Stage Yourself to Sell: Image is Everything
Stage Yourself to Sell: Image is Everything
Everyone starts somewhere, but nobody has to know youre brand new at staging homes professionally. In fact, its a bad idea to tell a homeowner theyre your first home staging project. Dont lie about it if youre asked, but your demeanor, wardrobe, marketing materials and portfolio shouldnt leave any room for the homeowner to guess you havent been doing this for years. This is the perfect time of year to work on this - in the summer before the real
estate market really picks up. Dedicate some of your downtime to polishing your image for the months when real estate agents will be hunting for home stagers!
In everything you do thats business-related ask yourself if its something a successful home stager would be doing. Pick a couple of the home stagers you look up to and keep an image of them in your mind. When youre getting ready for a home staging consultation and wondering what to wear, visualize your model home stager and ask yourself what she or he might wear to a client meeting.
What do you wear to your home staging consultation appointments? Are you dressing like that successful home stager in your mind? Or are you wearing an old suit that went out of style five years ago? The way you look can not only change the way you feel about yourself, but it can change the way people perceive you. Especially since looking put-together makes you feel more confident in what youre doing.
Its important to carry yourself well dont act like your life depends on your next home staging project. Even if you are desperate dont let that come across to your client. Do you think someone who has been staging homes for years giggles with excitement when they get awarded a job? Probably not in front of the client!
Consider your current personal image. What are you wearing right now? Is the image youre putting out there in the world that of a wildly successful home stager? Even if its a day that you have no appointments and youre at home you shouldnt be walking around in pajamas. If you dress the part of that successful home stager youll find it easier to remain in professional mode and youll almost certainly be more productive.
What about your business image?
What would happen if a client called you right now? If you answer, would they hear screaming kids in the background? Worse, does one of your children answer? If you have children at home, either let your calls to go voicemail or hire a sitter! If youve started a home staging business to have more time at home with your children, thats fine. But you should consider investing in childcare for blocks of time throughout the week so you have a few windows of time where you are able to focus on your clients and your business. Its difficult to grow a business when you have small children and no childcare.
When your clients do get your voicemail, what sort of greeting do you have? Is it a hokey family sing-along-song or a professional message detailing your alternate contact information? You must inspire confidence in those potential clients that call you, and if theyre turned off from your phone image, you wont hear from them again. In course 2 of the Staging Diva Training Program, The Business of Home Staging: What you need to start and how to grow, there is a very specific script for a professional outgoing voice mail message that will let callers know theyve reached a legitimate business.
How about your marketing materials? Do they present a professional image of yourself and your business? Do you have nice heavy business cards or some homemade perforated-edged business cards with faded ink? Your marketing materials represent your business when youre not in front of your prospective clients. Look at your materials objectively. Do they look like something that would be produced by a mega-successful home stager? Or is it obvious theyre a do-it-yourself job? If you cant afford the $75 it costs to get a years supply of cards printed, you should reconsider being in business for yourself.
Your website is also a very important piece of your marketing kit. You must have one. Staging Diva Graduates have the option to put up a profile page on the Staging Diva Directory of Home Stagers which is the next best thing to a website and its much less expensive to set up and maintain. Some stagers get so much business from their profile page on the directory they never get around to building their own site. In any case, a potential client is going to want a link to where they can look at some before and after photos of projects youve done and learn more about you. Invest in this. Your first home staging project should cover the costs, and if youre not online youre not going to be found very easily.
When you communicate with clients via email, you really shouldnt use a hotmail or yahoo account. Gmail seems to be more acceptable than the others, but its still not as good as yourname@yourdomainname.com. Even if your website isnt ready yet, when you purchase your domain name you can still set up an email account. When you send an email, make sure you write a descriptive subject line and have set up a proper signature line. Your signature should include your name, business name, email address, phone number and link to your portfolio. Make it easy for people to find out more they dont really want to call you. In the event that your email is forwarded to someone else, you really want them to have all your contact details.
Your home staging portfolio should be professional, polished, and impressive. Even if youre new to this, you should have lots of photos from staging your own and your family and friends homes. DO NOT use stock photography. This is cheating and its just not a good idea. Some new stagers think this is a good way to fluff up a portfolio, but its tacky and it falls under the deceptive advertising category. All of your credibility can be lost if (or when) you get caught passing someone elses work off as your own.
So when you consider all of these items, are you staged to sell? Would you hire yourself based on the image youre projecting?
Stage Yourself to Sell Image is Everything - To learn more about this author, visit Staging Diva's Website.
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When youre in the business of turning drab and cluttered interiors into beautifully polished spaces, its important you look the part of someone that can successfully do that. In other words, when youre staging homes to sell, you should stage yourself to sell. One of the easiest ways to catapult your business to success is to act as though you are already successful. Do you play the part of a very successful home stager? Id like you to keep this in mind as you read through this article are you portraying the image of a professional expert home stager, or a rookie?
Everyone starts somewhere, but nobody has to know youre brand new at staging homes professionally. In fact, its a bad idea to tell a homeowner theyre your first home staging project. Dont lie about it if youre asked, but your demeanor, wardrobe, marketing materials and portfolio shouldnt leave any room for the homeowner to guess you havent been doing this for years. This is the perfect time of year to work on this - in the summer before the real
estate market really picks up. Dedicate some of your downtime to polishing your image for the months when real estate agents will be hunting for home stagers!
In everything you do thats business-related ask yourself if its something a successful home stager would be doing. Pick a couple of the home stagers you look up to and keep an image of them in your mind. When youre getting ready for a home staging consultation and wondering what to wear, visualize your model home stager and ask yourself what she or he might wear to a client meeting.
What do you wear to your home staging consultation appointments? Are you dressing like that successful home stager in your mind? Or are you wearing an old suit that went out of style five years ago? The way you look can not only change the way you feel about yourself, but it can change the way people perceive you. Especially since looking put-together makes you feel more confident in what youre doing.
Its important to carry yourself well dont act like your life depends on your next home staging project. Even if you are desperate dont let that come across to your client. Do you think someone who has been staging homes for years giggles with excitement when they get awarded a job? Probably not in front of the client!
Consider your current personal image. What are you wearing right now? Is the image youre putting out there in the world that of a wildly successful home stager? Even if its a day that you have no appointments and youre at home you shouldnt be walking around in pajamas. If you dress the part of that successful home stager youll find it easier to remain in professional mode and youll almost certainly be more productive.
What about your business image?
What would happen if a client called you right now? If you answer, would they hear screaming kids in the background? Worse, does one of your children answer? If you have children at home, either let your calls to go voicemail or hire a sitter! If youve started a home staging business to have more time at home with your children, thats fine. But you should consider investing in childcare for blocks of time throughout the week so you have a few windows of time where you are able to focus on your clients and your business. Its difficult to grow a business when you have small children and no childcare.
When your clients do get your voicemail, what sort of greeting do you have? Is it a hokey family sing-along-song or a professional message detailing your alternate contact information? You must inspire confidence in those potential clients that call you, and if theyre turned off from your phone image, you wont hear from them again. In course 2 of the Staging Diva Training Program, The Business of Home Staging: What you need to start and how to grow, there is a very specific script for a professional outgoing voice mail message that will let callers know theyve reached a legitimate business.
How about your marketing materials? Do they present a professional image of yourself and your business? Do you have nice heavy business cards or some homemade perforated-edged business cards with faded ink? Your marketing materials represent your business when youre not in front of your prospective clients. Look at your materials objectively. Do they look like something that would be produced by a mega-successful home stager? Or is it obvious theyre a do-it-yourself job? If you cant afford the $75 it costs to get a years supply of cards printed, you should reconsider being in business for yourself.
Your website is also a very important piece of your marketing kit. You must have one. Staging Diva Graduates have the option to put up a profile page on the Staging Diva Directory of Home Stagers which is the next best thing to a website and its much less expensive to set up and maintain. Some stagers get so much business from their profile page on the directory they never get around to building their own site. In any case, a potential client is going to want a link to where they can look at some before and after photos of projects youve done and learn more about you. Invest in this. Your first home staging project should cover the costs, and if youre not online youre not going to be found very easily.
When you communicate with clients via email, you really shouldnt use a hotmail or yahoo account. Gmail seems to be more acceptable than the others, but its still not as good as yourname@yourdomainname.com. Even if your website isnt ready yet, when you purchase your domain name you can still set up an email account. When you send an email, make sure you write a descriptive subject line and have set up a proper signature line. Your signature should include your name, business name, email address, phone number and link to your portfolio. Make it easy for people to find out more they dont really want to call you. In the event that your email is forwarded to someone else, you really want them to have all your contact details.
Your home staging portfolio should be professional, polished, and impressive. Even if youre new to this, you should have lots of photos from staging your own and your family and friends homes. DO NOT use stock photography. This is cheating and its just not a good idea. Some new stagers think this is a good way to fluff up a portfolio, but its tacky and it falls under the deceptive advertising category. All of your credibility can be lost if (or when) you get caught passing someone elses work off as your own.
So when you consider all of these items, are you staged to sell? Would you hire yourself based on the image youre projecting?
Stage Yourself to Sell Image is Everything - To learn more about this author, visit Staging Diva's Website.
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