Wondering if online home staging training is right for you? One of the most common questions that I get is if classroom style training or online home staging training is better. The truth is that one isn’t necessarily better than another. Online courses do have their benefits, however.
Online home staging training is less expensive than classroom courses
Because we have less overhead, online home staging training is usually less expensive than traditional classroom style courses. Most GOOD classroom courses range from $1800 – $3000 for three days to five days of training. A typical three day class includes 2 days in a classroom, and one day in the field. A typical five day course includes mornings in the classroom, then field work in the afternoon. All in all, most classroom courses have no more than about 16 hours of actual classroom training.
The high costs of classroom home staging training doesn’t stop at the training itself. It continues with:
- Travel costs – often including gas, hotels, and parking fees
- Meals – breakfast, lunch, and dinner are not usually included in the class fees. Plan on 3-5 days of take out or restaurant meals.
- High pressure sales – one of the ways that many of these courses make money is with add-on impulse buys. Instructors are trained on how to sell you things like branded clipboards, portfolio binders, tool bags, and more. All of these are heavily marked up and most are not necessary for your business.
Of course you’ll also have to wait for a good class to come to your area. If your solution is just to take the one that is closest to you, or the next one coming up rather than the one with the best curriculum can be very costly. Not all classes are created equal.
Online home staging training at your own pace
Becoming a great home stager isn’t really something you can do in a weekend. It takes time and understanding your market. By the end of a class style course, you are usually exhausted and full of information that you won’t put to use for weeks or months. By the time you do need it, you’ll have a fragment of remembering that it was discussed, but the content will be lost. Sure, you can try to break out that 3″ binder collecting dust on the shelf, but reading probably won’t jog your memory the same way.
Our 13 module online training system is designed to stay with you over the course of your career. In the beginning, you’ll probably take the course on nights or weekends, fitting the course in where you have time to dedicate yourself. While you can crank it out on the same grueling schedule that the 3 day classroom courses use, very few of our students opt to do that. Instead, they take their time, watch and rewatch modules, absorbing information in the pace they can learn it.
The real benefit, however, is that you’ll always have access to the course material. If your first appointment isn’t for weeks after you watched Module 2 on the home staging consultation, then you can always go back before your appointment and re-watch this module. Refresh your memory before you interact with the customer so that you feel fully prepared.
If your first vacant home staging job isn’t for months after you have taken the course, and you don’t remember how to price the job, it’s OK. You can just login and refresh your memory.
The most comprehensive information on TODAY’S industry
Because our online home staging training course is updated with any major industry changes, you’ll always have access to the most current information. When we record new modules, cite or link new statistics, or find interesting information that we think you should know, it will all be housed within the appropriate module for that topic. Whether you took the course yesterday or two years ago, you still have access to the most current information.
A private Facebook group let’s you collaborate
SAR’s online home staging training course makes sure that you are never alone. Taking our class means that you will also be given access to a private Facebook group where you can interact with other home stagers who took the course as well as all of the SAR staging instructors. When an issue arises that you aren’t sure how to handle it, or you have had a large or small achievement that you want to crow about, we are here for you. Simply post in the group and instantly you’ll have access to a group of like minded people to discuss with.
Instructors who are actively working as home staging professionals
Did you know that most of the instructors in home staging classes don’t actual stage homes? Most of them haven’t in years. Some haven’t staged a home in decades. The information that they have about our industry is out of date and most of it theoretical. One way to weed through these instructors is to ask to view their RECENT home staging jobs. Be sure to stress that you don’t want to see class photos, but rather you want to see their local home staging jobs.
If they are one of the few that actually does still stage, examine the work. Does it represent the kind of work that you want to do in your business? Remember, this is how they will teach you to work.
Still thinking that you want hands-on training for your new home staging career?
Don’t worry. Our online home staging class isn’t all we have to offer. You always have the option of training with one of our instructors. After you have completed your online course, you can choose either our mentoring/coaching sessions or hands-on staging package.
The hands-on staging package allows you to work specifically with one of our instructors on a live job site. After registering, we’ll connect you with the instructor of your choice and you’ll set up your training directly with them. One of the benefits here is that you won’t be working with dozens of other new trainees, rather you’ll spend the day in a much more private session. This won’t be whatever job the training company could throw together for the class dates, rather it will be a real job, with a real client, with real contracts and customer expectations. $495 for 1 day of training.
Mentoring and coaching sessions can be purchased one at a time, or as a bundle at a discount. These give you one to one conversation on the topic of your choice with the instructor of your choice, up to an hour at a time. Learn from some of the best home stagers in the industry and grow your business on your terms. $125/hr or $495 for 4 sessions.
Bundle your home staging training for the best value
Still thinking about that classroom training? Consider this. If you bundled your online home staging training with hands-on training, and four sessions of mentoring, you’ll only spend $1685. That is still much less than nearly every other classroom style course. Yet instead of being one of many during the hands-on portion, you’ll be working along side your instructor in an assistant style role, learning from them closely. You’ll have unlimited access to all of the training forever, you’ll have four one-on-one, one hour mentoring sessions to grow your business and work out hurdles, and you’ll have access to a private community of students and instructors to share your difficulties and successes.
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