In my many presentations to home stagers and other “main street’ businesses I stress the need to have an opt in device on their web sites to capture prospective customers information.
One of the biggest obstacles people seem to face is the idea that product creation is difficult.
Whether you are making your pitch to a prospect to be their home stager in person, in a brochure, online or in a talk to a local Kiwanis club, you must communicate your entire pitch in the first 30 seconds or less. Otherwise, you will lose a significant percentage of your prospects attention.
In 1986 Milo Frank wrote a short book called, “How to get your point across in 30 seconds or less.”
This idea applies to personal presentations, articles, speeches and other presentations.
That’s not to say everything needs be communicated in that 30 seconds, but the key concept, justification and call to action, can and should be.
Below this article you will find a link to Amazon where you can buy the book if you want to read his justification and suggested techniques to accomplish this seemingly extravagant goal.
I want you to consider applying the idea to all of your promotional materials and to your stock presentation, starting today, because you need to if you are going to get your message across before your reader skips past your article and goes on to the next.
Already, 10-20% of the people who started to read this article have stopped and gone elsewhere. This is particularly easy to do online.
Even “hot” media like videos get clicked past at an alarmingly fast rate. Tube Mogul, the video service which makes its business by monitoring and quantifying video viewers behavior, indicates that fully 50% or more of video viewers click away from the average video within 30 seconds. Twelve percent are gone in the first ten seconds.
The attention span of the general public has been short for a long time. No wonder politics is done in 10 second sound bites. And that reality applies to you and your articles and even in person presentations as well.
That doesn’t mean you can’t take the time to develop your thoughts in detail. It just means that you need to grab their attention and tell them what you are going to tell them and what they should do about it in your introduction up front. And don’t be too disappointed if a lot of people don’t read your entire article, or skip past your website without reading it all.
Just imagine how many more have left the written word in the same amount of time compared to a video presentation. Now some of that is probably because the viewer discovered that the video was not relevant to their interests and or needs.
As such, maybe we shouldn’t get too upset that they left before we get around to our point. But it could be that they made a mistake. Had they waited they may have discovered our cleverly designed plot to draw them into our proposition was just what they needed. If only they would have waited to see or read our sales pitch and dynamite close.
If you really want your readers to get your point, make it upfront and quick. Elaborate and explain in depth later to those hangers on who are interested in more detail.
I just created a new report to give away on my newest blog on Public Speaking. It’s called An Anatomy of a Speech.
One of the best ways to market yourself as a Homestager is by giving talks to local groups. The more you do so, the better and more comfortable you will become with the process. It will help you establish yourself as an expert, and gain you a lot of referral business over time.
In my report I provide some solid tips on how to go about writing a speech or business presentation. To help promote it I also created a new Flip camera video which is below.
I’ve recently become quite aware of the need to keep these videos short. This one is well under two minutes. I like my little Flip camera, even though it doesn’t like my “Es’s”
Some day I will upgrade, but for now it’s adequate. (at least I hope it is.)
I have been preaching SEO for some time, in may various ebooks and tele-seminars. I have also posted a number of articles from my friend at Leads Leap.
This is link to the last episode of Lead Leaps popular SEO tutorial series.
In this concluding chapter, they do a case study of a successful website that is doing very well in Google search results.
Below is a good article by Karen Schaefer. I particularly like the comment she makes about naming your company, which is particularly applicable if you want to be found online in a Google Search. Her USP is also a key concept. You must have a great one that you can use to communicate with prospective buyers in an instant. There is no law against using hers for your own, but you may well be able to come up with a better one for yourself.
And once again, look at the free publicity I just provided her. All because she wrote a good article. I am sure I will not be the only one reprinting this. This gives her traffic to her site, credibility and more. You should be doing the same to promote your business. -etn
How to Combine Creativity With Business
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Karen_S_Schaefer]Karen S Schaefer
The number one request that I get from all of my clients, whether they are from my Home Staging Training Company, Marketing and Networking Business, one of my Speaking Clients, all of them, are always looking for a way to be more creative, or at least add more creativity to their marketing efforts and effectively combine it with business. For some reason, we have been conditioned that the two don’t go together… but they MUST!
Over the years, people have constantly told me how “Creative or Imaginative” I am. Funny, I never thought of myself as such, but I am a self-professed dreamer, and I love letting my imagination run wild…which can be good, and of course, bad as well!
But, I think ultimately that you have to have a set foundation in every type of business, no matter what it is. You have to have a solid vision, a way to implement the plan or vision, have a strong team, a goal or intention and of course the marketing, direction and management to make it happen.
Rarely can this happen without a “Creative Department.” Most small businesses don’t have the luxury of an entire department, so it is up to YOU to be the Creative Leader of your Business, so that your Business is presented as a Creative, Productive, and Effective Company to your Client.
As Home Stagers, we all have a natural inclination toward creativity. Most of you explore that creativity each time you do a staging job. I know I do because it is almost a release for me. It is a creative outlet, a way to vent any frustration, and it also allows me to constantly flex my creativity muscle. I am able to in turn get better each time (and most importantly, offer more creative advice every time to my nationwide team of APSD Certified Home Stagers).
But, in business, we can’t simply be creative in what we do; we have to be creative in what we say and how we present ourselves and our services. In other words, your Marketing must be creative if you want to stand out from the crowd and catch the attention of your potential client.
That is why the first thing I always teach all of my clients is:
1) Name: What is the name of your company or Service? Does it say what you do and where you do it?
I know you are thinking, “Karen, to just say ‘Los Angeles Home Staging’ is boring. I want to say ‘A feather in your cap Sales.’”
Now, I would agree that the ‘Feather in your Cap’ is far more creative, but it does not tell me anything. When you come up with a name, people will search under categories, which is why, in this instance something “practical” comes in handy.
Even today, if I were naming my own Home Staging Company again, I would not name it Simple Appeal. I love the name, and it speaks to me, but for people that don’t know me, they are only going to search for Home Staging Services in Colorado-not Simple Appeal.
2) USP- Once you have figured out your name, now is your chance to be creative. A USP is a “Unique Selling Proposition.” Sometimes you can use this as a tag line, like I do, “Anybody can make your Property pretty, we make it Sell” or as a unique way to capture the attention of your customer. In other words, use your creativity, and figure out a way to say something about your service or business that makes you more compelling than any other person in your industry in the eyes of your client.
The best way to approach this, which you many already know if you follow me on Twitter, is to tell your client what they WANT to hear vs. what they NEED to hear. And say it in such a way that makes them think “I HAVE to have it!”
You can have so much fun with this and when you hit the nail on the head, your lead generation will explode. It is the perfect way to combine creativity with business.
3) Position- So, now you have a name that opens up the door for good and easy search criteria. You then have mustered up all of your creative resources and developed an extraordinary USP. So, you have burst open the door on your new lead generation. Now, you have to correctly and effectively position yourself in the market place so that you can convert those leads into sales, thus increasing your business’s bottom line.
My USP, “Anybody can make your House look Pretty, we make it Sell” is not only a great USP, but it also offers me great positioning in my market place. It is good marketing. The reason that I chose this USP is that I wanted to position myself in the market place as the Home Stager that actually knew how to stage a home so it would sell. I did not want to just be about decorating, accessorizing or rearranging…I wanted to be about results.
So, what you have to do… once again is be creative. What do you want to say about your business? And, how do you want them to envision you and your services?
All of these steps require creativity and with that, you will find that new doors will readily open for your business. The key to success is to combine your creativity with your business skills, because although they can each stand alone, the fact of the matter is that you could increase your business 10 fold over night by adding just one effective touch of creativity. And, let’s face the facts; it sure is whole lot more fun to be creative!
Keep in mind that creative marketing and positioning is just good business. So for those of you that immediately assume you are not good at business, by implementing the 3 steps above, you will now be 3 “business” steps ahead of any other Home Stager in your area.
In the future, I will offer a business program, but for now, follow the information above and you will be amazed at the results.
To your greatest joy,
Karen Schaefer
Founder, APSD
Your Worldwide Leader in Home Staging Training
By Karen Schaefer, Founder of Simple Appeal, Inc. and APSD – The Association of Property Scene Designers. Through Karen, you can learn more about [http://www.apsdmembers.com/membership.html]home staging, [http://www.apsdmembers.com/homestager/directoffer.html]marketing houses and selling houses quickly.
Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?How-to-Combine-Creativity-With-Business&id=3571566] How to Combine Creativity With Business
I’ve covered much of this material one way or another in the past, but my friend Ken Koh of Leadleap fame has added another posting in his ongoing series on getting people to find your web site.
It’s surprising how many home stagers and others think that they can just put up a web site or have one put up for them, and expect to get traffic and jobs from that alone.
You need to get you page set up right, with both on and off page tactics to raise your web sites visibility online.
I recently read a Blog Post on Leads Leap discussing the value of back links. I’ve preached on this topic before, but thought it might be worthwhile to share another person’s take.
While you as a home stager might not think that the internationally famous panelists that are participating in the program have anything to offer a small business like yours, you would be wrong.
I took a ton of notes last night, and got a lot of actionable ideas in the process. One I will share with you today is the understanding that people buy emotionally, and that they are motivated more by fear of loss than by hope of gain.
As an example a person is far more likely to take action to avoid suffering a $20 loss than they would be to gain $20.
What this may mean to a home stager, is that your clients are more likely to respond to a pitch that focuses on their risk of having to pay double mortgage payments, than they are to the hope of getting a higher price from a well staged home.
They may similarly respond to a pitch that details all the work they will have to do by themselves and the drudgery entailed rather than to the freedom they may enjoy by letting you do it for them.
That doesn’t mean the positive doesn’t matter, but rather that the loss elements are more effective in selling your services.
Now there was a lot more that I pulled out of last night, but I thought I would share that one. It’s up to you to think about how you could apply that knowledge in your own interactions with prospects.
Replays of the League of Extraordinary Minds sessions are not available, as they are being turned into paid products. But you are able to sign up and listen in to the remaining sessions for free, if you register at League of Extraordinary Minds. The next session is at 8PM, your time, next Thursday, no matter where in the world you are.
I encourage you to register and to listen in. There have been two sessions so far and 7 to go. The first two have been very powerful, and have lead me to make several changes to the way I do things. I am confident that you too will find value in each of them as well.
Push the Arrow to Hear the 1 hour 2 minute presentation.
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Last week I did an hour long presentation for Allegra Dioguardi’s new home staging curriculum. Staging Training by Design
In it I covered three different major topics. The first section dealt with some basic decisions most people make before they have enough information to do well. That includes picking their url, web host and decision as to whether to have a blog or web site.
The second topic covered includes a discussion of how to make your web site more search engine friendly and also how to generate back links need to raise your standing in the search engines.
The third section, dealt with how to get more of the people that find your web site to do something.
These are topics I’ve dealt with before, here and in my two eBooks. My challenge was to condense all the information into a single 60 minute presentation. Turns out I ran about 2 minutes long.
But if I say so myself, I did a pretty good job of covering all the major points you should be aware of when setting up your internet marketing campaign for your business.
Now while I would advocate that most people should learn how to manage and run their own web sites, the reality is that most will not. Therefore I discussed these topics so that people would know what they wanted to accomplish, so that they would be better equipped to tell their computer people what they wanted, and why.
Thus while the conversation was directed to home stagers specifically, the comments apply to almost any locally based business wishing to attract more customers by internet marketing.
In support of the audio, I have created a resource page of links and resources. It is pretty rudimentary at the moment, but I will be developing it as time goes on.
Allegra Dioguardi, Interior Designer and president of Styled and Sold Home Staging is now offering training and mentoring for aspiring and seasoned Home Stagers alike.
Allegra is a Parsons School of Design graduate. And her sense of design is the missing element in many home stager’s education. It’s one thing to declutter and establish some focal points, it’s another to tie everything together with a sense of style.
Allegra has had decades of experience that predates the home staging revolution. She has worked and taught many people how to stage model homes, long before the term Home Staging was coined.
She has invited me to prepare a module as part of her course on websites and search engine optimization. I am looking forward to it. It will give me another chance to distill the essence of my two eBooks, Why Most Small Business Web Sites Stink, and Main Street Climbs to the Top of the Search Engines.
I anticipate that I will revamp both my WART Analysis and Market Maker programs in advance of the course presentation. My goal will be to provide affordable support and training for Home Stagers who want to take a hands on approach to controlling their web sites.
I will use this preparation process to devise the easiest way to train home stagers to get more people to see their web sites, and then to get more of the people that do see them to actually do something.
In the meanwhile, I am very interested in hearing from you. What issues do you have with your web site that I can help you with?
What lessons have you learned that should be shared with other home stagers in the area of web site, and email marketing?
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March 9, 2010 
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