How to Break Up With Your Home Stager
Break ups are hard but sometimes (almost all the time) they are for the best. This is especially true when the break up is actually a parting of ways or a letting go of a service provider who doesn’t actually provide service any longer.
Perhaps you’ve been with your home stager for a while now and you absolutely love them! You are chatty with them and have built a nice rapport over time. But if you have come to a point in your real estate home selling career where you think you need to turn it up a little bit, it comes down to brass tacks: can your home stager execute all of the things you need to enhance your home selling career?
If after deliberation you find the answer is NO, then, it’s time to cut ties and find a new professional home stager.
In this article, we’ll walk you through how to find a new stager first and then break up with your current stager. Depending on where you live and work, it is pretty important to take your leave of the professional relationship with as much respect and kindness as a Los Angeles divorce. Just kidding. Do the opposite of that. Read on now.
Pros and Cons Lists Work
If you are attached in a variety of ways to your home stager, it could be due diligence just to take into account all of the things they do right along with all of the things they just do not have the capacity to do as a business. Perhaps they have a beautiful design aesthetic, but it is slightly dated. They might have strong sense of clean lines with powerful statement rooms and focal points, but the looks have become redundant and you seem to sell the same house every single time. One thing to note of is how they perform under deadlines for faster selling. Can they keep up with the next level of your career. As a seller, if you plan on being known for showing a certain level of home, can they deliver the end goods that compliment your selling style? Make these notes so that you can provide a complete honest conversation with the home stager in your exit plan. Often times, you don’t have to have a long drawn out exit conversation with the home stager. But your reputation should be backed up with thoughtful conversation if and when it is required of you. In this business, your name is everything. So take the time to create your own pros and cons list of working with the current stager. You might talk yourself into staying with them and / or provide them with honest feedback on how they can level up their game as a professional home stager.
Take Note of Criteria You Need from a Home Stager
Okay, you’ve come this far and you believe you could go further as a real estate agent and home seller. You’re excited about the possibilities and find yourself looking at options outside of the box. This includes homes that have been dubbed “hard to sell”. You believe where there is a will, there is a way. Because of this, you have a wish list of all the strong selling points you want to make with properties you sell. You need to find a professional home stager that can pivot quickly with you and sees what you see when you see the strongest selling point of a home. They need to be on your page or adapt quickly to get on your page as you move through the properties you plan on showcasing as quickly and professionally as possible. Time is money, afterall. On your list for the perfect home stager to compliment you, are you looking for just price? Never. It is beyond that. Look for the home stager that brings you value for your investment. How much can they do in-house? How quickly do they turnaround? How communicative are they? Is their portfolio strong and versatile? Do they respect the bottom line, ego-free? These are qualities of a home stager that understands the business, not just the design. Finally, do they do more than traditional staging? You’re not looking for a wicker nightstand next to a blow up mattress. You’re looking for luxury and you need it fast. These items should be specified on your list. Now, go find that stager! (The Stagency may be biased, but, you know, contact us here).
Compare Home Stagers in Your Area
Google it. Ask your colleagues. Find out who your strongest competition in the business uses for their home stagers. Shoot for the moon with this one and do your research. Once you have a shortlist of professional home stagers in near you, you can deep dive into their qualities they bring to the home staging process. If you find a couple of home stagers that could compliment your real estate home selling business and help bring you to a greater status of success, meet with them. Through honest, open conversation you will be able to understand the home stager and decide then if they would be worth working with.
Find a New Home Stager
After meeting, spending time understanding vision and direction, work styles, and performance capabilities, you might have found a new home stager to work with. This is great! Be sure they are bringing more to the table than what your previous stager. By “more” we mean actual services. Do they provide upgrades in the form of light construction jobs? Do they offer things like environmentally safe and mindful waste management and materials? These are all things a seller might want to highlight to potential buyers. Are they willing to be flexible in their design for you and your vision of the sell? If the new home stager provides all of these things along with having a personality you would love to work with, consider it a done deal and lock this new home stager down!
Have the Talk with Your Old Home Stager
Once you’ve decided on a new home stager (probably The Stagency), it is time to let the current home stager know you have decided to move on. This doesn’t have to be dramatic. It is simply stating that you’ve found yourself in a position of needing to explore what other stagers can offer in additional services. Who knows? Your current stager might be ready to expand their services and you are just the catalyst to ignite that passion. This could be a great thing for both parties. However you choose to part ways with your old home stager, be sure to leave with professionalism so that your reputation (and theirs) is always strong within the industry. It’s just good form.
Summary
Breaking up with any service provider could be something many real estate agents put off. Don’t! The moment that you believe you could get more from your home staging experiences, go seek more. Find professional home stagers near you and discover what they are offering. In doing so, you could be helping your business and the current home stager could be encouraged to level up their offerings. This is a good thing. Find a home stager that offers more service and then have the talk with your home stager about parting ways. The home selling experience (and home buying!) will only benefit from this upgrade.