As you look for ways to boost your home staging business, it’s hard not to notice the For Sale signs in your very own neighborhood and wonder if they don’t offer a home staging marketing opportunity.
Many home stagers ask me what to do about houses that are already on the market. Should you approach the real estate agent who has the listing, or the owner of the house to promote your home staging services? And how long should you wait after you see the house go on the market?
Home stagers, I’d love to hear your advice and points of view on this home staging business dilemma. Please add your thoughts and I’ll summarize the best and add my ideas in a future post.
Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Voice of Possibility Group Inc.
Intrepid entrepreneur, Debra Gould, developed the Staging Diva Training Program to create opportunities for others to grow their own profitable home staging businesses. There are currently over 7,000 Staging Diva students across the United States, Canada, Australia and 18 other countries around the world. Debra is the author of 5 guides and is frequently profiled in the media.
Very interesting. I have a lot of problems getting past agents so I have thought about a letter and leaflet drop to homes, both for sale and not for sale, just incase they are thinking about selling. Not sure though as I don’t like leaflet drops myself!
Thanks Cath for raising this question. I’ll be sure to address it in my follow up post!.
I haven’t launched yet (Feb) but I have created a postcard specifically targeted at these homeowners titled “Why Isn’t My House Selling?”. Of course I’ve already reviewed their online listing. I write a personal message to the “Smith Family” that says “I have several specific suggestions to optimize the presentation of your home”. Calls to action of course are phone and website. Since this could be their first intro to the concept of home staging, I’m hoping their curiosity peeks and they vist my website to learn more. I have a coordinating section on home page of my website titled the same for easy navigation and education. This is a marketing campaign I will track of course…..I’m considering sending similar postcard to realtor on the specific property. Wish me luck!
Good luck Julie with this campaign and with the launch of your business in February! You’ve shared some excellent ideas here and I’m confident with the marketing orientation you’re already brought to this that your new staging business will be a great success!!! Thanks for sharing your thoughts here!
I have approached 1 real estate agent at an open house and I felt nervous because I felt like I was cornering him. Fortunately for me, it turned out well. I have never approached (in person) a home owner who’s home is for sale but I have dropped off printed material in the mail box (without any calls back!) If you approach a home owner in person, you are still dealing with a “cornering” situation. Perhaps all we need to do is make a quick introduction; provide a brief explanation of our service and leave the home owner with some concise and informative printed material. At least in this way the home owner can put a face with the printed material. In terms of when to approach, I don’t believe that we should approach the home owner as soon as we see a “for sale” sign posted. In the first few weeks that a home owner lists, they are anticipating traffic to their listing and, in some cases, are either nervous or excited about it. Once the listing has been on the market a month or more, that excitement has waned and the home owner may even be feeling a little disappointed (or desperate) depending on the their situation. I would follow up with a brief letter and a business card (again) but I don’t think I would “hound” the home owner by showing up at the door again. Just my thoughts. 🙂
Excellent thoughts Jackie, I appreciate you sharing them! You’ve touched on some great issues/considerations and I’ll incorporate these into my follow up post. Thanks for popping by and providing your insights.
Debra, Maybe the following approach could apply to the scenario… When I took your Staging Diva courses you talked about visiting open houses, getting acquainted with the agent hosting the open house, conversationally offer a small staging tidbit to show-off your knowledge, than pass along your business card. Keep the whole exchange light and conversational… No obvious sales pitch.
Julie has a great idea there.
In my area, few real estate agents understand the concept of Home Staging (scary, I know) or want to learn more. The few who do aren’t doing much in their own careers as agents and don’t have many listings.
I usually contact the seller directly. I send them informational material about Home Staging. R.E.S.A. has a statistics report they put out each year and I include that so they can see actual numbers.
For agents, I educate. Agents aren’t people we need to get past. They’re people we need to educate. I make friends with them. Enthusiasm is infectious. Once they hear and see my enthusiasm and passion for my job, they can’t help but want to learn more. They listen when I engage them in conversation.
I love your blogs, Debra. You consistently provide fresh avenues for ideas, as well as inspiration for me when I start to feel like maybe I’m fighting a losing battle.
Kathi Howland
Nicole Interiors Home Staging
Kathi, Thank you for sharing your ideas with our Staging Diva community and I really appreciate your feedback! The only way I know I’m meeting the needs of my readers is if they leave comments and/or share my content on Facebook and Twitter.