My Marketing Research Professor, at the University of South Florida, made us work closely with a local business to perform marketing research. This project was so beneficial because it allowed us to work on a real life project rather than just from the textbook. I learned so much in this class and I intend to apply it to my career.

2.  Home staging is the act of preparing a
private residence for sale in the real
estate marketplace.
 Decorative Interiors by Mary Ellen
provides a full range of services that can
be useful in building a new home,
preparing and existing home for sale or
rent, or remodeling your current home.

3.  Secondary Research
 Qualitative Research
› Interviews
 8 Realtors
 4 Home Buyers
 2 Home Sellers
 Sampling
 Data Analysis

4. 1. What service are people most likely to
pay for?
2. How would potential clients search for
Mary Ellen?
3. What characteristics are most important
to potential clients?
4. What are important factors when
purchasing a home?

5. Respondent Categories
Home Sellers 1%
Renters 13% Home Buyer 3%
Realtors 4%
Home Owners
79%
Home Owners Home Sellers Realtors Rentors Home Buyer

6. Gender
Unknown
7%
Male
27%
Female
66%
Male Female Unknown

7. Age
Unknown
11%
20-34
65 +
25%
5%
35-49
12%
50-64
47%
20-34 35-49 50-64 65 + Unknown

8. Home Value
27%
43%
4%
7%
19%
$0 - 299,000 $300,000 - 599,000 $600,000 - 899,000 $900,000 + Unknown

13.  What service are people most likely to
pay for?

14. Mean
Consult to Build 3.04
Stage to Sell 3.97
Remodel Coaching 4.41
Interior Decorating 4.75
Stage to Live 5.01
Scale:
• 1 = Extremely Likely
• 2 = Likely
• 3 = Somewhat Likely
• 4 = Neutral
• 5 = Somewhat Unlikely
• 6 = Likely
• 7 = Extremely Unlikely

15. Extremely Likely Likely Somewhat Likely
29%
21% 22% 22%
19%
17%
15% 15% 14%
7% 7%
5% 4% 3%
2%
Consult to Stage to Sell Remodel Interior Stage to Live
Build Coaching Decorating

16.  What service are people most likely to
pay for?
2. What characteristics are most important
to potential clients?
3. How would potential clients search for
Mary Ellen?
4. What are important factors when
purchasing a home?

19.  What characteristics are most important
to potential clients?

20. “Previous experience, what they have done, and
what it looks like” – Female, 45, Sarasota Home Seller
Mean
Taste 1.42
Price 1.59
Recommendations 1.90
Experience 1.93
References 1.99
Certification 2.66

21. Extremely Important Important Somewhat Important
66%
52%
47%
41% 41%
37% 36% 35%
32% 31%
26% 22% 22%
14% 17%
7% 10%
4%
Taste Price Recs. Experience References Certs.

22.  What service are people most likely to
pay for?
 What characteristics are most important
to potential clients?
3. How would potential clients search for
Mary Ellen?
4. What are important factors when
purchasing a home?

25.  How would potential clients search for
Mary Ellen?

26. Mean
Google 2.61
Recommendations Other 2.63
Home Decorating Website 2.92
Realtor Recommendation 3.13
Other Internet Search Engine 3.49
Real estate Websites 3.96
Phonebook 4.75

27. Extremely Likely Likely Somewhat Likely
38% 38%
31%
27% 28%
25% 24% 24%
20% 16% 20% 19%
17%
13% 14%
12% 11%
9% 8%
7%
3%
Google Other Home Realtor Other Real Phone
Recs. Decorat. Recs. Internet Estate
Website

28.  What service are people most likely to
pay for?
 What characteristics are most important
to potential clients?
 How would potential clients search for
Mary Ellen?
4. What are important factors when
purchasing a home?

31.  What are important factors when
purchasing a home?

32. Mean
Location 1.29
Price 1.36
Condition 1.56
Architectural Structure 1.85
Square Footage 2.23
Amenities 2.29
The way the home is currently 3.73
decorated (staged)

33. Extremely Important Important Somewhat Important
73%
67%
59%
46%
40% 39% 40%
36%
31% 32% 25%
25% 21% 28%
23%
18% 17%
2% 6% 3%
1%
Location Price Condition Structure Square Amenities The way a
Footage home is
currently
decorated

34. Mean
The way a home is decorated is 1.70
important to me.
When looking at a home, I prefer it 3.52
to be unfurnished.
When looking at a home, I prefer it 3.94
to be furnished.
• We wanted to take a closer look at the difference between the
two sample means for unfurnished and furnished homes. (T-test)
• There was a significance level of .000 between the two variables.

35. Strongly Agree Agree Somewhat Agree
44% 43%
21% 20%
12% 14% 13%
9% 8%
ay a home is decorated is important to me I prefer itlooking a a home, I prefer it to be furnis
When looking at a home, When to be unfurnished

36. Mean
Exterior 1.57
Living Room 1.63
Landscaping 1.67
Entryway 1.86

37. Extremely Important Important Somewhat Important
49% 50% 48%
44% 45% 45%
41%
35%
12%
6% 8%
5%
Exterior Living Room Landscaping Entryway

38.  People are most likely to pay for the
Consult to Build service.
 The characteristic that is of most
importance to the consumer is the taste
of the home stager.

39.  Potential clients are likely to use Google
as the primary search method for finding
a home stager.
 Realtors view home staging as being
highly important. Consumers view it as
being important in their current
homes, but not necessarily when
purchasing a new home.

40.  Objective 1: What service are people
most likely to pay for?
 Recommendations:
› Focus more on the Consult to Build service
within your home staging business.

41.  Objective 2: What characteristics are
most important to potential clients?
 Recommendation:
› Advertise your “taste” to the consumer.
 Provide a photo gallery on the website
 Utilize a portfolio to show clients during
consultations

42.  Objective 3: How would potential clients
search for Mary Ellen?
 Recommendation:
› Make all services offered available in the top
search engine utilized by consumers
(Google).
› Get Decorative Interiors by Mary Ellen on
Google places.

43.  Objective 4: What are important factors
when purchasing a home?
 Recommendation:
› Try and get information out to the public
about your business and what Decorative
Interiors by Mary Ellen is all about.