Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) As a Home Stager

Bigger more established companies are constantly looking at what makes them different from their competitors. As an entrepreneurial home stager you too need to distinguish yourself from other colleagues. In thinking about what makes you different here are some ideas about where to start:

Think about your background - what can you take out of your tool kit that is something you did in the past that you can transfer to your new tool kit. For example:

• Were you an interior decorator in the past?
• Have you worked with seniors or had experience with your own family estate selling?
• Did you take courses in related fields such as interior design, flower arranging, professional organizing, time management, etc.?
• Did you work in a real estate office on the administrative side?
• Have you sold your own homes successfully in the past?
• Did you ever teach an industry-related course?

Think about what you are currently doing - besides a home stager are you also:

• a professional organizer
• a colour consultant
• an interior decorator
• someone who likes to sew and make cushions, throws, etc.
• working in an industry-related business such as a paint store, hardware store, design store, lighting store, etc.

Think about something that ONLY you offer - you are all unique home stagers so what is it that ONLY you do and no one else can lay claim to it. Are you the ONLY home stager who has:

• been featured on local or national television
• who has their own radio show
• has hundreds of followers on their home staging blog
• who has articles published on the Internet

WHAT WILL MOTIVATE YOUR CLIENTS TO BUY FROM YOU?

In my ebook DIY- Home Staging Getting Ready for an Open House in 10 Easy Steps, I talk a lot about what a big job home staging is. I also talk about the benefits of staging your home so that the home seller can sell for top dollar and sooner than a home that is not staged. Realtors also benefit greatly from having a home staged because this puts more money in to their pockets and sooner.

When you are thinking about creating your USP think about what motivates your home sellers and the realtors you work with. In my experience it comes down to these 3 things:

1. TIME- as a home stager you recommend to the home seller what they need to do; the Realtor no longer has to spend his/her valuable time telling the client what to do and they can move on to his/her next listing
2. MONEY- everyone saves money and makes money when a property is staged well because home stagers know where money is wisely invested to make the home 'target-market ready'
3. ENERGY- as a home stager you focus on what you do as an expert, the home seller only does what they need to do and the Realtor leaves the staging with you

Once you have your success as a home stager it's a great idea to use statistics to support how valuable you are to your clients. For example, you could say to your home seller "If I could show you how to save thousands of dollars in preparing your property for selling, would you be interested in using my services?

For the Realtor you might say. "If I could make you thousands of dollars more in your commission for selling this property, would you be interested in using my services? "Once you have your own successes you can insert your own actual case study of how much your home seller actually spent, and how much your Realtor made. Do these sound like good motivators? I think so!

STAYING FOCUSSED ON WHAT YOU WANT

As you know I practice the Law of Attraction (what you focus on whether wanted or unwanted is what manifests in your life). All businesses go through cycles of ups and downs. It's usually in the down times that we move into 'fear' and this is when you can lose sight of why you started your business. Here are a few TIPS for you:

• Have a positive attitude- you need to believe that you are going to continue to be successful with some changes you are going to make. Hang around with other positive people and tell the naysayers 'thanks for sharing' and move on
• Keep learning and growing- read books, sign up for teleseminars or webinars, sign up for ezines with people that you want to learn more from, take courses, etc.

Ask your past customers what they liked about your services- many home stagers get testimonials from home sellers and/or realtors. These are great for marketing and they are your social proof that you use to help sell you. How about going back to your previously clients and ASK THEM what they really valued about working with you.