Introducing Staging in Your Listing Presentation
/Summary
Sometimes it can be a bit tricky to pitch staging to a seller if they haven’t used staging services before and when you’re trying to gain them as a client, you may need some tips on how to include staging services in your listing presentation.
When you can help the seller to understand the value of staging and how you have a great working relationship with a stager that will give them the best possible outcome, it becomes a win-win for everyone.
In a course provided by the Real Estate Staging Association (“RESA”), listing presentations are covered and we talk about what to say to your potential client during your presentation, as well as some hurdles you might encounter when talking about staging and how to respond. Keep reading and watch the video for more info!
Once you have provided your marketing materials to the seller and explained to them what you have to offer and what sets you apart from other realtors, you can connect with the seller by asking them what the ideal outcome from their selling process would be. If they are like most homeowners selling their home, they will want it to be sold quickly and for top dollar and assurance that you’ve done everything that you can to make that happen and it was a smooth process. This is where you work into the conversation that you have a common goal to get their home sold quicker and for more money, which is why you collaborate with a professional home stager, that you believe that home staging is a key component to getting the most bang for their buck, entering the market strong, and ensuring that they have a great selling experience.
Some additional points to add may be that you really want their home to stand out in the marketplace and rise above the competition of other homes being sold in their neighborhood. You can show them a staged, updated house, and show them that that is what they’re up against, and how staging can attract more buyers.
So what happens if they object?
They have just remodeled and updated everything.
Their wife is a design expert.
It isn’t in their budget.
You can respond by saying that you understand, they do have a beautiful home, but that there is a difference between designing for living and staging to sell, and with that in mind, the stager is focused on how to market their number one asset. The stager’s focus is to make their home appeal to buyers, they know the target demographics, and while their home is perfect for them, the stager will make it perfect for buyers. Statistically, vacant homes stay on the market longer because buyers cannot immediately visualize living in the home.
You can also explain that there are different levels of staging, beginning with a consultation (the cost of which is typically covered by the realtor). A consultation includes an Action Report and is the least expensive, but highly effective way to stage a home and it doesn’t cost them anything.
It may be helpful to reiterate that it is your job to create the best possible outcome in the sale of their home, and that you whole-heartedly believe in your process, and that it includes staging – which allows you to get their home entered on market strong, make a great first impression, rise above and beyond the competition, and getting them more money, more quickly.
Now it’s time to wrap it up and seal the deal (hopefully)!
You can summarize by recapping how much you believe staging will boost the sale of their home, the various options for staging, and what the benefits are, and then...
“So when can my stager come? Would [pick a day within the next week] work?” - then wait for the response. Hopefully the answer is yes, or they give a day that works best, but if they continue to object, you have some more work to do!
Another tool that we can provide to you is a listing presentation handout that introduces our company, provides statistics, and includes a home preparation plan. Include that with your listing presentation folder and it highlights the lengths that you’re going to in order to get their home sold and more money in their pockets.
One of the fun parts of the process is collaborating and teaming up with realtors to achieve the same goal! We look forward to working with you!
Transcript
Hey guys Happy New Year and hope you're having a great start to your 2021! I still keep writing it wrong, right. That transition. Getting it right, on the date. Today we're going to talk about your listing presentation and introducing staging in your listing presentation. What I've seen is that my experienced, you know, high volume realtors really do a great job of introducing staging, you know, talking to their clients about the value of staging and, and really promoting themselves as a realtor who has a collaboration with a stager to give them the best possible outcome. When that happens from my perspective as a stager I go in and really I'm just repeating what you said, I'm making you look really good. And, and then, and there, and therefore, we're just kind of, you know, people need to hear things a couple of times. So you're saying it first, I'm seeing it next and we really have great results because we have total client buy-in. So what would that look like? Well, one of the courses that I teach with that is put out by RESA, the Real Estate Staging Association, we do cover a kind of a listing presentation script. So we're going to kind of go over that today and you know, when I do that course again, hope you join me. I'm probably going to be scheduling another one here soon. We just did one in December. Oh, right. Let's see. So when you're in your listing presentation, right, you are telling your potential client, you're hoping you get that listing, right Now...there's a lot of competition to get that listing. So many realtors, so few listings!
So when you're in that presentation, you want to come on strong, with all the things you have to offer that really sets you apart and above and beyond your competition, right? The other realtors. So in that instance, after you've given them your, you know, your marketing plan and all the things that you offer, your business and what you do for them one way to kind of transition to that conversation and really highlight the value, add that you bring to your clients by offering staging or bringing in a stager is to, you know, just ask them, you know, client a year from now, let's say we look back, you're looking back on this experience and selling your home and working with me, what would you need to happen to get the best possible outcome and have the best possible memory of this experience, right. Selling a home is stressful. So asking them how to make it great, really gives you some insight and some of their needs and wants and kind of maybe go dig a little deeper.
So maybe something you haven't addressed will come up. But typically how a home buyer or sorry, a home seller will respond to that. They want to sell fast, you know, for more money, you know, they want to see money, right. That's why we sell it. If you're selling, you know, you're hoping you're going to come out really great and ahead you know the process goes smoothly. You know, I think a lot of home buyers, they want to see that you're really working to maximize their sale. And they're gonna say great, because that's exactly what you know, our goal is when I work, work with a client is I want them to get that home sold quicker and for more money, for that reason, we collaborate with a professional home stager because we really believe that home staging works and that we can really get the most bang for your buck and get you to enter the market strong and have a really positive selling experience.
Okay. So, you know, a couple of things that maybe you touch on as well at that point is really, you want to stand out in the marketplace that your home stands out in the marketplace. So you, that you're competing with the neighborhood. So if you have another home listed at the same time, right? Same price points, same pool of buyers looking, you want to make sure your home stands out. So that's another reason why we bring in a stager. You can also, you know, if you know that there's a competitive item, right? Oh God. Down the street, there are those, the gray house that's staged and maybe updated more and you can show them that and say, this is our competition. So that's, you can just bring that into the conversation. Right. We want to make sure that we are really stepping up to the plate when it comes to putting your house out there when this is your competition.
Okay. So you might get an objection, right? There's a couple objections buyers, or, sorry, I keep calling them buyers, sellers might say. For one example might be, I don't think my home needs home staging. Right? They might say this for a couple of reasons. Maybe they've done a ton of work updating things renovating, you know, they feel like, let's say it looks like, let's say it does look brand new. They made the right choices with the renovations, right? That's not always the case, but let's say in this case, it is. So it looks fresh and new, and it's really what buyers are looking for today. You know, color palettes that buyers like. And they're like, we don't need home staging because we've done a great job remodeling. My wife is a design expert. And so I don't think we that step. That's where you know, you can kind of go back and say, you know, I understand, and actually you have a beautiful home, but there a little bit of a difference between designing for living and staging to sell. So with that in, and that's the role that my stager will come in and focus on and how to really market your number one asset, right? It's a, it's a marketing tactic. So we bring in our stager to really appeal to buyers. She knows the demographics that you're trying to target. She knows what you know, what, we're, what buyers are looking for today. And a lot of it has to do with just an objective view, because it is tough to emotionally disconnect from your home and make the best decisions.
Other ways to respond depending on the reasoning is, you know, if I don't bring in a stager, I feel that I'm the mercy of the marketplace. We're just putting your home out there. We're not doing the best we can for you. So that'd be my simpler answer. The other thing is if they have a vacant home, we just know from statistics that buyers can't visualize living in an empty home that just doesn't work. The vacant homes end up sitting longer. So unless you're lucky to get that 10% buyer goes in and says, yes, I know where everything's going to go. Then, you know, you're really have run the risk of continuing to keep that home in the market, continuing to carry the cost of the mortgage and other expenses to own a home. And so we don't want to do that to you, right? Another objection you might get, let's say, let's say they're paying for, you know, all or part of the staging costs. You know, I think sometimes people start getting nervous, right? We're getting your home ready to sell there's expenses. We're doing, we're doing repairs, we're doing paint, you know, the dollars start going up and people get a little stressed. They're like, Oh, I can't afford it. You know, that is where, you know, you could say, well, you know what? This is, there's different levels of home staging. And we can, we're going to pick the appropriate level for your home in this marketplace. And our stager will make recommendations that are cost effective to help you sell it, sell your home. Right. And then you can kind of leave the rest of that to, to us. Okay. as far as costs go, I think people just get nervous. They don't want to get roped into something. Right. And a lot of times if you're doing consultation, I know realtors typically pay for the consultation, that first level service, then it's not even a cost to them. Okay. So we can do a ton of good, so especially our action report, if you want to talk about that, I'm happy to okay. So after you've kind of overcome their objection, talk to them a little bit about that.
You can go back and just kind of reiterate, you know, it is my job to help you get the best possible outcome in the sale of your home. So we really do believe in staging, staging works, and it allows us to get your home on the market, entering the market strong, make a great first impression, out doing competition and sell your home faster. And for more money, that's all you've got to say. Right? Okay. So, you know, kind of wrapping up, I think sometimes hitting kind of like that little bit of a takeaway, you know, by not staging you're not going to you're, you're kind of missing out on getting the best out best possible outcome. And I wouldn't want to do that.
So finally kind of go for the - this is, I love this line because it's basically your test close, right? You're not asking for their listing business yet, but you're testing the waters. And if more of the objections come up, you're going to find out now cause that's really important as far as, you know, closing a deal. So at this point you can say, okay, we've kind of addressed - You know, I've told you what I believe about staging, what our process is that we have a stage, or this is going to come in and do a consultation with you, why we're going to do it, the benefits it is for you. And then we do a little trial close. So when can my stager come, would Thursday or Friday work? And then silence, let's see what they say. Hopefully they'll just say yes, great. I can do Thursday at one o'clock you got them in. And you know, what that means for your listing presentation is you also are you know, that much closer to actually gaining that listing. If they're kind of like, well, I'm not ready, I haven't made a decision. Then, you know, you have some more work to do to really sell yourself as a realtor, maybe in other aspects, maybe they want to hear more about, so, and then go back to that, you know, if we keep getting objections at that point really cause that's your next step then you know, you got a little more persuading to do to gain that business.
So there is some tips for your listing presentation. Other thing, I guess that's kind of your presentation. Something that we do for our realtors is we do have a listing presentation handout. It introduces our company. It talks a little bit about statistics that they're going to sell faster and for more money. And it also comes with a home preparation plan on the back. So we put that in your listing presentation folder and it gives you just one more thing that really shows off, you know, all the hard work you are going to do to sell their home quicker and faster. I'd love to hear about what you do to tee up your clients for their staging appointment. And yeah, I look forward to working with you and collaborating, cause that's the fun part when we can work together as a team and we're really reiterating the same message, right. They hear it from you. They hear it from me. And then we have a great outcome!
All right - have a good week! Talk to you later!