Home Staging Tips March 2011

Stagers, Do Real Estate Agents Make You Crazy?

Ah March . . . the official start of the biggest real estate season of the year! As a home stager, you're likely thinking about all the ways you can market yourself to real estate agents. After all, they're the gatekeepers to your potential clients. Without them you won't have a business, or so you assume (especially if you haven't taken the Staging Diva Training Program).

You call a few real estate agents, maybe meet them in person or deliver an office presentation, and much to your surprise, you discover that not all of them are fans of home staging! It makes no logical sense— your job is to make their job easier because you give them a more appealing product to sell.

Here's the big secret to marketing home staging . . . while real estate agents are one of your 4 key target markets, they aren't the only one! In fact, in order of importance, I'd put them at number 2 or 3.

I wrote a couple of free articles about why some real estate agents just don't seem to get it. If you've been frustrated in your dealings with real estate agents, or you've been intimidated by the idea of approaching them, be sure to read these and add to the comments from other stagers (there are some great discussions going on):

> Stagers, don't let real estate agents discourage you

> Home Stagers, realize your own power in real estate

Staging Success Spotlight

Congratulations to Stacy Goade of Alaska Premier Home Staging on all her new business. Stacy is the first Staging Diva Graduate in Alaska and it's been my pleasure getting to know her during our Business Accelerator Coaching calls.

Not unlike most stagers, Stacy felt a bit frustrated during her first couple of months as a stager because the world wasn't instantly beating a path to her door. But she stuck to it, continued her marketing efforts, and it's all starting to come together for her.

> Read how Stacy's staging business got going here. There are over 20 comments at the end of the article, so be sure to check those out too. You'll find lots of inspiring tips from other home stagers there!

Congratulations to Staging Diva Graduate Debbie Fiskum of Perfect Home Staging Denver on being in her 5th year of business as a home stager. She writes, "My best investment was the home staging training by Debra. I knew almost nothing about starting a business before."

Although Debbie sometimes works on owner-occupied homes, her primary niche is doing vacant homes for investors who fix and flip their properties. Debbie is a frequent commenter on my blog, Home Staging Business Report and recently shared these words of encouragement with one of the new stagers who had also written in: "You go, Girl!! I do remember my first couple of jobs, and I felt nervous, inadequate and totally transparent. But as you said, the people have been so nice and they were interested in what I had to say. After all, they wanted to get their house sold and they were looking to me for advice!"

I love what Debbie wrote because it reminds us that we are here to solve our clients' problems. While we may be feeling insecure starting out, we have to remember that we know more than our clients about decorating a house to sell. This doesn't mean you have to know everything there is to know, however. We are all always learning!

When a home seller sees you as the solution to their problem

When a home seller sees you as the solution to their problem, they'll be hanging on your every word and will be happy to pay you well for your advice! So stop worrying that you don't know "enough" about how to stage a house (assuming you have natural decorating talent) and get out there and market your services!

Some frustrated stagers tell me, "I've been doing lots of marketing but nothing is working." Typically, these are the same stagers who don't have a proper logo, haven't put a portfolio together and can't be found online. Their "marketing" consists of stuffing flyers in mailboxes or hanging out in real estate office lobbies handing out free cookies hoping someone will hire them. None of these things work, no matter how great you are at staging!

Confucius said it well: "When it's obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don't adjust the goals, adjust the action steps."

If you need marketing help, it's SO important that you get it, especially now for the busiest staging season of the entire year! Here are 3 products to help you promote our business with the right marketing techniques so potential clients actually come to you rather than you always having to chase them:


Simple Marketing Plan Companion: A stress-free approach to promoting your staging business - $39 > Learn more about the easy way to write a marketing plan so you can stop planning and start doing!	14 Marketing Ideas to Rev Up Your Home Staging Business - $20 > Get 14 low-cost and no-cost marketing ideas that you can do right now.	Course 4 - Staging Diva Sales & Marketing Secrets to Boost Your Home Staging Business - $249 > Discover the secrets to marketing to your 4 key target audiences and stop wasting money on ads, door-to-door flyers or cold calling agents.

Staging a "Must" to Stand Out

Staging to Stand Out

Are you worried that if the real estate market is slow, there won't be enough demand for home stagers? Quite the opposite is true, once home sellers know about home staging and understand that it can help them sell their homes more quickly.

At least 10% of the population moves every year, and there are lots of reasons for this: marriage, divorce, new baby, retirement, new job location, etc. All of these life events make the need/desire to move quite strong, regardless of the state of the housing market.

As we head into spring, more homes come on the market because people want to show their homes when their gardens look better, and because they want to be able to sell and move between school years.

In the spring real estate market, and especially if it's also a slow real estate market , it's not unusual to see several houses for sale on the same street.

Real estate agents will pressure home sellers to drop their prices because it doesn't change the agent's commissions all that much (it's only a few hundred dollars less if the sale price drops by $10,000). Yet home sellers resist price reductions because that's money right out of their pockets. And preserving equity is the key goal in this economic climate!

Desperate home sellers will scramble for ways to make their homes stand out from the competition and attract an offer.

By decorating a home to be more appealing to buyers, home stagers offer the perfect solution. We make a home more appealing for less than the cost of a price reduction. And with a faster sale, the owners don't have to carry their non-selling house as long (a key benefit for people moving to a new city, divorcing, etc., who may be stuck with two homes).

Here's why staging works, especially now

The reality is that in a slow real estate market, buyers have less incentive to make an offer today because they know that increased inventory means that asking prices may go down even more tomorrow. They also feel no pressure to make a speedy decision because they know there are tons of homes to choose from. This makes it less likely that a property they're interested in will disappear too quickly— again making them less likely to take action and make an offer.

As a result, there's a vicious cycle with home sellers trapped in their non-selling houses for longer and increased pressure from their agents to continue lowering their price. But home staging offers a way to end this costly inconvenience, because staged homes have been proven to sell faster.

I've written more than 50 stories that prove home staging works, especially in slow real estate markets. These stories are based on the actual home staging successes of Staging Diva Graduates in a variety of locations.

Plus, if you don't have a copy of my Free report, "Ask Staging Diva: Can I grow a home staging business in a depressed economy?" you can still download it now. It's full of free information about:

How the current economy and real estate market can affect your home staging business.

How to estimate the size of your local market.

Why home staging works especially well with first-time buyers (the growing segment of the market).

And much more!

> Get your free copy of this report here.

Save the Date

Times indicated are Eastern (NY time).
Please adjust for your time zone.

Mar. 9 (8 PM)
5 Simple Secrets to a Home Staging Business: How to Make Money Doing What You Love
(Free)

> Sign up here FREE if you've never taken Staging Diva courses (otherwise you know these 5 secrets already!)

Mar. 17 (noon)
Staging Diva Dialog
(Graduates Only - $47 for recording and live call)

Staging Diva Graduates have a chance to ask Debra Gould questions in a small group. Here are some of the many topics from our last call:

TESTIMONIALS - What makes a good testimonial and how to get the right ones from clients and agents.

PROCESSES - Setting up simple processes for your business.

FURNITURE RENTALS - Whether to stage every room, using art and accessories, what you can "borrow."

HOME STAGING CASE STUDY - What to do with a large open-plan home.

BILLING - Getting paid what you're worth, making sure you get paid.

THE LITTLE EXTRAS - How far should you go with customer service?

> Learn how to join the next Dialog call!

Mar. 22 (11 AM to 4 PM)
Open Coaching Day
(Free, by invitation only - a $75 value)

Staging Diva Quiz Challenge Winners get a 15-minute one-on-one coaching session with Debra Gould.

Staging Diva Graduates get a 15-minute one-on-one laser coaching session with Debra Gould. Invitations sent to Staging Diva Directory members.

Ongoing by appointment
Staging Diva Business Accelerator Coaching
(Open to all new or established stagers - half price for SD Graduates)

Open to all registered members, get one-on-one business coaching by phone with Debra Gould.

> Sign up here for Accelerator Coaching

Kitchen Staging Is Key: What's Your Advice for This One?

Kitchens are so key when it comes to selling a home. Yet as home stagers, we mostly work with what's there. After all, few home staging clients are likely to splurge on new cabinets, backsplash, floors or countertops.

Yet there are plenty of cosmetic changes that cost little and have a big impact, as you'll see from the recommendations of your fellow stagers at the link below.

> Test your staging savvy on this cluttered kitchen and share your ideas for transforming it on a limited budget.

If you'd like to expand your knowledge about decorating homes to sell, check out the Staging Diva Ultimate Design Guide: Home Staging Tips, Tricks and Floor Plans.

In it, you'll find tons of before and after shots from my own staging projects, plus helpful design tips, floor plans and principles to follow.

Did You Know?

All Staging Diva Graduates receive personalized certificates plus free Grad Badge artwork for their marketing materials and websites.

Unlike other staging programs, Staging Diva Graduates DO NOT PAY AN ONGOING FEE to be "certified" or "accredited" after completing this program.

Once you've completed the 5-course training program, you'll be able to say "YourName is a Graduate of the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program" for as long as you like. We don't put a time limit on this like other companies!

> Learn how to save up to $440 with our 5-course staging training packages!

Hats Off to New and Returning Members

Congratulations to these Staging Diva Graduates who got their portfolios together and joined the Staging Diva Directory of Home Stagers, or renewed their annual listing, to promote their businesses. Whether Directory members have a Profile Page or a Mini Listing, it's easy for agents, home sellers and reporters to find them when they need to!

Renewed for Year 4!
Debra Rowley (WA)
Debra Rowley Interior Staging

home stager

Renewed for Year 3!
Patricia Adamic (ON)
Ma Maison Home Staging

home stager

Renewed for Year 2!
Monica Bunde (MI)
Create Home Staging

home stager

Teri Bergstrom (AZ/NV)
Stagelight Home Staging Co.

Did you know?

You can be listed under 4 states or provinces, plus 10 city, county or neighborhood names! Your Directory listing will show up for all of these areas when potential clients type them into the handy search box on the Directory home page!

Which comes first—your own site or a Directory listing?

Many new home stagers wonder whether they should join the Directory first or build their own websites. The beauty of joining the Directory is that within 7 days of submitting a very short list of requirements, we'll have your Profile page built and hosted on the professionally designed Staging Diva Directory of Home Stagers.

This is much easier (and usually much cheaper) than trying to build your own professional-looking site from scratch, especially if you've never done it before. By joining the Directory, you save yourself the steep learning curve of creating a new site while you're trying to get the rest of your business in order and win your first clients.

Once we build your Profile page, you'll be able to "forward" your website address to your Directory listing. That way there's no delay in getting your business cards printed while you wait to build an entire new website.

Save $135 and Get a FREE Brochure

All Profile Page listings and Mini Listings are 25% less when you join the Directory for a year. When you order, you pay the cost of building your page and you don't have to pay for hosting for another 37 days!

Here's how that works:

Let's say you place your order on Mar. 15. You would pay the cost of building your page right away (that's a one-time cost of $395 for a Profile Listing OR $95 for a Mini Listing).

Your listing in the Directory would be active by Mar. 22. In other words, you would be on the Internet, ready to be found by potential customers within 7 days of when you order and submit your material!

Then on Mar. 22, you would pay $450 for annual hosting. If you have a Profile Page, this is also when we create your free brochure.

Brochure Sample (front):
home staging brochure front

Brochure Sample (back):
home staging brochure back

See below for the button we'll add to your listing for free so that people can download your brochure right from your page:

Sample download button that goes on your Directory Listing Profile Page

Mini Listings do not get a free brochure because there is not enough information in the listing to create one.

If your website is hard to find, doesn't look as professional as you'd like, or you don't have one at all, isn't it time you learned how you can join the Directory of Home Stagers?

> Learn how to get your own Profile Page (if you don't have your own site, or it doesn't look professional).

> Learn how to get a Mini Listing (if you already have your own professional website but need more visitors).

Meet Victoria

Victoria is the Staging Diva Manager of Client Relations. She takes care of students, Graduates and anyone else who contacts us.

If you ask Victoria something that needs my attention, she will forward your message to me. The fastest way to get an answer to your question is to email Victoria directly at info@stagingdiva.com