It’s amazing how it happens. When you were starting your home staging business you worried that you’d never get any clients. And now that you’ve built a great reputation and your business is growing rapidly you want to stop marketing because you don’t think you can take on any more clients.
Sound familiar? If so, you need to get that thought right out of your head.
You can never stop marketing your business, not even when you’re so busy you can’t see out from under all of your projects. Why? Because if you stop marketing, your successful home staging business will dry up and you’ll be stuck wondering why you don’t have any clients anymore.
As long as you’re marketing and you have people interested in working with you, you have possibilities. When you stop marketing and the phone stops ringing and everyone forgets about your services, you don’t have a business anymore.
Never worry about being too busy. If that day has come, or is quickly approaching, you’ll figure out a way to deal with it. You’ll either raise your rates, or you’ll have a waiting list. Maybe you get an assistant to help you out on a part-time basis.
There are lots of ways you can deal with the “problem” of having too many clients, but if you go from having lots of buzz about you being this great home stager and then you suddenly stop marketing, everyone will quickly forget about you. Then you’ll have no more clients and that is a much worse problem than being too busy.
When I started Six Elements Inc., my home staging business, I assumed that if someone wanted me to stage their house, I had to schedule that appointment within the next week. This put me in constant “urgent mode,” thinking I had to drop everything in my life to run to these clients’ homes right away. This belief put tons of undue pressure on me during the busy season when I found myself trying to squeeze in 20 clients over a two week period.
But in my second year of business, I was forced to change my ways. I was really busy and I had to start telling people if they wanted to work with me, it would be a six week wait. Much to my surprise, people were fine with this. They wanted me to stage their house bad enough that they would wait until I could squeeze them in. In fact, the wait seemed to make my services even more desirable!
So if you’re afraid that you’re getting too busy and that’s making you want to stop marketing your business, stop and think about it for a minute. Is it really a problem that you have more people than you expected wanting you to stage their homes?
If you’re a home stager I’d love for you to comment here and tell us whether you’ve ever been tempted to cut your marketing because business was too good, or whether you tried other techniques like creating a waiting list or raising your rates.
Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging
Through the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program, Debra Gould teaches aspiring and seasoned home stagers how to properly market their services and make money doing something they love.
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Debra, I only wish I had this problem! In this economy, business is down not just for me but for other stagers as well, at least in my metro area. Home owners and builders just don’t want to spend money this year. One successful home stager whose business was also down said earlier this year, “I guess I’m going to have to start marketing”. I don’t know how her business has been since then because I haven’t seen her, but here is an obvious example of someone who was always busy, thought she never had to market and then had to play catch up when business started to decline. I know we are all pressed for time, but it seems to me like you can never stop marketing, even when you’re busy.
I absolutely agree with your marketing, marketing, marketing concept. I have always said marketing is not my strong suit. Any suggestions?
Staging To Sell
Home Staging For Sellers . Interior reDesign . Interior Design
231.690.0398
http://www.staging2sell.com
jill@staging2sell.com
JIll R. Monczunski
President/Designer
Michigan USA
It’s really easy to let life get in the way of your marketing. Thanks for the “reminder” to get back on the fast track.
I, too wish I had the “problem” of being too busy. The market is feast or famine right now so when clients call, I accomodate them! They are also looking for the best price and VALUE for their money. They are not willing to pay a higher price for me, when they can find several other stagers who are good, and willing to lower their price.
Am I the only one who is competing against others on price?
Jill, this blog is filled with free tips for marketing. In addition I offer these products which go into more detail:
14 Marketing Ideas to Rev Up Your Home Staging Business – $20 special report
Staging Diva Sales and Marketing Secrets to Boost Your Home Staging Business – $249 two hour audio course with accompanying detailed study notes
While it’s always tempting to compete on price, and it may give your sales a boost in the immediate term, in the medium and long term it will not serve you well because you’ll get burned out and quit before you make a real living. I encourage you to read “Home Stagers, it’s not all about price” here.
It is natural for every business to go thru busy and slower periods and there is definite seasonality to home staging. Read more about “the seasons of home staging” here.
What’s key is that you maintain your marketing at all times and that you continue to educate your potential market about the value of what you do.
Recession or no recession, the people with money still have money and when they need to sell their homes they need our services. Theaters are packed, many hotels have been doing a booming business, I see crowded restaurants in every city I’ve visited this year and there are still line ups to buy whatever the latest “hot” thing is. When people know about you and understand what you can do for them, and they really need your services, they WILL find the money to pay for it.