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Realtors meeting - Home Staging presentation - did I succeed?

I went to my first realtors office meeting this morning to introduce myself and my Home Staging services and it was quite an enlightening experience! I get almost all of my business through my website, from home sellers directly or the agents who are looking for a Home Stager.

The office manager was great - but the crowd was tough! There were seven of them this morning and most of them didn't look interested at all in the beginning. I have been in sales for many years and am used to making client presentations. I almost felt like a high school teacher in front of the totally bored class...LOL. I prepared a short (4 pages) Powerpoint presentation covering the following topics: How to recommend a Home stager to a client, The Staging process, Benefits to the realtors and Why they should choose Home Staging Montreal as a partner.

I was enthusiastic, smiling and moving fast - slowly some of the agents started to come alive and even asked a few questions..I had two allies in the room - a realtor whom I met through ActiveRain and we'll be working together on a client of his and the office manager. She even complimented me in front of the group, as she saw a property I staged and really liked my work.

At the end of the presentation, I asked for the agents' cards and left them a stack of mine. And that was it!

I left with mixed feelings - did I succeed? I followed up tonight with personal Thank you emails inviting them to contact me to discuss their individual listings...We shall see. But I figure it was not in vain - maybe they will need me one of these days and NOTHING beats the personal contact and maybe they'll recommend me to other agents. I wanted to share the experience as I'm wondering whether other Stagers have had similar reception! LOL

Posted by Sveta Melchuk (www.home-staging-montreal.com) on 10/30/2007 10:52 PM

Comments (12)

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12 Comments on Realtors meeting - Home Staging presentation - did I succeed?

OCT

2007

Sveta, Please let us know how it goes. I have a presentation to make sometime soon to about 35 realtors, at least that was what I was told.

Thanks,

Diane

Sveta: I have not done one of these presentations yet. Like you, I hav ebeen getting tons of businees through other avenues BUt I bet you were terrific. Often just planting the seed and providing information is the most critical step. Congratulations.

OCT

2007

Sveta - I also had a Realtors presentation yesterday at an office sales meeting. Since it was so close to Halloween I laid out a table with muffins, doughnuts and also made indivdual "goody" bags with candy and my business card attached. I "staged" the table so I could tie it into my presentation. I've decided not to use a Powerpoint presentation because I've had better luck with a casual talk where I can speak directly to each agent.

What suprised me most about the meeting was how many of the agents didn't have a clue what staging was supposed to do for them. My area is a suburb of Washington DC so I was really suprised that their opinion of staging was primarily from HGTV shows. (They also believed it was mainly smoke and mirrors and really couldn't provide them with any value.) I was supposed to speak for twenty minutes - they finally stopped asking questions after an hour.

What I learned is that there is a tremendous amount of educating regarding staging to be done. I'm scheduled to do a "roundtable" discussion next week with four other stagers at a large brokerage - we'll see how that one goes.

Sveta, you sound like you did a great job and you did what you set out to do. I understand the reaction you're describing and it makes one wonder what good is it to present to a group of disinterested people that you've come to HELP MAKE MORE MONEY FOR!

I've elected to go the one on one route for meet and greets. You can lead a horse... but getting to know people one on one is a great way to build a relationship, both personal and professional. Thank you for sharing and chin up! You did great!

Good morning,

thank you for your comments on this topic. I've realized that working with home sellers produces faster results (for me, anyway). I am not neglecting the agents but I'm not making them my primary target market either...

for Diane: if you would like a copy of my Powwerpoint, please email me at svetamelchuk@hotmail.com

for Lynn: thanx for sharing your experience. You are absolutely right - in Monteral, there is still a vague awareness but most of them don't seem to think it's necessary...I do very well with the realtors on an individual basis - either the ones who contact me because they believe in the value of Home Staging or they the ones who are more open minded...The other important point is, I think, the fact that they are all Competitors and they don'y want to share too much information in front of the other agents...I saw that, that is why I emailed each one of them afterwards offering to speak with them privately...

The seeds have been planted and I'll continue to do so..hopefully other offices will be easier LOL!

Sveta,

This is something I haven't yet done. Will I ever? I have my doubts. As you said, most of my work comes through my website, and word of mouth as well, which is working out perfectly.

You will have to let us know how it goes!

Heather

Sveta,

I once had a homeowner who contacted me to stage her home, which we did and somewhere along the conversation she mentioned that her realtor told her it was really a waste of her money. Well the homeowner, Realtor and myself met the day she was signing the contract with the Realtor and I was there to collect my other 50%. The Realtor was so impressed with the job we had done she asked for several of my bussiness cards. She is now a firm believer in home staging. I think Realtors and others need more education on what exactly we can do for all of them.

Hi Sveta !

I do little presentations to realtors, but I think that having a boring group is tough. I start by intrducing myself and company. Having being a chef also I bring goodies and that sort of breaks the ice. Also having excitement in your tone of voive and describing fun ny anecdotes from staging helps brake the ice. Once you have their attention let them know that this is the new millenium and Staging is here to stay! As we all know, A staged home rises above the competition !

Sveta, you really have to look at presentations or any form of marketing as planting seeds. They may not be interested in what you said today and they may not be interested the next time, but you never know when a future event will change their attitudes. You simply want them to remember your name when they have one of those aha moments and decide they cannot live without a property presentation specialist.

I have had one realtor owner of a large company agree that he would present at sales meeting, but wasn't open to me doing the presentation. I am going to keep on trying! I would love to see your presentation. I will email you.

I have to believe education is the key. It will be worth the efforts.

NOV

2007

I got an excellent advice from a realtor who was present at this meeting. He was right in telling me that we need to START by the realtors benefits - show them right away why they should listen to us and what'in it for them...I realized that it's probably a better strategy and will use it next time, for sure.

Hopefully, it will help all of you out there as well.

Sveta, realtor presentations can be tough--they all sit with these blank looks on their faces and your not quite sure if they got it or not?---We have found one on one is a great avenue and dropping off information at the realtors office with the "lady at the front desk" isn't always cutting it. LOL!!

Once we talk individually with each realtor, you really make a connection. What has really worked great for us is during those annual "Home Shows"--here in Minneapolis there is a big Spring one and a Fall one. For 6 weeks, realtors are sitting in those showings, waiting. Perfect time to show up with your information. If you go thru the week, no one is there, and they have all kinds of time to talk with you, one on one.

I like the advise to start with the realtors benefits--we always wrap up with that. We'll have to change that! Thanks for the advise!

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