If it hasn’t already happened during your career as a home stager, you might one day be asked by a homeowner if you’ll conduct your consultation even though they can’t be there.
Even if they say they’ll have a check there waiting for you, you should always insist someone be there when you do a home staging consultation.
What value is the consultation to the homeowner if they’re not there to hear it?
How will they understand what you plan to do?
How committed can they be to this process if they won’t make an effort to be there with you for the initial consult?
If I’m going to be doing a major home staging project, bringing in furniture and having the place painted and all of that, I definitely need the client there with me to hear what I plan to do and I suggest you do the same. Otherwise, that can come back to haunt you if the client doesn’t like what you’ve done.
You’ll also want to be paid not only for your consultation on your first visit to a house, but for the rest of the work you’re going to be doing as well. You need your clients to be there in order for that to happen so you can agree on the
amount you’ll be given to go shopping with, etc.
If the homeowner can’t be there with you, then ask for the real estate agent to be present but only if he or she is prepared to give you your checks while you’re there.
Do you have questions when it comes to conducting a home staging consultation? Check out Staging Diva Consultation Checklist with Room-by-Room Planning Forms. It’s full of great information, including how to conduct your room-by-room consultation with your clients, what to wear, what to bring and much more.
Home stagers, have you had something like this happen to you where you were asked to do the consultation with nobody there to hear what you had to say? How did you handle it? Please share your experiences by leaving a comment below.
Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging
Debra Gould’s mission is to inspire people to follow their dreams. She developed the Staging Diva Home Staging Courses to teach others how to earn a living doing something they love.
Technorati Tags: home stager, home staging, business coaching, staging diva, home staging course, home staging business, home staging consultation
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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Ah … is this a trick question, Debra?
99% of the time: NO. NO. NO. NO. no.
An appointment is always required. I would never agree to a first time consultation without (a) never meeting my client; (b) knowing someone my client trusts will be there who knows the purpose for staging the property; (c) has a written budget from the client; (d) has my client’s check; & (d) is knowledgable about my client; the home; & its needs.
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IF NO ONE IS SCHEDULED TO BE THERE:
. Neither will I.
. A consultation is a dialogue w/another person. [unless I talk to myself. The cat/dog doesn't count.]
. The stager asks the client questions.
. The client answers.
. A professional stager does not leave a list of suggestions or rummage through a strangers property.
. There’s a check left for my consultation? What if it’s not there?
. Professionally, it’s better if I suggest a time when the two of us can meet. If she says “____ agreed to go without me there” I’d say “Your ideas matter to me. I like working with my clients … but by all means, call ____.” [I dislike being professionally manipulated.]
. I would never go into a new clients home alone. Period. To do so defeats the purpose of a professional consultation & compromises the stager.
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EXCEPTION:
Long stanging, trusting relationship w/client where you’ve been given all the information required to stage the property.
Totally agree with you!
Debra
With all these silly websites, such a great page keeps my irnetnet hope alive.
I have not done a consult without the client being there, but I have a stager friend that was asked to, and she walked into a very dangerous situation. The client was away for several days and had left her with the realtor as the contact person, however, the realtor was not present during the consult. My friend walked through the house checking things out and making her notes along the way. As she neared the back door, and stepped out onto the deck, there was a very strong gas odor. She locked up the house and left, calling the realtor to inform her of the smell. Come to find out, there was a serious gas leak that could have caused the house to explode. The gas company came and said that the owners could not go back into the house until the problem was fixed because it was both a health and safety risk. Additionally, because the realtor was “busy,” she took advantage of having the stager there to wait and meet the service person from the gas company! I think it’s important to have the client there so that you don’t take unkown risks, and so that they can deal directly with any issues that come up.
Aside from verbal consult vs. others, you might consider that this could also be a set-up. Who’s to say that the seller won’t then accuse you of stealing items from the home while no one was there, or–God forbid–you’d be the victim of a crime? You have to look out for your business, but more importantly, look out for YOU!
Debra, I know you do a verbal consultation but prior to learning of your company and taking your course I started my business on my own. I put together a lengthy evaluation form, covering every area of the home. When I’ve gone through the home with the seller I have them initial and date each section agreeing to the work I will be doing and the cost for that work. It is a bit cumbersome and I ususally come back to go over it (I take pictures and refer to them at home to write the report then return to go over and collect half of the total as a downpayment)
I haven’t gotten completely through your course yet but I’m hoping to learn how to do consultations without the huge paper report and stil have both myself and the sellers know what’s going to happen and know how to stay on track. In my scenario, the seller wouldn’t have to be there initially (but I like them there) however, we have to meet to go over the report.
Leah, thanks for sharing that. I’m sure it will be helpful to others joining this discussion!
I have never had this type of request Debra, so this post gives me the opportunity to prepare my response if I ever do. I feel that home stagers should do consults, not inspections… There is a definite difference between the two in terms of service and relationship. The one-on-one dialog I have with a client during a consult helps to build a relationship, and is THE opportunity for me to secure more paid hours on that project. I had a client a year ago that had moved to their new home on the east coast, but chose to fly back to Wisconsin to meet me at their for-sale house to do a staging consult (paid consult of course). Now that’s what I call committed to the process!