5 Ways to Sell Staging Services in a Hot Real Estate Market

My husband and I just sold a unique property with a hard-to-sell home in under a week for over the asking price. And when I say "my husband and I," I actually mean our realtor. We chose our realtor based on the complexity of our property and were hopeful that this successful listing agent would be able to add our unique rural property to his list of fast, profitable sales. We were not disappointed.

This realtor swooped in with specific staging requirements, professional photography, drone footage, and a 3D virtual tour. He told us that the "sweet spot" on MLS was just a few days long and that we needed to make a big splash from day one. He wanted to maximize the sale price as much as we did. For us, it was about a return on our investment. For him, it was literally his livelihood.

As our property exploded on Zillow and racked up thousands of views on our realtor's website alone, we averaged multiple showings a day. Five days and three competing offers later, we'd accepted the highest bidder and were nailing down a closing date. Given the unique situation our listing was in, we weren't anticipating that we'd receive our asking price. We priced it with room to decrease when necessary and were completely thrilled when we actually got more than we thought possible.

Having been in the home industry for years, I already believed staging had value, but after this recent experience, I really and truly KNOW that it does. And our realtor? He's successful because he understands the power of staging, too.

This story leads me to today's topic... How do you sell staging services in a seller's market? Today's topic was requested by successful home stager Theresa Ceglio of We Stage Jacksonville:

Home stagers get a lot of push back in this hot seller's market both from the agents and home sellers. They feel they don’t need to do anything to their listings or properties because everything is selling so quickly. I work with agents that see the value in staging and won’t take a listing if they won’t stage it.

How can we as stagers really get through to those who are leaving so much money on the table? They have the stats, they see what’s happening and I know they know what other agents are making in extra commissions but they just don’t budge. We educate constantly but so many are missing out and that translates to us missing out, too.

-Theresa of @westagejax

If you're a home stager who is getting frustrated with the realtors in your area who simply don't seem to value staging, this blog post is just for you.

5 Ways to Sell Staging Services in a Hot Real Estate Market

1 | Don't chase after the homeowners.

If you are new to home staging, you might be tempted to go straight to the homeowners with your sales pitch, stats, and tactics - but don't. Target the real estate agents instead. Realtors can become sources of repeat work, unlike individual homeowners.

2 | Recognize that not everyone with a realtor's license is a professional.

Sadly, it's true! Having a realtor's license doesn't automatically endow someone with common sense or marketing savvy. Given that home staging is a form of marketing, only those realtors who are also business people will understand its value. You can't convince a realtor to stage a home, but you can convince a business person to do something that will bring them a higher ROI.

Change your messaging. It isn't about whether the realtor believes in staging but in whether they value real estate as a long-term career. You aren't in control of their career goals, so don't put needless pressure on yourself in trying to "convince" them.

3 | Change your unique selling proposition (USP) to suit a hot real estate market.

Being specific will help you sell. In a sense, you need to stage (or, position) your services to fit the market. Rather than saying you'll help a listing agent sell a property more quickly, just focus on the fact that the property will sell fast - regardless. The selling price, however, will be significantly lower if the home is sold without being staged. It isn't a matter of when it sells, that part is pretty much solid. The question is, "For how much?"

Ask your realtor this hard-hitting question (perhaps not directly but through your marketing):

"How will your seller feel when they discover that staging their house would have resulted in a higher sale price? Their first thought will likely be, Why didn't my realtor suggest that? Awkward!"

Realtors want to look professional and knowledgeable in front of their clients, as their reputation and sales history will often determine whether future home sellers will choose to list with them. Stop focusing so much on the staging services that you offer and focus instead on showing the realtor what it feels like to be considered the go-to guru in real estate.

4 | Use specific and tiered offers to serve and upsell.

When presenting your offerings to realtors, use tact. Rather than pitching them a full stage, present them with a tier of package options. Name each package according to its purpose:

• A normal staging consultation could become a Perceived Value Appraisement.

• A typical staging package could be renamed a Price Enhancement Reshaping.

Give them your lead magnet or client guide beforehand to show how you can help them increase their real estate business profits.

Next, take a small step toward paid work. Offer them a staging consult and make it easy for them to book and pay for it online, ideally via your website.

After that, you'll be more able to sell them a staging package, especially if your consult resulted in a simple, easily understood report of the aesthetic defects in their property. That report should contain a room-by-room list of things that need to be changed - with a general description of how they could be remedied. Rank each space in the home by order of importance in staging.

5 | Address realtor hesitancy point-blank.

I'm not a fan of sugar-coating anything, typically because that only wastes time and ends up being ineffective. (That's an Enneagram Type 3, for you!) Marketing your staging services is no different. Show your listing agents how to capitalize on what has proven to work: Merchandizing.

When Apple releases their next shiny piece of tech, do they skip the ad campaigns, fire the models, and just throw the new iPhones on the shelves? No. That isn't how serious brands work. High-demand items should be marketed even more than low-demand items - because that sweet combination of demand and perceived value in marketing is what will drive up the selling price.

If you'd like to use this template, and many more just like it, go here.

As much as I wish there was a secret script for getting realtors to see value in staging homes during one of the hottest seller's markets out there, there isn't. Not every realtor is going to become your client. Rather than stressing out about how you'll convince them otherwise, focus on getting in front of the listing agents who see their careers as a long-term gig and make sure your own online presence (website, branding, and sales funnel) are up to par with what will attract them.

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