“The investment of Staging your home is less than your first price reduction!”

Many of you have probably heard me share one of my favorite sayings “The investment of Staging your home is less than your first price reduction” in ASP® and ASPM® classes provided by Stagedhomes.com, in published news articles, on television or maybe during a presentation. Given our current market conditions, this message is no doubt among the most compelling messages you must relay to prospective and current customers as well as real estate industry professionals. As brokers and agents we have a fiduciary responsibility to get top dollar for the sellers we represent. In an environment of continually sliding home prices we’re responsible for finding creative ways to sell quickly and at the highest possible price. You hold the key to a solution that will enable your sellers to get top dollars: Staging. Staged homes will usually sell for more money and in a quicker amount of time – here is a link to statistics provided by Stagedhomes.com to prove it. I encourage you to you review how impactful Staging is, and I recommend you share this information with consumers and real estate professionals. Reach out to your sphere of influence and tell them how you can help sellers save money before they lower their price. I thought I’d share five tips on how you can share the impact of Staging:
  1. 1. Publicity through Social Media
Social Networks Are you on LinkedIn? Twitter? How about Facebook? ActiveRain? Your competition is! I often hear from many REALTORS® and Stagers alike who have found success by having a presence at some or all of the most popular social media platforms, and strictly using their profiles as an integral component of their marketing mix. Your Own Blog Thanks to today’s available technologies we can create a phenomenal presence online, and build a loyal following of readers, viewers and listeners, without a huge financial investment. A blog is your own online newspapers, where you control the content. By providing relevant and informative articles you can quickly build up a loyal following, and as many Realtors around the nation are discovering, blogs are great relationship builders. Here is a link to the Stagedhomes.com blog where you can see how Stagedhomes.com uses its blog to publish news and updates. Other Blogs Publicity is also available at blogs hosted and managed by others. Use search engines to look for blogs in your local area that share stories about your community. Once you’ve found local blogs, reach out to the owners and ask if they’d be interested in featuring your articles about real estate and of course Home Staging®. It benefits them as your articles will be valuable to those who visit the blogs, and it will most definitely be beneficial to you as you’ll reach out to a bigger audience. Just be mindful to keep your articles educational and informative – not promotional. Online Presentations Do you have colorful presentations you use to showcase your talent to prospective clients? Now you can share it with the world – for free. Consider signing up for a free account at Slideshare.net and upload your presentations. Once uploaded you can easily share links to your presentations through email, at your website, at your blog and at your Facebook page. Here is an example of how Stagedhomes.com presents the benefits of Staging by the use of a presentation at Slideshare.net. Publicity through Traditional Media Outlets Finally, I encourage you to form relationships with local media outlets. Contact the real estate editor of your local newspaper when you have a story idea.  You may also consider inviting a news crew from a local TV station to interview the owner of a home you recently Staged. In addition, you may want to contact local community publications to see if they would like to publish frequent articles you provide them. Want to know more about how you can share the benefits of Staging? Click here to read Communicating the Benefits of Staging at the Stagedhomes.com blog. The investment of Staging is definitely less than a seller’s first price reduction. Make sure you tell everyone you work with, and want to work with. It is my honor to always be working for you. Barb Barb Schwarz, ASP®, ASPM®, AB, IAHSP® The Creator of Home Staging® CEO www.Stagedhomes.com IAHSP® Founder and Chairwoman of The Board of The International Association of Home Staging Professionals® and Foundation

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