Ep 34 Transcript: Building Success Through Client Connections With Marianne Cherico

This transcript was auto-generated and may contain errors in spelling or inaccuracies in the spoken words.

Hello and welcome to the Real Women Real Business podcast. I am your host, Shauna Lynn Simon. And today I am joined by a very special guest. This is a woman who I've actually known for a number of years. We'll tell a little bit about the story about how we first met, but we met at an event that we were both speakers at and just instantly hit it off. And you will see why when you hear her story today and hear all that she has to share. She is known as the home stagers coach.

she specializes in helping home stages, especially with their, their mindset. And she brings an absolute wealth of experience to this. One of the reasons why she focuses so much on home stagers is because she herself has been operating a successful home staging company since 2005 and has over 27 years of experience in real estate, being a real estate agent herself as well. So welcome to Marianne Cherico. my gosh. I am so excited to be here. Shauna Lynn it's.

You know, it's just always nice to connect with you. And I always learn something from you. So I feel really excited and your energy. I mean, we talk about how, you know, I mentioned you're in your little introduction there that you deal with mindset. And if there is one thing that I think everyone who's ever come into your presence can agree with is you are just such an energy. You're such a force. You're such a cheerleader, like you embody the whole spirit of.

of female empowerment and sisterhood and you're constantly supporting others and lifting them up. is, it's truly a gift that you have in doing that. It's so amazing. My gosh, I feel the exact same way about you now. I'm going to cry. That is so sweet, but honestly, I feel the same way about you. I mean, we were, the good fortune to work together when we went to Florida to do that retreat and

You know, I just really got to know you and I just think you're such an amazing dynamo. And you are, we were talking about how dialed in you are about systems and, and your branding and stuff. And you're such an inspiration. And like I said, I learned so much from you too. And I'm just happy to be in your presence. Well, thank you. And I mean, we could probably gush over each other for this entire episode. And in fact, we spent about

30 minutes chatting pre-recording, of course, about all the amazing things that we're like, you're doing this really well and you're doing this really well and sharing tips. And it's something that, you know, I always love seeing, you know, as coaches, we collaborate as well. So similar to in any industry, you should be collaborating with your colleagues because it's amazing the things that they know and that they can share and you can learn from each other. And so in bringing Marianne on today, we thought we'd talk about something that I think is gonna be really pertinent, especially for home stagers who are

looking to really dial in on the real estate agents that they wanna work with, but very applicable to anyone in any industry. And that is understanding who your ideal client truly is, really dialing in on that, and then communicating directly to them and reaching them. And I know I've spoken about this before on this podcast, but I love to bring in other experts that can bring a different perspective to it. And also like kind of drill it in like, I'm not the only one talking about this. This is the real thing that we gotta like.

You can't just, you know, before we hit record, we were talking about, can't just sit behind a computer on social media and just hope, wish and pray that your clients will just know you, love you and want to throw an absolutely ridiculously ton of business at you, right? There's you, you have to put in a little bit of work there. So, so Marianne tell me a little bit, first of all, about your

career and what brought you to where you are today as a business coach. But again, you've had so many years of experience in real estate. Tell us a little bit more about that. Well, I was in the real estate business for 27 years in Massachusetts. And the funny thing is I always thought why do home sellers present their homes the way that they do? I mean, they present their homes, they're messy, they were cluttered and they would

think the real estate agent should just pull a rabbit out of a hat and sell their overpriced messy home for top dollar. And there was a lot of pressure put on the real estate agents, but there was no skin in the game with the sellers. And I went to Rhode Island School of Design and I took some design classes and there was this woman who talked about this thing called staging. This was a long time ago. And I thought, well, people here should be doing it. And then I realized that people out in California were doing it more.

and got involved with this online platform called Act of Rain, where I met some of the leaders in the field. And we all collaborated and helped each other then. And I realized that we needed to do it in Massachusetts, but people weren't going to go from zero to a hundred from not investing any money to investing thousands of dollars that people were doing out in California in some parts of Canada. And so.

I talked to this really big agent and recommended that he do consults and he saw it as a silver bullet. He was very forward thinking, really successful agent. And he saw it as a silver bullet and something that would add value to his business offerings. So we started doing consults and I felt definitely less than at the time because I wasn't doing those sexy model homes. Right.

And so I felt like, I'm not really a stager, but at least I'm, you know, I'm making money. And what ended up happening was that I started getting design jobs, model homes, luxury staging. So I got to sample all different kinds of staging to see what I really liked, where it was going to be most profitable. And through the years, real estate agents have been the ones who refer me over and over again.

for all different kinds of jobs. And that's why I think they're just the gift that keeps on giving. So I started my staging business in 2005 and started it with doing consults and kind of ending it that way too, because that's mostly what I do. I do some design jobs handpicked, but you know, the trajectory has been 27 years in real estate. got really burnt out on real estate and

Still love doing the staging, but I decided that I worked with coaches. I worked with one coach that I really loved and she focused a lot on mindset, law of attraction, which I know is woo for some, but it's really energy. You know, it's what you focus on expands. It's really neuroscience and energy, but I'm not going to go down that rabbit hole. When I worked with her, I thought, wow, being a baby boomer woman, I

always felt that our generation of women changed things for the younger generations. But at the time, we were caught between the traditional role model. I would say we were caught between June Cleaver and Gloria Steinem. so we had to find out, like my mother's a very traditional mother and nobody in my family had gone to college. I ended up getting a degree and

So I felt some ways as a pioneer about how to learn how to be a woman in a businesses, in a man's world, and then how to embrace being a woman in the world in business. And so that evolution caused me to say, you know, baby boomer women change the world for women, but they, a lot of them are afraid to build their own businesses and do things for themselves. They don't have good boundaries. They're not getting.

paid what they're worth, they still need more evolution. So originally, when I got trained as a coach, I went to Coactive Training Institute, my goal was to help baby boomer women transition into the next phase of their life. But then I decided that it made more sense to niche into working with home stages. And many of them are transitioning from nine to five jobs. And that's a whole, whole big thing. So that's kind of the evolution in a

synopsis. It's been quite the journey for you for sure. And that's funny. Actually, I do recall you being interviewed on another podcast that we've both been on, which is the Well Designed Business by LuAnn Nigara And I recall listening to your episode because you actually, interviewed you, like I want to say it was a couple of weeks before interviewing me. And this was, she had never interviewed anyone in the staging world or the real estate world really at that point. This was fairly early on. I want to say it was in her first year of her podcast.

And I recall listening to your episode, because I wanted to make sure that we were talking about different things when I did my episode. And I recall listening to yours and I was like, we're totally different. Yeah, she's working with baby boomers and she's doing this whole mindset thing. And that's not really my jam. Like not that I don't deal with mindset with my clients, of course, but it's not my primary focus. You we sort of have different areas. Like I tend to really focus on the vision and the goals and creating a strategic plan. And like you said, very systems and processes oriented. So it's a very step-by-step kind of thing.

you know, whereas, yeah, it was a little bit of a different fit. So it's interesting that I forgot that you had that whole baby boomer focus when you first started out, because you have evolved so much and so many in the staging industry now know you as the home stager's coach, which is how you branded yourself and, you know, given your real estate experience, I think that makes the most sense. So again, before we hit record, we were sort of talking about, you know, getting dialed in on that, that ideal client and.

you know, again, I've talked previously about this, know, really understanding who it is that you're, going to be working with. And I can recall when I started my home staging business, I created my business plan and a part of your business plan, of course, is to identify who is going to be at the time we called it your target audience. Now we tend to call it your ideal client or your avatar. But at that time it was who is your target. And my target was going to be real estate agents and homeowners. And I was like, check done, move on.

Nailed it, right? Yeah. You got it all done. Okay, cool. I soon realized, and this has been an evolution of course in the industry, I soon realized that homeowners were actually a very small percentage. That yes, I was working with homeowners, but they weren't necessarily going to be who I was marketing to. And which is a very unique thing about home staging of course, is that your real estate agents tend to be your client, but you technically have two clients because you got them plus the actual homeowner.

I'm not gonna go down that rabbit hole. I'm digressing a little bit. But the point is that I identified that the real estate agents were the ones that were going to give me the greatest return on my investment in marketing. And so it made sense to target them. But then I was looking at it further. I'm like, okay, well, and this goes for any industry. If I'm looking at real estate as well, not just any real estate agents. I I work with female entrepreneurs. Well, that's a pretty big market to be working with female entrepreneurs. So it's not just any female entrepreneur that I'm gonna work with.

You know, I've got sort of a certain age demographic that's usually a little bit closer to midlife around 35 to 55 on average. They've usually been in business for a couple of years. So if it's someone who's just starting out in their business, I send them to a different coach normally, like come back to me when you've got a couple of years in and you're looking to take that next step, but I'm not there for the, me help you launch your business necessarily. So it was, it's the same thing when it comes to the real estate agents, I'm looking at them and I'm thinking, well, they're not all created equal.

Like a real estate agent, are kind of a dime a dozen, don't get me wrong, but each of them has a different business model, a different trajectory, a different way of approaching things. And so I had to figure out which real estate agents I wanted to work with. And then the next big step of course is, well, how the heck do I connect with these people? And so that's something that you've done really well. And again, we're talking specifically about real estate agents, but this is very much transferable to any industry of you gotta figure out where your clients are.

first of all. So how do you help someone to first of all identify who it is that they want to be working with? Because again, we're not just like throwing something out in a sea of real estate agents and hoping that something sticks. Right. So I think part of it is that if you create messaging that's dialed into your ideal real estate agent, client avatar, or whatever avatar it is, if it's not real estate, whatever your avatar is, that if you

create messaging that's geared to them, you're also gonna get people that are outside of that. But when you create it toward your ideal real estate agent client avatar, they're feeling as though you really get them on a level that's so much deeper than the other people that are marketing to them. So I've determined that, for instance, my ideal real estate agent client avatar

based on the real estate agents who have given me the most amount of business through the years. And the kinds of jobs that I like to do is a smart, savvy, forward-thinking real estate agent who has worked with coaches. And that's why they understand terms like raving fans and clients for life. I populate my copy with that, right? Because these are terms that they resonate with. And they know that it's not a one and done deal that

They want to build a business because they're being referred by their raving clients. And how does staging tie into that? Like I, when I coach my clients, I teach them how to give the real estate agents what they want because what's in it for them when they work with the stager. So one of the things that I do is I tell them to teach the real estate agent how to use their highly effective and affordable staging

consultation is a tipping point to win the listing when they are competing with other agents. Now, when I say highly affordable, I don't mean cheap, but it's highly affordable for the real estate agent who doesn't get that listing because they didn't offer that, right? Right. So just to flush out more things about my idea of real estate agent client avatar.

They're very forward thinking. So they're willing to do things that others aren't. They understand that the perception of real estate agents in the market is that they all offer the same thing. I mean, if you read the book, Ninja Selling, it's a great book, by the way. It's geared toward real estate agents and selling, it's transferable.

And if you read that book, says that most people statistically think that all real estate agents are the same. So how do we as home stages show, help their real estate agents that they're aligned with stand out? It's all come, how we come from that place of service and how we offer them something that they didn't expect. How do I help you get more listings? All real estate agents want listings. So when you speak to that,

need that pain point, if you will, because they're paid on commission and listings are what pays their bills. If you speak to that pain point instead of, you know, we stage homes faster and for more money, because they hear that so much, they get numb to it. But if we say to them, I can show you how to help you get listings, then they're going to wake up and listen. And there's just so many ways that you can do that. Right? We elevate their brand.

because their online listings are their brand and they reflect the kind of marketing that they're going to do. And these are things they're not connecting the dots on, but we can help them by connecting those dots for them. So my real estate agents are typically seasoned. They've been in the business for about five years, but they're not the kind of dinosaur that doesn't want to think outside of the box. They're not the ones that are going to say, well, I don't need a stager because I, know, what I'm doing has worked and

I'm just going to put up, know, everybody knows me and I don't have to do that. Right. They're not forward thinking. Those aren't our, my ideal clients. I want ones that are very competitive so I can poke the bear on that. Right. I want to say, don't let that other agent get their listing in my subject line. Right. Or how to win those listings over the competition. Like I want to poke that bear and get them to say, yeah, you know, what, what secret weapon does she have to offer me?

Well, and this is key too, because what you're talking about here is about directing your messaging towards the clients that you want to work with. And so, and there's probably people who are listening to this who are home stages who are thinking, that's my ideal client too. That's who I want to work with. But there's going to be others who are like, you know what, actually I'd rather work with the agent who's pumping out like 10 listings a week. Well, in that case, he's not so concerned about getting the listing so much as he is concerned about getting it done quickly. So if you're promoting,

Get your staging consultation within 24 hours or on call stager or works evenings, weekends, whatever that's going to promote to that guy that much more because they're looking just to turn them all out like boom, boom, boom, one after another. Going back to the the dinosaurs that you were talking about. Yeah, you might not turn some of these, but you might get some who are like every once in a while the house needs a little bit of love. So maybe the way that you're focusing on your messaging to them is talking about like they're probably dealing with also people who are a bit older.

a bit more seasoned, a bit more resistant to staging and are a bit nervous about the idea of someone coming in and completely changing up their house. So instead you're marketing to them saying, you know, think that it takes a massive transformation to sell a home. Look what these minor tweaks would do. So understanding who your client is helps you to really direct that messaging so much stronger so that it's actually resonating with them. And that's really the key that you're saying here is like, make sure that messaging really gets to the person who's actually going to

care about it and what's in it for them. think this is the biggest thing. We're always like, but this is what I want them to know. They don't care what you want them to know. Nope. You can tell them what you want them to know. Yeah. Once you cover what's in it for them, then you can add all the rest of stuff on as the icing on the cake, you know, but until then you got to get them in in the first place. Right. And to your point, like when you're dealing with investors, that's a whole different thing to them. You want to talk it's return on investment.

Obviously for everybody, it's return on investment. That's the note that you want to keep hitting and flexibility because you know you're the last one after all the contractors come in that have held them up. So you got to be a little bit flexible. Return on investment and flexibility. For builders, it's all about selling empty lots. Yeah. Right. So you want to say, if I stage your model home, you know, you're going to sell those empty lots much quicker and you're not going to be carrying all those

that interest rates from the development costs for the neighborhood and blah, blah, blah. But also when you really understand your ideal client, you know how to sell to them without being salesy. Absolutely. Because you're just delivering up what they want. So if you're, if you are meeting with a new real estate agent, for instance, you position the sales message and I, you know, I mean the offering in a different way. You say, look,

I know you're competing against those seasoned agents and it's really tough for you to stand out because they already have a following of people, they're well known. So you have to do more and be more. And one of the things that you could offer is my affordable and highly effective consult as a tipping point, but then I can give you marketing collateral that shows why that's important. Like I've broke down the statistics from the NAR and how much more money they can make. So.

I can give you the tools to win those listings by using my service. So there's ways that you tie it into how you help them by understanding what their pain points are. Their pain points are competing with seasoned agents. Right. And you've got to give them what they want. And I think this is also, it's a misconception. You know, you see successful businesses out there and they go, they just woke up one day and they were successful. And the reality is that.

There's a lot of testing that goes on with your messaging. Like I experienced it in my own business where I wasn't saying the right things in the first couple of years of my staging business. I couldn't figure out how to connect with people. I've gone through it in my coaching business for that matter. There's times where I'm like, this is an amazing offer. Why is no one buying this? And then I play with the messaging and all of a sudden like, boom, everyone's like, me, I like this. Like, okay, now I'm down. And so if you've ever spent some time on your messaging, you know, putting those tweaks in, it really does pay off. I saw...

a social media post the other day, I apologize that I don't know who to give the credit to this post on, but it was talking about the brand Celsius and talked about how for years they had a couple of different cans, like styles of cans for their drink. And they were constantly promoting the burn calories and lose fat. And people, they weren't doing sales, they were losing money. They were like on the brink of bankruptcy or something along those lines. And they're now like a billion dollar company.

because what they did was they took a look at what do people actually want? Well, people want something that tastes good. They want something that is gonna give them some energy. And then if it happens to have some health benefits like burning calories, that's just the icing on the cake. And that's an extra thing that they're like, that just, it's kind of that tipping point of like, I'm already sold on this. And now if I'm comparing you to a drink beside you and one saying that burns calories, the other one doesn't, but I'm not gonna walk around with a can that says I burn calories because like who wants to walk around with something like that? The branding was all off.

And so it just kind of shows that, you know even a super successful company like them, they weren't successful right out of the gate. They knew they had a fantastic product. And I think this is the challenge that entrepreneurs are always facing. You know your product or service is amazing. You know the value of it. If I see one more post on Facebook from a stager saying, I don't understand why a real estate agent is not staging. Like you've got to speak to something that they understand.

And the reality is that there's gonna be out of your pool of ideal clients, there's still gonna be a bunch of them that are like, not for me. Still just not, they're just not gonna get it. And that's fine. There are plenty of people that I'm sure would benefit from the Celsius drinker are still like, yeah, no, not my jam. I'm sorry, I'm not gonna spend however many dollars on things like four bucks a can or something like that. So I'm not gonna spend that money on that. And there's always gonna be those people that are a part of it. But when you get that messaging right, people are like literally putting up their hand and saying like,

Can you help me now? Like now I want help. No, now I want help, you know? Yeah. And the thing that we have to realize, especially when we're doing social media campaigns and reaching out to the top of the funnel people is that there's people, there's real estate agents who will never hire a home stager or never recommend. Now they will, if their client asks for that or says another agent is offering this or right, that's when they'll do it. But they're,

generally not going to be your constant source of referrals. Forget about them. You know, but then there's, there's real estate agents who are interested in staging, but they really don't understand, for instance, all the offerings. And this could relate to any other business as well, just kind of top of the funnel and then coming down the funnel. but there's real estate agents who are interested in staging, but they don't know.

how they can work with a stager. They don't know all the different ways. They may, might not know about occupied. They might think they have to spend thousands of dollars. It's up to us to educate them in the marketing. And then at the bottom part of that funnel is the real estate agents that want to work with a stager, but they aren't sure which one. And this is where testimonials are so, so important. This is what sets people apart, that second party endorsement. So there's different things that are important in your marketing.

but you know, depending on where your audience is, if that makes sense. Yeah, that makes perfect sense. Yeah. I mean, you want to ensure that you're marketing to the right people. going back to what you were saying about the top of that funnel is your social media posts. This is what's going to get them to notice you, not necessarily hire you. They might, don't get me wrong. But if they're hiring you, it's not because you did one post and you said something one time.

It's because they've been checking you out for a little while. Maybe they saw, they did some work for this other real estate agent or this other real estate agent that I know they were liking that post as well. Like they're watching you for a little while before they're coming into the point where they're actually going to hire you from social media. if you like, I personally, I use social media more as a, when I've met someone, I want them to, when they check me out, be able to see that I can back up all the things that I'm saying.

but I'm not using it as a lead generation. I'm using it more as with you're already on my list. I'm going to show you what the heck I'm doing and maybe get you in at some point to, you know, buy something from me, sign up for coaching or whatever. But usually if you're getting to my social media in the first place, it's because you've seen somebody else has been referring me or I've met you in person or something like that. So when you're someone on social media, it's not necessarily an instant, like I'm going to buy from you. I'm going to hire you.

Kind of thing. So you've got to get down to those agents that yeah, they really they're looking for you. They're just trying to decide which stage or to work with. So now how do we find those clients? How do we find the clients that are like ready to work with us? Because we've talked about like, yeah, social media can get some of that messaging, your website can get some of that messaging. But if I know who my ideal client is, how do I go out and actually like get to them, get my message right in front of them?

There's so many ways to do it. And this is where it takes courage because I find that a lot of people want to kind of, and first of all, just backing up, you were 100 % right about that whole, the social media thing. It's not necessarily where you're going to get clients because people saw one post that you did. And because of the algorithm, a lot of times they're not seeing it. And I think that people think that if they show up a little bit that people are going to see them. No, you got to 10 times that.

put it on steroids because it takes time and it's a long term game. The quickest way to get business is to get in front of people. I mean, you know, a lot of people don't like networking events and stuff, but that's one thing that you could do. Some of my clients have been really successful doing that. I mean, go to the networking events where your ideal clients are. Go fish where the fish are.

and go to the open houses, but don't barrage a real estate agent. For instance, I'm just talking about real estate agents, just to use this as a reference. You don't want to barrage them if they're having a busy open house because they're not going to be too happy about it. So what you do is you say, hi, introduce yourself. You give them your marketing material and you say, I would love to meet with you for coffee and let you know how I can help you get listings and how I help, or how I help my preferred agent partners get listings. Right.

If they want to get more listings and are curious about it, don't you think that when you call them or reach out to them to set up a coffee date, they're going to be interested, but you're not selling them there. Right. And again, I love what you're saying though about, so that you're talking specifically about networking events, but networking doesn't necessarily have to be a specific conference or event or something. Networking can be anywhere that they're hanging out. So for example, in my local city, real estate agents have a bowling league.

Guess who bowls in the bowling league? I mean, do something social with them. A good friend of mine, a colleague of mine, she specializes in, she's an interior designer. She specializes in biophilic design for anyone who's not familiar. Kristen. Yes, I'm gonna do a terrible job explaining what biophilic design is, but essentially it incorporates health and wellness and how your home relates to that. And so she's got a booth at a trade show about health and wellness.

So instead of going somewhere where she's just going to get every homeowner, it's a little bit different. So she could get a booth at like one of those landscape and home-renow type home shows, and she's gonna get a bunch of homeowners there. Great, who are probably looking to do work on their house. Yeah, those are definitely, that's gonna fit into that. But there's probably also gonna be 20 or so other interior designers there.

all vying for that same business and then trying to pick out of that crowd, which ones are going to be attracting. And instead she's gone to the wellness side of things. So yeah, there's going to be some people there that maybe don't even own their own home. Doesn't mean they're not interested in the services that she offers. Doesn't mean they don't know someone else. Let me tell you. So I was at boxing this morning. I box every Wednesday morning and sorry, we're recording this on a Wednesday. It was released on a Tuesday, but yeah. So I was boxing this morning and I was chatting with

by my sparring partner and she's heading to New York in a few weeks and she's managed to get herself a spot at the Peloton studio to do a fitness class. And we're talking about how when she travels, she travels and does these fitness things. I travel to do Tough Mudders. I have found my people. So what does this mean? Well, if you're talking to me about something that can help me to increase my fitness level, increase my energy, increase my...

my ability to build muscle in a natural way. So everyone that I work out with, we're all into health, fitness, wellness, natural supplements, things like that. So if you tell me about something, even if I don't think I can use it, I probably know someone who does. So the same thing for her at this wellness trade show, that person might not be able to use her services, but they're gonna know someone else who does.

So I think it's brilliant. I think it's great. That's perfect thing for her to do 100%. So again, like finding where, where can you, I mean, this is a more formalized networking in that, like she's got an actual booth at a trade show, but I love what you were saying about networking. think that is so key. And if you're not someone who loves networking, then make sure that you're networking with the right people so that it doesn't feel like no one likes the

five minutes like, hi, my name is Shauna Lynn Simon. I'm an interior designer. What do you do? Tell me more about your business. Like, and you're just going in blind. Whereas if you're connecting with people who you know are going to be in that circle of people that you're going to want to work with, or they're going to want to work with you, you can build a more authentic and natural relationship that is just going to be a no brainer for them to want to hire you and want to refer you to someone else. I think that like you really hit the nail on the head with saying like networking, that's where you got to get to people.

Where are they hanging out? Where do you get the most bang for your buck? Whether your buck is your time or actual dollar investment. And time is important. And at the same time, like I know that some of my clients go to like women's counselor realtors and that's been great. Some of them that are nervous about going to these things. I say, get on the welcome committee. Then you meet people or get involved in activities. When you go to these events, don't make it

mean anything. Don't feel like you have to quote sell yourself with the elevator

pitch. Just ask them about themselves and see if you can take it outside of there for a coffee date or something. See if you even like that person. Yeah, or want to deepen the relationship. Like don't make it about, we're going to sell myself because that's where we we don't show up genuinely that way. No, and I think that you also bring up a good point that like how can you show who you are and

your value with outnourcely coming across as a salesperson. Another example that I was just thinking of is I actually chair our local walk for multiple sclerosis. And so, and I, it's something I've been, I'm very passionate about, I've been involved in since 2007 and actually, sorry, since 2000 actually, 2000. Yeah. Anyway, the point is- baby. Right. I'm like, that's going back, ooh, 24 years. But we had a sponsor this year.

this past year's walk for our dog friendly area. So we host the event at a school and the school doesn't allow dogs inside. So we need an area outside that's tented, that has some water dishes that can cater to the pets that come there. So this is a, 5k walk and a ton of people bring their dogs. Why wouldn't you? why anyone who has a dog is bringing their dog for any of these types of walks. And so this

company came and sponsored our dog friendly area. So they had, they actually sell different pet products. They do pet grooming. They do, think behavioral training. do a whole bunch of things, but they brought a few of their products with them. They brought some snacks for the dogs to be able to have some treats and sample. they, they set up a whole tent. They branded the heck out of it. They had never done an event like this. They happened to be like a friend of a friend. That's how we got them for this event. But they were like, well, we need to do more of these types of walks, not just for our particular cause. Like

It's not about the fact that it was a walk for MS. It was a walk and people bring their dogs to walks. So find more walks to, because you're going to like, it's, it's like shooting fish in a barrel. Basically they're coming to you. They've got these dogs who need snacks, who need drinks, and they're literally bringing them to you. And now all you have to do is show up, show up as you and the value that you have there. And there's no sales in it.

Now I haven't followed up with them to find out how much business they got after the fact, but I'd be willing to bet like all you got to do is put a business card in every one of these people's hands in some way, or give them a piece of swag of some sort. And like, you're pretty much guaranteed to get what even 5 % of those people get that business from them, your money back. And then some. Absolutely. And again, you're not making it like this pressure, elevator-y, fakey thing.

Like you're showing up as your people work with people they know, like and trust. And so, you know, I say to my clients, ask them questions about themselves. People love talking about themselves. You know, and just get to know them and then ask if you can deepen the relationship by, you know, meeting for coffee or something. you know, and they say the one who's asking the questions has the power. Absolutely. Absolutely.

So I know, I know for first home stages, it can be, it feels intimidating. You feel like, you've got to attend all these networking events or any entrepreneur. gotta attend all these networking events. But I think finding a way to make it feel good for you, feel authentic to you is definitely key to that. Yeah. And also just setting up coffee dates with real estate agents. And also I have formulated a presentation, a PowerPoint that my clients use.

It's not geared toward what staging is as much as how staging can help them build their business. So it's again, it's like benefit driven to the real estate agent. Their span of attention is very short. They're always putting out fires. I mean, I have to ask them to shut their phones and I'll tease them, but could you please shut your phone for like half an hour.

Right. But it's all benefit driven to them using their own statistics, how they make more money, their sellers make more money, how it specifically helps them elevate their brand. And it's geared toward how the real estate agents benefit and how they, I can help them win listings. So it's like really kind of doing a deep dive into what they want and how I can help them, not about what staging is and all that. And another tool is

doing a PowerPoint on staging your home to sell and using it as a lead magnet so that you can get real estate agents in front of potential clients that aren't already in their sphere of influence. And that's another benefit that you can give them. And I say you can charge for that, or if it's an agent that uses you all the time, you give it to them as a gift. So there's different ways we can help them. I love that.

So listen, so if we were to, if someone listening to this episode wanted to take one actionable tip away from today, what would you tell them? Like if they're going to go out today, they're going to go attract their ideal client. What's the first thing you want them to do? I think the biggest thing is to really own your value and the value that you bring and thinking about it and what's in it for them. And sometimes I think I see a lot of home stagers

and women shortchanging themselves on the value that they bring. And they really, even when they're new, it's, okay, do you really care about your clients? Do you show up when you say you're gonna, are you professional? Do you have their back? You probably worked twice as hard as people that have been in the business for a while, because you wanna do it so well. So owning their value, a lot of them are certified. I'm like, you've been through this, we have great certification programs, including yours.

You are armed with everything that you need. It's your mindset that has to believe it. And yes, it's scary when you're first beginning and you feel as though you're going to trip over your words. We've all been there. I still get like that. Okay, except that you're human, but write out and really understand everything that you bring to the table that goes beyond staging and design. Right. You know, how you treat people, all of that. I love that.

Well, thank you for that. And I believe you've also got, if someone's looking for you, how can someone find you? Well, you can go to my website, www.coachingbymarianne.com, or you could listen to my podcast, Home Stagers and Designers on Fire. Those are two ways that we can connect. Yes, and Marianne has been podcasting way longer than I have. She's got a fantastic podcast. I highly recommend checking it out.

And Marianne, you're also offering our listeners a free discovery session if I'm correct on that. Wonderful. Yes. If anybody's interested, it's a complimentary discovery session. We will talk about your goals and talk about obstacles that you might have in reaching those goals. And then we can talk about whether or not coaching might be a good fit for you. I offer group and one-on-one and the discovery session, no matter what happens,

you will come out of it with more clarity about what you want to create in a year from now. And yeah, I love doing these. So, and I'm going to be having you on my podcast too. So, stay tuned. Yes. Yes. So we'll get, we'll give a link to the podcast in the show notes as well as for that free discovery session as well. Marianne, I can't thank you enough for joining me today. This has been such a pleasure to have you on the show.

Oh my gosh, I always get excited when we are together, Shauna Lynn. It's so fun. Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it. Thank you. So listen, if you're listening to those podcasts, you've enjoyed what we've been sharing with you today. Do us a favor and share this with a colleague or a fellow entrepreneur that you feel can benefit from the insights that we shared today. That's the best way to support us. And of course, don't forget to subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts until next time, everyone keep thriving.