For those of you who know me and little about the training, events and resources we offer through The Interiority Complex University, you've probably already heard about our popular course called The Secrets of Staging to Sell.
This is course which I wrote about a year and half ago (and have tweeked and updated daily ever since) in order to educate the realtors in our market. I wrote this course, having no idea that it would be the single most effective marketing tool for our staging business. Initially, I wrote it in order to deliver 1-hour lunch and learns for Realtors in our area. Word spread, and soon builders, developers and title companies began asking me to come deliver the course in their model homes. offices and community centers in order to generate business and traffic in their communities. We were getting 60-70+ agents showing up at each event. The agents started asking "Is this approved by TREC (The Texas Real Estate Commission) for MCE??" I would say no, sorry. Then agents would say, "Well it should be! It's a great course and you should get it approved!"
Long story short, I expanded the one hour lunch and learn into a 3-hour highly visual and informative course, filled with statistics, tips, strategies, photos, information and content that truly helps each and every Realtor who take this course. I then set out to get the course approved by TREC, and became a TREC approved instructor and education provider. I now teach the course 2-3 times a month in the Austin area alone. Since getting it approved, I've been invited to lead the course at the National Association of Hispanic Realtors conference, real estate seminars and more. It has been a whirlwind, and not what I originally expected when I set out to deliver these quick lunch and learns!
The benefits of offering this course has been two-fold. No wait, three-fold: 1) The course truly educates Realtors in our community on the benefits of staging. After they take the course, they realize what they've been missing by not working with a stager. 2) Obviously we get business EACH AND EVERY time I deliver the course. It's amazing. 3) I get compensated to deliver the course, so it's a wonderful additional revenue stream (at least for me it is, as my passion has always been about educating, leading, inspiring and helping others become successful.) If the thought of speaking in public makes you want to crawl into your navel, this may not be a revenue stream or marketing avenue you want to pursue!
With that said... our team has been racking our collective brains for months trying to figure out how to take this marketing tool, and share it with other stagers and industry professionals so that they too can use this strategy & model to educate Realtors and grow their businesses. Enter Operation Educate.
Operation Educate is an event and "grass roots" movement with the goal of educating Realtors on the benefits of real estate packaging and staging while also introducing those Realtors to stagers in their market so they can begin a long and mutually beneficial relationship. Connecting through educating. Once Realtors take this course, they are MORE than ready and willing to work with a professional stager.
It's like Facebook -- a year ago, no one knew about it or how or why they would ever use it. Now millions of people know and love Facebook. I think the same can be true for staging. There will eventually be a time when Realtors won't think of placing a listing on the market without the help of a professional stager. It is our hope that Operation Educate can help that time get here more quickly!
If you want to know more, Click here to view this video message about Operate Educate. (Sorry -- it's 8 minutes long! I tried to keep it short but I have so much to say!) :-) And I talk a lot.
Also, visit our website: http://www.theinterioritycomplexuniversity.com/OperationEducate.html .
This program can only be successful with your support, so I hope that all of you see the benefits and want to participate. We are going to begin working around the clock to get these events launched all over the country, and sponsorship is key. As you know, events like this take a tremendous amount of time and monetary investment, so the more sponsors we can get involved, the more successful each event will be.
We are already working hard on bringing together our database of "rain makers" and influencers on a national level in order to help support these events. If you, your organization or anyone you know might be a good fit for this program, please have them e-mail me directly ashley@theinterioritycomplex.com .
By the way, if you are a stager wishing to participate, ALL are more than welcomed: newbies, seasoned experts, naked, "not naked" and everyone in between. :-) (What's the industry term for stagers who aren't naked?)
Also, be among the first to join our Twitter Twibe and Facebook Group and our Active Rain Group.
Comments(9)