For many home stagers, a earning a certification makes sense. However, the home staging industry is not regulated, so there is not a requirement to get a certification and there is no such thing as a home staging license. (Note: you can read our post Does a Home Stager Need to be Certified or Licensed? for more information about that topic.)
I know what you’re thinking. If there is no requirement to get a certification, then why would a home stager even want to get one? You have a great eye for decorating. You know something about interior design. So why not just jump in to a business of home staging?
There are many reasons a home stager would want to get a certification. We will discuss the Top 7 reasons that you may want to consider getting a home staging certification.
As a bonus, we’ll tell you who we recommend for training and certification at the end of this article, so keep reading…
Top 7 Reasons You Want to Get a Home Staging Certification
Anyone considering a career in home staging has at some point debated getting a certification. Some home stagers know right away whether they want to get certified or not, but many others need to research to make sure a certification is necessary for them.
We’re not going to tell you that you should get certified. Instead we will provide you with a list of the top 7 reasons you may want to get a certification.
Reason 1. Staging Training
Home staging certification courses include training that will teach you more than you think you already know about home staging and design. Since you are considering a career in home staging, then you may already have the skills for the job. But the courses will cover many topics that you may not have thought about, and dig deeper to give you detailed instruction. Everyone has room to learn.
Reason 2. Pricing
Home staging certification courses will explain how to properly price your services. If you price your services incorrectly, you could either be leaving money on the table by charging too little, or scaring away potential business by being too expensive. There is a sweet spot for different types of services, for your experience level, for your demand, and for the types of properties you stage. This is where a certification course can pay for itself: pricing your services properly will make you extra money per project and help you generating more business.
Reason 3. Business Training
Home staging certification courses come with training on how to set up your business. Sure, home staging is a great business to start small, and grow into. But it would be ideal to have the right pieces in place for your business early on, rather than trying to get things done while your business is expanding. You might not have time to give thought to details of your business in the future when your home staging calendar is booked.
Reason 4. Marketing Training
Home staging certification courses come with training on how to market your business. There is a difference in marketing to homeowners, Realtors, or developers. Marketing for consulting services and vacant home staging also has differences. Do you know the different channels for marketing your business and how to use them? Putting flyers on doors is not as effective as it used to be.
Reason 5. Exposure
Many companies offering certification let you be part of their home stager directory. This directory is another way that potential clients can find you. Certification companies generally have a lot of visitors to their websites that search their directory for a home stager. This may not provide you with a significant amount of business, but it certainly doesn’t hurt. If you get just one client from being listed in the directory, then that may be enough to cover the cost of the certification! One more bonus of being listed in a directory, is that every link to your website helps with your website’s SEO.
Reason 6. Confirmation
Taking a home staging certification course will help you make sure that a career in home staging is right for you. It will allow you to decide whether to start home staging for a relatively small investment. Certification courses range in cost from a few hundred dollars, up to over a thousand dollars, but keep in mind that you typically get what you pay for. A good course will show you exactly what a home staging career will be like. If you have any reservations about a career in home staging, then you will know if a career in home staging is right for you after taking a certification course.
Reason 7. Credibility
Once you get your home staging certification, you can advertise that you are certified on your business cards, your website, Houzz, or anywhere that your business is listed. A certification instantly provides you with credibility. Imagine a homeowner who is looking for a home stager found your website and the website of one of your competitors, and they are trying to decide who to use to stage their home. Then they see that you have a certification, and the other home stager isn’t certified. Who do you think that homeowner will call? Sure, homeowners don’t know the difference between the different certification companies, but just having a certification automatically gives you more credibility.
Final Thoughts on Home Staging Certifications
Although a certification isn’t required to be a home stager, taking a certification course has significant benefits. From testing the waters, to the training, and the value of being listed in a directory, there are many reasons to take a certification course. And having the certification next to your name gives you credibility with potential clients.
Not all companies who offer certification courses are created equal. As you research, make sure you know what you most want to get out of the training. You also need to consider how much you can or want to pay, and whether getting trained in person, or online is best suited for you.
As we mentioned at the start of the article, we have a recommended training and certification company. We have worked with a lot of home staging training companies, and The Staging Diva provides exceptional training that will be a great asset as you start your home staging career.
