Decorating one’s home is personal. The décor you create is based on your personality and your taste. Decorating a home is the process of turning a house (the physical building) into a home. And not just any home—your home.

Staging, on the other hand, is the opposite of personal. Staging is about highlighting possibility. It’s about showing a prospective buyer the potential of the home. And it’s about making the home as appealing as possible to anyone, not one specific person. The reason should be obvious—it’s a mistake to stage a home with a particular style because not every prospective buyer will appreciate that style.

No, the goal of a good stager is to bring out the potential of a home while staying as neutral as possible—so that each prospective buyer can imagine the home as they would decorate it.

Specifically, that means:

Choose neutral colors. Bold, distinctive colors won’t appeal to everyone. Keep it neutral and let the buyer imagine the home painted in whatever colors they would like.

Take down family photos and art. You want potential buyers to envision themselves owning the home—and it’s hard to do that with pictures of someone else’s family all over the wall. And anything but the most neutral, “vanilla” art is injecting too much “personality” into the décor.

Get rid of clutter—even if that means putting furniture in storage. When you’re trying to showcase the potential of a home, the last thing you want is clutter everywhere. Give the prospective buyers the space they need to visualize the home as they would decorate it. If that means helping your client find a nearby storage facility, do so!

There’s a world of difference between staging a home and decorating it. If you’d like to learn more, get in touch with us today!

But as the holidays pass, our focus will shift to preparing for the New Year. Right now, 2013 is a blank slate for all of us. It’s a year full of potential and full of possibility. It could be the best year of your life. Or it could be a bad year. It might look a lot like 2012, or it may be totally different.

But here is the point I want you to remember: you are not a helpless passenger in life, or in business. You have the power to create your own destiny. Take action and make 2013 the best year your business has ever known—or remain passive and “see what happens.” Who knows, you might get lucky… and success might fall into your lap (not). Why not take control and make 2013 an incredible year?

Along this line of thinking, here are several resolutions you can make for 2013 to help you take control of your future:

Have a plan. If you don’t have a plan, you’re wandering aimlessly. Maybe you’re going in the right direction, maybe you aren’t. This is certainly true with regards to your business—so make a plan. What are the specific goals you want to achieve in 2013? Make a list, then create a detailed plan for accomplishing the goals.

Don’t “put it off” any longer. Every business owner has a long list of projects that they KNOW needs to get done in order to build their business… but somehow they never find the time. Resolve this year to stop putting these things off.

Proactively invest in yourself. YOU are the most valuable asset that your home staging business has. It is your knowledge and ability that determines the level of success you will achieve this year. So resolve to invest in yourself. Read more. Subscribe to industry publications. Hire a coach, attend a workshop or training program.

2013 will be your best year yet… but only if you take control and MAKE IT HAPPEN! The good news is  you don’t have to do it alone—I can help! Get in touch with me today if you’d like to learn more.

As 2013 approaches, we each have a golden opportunity to assess the current state of our businesses to make  strategic adjustments to ensure  the New Year is our best ever.

Likely you know success doesn’t just happen. It is something which must be worked and planned for. Success in business is achieved by having a clear vision, and by creating a detailed “road map” to turn the vision into reality. Here are several key questions to ask yourself as you begin to plan for 2013.

1) Where do you want your business to be by the end of 2013?

Get specific! What is your goal for monthly revenue? How many new clients per month? What is your target profit margin? Do you want to hire, or otherwise expand the business? Take as much time as you need to come up with a list of specific, tangible goals for 2013.

2) What will it take to meet your goals?

Now that you have a tangible list of goals, begin thinking about what it takes to achieve them. Take each goal, one at a time, and create a “to-do” list in order to achieve it. For instance, if your goal is to increase your revenue to $X monthly by the end of 2013, how many new clients do you need to acquire each month? Be specific, and be realistic. The idea here is to take big, ambitious goals and create realistic action plans for achieving each of them.

3) Do you have the skills, knowledge and abilities necessary to achieve your goals? Whether you’re a seasoned pro or you’re just getting started, it’s important to learn all that you can from others who have gone before you. Whether it’s a friend with industry experience, a mentor you’ve known for many years, or a professional consultant, take advantage of the resources you have around you in order to achieve success. None of us can do it all by ourselves!

If you’d like to learn more about personal business coaching with me, please get in touch today. The New Year is right around the corner let’s make 2013 be your best year yet!

But you don’t have to be reliant solely on agents to generate business. In addition to brokers, realtors, and other gatekeepers many home stagers have found success by marketing directly to homeowners,. Below are three ways that you can accomplish this.

1) Build a social media presence. Social media sites, particularly Facebook, are a great way to connect with homeowners. Because Facebook is such a visual site, pictures do very well in terms of generating exposure. Post pictures of recent jobs, projects, or ideas. Keep in mind that posting content alone doesn’t accomplish anything—you also need an audience.  Invite comments plus ask friends and family  to spread the word encouraging their friends and acquaintances to connect via Facebook.

2) Get out in the community. Another great way to reach homeowners is simply to become more visible in your community. Look for an opportunity to participate in a cause or an event that you believe in—providing food for the less fortunate, cleaning up a local park, or whatever suits you best. Consistently supporting and participating in such events will dramatically improve visibility in your community.

3) Focus on referrals. There is arguably no greater marketing tool known to man than generating sincere referrals. Homeowners will take sincere word-of-mouth recommendations from their friends and family members much more seriously than other form of marketing. So whenever you’re working with a homeowner, understand  it’s not just one job—it’s a highly valuable marketing opportunity. Provide excellent service and do everything you can to turn the homeowner into a “raving fan” of your business. If you’re successful, the word WILL spread amongst your target customers!

Building relationships with real estate agents and brokers should be an important part of your marketing strategy. But don’t become reliant solely on them. The strategies we’ve discussed here today will help you connect directly with homeowners in your market.

Please get in touch with me today if you’d like to learn more!

As a stager, when you can successfully persuade prospective clients that home staging yields a positive return on their investment, you’re going to win the business. It’s simple math—of course a homeowner is willing to invest $2,500 into professional staging if they are confident that doing so will increase their sales price by $4,000. (These numbers are just examples, obviously, as every situation is different.) Fortunately, we know that home staging does pay. It is a sound investment, and there are plenty of studies that prove this. HomeGain study says there is at least  199% ROI for occupied properties which are staged and RESA said the ROI can be as high as 800%!

There’s another factor which must be considered – and that is the amount of time a listing sits on the market. No seller wants to have their property sit on the market for months on end—they want to sell and move on with their life. Home staging helps reduce days on market as well—as the excerpt from a recent Wall Street Journal article demonstrates:

The Real Estate Staging Association, a trade group with about 1,000 members who identify as home stagers and “redesigners,” says research proves that staging works. After tracking 174 unfurnished homes listed for sale across North America, in 2011, they found that the homes lingered on the market for an average of 156 days. When those same properties were staged and relisted, they sold in an average of 42 days.

This means, as a home stager, your “pitch” can boil down to two simple points. First, that staging property will raise the offer. And second, that staging a home dramatically reduces the time it spends on the market. Home staging services will help your clients sell their houses for more money, in less time than if it wasn’t staged.

If you put yourself in the shoes of a property owner wanting to sell, you’ll realize that “selling fast” and “selling for a great price” are top priorities. As a real estate stager, you are in position to deliver on both counts. Make sure your potential clients know this!

1) Follow up without being asked. The next time you provide a service for a client, make a note to yourself to give them a call in a couple of days just to check in. It’s a simple act that will make a huge impact on your customers—simply because it is so unexpected. More often than not, the customer will report that everything is fine. But every once in a while, you’ll have the opportunity to troubleshoot a problem proactively, rather than forcing them to call you to complain.

2) Go the extra mile – and train your staff to do the same. “Going the extra mile” is somewhat of a cliché—but it simply means exceeding expectations. Whether that is filling out paperwork on behalf of your customer so that they don’t have to or going above and beyond what is required of you on a job, take every opportunity that you have to make your customers say “wow!”

3) Never say “no”—always have a solution. Make it your goal to always have a solution for your customers. If they have a request that you can’t fulfill, connect them with a trusted professional who can help. Even though it may not translate directly to money in your pocket, your customers will come to see you as someone who always has an answer—and that reputation is incredibly valuable.

4) Listen more than you talk. Make it a point to listen to your customers. Ask them about their concerns. Many business owners are constantly in “sales mode”—which is another way of saying “they never shut up!” Train yourself to listen more than you talk… your customers will appreciate it!

Questions, comments, or additional ideas? Feel free to get in touch with me today!

1) What am I truly frustrated about? The first step is to be sure that you’ve accurately identified your frustrations. You may, for instance, find yourself frustrated that a specific employee is consistently showing up late. But drilling down further into your emotions may reveal that you’re really upset because you’re not generating enough leads—and the employee is simply an opportunity to channel your frustration.

2) What do I need to accomplish? Once you’ve identified the heart of the matter, the next step is to clearly identify what you need to accomplish. Do this in concrete terms. (i.e. generate 5 more leads each month.)

3) Do I have the resources to get this done? Now that you know what you have to do, determine whether you have the resources it takes. If not, can you acquire them?

4) What do I need to learn? In some cases, you may not have the skillset you need to overcome your obstacle. If this is the case, identify the skill or technique that is lacking and go to work on it. You may discover, for instance, that you need to become more proficient with social media—or better at delivering your “elevator speech.”

5) Who can help me? And finally, if you’ve determined that you don’t have the resources or the knowledge necessary to solve the problem on your own, turn to others. You know what you need, now ask yourself who can help you acquire it. This may be a friend, a family member, a fellow professional, or a coach. Or it may be a staging course that we offer here at CSP® International.

The next time you find yourself “stuck”, pull out this list. You may not find an instant solution, but you will be able to come up with a plan for overcoming your obstacle!

Relationships with real estate agents. It’s hardly a secret that good relationships with local agents are a key ingredient to success for home stagers. However, few stagers put the time and effort into these relationships that they should be—it’s not enough to send the occasional thank-you card. You need to be working hard to build the relationship—speaking on the phone, taking the agent out for lunch; but even more importantly than “wining and dining” is that you make the agent look good for recommending you.

Relationships with clients. Obviously a good relationship with your clients is important just to enable you to work together. But you want (or should want) more than just a working relationship… you want your clients to become raving fans of your business. You want them to recommend you every chance  they get. That’s why it is so important to go “beyond the call of duty” for each client. Work hard to turn them into a vocal fan of your business!

Relationships with employees. Many business owners don’t think twice about their employee relationships. After all, you pay them every two weeks, right? What more do they need? Actually, the truth is that the way you treat your employees impacts the way they treat your customers. If your employees are loyal and appreciative of you, it will show in their work and their interactions with your customers. On the other hand, if they feel unappreciated, they are going to do a sub-par job working for you.

Questions or comments? As always, don’t hesitate to get in touch with me!

Some of the most common questions I hear from professional stagers revolves around the process of actually landing a new client. I hear things like “Christine, I have the leads on potential clients… but I can’t get them to commit.” Or “I send out several proposals each month, but it doesn’t seem that they actually say yes… why does that happen?”

Fortunately, this is a situation that has a solution. A quick tip: if you’re able to consistently generate quality leads, you are 95% of the way there! You just need a bit of help getting over the last hurdle and actually closing the business.

Here are four points to guide you in this process (each and every time!):

1) Listen and address concerns. Every client is different – they all have different needs and different concerns. So don’t think you can get away with using a “one size fits all” approach to closing the sale. It’s fine to use a template for your proposal but you need to customize what you write to reflect the specific needs of each client.

2) “Prove” your value by demonstrating the ROI your services provide. (ROI means Return On Investment) Reassure your potential clients of the value you provide by offering statistics that support and reflect the value of staging their home based on industry information. If you need help identifying some of these statistics, feel free to get in touch with me directly! 

3) Use testimonials. Give your prospects confidence that others have worked with you and experienced positive success. Most people have a “group-think” mentality—they don’t want to be the first to try anything, but if others have done it and experienced positive results, it makes their decision and commitment easy! Throughout your marketing pieces, prominently feature testimonials from happy, satisfied clients —and remember to include them in your proposals too.

4) Make it easy for potential clients to say “yes!” Make life simple for your prospective clients—they already have enough on their mind, considering they are trying to sell their home. Don’t make them jump through hoops. Explain you will handle the details so that they don’t have to worry about them in clear and easy to read language.

So, set yourself up for success… prepare your marketing materials in advance, ask for the business using these four points and close more sales.

By the way, I love closing sales; my seven step proprietary process helps CSPs close more sales more often.  I’d love to hear about your experiences with closing the sale… please drop me a line to let me know about them!

So what can you do to build this expert status? Below are a couple of ideas.

1) Publish blogs and articles related to home staging. One of the most effective ways to demonstrate expertise is to become an author. Even if potential clients don’t read everything you’ve written, simply the fact that you are writing about home staging boosts your credibility. And when a prospect does read one of your blog posts or articles, you can bet that they will factor your expertise into the equation when making their decision.

2) Speak at seminars and networking events. Most people are terrified to speak in public—and therefore, assign instant credibility to those that are brave enough to speak effectively. You don’t have to deliver a masterpiece, either—just the willingness to stand up and share a bit about what you do and how home staging can help home sellers is enough to make an impact. It may not be the most comfortable thing for you, but if you can find opportunities to speak about home staging, you would be well advised to take advantage!

3) Put your face on the cover of a leading home staging magazine! We are pleased to help home stagers differentiate themselves from the competition by offering the opportunity for them to get a picture of themselves on the cover of our leading CSP ® magazine. Learn more here: http://www.stagingtraining.com/.

When it comes to overcoming the competition and closing sales, expert status is crucial. These three steps will help – please get in touch if you would like to learn more!