"I believe each house has a soul, an essence that one connects with. I have a passion for decorating and designing which began when I was a child. I would drive my parents …
“My initial concerns about starting a home staging business were knowing how to market it, knowing how to charge for my appointments and time, and knowing how to overcome obstacles and objections I might get along the way.”
“Debra covered all the topics that I felt I needed to gain an understanding of prior to starting my business, even though my talent and desire were already there.”
~ Donna Mancini, Donna Mancini Staging & Redesign, Inc. (Florida)
Wondering how to charge for your home staging services?
Like Donna, many aspiring home stagers aren’t sure how to charge for the services they offer. They often end up running around from property to property giving free estimates, thinking it’s just part of doing business.
When they arrive at a home staging consultation, they’re bombarded with questions from the homeowner: “Does this couch make the room seem small? Should we do an accent wall? Is the dining room table too big for the space?”
While these are valid questions, you shouldn’t be giving your advice away for free. If you do nothing but drive from free consultation to free consultation all day, what happens if those homeowners take your expert advice and simply apply it themselves?
You’re basically allowing people to take your suggestions and implement them without your help. If you charge for your consultations, this doesn’t matter one bit! You still get compensated for the time and advice you give to homeowners. On the flip side, if you’re doing it for free, you’ll be broke before your business makes it past the infancy stage.
Debra Gould, The Staging Diva, has written a guide that will help you conduct a phone call with a potential client so that you feel confident charging for your first visit to their home: Staging Diva® Sales Script: How to Avoid the Free Estimate Trap and Turn Homeowners into Home Staging Customers in One Phone Conversation. You’ll be given the exact script that Debra uses when speaking to homeowners for the first time.
Debra has never given free estimates, and she lives in a city where there are dozens of home stagers who do. Regardless, within her second year of business, she was making up to $10,000 a month just in fees for her time. You can do the same thing if you follow Debra’s step-by-step formula in the Staging Diva Training Program!
