Your home staging portfolio is a critical part of marketing your services as a home stager.
Most clients are fine with the idea of you taking photos after you’ve staged their home. However, when you want to shoot the before staging images they often say something like, “Oh no, it’s too messy. I don’t want my home to be seen this way.”
That’s a problem for any home stager, because the strength of our home staging portfolio lies in capturing a dramatic before and after transformation and you can’t do that without both halves of the pair.
How do you build your home staging portfolio in this situation?
One of the things I always tell my home staging clients is, “I won’t use any of these pictures until your house is sold and no longer on the market. It won’t even be your house anymore.” That’s an important distinction for them.
I don’t use my home staging portfolio photos of a given property until after the house is sold.
We don’t want a potential buyer to see our photos and think, “That’s what it really looks like?” It ruins the magic of all the home staging work you’ve done. That’s the same reason I tell my clients all the home staging should remain in place until after any home inspections or other conditions have been removed.
I always tell my home staging clients, “It’s won’t even be your house by the time I use these pictures. Don’t worry, you’ll be in your new home by then.” This eliminates their fear that someone is going to say, “Oh my God! That’s how they live?”
Have you ever had someone who thought their home was too messy for your before photos? How did you handle it? Please share your experiences in the comment section.
Debra Gould is the author of several guides, including the Staging Diva Ultimate Portfolio Guide: Winning Clients with the Perfect Home Staging Portfolio. A leading authority on making money in home staging, she created the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program with students in 22 countries.
Yes, I had this happen just once last summer with a consultation client, and her home wasn’t even nearly as bad as others I’ve seen! She promised to take some photos herself after she cleaned up a bit but she never did. I was disappointed because even though it was a DIY staging based on my advice, she did make it look much better, and the photos would have been useful to show other clients how even an inexpensive consult can help a lot! I never thought of what you suggest here, and I never have waited until after the house has sold to post pics — good points!
Thanks for sharing Amy. I sometimes visit the house during an open house so I can get my after shots.
Another great idea, Debra! But you really do need the before shots to go with those after shots, don’t you?!
1. When i was starting out, just to have a portfolio, I would say, “I’m studying home staging/ need to add to my portfolio and I need to have before and after photos. You get your home staging/ redesigning for free.” Some will do it because they like helping people; some will do it because they’re cheapskates at heart—either way, you get it done, and their place is neater and look better, right? LOL!
2, “May I take photos? You get a discount on your next design consult if the client calls you for reference.” This way, you also get potential repeat business, and you can always verify if a potential lead does call: you can recognize the potential client’s name.
3. For reluctant clients: promise to use the photos only in your private portfolio that you lug around on client calls (not on your web site or brochure) and don’t identify who they are at all. I’ve gone as far as dropping by just to prove what I mean. Most potential clients don’t even care whose houses those are—they are more impressed with the dramatic transformations they actually see. Just please don’t fake it. Be honest and use your own real work….which reminds me, I need to add to my web site!
I hope this helps someone out there.
That’s a really good point. Never even thought of it that way. Thank you for that.
The cat lady, I mean small house, 1 cat, 5 cat gyms, anxiously made me promise, in writing, I wouldn’t display before photos. Shame. They were doosies!
Great story Patricia, thanks for sharing!