International Institute Of Home Staging

advice

How to Ensure Brand Loyalty in Home Staging

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When most people think of brand loyalty, their first thought is about brands they use in their own day-to-day life.

What supermarket do you shop at? What brand of cereal do you buy? What fast food do you get?

Unlike food brands, home staging isn’t a service or product that is needed for every household on a weekly basis.

Home staging is a service that most households wouldn’t even use once a year. Some people spend their lifetime living in the same property, some people never plan to sell once they find their dream house. So, how can you create brand loyalty for an industry where repeat customers only happen every few years if that?!

Image Source: adoremagazine.com

Social media and advertising

Being front of mind for your potential customers is a great way to ensure that when they hear the term ‘home staging’, their first thought is you!

No matter if you want to solely advertise online, hand out flyers to mailboxes or run a Facebook ad; advertising is the most effective way to ensure that your company is everywhere.

If someone keeps seeing your brand pop up online or on social media, when it comes time to sell their property or they know someone who is, their first thought is your company.

Offer incentives

Spread the word of your business and encourage repeat customers by offering them an incentive. It could be a free service or bonus inclusion if your client shares something on social media, recommends you to a friend or is a repeat customer. This is all about creating a strong and positive relationship with your customers. You don’t necessarily have to drop your prices to meet your competitors’, but you can make your customers feel valued.

Image Source: ventandcover.com

Listen to customer feedback

Feedback isn’t always good feedback, but it can always be used for the better.

By looking at your feedback, be it online or face-to-face, you are able to understand what your customers want and need from your service and then it is up to you to meet those needs. If you keep getting feedback that the customer felt left out during the process, then make an effort to install a system which means the customer is kept up to date every step of the way.

Maintaining and improving quality

It’s important for businesses to strive for all customers to leave completely satisfied with your quality of service.

Continually improving your business ensures that you blow your customers’ expectations out of the water so they keep talking about how great their experience was. With a great experience, comes a memory so even if someone had a great experience 10 years ago they may still try to hunt down that business and hire them again.

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Bathroom Renovations for Sale: The Must-Do’s

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It is inevitable that before you sell your property you will have to do some bits and bobs around the house.

Renovating your bathroom ready for sale can get quite expensive quickly so it is important to figure out what you should be investing in.

Your bathroom could make or break how fast and how much your property sells for.  So, what should you invest your money in to and what should you skip when renovating?

Here’s 6 must-do’s that should be on your list:

  1. Ensure that the toilet is in complete working order – it’s a must! This is something that will start being used as soon as the new owners move in so it is absolutely essential. If the toilet bowl is cracked, leaking, wobbly or looks old then it is time to replace it for the market. No one wants to buy a house with a toilet that looks gross or broken so it is of utmost importance to fix this up right away!
Image Source: Pinterest
Image Source: Pinterest

2. Make sure all taps are working correctly. Fix any leaks or loose handles before you put your property on the market. The good thing about this is that it can be done in half an hour at a reasonably low price! Don’t stress if the hot and cold labels are mixed up or the wrong way around. This is common and not difficult to figure out.

3. Ensure that all drawers in the vanity and bathroom area are in working order.  Focus on making sure they are clean, and open and close smoothly.

4. Fix any cracked, chipped or mouldy tiles. As most bathrooms have tiles on the floor and walls, it is absolutely essential that the tiles look clean and new.

5. Ensuring that all plumbing is in working order. If your plumbing looks dodgy or doesn’t work properly, your property will probably not get the price it deserves on the market.

Image Source: Pinterest
Image Source: Pinterest

6. Fix any lights that are hanging out of their socket. Not only is this a hazard but it also makes the bathroom look neglected. Installing new lights in this instance is essential.

While your bathroom may only be a small part of your property, it is an area that is used everyday and therefore needs to be presented well when you go to market.

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Must-Have Home Staging Stock

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When you reach a certain point in your home staging business, acquiring stock and inventory is an essential step up.

Purchasing this stock might seem like a bit of a leap, and depending on what stock you purchase, it might be.

However, if you are smart about what and how much stock you purchase, you could improve your overall home staging business.

Create a Sanctuary
Image via Style Curator

When it comes to stock there is typically two types: soft furnishings and hard furnishings.

Soft furnishings include items such as pillows, linen, lamps and small accessories. The way I like to think about soft furnishings is that I could pack them all in a box and put them in my car.

On the other hand, hard furnishings are big items such as lounges, arm chairs, dining tables, coffee tables, and so on. These are the items that can’t be packed and loaded single handedly.

Logically, soft furnishings should be acquired first, then later down the track hard furnishings can be acquired. It’s important to be able to consider what sort of stock you should have now!

SOFT FURNISHINGS

When it comes to soft furnishings, the items below can be purchased relatively cheaply and in bulk.

  1. Pillows: Purchasing pillows that work well in a wide range of environments is a great way to get the most out of your money. Choose pillows in a few colours and designs so they can be used on their own or grouped together.
  2. Faux flowers and plants: Faux flowers and plants are great when the right ones are purchased because they can look amazing and used in a range of spaces and styles. Plus they last a long time!
  3. Books: Theses can be purchased from an op shop and are a great way to add texture and create a ‘lived in’ feeling to any space. These are the most cost-effective soft furnishings and can be used in any environment, from a study, bedroom, lounge room or even an outdoor setting.
  4. Knick-knack accessories: These are small accessories that can be used in a variety of environments – anything from vessels, small bowls, candle holders, or any other small accessories.
  5. Linen packs: This isn’t absolutely necessary, but having coverlets and toppers can transform a room from something dull to something amazing.
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Image via immyandindi.com.au

HARD FURNISHINGS

As for hard furnishings, these items are more expensive so it is beneficial to go for quality over quantity.

  1. Mattresses: Often clients do not have enough beds to show off the best use of the space, or they have moved and have taken their mattresses with them so these are a must!
  2. Dining chairs: Not all dining chairs go with tables, or look good with them, so having some neutral dining chairs that work with a range of colours is a great idea so you can use the clients dining table.
  3. Bedside tables: Bedside tables have the potential to open up the bedroom and transform the space into something amazing. Having bedside tables that are unique, yet work well in a variety of environments is essential.
  4. Lounges: Lounges can easily begin to look old, worn and unpleasant when they’ve been used for years. Having lounges in stock that are a neutral colour are a great idea as they can be used in a range of different styled homes.
  5. Coffee tables: Coffee tables are a great way to show off the space in a lounge room and add an element of homeliness to the space. Not everyone has a coffee table, and if they do it might be old and worn. Having new, coffee tables as part of your stock can transform a space.
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Image via southernliving.com

 

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New Ideas for Your Home Staging Business

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Figuring out how to stay above your competition can be difficult. Do you drop your prices? Do you become more like your competition? Do you change your core business structure?

The great news is that you don’t have to do any of the above!

In the age of technology, you can do a million and one things to switch up your business and create a unique element of interest that sets you above other home stagers in your area.

All that you have to decide is what ideas you are going to pursue! Here’s some to get you started:

Create a YouTube channel

It’s no secret that YouTube is the place to be at the moment. Creating a YouTube channel where you can give home staging advice, film the process of staging a property (you will need to get your clients permission for this), film your day to create a ‘Day in the Life of a Home Stager’ vlog or even just discussing key topics in the industry is a great way to promote your business, earn some extra money and create a whole new business venture.

Start a blog

This is just the written version of a YouTube video. Blogs are a great way to engage your audience and to share advice and your thoughts.home staging tips

Warehouse tours

We know home staging involves a lot of storage and everyone stores things differently. Join up with some other local home stagers and host a warehouse tour on a weekend to allow for maximum creative flow, new ideas for storage and in turn bring the community closer together.

Create an online op-shop

it is inevitable that home staging businesses have a reasonable amount of stock turnover.. Instead of just throwing these pieces away, you can put them online. This can be connected to your home staging business website and act as a side project. Whenever an item of stock wont be used again just post it on the op-shop for someone else to buy. You can label the stock as pick up only between certain times. This is a great way to regularly clear out old or broken stock to make way for new items.

Host regular home staging meet ups

It is of utmost importance to have positive relationships with other home stagers in your area. Hosting a meet up every few months will allow for a community to form where you are able to discuss local issues in the home staging community and create other events such as educational events and charity events.

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Why is Defining the Function of a Space Important?

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When someone moves into a new property, one of the first things they think is ‘what will I use this space for?’

Some spaces are obvious…the kitchen is for cooking, the bedroom is for sleeping, the lounge room is for watching television. But as home stagers, we know there’s so much more to it than that!

The spaces we create don’t necessarily have to be practical for day to day living. By that, I mean we don’t need to include a ‘play room’ for kids or a spot for all the shoes at the front door.

It is important that we hold onto the hopeful  mentality that buyers have and create a space that would be used in an ideal world (without the clutter!)

So, why is it so important to define the function of a space as a home stager?

Image via amberinteriordesign.com

When an empty property is put on the market, potential buyers are likely to become overwhelmed over the prospect of what they will use each space for. What room is better for a teenager and what one for a preteen? Should there be two living spaces? Is there enough room for a study space or home office?

Similarly, when a property is put on the market without professional property styling and using the seller’s current layout, the property is less likely to appeal to the buyer. Leaving the property in it’s original state  will create elements of clutter and uncertainty about what space is to be used for what. This is because we adapt to how our families use a space and often don’t notice that there is anything out of the ordinary about this.

This is where the magic of home staging comes in.

When staging a property, it is up to the home stager to determine what a space is best used for. If there is an awkward space between two bedrooms, a home stager may place a study desk there. This is something potential buyers might not have thought of doing, but seeing the desk there allows for the space to seem larger, and like the desk was always supposed to go there.

Image via cocolapinedesign.com

The accessories and furniture home stagers use allow for a space to have a clear and obvious activity attached to it. The items in the bedroom show that the space is used for sleeping, and the same goes for the lounge room, study space and kitchen. Doing this allows for potential buyers to see the size of the space, as well as the ideal activity to be done in the space, creating a homely and ‘I could live here’ atmosphere for all potential buyers.


Image via myscandinavianhome.com

How to Get the Most Out of Your Home Staging Experience

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When you are preparing to put your property on the market, chances are you want the best price possible right? Of course!

This usually means hiring a home stager to give you the best chance at getting the highest return. You can choose to have your property completely staged (if you are planning on removing all your furniture prior to inspections), or you can opt for partial styling.

Now, if you want to use home staging to your fullest advantage, there’s a few things you should do before having a consultation with your property stylist.

1. De-clutter

De-cluttering your property is a must before it goes on sale and before you have a consultation with a home stager. Remove the stacks of DVD’s, CD’s, and bookshelves stacked high with odds and ends. All the things you have been meaning to clear out and anything that doesn’t have a spot must be sorted. Not only will this help in the moving process but it will instantly make your property feel more spacious and fresh!

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Image via apartment34.com

2. Remove valuables and images

You don’t want your valuables to be damaged during the sale process. If something is special to you but it does not go with the theme of the property, removing it prior to a home stager coming in is a good idea so someone else doesn’t have to tell you to remove it. Similarly, removing images is a must! Potential buyers don’t want to feel like they are walking through someone else’s property so family photos are unnecessary.

3. Remove toys

Even if you are living in the property during the sale process, limiting the amount of toys used to a small box that can easily be packed away in the car during open homes is a great idea. Toys are not necessary when displaying a home as a family home. Not only that but toys in the home during open houses make the property feel as if it is someone else’s and potential buyers cannot fully imagine themselves living in the space.

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Image via mydomainehome.com.au

4. Yard cleanliness

Keeping your yard in immaculate condition during the sale process is of utmost importance! Street appeal is the first thing that draws a buyer in so ensuring that the yard looks well-kept, with trimmed hedges, cut grass and clean footpaths is absolutely essential!

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Image via homestolove.co.nz

5. Be open

There is no point hiring a stager if you are going to shut down every idea they have. Good home stagers are experts in design and the real estate market, which means they know what sells and what doesn’t. If you hire a stager but then rearrange everything as soon as they leave, then the whole process was a waste of your time and money. The property design does not have to be to your personal taste, or even to the personal taste of the stager, it just has to be that of the market.

Do these things combined with the guidance of your property stylist, and you’ll see your property selling faster and for more money!

 

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5 Reasons You Should Never Show An Empty Room to Buyers

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With home staging on the rise, it’s becoming less likely to see a property on the market that the tenant has styled themselves.

However, one thing I do still see quite a lot is empty rooms.  This can pose a big risk to the saleability of your property and in some instances, be even more detrimental then a poor styling job.

Here are the top 5 reasons to never  show an empty space to buyers.

1. You risk making a big space feel smaller

If there is nothing in the room, it is difficult to comprehend the scale of the room, so even a large space may not be appreciated for its size.

Home Staging Blog - Before and After

2. The buyer can’t imagine living there

Potential buyers will not be able to imagine how the furniture will fit or look like. Unsure people will not proceed to a purchase.

3. It’s easier to spot the cons and miss the pros

If the room is empty, it is natural for the buyer to concentrate on the negative sides of the house or even under-appreciate a beautifully designed flowing space.

To make a great first impression, it is necessary to keep their focus away from the cons and really emphasise the highlights of the home.

Home Staging Blog - Before and After

4. Negative thoughts about the previous homeowners

When presenting an empty space, you run the risk of buyers becoming distracted by other thoughts.

They could start wondering about previous owners and what happened to them; why they are selling their house? This may lead them to lose interest or offer a lower price, thinking that the owner is in need.

5. They don’t see the property as a home

Finally, it is very important to remember that most people don’t want to buy a house, they search for a home.

Home staging can create the romantic bridge between the buyer and the house by establishing an emotional connection. Smart styling and accessorising can  make your house feel warm and welcoming to potential buyers.

There you have it, the 5 reasons to never leave a room empty when going to market.

Consider working with your old furniture if having your property fully styled is not an option – you can update it with a fresh coat of paint and new hardware. Just never leave the space bare!

Do you want to attend the largest home staging event in the country? Click below to join our VIP Waitlist for the National Home Staging Symposium 2020! 

 

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Clutter and Your Mindset

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I wanted to share something with you today that I was reading on my phone earlier, so you’ll see me looking at it a little bit. It’s about clutter and money.

 

There’s an amazing, good friend of mine, as well as an amazing business woman, called Denise Duffield-Thomas from LuckyBitch.com. Go over and check her out. You’ll find the stuff that she does absolutely amazing.

I was reading the morning about this really great piece she wrote about decluttering. I see a lot of home stagers doing some of the things that she talks about in her blog.

You’ll see in here that she talks about clutter and decluttering is great for money manifesting. She goes on to talk about all the different things that maybe we are doing with our clutter.

For example, in our office spaces, are we holding onto a desk someone gave us when we first started our businesses because we feel that we need to have more money or be a bigger business before we then give ourselves another desk?

A little like – and this is a phrase that Denise talks about, as interesting as it sounds – beggars can’t be choosers. “Someone gave me this when I first started business, so I’m going to keep using it.”

I really want you to head over and read this blog because this is absolutely amazing. It speaks about if we’re holding on to some of the things that we were gifted and we feel we have to be grateful for in our businesses, we aren’t opening up opportunities for new energy, new money and new abundance to come in.

I see this a fair bit in home staging. I see it with people’s stock. When I first started and I was getting stock in and I was like, “Wow! My business is growing!”

Then, as I got more and more stock and I wanted to turn it over, there was this ridiculous attachment to the stock that I had first because, “Oh, gosh. I need that. I need to be grateful. That’s where I can from.”

It wasn’t until I had the most epic garage sale that suddenly my business started to flourish. I got rid of all that old stock that was tying me down and that I wasn’t even really using. I was getting a warehouse full of clutter.

This is something that’s really important in home staging.

Look at your stock, look at your inventory and avoid it becoming clutter. It is the main commodity for many home stagers who have higher for making money.

  • Why do we allow a money making item to become a cluttered item?
  • Why don’t we cut it loose and allow more space in our warehouse, more space in our energy, more space in our business for abundant stock, customers, clients and agents coming in.

This is one way that I find a lot of the home stagers that I mentor and that are on our memberships are a bit attached to clutter. But I want to share with you from my phone here. I love reading Denise’s stuff.

She had some other great top tips and I wanted to read you some of my favorites about decluttering in the business because it’s so important; just as it’s important in life, it’s essential in business.

  1. The first one is a really great one about unsubscribing to emails that you don’t want anymore. Deleting old contacts out of your phone.
  2. Backing up and cleaning off your computer. If your desktop looks like a mad woman’s breakfast, clean that up. You’ll be amazed at how good it feels.
  3. Shred old documents. Old documents that you don’t’ need, get rid of them. There is no need to have that clutter and store them.
  4. This is a really interesting one: clean up your Facebook feed. It doesn’t mean you have to defriend people or unlike people, but if there’s someone that’s on your feed and you just don’t want to see their stuff anymore, make sure you remove that from your feed.
  5. The other one that I love, which is really interesting is deleting websites and getting rid of the histories in your browsers. That can be really interesting.
  6. Then, one of the last ones that I want to read to you – and this is a great one – is say no to networking groups that have become an obligation and not a joy.

I believe massively, guys, in the five people that we surround ourselves in are the people that we’re going to become and the people that we’re going to be the biggest reflection upon us.

That could also be said for networking groups. Many of us got involved in networking groups, which can become clutter in our calendar and clutter in our life.

Take Denise’s massive inspiration. Head over to LuckyBitch.com. I want you to get on and read this because it’s a really amazing blog.

I want you then to have a look in your warehouses for cluttered stock; I want you to look in your offices for all those things that you feel you should be entitled and that you’re really gifted to have and you need to keep and I want you to look in your computers and in your phones.

Rid yourself of that clutter and that will open up the energy for abundance and more business, more wealth and more opportunity to come your way.

Thanks so much for listening, guys. I’ll be back again soon.

Faux or Real Plants

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Today, as I always say, I’m going to give you my perspective and a little bit of the experience that I’ve undertaken in my years in home staging about a specific topic.

You can thread from that what works for you, what agrees with you and what strikes a chord in your business and then make decisions about how you want to move forward from there.

Today, I want to talk to you about faux or real when it comes to flowers and plants.

 

In my home, to be honest with you, I only allow real, living plants and flowers and tree and nature.

But, in home staging, it is a little different. The community is a little divided on it, whether to use faux or whether to use fresh.

There are obvious difficulties when it comes to using fresh flowers, especially if it’s a vacant property. I’ll give you a bit of an insight as to what we do here and you can take from that what you need for your business.

In all vacant properties, unless they’re in the prestige price bracket, we often use faux plants and faux flowers.

Purely for the reason that rarely does someone have the budget and is able to afford us continually going back to the property every week or every two weeks to refresh the flowers, to water the plants and make sure that everything’s in working order.

The reason that that is important is there is never a time when walking into a property to a dead plant or to smelling, molding flower water is okay.

It actually is a bigger distraction than having a faux plant or faux flowers in the property.

Obviously, there are some markets where that just doesn’t work. There are some markets, even when it’s a vacant property, that we invest in having real and authentic plants and real and authentic flowers in there.

We come up with a pricing system and a process that allows for us to go in and interchange the plants and interchange the flowers during the time on market.

If you have a property that is occupied, you can actually negotiate with the owner if they’re there and if they’re happy to, around the concept of them topping up the flowers and them taking care of the plants.

But again, this takes some negotiation and it takes a little bit of work.

What I will say, though, is if you choose to use faux plants or flowers, you really need to make sure you maintain them well.

There’s nothing worse than dirty, dusty, musty smelling fake arrangements, fake plants or fake flowers. It’s essential that when you’re storing these items, if you choose to use them, in your warehouse, that they’re always bagged up so they don’t become a dust collection.

What you can do if you do find that happening is actually use feather dusters on them or, even in some cases, I have vacuumed our plants.

Another great tip is that you actually have a roster and a process where all of the fake plants and all of the fake flowers get cleaned. This can make a massive difference to how long they last and how good they look.

My biggest advice if you need to use fake plants or flowers is to invest in really good quality plants and flowers.

It will cost you quite a substantial amount, but there are some amazing products on the market internationally for this. There’s amazing freestyle arrangements that you can make and there’s also some amazing premades. You even have some really cool things like premade terrariums and all sorts of things.

My big tip is choose the price point of the property. The client and the type of installation, whether it be an occupied or a partial, before we make the decision about whether you’re going to use real or whether you’re going to use faux foliage.

There’s my take, guys. One thing is for sure, either way, you need to make sure that the faux flowers and foliage that you use is perfectly targeted for the property, for your brand and also for who you are selling to.

Choose wisely.

What Beds to Use in Home Staging

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Hey, guys. I’m back again for another installment to answer some questions that have been emailed through to me.

I’ve had a few people email through their question and I’ll read it to you here.

We’re just starting up our home staging business and we really need to know about how you do your beds.

 

That’s an interesting question, isn’t it? I am going to answer that to the best of my ability and hopefully everyone will be able to take a snippet from that.

I’m assuming that this question is pertaining to what sorts of beds we use in our installs. Let’s look at our options.

The first option is, obviously, a traditional slatted timber bed that needs to be pretty much built on site. It has the side rails that has the header and the footer and the slats that the mattress would sit upon. There’s one option.

The next option is an ensemble bed and, obviously, the last option is a bit of a more temporary bed. It may be an inflatable bed, it may be a camp stretcher with an inflatable mattress on top or it may be a camp stretcher with a foam mattress on top.

These are all different sorts of options. That’s not all of them, but they are some of the different options that you have when you’re staging a property and you want to put in some beds.

What do we do? If I’m going to be dead honest about what we do here at Silk Home, which is my brick and mortar home staging business, we actually use a lot of ensemble beds.

We used to use the slatted headers and footers with the side rails, but the time it took to construct the beds on site meant that our productivity was greatly diminished.

And that meant that we needed more than one person to be on site installing every single house, even after the initial drop off of furniture was complete by the muscle, basically. That was a bit of a negative for us. It really did take some time.

The other thing we noticed is that the mechanisms that you’re adhering everything to did, over time and after multiple assembling and disassembling, wear. We steered away from that.

That pointed us to our ensemble beds.

We have, as well, used all varieties of camp stretchers and foam mattresses/camp stretches and air mattresses, but one of the big problems we found with air mattresses was that sometimes they do go down.

You often find that the time you get a call is 7:30/8:30/9:00/10:00 on a Saturday when, often, you’re busy doing other things, saying,

“I’ve just taken everyone into an open home and the mattress is deflated. I need something else here right now because the open home has pretty much been ruined by the fact that there’s a deflated mattresses and a slump-looking bed sitting in what might have been an amazing master suite before.”

One of the problems I have with inflatable beds is they certainly have their locations, but one of the things that you need to make sure you think about is they aren’t 100% reliable.

I can probably hear many people going, “What about those places where you can’t get an ensemble base into?” Absolutely right. It’s a huge, huge challenge.

There are many places, especially in the older parts of town, where the stairwells are too skinny and the lifts are too small and the landings at the top of stairs are too small to be able to work an ensemble base around.

In those cases, we actually have to use a mattress and we prop the mattress up on tubs.

There you go. There are our sneak peeks and our behind the scenes of what we do at Silk Home for beds. I hope you’ve learned something from that; I hope that there’s something that you can take and integrate into your home staging business and into all the different situations that it may be applicable.

I’ll be back next week. Make sure if you have any questions that you jump onto our Facebook page and we can help you out.

If you have really specific questions about your business, make sure you pop over to our memberships. Our Shine Membership has a closed Facebook forum where you can pretty much ask anything you want.

The members of the community and myself will be jumping in there to help. Jump on over and check them out. They’re all on the website.

 

I’ll see you guys again soon. See you.

5 Reasons Why You Should Press Record RIGHT NOW

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By Tori Toth

Have you noticed the trend towards communicating on video? Maybe you’re already chatting with friends and family on Face Time, Facebook Messenger or Skype – but have you been using video to build a relationship with your potential clients?

Video is so important because it allows you to introduce your message in a compelling way that can entice the audience to take action. According to Think With Google, almost 50% of Internet users look for videos related to a product or service before visiting a store or business.

If you’re toying with the idea of utilizing video in your business – do it because video increases sales. However, it provides something deeper that comes as a direct result of staring into a glass lens for hours on end.

Video transforms the person and opportunities available to them. Here are five reasons to create a video marketing plan in your business.

Builds a Stronger Web Presence + Boost Engagement

The more places you can communicate and connect with your potential customers, the better chances you have of converting them into paying clients. We want to continue to spread your brand and message to help you stand out from your competition.

And a video does that, because videos are the most shared content on social media. Tubular Insights studied where do consumers engage with branded videos daily?

• 49% on Facebook
• 32% on YouTube
• 24% on Instagram
• 22% on Snapchat + Twitter

More than links, images, or plain text, video has the best chance of getting shared by your followers. We like to share content that will entertain our friends and move them, and video has a better chance of doing that.

Video Reveals Your Personality

Those of us who have been utilizing video for a while now, know video forces you to constantly develop your communication skills. By honing in on these skills you can reach audiences by being unique. Companies that live and breathe their brand are highly successful with their marketing. Simple videos that show who you are can be an effective way to put a face, and personality, to your business name.

Sell More with Less Effort

With video you can use the content over and over again to provide continuous communication that will build relationships across the web, all while showing your brand at it’s best.

Videos can educate clients on what you do, which primes your prospects before you meet them. Imagine eliminating cold calling. Video does that!
Clients can immediately connect with you and feel as if they know you, building that know, like and trust factor.

Video marketing can lead to significant financial payoff. By adding an informative video to your landing page, you can increase sales (as much as 80% according to some studies). The best part is this video will market your message even while you sleep!

Videos Generate Referrals + Opportunity

Videos grab our attention and can instantly make you look like an expert. At the end of each video you should provide a call to action, telling the viewer what to do next to connect with you – this creates an instant referral for you to follow up with by replying to a comment, asking a question, collecting their email address or returning a phone call.

“It’s inconsistency that builds distrust. ~Brendon Burchard”

By consistently creating these videos, you’re showing up, sharing valuable content and delivering on what you promise – putting your audience at ease to take the next step with you. This ultimately provides opportunity with not only potential customers, but with businesses or vendors who may want to collaborate with you on video.

Increase Profitability to Make You More Money

Your videos should always be marketing your brand to increase profitability and generate more leads. Don’t just do a video to do a video there should be a purpose behind the message to generate more referrals and opportunities.

Thanks to modern technology, producing effective videos no longer requires a ton of money. You can make decent videos with your smartphone, a little bit of planning and being consistent. This helps allow video marketing to provide an excellent return on your investment. These days, customers don’t expect polished, high-end production quality from online videos, they prefer simple, humanising clips that share your message.

Tori Toth is an award winning home stager, best-selling author and lifestyle expert who leverages her TV Reporter experience to share visual stories through video. As the creator of the online on-demand video courses: Video Visibility and The Stage to Sell Strategy, Tori navigates the proper steps to build visibility from brands to homes. She has appeared in global media with her books, videos, newsletters, products and appearances that now inspire hundreds of thousands of homeowners and real estate experts worldwide. Learn more at www.toritoth.com.

If you would like to see Tori live, secure you place at the National Home Staging Symposium for 2018!

What To Look for in a Real Estate Agent

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As a home stager, creating and maintaining a strong relationship with real estate agents is an essential part of generating referred business.

When you have a strong relationship with a real estate agent you will constantly have business flowing and you will always have a direct line of call when something goes wrong if a property.

Selecting the right real estate agent for your business can be difficult though. You may have a great relationship with one agent in the beginning but as your business grows that agent may not fit with your business anymore.

Image via silkhome.com.au

When choosing a real estate agent to maintain a strong relationship with, always look for someone who is:

  • An established real estate agent. Agents who are not new to selling properties are more likely to develop a relationship with a home stager as they are always looking to expand their connections
  • You want to be able to trust your real estate! As a home stager you want to know if the agent has any relationships with other home stagers and if they are referring their clients to you or to other home stagers
  • A people person. A real estate agent won’t get very far if they aren’t a people person. They must be approachable, friendly and great at negotiating
  • As a home stager it makes sense that you would want to have strong relationships with multiple real estate agents but a real estate agent doesn’t need a relationship with more than one home stager.
  • At the same level as you. There is no point forming a relationship with a real estate agent whose clients would not be able to afford your service. Make sure your agent has the same client demographic as you do to ensure maximum results

Once you have established a relationship with a real estate agent it is important to maintain that relationship. This can be achieved through a variety of ways such as:

  • Referring business. If a client gets their property staged but they aren’t sure what agent to go with yet, encourage them to go with the agent you are affiliated with
  • Buying ‘Thank You’ gifts. If your affiliate has a big win, sells a great property or smashes a record, giving them a small gift is a great way to maintain a relationship and show the agent that you are about their successes
  • Providing statistics. At a milestone during the year, be it yearly, half-yearly or quarterly, providing your affiliate with statistics about how your business is benefiting real estate is a great idea and a push to ensure that the agent will want to keep working with you

Having a strong relationship with a real estate agent is a great way ensure that you are constantly getting business and referring business. Having grounded relationships and affiliations with real estate agents is the best relationship that a home stager can have as it means that you are the first point of call to help that agent with a property.