Selling your home using your five senses

 Staging your home is not all just about how a home looks. It is also about how it feels. How it smells. People buy with their emotions, and emotions are triggered by the senses. We need to appeal to them, to attract them, to encourage them to buy. If we can appeal to all the senses, there is a great chance your viewer will form a bond with your home, and more importantly, go on to buy it. I chatted about this with a new client yesterday. I thought I would share our chat with you.

Let’s look at each of the 5 senses and how they can help you.

Sight

Take a look around.  What can you see?  How does your home really look?  Is there too much furniture?  Do you have clutter?  Are the kid's toys scattered everywhere?  Our sight is one of our most used senses.  We look at properties online and from the photos we see we decide if we intend to book a viewing.  Presentation really is everything when it comes to selling your home.

Smell

How does your home smell?  An inviting home will smell wonderful.  Big businesses use smells to make you buy.  Luxury furniture stores often use the smell of vanilla.  Brand new cars have a distinctive

new leather smell.  Think of your favourite hotel.  Or the smell of the sea.  Or freshly cut grass.  We want your home to smell in a positive way.  This is really important.  Especially if you have animals or if you smoke.  A favourite tip of mine is to pop a vanilla pod into the oven.  If you can’t do this invest in a couple of plugins.  Nothing too strong though!

Touch

Buyers like to touch.  They often do it without even realising it.  I used to work in show houses and it was one of my biggest findings.  You may even do it yourself without realising.  Because of this, it’s really important your work surfaces are dust-free!  But it’s more than this.  Add texture to your home.  A throw on the bed.  Soft cushions.  In my own home, I have sheepskin rugs that soften the leather sofas.  Believe me.  It works.

Listen

What can you hear?  I’m not talking traffic noise.  This is something which even I can’t change!  Stop and listen.  Is your home all about peace and quiet?  Can you hear the birds in the garden?  If so why not leave your windows open.  Point this out in your marketing.  We’d even encourage buyers to listen on viewings.  Sound can create an atmosphere in a home. The show home I worked in used to play soft music.  I know this idea sounds American but done well, it really can work.

Taste

Taste is essential to many businesses, particularly in the food and drink industry.  However, when it comes to home selling it is one of the hardest senses to appeal to.
However, why not leave cold drinks out for your viewers, or if you are showing your home yourself offer to make them a drink.  Potential buyers will linger longer enabling you the time to really show off your home!

I hope you have enjoyed our blog.  We love to share our selling tips with you. If you are thinking of selling and would like more bespoke tailored advice, please call me.  Our home consultation service is free and includes both home moving tips and a free valuation of your home.  Call us on 01524 843322 or 01524 409100