The team approach to Staging is something that creates a buzz any time it is shared. What a great way to develop and maintain business growth. To my knowledge, I was probably the one of the first if not the first professional Stager to set up a team model - over six years ago. Over that period of time, I have learned a lot of what works and what does not work - and the various ways in which you can work with others as you grow your business. I have shared my knowledge with many fellow Stagers - many of whom are active on this site - and watched how they have adapted the information and made it their own, or patterned their business model and success after what has worked so well for my business.
Before you move in that direction or add yourself to someone else's team, there are some key points to consider:
WHY?
Why are you thinking about developing a team? Is it because you have too much work coming in or is it because you are limited in the hours you can work Staging, or a combination of both?
Let's look at the TIME Factor:
There is a limit to how much one person can do with Staging. Burning the candle at both ends with the creative and marketing side will eventually lead to burnout. When a business first starts growing, planting the seeds for relationships takes time, and then when the jobs start flowing in, finding a way to manage the balance between effective marketing and actual Staging needs to take place.
When you get to the place where you are maxed out on the time you have to put towards your business, that is the point where you will either just maintain what you have, or make a decision to grow past it. If you want to grow past where you are, you need to work with others. If you are limited in your time to do jobs due to other commitments, that is also a reason to consider expansion in order to handle demand.
Also -what if you get sick or want to take a vacation or have an emergency situation that demands your full attention? What do you tell your clients that continue to have needs? "Sorry, I am not available right now?" Or do you do what I did early on - not take trips, and work when you are sick. That is not a good plan for life or business long term. You need to have a reliable resource as a back-up for you so that you DO have the ability to take time off if needed and not have your business fall away.
We have two choices when we get a call for a job - and are unable to handle it because we have no time available. We either put off the client or pass off the client.
Putting off a client might work for a few days, but when someone wants a house Staged they usually want it done right away - I have found that unavailability is the kiss of death for Stagers. When there are plenty to choose from, that is basically telling the client, "Go find someone else." And they do.
Passing off the client to a colleague works - but the tendency of that client is to go back to the last person they successfully worked with - and so you risk losing a client to another Stager that develops a relationship. Even if you spell it out up front, it still happens. So the idea for expansion happens naturally.
There are those that are born marketers and those that just want to Stage.
They need to meet and partner-team up for success.
You can just work with another Stager - as needed - and use each other as a resource for larger jobs. This works but the disadvantage is that in the eyes of the public, you are competitors, and it can be confusing when trying to market your services together. Promoting two different company names and two websites, and two different looking sets of materials dilutes the goal of getting more business and increasing market share.
Setting up a partnership is great - my recommendation is to do this BEFORE the other person has picked a name, designed a logo, etc. so that they do not look at your partnership as a potential loss of money and identity for them. There is the legal part of this as well - having to set up an official Partnership where both parties share equally in the risk and rewards of the business.
Or you can look at expanding your Staging company by adding Stagers to your team. There are two ways to do this. One - set up independent contractors as part of your team, or two - hire employees. I chose to do the first option, so that is what I will share about.
Team Building - I used a geographic motivation to develop a team. There are plenty of Stagers I can call to come and help on a job - so getting bodies is not a challenge. I was looking for something MORE than that. I wanted those that would develop an "owner mentality" in areas where it became too challenging for me to service.
Empowering Business Owners - Independent Contractors
In my business model, I wanted to empower others to have a business owner mentality. I was not interested in being a "boss" or having employees. In order to make this happen, anyone that worked with me had to show income sources outside of the jobs they might assist me with. This meant they had to get their own clients. This meant they had to actually market - with my help - for clients and jobs.
RULE: If you plan on having independent contractors, ensure they are working for other clients - not just yours. In most cases and states, they must show income outside of what you are paying them or else in the eyes of the IRS in most states, they will be considered a waged employee, and you could be responsible for worker's comp, and other taxes. This is a big delineation factor and one the IRS can crack down on with business owners.
Put Agreements in Place
Everyone on my team has signed an Independent Contractor Agreement (ICA) - and I have shared this with many Stagers out there - that was used as a basis for developing their teams. What my ICA shares is what I expect from anyone on the team, and what they can expect from me. It goes over professional guidelines as well as issues such as payment, what they are responsible for and how I expect them to help expand our market share.
Business Licenses & Company Names:
Each team member had to get a business license and they file it annually. The name they chose for their business license could be anything - and it is NEVER marketed as part of our team. We market ONE company name, and promote that one name in all our literature. So the end result is that collectively, we have 7x the market share under one umbrella name. When we have multiple vehicles with signage driving around, multiple people handing out business cards with that name, multiple people promoting the one name, the word spreads much faster, the company gains more market share, and everyone benefits because we are "known" in the market.
Joint Marketing Fund
All members of our team contribute to a general Marketing Fund - by paying back 25% of their time on jobs. This allows us to purchase marketing materials, participate in promotional events and helps pay for website and marketing material development. The team members never have to orchestrate any of this for their Staging - it is done for them by me as part of the ICA - and they reap the benefits of having top notch marketing materials and cutting edge services we can offer as a team. It is not a referral fee - it is a marketing fee - and the amount they put towards the marketing fund is less than they would be spending annually on their own if they were not part of the team.
1099 at the end of the year
Since we are not employees of one company, and are independent contractors, we do 1099 each other at the end of the year for jobs where we have teamed up. Whoever the lead is on the job pays the other team members according to their time or other arrangement.
What about Inventory?
I made a decision to allow my team members to carry their own inventory and earn income from it on jobs. When it's my job and I am the lead, I put my things in a house. When they are the lead, they put their things in a house. I have heard other teams require the use of only the company owner's things - and that is an individual business decision. I did not want to control the inventory and management and warehousing of the inventory - so passed that to the team members who are all able to derive a nice income stream from inventory.
The team members have also signed a Non-Compete/Non-Disclosure Agreement (NC/ND)- which is a more legalistic binding agreement basically protecting you and your company should the relationship not work out. Let's face it - not everyone you think will work out does.
It may take finding some not-so-good eggs to get a great one: It took me 10 people to find 6 good ones. The other Stagers were nice, but their goals for how they wanted to work were not in line with what I wanted. Some thought I was a job-broker and just sat back waiting for the phone to ring, complaining when they were not "busy enough." Others just did not gel with the other team members, and others did not like being accountable for their work. The NC/ND also stipulates that your clients are yours, theirs are theirs, and your client base cannot be "raided" by anyone that leaves your company for a period of time set by you. I was able to create this document using an online legal resource.
Give them Something they cannot Do on their Own
All the team members that have been part of We Stage Sacramento lack marketing skills. They were not computer savvy and did not want to go through the rigors of putting marketing pieces together, developing a website, and continuing to develop marketing pieces to attract business.
What they DID have was Staging talent. They had desire to earn income from Home Staging. So, we partnered together with me providing the marketing for the team and them being able to plug directly into a ready-made company right after they received their training. They received and continue to receive:
- Marketing Support
- Mentoring & Training
- Immediate jobs and income
- Partnering for success
- Leads from the Company
Make them Earn it:
One of the KEY stipulations I have in our ICA is that a team member does not rise to the top of the income ladder until he/she has brought in at least one client on their own. Until then, they are in "learning" mode and not "business owner" mentality. A team member also does not earn the right to be "lead" on a job until he/she can handle the entire process from start to finish. The team members we have had to demonstrate their ability to do this - and if I had to step in to manage any part of the process, then they were not ready.
Marketing must Continue for Success - Just because we may have clients that are loyal and repeat does not mean we stop marketing. The final key ingredient to a successful team is that all members are willing to do "face time" for marketing. We participate in many events annually from vendor fairs, expos, to presentations in offices. The goal in all is to do "face time" - educate our prospective clients and get our name out in the region.
If you are at the point in your business where you need to make a decision to partner, expand or refer business to a trusted colleague, I hope this post has helped give you some fuel for thought. Our team is a great group of Stagers who are not only there for each other professionally, but truly care about each other personally. I did not know this would be a serendipity of the team, but I am really happy with how it has grown and evolved. You will be too.
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Great information Jennie, Thank you for sharing. I have another stager-friend in the area that helps me out when I need an extra hand and I help her out when she needs an extra hand. This has worked out nicely so far, but I haven't considered anything more formal than that.