Do you have a design flair? Do you love scrolling through Pinterest when new ideas for your home interior? You could have what it takes to be a professional home staging consultant.
If you are curious about what it takes to enter this career, check out this guide. We’ll outline the simple steps to becoming a home stager and how to win that all-important first customer.
What Does a Home Stager Do?
Home staging is about changing the look and feel of a house to make it appealing to buyers. Homeowners might choose to use a home stager if their interior is bland or struggling to sell their house.
Creating a coherent and attractive interior can help a buyer visualize themselves living there, increasing the chances of a successful sale.
Fine-Tune Your Interior Skills
To be a successful home stager, you need to have the right design skills. While this isn’t the same as being an interior designer, you’ll still need to have a natural touch to turn a room from boring to beautiful.
The easiest way to sharpen your skills is to start with your home. Pick a room in your house that could do with a makeover, and give it a go. Don’t forget to take before and after photos.
Try an Online Course
There are courses for home staging, and online training can help you understand what customers want from a home stager. You’ll learn about the tricks of the trade.
That might include what colors to use in a house, how to create space in a small room, and how to use natural light sources to create a wow-effect.
You could even improve your resume by working towards a reputable credential in home staging, such as this color consultant certification.
Network to Get Your First Customer
Your first client will always be the biggest hurdle to overcome in your burgeoning home stager career. So you’ll need to be proactive to win customers over.
Start by using your existing network of friends, family, and peers to get your name out there.
Leave your business card with people as frequently as possible, visit local networking events, and be open about looking for your first client.
Get a Great Testimonial
When you’ve completed your first home staging, you’ll have the perfect selling point to take your career to the next level and win new clients. That means showcasing your work in all its glory.
Take professional before-and-after photographs of your work and make a note of how quickly the house sold (and how close to the asking price).
Most importantly, get a testimonial from your customer. Prompt them with questions to get a more detailed testimonial:
- Did they enjoy working with you? Were you professional?
- How did they find the design process?
- What did they like most about your approach?
- Would they use you again?
You can turn the answers to these questions into a more comprehensive testimonial for your website. Don’t forget to ask for your client’s permission.
Becoming a Home Stager
Becoming a home stager is about much more than making good money (though that’s undoubtedly a positive).
Home staging is a popular and rewarding career choice that is ideal if you want to ditch a dull office environment and use your creative brain instead.
Don’t forget to bookmark our home improvement section for our top design trends to help you in your new business.
