Review of HGTV’s The Stagers and Lessons You Can Apply to Your Own Home Staging Business - Part 1 of 2

I was curious, as I'm sure the rest of you were when they announced this new program airing on HGTV called "The Stagers", if it would be a true depiction of what Home Staging life is like.  I would have to say that it's probably the most realistic of the shows that are out there today, but still does not tell the whole story.  Regardless, here are some things that I feel you could learn from the show and apply directly to your own Home Staging business.1)  Have a plan for your project.  I'm actually a little shocked by the lack of planning and utter chaos that is depicted.  Maybe it's just for TV drama to make it more interesting, but realistically, if that's how you are running your business, you NEED TO TAKE CONTROL immediately.  My recommendation to you is a) always see the property beforehand, b) take before photos, c) map out plans for each room so that choosing inventory is more targeted and streamlined, and d) create a list of staging inventory needed.  My Ultimate Staging Success Blueprint has all the tools to help you do just that.  There is absolutely no reason why most projects should take more than a day.  I would say 97% of the straight "staging" projects I've worked on was completed within 1 day.  Anything that took more was because of the size of the project (5000+ sf home or multiple units) OR if there were delays on other related projects.  When I first started my staging business, I was running back to the warehouse to pick up things we forgot or shopping at the last minute because we didn't have what we needed, and I'm not saying that you won't still have to do this occasionally, but you want to avoid these delays as much as you can and the best way to do that is to have a plan going into every single project.2)  Do be tactful with your clients.  The Designers on "The Stagers" are good at keeping their opinions to a minimum in front the client. Some of the other Staging shows seem to enjoy poking fun at how awful a home looks.  I'm all for being truthful and honest with your clients, but being tactful will definitely earn you more brownie points and help you retain your professional image.  Most of the time, they already know their property is not in "top selling" condition, that's why they called you.  There's no reason to make a mockery of the situation.  Perhaps again, the criticisms voiced are for ratings, but most real life people would not be too thrilled with you if that's how you approached them.3) Do Keep your Inventory Organized.  This is always a challenge for any Staging Company.  It's a never ending struggle with having "too much" when it all comes back and not having enough when you're super busy.  The Dekora warehouse featured on the show is enormous compared to probably 99% of the staging firms out there.  Most of us do not have the luxury of a 10,000 sf space with seemingly unlimited inventory available.  I started off with storing my inventory in our 1 car garage and back stairs when my husband & I lived in a townhouse.  We eventually graduated to one large storage unit, then two, and finally to an 1100 square foot warehouse.  Then there was the challenge of keeping the zones organized - linens, kitchen accessories, bath accessories, floral/greenery, silk trees, lamps, chairs, art, etc.  We toyed with the idea of building shelving so that we could capitalize on the vertical space in the warehouse, but then there was the safety issue with our team members going up and down.  I can't say we ever really perfected "Staging the Warehouse", but one thing we always tried to do was unpack after a destage and put everything back into their respective zones so that it was easy to pull inventory for the next project.  The more disciplined you are in this area, the more sane you can remain.  I actually designated Fridays or a day when there were no Staging Projects scheduled as Warehouse days - time to reorganize, clean and repair inventory. Stay tuned for Part 2 of this review.