Riding the growth wave of property styling in Australia
As a Brit living in Australia I don’t surf, I barely dare to go in the water but I have, for the last nearly 10 years, been riding the exhilarating growth wave of property styling.
At the risk of making this post soggy with water references, I started my business during the Brisbane floods of 2011. My area, the western suburbs, was badly hit causing an inevitable knock-on of low listings and sales.
Flood or no flood my first couple of years were hard work. I wasn’t just selling my company, Home Staging Brisbane, I was selling the whole property styling category. I thought that agents would welcome my services, “Faster sale!, Higher price! A well-presented house ready to list!” but with agents too set in their ways, my early business all came from homeowners. It was their money on the table after all. My criteria for taking on business in those early years was “Do you have a property? Will you pay me?”
As the property styling category grew, more and more stylists came into the market which bought more competition. There was a lot of undercutting from the stylists themselves (interestingly through lack of business acumen rather than a cut-throat desire to blow everybody else out of the water). The competition also led to different levels of furniture quality and style. To the uninitiated, most staging looked the same and with the absence of an ability to differentiate quotes this meant that the cheapest quote often won.
As the category has matured I’m seeing more specialisation. Certainly, my business has turned full circle and is now in the niche of working with top agents on their $1m+ listings. Agents and homeowners, now educated, are more likely to select the ‘right’ fit rather than the cheapest fit (although ‘cheapest’ is still a niche in itself). The property stylists who don’t recognise or market their own point of difference and value within the market are now suffering.
For my part, I’m now doubling down on my niche. My business has now transitioned into servicing and retaining my partner agents, inspired by the words of Seth Godin
“Find a corner of the market that can’t wait for your attention. Go to their extremes. Find a position on the map where you and you alone are the perfect answer. Overwhelm this group’s wants and dreams and desires with your care, your attention, and your focus. Make change happen. Change that’s so profound people can’t help but talk about it.”
So what’s next for Home Staging and the Property Styling market? There’s a lot more to running a successful Property styling company than knowing where to place a sofa. The companies that survive will be the ones that know and can articulate their value, know their specialisation and serve serve serve. These will be the companies that are able to look forward to the trends in real estate, to provide enhanced services, pivot if needed and above all move with the times. To continue to ride the wave or be dumped indignantly onto the shore.
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