Three Expensive Staging Business Mistakes And How To Fix Them

We walk through three staging business mistakes we’ve made ourselves and still see across the industry, then lay out fixes that protect time, profit, and client trust. The big idea is simple: small operational leaks stack up fast, but one focused change this month can reset momentum.

• go-backs as a hidden cost that wrecks schedules, team focus, and agent relationships 
• using incentives to build warehouse habits instead of punishing mistakes 
• why prices must rise when rent, labor, inflation, and inventory costs rise 
• win-rate and margin signals that show when pricing is off 
• rental rates as a lever to recoup inventory cost and keep growth funded 
• inventory bloat as paid warehouse space that produces zero revenue 
• annual usage audits, warehouse sales, and stylist coaching to keep inventory moving 
• choosing one problem to tackle now instead of setting vague yearly goals 

If you're ready to leave your nine to five and want to do something that's buildable and scalable, check out linden-creek.com/franchise and see if Linden Creek is the right fit for you. 

Transcript

Three Costly Mistakes Ahead

SPEAKER_00 0:00

We have made every single mistake on this list, sometimes more than once.

SPEAKER_01 0:04

And when we talk with other staging companies and others within our brands, we find that typically they are making at least one of these mistakes. What we want to dive into you with today is to highlight three of those key mistakes, things that we have done. One of them even being one that we thought wasn't fixable until we finally solved it.

Go-Backs And The Domino Effect

SPEAKER_00 0:34

Mistake number one. We show up at a multi-million dollar listing, ready to stage the property. Everything's offloaded from the truck, and all of a sudden the really expensive dresser is left back at the warehouse, right? That could cost us several things. Number one, it costs us lost time. Number two, it could cost us uh a relationship with that agent. And finally, number three, it could cost us to really push that photography deadline that's coming later that day, which again comes back to the agent. So the story behind that really was in our warehouse, there were many times um back when we were not as efficient as we are today, things were just being left behind. And to some that may seem like no big deal. We just go back and get it. We go back and bring it. Um, first of all, when you have heavy furniture, that's very hard to bring back if you don't have adequate vehicles, right? It means the moving truck is coming back. That's more money, that's more time. Um, just delaying things. But we had several instances where that was the case in Raleigh. And so um I went to our warehouse team and I incentivized them. I said, enough is enough, guys. Like we have to make sure that everything that is selected for this project gets on the truck. And so I said to them, here's the deal. If you can get through the entire week, and there were three guys on staff in the warehouse, and I said, if you can get through the entire week and we don't have a single item that we need to go back for. We call them go backs. If we don't have a single go back, each of you gets a $50 gift card. They perked up, right? Instantaneously. Like, what do you mean? So again, it was it was coaching them toward an end goal, right? And helping them understand that if you pay attention to the details, a we run more efficiently as an organization, which means you should be rewarded for that, right? Within a couple of weeks, there

Incentives That Build Better Habits

SPEAKER_00 2:21

were no go backs.

SPEAKER_01 2:22

Yeah, and I think there are a couple important things to highlight in this. Um, one is you know, you have all those challenges with a client, but you have challenges internally with your team because now you have stylists that are at a project that are trying to run the install and all of a sudden they're missing pieces, they're feeling scattered, they're stuck at a house longer than planned, which is pushing their workload in the rest of their week out. So there's this domino effect we just kept watching over and over again. And one of the things um that I loved about the way that Alan approached it is it wasn't like, here's a penalty. I have heard of other staging companies that had the same issue and they were like, we're gonna dock your pay, or moving companies will do it. We're gonna dock your pay. You're responsible for getting that thing back out there. Right. And I'm not a huge advocate for that. And so this, like, you do it right and you win um was really cool for two reasons. One, it encouraged them to win. But the reality is the $150 in gift cards, if we had to pay them out, was way less expensive than the cost of additional time and labor and drive time, et cetera, for every mistake we were making. So we were saving money as a company. Our employees were winning and got to like take their wives and their girlfriends out on hot dates every weekend when they won. But what was cool is when it was implemented, we said we were gonna do this for about 90 days. Um, and the reason behind that is 90 days is what it takes to make a habit. And so after that, we found that it became a habit. But early on, those first couple of weeks, they did not get their gift cards, but it became this thing of like, how do we work as a team? And often it wasn't that somebody was intentionally forgetting something or that there was something malicious going on. It was just a simple fact that they were kind of tripping over each other as they were pulling and doing this. And so it forced them to pause and reflect on their systems. So instead of us saying, like, here's a checklist, make sure you do these seven things when you're pulling before you load a truck. Um, and are you sure you did that? Now it just became on them to analyze their own systems and figure something out and figure out how they can collaborate as a team. And they encouraged each other because it was the masses that was going to allow them to really win.

SPEAKER_00 4:22

Do you want to know when it like really kicked in high gear?

SPEAKER_01 4:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:25

I think it was like the second week, we got all the way to Friday and they forgot something.

SPEAKER_01 4:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:30

And they and it was it's an all or nothing for the whole team. It's not like a couple of guys get it, but the guy that left it behind doesn't. So they all lost their gift cards. And that was it. After that, it was like, dude, we're never letting that happen again.

Franchise Plug And Mindset Shift

SPEAKER_01 4:42

Yeah, you know. So love design, but think like a business owner. If you're ready to leave your nine to five and want to do something that's buildable and scalable, check out linden-creek.com slash franchise and see if Linden Creek is the right fit for

Pricing That Keeps Up With Reality

SPEAKER_01 4:55

you. Mistake number two that we see oftentimes is that you have set your prices for your business and then you never raise them. Um, but something interesting happens every year. Typically, your rent on your warehouse goes up. Typically, you're paying your employees more money every single year because they're learning new skills. There is inflation, and so the cost of your furniture and your decor is also going up right now, a whole lot faster than inflation. And so if you're keeping your prices exactly where you were when you started your business or several years ago and haven't reevaluated that, that's a really costly mistake because it's actually eroding your profit.

SPEAKER_00 5:31

100%. I I love it. I could add so much to that, but I I I'm gonna wait. I'm gonna wait.

SPEAKER_01 5:39

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 5:40

I mean, you're you're so right about it. If you're not raising your prices and you're not adjusting to what's around you, then you're taking the hit. And if you're taking the hit, that means your business is taking the hit, which means that your employees are gonna take the hit eventually, or the quality of your inventory is gonna take the hit eventually, which means your reputation is going to take a hit. Yeah. Right. So um you have to adapt your pricing to what's going on around you.

SPEAKER_01 6:02

And I think one of the dangers we often see is sometimes you'll see companies that will like price their stuff to break even or to like make a little bit of money. But it's like if you're ever going to grow, if you're ever going to improve your inventory, if you're gonna get a refresh in what you have, you have to charge enough to be able to fund that new inventory and fund that growth. And I think that's kind of the part of the equation, oftentimes that people forget is this is a business that requires a lot of capital in order for that growth and in order to sustain good quality trends. Um and it requires you to price accordingly.

SPEAKER_00 6:38

I think a good barometer for pricing, right, is if you can't sell yourself on your own product, you definitely can't sell somebody else. So one of the things we coach our franchise owners about is increase your value proposition, add more value, right? So, like if you look at your pricing and you look at the value that you bring every single day and you go, yeah, maybe I'll pay for it, then you're probably missing something, right? If it's kind of like, eh, you're missing something, go back to the drawing board and go, what more can I offer to our clients that makes it a no-brainer? If it's a no-brainer to you, it'll more than likely eventually be a no-brainer for them.

SPEAKER_01 7:15

You know, on the flip side of that, one of the indicators of going, Hey, am I priced too low? Is if you are winning every job that you are putting yourself out there for, you're probably priced too low. Um, and I say this as a girl that hit that season of um, you know, early on in my business. Every time a client called and a quote was sent, the answer was yes. And I was like, wow, this is so easy. But it wasn't easy. It's that I was underselling what we were actually delivering. And that became the bigger problem.

SPEAKER_00 7:43

100%. We teach our teams here in Raleigh and our franchise owners simply this. If you're, and you correct me if I'm wrong here, but if you're winning more than 50% of your projects, you're priced too low.

SPEAKER_01 7:52

Correct.

SPEAKER_00 7:53

Right? If you're in that if you're winning less than 30%, right, you're probably priced too high. Yep. That sweet spot is between 30 to 40 percent. You are gonna get way more no's than you are yeses, and that's okay. But if you're hanging in that 30 to 40 percent, low 40% range, then you're right where you need to be. That's for sure.

SPEAKER_01 8:10

Yeah. Another big indicator that maybe you need to revisit your pricing is if your margins have been moving the last few years, but they're moving the wrong direction. So if your top line and what you're charging for your services are staying right here, but your expenses are going up every year between rent, again, between your employees, between the inventory costs, then there's something wrong. You should not have shrinking margins happening every single year because eventually they turn to nothing. Um, and so if that's something you're seeing as you're looking at your profit and loss statements at the end of every month or at the end of every year, reevaluate your pricing and see if it's time to make some adjustments.

SPEAKER_00 8:45

And to our dear friends in the staging industry, right? Look at your profit margins often, right? To our franchise owners, to our prospective franchisees. Like we preach unit level economics at Linux Creek. You have to be able to know where the money's coming from and what's going out, right? Because you have to be able to manage both of those. We saw the cost of inventory went up 30 plus percent just last year alone, right? We have inflation, we have tariffs, we have all those other things. So everybody's feeling it. We're feeling it right now in this season, um, just in the day-to-day stuff, right? So, of course, that's going to domino to your business. Why should your business be exempt from any of that pain, right? You have to be able to adjust accordingly so that you could be sustainable.

SPEAKER_01 9:24

I think one more point to put on that that I've unfortunately had to watch in the industry over the years is there are stagers out there that fell in love with the industry, that built a really beautiful business, that were doing it for a long time, and somewhere along the lines, their perspective on it switched. They were just frustrated. You know, you get tired of going to another project and pouring your heart out and doing the whole thing and just being exhausted every day and feeling like you're not winning. And I have heard that feedback from so many owners over the years. I have watched people leave the industry for those exact reasons. And so I would say another, you know, potential opportunity or flag in this process of like, do I need to raise my pricing? Is are you feeling defeated at the end of every day because it feels like you're just not winning, where you're just exhausted and exasperated. It might be something where you need to look at your your pricing because those margins aren't strong enough to give you the help and the support you need. You're probably burning yourself, you know, ragged on both sides, both ends of the stock of the spectrum. And that's not fair to you as a business owner. There are a couple of different ways to kind of handle this pricing conversation. Um, one is to schedule it into your calendar so you don't forget it. The reality is sometimes we don't do price increases because we just get busy and we are on autopilot. And next thing you know, you look down at your calendar or your watch and you're like, shoot, I haven't actually reviewed my pricing for 18 months. Um, so setting it as part of your annual review in November or December as the year wraps up is a great time to do it. Our busy season slows down, right? We have time to breathe. We have time to reflect on the prior year and set goals for the next year. That's also a great time to really review your pricing and go, is it where it needs to be or do we need to make some

Rental Rates As A Growth Lever

SPEAKER_01 11:03

adjustments?

SPEAKER_00 11:03

Can we talk about rental income?

SPEAKER_01 11:05

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 11:06

So talking about rental income, right? So this is the biggest disparity I think I see in the staging industry, at least regionally here where we're at, right? Um, Lyndon Creek has pretty healthy price rental rates, right? They're not the cheapest in the market. But if your rental rates are lower, then you don't have enough volume to be able to reinvest back into inventory as it's required. One of the things that we tell our clients when they look at our rental rates and they're like, wow, that seems like it could be on the high side. One of the things we coach them on is okay, that inventory that is in your house is going to be hanging out there for a while. As long as it stays in your house, I can't use it in someone else's to be able to generate revenue, right? So I have to be able to recoup some of that cost so that I can invest in my business to serve other clients because the demand is there, right? So my challenge to those in our, again, in our staging community, to our franchise owners, pay attention to your rental rates, right? That's a big deal and it's a good portion of your revenue.

SPEAKER_01 12:02

Yeah. And I think on the flip side of that, we have friends in the industry that have rates that are higher than ours and they do it on purpose. And they say the reason I do it is I want my stuff back. That's right. If their house isn't gonna sell, like give me the furniture back so I can put it back into another property and keep serving clients. And so really your rental rates become this unique leverage and lever for you as you build your business, as you grow um and work to sustain it.

SPEAKER_00 12:24

100%.

Inventory Bloat And Warehouse Audits

SPEAKER_01 12:25

All right. The third mistake, again, that we have made over the years and have learned how to repair and fix is what I want to call inventory bloat.

SPEAKER_00 12:34

Bloat.

SPEAKER_01 12:34

Um, it's a terrible word, but but that's really what it is. Um so essentially what this is is I have bought things over the years that uh we just don't use anymore. My team doesn't use anymore. They are sitting in the warehouse and they are collecting dust over the years um and recognizing and understanding that yes, you put money into purchasing that item, but having it just take up space in your warehouse is ultimately costing you money.

SPEAKER_00 12:58

Yeah, your space in your warehouse is real estate.

SPEAKER_01 13:00

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 13:01

You know, and if something is sitting there and it's not moving, it's taking up space and it's not making you money, right? So it's a double whammy. Um we do our best in Raleigh to try to complete an entire audit of our warehouse, which is, I think, over 8,000 specific items at this point. We try to do that at least once a year. We stagger it by quarter, of course, um, just to make the workload more manageable. But you've got to know what's in your warehouse. Um and one of the things that we're able to do is look at things that haven't been used in the last six months, things that haven't been haven't moved in the last year. If it ain't moving, get it out of there, right? Have a warehouse sale, right? Invest that capital from the warehouse sale right back in a new inventory, right?

SPEAKER_01 13:39

One of the other things that we found that's helpful is, you know, when we review these usage reports and we think about these things, sometimes I found that um every stylist I've hired always has a natural tendency to be drawn towards certain products and drawn away from other products that are in my warehouse. For example, when I first started, I had three stylists on staff, I had two stylists on staff plus myself. And every time I would stage a job, I found myself using vases. Every time stylist number two was doing a job, she put candlesticks everywhere. And stylist number three loved a fake plant. And so it was like a greenhouse and there were fake plants everywhere. Now we're all working with the same inventory, but we naturally liked different pieces. And so sometimes it's helpful to review what you have in your warehouse and pause and go, hey, this maybe hasn't been used in six months. Does it actually need to get thrown away or donated or sold at a warehouse sale? Or do I need to teach my team how to utilize it and what its functional purpose is? Because if it is something that's good and viable that should be used, they might need the coaching around it.

SPEAKER_00 14:36

Yep. Totally agree.

Pick One Fix For This Month

SPEAKER_00 14:38

So, in summary, the three things that we just talked about. Number one is your operational efficiencies, right? Making sure you minimize your go backs, making sure you look at other areas of your business where you can kind of tighten it up a little bit because that's costing you time and it's costing you money, right? Number two is looking at your cost, looking at your pricing, making sure your pricing is priced appropriately. And number three is watching your inventory bloat, making sure that if it's in your warehouse, it's getting used.

SPEAKER_01 15:04

So my challenge to you is this reflect on those three mistakes. If you are making one or more of them, pick one and tackle it this month. One of the things we know is that if you say, hey, this is my goal for the year or for the quarter or a long period of time, it just doesn't happen. So rip off the band-aid, be hyper-focused on solving that problem. And it's amazing how much that resolves cash challenges, financial profitability, um, and gives you kind of that light at the end of the tunnel that you've been looking for. Hopefully you're walking away with at least something that you can implement in your business this week. If you want to learn more, check out one of our next videos to give you more behind the scenes on running a business.

More Videos Like And Subscribe

SPEAKER_00 15:40

And we love, we love, love, love sharing some of the things that we're doing here at Linen Creek. We're not perfect, but we like to move uh that ball along and continue to guide and advise in so many ways. So click like, click subscribe. This is in good space.