Networking is a key factor to owning a successful home staging business.  While there are many opportunities to have repeat business, in a market like we have today, there's no guarantee that previous clients can be relied upon for subsequential business.  That's where networking becomes invaluable because, like every other service business, it's those referrals that will get the business before the random company from the yellow pages.

It's been said before that the real estate professional and the home stager make a great team to successfully prepare and market a home for sale.  The addition of a great home inspector and a great mortgage broker further secure a solid team.  There are other service providers that can be added to that network to create a fabulous one-stop-shop for homeselling clients but also build the network for referral opportunities.  These include home repair/improvement companies, painters, landscapers, etc. 

The Metro Atlanta Chapter meeting for ASHSR  home stagers was held today at Brook Furniture Rental showroom in Atlanta.  Brook has been an instrumental partner in the home staging industry for many many years.  Carolyn Higgins, Account Sales representative hosted our meeting and was joined by Ed Baird, the interim GM for the Atlanta showroom and a long standing manager from Brook.  Our guest speakers were Lance Grooms and Mark Kligerman from Bekins Moving Company.  They introduced their Clear the Clutter (tm) program in an effort to help home sellers prepare their homes for sale.  They saw a need for people to get organized and declutter homes prior to selling and asked to meet with home stagers as a way to partner with their service.

Lance manages 19 locations across the nation:

• Houston, TX
• Atlanta, GA
• Wilkes-Barre, PA
• Carlisle (Harrisburg), PA
• Washington DC (Woodbridge, VA)
• Los Angeles, CA (various locations)
• San Diego, CA
• Las Vegas, CA
• San Francisco, CA
• Venice (Sarasota), FL
• Chicago, IL
• Palm Springs, CA
• Dallas, TX

Lance is the sales and marketing manager for all of the above locations.  He's looking to partner with home stagers in his areas to market the Clear the Clutter program.  The program is a minimal fee to professionally pack, remove and store the content of one room for up to 90 days (up to 10 boxes, 1 vault for storage).  It's a great suggestion for occupied homes that need to be decluttered in order to stage properly and to have the items removed and stored off site.

So, home stagers, if you are in one of Lance's areas, contact them for more information.  He welcomes the opportunity to work with any, all home, stagers in those markets.  It's a great service to offer your next home staging client.  Remember, having a one-stop-shop is a great service to have.  Your clients will be thrilled to know you can provide them with another valuable service.  This will help reduce some of their stress and they will be forever grateful.