Inside a UK Home Staging Business with Elaine Penhaul
About Today’s Guest:
Elaine Penhaul
Elaine Penhaul is an expert in home staging, an author, and the founder of Lemon and Lime Interiors, supporting clients all over the UK and helping homes sell as much as 4x faster thanks to her staging work.
You’ll hear about Elaine’s unique business model and how she built her successful business from the ground up with a 2-person sales team. I have never really seen home staging businesses have active sales people on staff, so I found this fascinating.
Elaine also shares how she bootstrapped her business using upcycled furniture, why emotional intelligence is a critical skill to have, and how she’s built rewarding relationships with other agents, even landing a formal agreement with an estate agency.
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This Week on The Home Staging Show Podcast
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Elaine shares how she started her home staging business completely by accident (00:04:41)
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How having a strong network and diving in with both feet helped Elaine kick start her business (00:06:31)
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Having no outside investment, Elaine explains how she up-cycled some of her inventory (00:09:06)
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How you can be more sustainable in your home staging business (00:12:33)
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Inside Elaine’s team, and why hiring two sales people was the best decision (00:13:59)
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Elaine’s favorite tools that keep her business and team communication running smoothly (00:18:02)
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The challenges of working in a home staging environment (00:23:12)
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How emotional intelligence and actually having a home staging skillset is critical to succeeding in the staging world (00:25:08)
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The gaps I’m seeing in the industry right now (00:27:33)
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Elaine explains how she’s built relationships with agents that see the value in home staging, given how new the UK is to the staging market (00:29:08)
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The delicate balance of selling and relationship building (00:33:44)
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As Elaine grew rapidly, Lemon and Lime interiors now services the entire UK (00:38:35)
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How Elaine landed a formal agreement with one of the UK’s premium estate agencies (00:40:41)
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Elaine admits the growing pains that the UK staging industry is experiencing (00:44:36)
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Elaine shares a behind the scenes peek into how her sales team generates leads and works with their estate agent offices (00:45:33)
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The difference it makes to take the “old-fashioned” selling approach and have conversations in person (00:48:29)
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How COVID has catapulted Lemon and Lime Interiors into their highest grossing year yet (00:49:43)
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The bright side of COVID, and leveraging the pandemic as an opportunity (00:54:19)
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Elaine’s #1 tip for home staging business owners (00:56:06)
Connect with Elaine
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Elaine’s Website: https://www.lemonandlimeinteriors.co.uk/
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Elaine’s Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/lemonandlimeinteriors/
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Elaine’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lemonandlimeinteriors/
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Elaine’s LinkedIn Page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lemonandlimeinteriors
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Elaine’s Twitter Profile: https://twitter.com/LandLInteriors
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Elaine’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Q6waIVy7kSly915gyA22A/videos
Resources Mentioned On Today’s Show
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Join our free Monthly Staging Challenge for a chance to win a $100 Staged4more gift card. Click on this link to find out this month’s theme and enter your home staging project!
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Join our new, free community: https://www.staged4more.school
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Read our blog for all of our best home staging tips and tricks
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Discover more episodes of The Home Staging Show
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Learn more about the 2022 International Home Staging Awards
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Check out Elaine’s book, Sell High, Sell Fast: How to Sell Your Home for the Best Possible Price, in the Quickest Possible Time
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Learn more about Stageflow: https://stageflow.io
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If you want to support the show and keep it going, you can do so by leaving a review and rating on Apple Podcasts, that will help other people to find our show. If you find the podcast helpful to your home sale and would like to donate a few bucks to help with the hosting of the show, there’s now a donation button on the blog sidebar to your right, you can donate $5 or more to help with costs associated with the show.
