Regardless of whether or not you intend to invest in owning your own home staging inventory, you are still a business, and your business takes place in other people’s homes. Not only will the insurance protect you from any liability (such as mistakenly leaving a light on that later bursts and starts a fire, or accidentally knocking over a precious heirloom), but it will also establish you as a professional and genuine company.
Over-decorating or not enough
Less really is more when it comes to staging, but you still need to ensure that you are meeting the main principles and goals of your service – to clearly define the space, showcase the features, and sell the experience of living in the home. Every item used in home staging should serve a purpose – use the goldilocks method – not too much, not too little, but just enough! Keep things neutral, but not sparse. You want to create an experience, and sell a lifestyle, while maintaining effective flow and marketing the home.
Improperly scaled furniture
Effective home staging will showcase a home. One of the most important tasks that home staging intends to accomplish is to properly define each room, and that means defining the size of the room as well. This means selecting the proper scale of furniture to best showcase the space. Staging a room can help buyers to better visualize the space, and show them the optimal furniture selection and placement for the room. A common mistake made by new home stagers is the use of furniture that is either too large, or too small, for a room. This can adversely affect the flow and perception of the space, and overall creates an unappealing room.
Decorating instead of merchandising
Home staging is an effective marketing technique that integrates decorating with marketing to create an experience for homebuyers. It is about more than just furnishing a room – it’s about selling a lifestyle. Just because something is pretty, does not mean that it should be used to stage a room for sale. Staging items should not overpower the features of a space, but should accentuate them.
Marketing to the masses and not understanding your niche and position in the market place
If you are trying to market to everyone, you are often reaching no one. Take the time to understand who your ideal client would be, and create your marketing messages to resonate with them. Be deliberate with your marketing. Identify where your ideal client hangs out, and connect with them on their turf. Do you want to work with large real estate teams, or smaller, independent real estate agents? Do you want to work in luxury homes, starter, or mid-level homes? It’s not to say that you won’t work with a client just because they don’t fit your avatar, but having a clear marketing plan with a specific target will help you to create a stronger relationship with those that you do wish to work with.
Not understanding the real estate industry, and the language of real estate agents
Many that enter into the world of home staging do so for a love of home décor, and while you might know your damask from your gingham and your finials from your fascia, understanding real estate terminology and dynamics is critical to success. This is something that your home staging certification program should cover, but be sure to clarify before you register to ensure that you will get the coverage that you expect in your course material.
Under-pricing/under-valuing your work and your expertise
Just because you are a new home stager, does not make you any less qualified – don’t undervalue yourself and your expertise. Set yourself up for success from the beginning by demanding to be paid your worth. Review industry standards, evaluate your expenses, and be diligent in setting your prices. You have invested in your home stager training, you have invested in the registration and launch of your business, and you have overhead, just like any other business. You deserve to be profitable, regardless of how long you have been in business.
It’s not uncommon for clients to request a discount on the promise of future business – instead of offering a discount now, provide value and show them that you’re worth it – they’ll be knocking down your door to hire you again! If you’re so inclined, reward them on future projects as a thank you for their loyalty.
Letting your clients run the show
It’s easy for a homeowner to create a pre-conceived staging plan in their mind – they are emotionally connected to their home, and often can’t see your final vision. While it is important to select staging items that will work well with the style of home, it may not always be to your client’s personal taste. Remember – home staging is NOT interior design – take the time to understand the demographics of the buyers that will be interested in the home, and direct your marketing to them.
Not treating your home staging business as a business
One of your greatest traits as a home stager will be your ability to empathize and relate to your clients. Because of this, it can be difficult to avoid letting your emotions get in the way of running your business as a business. Abstain from doing unpaid “favors” for that real estate agent friend, or giving more than you quoted to that client in the tough situation – do what you can for them based on their budget, and focus on providing them with low-cost solutions for maximizing their home’s potential. Remember, you have bills to pay as well.
Using inventory from your own home and/or sub-standard inventory
Your clients are paying you for your expertise, and your quality home staging services, including your staging rentals – be sure that you deliver on this. If an item is marked down, there is often a good reason for it – just because it’s a good deal, doesn’t always mean that it is a good staging item. You will score some great finds – be frugal, and be creative, but don’t be shabby – provide quality home staging items and maximum value to all clients (that said, you wouldn’t be the first home stager to deplete your own home décor for the sake of a staging project – ensure the items are well-maintained, and only do so when absolutely necessary to get the job done).
No Certification
As with any profession, proper certification and training is critical to success. The investment in a quality certification program is just like the one that you would make to become an accountant, a plumber, or any other skilled profession. While you may have a natural talent that will serve you very well in this industry, it’s your training that will make you an expert in your profession, one that your clients will be happy to pay for. Regardless of your natural talent or previous design training and experience, a qualified home stager training program will provide you with “techniques” for showcasing and merchandising a space, as well as an understanding of the home staging processes, buyer insights, managing your clients, and so much more. This will not only save you time and energy by providing you with essential skills, tools, and resources for home staging success, but it will also provide you with the support that you need, especially when you’re first starting out.
Ready to Get Started?
If you’re ready to take your passion for décor and turn it into a profitable staging business, sign up for our free home staging starter training. You’ll learn the insider secrets to building a successful staging career, from client acquisition to pricing strategies. Let’s take that passion and turn it into a career you’ll love!
We have all had the frustration of feeling underpaid and overworked, all while fielding requests to cut pricing – so how can we comprehend raising prices? So many of us fear even the thought of raising prices. Why? Well, in an industry where pricing and other factors are not regulated, and services are often subjective, it can be easy to under-value the services that you provide. You may have set your prices early on in your business, without fully understanding the ins and outs of each service, or the industry as a whole. You may have felt that you should be charging less than your competition, due to inexperience (which of course is NOT a great pricing strategy, but that’s for another post). You are likely afraid that by raising prices, you will stand to lose a long-standing and loyal client, or turn off potential new clients.
Here are just a few benefits to raising your prices:
Get paid your worth, and enjoy your projects more
Attract higher quality clients – someone will always look for the cheapest price – don’t compete on price, compete on value
Make more money!
Position your company as a higher-standard or “premium” business
Before raising my own home staging consultation fees, I needed to do an evaluation.
How much did I want to raise my fees by?
To determine this, I calculated how much time I spent on each project, as well as what my expenses were (both direct and indirect). This is something that your accountant can help you with, but it’s really quite simple – all you need to do is sum up any material costs, labour fees, and your own time. Your accountant can provide you with a general overhead cost based on your annual expenses. Next, I outlined the value that I provided, in order to determine how much money I felt that I needed to make in order to feel that my time spent was valuable. I also reviewed competitors to see where our current pricing structure fell in relation.
How many consultations would I need to do to make the same amount of money?
What do I mean by this?
Ok, bear with me, we need to do a little math.
Let’s say that you charge $200 for a consultation, and want to raise your prices to $250 (please note that these prices are not intended to be guidelines of what your prices should be, and are simply intended as an example for the purposes of this exercise). At $200, in order to make $1000 in a week, you need to provide 5 consultations. At the new price of $250, you would only need to provide 4 of these. What does this mean? It means that you can afford to lose 1 consultation a week, (or 20% of your clients) and still bring in the same amount of money, while also giving you more time to spend on other aspects of your business. Play with these numbers until you get to one that you’re comfortable with.
Once I determined how much I wanted to raise my prices by, I set out to create a plan of action, including setting a timeline to implement the change, and introducing the increase to my current client base.
Every home stager works differently, and as such, they each provide variations of a standard home staging consultation. So why is it that despite what our consultation includes, we feel that we should all be priced the same? You will always have price shoppers – you know, the clients that are looking for the cheapest and quickest fix to any problem, but that doesn’t mean that they need to be your clients. By changing my pricing structure, and raising my prices, I began to attract a better quality client, and was able to provide a better quality of service to each of my clients.
What do your consultations currently include? Is there anything that is included that could be removed, while still providing a full-service consultation? Is there anything that could be added to increase the value (think of what you could add that would not significantly impact you financially)?
There were a number of aspects of my home staging consultations that were of great value, but not appreciated by some of my clients. Meanwhile other agents were asking how they could add more value to the staging services that we provided to their clients. If you have ever signed up for any sort of “plan” or “package” (cell phone company, online cloud storage, etc.), you have probably seen a tiered pricing structure. I realized that this worked well for these companies, and so I adapted it into my pricing structure. The reality is that there will always be those clients that want the cheapest, quickest, and easiest. While these may not be my ideal client, it doesn’t mean that I want to turn away a paying client, especially because these are often the real estate agents that are doing the greatest volume of business.
Here’s how my new tiered pricing structure worked
I removed some elements of my existing consultation (without compromising the quality of the service of course), and kept the pricing the same
For my existing consultation, with all of the great bells and whistles, I raised the price
I then added a third package, which included some additional home staging services
We then emailed all of our real estate agents to notify them of the new pricing structure:
Subject: BTSH Introduces 2 NEW Home Staging Consultation services!!
Email:
Over the last several years, BTSH has worked to continually improve the quality of the services that we provide and we are excited to announce two new versions of our current home staging consultation services! We appreciate your on-going support, and for making us your #1 choice in Waterloo Region, so we want to ensure that we continue to offer you both quality and value when you invest in Home Staging. You spoke, and we listened – based on feedback from our clients, including both homeowners and real estate agents, we will be rolling out our new consultations starting <date starting>. Now with 3 comprehensive home staging consultation packages available, we’re sure to have one that suits your client’s needs.
As a Real Estate Agent, when you hire BTSH for your home selling clients, you get more than just a walk-through consultation, you get our commitment to a successful home sale by offering you the following:
<insert your value here>
Notice that we didn’t say anywhere in that email that we are raising prices?
When evaluating whether or not to raise your prices, I want you to think about this – who is holding you back from raising your prices? We all have that client that makes a lot of noise any time we enforce a policy, or introduce something new to our business. Think about this – 80% of your business comes from 20% of your clients. And 80% of your stress comes from 20% of your clients. Sometimes you just have to shut out the noise and do what is best for you and your business.
Don’t you wish that there was an easy step-by-step guide to getting started as a home stager? I would love to say that this is it, but embarking on a new career is a BIG deal, and is one that should be given the attention that it deserves! That said, I can provide you with some tips for the first steps that you should take on your journey to becoming a home stager.
Do your research
Just like any career, you want to be sure that you know what you’re getting yourself into! Don’t be fooled into thinking that what you see on TV is the full picture. So how do you learn more about the industry?
Reach out to local home stagers – the best way to do this is to find out if there is a local RESA chapter nearby where you could attend a meeting. Home Stagers, like most entrepreneurs, work very hectic schedules, and given that they are working in the real estate industry, most of their work is very time-sensitive. While most love to help to educate others about what a career in home staging is all about, they may not always have the time to meet or chat with you. That said, if you do not have a local RESA chapter in your area, absolutely feel free to reach out to home stagers directly, keeping in mind that you are more likely to receive a response during a time of year when the real estate market is a little slower (this can vary by city, and in some areas, simply doesn’t exist).
What is the local demand for home staging services? Home staging has been a VERY lucrative and rewarding career choice for a lot of people, but keep in mind that some real estate markets will be much more advanced in their home staging awareness and adoption of this service into standard industry practice. A successful home staging business can be built anywhere, but if the home staging industry is less developed, some areas may take longer to build, and you will want to be prepared for this. In addition to speaking with home stagers, it would serve you well to talk to real estate agents, mortgage brokers, and others in the real estate industry to help you to gauge the demand of your services.
Job Shadowing – this is a great opportunity to get to see what home staging is like, first-hand. I once had a staging assistant who had a great interest in potentially becoming a home stager herself, and welcomed the opportunity to get a first-hand look at the industry by working alongside me. After only two home staging projects, she quit. She said that she “just wanted to be a home stager”, and if I had any work that was more or less “just staging”, then she would be happy to help. What she failed to realize was that every aspect of work that was assigned to her, in fact, WAS home staging! She wanted a real look at the industry, and we gave it to her, but it turns out that she really only wanted to work in the TV version of what she thought home staging was. Job Shadowing a local stager is a great way to see exactly what a career in home staging looks like.
Join a Facebook Group – we happen to have created one geared at people just like you! Click here to join the group and ask any questions that you would like!
Strategy Session – Are you someone that would just prefer to talk it out? Click here to book a one-on-one with me, where you can ask me anything!
Budget for Your New Career
What costs should you expect when first starting your business? What will your on-going operating expenses be like? How will you pay your bills while you are building your business? Will you own your home staging inventory, or rent from a third-party furniture rental company?
There are a number of questions like this that you will want to explore BEFORE diving head-first into the deep end. We answer all of these questions and more in our Behind-the-Scenes webinar.
Get Professional Training
Just like any profession, proper certification and training is critical to success. The investment in a quality certification program is just like the one that you would make to become an accountant, a plumber, or any other skilled profession. While you may have a natural talent that will serve you very well in this industry, it’s your training that will make you an expert in your profession, one that your clients will be happy to pay for.
Create a business plan
“A goal without a plan is just a wish.” ― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Once you have been trained as an expert in your field, it’s time to get yourself out there and start generating some business! To do this, you will need to select a business name, what type of business you will operate (sole proprietor, partnership, corporation, etc), and set out your company’s policies and objectives. All of this and more should be covered in a detailed business plan – do NOT skip this step! Remember:
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” ― Benjamin Franklin
Read my book (warning…shameless plug)
Oh yeah…did I mention I’m writing a book all about the ins and outs of becoming a home stager, and what you can expect as you embark on this career? Well, it’s not ready just yet, but you can check out an excerpt from it here, and we hope to open pre-sales for the book VERY soon!
Still have questions about getting started as a home stager? Schedule a 1-on-1 chat with home staging expert, Shauna Lynn Simon – click here to select a time that is convenient to you.
Ready to Get Started?
If you’re ready to take your passion for décor and turn it into a profitable staging business, sign up for our free home staging starter training. You’ll learn the insider secrets to building a successful staging career, from client acquisition to pricing strategies. Let’s take that passion and turn it into a career you’ll love!
If you’re living in a “seller’s market”, you may find that some real estate agents have lost interest in your home staging services. You know that their clients can still benefit from your services, but how do you motivate these agents?
What is a seller’s market? A seller’s market simply means that there are fewer homes for sale with a large number of buyers looking to purchase. This offers a great advantage to home sellers as this can drive housing prices up, and most house are sold with multiple offers. Buyers will be quick to move on a property that they are interested in, and will work to present the most appealing offer possible in an effort to secure the property. This can be a game-changer for almost any real estate market.
Here is where you come in as a home stager – in a seller’s market, homebuyers are often purchasing at the top of their purchasing power. This means that most buyers will have very little funds available, if any, to spend on any additional renovations or repairs upon purchase of the home and therefore the importance of a move-in ready home is higher than ever. Homes that are prepared properly will net the greatest return and largest quantity of offers.
Regardless of the market, most buyers have one thing in common – they do not have the time, nor the desire to perform work on a new house, and thanks to popular television shows, a buyer’s expectations of a move-in ready home have never been greater.
In a seller’s market, home staging is the ultimate marketing tool! Home Staging could mean the difference between an offer and a bidding. When selling homeowners and/or real estate agents on your services in a seller’s market, focus on where you add value:
A professionally trained home stager can help to identify hidden value in your home. Home Staging utilizes merchandising techniques to showcase the best features of the home.
The goal of home staging is to clearly define the space, show proper scale, and create an emotional connection for buyers – this results is higher quality offers and is achieved through the necessary updates and repairs, proper furnishing, arranging, accessorizing, and essentially, merchandising of the space.
A home stager can help to identify the most cost-effective updates/repairs to address to help to avoid buyer uncertainty and allow the home sellers to skip any unnecessary expenses.
Working as a part of your home-selling team, a professional home stager will provide practical and creative solutions for showcasing your home.
Emphasize to the real estate agents that you are a part of their team! The biggest pain point for a real estate agent in a seller’s market is securing listings. Homeowners know that their houses will sell, so they are choosing agents based on who provides them with the greatest value, and who can get them the most money for their home. Home staging is the best marketing tool that an agent can use – you could be the difference between an offer and a bidding war! Savvy agents will choose to present an effective home-selling team to secure their listings. In fact, there has never been a better time to invest in home staging – every homeowner is guaranteed to benefit from your expertise! You can return their support of your business by emphasizing what a great agent they are to work with to the homeowners. By working with you and offering your services, the agent will gain more listings, and in-turn, more referrals. It’s a win-win!
Have questions about becoming a Home Stager, or just starting out and need an extra boost in your business? Join our Facebook group, To Be a Home Stager – our very own Shauna Lynn Simon is live online every Thursday afternoon, answering your most pressing questions!
At RESACON Las Vegas earlier this year, I was asked to assist by providing a microphone to audience members that wanted to ask our keynote speaker, the amazing Sabrina Soto, questions. This was great exercise for me in a room of over 400 people eager to ask Sabrina their most pressing questions! I ran from table to table, and logged a bunch of steps on my new Fitbit Blaze.
Sabrina Soto, Keynote Speaker at the RESA Convention 2017 in Las Vegas, M Resort
I LOVE to mix patterns and styles, and I do this both with my designs, and my own personal style. While many have often commented that I am fashionable, I would never say that I am trendy – instead I have a tendency to wear what I want, and am frequently told by others that they could never wear what I’m wearing. That’s fine – they don’t have to :). I buy items that are on sale because no one wants them, and mix and match to make something that suits me.
Shauna Lynn Simon, SLS Academy President, at RESA Convention Las Vegas, M Resort
So when Sabrina was asked what style/trend she saw on it’s way out (I believe the precise question was “what style/trend do you wish would just die?”), she answered without hesitation – “Chevron”. Of course, I’m standing next to the person who asked the question, and I couldn’t help but look down at my skirt. Those at the tables close to us immediately saw what I saw…my chevron skirt. They began to laugh…as did the tables around them, and the next thing that I knew, the entire audience was laughing! Poor Sabrina hid behind the podium, feeling perhaps a little as though she may have answered just a little too quickly. Little did she know that I was laughing along with everyone else, and it’s safe to say that most who attended her talk will remember me long after!
After her talk, I had a number of people approach me to apologize on behalf of the crowd, and tell me how bad they felt for me. To be honest, I was stunned! I had no idea what they meant, but soon realized that they were embarrassed for me for being called out on my choice of attire. I reassured them that I was no worse for wear , and that I had had a truly awesome day – Sabrina Soto gave me a memorable moment that I will cherish for years to come, along with my chevron skirt (which still gets lots of use). I met up with Sabrina, and thanked her for her candor, and we enjoyed a good laugh. I explained to her that it would take a lot more to hurt my feelings.
Shauna Lynn Simon and Sabrina Soto
The moral? Be yourself, and most importantly, don’t forget to laugh at yourself now and again…sometimes we can be our best entertainment!
Have questions about becoming a Home Stager, or just starting out and need an extra boost in your business? Join our Facebook group, To Be a Home Stager – our very own Shauna Lynn Simon is live online every Thursday afternoon, answering your most pressing questions!
Branding:The marketing practice of creating a name, symbol or design that identifies and differentiates a product from other products. ~ Small Business Encyclopedia
Marketing: The activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. ~ American Marketing Association
In simple terms, your brand represents who you are, and marketing refers to the act of delivering your brand message. When I was first starting out, I didn’t have much of a marketing budget, so instead I focused on branding my business. By making myself, and my business, a memorable brand, I generated tons of word-of-mouth referrals! From my cute pink consultation tool belt, to my letterhead, logo on my vehicle, website, marketing materials, and adding a touch of “pink” in everything that I did and wore, I not only provided great service to my clients, but I was easily remembered. When someone drove by my house and saw my company’s sign on the lawn, they didn’t write down the phone number or website to call me right away, but when they searched for my company online, they recognized my logo and my brand.
What does this mean to you and your business? Establishing, and promoting your brand will help you to stand out. The greater your brand recognition, the better your chances of being remembered when someone is looking for you. Remember that 97% of your clients are not looking for you, but when they are ready to find you, you’ll want to be sure that your company is top of mind.
When considering how you wish to brand yourself, and your company, you’ll first need to establish what your brand stands for:
Who are you?
What is your business?
What do you stand for?
How will you create your “brand” recognition?
Does your brand have a story?
The foundation of your brand is your logo, everything else is simply a means to communicate your brand, including but not limited to:
Enlist the services of a professional to design your logo – this is your company’s first impression, and you want to ensure that it’s a clear and positive one. Your logo is not only about the graphics, but also the colours and the font that you select. Choose your colours carefully – remember that these colours will then be used in all future branding. Take into consideration the science behind the colour(s) that you choose. Next, decide whether or not your name will be a part of your logo, and consider what other elements you wish to see – it may be abstract or specific, depending on what you wish to portray.
In addition to your logo, a catchy tag line can also help to establish your brand. This would generally be printed with your logo, and essentially become your company’s mantra.
Ex: SLS Academy – Home Stager Training Redesigned for Tomorrow’s Home Stagers
Branding extends to every aspect of your business, from how you answer your phones, to what you and your team wear, your e-mail signature – everything. Be consistent, and be memorable.
Have questions about becoming a Home Stager, or just starting out and need an extra boost in your business? Join our Facebook group, To Be a Home Stager – our very own Shauna Lynn Simon is live online every Thursday afternoon, answering your most pressing questions!
