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Home Staging Business and Marketing Strategies to Sell Properties
Riches in Niches
As more and more Home Stagers, Professional Organizers, Interior Designers and Real Estate Agents come to APSD for Home Staging Training and Certification, I realize the importance of teaching the concept of “Riches in Niches.”
Some of you already understand this idea and have specialized in one area or another, and others are still trying to be everything to everyone. I started with the idea that I could please everyone too. And I did, and then I was tired and broke. You have to face facts. As women (I know we have some GREAT guys too, but you don’t have the “pleaser” instinct of women!) we already have to please so many other people each day. We please our spouse, our children, our neighbors, our boss – basically anyone that walks in our path.
As I decided to make the real choice and lead the home staging industry, I realized that I could no longer be everything to everyone. I had to be extraordinary with my strengths and visions and help those that were willing and able to receive and exceed with my brand of training. I knew that I wanted to focus on the true business growth aspect of Home Staging Training and Certification. I didn’t want to teach people to put candles on a table. I wanted to teach systems, marketing and business development in an industry I loved. I wanted to teach creativity, lifestyle and money making techniques.
So, I niched myself and APSD as The Global Leader in Home Staging Training and Certification with a specific focus on exactly what I mentioned above.
And because I see the need of “niching” or creating a specialty, I teach 19 different streams of income to our highest level APSD member, Property Scene Designer. I want them to have the , education, resources and ability to niche. The same is true with my APSD Stager Pro’s. I teach 4 different streams of income in that course so they can become experts in certain areas and stand above any other Home Stagers in their market. Kim Holdbrook, one of my Certified APSD Stager Pro’s is awesome at Curb Appeal. She should make it an area of expertise. Mannie Tantawy perfects Origami displays and is already standing out as an expert in this area. Terri Garner is an expert with Home Staging for investment properties as is Cindy Captein. There are many more certified APSD Home Staging Professionals that have also seen the benefit of “niching” their home staging services, and have done so.
It does not mean that you can’t provide an entire menu of services but if you can become known for one specific thing, you will always be the “go to expert” which then opens the door for additional opportunity.
Here Is how you develop your niche:
1) Decide what aspect of Home Staging you Love the most. Do you love doing vacant homes? Maybe working with investors is your niche. What about high end properties? You might specialize in homes over $1 million. You could also focus just on certain type of Home Staging service, like Curb Appeal or Marketing.
2) Once you have decided what you love to do, become the expert. Take the training you need to get to the top of the pack. Practice, practice, practice. Next, you have to toot your own horn. Go out and start telling everyone who will listen, that you are the expert. Then own it internally and do an extraordinary job every single time.
3) Continue to Educate yourself. You can take a course, listen to CD’s, become a member of a great organization like APSD that offers continuing education, look at others work, attend Home Staging events, etc. The biggest mistake that most so-called experts make is they stop learning and growing. Then, others that are willing to receive education surpass them.
4) Market Yourself and your work endlessly. The more you talk about your specialty, the more others will as well. So, don’t be afraid to brag a little about your results and your extraordinary achievements. Before you know it, others will be doing it for you.
An easy way to begin to develop your “niche” status is to listen to the APSD Complimentary call I recently did on Curb Appeal. “Curb Appeal, Creating Impact and Profit in your Home Staging, Design and Real Estate Business.” You also still have time to take advantage of a very special offer I made at the end of the call! http://www/apsdmembers.com/curbappeal
To your joy and success,
Karen Schaefer
Founder, APSD
The Global Leader in Home Staging Training and Certification
Top 10 Reasons Home Staging is a Great Home Based Business
If you have a flair for decorating and an interest in real estate, Home Staging could be the right career for you. This service business, also called House Fluffing, Real Estate Staging or Home Styling, is based on the art of decorating a home to sell quickly and for top dollar.
Home Staging is a great service business to run from a home office for these 10 reasons:
1.Home Staging is a low cost business to start.
You can work from your own home office. You don’t need a store front or inventory. You also don’t need expensive advertising to grow your home staging business successfully.
2.There is no need to invest in inventory or recruit others into the business. Home Staging is not a multi-level marketing scheme.
If you’ve researched the subject of home-based business, you’ve probably encountered lots of schemes that want you to buy inventory and recruit others into the business too.
These are multi-level marketing businesses. Home Staging is not a multi-level marketing business. You don’t have to buy anything and you don’t have to recruit anyone else to join the business. This is something you can do on your own without any recruiting pressures. You aren’t expected to pester every friend and casual acquaintance you’ve ever had to invest in your -unique opportunity.-
3.Home Staging has been recognized as one of the best growth businesses.
Entrepreneur Magazine identified home staging as one of the hottest growth businesses, and the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program is the ONLY home staging business opportunity recognized by the magazine for the last three years in their business start up guide books.
As your own boss, you are in control of how fast you want to grow your home staging business. There are no outside income pressures because this is not a multi-level marketing scheme.
4.The financial rewards are there if you work hard to build your Home Staging business.
Home Stagers create real wealth for their clients by effectively decorating their homes to sell quickly and for top dollar. Once clients realize the significant return they can make on their investment in home staging services, they don’t feel it’s unreasonable to spend several hundred dollars for even two hours of a stager’s time. In other words, working only half a day, you can make what many people take a whole week to earn. If you have five clients in a single week, you can earn more than you did in an entire month of working full time.
And with real estate markets slowing in many parts of the US, the demand for (and interest in) home staging services will continue to grow as desperate home sellers look for an alternative to the costly price reductions their agents recommend.
Home staging businesses can also thrive in a hot real estate market as savvy home sellers realize the greater profits they can make when they have 10 or 15 buyers bidding on their homes, instead of the two or three they might have had before staging.
5.You can still have time for your family or other demands while running a Home Staging or Real Estate Staging business.
You control when you meet clients. If you only want to work during the day when your children are at school you can arrange it that way. -I have an opening for you on Wednesday morning at 9:00 AM works well!”
Or, if you want to start this business on the side while you already have a full time job, then you can meet your clients on evenings and weekends. Many of them will really appreciate it as they work themselves.
6.As a Home Stager, you will have daily opportunities to be creative and meet interesting people.
Home Staging projects very much depend on the creative solutions you develop for your clients, and each one is unique. You get to see the end result very quickly and meet lots of different people as you deal with real estate agents and homeowners.
7.You will enjoy variety and a sense of adventure in a Home Staging business.
Home Staging projects are very short term in nature, lasting days or a couple of weeks. Each house is different and you’ll be visiting streets and neighborhoods you didn’t know existed as you build your home staging client base.
8.You decide who you want to work with and what kind of Home Staging projects you want to take on.
Since a Home Staging project is short term in nature, if you find yourself with a -client from hell,- you know they won’t be in your life very long. If you find there are certain real estate agents that don’t share your approach to business, or treat you with less respect than you deserve, don’t work with them again! There are thousands of real estate agents to choose from in most markets. Did you know that in California alone there are 200,000 agents? Clearly not all of them are equally good or equally pleasant to be around!
9.Since you visit clients in their homes, you do not need to worry about what your own home looks like to run a successful home based business in Home Staging.
Nobody needs to know where your home office is and they certainly don’t need to visit your home. So, don’t worry if your house isn’t a reflection of what you want to present to Home Staging clients. The most important thing is to always present yourself in a professional manner.
10.Home Staging does not require specialized training or official credentials because there are none for the Home Staging industry.
Despite what some organizations claim for their own marketing reasons, there are no official credentials to be a Home Stager. You can call yourself a Professional Home Stager today and no one can say anything about it.
Of course calling yourself a Home Stager doesn’t mean you’ll automatically know how to price your services, build your business and get clients. These are important skills to acquire if you want to be financially successful. The relevant point here is that you don’t have to undergo years or even months of training to get into this business.
In fact, the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program will teach you how to grow a profitable and creatively satisfying business in only 10 hours. But you need to already have a basic talent for how to arrange furniture in a room because this is not a hands-on decorating course. Visit http://www.stagingdiva.com for more info. ________________________________________
Entrepreneur and Home Staging expert Debra Gould, The Staging Diva, knows how to make money as a home stager. Discover her secrets to business success in the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program. Free quiz to see if a home staging business is right for you at http://www.stagingdiva.com