Earlier this week an ASP asked me for advice. She was putting together some materials she wanted to hand out at an upcoming Broker’s Open House, and she asked “how do I effectively communicate the benefits of Staging?”
You’ve probably heard me say, or seen me quoted in newspapers and magazines,
“The way you live in a home and the way that we market and sell a house are two different things.” You may also have come across another of my favorite sayings:
“The investment of Staging IN your home is always less than a Price reduction ON your home!”
These are sayings I’ve developed for the benefit of ASP Stagers, and they do effectively help convey the message of the value of ASP Staging. I encourage you to use them, and when you do,
please make sure to quote me as the source. I also suggest you link to
Stagedhomes.com and
IAHSP.com to further educate about ASP Staging and THE association for the Home Staging Industry.
After I’d responded to the ASP’s question about communicating the value of Staging, it once again struck me how important our Staging University is to ASP and ASPM graduates.
Inside the Staging University you’ll find a wealth of information, materials, and other resources. You have access to literally thousands of pictures showcasing homes before and after ASP Staging, legal forms and other helpful documents you’ll need for your ASP business, marketing tips and a tremendous amount of other essential resources. In addition to the sayings you read above, there are many more you can use within the Staging University.
Speaking of communicating ASP value and resources, I have created a
brief presentation which I invite you to share with prospective customers as well as real estate agents and other professionals within your sphere of influence. It’s my hope you’ll post a link to it at your Facebook and LinkedIn profiles, share it in emails, and anywhere else you feel you can use them.
Click here to view the slideshow presentation, which includes lots of pictures showing homes before and after ASP Staging.
It’s my hope you’ll use the resources within the Staging University, including the proven sayings I’ve developed over the years. And when you do,
please quote me and reference Stagedhomes.com.
Barb Schwarz
Barb Schwarz, ASPM, ASP, IAHSP
President and Founder, Stagedhomes.com®, the ASP/ASPM® Courses & ASP/ASPM® Designations, The Staging University®, the IAHSP® International Association, and the IAHSP Foundation®
Dear Barb:
Whenever I discuss home staging, I never fail to mention your name, my ASP designation or my membership in IAHSP. But I must admit, that staging for my urban clients/realtors in Boston is difficult, in the following way that you may want to consider:
I learned home staging via experience studying feng shui, as a Realtor, an ABR, and via my studies to become an ASP and then joining IAHSP.
I truly want to grow my home staging business here, but my training as an ASP – first Realtor, then full stager designation – seems so expensive. I learned staging in the suburbs via HomeStaging.com; but, in this city where everything is SO expensive, the principles are the same, but implementation & how I can price my services are SOOO different.
I must buy and rent very high-end, designer-type materials to succeed here, and it is very tough to fund this type of start up business. Here it is much more about making an already-gorgeous place – or an empty one – more buyer-sensitive. The local premium-rental sources – actually, Interim Furnishings is the only one I really know, and the very high-end people expect to use them exclusively – are very good, but VERY expensive…
I suppose what I’m asking is whether you can develop a subset of high-end urban stagers. It requires a different attitude and skillset…
My ASP designations and other experience to-date are wonderful, but in my market, just not enough for me to compete with the investments I can make at this point…
Ideas?
Many thanks,
Rosemary Conway
Boston, MA
857.919.3279