The debate over Home Staging Credentials continues

My previous article “Home Staging Field Rife With Fake Credentials” has stirred up a lot of discussion in the Staging Diva Network (online discussion group for Staging Diva Graduates) as well as lots of emails to me with comment.

Some of my graduates have asked, in the face of competitors that promote fake credentials, why I don’t do the same and create my own.

My position has always been that I object to fake credentials so I don’t want to add to the confusion in the market place by creating my own (even though most everyone else does).

When students complete my program, I could call them:

• Staging Diva Graduate (SDG)

• Accredited Staging Diva Graduate (ASDG)

• Staging Diva Certified Graduate Home Staging Professional (SDCGHSP)

• Staging Diva Home Staging Expert (SDHSE)

• Staging Diva Graduate Professional Home Stager (SDGPHS)

• etc., etc., etc.

And then for even more money, create a Masters Level program and give people this designation:

• Staging Diva Graduate Master (SDGM)

• Staging Diva Certified Master Graduate (SDCMG)

• Master Staging Diva Home Staging Professional (MSDHSP)

• etc., etc.,

Does everyone see how silly this all is? All these names are just made up by the people marketing programs. They aren’t official credentials granted by some independent third party. Yes, I lose students because I don’t give out meaningless letters to put after your name, but I think to do otherwise would compromise my integrity.

I also don’t believe in scaring potential students into believing that if they don’t take MY program, they can’t be real stagers (this is another tactic used my some companies). You can start a business today and call yourself a professional home stager without taking ANY program.

Clients will hire you because you:

• present yourself in a credible and professional way

• sound like you know what you’re talking about

• appear confident in your abilities

• have a strong portfolio of before and after photos (that are your own, not given to you as part of the course you took)

• have past clients or agents that speak highly of your abilities

• have properly explained how you are a solution to their problems

• demonstrate the value of hiring you

• are available when they need you

In 99% of the cases, they won’t hire you just because you have initials after your name. Especially since the vast majority of homeowners will never have heard of those initials before.

With rare exceptions, they also won’t hire you just because you’re the cheapest home stager in town. If they don’t have confidence in your abilities, they’d be stupid to save a few hundred dollars in fees when how well you do the job can make thousands of dollars of difference in the selling price of their home.

My mission is to inspire and empower others to follow their dreams and live their best life. I want my students to go through the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program and absorb the lesson that they don’t need to hide behind anyone else and that they can have credibility and power in their own right.

My goals in the Staging Diva Program are to give students the tools they need to go out there confidently and know how to take the innate decorating talent they have and turn it into a successful business. That’s not about letters after your name, it’s about understanding the business and marketing of home staging.

Debra Gould (DEC, BA, MBA) — those ARE real college and univesity awarded credentials that I earned over years of study, exams and a graduate-level thesis, but you’ll rarely see me put them after my name!

Discover the ONLY Home Staging Business Training Program taught by a seasoned entrepreneur who has successfully grown her own home staging business (not as a side-line to selling real estate) — The Staging Diva Training Program. With an MBA in marketing and hundreds of home staging clients, internationally recognized home staging expert Debra Gould, The Staging Diva, is uniquely qualified to train others how to start and grow a profitable home staging business.

You can become a Staging Diva Graduate with 10 hours of training by phone with Debra Gould from home, or you can do the entire program by listening to recordings which are emailed to you immediately after you register. Over 50 pages of notes and the Staging Diva Home Staging Checklist included.
Read more about Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training

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