How home staging can make the all-important difference between a Holiday Home Sale, or your buyer ending up on another park!
Whatever the time of year, it’s important that the park presents itself well, not just in terms of marketing material, but also the impact it makes when a potential buyer visits for the first time. Dress Pack Solutions are experts in this field, working on a range of diverse accommodation types for holiday parks, and dressing holiday homes for manufacturers for shows and events. From a park perspective this can mean making sure showground models are sales-ready for open weekends, and that the sales office also helps perform to make a great first impression with buyers. It can also mean prepping owner welcome packs in their homes for the exciting moment when they take ownership, as buyers who have also ‘bought in’ to the park and holiday home buying concept often re-share and become a great form of free advertising as ambassadors for the park. Tracy says; The old adage that you never get a second chance to make a first impression is more relevant in holiday home sales than ever. It’s never been harder to get potential buyers to parks than in the current environment, so every incoming lead should be valued and treated as a potential sale. That means that what visitors to any park need to feel is that they could imagine themselves on the park or in any holiday home they explore there. If they can’t, they’ll often carry on looking until they feel that sense of belonging somewhere else. ”
So, what do park sales teams need to consider? Tracy says; “If a potential buyer is starting their search, they will most likely already have taken a look at manufacturer websites, visited the odd show, and researched a shortlist of parks to look at in their primary target area. So, the park will be in competition with others, and they may have arranged visits to a number of parks while in the area. When they’ve seen homes online or at shows, they will have seen them fully dressed, so that is already their subconscious or conscious expectation of what their potential holiday home might look like. An undressed home will therefore be likely to leave them cold, and less likely to imagine themselves owning it.”
FACTORING IT IN
Tracy continues; “What we’re encouraging parks to do is to factor in the cost of staging to their home preparation costs. They may spend 1000’s on the plot and decking, but the staging costs also need to be factored in, and the dressed home is not only likely to sell quicker, but it should command a stronger price.” As Dress Pack Solutions works with a number of manufacturers, they are used to organizing packs for a range of models to enhance their sales potential, and can also add memorable touches to personalise the holiday home to the park or location.
BEHIND THE SCENES
Speaking recently at the BH&HPA area conference for Cornwall, Tracy highlighted how one of the common misconceptions about using a dress pack/home staging provider is that it will be expensive. However, they can work to any budget, and if that’s factored into the plot preparation price it will pay for itself on purchase. Unlike other providers, the Dress Pack Solutions sets are not standard, they are customised to the park’s needs, which can actually make them more cost effective, and enhance the home more than an off the shelf option. THE BEST TIME TO BOOK So, when is the best time to get your holiday home staging sorted? Tracy says; “Ideally when a park knows a model is reserved and in the manufacturing process or on the way in – that’s the best point to book in with us. Then we can have the packs ready for when the siting process has finished and it’s ready for propping and cleaning. Then it will be ready for marketing, and at it’s full potential ready for the sales process as quickly as possible ready for potential buyers to snap up!”
A PARK PERSPECTIVE
“Having worked with Tracy for many years and seen her amazing transformations to homes at many shows, I can highly recommend her services. Tracy has a flair for making a home, warm and embracing with the beautiful touches she creates. We have recently instructed her to dress two of our Show homes, resulting in one home being sold on the first Open Event we showed it at Presthope Grange, in Shropshire. This proves what a big difference quality dressings, by someone with flair and experience can make to the feel of a showhome. Not all customers have the vision to see themselves and their belongings in a home; this gives them ideas on how to bring warmth and comfort to their new home and certainly helps to sell…. Suzanne Francis, Avon Estates
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