I Didn’t Get the Job — but this Seller Still Made My Day!

When you operate a small business, sometimes the marketing activities you find most useful don’t work in every situation. A smart business owner tries a variety of ways to  find clients, and then keeps them happy in hopes that they’ll refer others to you in the future.

You never know when the small things you do in your day-to-day business will result in something bigger later on. Planting seeds is something we should do continuously, since that usually ensures that a later harvest will come our way.

This week I was contacted by homeowners whose large country home had been on the market for nearly a year. They asked for information on our home staging services, and said they’d just signed on with a new agent, who suggested that they consider staging their home; she’d given them three staging company references (my company was not on that list, however.)

When I asked the seller how she found me, she said that she and her husband looked at the websites of the three home stagers they were referred to, but in her own words said they “weren’t impressed.”

She said she then Googled “home staging Portland” and found my website, looked at my photos, read my client testimonials/raves, and decided to call me.

While we were talking on the phone, they said they had to sell their home for much less than they paid for it five years ago.  They’d posted photos online which I looked at, and it was indeed a lovely property with acreage in the countryside 25 minutes from Portland.  We talked about several options, including their renting furniture for some of the large rooms, or having me provide a home staging consultation so they could do the staging themselves … and several other scenarios that might help them.  She said they’d think it over and thanked me profusely for the ten minutes I’d spent talking with her on the phone.

The next morning, this seller emailed to let me know that right now, they weren’t in a position to hire a home stager, but what she wrote just made my day:

“Thanks for your time on the phone today. We won’t be able to use your resources at this time; as much as I wish we could afford proper staging, we have to keep our costs down on a property we’re already losing money on. But I’m going to save your contact info for options if we lag on the market.   Again, thanks for presenting so many options to help keep costs down. Our conversation was a perfect reflection of all the rave reviews and beautiful photo gallery pictures that I saw on your website.“