Networking is a key factor to owning a successful home staging business. While there are many opportunities to have repeat business, in a market like we have today, there's no guarantee that previous clients can be relied upon for subsequential business. That's where networking becomes invaluable because, like every other service business, it's those referrals that will get the business before the random company from the yellow pages.
It's been said before that the real estate professional and the home stager make a great team to successfully prepare and market a home for sale. The addition of a great home inspector and a great mortgage broker further secure a solid team. There are other service providers that can be added to that network to create a fabulous one-stop-shop for homeselling clients but also build the network for referral opportunities. These include home repair/improvement companies, painters, landscapers, etc.
The Metro Atlanta Chapter meeting for ASHSR home stagers was held today at Brook Furniture Rental showroom in Atlanta. Brook has been an instrumental partner in the home staging industry for many many years. Carolyn Higgins, Account Sales representative hosted our meeting and was joined by Ed Baird, the interim GM for the Atlanta showroom and a long standing manager from Brook. Our guest speakers were Lance Grooms and Mark Kligerman from Bekins Moving Company. They introduced their Clear the Clutter (tm) program in an effort to help home sellers prepare their homes for sale. They saw a need for people to get organized and declutter homes prior to selling and asked to meet with home stagers as a way to partner with their service.
Lance manages 19 locations across the nation:
Lance is the sales and marketing manager for all of the above locations. He's looking to partner with home stagers in his areas to market the Clear the Clutter program. The program is a minimal fee to professionally pack, remove and store the content of one room for up to 90 days (up to 10 boxes, 1 vault for storage). It's a great suggestion for occupied homes that need to be decluttered in order to stage properly and to have the items removed and stored off site.
So, home stagers, if you are in one of Lance's areas, contact them for more information. He welcomes the opportunity to work with any, all home, stagers in those markets. It's a great service to offer your next home staging client. Remember, having a one-stop-shop is a great service to have. Your clients will be thrilled to know you can provide them with another valuable service. This will help reduce some of their stress and they will be forever grateful.
About a month ago I received the most wonderful voicemail message from a prospective home staging client in Alpharetta, for whom I did a free estimate for about 6 months prior. It was for an occupied home and she was looking to start preparing to list the house this fall.
Let me back up and say that about a month after doing this free estimate for her, and for about 3 other prospects (it was springtime...it was peak season...gotta take advantage of the traffic!), I realized that I could no longer afford to do what I'm doing for free. Free Estimates are a tough thing to perform as a home stager without giving away the farm. I'm a nice person and I want to help my clients but found that I was giving them waaaayyyy too much information; they no longer needed to hire me to come back. Essentially, I was giving them a verbal consultation for FREE. Bad move, I know, so I did decide to reevaluate my home staging service options and provide this service for a reasonable fee. I no longer do FREE estimates unless it's for a vacant property.
Anyway, her message stated that she was very pleased with the outcome of all of my suggestions and felt that she owed me something to compensate for my time and suggestions. This was completely unsolicited but came at a time that I couldn't have been more thankful or appreciative for. Funny how things work like that. God works in mysterious ways...really.
I responded to her that I was grateful for her comments and that the outcome was good. I told her that I was not comfortable charging her however I did mention that what I did for her is essentially what I'm now offering for a fee as a Verbal Consultation. I told her whatever she felt the service was worth to her, would be greatly appreciated.
She responded with "GREAT! I'm glad you are now charging for it because you are worth every penny! The check is in the mail!"
This 'client' baffled me because she did not respond to my initial bid, nor did she respond to my subsequent follow-ups to see how things were going, prior to this. I assumed she was blowing me off and after the third attempt to contact her, I gave up. It was nice to know, almost 6 months later, that things were going well, that she had listened to me and that she was satisfied with the outcome. If nothing else, the expression of gratitude from her was enough to plaster a smile across my face, especially during a time where there are few things to smile about.
Thanks to Connie T, who inspired this post.
It's true...even though it's cloudy there are silver linings.
Don't forget to say 'Thank You' and express your gratitude for someones service. We all could use a lift once and awhile. That lift could be all they need to keep them going!
As a home stager, I get the benefit of working with many different people in all different kinds of circumstances.
Sometimes they are the empty nesters looking to downsize or move closer to the family who's spread their wings and left the nest.
Sometimes they are the people that move sideways...just looking for a new house in another neighborhood.
And there are times I've had people in the process of graduating to the bigger home.
The common denominator in all of these scenarios is making sure the house is properly prepared to sell. All of my consulations include the basics:
Aside from having a few great real estate agents to refer to all of my clients (if they need one) I also need to have a great referral for things like cleaning, painting, minor repairs, landscaping, etc.
I have the added benefit to refer my husband, Tim, to my clients for their home repairs. Being a home stager, it's the perfect marriage for my business. He's been hired by clients to perform the repairs and changes I've suggested. He's also been referred by an agent friend of ours to perform some repairs designated on the inspection report of a house that her client is purchasing. Additionally he's worked alongside our neighbor who owns Precision Home Improvement as well as performing multiple improvements in our home from finishing the basment to closing up a wall, to removing windows and installing doors.
His business, ATR Home Improvement, serves the northern Atlanta area, including Roswell, Sandy Springs, Marietta, Woodstock, Acworth and Kennesaw. His specialty is custom carpentry but will do flooring, painting, and other projects as necessary.
We are currently working on a joint marketing plan for the fall for redesign services. Redesign is an inexpensive alternative to update a room or rooms and a great way to prepare the house for the upcoming holidays...which will be here before you know it!
With special thanks to Annette Burnett of Sellers Advantage Home Staging in John's Creek, GA for making the connection, the Metro Atlanta chapter of ASHSR met on September 24 for it's monthly meeting at Liberty Oriental Rugs in Norcross, GA.
{l to r: Kathy Lockwood, Jeanne Nolan, Jennifer Lybeer, Annette Burnett, Abby Reilly, Stacie Stamper; Rowan in front} We look tiny in front of that beautiful 9'x12' rug.
Our host, Stacie Stamper, gave us a guided tour of their warehouse, which is open only to the trade, not to the public. While they sell to retailers, they specialize in assisting designers select the perfect rugs for the rooms being designed. Their rugs can be purchased from many high end retailers around the Atlanta area however working with a professional that is obtaining their one on one guidance will ensure the homeowner is getting the perfect rug. This is great for redesign work.
Liberty Oriental Rugs specializes in handmade rugs from Pakistan. They operate their own manufacturing facility there ensuring high quality product, on trend with color and design, hiring the most talented weavers (with the best of the best coming from Afghanistan) and making sure there isn't any child labor.
As part of our tour we also met Rowan, the warehouse manager, designer, do-it-all man. He gave us the most amazing product knowledge:
The topic of rental options came up because, for home staging, the pricepoints are high, unless someone was staging a luxury home. The owner, Jim, said he'd be interested in pursuing rental options for Atlanta's home stagers! Great news!!!!
So, home stagers in Atlanta, contact Stacie {877.208.4970} to set up your account with Liberty Oriental Rugs. She's also a GREAT resource for vendor referrals.
September 11, 2001...a day in history, with today being the 7th anniversary, that none of us will ever forget. Nor should we.
It's funny, whenever I meet people for the first time they typically will ask "Where are you from?" within about 5 minutes. I guess my good ole New York accent is hard to hide. Once I say NY, sometimes I'll say specifically Staten Island, most often our conversation will turn to 9.11.01. (And for the record, I do not compare to the show True Life: Staten Island Girl, either. hahaha... They do exist, I'm just not one of them.)
I wasn't one of those people that were in the towers, or even in the adjacent buildings that morning. I wasn't one of those people that were stranded in Manhattan that morning either, although I have friends that were. I wasn't one of those people that were caught in that dust cloud as the towers collapsed.
But, like many of you out there, I was at work preparing for what should have been just another day at work. Just like all those innocent people that were killed that day...it was just another day. It was a beautiful day too. The sky was bright blue and the air had a crispness to it showing signs of early fall but the big bright sun still warmed up the day like it was summer. It was my parents 30th wedding anniversary that day. It was also my 1 one year anniversary working for Guess?. Before I even had a chance to open my store for business that day, that beautiful, 'just another day' was over.
I worked at Jersey Gardens Mall in Elizabeth, NJ, which is located adjacent to the Newark-Liberty International Airport, right off the New Jersey Turnpike, and across the river from Manhattan. An associate at a store across the hall from me called me to keep me posted with what was going on...I had no idea because we didn't have our radio on. I tried calling my mother because she was home watching my daugther but I couldn't a call through. I began to think of all those people because I worked for a short time at 5 World Trade Center and know how busy that area is in the morning. I have friends that work in Manhattan and began to worry about them. Finally I got in touch with my mother who had been outside playing. Her neighbor told her what was going on so she went inside to turn on the news and then called me at work. I began to panic because she said they reported the city was in lock-down...all bridges and tunnels leading into the city were closed. That was a problem because I was in NJ and required a bridge to get home. All of my NJ connections were en-route to Manhattan, in Jersey City, Hoboken and Weehawkin, so I didn't dare try to head that way. My last connection was my uncle who lived about 45 minutes south in NJ but he was out of town. My dad told me to head that way anyway.
When I got the OK from our West Coast office to close up the store and get home safely, I wanted to cry because I couldn't go home. I was stuck. As I left the mall and headed for the turnpike entrance, I peered over toward Manhattan and saw that smoke plume. The traffic was practically stopped. I tuned into Howard Stern and remember his voice...his normal sarcasm and dirty humor was not there...he was serious. It was quiet outside...eerily quiet. I ended up stopping at a service station in Perth Amboy, NJ because if they decided to open the bridges I'd be close and I needed to stop driving. I didn't have a cell phone and I was alone. I remember how insanely quiet it still was. A very nice girl in the convenience store allowed me to call my mother to touchbase...she also allowed me to give her the store's phone number so they could call me back. (See, there are nice people!) After spending the day alone and not really knowing what was going on, other than from the few phone calls I was able to make, I got home thanks to a neighbor who had a boat. He picked me up from the Perth Amboy marina. As I took that boat ride home around Staten Island to the Great Kills marina, the plume of smoke still rose high above the north end of Staten Island.
I'd say I suffered from some kind of post traumatic stress disorder for days and weeks to follow. I couldn't turn off the news. I'd wait for the newspaper to come so I could see if there was anyone else I knew that perished that morning...and I went to school with a quite a few. The days and weeks that followed included one funeral procession after another...the NYPD and FDNY that were lost, the people in the towers...our little part of the South Shore was greatly effected. I remember standing outside many times in reverance as those processions passed the house.
As I drove to work in the days that followed, taking the West Shore Expressway past the Fresh Kills Garbage Dump, which became the place for the sorting of the debris from the towers, I remember seeing the crushed emergency vehicles up on the hill, the refrigerated trucks heading towards it knowing it contained remains, and dump truck after dump truck of metal and concrete.
I also remember going to school, and I was taking an American gov't course at the time, and saying how everyone pulled together and seeing a renewed sense of patriotism among the community. Unfortunately, it takes a disaster for people to pull together and realize how good they have it. I think the lesson was to be grateful no matter what.
I guess I just want everyone to take a minute to remember. Remember all those lives that were lost. They woke up thinking it was just another day too. Whether they were on a plane or sitting at their desk, it was just another day. Their lives were stolen from them. They deserve to never be forgotten...that is the least we can do.
Even if you take a minute to remember where you were, what you were doing when you found out what was going, etc. Just remember. They aren't really dead until they are forgotten and I think we, as Americans, owe it to them to never let them die.
Never Forget.
September 11, 2001
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Transitioning back to the NY market, from Atlanta, providing home staging and redesign services to homeowners around Staten Island.
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