Home staging is a growing field driven by many factors including the:
- slowing real estate market
- desire of most people to buy a home in move in condition
- growing number of home staging TV shows like “Flip this house,” “Buy Me,” and “Designed to Sell”
As more people enter the field of home staging, they wonder what training to take.
The first thing to know is that ANYONE can call themselves a home stager and ANYONE can offer a training program and hand out any “credential” they want to create.
How are fake home staging credentials possible?
There is no independent organization or association that monitors the quality of home staging programs or the work of home stagers. It’s a completely unregulated field which means that anyone can call themselves whatever they like or create any “credentials” they want to award to others.
The bottom line is that there is NO OFFICIAL TRAINING TO BECOME A HOME STAGER.
It completely lacks integrity to deliberately confuse the market place with fake credentials. There is no such thing as “certification” or “accreditation” so putting initials after your name means nothing.
In my opinion, it’s a deliberate attempt to mislead potential students into thinking one program is better than another because it’s “official”. There are no official programs. ANYONE can call themselves a stager today and ANYONE can offer training.
Fake credentials also mislead the general public, though less so, because if you stopped 10 people on the street, I doubt you’d find one that has even heard of any of the acronyms floating around out there.
It’s also interesting to note that at least one of the leading programs asks you to pay an annual fee to maintain the privilege of using their initials after your name. If that’s not proof that it’s not an actual credential, I don’t know what is.
I have a hard-earned MBA from a leading university and I can put M.B.A. (and B.A. for that matter) after my name. I don’t choose to, but the point is I don’t lose these real credentials because I don’t contribute to my univerisity’s alumni fund!
Fake credentials do not give you credibility or build your business
While some beginners may feel putting initials after their name offers them a “securtiy blanket” when they’re new in the business, it doesn’t!
If you haven’t learned how to build your credibility without hiding behind fake credentials, then you’ll never grow your business. That’s why I deliberately don’t give my Graduates letters to put after their names.
I don’t want the sort of students who will use a “designation” I give them to build a business. I want students who will take the tools, techniques and strategies I teach them to feel confident in their own right. And I place a lot of emphasis on what they’ll need to go forward confidently.
Home staging is a very profitable business IF you learn how to market yourself properly and the right pricing strategies to use, which is why I cover these so carefully in the Staging Diva Home Staging Training Program. Obviously, it also helps to have some talent or your portfolio won’t do much to win you new clients.
There are tons of surgeons out there with real Phd’s. It doesn’t mean you’d allow any of them to operate on you, unless you also felt confident in their abilities. So it’s not just about the “credentials” and in home staging it mustn’t be about the “credentials”, since there aren’t any!
I also strongly disagree with some programs practice of handing out fake portfolios to their students. If you go out there and present before and after photos of staging projects that aren’t your own, and your potential clients realize this, forget about any credibility. Where will the “security blanket” of those three little initials get you when you’ve been found out?
By the way, I added a “Graduation Certificate” as something students get when they complete the Staging Diva Program about a year ago, because so many students wanted something to frame and hang on their walls.
For many I guess it’s a symbolic representation of their decision to change their lives by pursuing a career in something they feel passionate about. I do state clearly on my website however, that this is not an “official credential” since there is no such thing in the home staging field.
More on this topic at “The Debate over Fake home staging credentials continues.”
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I agree – all the “accreditations and certifications” are done so by the organizations giving the training. When I called a particular group about training I was told there could be up to 40 people in one class and at the end of the class I would be certified.
I’m wondering why the need for “fake credentials”. Why does someone who runs a Home Staging business feel the need to deceive their students and clients into thinking they are legally accredited when they are not? I would venture to say it is some type of insecurity.
Although I am a fairly new graduate of The Staging Diva Certificate Program I have not run into problems in this area.
If we feel as a group that we need to do this I like Kelly’s idea of using a anacronym such as SDCG (Staging Diva Certified Graduate). At least we are being honest and saying we have taken a staging course and graduated. I would only vote a yes to do this if we feel it has become a problem.
Hopefully, we will all be able to stand tall with our own merits, talents and the fact we made a great choice of signing up with Debra Gould who is the best there is without the need for “credentials”.
I understand that some people unfamiliar with the industry may questions us regarding our “credentials”. I believe that we are the professionals and, as such, should simply explain that the current industry has no educational requirements and that anyone who attaches a credential to their name is not being honest. I have explained this to several of my clients and once they understand this it becomes a non-issue. I also think that our portfolios are a more powerful tool for demonostrating our abilities than any fake credentials that other staging programs may utilize.
I’ve heard from so many agents who have said the same thing. They’ll hire or recommend a stager based on their portfolios and how well they present themselves and demonstrate their abilities. None of the ones I’ve spoken to care at all about credentials, especially since a growing number are catching on to what’s been happening. They don’t take these fake credentials at face value.