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Becky Harmon • March 7, 2018
50% of your clients will leave you. If you have any kind of a business, it is absolutely essential that you know these scary stats: After 5 years, at least 50% of your clients, who loved you at the time of your service, will leave you and use a competitor. It’s even worse […] The post Top of Mind Awareness appeared first on Stage Happy.
50% of your clients will leave you.
SPRING INTO ACTION
If you have any kind of a business, it is absolutely essential that you know these scary stats: After 5 years, at least 50% of your clients, who loved you at the time of your service, will leave you and use a competitor. It’s even worse for realtors: 80% of homeowners say they will use their realtor again but only 20% of them actually do, according to the NAR. Yike!! Why is that!!
A few years ago, ASID, the American Society of Interior Designers, conducted a very extensive study. They determined that you will lose half of your clients that you spent marketing dollars to acquire and worked tirelessly to please. They are leaving!! Stats don’t lie.
The survey revealed that 1 or 2% died, 3% moved away and 3% were lured away by competitors. Not surprising. But the shocker is: 68% of them leave you because of perceived indifference . I was speechless when I heard this at a continuing ed class, a few years ago.
Also, according to stats, it costs 5 times more to acquire new clients than it does to keep your existing clients. This is another surprising reality. But this can be good news!!
So, with this knowledge, how do I make sure that I am creating a system to maintain happy, life-long clients? It’s called TOMA… Top of Mind Awareness.
Here is my plan, in order of importance:
- Every 30 days, send out a newsletter to all present and past clients.
- Every 6 months, call just to catch up with them. “How are you? I was just thinking about you.”
- Send a seasonal card, like Thanksgiving or Christmas.
- Plan to take your best agent clients out to lunch periodically.
- Occasionally, drop off a basket of sweet treats from Panera Bread to your favorite RE offices.
- Plan an active social media presence that includes helpful tips and beautiful photos, not ads.
You CAN do this. It’s not that hard. Set up a system for contact and engagement and you will double your business. That’s it folks!! Happy Connecting!!
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The post Top of Mind Awareness appeared first on Stage Happy.
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This beautiful, cosmetic renovation transformed a late 90's safari style home into a more welcoming, stunning, functional space. Built for entertaining friends and family, this home update was mostly simple and straightforward. Many improvements made the space more open and practical. Take a look. What do you think?
It doesn’t seem possible, but we started Transformations in 2004. We’ve won a lot of awards and we’ve seen a lot of changes in the industry and we are very encouraged about the future! Home staging has evolved into a massive industry and there is a place for you. Numerous people advised me to keep my reliable full-time job and not risk the unknowns of entrepreneurship. Even good friends and family encouraged me to make the safe choice. With friends like that... who needs enemies! L O L. So glad we took the leap!!! Over the years, we added renovations, curb appeal consultations, vacation home furnishing and move management. We’ve consulted and staged homes from a 1000 ft.² flip home to 10,000 ft.² homes on the ocean and the river. Baby, we’ve done it all! The Transformations School started in 2006 and this is where you come in. We have made many costly of mistakes along the way. Mistakes that you can avoid. We pioneered home staging in a very real sense. This class has been lovingly updated and also condensed down to the most valuable and essential elements. It’s short but comprehensive. No fluff; just the nitty gritty of all that you will need to become a home stager or if you are already a stager or designer... raise your current image and income to a higher level. I think Covid had a way of helping people prioritize their lives. We saw a lot of nurses and teachers reevaluating their career choice and opting for doing what they have always loved.... design. After 30 years as an ASID interior designer, I believe it has never been easier to enter this industry. It’s easier to buy wholesale, tap into interior design perks and have a home-based business today than in the past. The inexperienced, untrained hobby stagers are fading into the background or disappearing. The public is more discerning. They want to see credentials, such as a certification by a nationally recognized and awarded company. The barriers are gone and the demand is rising. In our city alone, we have roughly 12,000 realtors/agents and only about 10 - 15 seriously competitive stagers. The industry needs you! YOU CAN DO THIS!!! We are spilling the beans on everything you need to walk away from a dead-end career. OK, is that voice in your head telling you to keep your safe, reliable job? I know… I was that person listening to the wrong voice for a long time. A friend invited me to a one-day motivational seminar by Robert Allen, who made a fortune in real estate. He said a lot over the course of the day but the biggest take-away, “You will never become a millionaire working for someone else.” Transformations is the chic boutique of home staging and redesign training. We are not Macy's; we're Lily Pulitzer!! We are not trying to be the generic big guy. Just the design-oriented, high-end specialty source for exclusive, make-it-happen people!! Where are those people who got in trouble for talking too much in school and were not afraid to color outside the lines. You doodle and dream big. You may be caught rearranging the shelves at Home Goods or rehanging your friend's art. You love color and texture. You go to model homes to satisfy your inner designer... waiting to get out. Let her/him out!!! You don't belong in a corporate desk. Let’s talk about it!! Email Becky to set up a free brain-storm session. becky@beckyharmon.com For those of you who graduated from our school, we are looking for stagers with a successful business from different parts of the country. We need class trainers!! We will only partner with one company in any geographical location. We have Boston and Tennessee and maybe Missouri and North Carolina, so far. Claim your area. There is no franchise fee or cost. Hurry to reserve your opportunity! As for now... I am opening some champagne.
Who do you call when storms blow in and disturb your plans? Who do you contact when you are struggling? Who is your cheerleader and who reins you in when you are tempted to sit in justified self-pity way too long. Who is in your circle of friends who tells you the bare-bones truth? Don’t we all need someone outside of ourselves who can see us with 20/20 vision. If all of your friends (your people) go from crisis to crisis and seem “happiest” in the dark and dirty valley… Girl, you need new friends!!! Statistics show that our income will average that of our 5 best friends. In addition to income, the same is true of accomplishments and attitude. I am blessed to have friends in a highly caffeinated circle of over-achievers, life-long learners and curious optimists. They are far from perfect, just like me, but they focus on the future, not the past. Some are family; some are friends. They are my cheerleaders, my home base, my center. When I am pulled into the darkness by tragedy, circumstances or isolation, they pull me out. They can look inside my false exterior and see that I am in need of a hug and an honest assessment of the place where I am stuck. Sometimes, we can sit in isolation so long that the darkness feels normal, safe and comfortable. I have been there. Someone else can offer perspective and pull us out of the quicksand. We are honestly malleable or able to re-form/re-imagine ourselves till the day we exit earth. Yes! We can rise above the fray, come out of the gray and add color and dimension to a lifeless, lackluster existence. I have a long way to go but I am moving!! We need community!! We need to belong! For me, it’s my stager/realtor friends, clients, family but mostly, it’s my church. We Are Family!!! cue Sister Sledge. Are you drifting? Do you need an anchor? I hope you find your people, your place, your truth. ************************************* Let’shave a conversation!! Contact me on the website. www.stagehappy.com A contact/appointment form will pop up.
A Day in the Life People often ask me what it’s like to be a Home Stager/re-designer. I can take you along with me on a typical day. Here goes... I start out at our wholesale granite and quartz supplier and spend two hours choosing some options for a kitchen renovation. Then, I hop over to the nearby plumbing/kitchen/bath/lighting supplier to preview all of the kitchen appliances and some lighting fixtures for our appointment the next day. After that, I stopped by a different client’s home for a color consultation and a brainstorming session on a room refresh. $450 and $375 At the end of the day I coordinate/plan a $6500 staging with a lot of custom solutions. The homeowner wants to use some of her own furniture that she hopes to sell with the house. Then, some of our furniture and all of our accessories will transform the house. This was a lucrative day for the business. Of course, every day is not like this. We have to spend time networking and planning. 50% of the certification class is business and marketing.
Do you still shop for magazines in a bookstore or the grocery store. I am always looking at them in the design/home category? I can’t resist a beautiful cover page. When it has vibrant color and striking graphics, I have to pick it up and thumb through it. I will usually buy it regardless of the content because I know it will be pretty on my coffee table. As a home stager, I am always thinking… 'Will this be pretty on the cocktail table in one of our beach community homes or our more traditional St. John’s River area.' I have collected 10 years worth of Coastal Living magazine and dozens of Florida Design. What is the trigger behind this expensive habit? As for me, I am triggered by color and beautiful composition. We all are! The right side of the brain lights up and is hungry for more. When we stage a clean, neutralized interior, we cause the home buyer to be subconsciously drawn into a room. A thread of similar colors will pull them from room to room and calm their soul. An ordinary interior comes to life with just the right art and greenery, furniture and rugs. It’s like an oasis of beauty in the middle of an arid desert. Before your homebuyers step into your staged home, they must pass through the curb appeal area. Is it speaking to them? What does it say? “Come right in. A special surprise is waiting for you inside that front door.” Or is it totally forgettable! Is it not speaking at all or does it say, “No one cares about this house.” Find out how to create stunning exteriors, pick the perfect house paint colors, landscape like a pro with our free Curb Appeal presentation this Monday, 10-16-23 at 3 PM EDT. Limited number of spaces are available so gain access by replying to this email and then you will be sent an invitation Monday morning. There will be a replay for those who attend. This is a $100 value class. Yay!!
I love both of these quotes. In fact, they are on my website. Don’t we all want a little magic in our lives... it could be a beautiful new business or meeting that famous person you’ve always admired, or one of many seemingly impossible things that are waiting for you. Perhaps, not that far away. I don’t know about you, but a lot of people in my circle of friends are feeling stuck since Covid. And I feel that way sometimes also. All of the life-changing and pivotal moments in my life came with a preliminary difficult first step. One big move in the direction of a dream, then, the next steps seem effortless!! When I started my company in 2004, I had to leave a successful design position of 11 years. It took me nearly a year to finally close that door and open another. It felt like pulling my feet out of quicksand. But once I left my old job and the business essentials were set up, things started happening fast and my dream job turned into way more than I ever expected. And it continues on today, 19 years later. Thanks to a great staging crew, I’ve won numerous industry awards and we continue to make national connections through the Real Estate Staging Association. I was on their leadership committee for three years, and I speak occasionally at trade association conventions around the country. I met Marcus Lemonis here in Jacksonville last year. I had connected his production team with homeowners who needed the reno. It’s episode #8 of the Renovators on Discovery+. Healing a House is the title. Who knew? I also met Candace Olson from HGTV at a conference. Add to that list Carson Kressley and Vern Yip. Many other high-profile people. It has been a joyful roller coaster experience, especially through Covid, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. It has provided income for 19 years and when I’m ready to sell it, it will be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, up to a million dollars. I make a minimum of $125 or more an hour plus quite a significant amount for leasing my design inventory for vacant homes. It’s a wonderful thing to get paid well to shop with other people’s money. We are diving into the short-term vacation rental industry, because there is a big demand for it. Styling Airbnb’s has become a great side hustle, and in some ways, more lucrative than anything we’ve done before. Just yesterday, I got a call from Amy Powers, who is the current president of the International Association of Home Staging Professionals. More about that later. I want to encourage any of you who are still on the fence about changing the trajectory of your life. It’s quite easy. The road map has been created for you and is frequently updated with all the newest industry opportunities. There is a place for you. Is your heart beating a little faster? Is your soul stirring? Maybe you are one of us!!!
