Realtors, FSBO listing and staging: You scratch my back and your own too!

I recently listened to a conversation between two of my homestaging colleages regarding how they were both planning on listing their homes on FSBO sites.  When I explained that as a professional homestager I felt that it was wrong not to promote realtors by using them on our own homes, they let me have it with a barrage of reasons why they felt justified in their thinking.  "Why would I just give away thousands of dollars to a realtor if I could do it myself?"  "How many of the realtors have given US business?"  "This is a personal decision not a business one."  "I know many realtors.  How can I be expected to choose without making someone unhappy with me. What's the difference?"  "I'm sure there are realtors who would stage their own homes."

I proceeded to argue that not using a realtor to sell our own homes would do a number of things that could damage our businesses.  If realtors felt we were not promoting them what reason would they have to use and promote us?  If word got out in the realty community that as stagers we did not believe in using realtors to sell our own homes but wanted realtors to do business with us we would be seen as hypocrites and would have black marks against our businesses.  How could we expect loyalty from any realtor if we did not show any?

They both seemed to remain firm on their stance and the topic moved to something different.  Am I off base here in thinking that realtors care that much about what we do with our own homes?  I know that my gut is telling me such an act would be a form of business suicide, not to mention disrespectful of the very profession we are trying to make our living off of!