Summary

Staging Diva Debra Gould explains why marketing with home staging postcards is a waste of time and money.

Home Staging Postcards Ineffective Says Expert

(UNITED STATES) May 14, 2012 – According to Staging Diva Debra Gould, home stagers must be very careful about how they spend their limited marketing funds. On the Home Staging Business Report blog, Gould discusses the effectiveness of marketing with home staging postcards.

To her readers Gould writes, “Hopefully you haven’t already gone out and spent lots of money printing fancy color postcards to deliver door-to-door because these are largely a waste of money and here’s why: Your home staging marketing postcards are arriving in the middle of a bunch of bills and other mail. Most people stand over the garbage or recycling box as they go through the stack. While your postcard is beautiful to you, it’s pretty much junk mail to more than 99% of the people who will receive it.”

Gould maintains that even if some of the recipients notice the postcards, most people will not have a need for home staging services since only 10% of the population is moving at any given time. For those who are moving, a number of them will have never heard of home staging or will not understand the need for it.

“Door-to-door flyers typically go to thousands of homes because direct mail gets less than one tenth of one percent response rate when you’re doing well,” remarks Gould. “In other words, with a distribution quantity of 250, an effective postcard would only generate 25% of a single person, in other words, no one! So if you’ve already made the mistake of printing 250 postcards and delivering them door-to-door, if you get a single phone call from it, consider it a ‘huge success’ because it would be 400% more successful than one would expect.”

For home stagers who may have already printed postcards but have not mailed them yet, Gould recommends saving them to hand out at targeted events—or only mailing them to people who have expressed an interest.

Founder of the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program, Gould has been a marketer since the early 1980s and an entrepreneur for over 22 years. Home stagers can learn effective home staging marketing strategies in Course 4: Staging Diva Sales & Marketing Secrets to Boost Your Home Staging Business.

For free business tips, home stagers are encouraged to visit the Home Staging Business Report on the Staging Diva website.

About Staging Diva

The creator of the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program, Debra Gould has staged millions of dollars’ worth of real estate, including 7 of her own homes. She is the president of Voice of Possibility Group Inc., which operates a home staging division, SixElements.com, in addition to StagingDiva.com, which has trained over 7,000 home stagers to start and grow their own businesses.

Debra has gained international recognition through features in major media in the US and Canada including: This Old House, HGTV, CNN Money, CBC National News, CBS Radio, Global TV, City TV, The Wall Street Journal, Women’s Day, Reader’s Digest and more.

Contact

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
Voice of Possibility Group Inc.
416-691-6615
debragould@stagingdiva.com
http://www.stagingdiva.com

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Summary

Debra Gould encourages home stagers and entrepreneurs to take time to celebrate their business accomplishments before moving on to the next big project.

Home Stagers Encouraged to Celebrate Their Accomplishments

(UNITED STATES) April 23, 2012 – On the Home Staging Business Report blog, Staging Diva Debra Gould urges home stagers and other entrepreneurs to take stock of their business accomplishments on a regular basis.

“I can tell you from experience that it’s important to celebrate your victories and recognize how far you’ve come,” Gould says. “Otherwise it begins to always feel like ‘work’ instead of the joy of doing what you love.”

Since 2005, Gould has dedicated much of her working life to inspiring and empowering others who want to make a living from their creativity. As founder of the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program, she has taken what she knows about building a successful home staging business, about marketing and about being an entrepreneur, and she shares it with thousands of people every day.

Even so, Gould herself occasionally battles negative self-talk, as she recently wrote in a blog post that struck a chord with her readers. In it, Gould confessed that she has been operating from a belief that if she doesn’t keep pushing herself to conquer ever more challenging business situations, her business will stop growing and she’ll stop accomplishing anything.

While Gould acknowledges that this may be true to some extent, she believes the difference is how entrepreneurs keep themselves moving forward: “Do we do it with an imaginary whip that says, ‘Get back to work—you haven’t done enough to build your staging business!’ Or do we motivate ourselves from a place of self-love and compassion that says something like, ‘Remember how important your dream of building a staging business is to you and how much you love decorating houses to sell? Why don’t you turn off the TV and stop looking at Facebook and take that next step you promised yourself instead.’”

For Gould, entering the 8th Annual Stevie® Awards for Women in Business was a great exercise in reminding herself what she had accomplished over the previous 12 months.

Ultimately named as a finalist in all 4 categories she entered, Gould reflects on the experience: “I had honestly forgotten so many of the projects I finished until I had to document them all to prove I was worthy of an award. The reason I ‘forgot’ what I’d achieved is that I’m usually jumping on the next idea rather than also pausing to celebrate the mountain I’ve just climbed.”

For ongoing advice and business tips, home stagers are encouraged to visit the Home Staging Business Report on the Staging Diva website.

About Staging Diva

The creator of the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program, Debra Gould has staged millions of dollars’ worth of real estate, including 7 of her own homes. She is the president of Voice of Possibility Group Inc., which operates a home staging division, SixElements.com, in addition to StagingDiva.com, which has trained over 7,000 home stagers to start and grow their own businesses.

Debra has gained international recognition through features in major media in the US and Canada including: This Old House, HGTV, CNN Money, CBC National News, CBS Radio, Global TV, City TV, The Wall Street Journal, Women’s Day, Reader’s Digest and more.

Contact

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
Voice of Possibility Group Inc.
416-691-6615
debragould@stagingdiva.com
http://www.stagingdiva.com

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Summary

Expert home stager Debra Gould explains how to use blogging to build awareness and sales for a home staging business.

Staging Diva Recommends Blogging as Home Staging Marketing Tool

(UNITED STATES) April 16, 2012 – Staging Diva Debra Gould encourages stagers to build awareness of their home staging businesses through blogging. On the Home Staging Business Report blog, she offers a number of reasons why maintaining a blog can be an important marketing tool.

“Once your home staging blog is set up, it’s much easier to regularly add content than to a conventional HTML website, especially if you have no technical knowledge,” says Gould. “Blogs are coded to allow for easy additions or ‘posts.’ The easier it is, the more likely you are to update your website, which is so important because your home staging portfolio gets better and better with every new staging project!”

According to Gould, an updated blog enjoys higher search engine rankings than an HTML website. In fact, she chose to use a blog platform for the Staging Diva Directory of Home Stagers website in order to benefit the stagers who participate.

Gould reports that having a blog can also attract media attention for home staging business owners: “The more content you write about the field of home staging, the more easily you’ll be found, and the more you’ll be seen as a ‘go to’ source for reporters.”

She also believes that blogging allows stagers to continually demonstrate their home staging expertise.

“This will eventually lead to more business as your potential customers get to know, like and trust you,” says Gould. “Don’t worry that you’ll only attract DIYers! Yes, some people will read your tips and try to stage their homes themselves. Frankly, these are people that wouldn’t have hired you anyways even if you had no free tips. They just would have found them somewhere else. Remember, you’re not trying to attract cheapskate clients—you’re looking for people who value your expertise and are prepared to pay for it.”

Staging Diva Graduate Debbie Fiskum of Denver-based Perfect Transformations Home Staging shared her blogging experience with Gould’s readers: “Blogging can be a lot of work, because to be effective, you really have to commit to being consistent. If you like to write (and talk), you’ll find things to put in your blogs. Give out tips, highlight other articles, showcase non-competing businesses, link to other sites—all help you to be seen as the expert. My blog has helped me get clients—usually investors or remodelers that do more than one house.”

For additional home staging business tips, Gould invites home stagers to visit the Home Staging Business Report on the Staging Diva website.

About Staging Diva

The creator of the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program, Debra Gould has staged millions of dollars’ worth of real estate, including 7 of her own homes. She is the president of Voice of Possibility Group Inc., which operates a home staging division, SixElements.com, in addition to StagingDiva.com, which has trained over 7,000 home stagers to start and grow their own businesses.

Debra has gained international recognition through features in major media in the US and Canada including: This Old House, HGTV, CNN Money, CBC National News, CBS Radio, Global TV, City TV, The Wall Street Journal, Women’s Day, Reader’s Digest and more.

Contact

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
Voice of Possibility Group Inc.
416-691-6615
debragould@stagingdiva.com
http://www.stagingdiva.com

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Summary

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva, provides advice to new home stagers for selecting a business name that will be memorable to potential clients.

Staging Diva Gives Tips for Choosing a Company Name

(UNITED STATES) April 9, 2012 – On the Home Staging Business Report blog, Staging Diva Debra Gould provides advice to aspiring home stagers for choosing a company name that projects the right business image.

First, Gould says a business name should be easy to say and spell: “You really don’t want to have to constantly spell your company name or repeat it to be understood. This poses a challenge every time you’re introducing yourself by phone, doing a media interview, speaking at an event, or even in casual conversation. Besides, if no one can figure out how to spell your company name, they’re unlikely to find you in a Google search.”

According to Gould, a company name should also convey the right business image. She provides examples of actual business names that miss the mark.

“Would you hire a custom carpenter whose business is called Nine Fingers Left?” asks Gould. “I don’t want him bleeding all over my home, thanks very much. What about hiring a painting company called Splish Splash Painting? Anyone who has ever hired a painter before has probably experienced the annoyance of paint splashes and drips left behind on windows, fixtures and floors. Thanks for warning me ahead of time that you might be sloppy. I think I’ll hire someone else!”

In her article, Gould provides several examples of home staging business names that work based on her criteria. One such example is Perfect Place Home Staging, a home staging company owned by Leah Fritz of Kenosha, Wisconsin. Fritz says, “My business name has been good to me because it works on so many levels for a staging business. ‘Help create the perfect place,’ ‘everything in its perfect place,’ ‘buyers searching for the perfect place.’ It is very versatile.”

Gould, founder of the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program, also recommends choosing a company name that is memorable.

“This is a tough one and not absolutely necessary, but if you can come up with a memorable name, it will help you stand out,” says Gould. “A potential client has to see your name 7 to 10 times before they’ll actually notice it. If you have a memorable company name, it’s much easier to get noticed and for people to assume you’re well established because they’ve heard of you before.”

Gould reports that she chose Staging Diva® as a brand name for her home staging training courses because it is easy to say and many find it memorable. She believes that the playful use of the word “diva” makes the brand more approachable.

For additional home staging business tips, Gould invites home stagers to visit the Home Staging Business Report on the Staging Diva website.

About Staging Diva

The creator of the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program, Debra Gould has staged millions of dollars’ worth of real estate, including 7 of her own homes. She is the president of Voice of Possibility Group Inc., which operates a home staging division, SixElements.com, in addition to StagingDiva.com, which has trained over 7,000 home stagers to start and grow their own businesses.

Debra has gained international recognition through features in major media in the US and Canada including: This Old House, HGTV, CNN Money, CBC National News, CBS Radio, Global TV, City TV, The Wall Street Journal, Women’s Day, Reader’s Digest and more.

Contact

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
Voice of Possibility Group Inc.
416-691-6615
debragould@stagingdiva.com

http://www.stagingdiva.com

###

Summary

Home staging expert Debra Gould solves home stager media challenges like increased website traffic, misspelled names and publishing delays.

Media Coverage Should Be Leveraged Advises Home Staging Expert

(UNITED STATES) March 26, 2012 – On the Home Staging Business Report blog, expert home stager Debra Gould recently shared a number of tips for leveraging media attention for a home staging business. Gould believes that this free form of advertising can garner more exposure than home stagers could ever hope to pay for on their own.

“The more the media covers the topic of home staging, the easier it is for all home stagers to sell their services,” says Gould. “When potential clients already know the benefits of home staging, we can spend more time on why we’re the right stager for the job rather than educating them about the practice itself.”

Gould has been working to raise public awareness of home staging since 2002 when she started Six Elements Home Staging and Interior Redesign. Since then, she has been covered in major media like CNNMoney, The Wall Street Journal, Reader’s Digest, National Post, The Globe and Mail, MoneySense, This Old House, Woman’s Day, and many decorating magazines.

In a series of articles, Gould discusses a number of things about media coverage that she learned the hard way and shares solutions for these home stager media challenges.

“First of all, your phone will NOT start ringing off the hook immediately after you appear in the media,” says Gould. “One of the things I talk about in the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program is that someone needs to see your name 7 to 10 times before they’re even aware of you, simply because we’re bombarded with so much information. Your challenge will be to get your name out there before and after those appearances.”

Gould has found that the greatest value of media attention is the “bragging” that can be done about it afterward. “Someone might not see the original article, but when you keep talking about how you were in such-and-such newspaper or magazine, or that you were featured on the radio or appeared on TV, it helps establish your authority and credibility as a home staging expert. In other words, one of the biggest advantages is how much LEVERAGE you can get out of it!”

Much to Gould’s dismay, she has found that newspaper and magazine articles often include misspelled names and omit company names altogether, but she has developed strategies to lessen the chances of this happening.

“Whenever possible, get the email address of the writer and follow up after the call with a thank you email. This is a nice courtesy, but serves other purposes too,” Gould says. “In your message, include a short blurb of how you’d like to be described. With your name, company name and URL in writing in front of them, you improve the odds of having that information included correctly in the final story.”

In Gould’s experience, if an article is compelling and includes the company’s website address, it’s likely there will be a spike in website traffic.

“Make sure your website is hosted on a server than won’t crash when you get your traffic spike,” Gould advises. “Consider this a huge marketing opportunity and don’t waste this new traffic to your website. Ensure you have an opt-in box on your landing page to capture interested leads.”

Gould also explains that the timing of news stories is often unpredictable. She says, “Despite your best intentions, you may never find out if the story actually ran, as happened to me after a long interview with the largest circulation magazine in the US! This was a big disappointment to me because it’s such a huge magazine and I had even pulled favors with two past clients so they could be interviewed for the story as well. After many months of periodic emails back and forth with the writer saying the story had been delayed, I eventually stopped chasing the information.”

Gould recommends that home stagers take a broader view of any experience speaking with reporters: “First of all, it gives you great practice speaking about your business and will likely make you less nervous about the whole idea of media interviews. Plus, if you do an excellent job providing background information, the writer is more likely to come back to you for a future story. For example, I was interviewed for MoneySense Magazine and when the freelance writer did a piece for The Globe & Mail a year later, she called me again!”

For additional tips on leveraging media coverage, home stagers are encouraged to visit the Home Staging Business Report on Staging Diva website.

About Staging Diva

The creator of the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program, Debra Gould has staged millions of dollars’ worth of real estate, including 7 of her own homes. She is the president of Voice of Possibility Group Inc., which operates a home staging division, SixElements.com, in addition to StagingDiva.com, which has trained over 7,000 home stagers to start and grow their own businesses.

Debra has gained international recognition through features in major media in the US and Canada including: This Old House, HGTV, CNN Money, CBC National News, CBS Radio, Global TV, City TV, The Wall Street Journal, Women’s Day, Reader’s Digest and more.

Contact

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
Voice of Possibility Group Inc.
416-691-6615
debragould@stagingdiva.com
http://www.stagingdiva.com

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Summary

Real estate agents are important sources of referrals for home stagers. Home staging expert Debra Gould shares warning signs to watch out for.

Home Stagers Receive Advice for Vetting Real Estate Agents

(UNITED STATES) March 19, 2012 – On the Home Staging Business Report blog, expert home stager Debra Gould recently provided advice to home stagers for finding the best real estate agents to work with.

Gould, who founded the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program, has written a series of free articles about how home stagers can market to real estate agents at open houses. She says, “You have a captive audience to introduce your services, and if you handle it well, it can lead to many future home staging projects.”

Gould also advises home stagers to visit open houses to evaluate whether particular agents would be ideal to work with. She recommends that home stagers pay attention to the real estate agent’s behavior and demeanor. In doing so, home stagers can look for warning signs and ultimately opt against introducing themselves in a business capacity.

“First, does the real estate agent greet people nicely when they enter the home, and do they get them to sign in?” Gould asks. “A professional real estate agent will care about the first impression he/she creates and ensure that any visitor feels welcome. After all, the whole reason they are giving up a couple of hours on a weekend to sit in this house is in hopes of generating some business out of it!”

When visitors aren’t greeted warmly by agents, Gould questions how caring the agent will be when working with actual clients or with home stagers. If visitors aren’t required to sign in, she believes the agent is either apathetic or afraid of asserting themselves, neither of which bodes well for a future business relationship.

Next, Gould suggests reviewing whether the feature sheet for the property is attractive and includes proper photos.

“If the house is a total pigpen, don’t expect to see lots of interior shots,” Gould says. “However, if the house looks reasonable and there are no decent photos of it, you have to wonder how much care the agent takes to market the home effectively. If they don’t care or don’t bother, you can’t reasonably expect them to go out of their way to recommend staging to their clients, especially when they’ll be worried about being asked to help pay for it.”

According to Gould, home stagers should also analyze whether the real estate agent’s coat, shoes and other possessions make an otherwise neat home look messy.

“This shows a total lack of respect for the home seller,” says Gould. “The real estate agent is unlikely to appreciate the attention you’ll pay to staging and will never be a source of referrals.”

Gould states that her intent in writing these articles is not to bash real estate agents: “I have total respect for the truly professional REALTORS®. Unfortunately, there are many agents who aren’t, and they need to be called out for this kind of behavior.”

By visiting open houses, Gould believes home stagers can learn a lot about real estate agents in their locale: “By observing how an agent handles an open house, you’ll know whether this is an agent you might want to work with, and then you can take the next step in introducing your services to them.”

For additional tips on working with real estate agents, home stagers are encouraged to visit the Home Staging Business Report on the Staging Diva website.

About Staging Diva

The creator of the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program, Debra Gould has staged millions of dollars’ worth of real estate, including 7 of her own homes. She is the president of Voice of Possibility Group Inc., which operates a home staging division, SixElements.com, in addition to StagingDiva.com, which has trained over 7,000 home stagers to start and grow their own businesses.

Debra has gained international recognition through features in major media in the US and Canada including: This Old House, HGTV, CNN Money, CBC National News, CBS Radio, Global TV, City TV, The Wall Street Journal, Women’s Day, Reader’s Digest and more.

Contact

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
Voice of Possibility Group Inc.
416-691-6615
debragould@stagingdiva.com
http://www.stagingdiva.com

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Summary

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva, warns home stagers to carefully weigh the pros and cons of maintaining their own furniture inventory.

Home Stagers Advised to Consider Furniture Inventory Issues

(UNITED STATES) March 12, 2012 – On the Home Staging Business Report blog, home staging expert Debra Gould explains why home stagers should think carefully about the potential ramifications of purchasing their own inventory of rental furniture.

“While I teach the pros and cons of having your own home staging inventory, I’m a big fan of not having it,” says Gould. “It’s really not necessary to invest tens of thousands of dollars in home staging furniture, art and accessories, and I say this as someone who has staged hundreds of homes, many of them vacant or only partially furnished. There are tons of pitfalls of furniture rentals for home stagers.”

Early in her home staging career, Gould was invited by an established home stager to tour a condo she had staged. The stager was selling her furniture rental inventory and assured Gould that she could get a good deal by buying all the contents from her. She pointed out that she’d made $5,000 staging that property, so Gould’s investment would pay back quickly.

“What she didn’t know was that I had already staged a number of vacant properties using inventory from an actual rental company and made just as much profit as she did, without having any of her overhead,” Gould explains. “Needless to say, I didn’t buy what she was selling and appreciated that early view of how much better my business model was than hers. After all, she was selling her inventory! If she was making so much money from it, she wouldn’t be doing that!”

A number of Gould’s readers wrote in about their own experiences and frustrations with furniture inventory. Staging Diva Graduate Stacy Goade of Alaska Premier Home Staging had this to say: “While I do feel that my home staging business has been at a disadvantage because I don’t offer furnishings or accessories, I’ve learned this first year that I can be a successful home stager even if I don’t stage vacant homes! In fact, this week I made the decision to pull vacant home staging from my website and my marketing materials. Why? Because the process involved in working with furniture rental companies and real estate agents has not been pleasant or profitable, so why continue! I think each of us has to decide our priorities and define our own success. For me, success is enjoying my home staging business and getting paid for every aspect of it.”

Gould has been a home stager since 2002 and has communicated with thousands of home stagers in more than 20 different countries over the years. She reports that she has noticed a pattern throughout this time: The home stagers who are most likely to go out of business within their first or second year are the ones who maintain their own inventory. Gould believes that their sizable upfront investment, plus the ongoing cost of storage, pick up, delivery, cleaning, maintenance and insurance has a lot to do with this.

“Many new home stagers think I don’t know what I’m talking about,” Gould says. “They believe their situation is special and that it’s different where they live. If they really want to get into the furniture rental business, they should go for it! But before they do, it’s important that they consider the potential hassles involved.”

Gould discusses the pros and cons of maintaining a furniture rental inventory in her home staging course, The Business of Home Staging: What You Need to Start and How to Grow. For more information, visit the Staging Diva website.

About Staging Diva

The creator of the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program, Debra Gould has staged millions of dollars’ worth of real estate, including 7 of her own homes. She is the president of Voice of Possibility Group Inc., which operates a home staging division, SixElements.com, in addition to StagingDiva.com, which has trained over 7,000 home stagers to start and grow their own businesses.

Debra has gained international recognition through features in major media in the US and Canada including: This Old House, HGTV, CNN Money, CBC National News, CBS Radio, Global TV, City TV, The Wall Street Journal, Women’s Day, Reader’s Digest and more.

Contact

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
Voice of Possibility Group Inc.
416-691-6615
debragould@stagingdiva.com
http://www.stagingdiva.com

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Summary

Home staging expert Debra Gould explains how staging a home can be transformative for the homeowner by lessening their stress about the sale of their home.

Home Staging Transforms the Home and Homeowner According to Stagers

(UNITED STATES) March 5, 2012 – On the Home Staging Business Report blog, expert home stager Debra Gould recently discussed how a home staging consultation can be transformational for the client as well as the home.

“Usually when I arrive for a home staging consultation, the client is visibly tense,” explains Gould. “After all, moving is right up there on the ‘Stressful Life Events’ scale along with divorce, death, and job loss. When you consider that these are also three common reasons to move, you’ve got a situation potentially fraught with anxiety.”

Gould goes on to explain how most clients have never worked with a home stager before, so they’re somewhat uncomfortable at first. They don’t know what to expect as they invite a complete stranger to critique their home.

“That’s why it’s so critical to handle the opening of your meeting very carefully” Gould advises home stagers. “Subtle things like how you’re dressed, your facial expression, body language and how you open the meeting will set the tone for your home staging consultation and how your client responds to your advice.”

Gould believes that by building the right rapport from the beginning of the home staging consultation, the client’s stress level will go down steadily as the meeting progresses.

“As the home changes, you’ll see the seller change too,” Gould reports. “Their whole body language, expression and breathing shifts when they’re no longer under the weight of all that was ‘wrong’ with the house and all the confusion they had before you arrived. That’s part of why I love being a home stager. We help people and make a difference in their lives even before they actually sell their house!

Several of Gould’s readers wholeheartedly agree. Imogen Brown of Home Staging Brisbane in Australia said, “Seeing the change in owners is one of my favourite parts of home staging. I used to be a business coach, so I use these skills in my consultations—knowing that this is not about me, it’s about them, picking up on their body language, using appropriate language, ‘getting them’ and listening to them.”

Lori Fischer of Rethink Home Interiors in Pennsylvania had a similar opinion: “I think that is one of the most rewarding aspects of what I do. My first clients actually said that the process was transformational for them and I thought they were being dramatic. When the next client said the changes affected her in a similar way, I was amazed. Now after logging in several projects, I love to see that shift in the homeowner’s perspective. Good stuff!”

Gould covers the ins and outs of home staging consultations in her home staging course, Taking the Mystery Out of Home Staging Consultations. For more information, visit the Staging Diva website.

About Staging Diva

The creator of the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program, Debra Gould has staged millions of dollars’ worth of real estate, including 7 of her own homes. She is the president of Voice of Possibility Group Inc., which operates a home staging division, SixElements.com, in addition to StagingDiva.com, which has trained over 7,000 home stagers to start and grow their own businesses.

Debra has gained international recognition through features in major media in the US and Canada including: This Old House, HGTV, CNN Money, CBC National News, CBS Radio, Global TV, City TV, The Wall Street Journal, Women’s Day, Reader’s Digest and more.

Contact

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
Voice of Possibility Group Inc.
416-691-6615
debragould@stagingdiva.com
http://www.stagingdiva.com

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Summary

According to Staging Diva Debra Gould, attending open houses is an effective way for home stagers to market their home staging businesses to real estate agents.

Home Staging Expert Provides Tips for Attending Open Houses

(UNITED STATES) February 6, 2012 – There are a number of ways that home stagers can market their services to real estate agents, but home staging expert Debra Gould believes that attending open houses is one of the most effective. On the Home Staging Business Report blog, Gould provides tips to home stagers for approaching real estate agents at open houses.

“It’s important to be clear in your own mind about what you’re there for and what you want to accomplish,” says Gould. “This will keep you focused and channel your energies in the right direction. Otherwise, you can say the wrong thing and end up with an angry REALTOR®.”

Gould, who founded the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program, also suggests that home stagers ensure that they are not taking time away from an agent’s potential clients who are touring the home: “While showing up at an open house gives you a captive audience, you don’t want to appear that you’re taking advantage of that or interfering with what the agent is really there for,” she says.

According to Gould, one of the objectives in attending an open house is to begin building a relationship with the real estate agent. Since this is typically the first face-to-face meeting, Gould emphasizes the importance of making the right first impression.

“You should have a professional, conversational-sounding way of introducing yourself,” recommends Gould. “Practice this in advance so you sound confident when you say it, even if you’re brand new to home staging.”

In addition, Gould says it is important not to assume that the agent knows what home staging is or has ever worked with a home stager before. While the term home staging has existed for more than a decade, many agents are simply not familiar with it. Gould believes it is each home stager’s responsibility to explain who they are and what they do in a clear and compelling way.

Gould also recommends exchanging business cards and requesting the real estate agent’s permission to follow up with an email newsletter containing home staging tips.

Gould explains further: “This is only the start of your relationship, so you need permission to build on that relationship and familiarity in the future. With ongoing communication, when they need your staging services in the future, you’ll still be ‘top of mind.’ If there isn’t any ongoing communication, the next time a project opportunity arises, it may go to your competition who has contacted them more recently.”

Gould finds that having a monthly newsletter is the easiest way to keep this communication open: “It’s much less scary or intrusive than calling an agent to say ‘Remember me?’ A newsletter lets you market to them without being pushy,” says Gould.

For more home staging business tips, home stagers are encouraged to visit the Home Staging Business Report on the Staging Diva website.

About Staging Diva

The creator of the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program, Debra Gould has staged millions of dollars’ worth of real estate, including 7 of her own homes. She is the president of Voice of Possibility Group Inc. which operates a home staging division, SixElements.com, in addition to StagingDiva.com which has trained over 7,000 home stagers to start and grow their own businesses.

Debra has gained international recognition through features in major media in the US and Canada including: This Old House, HGTV, CNN Money, CBC National News, CBS Radio, Global TV, City TV, The Wall Street Journal, Women’s Day, Reader’s Digest and more.

Contact

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
Voice of Possibility Group Inc.
416-691-6615
debragould@stagingdiva.com
http://www.stagingdiva.com

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Summary

Graduates of the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program compare stories about decorating their homes as children.

Home Staging Expert Believes Stagers Exhibit Creativity Early in Life

(UNITED STATES) January 30, 2012 – On her blog, the Home Staging Business Report, expert home stager Debra Gould describes how she has been interested in home decorating ever since she was a child. Many of her readers also wrote in about their creative ventures as children, many believing that they were born to be home stagers all along.

“I’ve been addicted to decorating since I was a kid,” says Gould, who founded the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program. “I remember insisting that my room be painted a deep turquoise and my rattan headboard white, because I could totally picture how one would stand out against the other and compliment the pale creamy-yellow duvet. As a teen, I painted murals on my bedroom wall and also the high school cafeteria. I even managed to convince the vice principal of the high school to exempt me from swimming as reward for decorating the cafeteria!”

Gould has heard similar stories from many Staging Diva students and graduates. Some of them rarely played with dolls because they were too busy decorating and redecorating their doll houses.

“I was the oldest of four children in our family and I convinced my mom to let me have my own bedroom so I could ‘study,’” writes Stacy Goade of Alaska Premier Home Staging. “But what I really wanted to do was decorate my own space and surround myself with the energy that suited me. I chose hot pink and lime green for bedding and curtains. I wanted white walls because the room was south facing and lit up so amazing like when the sun poured in through the windows. I talked my mom into ordering me ‘French provincial’ furnishings from the Sears catalog and I got a canopy bed. I felt like a goddess in my own space! I kept my room neat and liked everything in just the right place—a detail oriented kid and a blooming home stager!”

Susan Atwell of AtWell Staged Home in New York has a similar story: “My biggest memory with regard to my bedroom is rearranging the furniture. I was always trying to make the room feel as big as it could. My mom loved decorating, so we did a lot of that together. She also sewed and I remember making quilts for my bed. Window treatments, bedspread, skirt, pillows were all made by us. My dad was extremely handy too. He was a great painter and even built a few pieces of furniture for me—to my specifications. Even then, I knew the value of using vertical space! As I got older, I planned my college dorm rooms all summer, and they always felt like home. Looking back now, I realize that I’ve been decorating, space planning, and organizing as far back as I can remember.”

Stock trader and home stager Red Barrinuevo of Redesign4more in Ontario also wrote in: “As a kid, home decorating has always been fascinating to me. While my sister was excited about going to Sunday mass, I was excited about the fact that I had the whole morning to redesign our living room while they were out.”

About the Staging Diva Training Program, Barrinuevo says, “After taking the course, it is just non-stop for me. In one year, I’ve already staged four homes, I have two big redesigning projects scheduled before the end of the year, and I was recently invited to Alberta to do another redesigning project for a newly renovated house, all expenses paid! Now I realize that when you start doing what you truly love, it will translate and the feeling of happiness is unbelievable. The best years of my life has finally begun!”

Kathi Howland of Nicole Interiors Home Staging feels the same way about her new home staging career: “Right now I’m repainting and re-staging my home office. I love it and can’t imagine doing anything else. In fact, the only regret I have is not recognizing this was my career path a long time ago instead of wasting time in a soul sucking office job.”

To this, Gould replied: “The good news is you found your dream and took action before it was too late! This reminds me of a great proverb—‘The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago, the next best time is today.’”

Aspiring home stagers can find additional information about Debra Gould and the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program at StagingDiva.com.

About Staging Diva

The creator of the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program, Debra Gould has staged millions of dollars’ worth of real estate, including 7 of her own homes. She is the president of Voice of Possibility Group Inc. which operates a home staging division, SixElements.com, in addition to StagingDiva.com which has trained over 7,000 home stagers to start and grow their own businesses.

Debra has gained international recognition through features in major media in the US and Canada including: This Old House, HGTV, CNN Money, CBC National News, CBS Radio, Global TV, City TV, The Wall Street Journal, Women’s Day, Reader’s Digest and more.

Contact

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
Voice of Possibility Group Inc.
416-691-6615
debragould@stagingdiva.com
http://www.stagingdiva.com

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