Earlier tonight I wrote a blog My client doesn't really want to sell so how do I get them to stage? that is about how to discuss home staging with a client who needs to sell but doesn't really want to. In that blog I took a real live situation that happened to me this weekend and discussed how to help enlighten the client. Not surprisingly the agents who read the post all seemed to have the same comments - don't waste your time taking a listing for an unmotivated client. While for the most part I agree with this answer when all of the agents seemed to not pay any attention to the overall message of the post - how to talk to these clients so they can understand WHY they need to stage - it started making me think about things on a different level.
How many opportunities, not only for listings and possible sales transactions, but for actually helping others move on with their lives are you missing because you are too motivated by the "easier sale"? Now I'm not saying to waste your time on tire kickers and the 'let's see how the market goes' clients but what about the people who really have to sell? You know, the ones who will lose their homes, who need the money for retirement, who need to move for health reasons? They may not want to move, but they have to move. Who is left to help them? Who educates them? Do you all just leave them on their own to learn what they need to do or do you take some reasonable effort to explain what needs to happen and why it needs to happen?
What if instead of simply walking away from these listings, you teamed up with a professional who knows how to talk to these clients to help them understand what they will lose and what they will gain by making suggested recommendations, in price, condition and staging?
Real Estate Agents get a bad rap from most sources because they don't realize how much you do - well, those of you who are actually professionals and utilize all the tools of the trade. They think that you make easy money. What if you broke this mold by utilizing compassion, motivation and education as the keys?
Remember, while you think the clients are unmotivated, they may simply be overwhelmed and undereducated. They may not be able to afford the price reductions you want them to make, but they may be able to afford the staging. They may have health issues that make the work part of staging overwhelming or simply too much - a staging professional may be able to help them. They may have age related emotional or pyschological issues and are unprepared for the emotional diress that selling can bring - consider teaming up with a stager who is trained in senior move management.
Before you just walk away from someone who seems unmotivated, take a moment to understand why they are selling. You may find that you can not only turn a rough listing into a SOLD property, but help them move on with their lives....
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Melissa Marro, a published artist, now turned staging advocate and national speaker speaks her mind about real estate and the home staging industry. In her 'no holds barred' approach, audience members find real answers to the industries pitfalls and learn how to overcome them with tried and true information and guidance. With marketing as her passion, she turned a small home based business into one of the nation's largest home staging and training facilities. Selling her successful home staging company in January 2012, Marro is now a full time speaker and instructor for Staging And Resign and Real Estate Staging Association (RESA)'s trade events.
For more information on having Marro speak at one of your real estate functions, please contact her at 843.619.1593 or email at marro.melissa@gmail.com
Good advice. We all need to keep our eyes open for those opportunity.
Very well stated Melissa and let's face it there certainly are many of these listings out there and available today where the sellers need someone who understands their situation and can help them out.
I wish more agents could understand this concept, Melissa. I think there are quite a few Realtors who don't want to step outside their safe comfort zone only for fear of offending their client, or having to admit that they don't know every answer about why staging will help in the equation.
OMG, you sound just like me. I'm so tired of realtors who tell me that the sellers can't afford a stager. In truth they have no idea how much it cost, what we can do and if their client can afford it.
They are afraid to bring it up to the sellers for fear of insulting them OR fear of looking bad themselves.
Ditto what Virginia just wrote.
Cindy - just make sure when you get them that you invest the time in educating them!!
Ginger - Absolutely. The biggest problem is that often the agents themselves are simply unaware of the process and how we can help them get better, do more, list more and sell more!
Maureen - isn't it frustrating? I'm confident continuing to educate is the key to the equation!
Virginia - Yes! They need to be made aware, educated on the benefits, and learn that we are friends in the real estate transactions, not who to call when they can't figure out what else to do and certainly not opponents!
Cathy - lol...
Hear! Hear! Well said, Melissa. My current refrain is that staging is an investment, not a service to be used if it's needed. So many realtors tell me that they'll call when they find the "right" house for staging. They're all the right house for some level of staging!
Melissa, personally I think we stagers should be charging the same prices as therapists! In addition to the consultation on furniture, paint, carpet, and the doll collection, we often empathize over broken homes, sympathize over losses, and celebrate happy additions when meeting with clients.
Melissa,
I fully agree with your statements.
I have never been motivated by the $$, and I have to be careful not to do too much for nada. However I love helping others to see the possibilities open to them if they are willing to think outside the box stores like Sears. There are so many other options which some are afraid to explore because they are intimidated by the reputation of the higher end retail outlets. There are deals to be had everywhere and it just takes some shopping around.
Same goes for impression of staging with realtors - they don't know what staging really is and write it off for the variety of reasons that have been addressed ad infinitum - altho not confirmed by realtors! It is so easy to not address it with clients, or tell them they don't need it or it is too expensive. We all know this is not the case; however we have to make headway with the realtors who have their heads in the sand.
Excellent post Melissa. Taking the TIME to LISTEN is key in any profession and many people over look that. I like what you say here: Remember, while you think the clients are unmotivated, they may simply be overwhelmed and undereducated .
Having people skills is a necessary ingredient to any successful business.
I dunno, Melissa. I just quit a project where I couldn't find a way to help these folks. So much stuff and so determined NOT to let go. A therapist was needed, perhaps, or just time to run out so that the family HAD to deal with it all. It was so bad that there were layer upon layer of flies and moths everywhere. I simply couldn't bear it. Not very highminded of me, admittedly. What would you have done there?
Laurie - AMEN! I'm so tired of hearing, "We'll call when we need a stager"
Holly - if only people understood how mucy phychology really is in this business!
Sharon - this is why educating realtors and consumers is so important. It is getting better, but still a long way to go!
Karen - People skills is something that we definately need to work on and get better with, myself included. This is a very stressful time and we need to understand that...
Juliet - Ok, the situation you are talking about is probably a clinical disorder and needed to be walked away from. Those certainly are exceptions!
I am going through this right now with my sister! She moved into my mother's house to help take care of her. She has added a patio and 2 bathrooms to my mothers house to accomodate all three of them (my sister has a 5 year old daughter).
My sister's house has been sitting unused for about 5 months. She staged it herself orginally. But she obviously needed some help so I offered one last time since she was really doing all this to help our mother. She hesitantly said yes. I told her I really didn't want to do it if she didn't want me to. She said yes again.
She did eliminate a lot of stuff but there is still much to do and I am still doing some serious pushing to get her to do things. She lives in another house yet she still has so much to move out of her old one...and just won't do it. She still loves the brass and glass she bought 20 years ago but she gets very insulted if I want to bring some more updated furniture (which I am willing to do for free!). An believe me I don't tell her it's out dated because she would cry at the comment. She gets emotional everytime I bring up anything regarding her house. She thought people would look past her seriously cracked stained ceilings in the bedrooms because the kitchen has been recently updated. She thinks the 5 pallets laying in the backyard is an extension of the patio. I am doing more work than I ever do for a paying client and she is resistant every step of the way. I am working incredibly hard to treat her like I would a client but I am ready to duke it out like sister's sometimes do.
I have asked her if the move into our mothers house was a mistake and I would totally understand if she just wanted to resume her former life and move back into her orignal home but she said no... yet she still resists! I am sorry for the rant. I guess I needed to release the frustrations to people who would understand.
Leanne,
You are not alone. A client last year proceeded to tell me how hard she cleaned as we stood under cobwebs on the ceilings! There was beer splashed on the wall behind the sofa in the family room; a mattress in the hallway, the gardens were completely overgrown with blackberry vines....she protested that her realtor would not agree with the changes I was recommending, which I knew was nonsense.
You are doing your sister a favour. Carry on with the tough love and get the house sold. She will appreciate it, although you may never get the acknowledgement you deserve for your assistance.
We do it because we love what we do.