A very good comparison... as close to apples-to-apples as you will ever likely get.  Buyers have a REALLY hard time with judging scale in a room without furniture .. small condos and townhome spaces are the worst!  Most also describe empty rooms as "bleak" and "uninviting"....doesn't exactly get them running to sign on the dotted line, now does it? "Hey, Bill, how's the house-hunting going?" "Well, Tom we saw one today that was bleak and uninviting ...yessir its at the TOP of our list!"  How I wish more Realtors "got it" and understood the value of staging an empty room.

Lenn,

After reading your response, I apparently have a similar reaction as yourself ... your response leaves me with more questions:

(1) I'm gathering from what you've written you have not used a stager on your own listings? Is that right? Or, did you use a stager before and you found the outcome to be unsatisfactory? If its the latter and not the former, can you describe the circumstance?

-and-

(2) What could a stager possibly say to  you to get you to try them? What metric? What empirical evidence would you find acceptable and notable? The list you provided above is beyond the range and scope of nearly all stagers ... much of it resides within a realtor's world, not a stagers .. and it is also very selective because it is property specific --- which I understand you find negligible -- basis your comment "The side-by-side comparison may be TRUE, but it is very limited and selective."

 So what type of information, what type of presentation, what metric, what format would you find credible and might possibly predispose you to trying/using staging on your own listings?

I was politely waiting for a response from Lenn to my questions, but believe now that Lenn declined to answer ---- as sufficient time for a response has elaspsed.

Connie, it doesn't appear that Lenn was voicing her opinion based on her actual experience of trying staging .. or actually working with a stager on one of her own listings. I have a healthy respect for experience and give more credence to those who offer opinions from the standpoint of experience vs. hearsay or 2nd-hand scuttlebutt  ... not hearing from Lenn the depth/breadth of her own experience in this regard ... I can only take what she had to say with more than a grain of salt.

While there is a talent in critiquing, it is a lesser talent to entering into a dialogue and offering actionable proactive suggestions or proposed solutions. Believing Lenn to be abundantly talented, the reason for my second question was that instead of just critiquing as she did, she would have the opportunity to fill in the gaps she noted ... to contribute to building up the knowledge base. Unfortunately, we once again lack any response from her.

I do agree on one item she noted and that has to do with cost/pricing .. rarely do I ever see the costs of the work in the stager's marketing materials, and this may be creating a barrier between you and a larger range of propspective clients.  And I have a suggestion I posted on another blog today to a stager you may consider.  I've been thinking about it for awhile as I've been in conversations with other stagers about marketing to Realtors.  I understand there is a consultation fee ... and out of necessity fees would vary on each property due to the work involved ...but I'm a huge HGTV fan and suggest you guys try a page out of their playbook.

Like the TV show, put up an accounting of the MATERIALS used in the room. IE.. Title it "Sellers Budget = $1000" (or whatever) and then list under it the materials used on your "After" picture... just like they do on TV... Flooring $ 175; Window Treatments $ 100 etc etc.  I think this may enhance your marketing for several reasons: (1) TV viewers are already culturally condidtioned to this format, so they quickly equate your level of expertise with the TV experience (2) You're acknowledging the Seller has control over the budget --- I think "job creep" is a big fear to a lot of folks considering staging and this combats that fear (3) If you do multiple rooms, it gives you multiple times to positively "touch" your reader  (4) It moves the focus onto the results and sublimates "the worth" of the work ... in most stager marketing this value proposition is reversed with all the money lumped together they haven't a clue what/how you did anything so their brain wraps around the total $1700??? and they ask "hmmm is it worth it?".  There is a value to them seeing a materials list ... $75 for drapes ... they did those drapes for $75??? and then they insert their own value / worth proposition "Dang! They did GOOD!!!!"  See the difference?

I'm not a stager, but I'm a pretty fair marketer .. and that was just something that occurred to me. From your own experience, it may have downsides to you -- and I leave that for you to sort out, but thought I would mention it and let you run some brain cells over the idea.  

Connie / Kathy -- thanks for your respective responses.  Interesting business... staging... very different cost prospectus than mine, but I have a digital product and actually perform all the work up front and then erase from the drawing whatever they decide they don't want to keep (and pay for) --- your circumstances don't really have (or allow you the luxury of this type of) this digitally-based equivalent.