In 16 years as a residential real estate broker, I’ve averaged a sales price to listing price ratio of 100%. I have brought many of my clients offers above their asking price; sometimes as much as 20%.
Commanding top dollar doesn’t happen by accident; it’s an outcome that results from the right mix of various elements and skills.
One of the most underrated factors for maximizing the sales price of a home — regardless of market conditions — is staging.
Home staging can include a range of activities, from decluttering and rearranging furniture to complete redecorating or even renovations. It’s ultimate outcomes is to create an experience for the buyer to perceive what’s possible in the space.
Good staging helps a buyer see both what is explicit — the features and qualities of a home — as well what is implicit: the possibility and potential of what the home can be.
Experience influences more purchasing decisions than price.
This concept is not unique to real estate.
Every Space Sells You Something
Every space is selling you something — or at least that’s the goal.
In the retail context, spaces are often designed to sell you physical products. In other contexts, spaces may be designed to sell you an activity, an experience, an idea, concept, or belief.
A gym sells you on the idea of exercising. If it’s well-designed, you’ll walk in and feel inspired to workout.
A spa sells you on the concept of relaxing.
A casino sells you gambling.
Supermarkets and big box stores are designed to focus your attention on certain products.
Intentionally-Designed Spaces Promote an Experience and Result
If you have ever walked out of a store because the music was too loud or you couldn’t find what you needed, you know that not every space does its job effectively.
In spaces well-designed for their purpose, however, no detail is overlooked: from floor layouts, to lighting, to the music, to scents, to where the exits are.
Perhaps you’ve noticed that milk is always at the back of a supermarket. This forces you to walk through the store to get the milk. Along the way you’re likely to be distracted by displays tempting you to buy other things.
Or consider Las Vegas: Slot machines are everywhere. Casinos have no windows, making it easy to lose track of time. In a casino, you don’t know when day becomes night or night becomes day. The entire layout of the hotels and casinos is designed to keep you inside and get you gambling.
Creating Space Beyond Real Estate and Retail
Creating spaces to facilitate a particular experience or outcome isn’t solely the purview of real estate agents, retail designers, or architects.
I bring my staging skills to my role as a yoga teacher by setting up the props for my students before teaching yin yoga classes. I also spray the room and set the music and lighting.
When my students arrive, they simply unroll their mats behind a set of props. They don’t need to worry about gathering blocks, blankets, and bolsters. If they are early, they can settle in without worrying about moving over if someone comes late. And if they are running late, they know they’ll have a space waiting for them.
This creates certainty that allows their nervous systems to relax, promoting healing.
Creating Space for Your Best Work
One of the bedrock principles behind space design is that environment is more potent than willpower.
It’s hard to resist the temptations of the slot machines when they are everywhere, or the cookies on prominent display near the milk.
The art of creating space for your best work is the foundation of all the work I do, whether it’s staging a home, setting up for a yoga class, creating spaces for my writing and deep work, or in my coaching practice.
Our environment can be a powerful trigger for action or for distraction. The physical space in which you work can foster safety for your nervous system, enhancing focus and attention, or it can trigger fight-or-flight mode, increasing fatigue and depleting energy resources.
Intentionally choosing or creating a space can be half the battle in overcoming procrastination and improving productivity. The right space can lead to a major breakthrough or a break down.
What’s Your Best Space?
Different tasks sometimes need different types of spaces. After all, you don’t shower in your kitchen.
As you review your lists of projects and tasks consider:
How can you create spaces to better facilitate your best work?
Need support in identifying all the elements that go into the space that you need for your best work? I help my clients create space for their best work across a wide range of contexts. Get in touch to discuss how we can work together.
[…] It’s vital to create space for your best work. […]