The lady who explained my business better than I can (and she'd never heard of home staging)

I've spent months trying to explain home staging. I've talked about psychology, statistics, return on investment. I've even learnt to say the phrase "buyer emotional connection" without cringing (well, maybe still a little).

And then, completely by accident, someone explained my own business back to me far better than I ever have.

I was chatting to a lovely lady who'd asked the inevitable question, "So... what do you do?" (closely followed by, "No... what do you actually do?")

So I explained - I help people present properties in a way that helps buyers understand the space, imagine living there and emotionally connect with the home.

She didn't blink.

Instead she said, "Oh! That's exactly what happened when we were looking for a care home for my Mum."

Now, I'll be honest, this wasn't where I thought the conversation was heading.

She told me they'd visited a care home and been shown two empty rooms. "They just felt cold," she said, "And we couldn't imagine Mum living there."

Then they were shown another room. Same building, same layout, same size. BUT…. this room had a bed, pictures on the wall, a comfy chair, a lovely lamp and even a few plants.

"Although they were fake," she laughed, "But we didn't care. We could suddenly picture Mum living there." Plot twist... they chose the room that actually looked like someone could live in it - I know, absolutely nobody saw that ending coming.

I just sat there thinking - that's literally my job description. Without ever mentioning home staging, without statistics, no sales pitch, no "properties sell 73% faster..." Just the simple human reaction, "It's easier to imagine life here."

And this  made me realise something important… People already understand staging, they've understood it their whole lives. When they book a hotel, choose a holiday cottage, visit a show home. And apparently… when they choose a care home.

Nobody wants to imagine living in an empty box. They want to imagine living a life.

Which brings me to the question I've been asking myself a lot recently.

Why isn't this part of the conversation more often when someone is trying to sell what is probably their biggest financial asset?

I'm not saying every property needs staging. Some homes photograph beautifully exactly as they are - but some don't. Some just need a fresh pair of eyes, maybe a sofa and a rug. Some... apparently... just need a fake plant.

But surely every seller deserves to know it's an option before knocking another £20,000 off the asking price.

If they decide it's not for them, that’s absolutely fine, no hard feelings. At least it was a conversation.

Starting this business has taught me something I wasn't expecting, I'm not really in the furniture business, I'm in the imagination business. The furniture just happens to come with it (although I'm now slightly concerned that fake plants deserve far more credit than I've been giving them).