The Business of Home Staging

Want to follow a professional home stager around for a day?

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva (Six Elements Inc.) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 10:35:38 -0600

I get approximately five calls a week from people interested in following me around for a day (or more) to see how I work as a home stager. Sadly most of these job shadowing requests are from aspiring stagers who spent a lot of money with a certain company that they believed promised them a guaranteed home staging job.

There are many reasons I’m not interested in having someone shadow me. First of all, I would have to screen them beforehand because that person would be a direct reflection on me. We would have have to meet ahead of time and then try to coordinate times to meet a the consultation and staging day and I’m not getting anything out of this arrangement. Also, the fact that someone in my market wants my help in entering my market isn’t very attractive.

I’m sure if you’re looking to shadow someone, there’s no malicious intent there, you’re probably thinking it would be a lot less scary if you could follow someone around and see what there is to it. But the thing is, what you do when you get to a client’s house is the easiest part of operating a home staging business. What you do there has everything to do with the natural talent you possess. The difficult part of running a successful home staging business is figuring out how to get those clients and how to get paid for your time. Nobody you shadow is going to teach you those things. That’s why I created the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program, to teach the nuts and bolts of starting a home staging business. It’s valuable information and nobody is going to give it away.

Remember, if you’re considering starting a home staging business, you must already have the talent. Since I’m betting nobody is going to want you to job shadow them, a better way to gain confidence that you will be able to do this is to go around to open houses on the weekends. You don’t have to say anything when you’re there, you don’t even necessarily need to introduce yourself. Just walk through and pretend you’re in a client’s house for a home staging consultation. Imagine what you would be recommending for different rooms.

The more houses you go into, the more comfortable you’ll become. Go around to other cities to get a feel for real estate prices and different types of properties. Every house you go into, you’ll learn something new. You’ll encounter all kinds of “don’ts” that you can figure out how to correct. You will never encounter a house that is completely perfect and that will help you learn that there’s always something to be done.

If you’re feeling very nervous about your first home staging consultation, consider ordering Course 3 of the Staging Diva Program. It’s the one where you learn how to conduct yourself at consultations including what to wear and what to bring. It takes the mystery out of home staging consultations.

Home stagers, did you spend time touring open houses before you started your home staging business? Did you use it as a tool to ease your anxiety? Did you spend time shadowing other stagers or do you allow others to shadow you on the job? Please share your experiences by leaving a comment below.

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Debra Gould knows how to make money as a home stager and she developed the Staging Diva Home Staging Training Program to teach others how to earn a living doing something they love. In course 3 of the Staging Diva Program, Debra teaches her students everything they need to know to conduct a home staging consultation. There are over 4000 Staging Diva students around the world.

Home Stagers, do you accept credit cards?

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva (Six Elements Inc.) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:04:33 -0600

I'm often asked by home staging professionals whether they should just accept checks, cash or take credit cards too. The ability to accept credit card payments is appealing to home stagers, especially since the amounts you’re getting paid are usually quite high (assuming you're not one of those bargain basement stagers who fly in and out of this business within 3 to 6 months).

Setting up a merchant account, however, is very expensive. Not only do you have to pay a large sum to the bank just to apply for and then set up the account, you also have to pay a certain amount each month regardless of whether or not you have any transactions. In addition to paying these fixed fees when you do make a sale, they usually get to keep about 5% of it.

I don’t recommend you get your own merchant account, but I do suggest you set up a PayPal account for your business that will allow you to take credit card payments.

PayPal is essentially an online bank that allows you to accept and send payments and transfer funds to your regular business bank account. There are no fees to set it up and there are no monthly costs. If you have a client who also has a PayPal account, they can send money from their own account or they have the option to use their credit card instead. This is an easy and less costly solution then having your own merchant account.

Even if your client doesn’t have their own PayPal account, they can still pay you using a credit card through PayPal.

By the way, it doesn’t matter where you live since you can choose the currency you want to use when you set up your account. But beware of switching your PayPal balance between different currencies. Their rates are awful! This is not an issue if you’re doing all your business in one country.

Of course, PayPal will keep a percentage of your sales, but it’s roughly what you’d be paying for your own merchant account through the bank to accept credit card payments. In some cases PayPal takes an even smaller percentage of sales than your bank would with a normal merchant account. But because there are no set up or monthly fees to worry about, I feel it’s less costly to go this route.

Cash is king and if you can get your clients to pay by cash or check you get to keep all your sales rather than giving a percentage over to a bank or PayPal. So that’s always the best route in my opinion.

Home stagers, what has your experience been with using PayPal to accept payments? Or have you been using one of those costly merchant accounts to accept credit card payments? Please share your experiences by leaving a comment below.

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Through the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program, Debra Gould has taught more than 4000 people around the world how to make money as home stagers.

Home Stagers: Quick way to attract more clients

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva (Six Elements Inc.) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:00:32 -0500

In tough economic times, it's easy to jump to the conclusion that you should lower your price to attract clients and that you should be promoting how cheap your home staging services are. If you find yourself heading down that road, please stop! It's a dead end and it will put you out of business.

Here's the thing, if you promote your services as being cheap, you’ll attract penny-pinching clients who don’t value what you have to offer.

People who only care about price will argue every step of the way about any recommendation you might make that might cost extra. You’ll get the people who haven’t spent money maintaining their homes over the years and will balk at repainting over their 1965 decor. You’ll get people who say, “why should I replace that rusted out mailbox or the cracked front window, the new owners can worry about it.”

If you’ve gone into the home staging business because you’re a creative person, I can tell you that sort of client will completely stifle your creativity and suck all the joy out of giving advice and envisioning the potential of a property. You’ll also have to worry more about bounced checks and chasing your money.

Marketing is more than telling people what you charge for your services. You have to position yourself, properly explain the benefits of your services in a way that is meaningful to the potential customer, learn how to convey the right image and relate to people in a way that makes them want to work with you. You really should have a prospect sold on you long before you start talking price. They should want you bad enough that your rate is not an issue.

Of course price enters into a buying decision, but the point is you want it to be far down the list after other considerations, not your client’s number one concern.

Home stagers, do you have a good example about how marketing based on low rates can lead to nightmare clients? Please share by leaving a comment below!

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc.

Home Staging Debra Gould knows how to make money as a home stager and she developed the Staging Diva Home Staging Training Program to teach others how to earn a living doing something they love. In course 2 of the Staging Diva Program, Debra teaches her students how to have an effective pricing strategy and build credibility with potential clients. There are over 4000 Staging Diva students around the world.

Slow market a great opportunity for those with the right mindset

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva (Six Elements Inc.) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 14:09:18 -0500

Who was it that said, when others are excited that's the time to sell and when everyone else is scared, that's the time to buy? Warren Buffet? It might have been said about the stock market, but it totally applies to making money in real estate in my opinion. I'm not a real estate agent, but I have bought 8 homes in both slow and hot real estate markets.

If I hadn't bought my dream home on Mother's Day two years ago, I'd be selling and trading up right now. This is a great market to buy in if you're ready to trade up to a better property or you're a first time buyer. If I was a real estate agent, I'd really be pushing this idea hard. Let's do the math:

If you currently own a $300,000 home, when the market goes up 10%, you'll be ahead $30,000.

If you currently own a $500,000 home, when the market goes up 10%, you'll be ahead $50,000.

In other words, if you're sitting in a $300,000 house right now, and you can afford the increased mortgage payments of owning a $500,000 home (which may not be hard at current historically low interest rates), when the market does rebound, you'd be ahead $20,000 if the market only goes up 10% (and it will likely go up way more than that). That $20,000 would offset the costs of moving and you would be living in a way nicer house.

This assumes you've been living within your means up until now of course. If you haven't, consider how much less power you have because of it and resolve to dig yourself out of debt. But that's a subject for a whole other post!

For first time buyers, housing prices are finally within the realm of affordable and interest rates are ridiculously low, so it's no surprise that first time buyers represent over 40% of the market right now. As a home stager, that's great news, because this is the crowd that would be most influenced by home staging.

Looking at attractively decorated and well-maintained properties is way less scary for a first time buyer.

I'm reminded of this every time I go to the gym and my trainer tells me about all the house showings he's been on. Like 90% of people, he can't see past cracked walls, ugly carpet, burned out light bulbs, overcrowded furniture and clutter. To him a house is exactly what it looks like, no imagination required. One of these days he's going to walk into a house that's staged for a young guy looking to put down some roots.

As soon as that happens, he'll stop throwing over $1000/month down the drain in rent and sign on the dotted line.

With over 5.2 million houses projected to sell in the US in 2009, there's a huge need for quality home staging. If you're a home stager, I recommend looking at how you can use the current market conditions to your advantage rather than letting them discourage you. For more information on how the current economy and slow housing market will affect the home staging industry, check out this free report.

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

A compulsive home buyer, Debra Gould took her passions for real estate and decorating and turned it into an internationally recognized home staging company featured on CNNMoney, MoneySense, HGTV, The Wall Street Journal and more. Since 2005, she's been teaching others how to become successful home stagers in the Staging Diva Training Program. There are currently over 1000 Staging Diva Graduates on 5 continents. Debra encourages anyone concerned about starting or growing a home staging business in today’s economy to download her free special report: “Ask Staging Diva: Can I grow a home staging business in a depressed economy?”

Staging Diva Helps Radio Listeners Understand Home Staging in Slow Real Estate Market

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva (Six Elements Inc.) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:32:48 -0500

There's nothing like being interviewed by a reporter who is stuck with his own non-selling house to make for an information-filled discussion about home staging. We covered practical ideas to help home sellers and real estate agents understand what home staging is and why it's important to help sell a home quickly. Many of my home staging tips could be used by home sellers on their own.

Here's what we covered during this radio morning show:

what home staging is
why home staging works (logic versus emotion when house hunting)
why "less is more" in home staging
curb appeal - how to get it and why it’s critical when selling a home
garages
whether it is important to stage all rooms in a home
do home stagers disguise defects?
importance of color when decorating a house to sell
low cost kitchen makeover ideas
tips on what homeowners can do on their own to decorate their homes to sell

You can listen here or download this 22 minute radio interview here:

Your feedback and additional ideas are always appreciated!

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Home Staging expert Debra Gould also known as The Staging Diva is president of Six Elements Inc., an internationally recognized home staging company that is frequently profiled in the media in both the US and Canada. Debra developed the Staging Diva Home Staging Training Program to teach others how to succeed in their home staging, real estate staging businesses. She is the author of several guides and is the founder of the Directory of Home Stagers which helps homeowners and real estate agents locate home stagers to decorate homes to sell quickly and for more money.

Agents and Home Sellers: How do you decide which home stager to hire?

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva (Six Elements Inc.) — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 14:41:51 -0500

Since home staging is a completely unregulated field without official qualifications, it's difficult to know who to hire and whether they are "qualified." This difficulty is compounded by the fact that it is possible for home stagers to acquire a ready-made home staging portfolio to present as their own work, since some training programs offer this.

When reviewing a home staging portfolio, ask questions about the photos to satisfy yourself that these are the stager's own work.

If the stager can't tell you anything about the home or client, why they made the changes they did, or where the house was, these are warning signs that you're looking at a fake portfolio. If it turns out the photos are from the stager's own home, that is fine as long as the before and after shots demonstrate their ability to decorate a house to sell.

There should be an obvious transformation between the before and after photos in a portfolio. If all the stager has done is turn on the lights and clean off the kitchen counters, this does not communicate an ability to actually stage a home.

Conduct a telephone interview with any Home Stager before deciding to hire them.

Here are some things you should be listening for during the interview:

Do I feel comfortable speaking with this person?

Does the stager seem to understand my needs? A good stager will listen well and respond appropriately. If there are obvious difficulties in both of you understanding each other, this will only get worse once you are actually working together.

Does the Home Stager sound confident and interested in my project? If the stager is obviously insecure or sounds distracted or bored, do not expect this to improve once you are a paying client.

Does the Home Stager come well-recommended or does the staging portfolio suggest that he or she knows what to do?

Does the stager speak confidently and knowledgeably about real estate? Home staging is about decorating a house to sell on the real estate market, if they know nothing about real estate this is a problem.

Is the stager clear when explaining how he or she works and what the fees are? If the stager is unable to explain this clearly this suggest a lack of experience and confidence.

Do the fees make sense and suggest someone who is astute about money and your potential return on an investment in staging? If the rates are too cheap or worse, if they work for free, don't expect much value. Also do not be lured in by promises of a certain selling price for your home. This is not the stager's proper role.

Is the Home Stager available when I need them?

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Internationally recognized home staging expert Debra Gould, is the author of Staging Diva® Ultimate Portfolio Guide: Winning Clients With The Perfect Home Staging Portfolio and creator of the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program. She has staged millions of dollars worth of real estate, including seven of her own homes. She is president of home staging firm Six Elements Inc. and has trained over 1000 home stagers to start and grow their own businesses. Debra offers a Directory of Home Stagers to help homeowners and real estate agents locate home stagers who will decorate homes to sell quickly and for more money.

A short cut to pay day for real estate agents?

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva (Six Elements Inc.) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 15:11:32 -0500

I can't imagine spending weeks on end driving clients around to see one disappointing property after another. One peak inside and you know you probably wouldn't buy any of these houses either! Yet there you are flicking on the lights and stepping over the clutter, hoping against hope that someone will actually make a decision and you'll actually see a payday in a few months.

I can't imagine spending money on desk fees, fliers and advertising month after month, no closer to unloading those listings despite the price reductions. Knowing these are dead listings, yet having to put on a cheery and optimistic voice for your clients who keep asking why their home hasn't sold already.

I can't imagine what it's like to try and ignore the reality that there are about 1.4 million real estate agents in North America. if we assume that the top 20% are doing about 80% of the business, that's a lot of "employed" but "broke" people!

Home buyers are in control in this real estate market and they feel no urgency to buy, unless you give them a compelling product!

Agents, wouldn't you like to stop showing and listing disappointing product? Wouldn't you like to show something that people can walk into and say "wow"? Aside from being less depressing and more inspiring, can you see how showing well staged homes would also be a short cut to your pay day as an agent?

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Internationally recognized home staging expert Debra Gould, creator of the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program, has staged millions of dollars worth of real estate, including seven of her own homes. She is president of home staging firm Six Elements Inc. and has trained over 1000 home stagers to start and grow their own businesses. Debra is the author of three home staging guides and offers a Directory of Home Stagers to help homeowners and real estate agents locate home stagers who will decorate homes to sell quickly and for top dollar.

Home staging doesn't work

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva (Six Elements Inc.) — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 18:22:16 -0500

"Home staging doesn't work," says the group of real estate agents sitting before the home stager trying to talk about her business.

It's amazing to me how many agents are still resistant to having their clients' homes decorated to sell. I challenge anyone to spend 4 minutes watching this video and then tell me that it wouldn't be easier to sell the staged property than how the home looked before. Which version of this property would you rather show on your own website when promoting your services?

Some facts to note before watching:

this Westport Connecticut house has sat on the market for 6 months with no offers
staging took place over a single day, using what the homeowner already had (plus two lamps and fresh flowers)

Watch CBS Videos Online

If you're an agent with a listing you've been carrying for months on end, isn't it time you explored another strategy besides just dropping the asking price? What is carrying this listing costing you?

I would really welcome any agents resistant to staging to post their objections to the practice here. That way we can get them out in the open and deal with them.

Thanks!

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Stagers: Working For Free Doesn't Belong on Your Menu of Services

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva (Six Elements Inc.) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 19:09:07 -0500

I'm committed to ending this practice of free home staging because it lowers the perceived value of a stager's expertise and does a disservice to all of us.

My students don't stage homes for free "just to get their business started," they get paid for their time and expertise because they are providing a valuable service and should be compensated for it.

I know many new home stagers, afraid that they can't get their first client, will disagree with me. But hear me out for a moment:

Picture this ... there's a new restaurant...

The chef's on the sidewalk, saying "come in and have a free dinner so I can get some experience cooking for customers."

Now picture this... there's a new restaurant....

You've read an article (not an ad) about it in the newspaper announcing it's opening, you were at an event and there were some samples, you heard a bunch of different people mention this new restaurant, you've heard it's hard to get a reservation.....

So, where would you rather eat?

Stagers, I don't believe working for free belongs on your menu of services. It may get you volunteer work but it only positions you as new and inexperienced to those you are trying to impress.

The only exception being this: you need some before and after photos for your home staging portfolio so you offer to do a project for free for a friend or family member.

With a professional image, the right presentation of your services (how you explain it in writing and when you're actually speaking to someone) and great before and after photos (which can even be from your own house), you should come across as experience and knowledgeable.

In the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program, I teach my students how to "burst on the scene" (like the second restaurant example described above did) so they don't have to work for free to get a real estate agent to "try them out."

Related posts:

The Stench of Desperation

The Wrong Pricing Strategy Can Kill Your Home Staging Business

Stagers: Are You on the Path to Burnout and Bankruptcy?

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Home Staging expert Debra Gould also known as The Staging Diva knows how to make money as a home stager and is determined to inspire and teach others to do the same. There are over 1000 Staging Diva Graduates who have learned to use their decorating talents and run their own home staging business in the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program. Frequently profiled in the media in both the US and Canada, Debra is the author of of several home staging resources including a series of popular ebooks made up of a Design Guide, Color Guide and Portfolio Guide.

Beating Back Bad Economic News

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva (Six Elements Inc.) — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 14:02:25 -0600

One trait that separates the successful from the unsuccessful is the ability to look at change with an eye to opportunity, and Americans in general are good at this.

At the end of 2008, an international survey by the Worldwide Independent Network of Market Research studied the impact of the global financial crisis on 17 different countries.

The study revealed that Americans, despite the overwhelming tide of negative indicators, are among the most positive in the world when asked about their economic prospects, ranking well above Canada even though the Canadian economy is stronger right now.

The most pessimistic nations were Britain, France and Iceland.

Analysts generally agree that this U.S. optimism and can-do attitude (which leads to a willingness to invest and spend in hard times) will help turn the U.S. economy around, which will, in turn, affect economies throughout the rest of the world.

According to CIBC World Markets economist Meny Grauman, while the U.S. economy has never been in such rough shape in modern times, there has also never been such an unprecedented response from the U.S. government to deal with the crisis.

According to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR), there were 4.9 million homes sold in the U.S. in 2008, and the projection for 2009 sees that number growing by 6.6% to 5.2 million.Considering the numbers of real estate agents are declining, that means more homes sold per agent this year!

Calvin Lindberg, president Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) says, "The increase in the Home Buyers’ Plan and the First-Time Home Buyers’ Tax Credit to cover closing costs are both important for first-time home buyers, and they are an important factor in an active housing market."

You'll find additional information to shine a light on the brighter side of what's happening in real estate and home staging today in a new free special report: "Ask Staging Diva: Can I grow a home staging business in a depressed economy?"

I spent a ton of time researching and writing this report because I'm tired of watching all the doom and gloom in the media suck the energy out of entrepreneurs.

There are real opportunities today, you just need to look at the bigger picture. I hope you'll download this free report and send me your feedback.

How are you keeping your spirits up? What new things are you doing to take advantage of what's happening in real estate today?

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc.

Entrepreneur and Home Staging expert Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®, knows how to make money as a home stager and has taught over 1000 others to do the same. Discover her secrets to business success in the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program.

Real Estate Agent Loses Client for Dropping Purse and Getting Lost

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva (Six Elements Inc.) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 10:20:44 -0600

I read a blog post today by Clint Miller called "Death of a Salesman" listing the subtle and not so subtle ways a real estate agent can kill a client relationship. Often ignored basics like: being inaccessible, being dishonest and ignoring simple manners.

It's sad these basics have to be stated, but here we are with about 1.3 million Realtors in the US and approximately 98,000 in Canada so there's bound to be a lot of riff raff.

There are thousands of reasons for a client to fire their agent, or not recommend them to others, especially in a competitive market. Which is why you need to stay sharp to survive. Here's why I got rid of my agent once:

I was moving to a new city, and an agent spent a day showing me properties. She was supposedly an expert in the neighborhood I was moving into, so I gave her a try. I should mention, I'd already sold my other home and was due to move to this new city within 90 days. I was only in town for two weeks and needed to buy on that trip.

In other words I was a HOT PROSPECT:

highly motivated to complete an offer within 10 days because I was leaving town
no issues with financing since I'd already sold my house and the deal was closing within 60 days
I was the sole person buying the house, so there would be no delay getting a spouse's approval
I needed a quick close, so any agent that found me the right property would be hitting their payday within 60 to 90 days!

I stopped working with this agent after one day of appointments because she hadn't worked out a system for where to put her purse down in her car, and despite supposedly being a real estate expert in that neighborhood, she seemed to always get lost on the one way streets to our destinations.

Before you dismiss me as an overly critical client consider the messages she was sending to me as a new client.

After each showing, we'd get back into her car and she'd put her purse between the two buckets seats. With the first stop light it would tumble onto the floor dumping all the contents. Then with each next showing, I'd have to cool my heels on the sidewalk for a few minutes while she put the contents of her purse back together so we could get on with the appointment.

One day, 6 showings and I vowed never to work with her again!

This woman supposedly made her living showing and selling homes. Yet, she didn't have enough common sense and self awareness to put her purse on the floor behind her seat? How many times had the scene I witnessed only 6 times played itself out over a year? And if she knew this small neighborhood so well, how could she possibly never remember which streets ran in which direction? Each appointment required an additional 10 minutes to find as she circled back on her route trying to figure out how to get there!

I considered how likely she was to be showing me the best properties for my needs, given how flaky she seemed. I considered how saavy she was likely to be when presenting and negotiating my offer. All these thoughts had lots of time to run through my head as I watched her waste my precious time getting lost and scooping stray keys, lipsticks, and the other deritus women carry in their purses off her car floor, and she was history.

How well did the new agent do?

I bought a house with a different agent who appeared to be more in control of herself and her surroundings, and she especially cashed in when I listed it with her again within a few months. She made about $25,000 in commissions earned from:

showing me 14 houses over two days
handling one purchase negotiation that lasted 24 hours because I insisted we go back and forth immediately to keep the pressure on the sellers
within 2 months of closing on the house, I staged it and put it back on the market with the same agent
sold with two offers within the week, with a 3 week close

Client / agent relationships are largely a matter of faith. Lose their trust and you've lost your client.

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Desperate Sales Tactics Echo Glengarry Glen Ross

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva (Six Elements Inc.) — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 13:24:37 -0600

I wrote a blog post recently called The Stench of Desperation which attracted some excellent examples from readers of desperate marketing efforts they've seen that don't really help build business and may in fact make you look so desperate people won't hire you.

For example, Diana Young wrote about an agent who advertised fortune telling and tarot card reading for agents who attended her broker's open house! Wow, and here I thought the important thing about getting brokers into a house was for them to actually look at it and perhaps recommend it to appropriate clients!

Yesterday I actually got a knock on the door from an Edwards Jones investment advisor!

Ironically, their company tag line is "making sense of investing." Any advisor who has the time to go knocking on strangers' doors in the middle of the day hoping to land a client, is certainly no one I would take financial advice from!

Didn't this tactic go out in the last century somewhere around the time of the demise of the "Fuller Brush Man" and encyclopedia salesmen? It's so Glengarry Glen Ross!

If you're a real estate agent or a home stager, I don't recommend this knocking on individual doors tactic either.

Aside from making you look desperate for business, the amount of time it takes to go door-to-door is ridiculous! The chances of you landing an actual client are about one in a thousand if you're lucky.

Instead take that time and effort and use it towards positioning yourself as an expert in your market. And, look at one-to-many marketing tactics to leverage your time.

What examples have you seen lately of ineffective sales and marketing tactics that made the individual or company just look desperate?

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Intrepid Entrepreneur Debra Gould is also known as The Staging Diva and is president of Six Elements Inc., an internationally recognized home staging company that is frequently profiled in the media in both the US and Canada. 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 1000 Staging Diva Graduates on five continents.

Beware of Home Staging Guarantees

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva (Six Elements Inc.) — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 17:26:31 -0600

Staging Diva Graduate Nicole Hurst of Cole House Design, ignited quite a discussion about stagers providing guarantees of a house sale when they stage a home for a client. Reading the comments, I was shocked to see that some home stagers actually provide this! Great for them if they're comfortable with it and if it's working for their business, but I question the business rationale for this.

In an uncertain world, I understand the desire to obtain a guarantee if you're a client about to part with your hard earned cash. And, I understand the home stager's impulse to want to provide one if they think it will attract more business. But this is a very risky business practice!

I'm against home stagers providing any guarantee of a real estate sale because of their staging, because there are so many factors that a home stager has zero control over.

No matter how brilliantly we may stage a home, here are but a few of the other factors that will influence whether the home sells or not.

For example, whether the:

house is being listed in the right season (homes are harder to sell over Christmas and Spring Break for example)
house is priced correctly for it's location, size and prevailing market conditions
house has the features buyers are looking for in that market (example- hard to sell a one bedroom home in a family neighborhood)
agent does an effective job in marketing the property (example- lots of interior shots on MLS, effective feature sheets etc.)
home seller maintains the home in the same showing-ready condition the stager created 100% of the time (impossible to monitor)
home seller makes it easy to show by not requiring lengthy notice, preventing showings during certain times, etc.
home seller ensures the home is sparkling clean and free of odors and pets during all showings
agent and home seller effectively handle any offers they receive (negotiations break down for lots of reasons)
home seller accepts an offer (many factors go into this besides getting the price they asked for)
home passes inspections (stager has no knowledge of hidden defects, nor should they)
buyer gets financing and the deal closes ('nuff said!)
natural disaster, political, economic or other news event interferes with the real estate market during the time the house is listed

Do home stagers ensure that a home shows better when it's staged? Absolutely if they know what they're doing!

Should they provide any guarantee that the home will sell because they staged it, absolutely not!

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

A Fortune 500 company veteran, Debra Gould is also known as The Staging Diva and is president of Six Elements Inc., an internationally recognized home staging company that is frequently profiled in the media in both the US and Canada. 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 1000 Staging Diva Graduates around the world.

The Stench of Desperation

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva (Six Elements Inc.) — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 13:24:05 -0600

There are several great scenes in the Academy Award nominated film Frost/Nixon that have relevance to anyone in business: home stagers, real estate agents, mortgage brokers, etc.

In one, Nixon's agent is explaining how he's going to negotiate a fatter interview fee from David Frost. He explains that he always phones someone he's negotiating with at an inconvenient time. If they take the call he knows he's got the upper hand, because they need him more than the other way around.

He proceeds to call Frost in the middle of the night, and the rest is history.

I thought of this scene the other day as I listened to a group of home stagers talk about waiting in real estate offices for hours for the chance to talk to a particular agent. Or visiting every week to drop off cookies and other treats for the office as a reminder of their services.

If you have all that time to sit around hoping a prospect will pay you the least bit of attention, clearly you don't have a lot of actual paying work. I don't think that's the right signal to send, no matter what your line of work is.

To me that just smacks of desperation and I don't think it's the way to attract clients. How about you?

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®

President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

A Fortune 500 company veteran, Debra Gould has been a business writer since the 1980s and wrote a chapter of the book "Marketing Masters" published in 1998. She is also known as The Staging Diva and is president of Six Elements Inc., an internationally recognized home staging company that is frequently profiled in the media in both the US and Canada. 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 1000 Staging Diva Graduates around the world.

Home Stagers: Is my inventory bigger than yours?

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva (Six Elements Inc.) — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 14:48:40 -0600

Too many home stagers seem to measure their success by the size of their inventory. That's a bit like a car company measuring their success by the size of their workforce.

Both are an indicator of overhead, but not necessarily an indicator of profits.

Now I'm not trying to wade into the debate about how the auto industry might get out of the mess it is in. The point of my analogy is that if home stagers measure their business success by the size of their furniture rental inventory they may be in deeper financial trouble then they're prepared to admit to themselves.

Many real estate stagers assume they need to carry an inventory of furniture to rent to thier home staging clients. "How else will I stage a vacant home?" they ask, "and what about my clients who have furniture but it's ugly or they have one empty room?"

I've staged hundreds of homes over six years, many have been vacant and I don't carry any of my own inventory. Zip, zilch, nadda.

This means I also have no overhead. No credit card debt to pay for my purchases, no warehouse to store it in, no truck to deliver it, no inventory to keep track of, insure or clean, and nothing to pick up after the house is sold.

How about you?

Do you carry an inventory and if so why?

If you don't, have you found this a disadvantage in growing your business?

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Home Staging expert Debra Gould also known as The Staging Diva knows how to make money as a home stager and is determined to inspire and teach others to do the same. More than 1000 Staging Diva Graduates have learned how to turn their decorating talents into profits and run their own home staging businesses after taking the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program.

Active Rain member Staging Diva appears on new HGTV staging show

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva (Six Elements Inc.) — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 12:40:32 -0600

Last year I did a two day shoot with HGTV for the new show The Decorating Adventures of Ambrose Price.

They are finally airing this new series and the episode about staging runs in Canada on Monday, January 26, 10:00 PM EST and Tuesday, January 27 at 2:00 AM EST.

This is Ambrose and I in my own home (which stood in for one of the staged locations).

Now I don't know how much will make it into the actual 30 minute episode, but we spent a day going around to a bunch of staged homes that were sitting on the market and I taught him about what works and what doesn't in staging, why I thought those homes weren't selling and what staging pitfalls are important to avoid.

Then he went off to get some guided hands on practice in staging.

At the end of the show, he stages a condo on his own and I come in to evaluate his work and let him know whether I think he really has a future in home staging or not.

It was fun touring through this tiny condo commenting on everything he'd done, especially when we got the bathrooms. What you don't see is that I was talking while three men (cameraman, sound guy and director) are huddled in a corner of the bathtub not three feet from me.

The series is a bit out there as Ambrose tackles another aspect of decorating in each of their 13 episodes, everything from chair upholstering to cake decorating. But I'm really glad they had home staging as one of the episodes in their mix. The more the public learns about how having their homes decorated to sell can help them make more money in real estate the better.

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Debra's expertise has been featured widely in the media including: HGTV, CBS Radio, GlobalTV, CBCTV, CityTV, The Wall Street Journal, CNNMoney, Entrepreneur Magazine, Woman's Day, Reader's Digest, This Old House, House and Home, Style at Home, Fab Job Guide to Becoming a Home Stager, Globe & Mail, National Post and others. More media details and TV clips can be viewed here.

Photography Tips for Real Estate Agents

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva (Six Elements Inc.) — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 20:17:07 -0600

According to a 2008 real estate trends report, more than 80% of all home buyers start their property search on the Internet. After narrowing down the tens of thousands of possibilities based on price range, location and number of rooms, the next thing prospective buyers look at are the photos.

First impressions are especially important in a slow real estate market, so real estate agents are more concerned than ever before that their listings’ photos stand out and attract showings.

It's not only how well the shots are lit and whether they're straight and in focus, the content of the shots is critical too.

When you’re photographing a listing for MLS and your website, consider the following tips to ensure your photos make a good enough impression to have a prospective home buyer click your ‘contact’ link:

Foyer, kitchen and dining room shots: Make sure the entry way looks clear and that all shoes and coats are out of sight. Clear papers and other clutter from table tops and counters, ensure dishes are put away and remove rags and towels from faucets and ovens. Do a quick sweep of the front of the fridge. All those magnets and photos can be a real distraction in a kitchen photo. Any collections on top of the cabinets should be removed at least for the photo and preferably for the entire time the house is on the market. Last but not least, if your coat is hanging on the back of a chair, move it before taking your picture.

Living room shots: Turn off the television or this will end up being the focal point of your photograph! Ensure that art and lampshades are hanging straight and pick up any piles of books and magazines from the floor or coffee table. Remove family photos, clear clutter from the tops of mantles and pianos, pick up any toys and look at the room through your camera’s viewfinder before taking the photo. If you see anything overly distracting in the shot, remove it before you take the picture.

Bedroom shots: Make sure the beds are neatly made and there are no piles of laundry sitting around. Where there’s a dust ruffle on the bed, make sure the bottom edge of it meets, and is parallel with, the floor.

Bathroom shots: Don’t take a photo of a toilet with its lid open. Remove toothbrushes and other personal things from the counter. Make sure towels are hung neatly and don’t keep the shower curtain wide open. Also take care to not photograph your reflection in the bathroom mirror.

Other tips for better digital photos: Use a wide angle lens to capture more of the room in a shot. Try not to move after you’ve focused. Don’t shoot towards a window, or everything in the picture will be too dark. Experiment by taking pictures at different resolutions, with and without flash and with lights on and off.

If you are reluctant to rearrange your client's possessions to get the best shots, consider having them present while you're shooting the rooms to be able to direct them to make the necessary changes for you.

To make an even bigger impact on buyers by increasing the emotional appeal of your listings, consider the services of a professional home stager. They will attend to all these details, arrange flowers for photography, and can even be present during your shoot to ensure everything is in perfect shape.

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Internationally recognized home staging expert Debra Gould is president of Six Elements Home Staging and creator of The Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program with 1000+ Graduates worldwide. Debra is the author of three home staging guides and offers a Directory of Home Stagers to help homeowners and real estate agents locate home stagers who will decorate homes to sell quickly and for top dollar. To learn more visit http://www.stagingdiva.com.

2009 Home Staging Horoscope by Staging Diva

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva (Six Elements Inc.) — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 15:38:41 -0600

I wanted to wish everyone a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year. For home stagers, I have a free gift you might enjoy, the Staging Diva 2009 Home Staging Horoscope.

While I have your attention I also want to say that 2009 is filled with possibilities for your business

You can hide at home worrying about the economy and use it as your excuse not to succeed, or you can make plans for how you're going to take advantage of the current situation. Home owners have never needed our help more than they do right now. And I would argue that real estate agents do too!

In a slow market where everyone is waiting to see if house prices will decline even more, it's imperative to market a home that looks as terrific as possible. When buyers really fall in love with a home, they'll be motivated to buy. Otherwise they'll just sit on the sidelines and wait it out.

No excuses not to get out there and take charge of your life

I don't know if you caught the latest interview with Kyle Maynard today on CNN. Born without arms or legs, this 20-year old can lift 400 pounds (he started training with 2.5 pound weights tied with ropes to his "arms" in his teens) and wrote the motivational book No Excuses: The True Story of a Congenital Amputee Who Became a Champion in Wrestling and in Life. Despite the state of the economy, he just opened a new gym in December, No Excuses Athletics.

Before you start making the excuse that it's "easy" for him because now he's "famous," stop! This guy was born with no arms or legs and he's where he is because of the action he's taken in his life to get him to this point.

So heading into 2009, please make a resolution not to find excuses, but instead to reclaim your power and take action in your life and your business! You'll be glad you did.

Don't forget to grab your FREE copy the Staging Diva 2009 Home Staging Horoscope . Enjoy!

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Intrepid entrepreneur, Debra Gould, president of internationally recognized home staging company Six Elements Inc. knows how to make money as a home stager and is determined to teach and inspire others to do the same. An entrepreneur by the age of 30, she also created The Staging Diva® Home Staging Business Training Program with 1000+ Graduates worldwide, authored several guides and is the founder of the Directory of Home Stagers which helps homeowners and real estate agents locate home stagers to decorate homes to sell quickly and for top dollar. To learn more visit http://www.stagingdiva.com.

If price is all that matters, why do we need real estate agents?

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva (Six Elements Inc.) — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 10:51:27 -0600

I find it amazing when real estate agents say "price is what sells real estate." It's usually said within the context of "staging is a waste of time and money." We all know that price is important, as with most purchase decisions (especially in this economy).

However price is rarely the ONLY thing that inspires someone to actually buy something! Especially when it comes to the home their family will live in for years to come!

If it just came down to price, why would anyone need a real estate agent to show them a property, or help them understand the relative merits of one over another?

After all, with the Internet, prospective buyers can do their own house hunting online. Gone are the days when the only way to look inside a property was for an agent to take you there. In fact that's why 70% of home buyers in the US, and 90% of them in Canada, search online BEFORE actually calling an agent to show them anything.

So, if you're the listing agent, do you want to inspire people to want to see your listings? Do you want your listings to stand out among the thousands of other options online?

Prospective buyers will shop within a price range (emphasis on RANGE), but what makes them choose one property over another?

Is it the agent standing there saying, "Look how big this room is," while the client stands there in a dimly lit empty livingroom worried about whether all the bumps will come out of the wall to wall carpet and staring at all the marks and finger prints left on the walls by whomever lived there before.

Perhaps if they haven't just asked the agent to take them to the next listing because this one is so uninspiring, they're standing there thinking, "This house looks so sad. The owners probably ran out of money. I wonder how low an offer I can make?"

In the last week alone, I've heard from three Staging Diva Graduates, each with their own examples of the power of staging.

Laura Kakoschke staged an Alberta home that had sat on the market for four months with lots of showings and no offers. Laura staged it, they did an open house and sold it three days later.

Allegra Dioguardi staged her own Maryland home and sold it privately for more than any agent had told her she could get for it.

Leah Fritz staged a vacant Wisconsin home that had sat on the market for nine months without an offer. It sold within weeks of her staging it. The buyers even bought the furniture she staged it with since it fit in so well.

I've written in the past about why some agents feel threatened by home stagers, but it's not a stagers versus real estate agents battle. Both sides have a role to play in helping homes sell more quickly. Stagers make the job of an agent easier because they help buyers see the potential in a home and make the emotional connection that will inspire them to buy.

That's never been more important than in today's market where buyers have reasons not to buy right now and just wait it out to see how low the market will go. I guess the agents who think price is all that matters, can wait right along with them!

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Home Staging expert Debra Gould also known as The Staging Diva is president of Six Elements Inc., an internationally recognized home staging company that is frequently profiled in the media in both the US and Canada. Debra has decorated hundreds of clients' homes to sell and developed the Staging Diva Home Staging Training Program to teach others how to make money in their home staging, real estate staging businesses. She is the author of: Staging Diva Ultimate Design Guide: Home Staging Tips, Tricks and Floor Plans, Staging Diva Ultimate Portfolio Guide: Winning Clients with the Perfect Home Staging Portfolio and Staging Diva Ultimate Color Guide: The Easy Way to Pick Colors for Home Staging Projects.

Put your game face on and get out there and build your business

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva (Six Elements Inc.) — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 20:47:14 -0600

Every entrepreneur experiences a period of time where confidence levels drop only to be replaced by soaring levels of fear and insecurity. The secret to making it through those days, weeks or even months of feeling insecure is to put on a brave face and keep going anyway.

Stepping out of your comfort zone to build your own business takes more than just “know-how”; you also need courage, determination and a very good game face.

I imagine even President-elect Obama has moments where he thinks, “What have I gotten myself into?” It's not like he can push a giant “pause button” in the Oval Office to stop the world from watching him while he gets comfy in his new big chair.

He has to look and sound presidential and keep going – especially in those moments when he’s not really feeling it. If he looks confident and sounds like he knows what he’s talking about, he inspires our confidence in him and his abilities— even though he’s never been the president before.

A common trait among new (and sometimes not so new) entrepreneurs is that feeling of insecurity. It's hard to stop those thoughts that torture us at night like, “People are going to see right through me! How can I possibly be qualified to do this? Can I actually deliver on what I’ve said I could do?”

This second-guessing is quite common. However, if you’ve gone into business for yourself, there’s a good chance you’re great at what you do. My best advice to entrepreneurs is to put on a brave face and go for it.

Don’t be afraid to meet with new clients. Congratulate yourself on the fact that you were able to convey a professional enough image to actually get a client! That’s half the battle! This person saw something in you that you may not be feeling right now, but you have to keep going anyway.

The more confident you appear to prospective clients, the better. Everything else aside, if you’re competing against someone with the identical credentials, experience and education as you, all a potential client has to base a decision on is your body language, how you sound and how you act. Would you rather work with a calm, cool and collected professional or a fidgety, nervous person who obviously lacks confidence?

If you appear successful and confident when you’re first starting out in your career, people are going to naturally assume you must be great at what you do. If you are perceived as successful and especially if you appear in high demand, people are going to find the thought of working with you more attractive.

If you don’t feel like a professional home stager, real estate agent, mortgage broker, consultant, etc., act the part until you do! Behave the way you think a successful person in your field would act. The more you do this, the less you’ll feel like you’re playing a part. It will become more natural with practice.

Fortunately for you, unlike Obama, you don’t have to do your job with the whole world watching your every move and hanging on every word! Your clients aren’t looking for signs of incompetence; they’re looking for solutions to their problems. Give them what they hired you for and keep your focus on the task, not your nerves. You’re better than you think!

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Intrepid entrepreneur, Debra Gould, president of internationally recognized home staging company Six Elements Inc. knows how to win new business clients. An entrepreneur by the age of 30, she also created The Staging Diva® Home Staging Business Training Program with 1000+ Graduates worldwide, authored several guides and is the founder of the Directory of Home Stagers which helps homeowners and real estate agents locate home stagers to decorate homes to sell quickly and for top dollar. To learn more visit http://www.stagingdiva.com.

Staging Diva Shares Importance of Staging with Radio Morning Show

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva (Six Elements Inc.) — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 12:26:56 -0500

I love doing radio but I've never been interviewed by three people at once before.

Katfish Morgan, Darryl Kornicky and Laura Stone grilled me about what to do when a house doesn't sell, whether stagers exist because agents aren't doing their job, what happens when stagers break things and more, on Live 88.5 Start Up Radio in Ottawa.

I have to say, the media are usually looking for a feel-good story when they interview me about staging, but this group was certainly trying to stir up some controversy.

You can download and listen to the 8 minute recording here.

I had no idea what they were going to ask me or how long I would be on, but I think I was pretty fast on my feet despite it being three to one. Let me know what you think.

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®

President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Home Staging expert Debra Gould also known as The Staging Diva is president of Six Elements Inc., an internationally recognized home staging company that is frequently profiled in the media in both the US and Canada. Debra developed The Staging Diva Home Staging Training Program to teach others how to make money in their home staging, real estate enhancement businesses. She is the author of Staging Diva Ultimate Portfolio Guide: Winning Clients with the Perfect Home Staging Portfolio and Staging Diva Ultimate Color Guide: The Easy Way to Pick Colors for Home Staging Projects.

Home Stagers: What's your favorite tool?

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva (Six Elements Inc.) — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 10:31:13 -0500

Looking at the photo of me that's often used in the press, with the drill and tulips, you'd probably guess those are my favorite tools. Actually they come a close third and fourth. The most important staging tools a home stager has (other than their innate talent) is a measuring tape and paint swatch book.

Don't make the mistake of getting one of those small, light, easy to carry measuring tapes or those fancy new laser ones.

You need a good old fashioned contractors-grade tape measure. It's bulky and usual neon colored (so they can find it in the drywall dust I guess), but it does the job.

While I can walk into a room and almost instantly know if the furniture is in the wrong place or it's the wrong size, I do rely on my measuring tape to help me decide how to move it all around. Don't leave home without it!

My second essential tool is my paint swatch designers kit. Not only does it contain 2500+ colors, it gives me larger samples of each. I recommend paint colors in many of my home staging consultations, plus many of my clients want me to pick colors for their new home.

Home stagers, what are your favorite tools? What do you take with you to every client meeting?

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Internationally recognized home staging expert Debra Gould is president of Six Elements and creator of the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program with 900+ Graduates worldwide. She is the author of:

"Staging Diva Home Staging Consultation Checklist with Room-by-Room Client Planning Forms"

“Staging Diva Ultimate Color Guide: The Easy Way to Pick colors for Home Staging Projects”

“Staging Diva Ultimate Guide: Creating The Perfect Portfolio to Sell Your Home Staging Services”

Marketing Plans: Does Size Really Matter?

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva (Six Elements Inc.) — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 19:26:54 -0500

I'm a firm believer in the old adage that "failing to plan is planning to fail," but I'm also not from the school of thought that believes you need a full-blown multi-page marketing plan to succeed, especially if you run your own business.

And I say this as someone with an MBA in Marketing who used to get paid many thousands of dollars to write marketing plans for companies.

I've been an entrepreneur since 1989 and I've always found that the longer the plan I write for myself, the less likely I am to follow it.

Part of why I've chosen to be my own boss all these years is the creative energy and inspiration that comes from being able to act on my ideas without sitting around analyzing them to death.

A one page plan gets me far closer to my goals than a big report ever will, otherwise I just suck all the joy out of my ideas before I actually act on them.

So with the fall real estate market getting underway in the next week or so, whether you're a real estate agent or a home stager, I think it's important to spend focused time thinking about your business. I begin with a huge sheet of paper and start by "mind mapping" and brainstorming various ideas. I don't sit at a computer to do this, somehow doing it by hand on paper is more conducive to idea generation. After much thought and brainstorming by myself, I do make a list of marketing goals along with a list of specific steps I'll take to reach those goals.

I find the more specific I am, the better. I also keep it simple so that I will take action rather than feeling overwhelmed.

Another point: Try not to do what you've always done (especially if you're expecting better results than you've had before). And don't just do what you see everyone else doing. Step outside the box and challenge yourself to break from the pack, that where the real rewards are.

So how big is your plan? How do you go about tackling the process?

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

A Fortune 500 company veteran, Debra Gould has been a business writer since the 1980s and wrote a chapter of the book "Marketing Masters" published in 1998. She is also known as The Staging Diva and is president of Six Elements Inc., an internationally recognized home staging company that is frequently profiled in the media in both the US and Canada. Debra Gould developed The Staging Diva Program to create opportunities for others to grow their own profitable home staging businesses. There are currently over 900 Staging Diva Graduates around the world.

Staging Diva Shares House Selling Secrets on CNN Money

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva (Six Elements Inc.) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 16:14:52 -0500

CNN Money is featuring my House Selling Secrets and before and after photos of several of the homes I've staged through my home staging company Six Elements Inc, on their website.

If you click through the 21 (!) pages of links on the CNN site, you'll see my before and after shots with a description of the end results the clients acheived. How much they paid me, what the house was listed for, how long it took to sell and the final selling price.

All proof that home staging works.

I'm really happy that this media exposure has also generated a number of project leads for Staging Diva Graduates because CNN includes a link to the Staging Diva Directory of Home Stagers.

“Debra Gould, founder of Staging Diva has helped scores of homewoners clean up, rearrange, and style their homes to command top price,” says CNNMoney.

You can check out the full story of my home staging secrets at CNNMoney.com.

I was last featured on their website in January of 2006 when they wrote about how important home staging is to a slowing real estate market.

Isn't it interesting to note that so many people are talking about the slow market like it is a new thing. Yet, Les Christie of CNN was writing about it 19 months ago!

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Internationally recognized home staging expert Debra Gould is president of Six Elements and creator of The Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program with 900+ Graduates worldwide. Debra is the author of two home staging guides and offers a Directory of Home Stagers to help homeowners and real estate agents locate home stagers who will decorate homes to sell quickly and for top dollar.

The wrong pricing strategy can kill your home staging business

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva (Six Elements Inc.) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 16:29:29 -0500

The pricing structure you set up for your home staging services (and items you charge for), can either make or break your real estate staging business. It's great to follow your heart and make a business out of your creative talents, but if you’re doing something you love and not making money, it’s not a business – it’s a hobby.

Even if you’re the best home stager in your city, if you charge a flat rate for your services, you could end up broke faster than you think. In fact, you could be setting yourself up to kill a business that would otherwise be extremely profitable.

Charging by the square foot or setting a flat rate per room is a common mistake that has ended more than one home stager’s career

No two spaces are ever the same. It could take more time to stage a 1200 sq. ft. condo than a 4,000 sq. ft. detached home. If you're charging by the square foot or room, you're in trouble! When you’re already into a project and realize it will take hours more to complete than you originally estimated it’s too late. By using the wrong pricing strategy, you have totally undercut yourself.

There are several common scenarios you probably encounter regularly as a home stager that eat up time you may not be charging for. For example, the client who is distracted by toddlers while you're doing your consultation, or the one who has saved every item that has come into the house for the last 20 years.

If you have the proper pricing strategy in place, none of these "time-wasters" matter.

In fact, if clients like these are eating up your time, you will make more money with the right rate structure. With the wrong pricing strategy, you will find yourself working for nothing much of the time.

If you charge "flat rates" for your home staging services, you really need to reconsider your pricing strategy before your business "flat lines" from all the extra work you have to do to make ends meet.

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Internationally recognized home staging expert Debra Gould has been writing about home staging since 2002 when she started earning a living as a home stager. Within her second year in business she was earning up to $10,000 a month staging homes. She teaches her strategies to other home stagers in the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program, which has 900+ Graduates worldwide. Debra is the author of two home staging guides and offers a Directory of Home Stagers to help homeowners and real estate agents locate home stagers who will decorate homes to sell quickly and for top dollar. To learn more visit http://www.stagingdiva.com.