Being in the early phase of my home staging career I've had a few jobs where I've offered my services for free to family and friends. I did this, as I'm sure most stagers have done in their beginning stages, in order to build experience and try to gain momentum to start growing my business. One instance that comes to mind is a relative who is a real estate agent. He had inherited a house that was an investment property. The house was free of tenants, so he decided to fix it up (it was in pretty rough shape). The intent is to sell it to a young professional single or couple, or a young family. I went to have a look at the property because he was considering bringing in rental furniture and having it staged. I was there to give an estimate of how much it would cost to bring in rentals to stage the entire house. My time, of course, was free. In the end, I never did get the 'call back' after he said "I'll think about it and let you know." What is interesting is, he says he believes in staging but yet he decided not to stage. The reason was because the house needed so much work that money he would spend on staging could be used for improvements on the house. Yes, the improvements had to be addressed, but it was then I knew that I needed more practice on handling objections since it felt like he was not 'sold' on the benefits of staging especially when the service itself was being provided 'complimentary.' The house is currently on the market. It has been a couple weeks now and while it may be premature to say that prospects are looking grim, no offers have come yet. Something tells me the story would've taken a different turn by now had he decided to have it staged. Maybe I'll get a call back.
So here is an example of where this story fits in with the statistic of 98% of agents surveyed believed it was necessary to hire a stager but only 20% actually did (Maritz Research). The reason being is that they do not know how to communicate the message to the seller. In this particular case it is the agent who is the seller, and I needed to communicate the message.
So in order to become better at what we do, we must learn from our experiences. What should I have communicated to him? It is what I need to remember to communicate to every client... Really, staging is about embarking on a task with a purpose in mind-- the purpose being a fast sale with a high return. Given the resources you have to work with, what are the chances that it will get the results you are wanting to obtain? If there are limits to your resources, are there other resources you can tap into in order to increase your chances to get the results or even above average results? And how important is it for you to get those results?
The statistics are there and the facts show that staging does work... it really is up to you and what your goals are. So, before you list your house, ask yourself, are you "putting your best foot forward" in order to achieve the outcome you desire?
Imelda Smith,
Home Staging Design Consultant
visit my website at www.imeldasmithhomestaging.com
