about it. So if you could be better, that would be my advice. Be better than me about it. Um, and realize that the team is here to give you feedback on your sales process. You might think you're a really good salesman, but chances are there's way to prove and I think going into it with an open mindset like that, like I had that I need this feedback and am willing to accept this feedback and then, you know, take from the program what works and what works for my brand, sort of sculpt it into what we want for a future and other piece of advice. Would just be, you know don't be afraid to be on camera. Don't be afraid to be the person talking about your business and what you are capable of or your team is capable of because I think that authentic voice is the best sales tool you have.

Yep. Doesn't doesn't hurt to have a cool background behind you as well like you do so well.

That certainly helps it certainly.

I love it.

You know work with what you have. You know I'm a big proponent of that too.

You got to use what you got.

Yeah. Yeah. And know that you're going to make it work and keep making it work and keep investing in yourself because that's how you do it. Yeah.

I agree. Well Tom, I appreciate your time and I'm excited to do another one of these when you close even more deals and I'll let you get back to it and I appreciate you taking the time.