A recent question was asked, “How did you define your style as a home stager and stay consistent with it?”
At RESA HQ our team is asked questions from home stagers throughout North America on a daily basis, from where to get training, how to keep up with inventory, where to find clients, the best resources for contracts, and more! For our Ask The Experts Blog series we take some of these questions to experts in our industry to get their advice.
The RESA mission is for home staging to be an industry where high standards are well-established and practiced universally, and by sharing some tips from the experts we hope to help those in the staging industry be the most successful they can be.
Arti is the Creative Director & Founder at Studio RT Staging & Design. She has finished her Bachelor of Information & Technology from Padre Conceicao College of Engineering, Goa. She also has a Masters degree in Computer Science from California State University, Fullerton. After working as a Software Engineer for five years, she decided to pursue her passion for art & interior design styling.
She truly believes that when passion turns into profession, you are at your best state of mind, which leads you to the most content state in life. Since then, Studio RT has grown tremendously and is now known to be one of the best premium luxury home staging brands in the greater San Francisco Bay Area.
“My focus is, giving out great quality and luxury portfolios to all my clients and working towards that daily.”
Arti Rammathkar gives advice on how to define your staging style and stick with it:
It took me about 3 years to understand exactly what I like doing and what my current client base is expecting from us. Some of the very important mistakes I have made in my earlier years are to cater to “a single client’s needs”, to build my inventory.
I have added green towels to the bathrooms and used red Christmas pillows, as per client requirements. It didn’t take long (only a few months) before I understood why catering to a single clients needs vs. my staging style (that I know works for my market) leads to inventory sitting on my warehouse shelves for months and months.
It’s okay though, all home stagers do this at some point in their career. Learn from it and take notice of what works for your market on a consistent basis. Don’t buy that shiny object because the MAJOR warehouse sale if it does not fit your existing staging style.
When Defining Your Staging Style, Learn to Build Your Portfolio Based on Your Likings, Your Instinct and Styles You & Your Target Market Can Relate To.
Don’t stop learning current trends to use on your staging projects. When I was more mindful about doing this, in no time I realized that there is a certain kind of clientele that started to reach out to me based on my staging style and portfolio.
Another tip, always, share a portfolio of your most recent work to potential clients from the start, so you can figure out if your staging style is what they are looking for, or not. (Don’t have a website or printed portfolio yet? Use social media to showcase your work for free, and ask new clients “Have you seen my staging style on Instagram?”)
Be prepared to educate clients that the point of staging is to market to the largest demographic of buyers, not about their personal likes and dislikes.
If it doesn’t feel like a good fit, maybe you can recommend them to a RESA home stager in your network who may have a staging style that is better suited for them.
It is okay to say NO to new business! I have had to learn how to say “No” to certain clients who had requirements, which I know I wouldn’t be able to meet.
Pinterest, Houzz and now instagram are my major sources of inspirations when it comes to keeping my inventory and styles up-to-date. My focus is, giving out great quality and luxury photos to all my clients and working towards that daily!
Photos provided by Studio RT
Together through the RESA executive team, RESA leadership, and the RESA Board of Directors, and our members, we have built a community of entrepreneurs and professionals that are stronger together. The RESA community supports, uplifts, and encourages one another to continue to grow as an industry. Together, RESA home stagers and affiliates are growing industry awareness and raising expectations.
If you have a question that you would like us to bring to the experts, submit it here.
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