(UNITED STATES) March 13, 2012 – Expert home stager Debra Gould recently discussed on the Home Staging Business Report how a home staging consultation can be transformational for the client as well as the home.

"Usually when I arrive for a home staging consultation, the client is visibly tense," explains Gould. "After all, moving is right up there on the 'Stressful Life Events' scale along with divorce, death, and job loss. When you consider that these are also three common reasons to move, you've got a situation potentially fraught with anxiety."

Gould goes on to explain how most clients have never worked with a home stager before, so they're somewhat uncomfortable at first. They don't know what to expect as they invite a complete stranger to critique their home.

"That's why it's so critical to handle the opening of your meeting very carefully" Gould advises home stagers. "Subtle things like how you're dressed, your facial expression, body language and how you open the meeting will set the tone for your home staging consultation and how your client responds to your advice."

Gould believes that by building the right rapport from the beginning of the home staging consultation, the client's stress level will go down steadily as the meeting progresses.

"As the home changes, you'll see the seller change too," Gould reports. "Their whole body language, expression and breathing shifts when they're no longer under the weight of all that was 'wrong' with the house and all the confusion they had before you arrived. That's part of why I love being a home stager. We help people and make a difference in their lives even before they actually sell their house!

Several of Gould's readers wholeheartedly agree. Imogen Brown of Home Staging Brisbane in Australia said, "Seeing the change in owners is one of my favourite parts of home staging. I used to be a business coach, so I use these skills in my consultations—knowing that this is not about me, it's about them, picking up on their body language, using appropriate language, 'getting them' and listening to them."

Lori Fischer of Rethink Home Interiors in Pennsylvania had a similar opinion: "I think that is one of the most rewarding aspects of what I do. My first clients actually said that the process was transformational for them and I thought they were being dramatic. When the next client said the changes affected her in a similar way, I was amazed. Now after logging in several projects, I love to see that shift in the homeowner's perspective. Good stuff!"

Gould covers the ins and outs of home staging consultations in her home staging course, Taking the Mystery Out of Home Staging Consultations. For more information, visit the Staging Diva website.

About Staging Diva

The creator of the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program, Debra Gould has staged millions of dollars' worth of real estate, including 7 of her own homes. She is the president of Voice of Possibility Group Inc., which operates a home staging division, SixElements.com, in addition to StagingDiva.com, which has trained over 7,000 home stagers to start and grow their own businesses.

Debra has gained international recognition through features in major media in the US and Canada including: This Old House, HGTV, CNN Money, CBC National News, CBS Radio, Global TV, City TV, The Wall Street Journal, Women's Day, Reader's Digest and more.

###