It’s crazy to think that it is already that time of year – but also fun to think of all of the great things we can do for our clients during this time! 

Another fun thing – the online video training that I have developed. I have had a lot of great conversations about it – and wanted to share with you just a little taste of what is included!

In redesign, shopping for your client and adding accessories to a home is a great add-on service you can offer your clients.

Watch this video, part of my “Live” video series as I talk more about accessories…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Don’t forget you can get full business training that comes with a certification, but also very specific “LIVE” video training on how to stage a home for sale, including the walk through and evaluation, AND specific “LIVE” video training on how to redesign a client’s room using what they already have.

Here’s to Designing Your Success™,

-Mary Larsen

Beside the fact that the show makes me laugh and laugh, I love seeing the completely different homes the main characters live in – and lucky for them, they all have style!

Not everyone is so lucky – which is good for business!  Nothing is more fun than meeting someone who says they can’t decorate, and all they want is for you to make their home beautiful – my favorite kind of client!

This is especially true for “non-decorator” types who need to get their home ready for resale – they just can’t “see” what needs to happen.

If you aren’t offering Home Staging to your clients – you really want to consider it.  And if you have “stage fright” – For the past year I have been working on an online training program that can be accessed immediately to help you add Home Staging and Redesign to the services that you offer.

I am very pleased to say that the training is now available, and at a GREAT introductory price!

I am offering full blown all out business training that comes with a certification, but also very specific “LIVE” video training on how to stage a home for sale, including the walk through and evaluation, AND specific “LIVE” video training on how to redesign a client’s room using what they already have.

I sincerely do not believe that there is any training like this available any where else!

In a hurry? Go here.

In honor of the launch of this training, I will be spending the next several newsletters going over some of the most important aspects of running a successful business – and as you know, I think sending newsletters to your clients is one of those important things!

So enjoy the article below on “Stage Fright Part II” and please let me know if you have any questions by contacting me directly – mary@ Marylarsendesigns.com or just hitting reply to this newsletter.

Enjoy your TV “home tour”!!!
Here’s to Designing Your Success™,

-Mary

PS – welcome to all my new readers!

PS. If you’re worried about your business outlook, consider adding home staging or redesign to your business – learn how by clicking HERE.

Stage Fright?! – Part II

Stage Fright can most commonly be defined as “the fear of performing in front of an audience or group”.   Now, I know you aren’t exactly “performing” in front of an audience or a group when you are staging a home for sale but you are performing for an audience, that audience being the potential buyers of the home.

So why do we have “Stage Fright” when we first start staging homes?  It’s because you have been hired as a professional to help your client prepare their home for sale and you are a key player in the first impression a potential buyer has of the home.  This is a big responsibility and can be a little frightening in the beginning, especially if you’ve never actually taken part in a real, live home staging before.

That’s why I created my “Live” Staging videos; to help take some of the fear out of the home staging process and to give you tips and ideas.  Put yourself in Sterling’s shoes as you watch the “Live” videos of her and me staging a home.

Speaking of tips and ideas…as promised, I am going to share more of my tips and tricks of home staging with you.  In Stage Fright – Part I, we talked about Location, Location, Location.  Well, it is such an important topic that I am going to give you a few more ideas and suggestions on “Location” as it relates to staging a home.

Nothing makes more of an impact on a room than the placement of the furniture and accessories. While in business, you are going to see rooms filled with beautiful individual items, yet the arrangement, and therefore the overall feel, diminishes these elements.  You also will see rooms filled with dated and ugly furniture and accessories, and with the help of your correct placement, they will end up looking amazingly good.

The key to a successful room is achieving a sense of balance and proportion with furniture and accessories.  Your goal is to create a room that feels harmonious, balanced and connected.  The secret is to work with the pre-existing planes, lines, and angles of the space and your items to create your great look.  The following tips will help you achieve this goal:

Hard and Soft – When placing furniture in a living or family room, try to alternate hard pieces, such as tables and armoires, with soft pieces, such as upholstered chairs and ottomans.  Too many hard pieces together will make the room feel hard.  If hard pieces must be placed next to each other, greenery and plants can be used to soften the edges.

Magic Number Three and the Pleasing Triangle – When placing accessories and lighting, your eyes like sets of three.  That is why so many accessories you can buy today already come in a set of three.  And just like three, your eyes like triangles.  You will see this in shapes with high, medium, and low, as well as in lighting, having three points that can create the shape of a triangle throughout the room.

Too Much of a Good Thing – As you work on putting like things with like things, do not go overboard.  If you have a wall with three doors in it and two tall windows, placing an armoire on that wall that is virtually of the same shape will just be too much.  Try to break up the hard lines of the doors and windows with shaped draperies and strategically placed artwork to help move the eye up and down.

Follow these tips when staging your client’s home, and your work will surely impress your client – and all of the people who come to view the home!

For training, be sure to visit www.certifiedprohomestaging.com !!

Here’s to Designing Your Success,

-Mary Larsen

The weather has been beautiful, my customers have their wallets open, and I am really looking forward to a great holiday season!

For the past year I have been working on an online training program that can be accessed immediately to help people add Home Staging and Redesign to the services that they offer.

I am very pleased to say that the training is now available, and at a GREAT introductory price!

I am offering full blown all out business training that comes with a certification, but also very specific “LIVE” video training on how to stage a home for sale, including the walk through and evaluation, AND specific “LIVE” video training on how to redesign a client’s room using what they already have.

I sincerely do not believe that there is any training like this available any where else!

In a hurry? Go here.

In honor of the launch of this training, I will be spending the next several newsletters going over some of the most important aspects of running a successful business – and as you know, I think sending newsletters to your clients is one of those important things!

So enjoy the article below on “Stage Fright” and please let me know if you have any questions by contacting me directly – mary@ Marylarsendesigns.com or just hitting reply to this newsletter.

Happy Happy Fall!!!
Here’s to Designing Your Success™,

-Mary

PS – welcome to all my new readers!

PS. If you’re worried about your business outlook, consider adding home staging or redesign to your business – learn how by clicking HERE.

Stage Fright?! – Part I

We’ve all had it; our first school play, first spelling bee, first time speaking in public….  Stage Fright is a difficult obstacle to overcome.  But I’m not talking about the fear of being on stage; I’m talking about the fear of staging…Home Staging.

Even if you’ve been in the design business for years and feel comfortable and confident talking to clients, even if you’ve taken training classes and become certified in Home Staging, you know what to do, you know how to do it, but your “Stage Fright” is stopping you.

I heard this from so many of my Home Staging and Redesign students that I decided to come up with a solution; a solution that brings you as close as you can to get to a “real, live” home staging without actually being there.

Walk with me and Sterling, a Home Staging student, as we stage a home for sale.  We take a look at everything from curb appeal, the exterior of the home and then move inside and begin the transformation.

You have heard that Location, Location, Location is important in selling real estate, well, we as Home Stagers can’t do anything about the location of the home but we can place furniture and accessories inside the home in a manner that shows off its features.  In the “Live” videos, watch me and Sterling as we discuss and decide upon furniture and accessory placement in order to draw the potential buyer’s eyes to the focal point and highlights of the room.

While we’re on the subject of Location, Location, Location, let me share one of my favorite trade tips…It is not what you have – it is where you put it. A successfully staged home will have a sense of balance and proportion with the furniture and accessories.  Here are a few tips to help you achieve that goal:

Reading the Room – You read the room from left to right, just as you read a book.  Keep your eyes moving smoothly around the room by creating highs and lows, much like an undulating wave or the shape of an S curve on its side.  Use accessories, artwork, and window treatments to help build the highs and lows.

Let Shapes Lead You – Use the shapes of the room and the shapes of the items in the room to help guide you in your design process.  For example, an angle built into a room, such as a fireplace built into a corner, dictates that you place a piece of furniture in the room on a corresponding angle in order to achieve a sense of balance so the room can “feel” right.

Like with Like – Similar shapes work best when they are together.  If you have a short wall and a tall wall, typically your short furniture piece will go on your short wall, and your tall furniture will go on your tall wall.  This also works with a horizontal piece of art over a long sofa or using small accessories in a small room and large accessories in a large room.  Think tall with tall, small with small, narrow with narrow, wide with wide.

You will learn even more tips and tricks of Home Staging in the “Live” Home Staging videos.  Learn why we do the things we do and most of all, gain the confidence that you need to stage a home on your own.  And, just like the fancy TV shows, we even captured the homeowner’s reaction when they walked in to see their newly transformed space.

You can get fully certified in Home Staging or Real Estate Staging – or -

if you’ve always just wanted to know and see the process for home staging OR redesign – you can get THAT video online training too!

Check it out at www.certifiedprohomestaging.com for ALL of the info – and let me know what you think!!!

Best,

-Mary Larsen

PS – the actual videos are much more clear and crisp than the samples shown on the page.

Last week as I was standing around wondering what I would write about, I received Jack Canfield’s newsletter – and bang! Here is Part II of the article.

Tomorrow I start presenting my two “Money and Marketing” classes at the International Window Fashions Expo -
and that always leads to some “asking.”

Have a great rest of the week!

Here’s to Designing Your Success™,

-Mary Larsen

The 5 Secrets to Successful Asking

The first stumbling block for most is knowing how to ask. There are five secrets to great asking that can guarantee you results, however big or small.

If you ever find yourself hitting brick walls and coming up short in responses, come back to these five tips:

Ask Clearly: No one likes getting a vague or fuzzy question. Be precise. Think clearly about your request. Take time to prepare. Use a note pad to pick words that have the greatest impact. Words are powerful, so choose them carefully.

For example, if you throw out the “How am I doing?” question without specifics, it may take time for the other person to understand what you’re talking about. Instead, try, “How is my attitude with customers? Do you see room for improvement? Where?”

Ask with Confidence: People who ask confidently get more than those who are hesitant and uncertain. When you’ve figured out what you want to ask for, do it with certainty, boldness and confidence. Practice in the mirror if you have to, or write out your question in advance.

Be prepared to hear the unexpected or the unwanted. Try to have an open mind and heart (it’s okay to feel intimidated by the experience, but don’t show it). Don’t get defensive if you hear something you don’t like or that makes you uncomfortable. It’s good to get a little uneasy once in a while upon the observations or insights of others. They will inspire you to stop, reflect, and take steps to make a shift for the better.

Ask Consistently: Top producers know that they can’t quit if they ask once and don’t get a good response. Keep asking until you find the answers, and try different ways of asking if one doesn’t seem to be working.

In prospecting there are usually four or five “no’s” before you get a “yes.” You may, for example, want to ask a co-worker about your performance on an important team project, but you sense reluctance from that person to offer an opinion.

You can always ask another person who is more receptive to the question, or consider how you are asking it and try again. Because people don’t normally go around asking others for opinions on how well they are doing, it’s not a question typically heard. So be prepared to ask over and over again before you hear a clear–useful–answer.

Ask Creatively: In this age of global competition, your asking may get lost in the crowd, unheard by the decision-makers you hope to reach. There is a way around this. If you want someone’s attention, don’t ask the ordinary way. Use your creativity to dream up a high-impact presentation.

Bear in mind that asking someone to stop and evaluate you can seem awkward or time-consuming. Show respect for them first and find the ideal time to ask the question. Here’s one way to engage the insights of a superior: “I highly value your opinion and honest perspective, and would love to know what you think I could be doing differently on a daily basis that would make your life easier and make our clients happier.”

Ask Sincerely: When you really need help, people will respond. Sincerity means dropping the image facade and showing a willingness to be vulnerable. Tell it the way it is, lumps and all. Don’t worry if your presentation isn’t perfect; ask from your heart. Keep it simple and people will open up to you.

Like speaking a different language, asking takes continual practice until it becomes a regular, reflexive habit. The sooner you build your “Ask Muscle”, the sooner you’ll see the results you’ve been waiting–and searching–for.

Don’t think asking only relates to work-related goals and tasks. Bring this practice home to enrich your relationships with your family members and your friends, too!

I trust you’ll be surprised and delighted at what you discover about yourself in this process.

Happy asking!

Jack Canfield, America’s #1 Success Coach, is founder of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul© and a leading authority on Peak Performance and Life Success. If you’re ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: www.FreeSuccessStrategies.com

Just as I was standing around wondering what I would write about today, I received Jack Canfield’s newsletter – and bang! You’ve got an article!!!

Today I am sharing  “Part I – 7 Ways to Boost Your Business” – and I know you will love it!

This was perfect timing because I am getting ready for my presentations at Expo (have you signed up yet?) and that always leads to some “asking.”

Have a great rest of the week!

Here’s to Designing Your Success™,

-Mary Larsen

7 Ways to Boost Your Business, or How to Ask to Get Ahead
by Jack Canfield

Ask and you shall receive.

How many times have you heard that? But how many times have you used this fundamental truth in your daily life recently?

Let me put it this way: when was the last time you asked for a written endorsement from a client or colleague?

How about feedback from your customers? Or the opportunity to renegotiate something that just doesn’t work for you?

I can’t tell you how often I watch business professionals–especially those in sales and marketing positions–falter because they simply stop practicing the art of asking.

If you were to ask successful top executives how they got to where they are, I bet most would admit they “asked to get to the top.” In other words, they knew when and how to ask the right questions so they could gather the right information, build their reputation, seek useful referrals, generate new business, and expand their audience or customer base.

If the simple act of asking is so critical, then why don’t more people do it?

Because for some reason, people falsely think asking implies weakness and sets one up for potential rejection. It’s easy to come up with all sorts of excuses to avoid asking questions that can return unexpected or critical answers. Yet the world responds to those who ask.
If you are not moving closer to what you want, you probably aren’t doing enough asking.

Here are seven asking strategies you can implement in your business (and in life) to boost your results:

1.) Ask for Information
You can never have too much information; in fact, the higher up you go, the more you need to know. To win potential new clients, you first need to have an understanding about their current challenges, what they want to accomplish and how they plan to do it. Only then can you proceed to demonstrate the advantages of your unique product or service.
Ask questions starting with the words who, why, what, where, when and how to obtain the information you need. Only when you truly understand and appreciate a prospect’s needs can you offer a solution.

2.) Ask for Business
Would you believe that more than 60 percent of the time salespeople never ask for the order after giving a complete presentation about the benefits of their product or service?!
It’s true, and a painful statistic that could put anyone out of business quickly if it’s not changed. Always ask a closing question to secure the business. Don’t waffle or talk around it–or worse, wait for your prospect to ask you. No doubt you have heard of many good ways to ask the question, “Would you like to give it a try?” The point is, ask.

3.) Ask for Written Endorsements
These can be difficult to ask for if you don’t like tooting your own horn, but well-written, results-oriented testimonials from highly respected people are powerful for future sales. They solidify the quality of your product or service and leverage you as a person who has integrity, is trustworthy and gets the job done on time.

When is the best time to ask? Right after you have provided excellent service, gone the extra mile, or made your customer really happy. Simply ask if your customer would be willing to give you a testimonial about the value of your product or service, plus any other helpful comments.

4.) Ask for Top-Quality Referrals
Just about everyone in business knows the importance of referrals. It’s the easiest, least expensive way of ensuring your growth and success in the marketplace. Your core clients will gladly give you referrals because you treat them so well. So why not ask all of them for referrals? It’s a habit that will dramatically increase your income. Like any other habit, the more you ask the easier it becomes.

5.) Ask for More Business
Look for other products or services you can provide your customers. Devise a system that tells you when your clients will require more of your products. The simplest way is to ask your customers when you should contact them to reorder. It’s easier to sell your existing clients more than to go looking for new ones.

6.) Ask for Feedback
This is an important component of asking that is often overlooked. How do you really know if your product or service is meeting your customers’ needs? Ask them, “How are we doing? What can we do to improve our service to you? Please share what you like or don’t like about our products.” Set up regular customer surveys that ask good questions and tough questions. It’s a powerful way to fine-tune your business.

7.) Ask to Renegotiate
The negotiating room should never be locked up for good. Regular business activities include negotiation and often re-negotiation. Many networkers get stuck because they lack skills in negotiation, yet this is simply another form of asking that can save a lot of time and money. All sorts of contracts can be renegotiated in your personal life, too, such as changing your credit card terms and rates. As long as you negotiate ethically and in the spirit of a win-win, you can enjoy a lot of flexibility. Nothing is ever cast in stone. It’s only in stone if you don’t speak up!

Jack Canfield, America’s #1 Success Coach, is founder of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul© and a leading authority on Peak Performance and Life Success. If you’re ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: www.FreeSuccessStrategies.com

She went on to write a great article that I have adapted here.

The word “but” is simply a great big road block in your business as you try to move forward. An acquaintance described it as a “verbal eraser.”  When you make a point and follow it with “but” – nothing that you said before matters.  Basically, you just erased the first thought you had.

Try it out for yourself. Say you want to go to the next conference so you can learn the next best thing for your business.  Then add “but.”

“I want to go to the next conference cause it will really help my business grow, but….”  Nothing you said before that “but” matters anymore, because you have just erased it with your big but!

Following are a couple of situations you may find familiar  – with some tips on how you might get rid of your “big ole but” for good!

1.  Holding Your Business Back. As the owner of your business, you are constantly being faced with new opportunities that have both positive and negative outcomes.  Consider the conference example used above.  When you consider attending the event very often you state the positives – such as I will learn new business techniques and meet more people I can share ideas with” and then you throw in a “But it will be costly, and I am not sure I will put what I learn to use.”

Suddenly – the reasons why you SHOULD go to the conference are completely erased by the ‘but.”

Consider trying this instead “Going to the conference will allow me to learn new business techniques as well as meet more peers.  It will require an investment and I may need to deal with change within my business. “

No “but” allows you to weigh BOTH the pros and cons of the situation, so you can make the logical choice for your business.

2.  Stopping Growth Cold. You’ve just been presented a great opportunity to speak at a large event that is directly in front of your ideal client – finally a great way to get in front of the perfect people!  And what does your brain say? “But!  I’ve never done that before.  I could fail.”

Immediately you start thinking of all of the reasons why you can’t, shouldn’t, and won’t take the speaking gig.

Get rid of your but!  Replace it with AND.  Now you say “I have a great chance to speak to my ideal  market for great new clients AND I have never done this before.”  All of a sudden this speaking gig kind of looks like a challenge.

Here’s the one way to use BUT to erase a negative – “I’ve never done it before – BUT – I CAN do it!”  Now accept that challenge and do it.

3. Creating unnecessary guilt. You likely have a computer if you’re reading this. And if you have a computer, you’re among the world’s population that has an enormous amount to be grateful for. You might even think to yourself sometimes, “I am so blessed with so many things, BUT, I would really like to have more.”

Look what that ‘but’ did: it erased the thought where you recognized you’re blessed and concentrated on that SELFISHNESS of wanting more. BAM! You feel guilty and bad about wanting more.

Try this: “I am so blessed with so many things, AND I would really like to have more.” That sounds pretty good. And hey, it’s actually right. No guilt. No bad feelings. You are grateful for what you do have AND you’re eager to pursue getting more: More knowledge, more relaxation, more job responsibility, more productivity, and yes, even more money.

Work on eliminating ‘but’ in your conversations. See how much more powerful your ideas will be, and how much more positive your own thinking will be.  I’d love to hear how powerful it is for you.

Here’s to Designing Your Success,

-Mary Larsen

A couple of years ago – 3 to be exact – she launched a daily calendar for woman by woman – daily biz tips to help inspire and encourage.  And I am very proud to say for the 3rd straight year one of my business tips has been featured in the calendar!

You can check it out today at www.womenentrepreneur.com

and learn more about Mary and her work at www.WomansAdvantage.biz/calendar

Hope you enjoy!

Here’s to Designing Your Success,

-Mary Larsen

March 25th – I’ll be giving a live seminar in Atlanta -  and it’s F*r*e*e* – Turn Your Marketing into Money – if you think you’d like to attend, shoot me an email for more information

March 29th – I am one of ten experts hosting a 10 part teleseminar – Marketing that Works for the design field.  You can find out about it and register for it at www.businessofdesigntelesummit.com and again, it’s F*r*e*e*

May 3rd – 7th – 4 day hands on training to learn how to become a redesigner or stager – in Raleigh – shoot me an email for more information

May 12th – 13th – I’ll be teaching at the Window Fashions Expo and teaching 2 classes – one on Money – one on Marketing.  You can learn more about and register for it here.

Let me know if you’ll be able to attend any of these events – I would love to meet up!

Here’s to Designing Your Success,

-Mary Larsen

I am very pleased to say that I was recently featured in the latest issue of Window Fashion Vision magazine.  It was on my favorite topic – helping women in the design field make more money – and not just give all of their talents away.

This was one of those great articles where I was asked to submit the article, went to bed that night, and woke up with a whole LIST of things that can be done.  I love it when that happens.

In fact, that was one of the reasons I went into consulting with people in the design field.  I started having ideas about how to make my business better and more profitable show up  in the middle of the night - and -those ideas worked. It’s very cool.

Just click HERE to enjoy the article in full – I know you’ll like it.  And please leave me a comment and share what you think!

Here’s to Designing Your Success,

-Mary Larsen