I haven't been on AR much lately I have to admit. (Traveling, sick, working like crazy!) It is nearly 11:30 when I am writing this and I have at least 8 blogs worth of stuff to write about, but because it is so late I'm going to try to keep this one fairly short & hope I can get back to do a blog every day or so for the next few days.
I have a great little story to share, there is a past, present and if all goes well a future. This is not the beginning, but it is a great place to start.
A few months ago I shared a blog with you on a home I staged. Shortly thereafter this home sold and I posted the amazing results - it was the only home this year to close in that subdivision a full price with multiple back ups (including another full price offer). More numbers to share.... The Value Staging brings to the table - in written offers
Because of this great news, I did my usual marketing routine.... How do you follow up on a sale? Marketing tip that works! and sent an email blast to all the current listing agents letting them know the success of the property we just staged.
We went on 3 different appointments in this neighborhood over the next few weeks. Another staging company staged one of the homes, we staged one of the homes and the other one, still is unstaged.
I blogged (again - go figure!) What do you do with 3 major focal points in the same room?
Flash forward ---- This home has now gone under contract (less than 30 days after we staged it!) The agent and owners are thrilled!
So, where is the future in this story? Tonight I emailed all of the listing agents who have homes for sale in this neighborhood (many of which already received the email when we sold the last one - yep, their homes are still for sale - only 3 others have gone AC since then!) letting them know of our great news (including the prior stats & testimonial).
If you had a listing in this neighborhood, wouldn't now be a good time to start thinking staging really does work?
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Melissa Marro, a published artist, now turned staging advocet 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. She now operates as the CEO of First Impressions Home Staging & Interior ReDesign as well as the Executive Director of Certified Staging Professionals International Training Academy (CSPI) - the world's largest Staging Training Organization, and regularly speaks at the StagerList Expos 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 843.822.2622 or email at marro.melissa@gmail.com
If you would like Marro's team to provide information on staging a property in the state of South Carolina, or the Greater Charleston Area, please visit www.WeStageSC.com, email marro.melissa@gmail.com or call 843.822.2622.
For more information on Marro's CSP Staging Training, please visit www.StagingAndRedesign.com, visit the CSP Calendar for dates or email marro.melissa@gmail.com. Below is a list of Marro's current CSP Certification class dates:
February 6-8 Charleston, SC
February 16-18 Austin, TX
March 6-8 Atlanta, GA
March 13-15 Raleigh, NC
March 20-22 St. Petersburg, FL
April 10-12 Knoxville, TN
May 4-6 Covington, KY
May 18-20 Charlotte, NC
July 5-7 Memphis, TN
July 10-12 Charleston, SC
Somthing tells me that not only staging resulted in your sale, your marketing technique of the email to all of the agents was another part to keep in mind.
Thanks for the post!
Tom Davis - A Delaware Realtor
Tom - I find that helping agents understand the value of staging becomes very clear when they see that a similar home in the neighborhood sold after being staged, while theirs still sits..... when it happens multiple times, as in this case, it becomes extremely clear what the difference is.
Diana - Sadly I am still not well. I haven't been able to shake this because there has been no time to rest... lol! Thank you for your kind comment about me being missed though......
Kathy - The homes really were beautiful, but so were all the other homes in the neighbhorhood. It is a beautiful neighborhood. My goal is to get agents to realize it takes more than just that to compete in this market..... The email blast is just one way to accomplish that. The great thing is it is effective!
Gary - Thanks Gary. Not all stagers are great marketers. This is why we share our ideas on AR to help others get ideas and glean some ourselves.... there is always something new to learn to help enhance our business!
Elaine - lol... you are so funny! I'm glad I could help nudge you in the right direction.
Sharon - it's called NO SLEEP! (which is why I don't seem to be getting any better!) Seriously I've been up working until 1am every night since I've been back from MI trying to catch up. I'm still not..... but I did get 2 vacants staged this week and now just have to worry about finishing reports, RES, updating photos, billing, etc.
Karen - that is the name of the game isn't it? Keeping your name out there!
Melissa -
I really think you are a marketing genius! I really love reading your blogs. I learn so much. Will incorporate this into my marketing!
Thanks and congratulations on your success.
Congratulations, Melissa, on such a quick sale! You are a great marketer and I love your blogs.