Spilling the tea today about why sellers may not actually be the ideal client for your home staging business (and why I don't recommend joining Houzz and HomeGuide to get clients!)
Most home staging businesses are rarely overnight successes. I know that sounds so harsh! But, it's reality and I'm all for being real when I talk about growing our home staging businesses.
For most of us, we need to prepare for a longer journey on our path to growth. But, with some insight into how businesses grow and how you can strategically find your ideal clients, that journey can be shorter. prettier and more fun to be on!
The journey to your ideal client
The first thing every business coach, web designer, copywriter, marketing expert asks you is who is your ideal client. (there are 2 other decisions you need to make early in your home staging business–I go into those here) The first ten times I was asked that question, I honestly felt so clueless. I was like, “anyone with a house they want to sell.” Haha!
In the early days of my business, I found Realtors and investors in my market were resistant to hiring a stager. They didn't see the need and thought it was going to be too expensive to work with me. In fairness, I wasn't great at communicating the HUGE value to them. But rather than getting discouraged, I decided I would work around them and I would go straight to the end-user. The seller.
So I got out there in a big way:
- I sent marketing materials to houses on the MLS sitting for more than 30 days
- I joined the For Sale By Owner Facebook group and sent dm's
- I became a preferred vendor on For Sale By Owner
- I joined HomeGuide and Houzz
- I hosted presentations at libraries
All of that effort yielded me exactly 3 clients!
What I didn't know then, is that none of those efforts were ever going to steadily fill the pipeline even if I was super effective with my marketing messages and follow-up. Here's why…
Why Sellers Are Not Your Ideal Client
Reason #1 We are in a relationship business
I know you're awesome. But, prospective sellers don't know you are awesome. Our home staging businesses provide a very personal service. Our clients are vulnerable when they open their houses up to us and–for the most part–they need to feel super comfortable before hiring us.
So, when we go direct to a seller the way I did through Facebook and the sites like Houzz and HomeGuide, they don't know anything about us and we haven't earned the right to even begin selling our services to them.
They are what is considered in marketing, a cold audience. These are the hardest types of prospects to convert to buyers because it requires time to warm them up.
In order to bring that cold audience into the land of your comfy, cozy warm audience you have to stay in touch with them over a period of time to nurture that relationship. That isn't likely to happen if their house is already on the market.
In addition to that, they also won't provide a steady flow of clients either because they just don't encounter that many other sellers in their daily lives. And a steady flow of home staging clients is what we are after!
Ok so that explains why being a preferred vendor on home sites and sending dm's and marketing materials to sellers don't yield clients, but what about presentations when people get to meet you and see you in action?
Pro tip: Start looking for a warm audience and plan for a way to stay in touch with them. A warm audience is someone who has a pain point that you solve, they are easy to find, and they can pay for your service.
Reason #2 Sellers aren't “Centers of Influence”
Centers of Influence. Sounds so fancy, doesn't it?! Centers of influence are incredibly important to lifeblood of any business, especially a home staging business. They are people or businesses “who can boost your market access and credibility through referrals, testimonials, and word-of-mouth.” The operative word in that statement is “referrals”.
We aren't just looking for clients, we are looking for referral partners.
Sellers may know other people who are going to sell their houses and send you referrals. But, they won't have access to as many sellers as Realtors, financial advisors, estate attorneys, etc. (aka Centers of Influence ; )
This is one of the reasons that seller workshops rarely build your business. You may land a client or two from the presentation but you will not likely have continual word-of-mouth referrals to grow a robust home staging business.
Pro tip: Brainstorm Centers of Influence who can bring you referrals over and over again and begin to nurture that relationship. I share one way you can start this in the Profitable Staging Business Starter Kit.
Reason #3 Sellers don't have a big enough pain point
I'm sure this one has you scratching your head! Wouldn't a seller have a huge pain point to sell their house quickly and for the most money? That's what I thought until I started working with clients. What I have found is that most people have lovely homes but they aren't always able to objectively see how their homes will appear to buyers and come across in the online listing photos. There's science to back me up on this too. Our brains are actually wired to tune out our everyday environment unless something has changed or becomes dangerous!
With that in mind, it is understandable that a seller may not even understand why they would need staging. They have a neat, well-decorated home and they are confident they will sell quickly.
Pro tip: Think about who would have the biggest pain point in selling a house quickly and for the most money. That's who you want to be talking to in your marketing!
Profitable Staging Business Starter Kit
There are several exercises you can go through in the Profitable Staging Business Starter Kit to help you dial in on who might be your ideal client and what you can do to find them and stay in touch. It's super realistic and actionable and will put you on the path to profits. Go get 'em!
xo, Lori
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