Now that you’ve researched your local area, created gorgeous marketing materials to represent your business, made sure your business is listed in all the places prospects might search for you, it’s time to go out there and network!

Your time is money. I can't seem to say that enough because I find too many home stagers spending time on things that will not make them money in the long run i.e. shopping, agonizing over website verbiage, searching homes online, reading blogs, etc.. Many times, I feel they are avoiding the inevitable for every entrepreneur and that is the dreaded cold calling or what I like to call Intentional Marketing. Following the HSR Marketing Plan to Step Three will not make you successful, yet many people want to do just that because they do not want to get out there and contact people or cold call.

You did not start this business because of your love of sales, but the success of your business will rely on your sales ability, as well as your design talent. Yep, there are two factors that make for a successful professional home stager and redesigner and that is:

1. Your Natural Design Talent - That's what your client is ultimately paying for
2. Your Sales Ability - How well you communicate and sell yourself

I have trained over 5000 people in the art of creating a successful home staging business and by in large ALL of them had the design talent (some much more than others). The ones that struggle, are the ones that do not get out and intentionally market themselves and their business...they struggle with their sales ability and stop at step three in the 5-Step Marketing Plan.

In a study of professional home staging businesses, it was found that over 50% of them only contacted 1-5 new agents EVERY THREE MONTHS! Needless to say, these were the same stagers in the study who were not as busy as they would like to be.

Simply put, they let the fear of rejection damage their business. What is fear? False Evidence Appearing Real. What is Courage? Acting despite of fear. What is the worst that can happen? You call an agent using our script and they say no...BIG DEAL! Guess what? There are 500 other agents who need your service but don't realize it. If you don't believe me, go to www.realtor.com and look at their listings. They desperately need to stage, photograph and sell better than they are!

You must courageously and proactively market your business to your target markets in order to succeed in this industry. It is not enough to get to Step Three and hope for your phone to ring. Proactively means contacting prospects weekly and getting out there to build relationships.

The GREAT News is that you have target markets that are easy to identify and if you have a contact strategy that is always filling up your "sales pipeline" then your phone will start ringing!