How to Up Your Home Staging Game to Win More Clients and Crush Your Selling Goals

Both sellers and buyers are more savvy about real estate transactions than ever before – and with Boston area inventory remaining so low, the competition for those clients is at an all-time high. 

If your professional goals include getting more listings, reducing days on market, and increasing sale prices, listen up – because upping your home staging game is a great way to do all of these things.  Utilizing a high quality stager will make your portfolio look amazing (and attract more clients to you), help your listings sell quickly (for the lowest possible DOM), and help drive demand for your listings (and we all know what happens with increased demand!)

Here are 5 ways you can up your staging game to make your clients happy and crush your selling goals:}

1.      UTILIZE PROFESSIONAL CONSULTATIONS FOR EVERY OCCUPIED LISTING

Truth: consultations have a crazy high ROI.  

For example, at Glen Street we charge $400 for up to a 2-hour styling consultation and $500 for a styling consultation with a written report, delivered to your client within 24 hours.  Most homes in the Greater Boston area we serve list for $1M and up – meaning a styling consultation costs a measly 0.035% or less of the list price.

For that investment, not only does your client get an exhaustive list of how to best prepare their home for sale, but you get to stay high and dry.  We’ll be the staging experts who tell them all the things that need to be done while you get to be their amazing, trusted advisor who delivered that staging expert to them exactly when they needed it the most. 

The result is a more marketable listing that will sell for more and a strengthening of your agent/client relationship.  It’s a huge win/win.

2. SELECT YOUR STAGER BASED ON VALUE, NOT ON PRICE

There is a wide variety of stagers on the market, offering staging at a wide rage of prices. When you’re evaluating one stager versus another, make sure you’re considering ALL of what each stager brings to the table. 

Do they have a track record of success? 

Are they easy to work with? 

Does their portfolio align with your target buyer (more on this below)?  

Is their inventory clean, fresh, and on-trend? 

Are they insured? 

Do they pay their team appropriately? 

Do they use professional movers or have a dedicated in-house logistics team? 

Are they the kind of humans you want to do business with?

Additionally, ask yourself this: what is the cost of sub-par staging?  Initial staging agreements are almost always paid in full before staging is installed (because we’ve incurred most of our expenses by the time we get to your listing) – and is typically non-refundable (because, again, our expenses are front loaded).  Once that staging is installed in the house, are you going to be happy with what you see?  If the staging is poorly done, you’re stuck with it at least for the length of your initial term.

Do yourself (and your client) a favor and choose a stager who will both do the home justice and make your life easier in the process – even if they charge more.  And, no, this is not an invitation to ask them to come down in price to meet what another stager has quoted.  Understand that better staging costs more – but what you gain will far outweigh the additional investment.

3. VOW TO MATCH YOUR STAGING TO YOUR TARGET BUYER - BOTH IN STYLE AND NET WORTH

Staging should always meet or exceed the net worth of your target buyer. Do you know who they are - like, REALLY know who they are? 

Is it a family?  A couple of empty nesters?  A single who’s ready to mingle?

What’s important to them?  Are they looking for a home to raise their kids but still looks and feels amazing?  Are they big into entertaining and hosting dinner parties and being oh so fancy? 

Your target buyer is almost always defined as someone who is drawn to the architecture of the home, desires the town or neighborhood, is attracted to the lifestyle the home can provide, and can pay the listing price.

For staging to hit the mark, it has to show them a literal representation of THEIR very best life being lived within those walls.  Placing ultra contemporary staging in a family home won’t connect with your buyers any more than placing traditional staging in a contemporary home will.  And under-shooting your target buyer’s net worth (ie: placing low-cost, lightweight furniture in luxury homes) will miss the mark every time.

To create the emotional connections between buyers and homes that drive big offers, make sure your staging aligns with your target buyers – in look and luxury level.

4. EMBRACE VIBRANCY

Historically, staging has been all neutral.  A sea of white, beige, and gray, it has aimed to appeal to everyone by offending no one.  Which is like playing a game not to lose. 

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to live life not to lose – I play to win.  And most buyers like to think of themselves as playing to win, too.

Staging follows design trends, and the design world has steadily trended away from all bland colors over the past several years.  Today, you’re just as likely to see a rich, deep moss green or burgundy in an armchair as you are to see a basic beige in retailers such as Crate & Barrel, Pottery Barn, and Arhaus – and what buyers see in these higher end retailers is what they covet the most.

So don’t be afraid to let your listing stand out.  Let it be vibrant, bold, and unique – just as your buyers desire themselves to be.

5. UNDERSTAND THE MATH

Staging isn’t about making your listing look pretty – it’s about profitability.  Full stop.

Educating yourself on the math of staging will not only help you make better decisions but will present you in a more favorable light with your sellers.  You’ll be the agent who not only knows what buyers want to see, but who also has her thumb on the ROI.

So let’s do a little simple math.  Don’t worry, it will be fun – pinky promise.

Staging the main rooms in a home listing (living, family, dining, kitchen, and primary suite) for 2 months with a high-quality stager should run you anywhere from $4,000 to $10,000+ in the Boston area, depending on the size, location, and luxury level of the home.

Why so high?  Because your stager is fully moving into your listing, setting everything up within a day, and then quickly and efficiently moving everything out when the contract is complete.  That’s two moves in a short period of time.  Plus styling.  Plus rental of furniture that matches the net worth of your buyer (see above).  Plus an incredible amount of knowledge regarding space planning and buyer psychology. 

But that investment is a drop in the bucket compared to the ROI.  Proper staging routinely increases the perceived value of a home by upwards of 10%.  If your listing price is $1.5M, that’s a $150K increase in sale price directly attributable to staging.  And, since staged homes that are priced properly sell more quickly than their unstaged comps, you’re both avoiding price reductions (which are often in the 5-figure range) and reducing carrying costs.

And if we assume the above $1.5M home cost $5000 to stage, that’s a 2,900% ROI. For real ($150,000-$5,000 = $145,000. $145,000/$5000 = 2900%). Math doesn’t lie.

THE BOTTOM LINE

As a real estate agent or broker, embracing high quality staging and educating your clients on the efficacy of it will not only increase their satisfaction with you, but also improve your portfolio and result in faster and higher sales.