Trying to find home staging jobs in 2021? Tammy Hart (I.D.D.P, CAPS) is here with some valuable tips! A tutor of QC Design School’s Home Staging Course, Tammy is also the owner and award-winning designer for the Designer Chick Co. In addition to being a Certified Aging in Place Specialist from the National Association of Home Builders, she has also been the Past Director on the National Board for DDA (formerly CDECA).
The Importance of Client Acquisition
Running a home staging business is a very demanding endeavor. Often, you’ll wind up being pulled in many directions. Unfortunately, this will sometimes leave you with little to no room to time on revenue-generating activities.
And let’s face it: those are the very activities that will “show you the money”!
Early on in my career, the best advice I was given was to let go of activities that weren’t bringing in money to the business. Instead, I should outsource them to more appropriate avenues. For example, I despise accounting. So, I hired a bookkeeper to manage that part of the business for me.
Do you know how many headaches I was spared and how much more time I had to focus on my expertise? A lot!
The fact is: if you’re running your own business, prospecting and gaining new clients needs to be one of your top priorities. Even when you have a million things piled up on your To Do list, you must make time for this as well. Now, if you’re new to the industry, I completely understand that you might not know exactly how to do this.
This is why I’ve developed a list of activities to help you increase your clientele, find more home staging jobs, and ultimately, increase your bottom line!
19 Tips for Booking Home Staging Jobs in 2021!
1 – Get your Home Staging certification through QC Design School
You can’t have a successful career if you aren’t properly trained and certified. QC’s self-paced, online Home Staging Course will teach you everything you need to know to become a true expert in the field. Plus, when you graduate, you’ll have International Staging and Redesign Professional (ISRP) designation to add to your resume!
2 – Build your website and portfolio
A strong, informative website is critical for any modern business. As part of your website, you should include client reviews, contact information, a list of services, and other pertinent details. You should also include a portfolio of high-quality photos showcasing past work you’ve done.
3 – Maximize social media
Increase your online presence through social media platforms such as Instagram, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. Make the effort to actually reach out to your connections in order to build your network and make beneficial partnerships.
Here are 3 more ways you can book home staging jobs by using smart social media strategies!
4 – Turn to your family and friends
Let them know that you’re looking to find home staging jobs and can use their support to help you grow your business. They might have a job to offer you, or know someone who’s moving. Then they can refer you to this person!
Also, don’t be afraid to ask if any of your friends and family know a Realtor, and if they’d be willing to make an introduction.
5 – Join a networking group
Business Network International (BNI) is a great example. Becoming a part of this kind of group is great because you can potentially become the recommended home stager for a select group of individuals.
Pro Tip: Are you a QC student? Then another networking group you should join right away is QC’s Virtual Classroom on Facebook!
6 – Start a home staging blog
Increase your exposure and strengthen your online presence by starting a blog for your business. You can offer your staging expertise, provide helpful hints, and answer frequently asked questions you’ve received in the field. If you’re not sure how to start up and maintain a successful blog, here’s a really helpful breakdown to get you started!
7 – Create a YouTube channel
Don’t feel like writing a blog but still have tons of wisdom you can share with the world? Maybe the answer is to start your very own vlog instead. You can even take your channel one step further by showing actual photos and video footage of your projects.
8 – Partner with a local charity
In general, this is a great door to open if you’re looking for home staging jobs and want to gain more hands-on experience. By partnering with a local charity, you’ll increase your chances of meeting like-minded individuals who can become a part of your professional network. This can lead to referrals and job opportunities!
9 – Attend networking events
There are all sorts of in-person conferences and trade shows you can attend once COVID-19 restrictions deem it safe to do so. In the meantime, there are still plenty of similar options available virtually!
Remember: you are looking to build long-lasting relationships that will help grow your business. These kinds of relationships will absolutely help you land more home staging jobs – but it’ll take time for a group of networkers to grow trust.
So, be patient and let these connections grow as organically as possible. Other people can easily tell if you’re being too eager or not genuine.
10 – Join a Home Stagers association
Joining a Home Stagers association is also effective way to grow your network. I personally recommend the IAHSP (International Association of Home Staging Professionals). However, the Real Estate Staging Association (RESA) and the Canadian Association of Renovators and Home Stagers (CARAHS) are also highly reputable and excellent options, too.
Fun fact: as a QC Design School student or graduate, you’ll be eligible for memberships with RESA and CARAHS. Learn more here!
11 – Connect with real estate agents
As I mentioned earlier, you can see if anyone you know can put you into contact with a realtor. However, there are other ways you can go about this, too. For instance, you can attend a Realtors Association Meeting in order to meet real estate agents in your local area.
In terms of your network, realtors are a top priority. They can be a prime source of home staging jobs and can easily refer you to a client if you make the right impression.
12 – Introduce yourself to brokerages
Brokerage companies are the ones who connect sellers and buyers in order to facilitate the transaction surrounding the sale of the home. Brokerages are another key contact to develop into your network. So, establish communication and put yourself on their radar!
Hold virtual lunch and learns or set up a meeting during coffee hours at brokerages. Once your foot is in the door, you can then introduce yourself and your business. Remember to be specific about how YOU can help them close their sales.
If you play your cards right, they’ll see you as an asset to their company and want to utilize your expertise. Just like that, you’ll have a ton more home staging jobs to add to your calendar!
13 – Partner with a listing agent
Listing agents are the ones who organize and run open houses for properties on the market. If you’ve recently staged a home for a client, get in touch with their listing agent and see about co-hosting the open house alongside them.
You’ll then be able to personally meet all of the potential buyers who walk through the front door. These are people who might one day require the services or a home stager, or know someone who currently does. So, make sure you have plenty of business cards on you!
14 – Build an email newsletter
Email newsletters are a popular marketing strategy for a lot of businesses. You can use them for client retention, to create contact with leads, and maintain communication with your network. My personal tip would be to create a “Just Staged and Sold” section. If you’d prefer to go old school, you can always send out physical postcards.
Want to learn more about email marketing? Here are 8 rules to keep in mind!
15 – Ask past clients for referrals and testimonials
While gaining new clients is important, it’s just as important to remember the value of your past clients. If you know that someone had a positive experience working with you, reach out to them and kindly ask if they’d be willing to leave you a review online – particularly on Google and/or your business’s Facebook page.
To better your chances of potential clients seeing these reviews, make them easily accessible on your website. Add a Testimonials section right in the main menu and proudly showcase all of your clients’ raving reviews right there on one page.
Don’t be afraid either to ask past clients if they’d be willing to refer you to people they know. Most happy customers will be glad to help you get more business. Just be careful with your wording and don’t be pushy about it, is all.
16 – See if your contacts know about any home staging jobs
Your professional network might have leads for people who are looking to move. If they do, don’t just wait back for them to refer you – take the reigns and look into these leads yourself!
17 – Host an open house event for your business
You know when a company first opens, and they hold a launch party so that everyone can come and see exactly what their business is about? Think of it like that!
Host a free open house event, either at your warehouse or your partner’s warehouse (if you have one), and invite your target market to come check out what your home staging business has to offer! As part of this target market, you can invite friends, family, coworkers, COIs (Center of Influence), and more.
If your budget allows it, you can also hype up this event on social media in the weeks leading up to it. This way, more and more people in your local area will be aware of your event and potentially want to come.
18 – Look into expired and/or longstanding listings
These are homes that have either been on the market for a long time, or are no longer being listed because the seller’s contract has ended. These types of listings provide you with the chance to reach out to the realtors (or even the sellers) who hold the listings. You can then set up a meeting to discuss partnership opportunities!
19 – Become a guest contributor
Increase your visibility by writing articles for peoples’ newspapers, blogs, magazines, and other published works. You can also be a guest speaker for online podcasts. The more people who are introduced to your business, the more home staging jobs you might wind up getting.
After all, as a certified stager, you have tons of expertise to share. There’s no reason why you can’t expand beyond your own business and get noticed by contributing to other people’s platforms, too!
Owning a business takes a lot of effort. You need to put the time into nurturing and feeding it in order for it to grow into something you’re proud of. Home staging jobs won’t just fall into your lap.
You need to put yourself out there! Don’t be afraid of rejection. Yes, rejection will sometimes come – but it might also simply mean, “Not right now.” So long as you keep pushing forward, your career will be a successful one.
