home stager school: Giving your Home Staging Company Celebrity Status part 3 of 4 - 06/20/11 08:46 AM
So far in this series, we have talked about creating curiosity with Press Releases and announcements as well as giving your potential clients what they really, really, really want in order to build celebrity for your home staging business. This week, we are going to venture into the idea of limited availability.  Immediately, you will default to thinking  “I have to be available all the time for my clients otherwise they won’t want me.” Actually they want you more when they can’t have you all the time.  Think back to your dating days, did you ever play ‘coy’ to get someone’s … (2 comments)

home stager school: Giving your Home Staging Company Celebrity Status part 2 of 4 - 06/13/11 05:52 AM
Last week we talked about creating curiosity and leveraging your home staging business celebrity by sending out press releases and announcements.  This week, we will talk about the fine art of making your customer want what you have, often by not giving away too much too soon.When you first release press statements, you want to make sure that you make bold statements.  You need the reader or listener to sit back and say “Yes, I feel that pain” or “Wow, that is exactly what I need” or even “Can they do that for me?”  When they say things like this, they … (2 comments)

home stager school: How to Get More Home Staging and Real Estate Referrals part 5 of 5 - 05/31/11 08:43 AM
Attracting your Centers of InfluenceIn the past, I have spoken often of Centers of Influence yet it still amazes me how few people actually find them and use their extraordinary powers of connection.Who are your Centers of Influence?  It can be a mentor, a leader in your home staging or real estate field, the head of an organization or association…pretty much anyone that knows who you want to know.For me as a Certified Home Stager,  my ‘Centers of Influence’ started as a few good real estate agents, one real estate broker, a well networked real estate investor and finally, the owner … (0 comments)

home stager school: How to Get More Home Staging and Real Estate Referrals part 4 of 5 - 05/24/11 08:44 AM
What does an effective Home Staging and Real Estate Referral Program look like?The better question may be, “What do I want it to look like to best serve my home staging and real estate clients?”Let’s talk about both.When I show my APSD Certified Home Stager Property Scene Designers referral programs, we do them to serve a variety of clients and situations.  Following are an example of three programs: 1)    Use a referral program to offer a thank you gift2)    Build a ‘Frequent Referral Program’ which can offer discounts on future services3)    Creating a “Bankable Referral System” to give free gifts and … (1 comments)

home stager school: How to Get More Home Staging and Real Estate Referrals part 3 of 5 - 05/16/11 04:27 AM
Wow, are we ever getting great feedback from this series of articles….thanks for all the ‘referrals!’ Get it? Oh, some days I have to entertain myself as well!Last week, I promised that we would discuss the best cycle of communication when requesting referrals and that is exactly what I am going to do right now.Many of you that are already APSD Certified Home Stagers, some of my small business and marketing clients and other followers are familiar with my 1/7/30 marketing cycle of communication.Briefly, it means that you will communicate with a potential client within one day of meeting them, then … (0 comments)

home stager school: How to Get More Home Staging and Real Estate Referrals part 2 of 5 - 05/09/11 04:24 AM
As we continue our series on “How to Get More Home Staging and Real Estate Referrals” this week, I want to talk about the best time to ask for a referral.Do you know the answer?  All of our APSD Certified Home Stagers and Home Staging Professionals because I am a big believer in getting your referral engine revving, so we talk about it a great deal.The very best time to ask for a referral is when your existing client is absolutely thrilled with the results you have created for them.  That might be right after you have listed the home, the … (0 comments)

home stager school: How to Get More Home Staging and Real Estate Referrals part 1 of 5 - 05/02/11 05:19 AM
How to Get More Home Staging and Real Estate Referrals part 1 of 5
Last month, we had such a huge amount of response to our series on ‘The Psychology of Home Staging’ that I thought I would write one more series again this month.
While I am a big fan of referrals and I will share some of my techniques and tactics with you during this series,I also want to acknowledge John Jantsch of The Referral Engine. It is an excellent book and I have often recommended it to many of my small business and coaching clients.
I happen to … (3 comments)

home stager school: The Psychology of Persuasion as a Home Stager, part 4 of 4 - 04/25/11 06:16 AM
The Psychology of Persuasion as a Home Stager, part 4 of 4
The law of reciprocation is the final training in this 4 part training on the Psychology of Persuasion as a Home Stager.  As I mentioned in the beginning of this series, many of these concepts are based on a great book by Robert B. Cialdini, PH. D called The Psychology of Persuasion and while his concepts are amazing, he did not use Home Staging as an example…I did that just for you!
I love the law of reciprocation because (remember the ‘because’ training in part 2?) I love to … (4 comments)

home stager school: The Psychology of Persuasion as a Home Stager, part 3 of 4 - 04/18/11 04:28 AM
The Psychology of Persuasion as a Home Stager, part 3 of 4
The contrast principle, according to Cialdini, of home staging, according to me, refers to presenting two contrasting items that may not be all that different, but by way of presentation the difference appears extreme to your prospect.
When I teach pricing in our APSD Certified Home Stager Training Program, (www.APSDmembers.com) I teach it in a way that is pretty basic and straightforward so that new home stagers will still get out there and present their home staging services.  As our APSD home staging members move up the ascension ladder … (4 comments)

home stager school: The Psychology of Persuasion as a Home Stager, part 2 of 4 - 04/11/11 04:40 AM
The Psychology of Persuasion as a Home Stager, part 2 of 4
‘…because I said so.’  If you are a parent, have you ever found yourself saying that?  ‘Because’ is a transitionword meant to explain or justify an action.
The word ‘because’ can also help you sell your home staging services.  In the first part of this series on The Psychology of Persuasion as a Home Stager, we talked about finding out your client’s true problem, agitating it, and solving it.  Your solution offers great value and hence allows you to raise your prices. Your client will now contract your home … (1 comments)

home stager school: The Psychology of Persuasion as a Home Stager, part 1 of 4 - 04/04/11 05:08 PM
Happy April! I have just finished reading The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert. B. Cialdini, PH.D. for a second time and decided to devote this entire month to the Psychology of Persuasion as a Home Stager. In other words, for all of you that have ever run into a Real Estate Agent, Home Seller or Real Estate Investor that just doesn’t see the value in home staging, now you will be able to easily and effortlessly deliver the value, with great confidence. Sound good? One of the first things we are going to discuss is pricing. Most of you, especially those … (5 comments)

home stager school: Why don’t I post ‘pretty’ home staging pictures? - 03/10/11 05:23 AM
Why don’t I post ‘pretty’ home staging pictures?I always laugh when people ask me about this.  They come to my website and don’t see pretty pictures of homes I have staged, like they do on all the other home staging training sites.  I admit, I took a risk when I decided to be different.This immediately turns some people away which I understand.  I wish it didn’t happen, but sometimes I know that we are conditioned to look for something and when it doesn’t appear or we can’t find it, we assume that we must move on.The truth is that I never … (8 comments)

home stager school: Winning the Home Staging Oscar! - 02/28/11 06:40 AM
Many of you know that I am a professional actor by trade.  Even today, I am still in the actors union, SAG, and vote on the seasons awards.  They even send us advance copies of the movies so we can review them before voting.  I love the movies!Several years ago when I was acting full time in movies with people like Bruce Willis, Sarah Jessica Parker  and many others, I started to develop  a love for what I refer to as “movie magic.”  You know how they take a blank stage or location and completely transform it to create a magical … (2 comments)

home stager school: And the winners of the one on one consultations with the APSD Home Stager Trainers are... - 02/24/11 04:29 AM
And the winners of the one on one consultations with the APSD Home Stager Trainers are...Catherine Baird of FloridaMelissa McKinney of TennesseeGrace Ann Simoni of IllinoisAmy Powers of GeorgiaCarolyn Huggins of North CarolinaLInda Leyble of New YorkJodi Wood of New JerseyKim Dumbrowski of VirginiaI know I said "7" winners but since we always try to give a little more than we say, here are 8! Congratulations ladies, one of the amazing APSD Trainers that were on the call with me will be contacting you next week to schedule your private home staging building session!Also, please join us at the most amazing … (0 comments)

home stager school: Pocket of Emotion - 02/07/11 03:37 AM
                                            
"Peggy Gehrman, our APSD Certified Trainer, just sent me this fabulous photo of an APSD sign she created to promote her home staging training services.  She is so amazing...and crafty! 
Thanks Peggy...looks like a tough contender for the "Pocket of Emotion" award at 'STAGE!'
 
Karen Schaefer
Founder, APSD
www.APSDmembers.com/STAGE
… (2 comments)

home stager school: Building a Solid Foundation for your Home Staging Business - 02/01/11 03:23 AM
A few years ago I used to teach a 5 part business development program for home stagers. I may do it again in the future but for right now, it will have to suffice for me to tell you a recent experience I had that reminded me of how important it is to build a solid foundation today, in order to have a healthy, ‘evergreen’ home staging business tomorrow.And, as is true with most of my articles, this information would also apply to your real estate business, interior design business, and almost anything.Yesterday, Pete (my husband) and I took off for … (4 comments)

home stager school: Competing with your Local Home Stagers - 02/01/11 02:34 AM
One of my mentors always told me to look and see what everyone else in your industry is doing and then, to achieve your greatest home staging success, do the opposite.I have to admit that I am inclined to do this anyway. I have never been all that concerned with competition, always knowing there were plenty of houses to go around for as many Home Stagers or Home Staging Training and Certification companies that wanted to toss their hats in the ring.Of course, there is always work ethic to be considered. If you hold something in your heart, then you will … (2 comments)

home stager school: Home Staging Success Stories from APSD Certified Professionals - 01/27/11 10:50 AM
Hello All!
You know how much I like to brag about our members...well here I go again! Our recent team of APSD Certified Stager Pro's (which included some of our APSD Certified Trainers and Property Scene Designers) did such a great job I put together this video about them. Really, it was amazing to watch both houses that they staged, go under contract within 9 days and 12 days of the staging! Watch the video and hear about their success! Also, I just wanted to let you know if you are an APSD Home Stager, Stager Pro, Property Scene Designer or … (0 comments)

home stager school: “How can you Show More Gratitude to your Client?” - 01/20/11 06:02 AM
If you were raised with manners or even if you have been in the real world for any length of time, you know to always say things like “Thank You,” “You look nice Today,” or “Great idea.” More often than not, that is just manners right?
Well, you would be surprised how few people do it and when it does happen, what an impact it makes on the receiver.
When I teach my high level clients, my business clients as well as my Property Scene Designers, I always give them a follow up marketing sequence as well as including Thank you … (7 comments)

home stager school: Smell Your Way To A Sale - 01/20/11 05:30 AM
When it comes to staging a home many people think about the furniture, the decorations, and of course the general appearance of the home. But if you want to flip a property fast, your home staging career needs to include the power of scent.Too many people underestimate the power of scent, however it is a very powerful sense and should never be forgotten about or you may be missing out on sales, which ultimately means more money in your pocket.The sense of smell is thousands of times more sensitive to any of the other four senses which means that the very … (3 comments)