Hello,
Welcome to your 'FREE' PRES® Entrepreneurs ezine. Most new entrepreneurial home stagers have difficulty with the concept of 'selling'. They love
the creative aspect to home staging and they get excited about creating their marketing materials and love doing the actual home staging and redesign
transformations. The intention of this ezine is to give you another way to look at selling and to actually enjoy the process!
During my course and even after the course if I am mentoring a PRES graduate I often hear this comment:
"SELLING IS THE HARDEST THING
FOR ME TO DO"
Before taking my 'leap of faith' and doing something that I really loved to do I had spent years in the corporate world as a very successful sales person in a service industry. Each year we had to analyze our sales and determine what our budgets would be for the next year. We often based our projections upon what is called the 80/20 rule.
From Wikipedia it states:
- The 80 - 20 Rule: The Pareto principle or the 80-20 rule states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. Business management thinker Joseph M. Juran suggested the principle and named it after Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who observed in 1906 that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population; he developed the principle by observing that 20% of the pea pods in his garden contained 80% of the peas. It is a common Rule of Thumb business; e.g., "80% of your sales come from 20% of your clients.
Another source states this:
- It really doesn't matter what numbers you apply, the important thing to understand is that in your life there are certain activities you do - your 20% that account for the majority - your 80% of your happiness and outputs.
So what this suggests is that you need to look at building quality, long-term relationships with clients that you like doing business with. Forget about 'hard selling' to prospects and/or existing clients, but rather take the approach that you want to get to know these contacts better by developing stronger relationships.
SOME TIPS FOR RELATIONSHIP SELLING...
There will be a variety of opportunities for you to build relationships so that you can 'soft sell' your home staging and redesign services. Here are a few that have proven to be the best for new entrepreneurs:
- NETWORKING RELATIONSHIPS - go to many different networking events and choose to join the ones that you feel most connected with and who also have the same values as you do. Once you find a networking group you want to join then make a commitment to be there each time there is a meeting. Get to know the other members. Find and connect with people that you genuinely want to do business with. Let them get to know who you are and what you do. We have all been to those networking events where right off the bat someone wants to sell you something and they have not taken any time to get to know you, or even what your needs are. This can be offensive and many a good sale is lost by not taking time to build trust with one another.
- REALTOR RELATIONSHIPS - when you are first starting out you need to be 'out there' meeting as many realtors as you can spending about 65% of your time doing this. You will be able to discern which ones you have the best fit with and who you will continue to develop relationships with. Ideally over time you can develop more exclusive relationships with fewer realtors. However you always want to be meeting new realtors due to the nature of the market.
- STRATEGIC ALLIANCE RELATIONSHIPS - think about all of the industry-related people that you know that you can develop stronger relationships with. Going out for a coffee or sending a card to keep in touch over time, will definitely pay off for you. Alliances can also be great for referrals as well and this group can help build your business.
- HOME SELLER RELATIONSHIPS - while you may only stage a home the same client once every few years (or perhaps not even this often) remember that you can also move this client into their new home. Also, never underestimate the value of home-seller referrals. Referrals can add up to be a sizable income source for you.
So have some fun, keep connecting with new prospects and remember this quote from the Pogo comic strip (most people think it is from Charlie Brown Peanuts):
I have met the enemy, and the enemy is me.
Happy Selling to You in 2010,
Dana J. Smithers
PRES Staging & Redesign Training & Mentoring
Founder & Creative Director
PS: To read our previous PRES Entrepreneurs ezines - click on
Previous PRES eNewsletters
PPS $100 Referral Fee is yours for referring a successful graduate to the PRES Staging & Redesign Course
PPPS If you love sending cards to people and are interested in earning residual and passive income and, email
info@PresStaging.com to find out more.
Dana J. Smithers
Founder & Creative Director
PRES® Staging Resource Centre
Sun On My Back Redesigns
Testimonial
"Dana has always been passionate about supporting women in business and encouraging them to pursue their dreams. She taught me that in order to move
forward with my dreams, 'no' is not a word I can use to achieve my goals. Being available to discuss possibilities and gain insight from Dana has
helped me to solidify my thinking and move strongly forward in building my business.
Dana has always offered mentoring to her students and I know that we have all found the opportunity to meet with her and gain her perspective
valuable. Dana is a positive, energetic, and goal-oriented person and knows how to help others be the same way. I know that when I have asked for
her help with a situation, Dana goes out of her way to come up with possible solutions. I value her expertise, her wealth of knowledge in the field,
and her enthusiasm for what she does. I know that whatever Dana sets her mind to she will achieve and I have no doubt that Dana will be a huge
success in the global market."
- Judith Lowe
www.twiques.com
If you are interested in learning more about PRES Professional Real Estate Stagers, please contact us at:
Head Office - North Vancouver | 1 888 296 3148 | info@presstaging.com