Want to Land More Design Projects? Don’t Over-Expertize Your Expertise

OK, yes. We made up a word. So sue us! If it got your attention and made you want to learn more about how to land more design projects, we feel no shame. (Well, we don’t anyway, really. It is our blog, after all!)

Anyway, the point we’re trying to make is (and we mean this with all due respect), becoming an expert in one area does not make us expert in others, nor should it. Sometimes, the more we know about something the easier it is to take for granted that others – like prospects or clients – know something about it too.

To put it another way, our familiarity with a subject need not breed contempt. But rather, the more we know the more likely we are to assume what our target audience knows. This can be deadly when trying to close a deal. In fact, there may be no quicker way to kill one.

Like Attracts Like (Not including clients)

It’s human nature and should come as no surprise, that those with similar interests find comfort associating with each other. Interior designers and furnishing suppliers tend to hang together. Salespeople with salespeople, marketers with marketers. Whole industries can become exclusive and the subjects of discussion among experts climb to higher and higher levels.

But, what happens when you're thrown together with a group of laypeople; or just one, a potential client?

Prospects will commonly express a desire but, because they lack the knowledge to make it happen, they look to an expert. In the internet age, they’ll go online to search for info but surely need more. (Often, what they find will be just enough to make them dangerous – to themselves.)

That is where you come in. And, that is where your experience, and your respect for them and their efforts to learn, will enable you to deliver a message that will resonate with them – and help you land more clients.

The key to successfully landing more projects in such a situation is to remember this… The fact that you know the benefits of a home renovation, or how the features the furnishings you suggest will make your ideal client’s life better, does not mean that they do.

Only Be an Expert When Necessary

Ultimately, you really can’t “know too much”, you just need to always be mindful that many people will know far less. And never forget, it’s your job to help them learn what they need to make an informed buying decision.

The fact that you're the one who taught them should take care of the rest.

Ted remains available to work with you on a case-by-case basis with business consulting that is targeted to your needs and goals. With more than 25 years of experience in the luxury furnishings and interior design industries, he has pretty much seen it all. So, if you're ready to work with a professional business consultant who can help you land more design projects… Get in touch with TD Fall today.

How to Attract Luxury Clients for Interior Design Projects

In our recent post on why you should want to attract luxury design project clients, our goal was to whet your appetite for seeking high-budget projects. Today we hope to offer tips for doing so; taking you to the next step with a sort of roadmap on how to attract luxury clients for design projects.

To help us with this task, we again refer to a recent article in the “For Pros” section at Houzz.com. The author of the article, Erin Carlyle, drew from information shared by Designer Wendy Glaister and Liza Hausman, vice president of Industry Marketing at Houzz, when they led a continuing education course for pros on just that earlier this year. This took place before the pandemic struck but, in the face of the economic turmoil that resulted, the information may be even more relevant now.

Stated simply, we believe recovering from the slow down of the economy caused by lockdowns and stay-at-home orders could be easier if you can appeal to this segment of your market. With this in mind, we offer the four tips for attracting luxury clients outlined in the article.

4 Tips for Attracting Luxury Design Clients

1. You’re only as good as your last photographed job. When potential clients are scanning your work on your business website, photos really matter. “This is a really competitive industry. If you have lackluster photos of a $100,000 kitchen, it’ll make it look like a $10,000 kitchen and that won’t get you anywhere in the luxury market,” Glaister said.

Because photos are so important, Glaister recommends specifying in your contract with a client that the project will be photographed – no opting out.

2. Luxury clients are buying you as part of the whole package. Glaister, whose demeanor is upbeat and frequently smiling, told a story about changing her profile photo on Houzz and Facebook. In the new photo, she was unsmiling and styled like a sleek, serious, accomplished designer – a photo of herself she quite liked.

But the reaction from her followers was swift and overwhelmingly negative. “People watch you a lot closer than you think,” Glaister said. She switched her photo back to a smiling one. Her anecdote is a good reminder that in the internet age your online presence … must reflect your professionalism and personal brand. Glaister’s brand was smiling, and followers didn’t like it when she veered from that.

Glaister takes care to use correct grammar and spelling in her online communications and to present a professional and wholesome image. “There are designers who are photographed with many cocktails during the week,” Glaister said. “Great for them. I have found to get a half-a-million [dollar] reno … that does not work.”

Houzz’s Hausman concurred. “You’re crafting a public image for yourself that’s going to bring in this clientele. You can be true to your personality and style, and this doesn’t mean you can’t be more whimsical. Clients want to know that you are a confident professional who is still creative and fun.”

Treat Luxury Clients Like the Special People They Are to You.

3. Just good enough isn’t good enough for luxury clients. Everything for luxury clients – from cabinets to tile layout to electrical installation – needs to be customized and special. Just standard or just OK isn’t going to cut it at this end of the market, Glaister said. You will also need to provide high touch service.

High-end clients may have especially strong opinions, and they may also like to shop. With budget not a major constraint, they may be more likely than lower-end clients to purchase items for the project that may or may not work with the design. Some luxury clients may also want to comparison shop the products that you’re proposing. If they come up with cheaper alternatives, you may need to let them purchase products themselves. “Be ready to let go of some markups and some spaces,” Glaister said.

All this adds up to the fact that with a luxury project, though you probably will be able to make something beautiful and unique, as a designer you may not feel like you have a blank check and carte blanche to execute your vision.

Often, clients in the luxury realm have gotten there because they’ve been smart about their money, Hausman points out. They may want to be relatively involved in the project to make sure they’re getting not only a beautiful result but also a good value. (Remember our post about value as your purpose in the aftermath of C-19?)

4. Details help create that luxury experience. In addition to creating personalized, custom projects for luxury clients, Glaister stressed the importance of paying attention to service details that make the experience of working with you feel luxe.

For instance, Modesto, California-based Glaister takes her clients in a limo to San Francisco twice a year. They have mimosas and treats and fruit. They see the San Francisco Decorator Showcase house or visit the latest exhibit at the de Young Museum or the Legion of Honor museum with a private docent. They go out to dinner in San Francisco and then head home with a bottle of wine and a box of chocolate. The clients love it.

Those twice-annual trips are a significant marketing expense and experience, but Glaister also keeps the luxury feel going in smaller ways. Everyone who hires her gets a handwritten thank-you note on embossed stationery after they decide to work with her.

For her project presentations, Glaister places samples of the selected tile, fabric, and furniture tear sheets in a beautiful box with a big bow. It’s fun for clients to open, and it’s a tax-deductible marketing expense.

On demo day and photoshoot day, Glaister always brings along white orchids. These little touches “elevate the brand” and help shape client experience in a positive way, she said.

We realize, of course, that all of these ideas sound good – in theory. In practice, some will likely be too costly for a smaller design house but, you can let the market determine that. Remember what we always preach, that all interior design is local and your area may be less expensive than the California Bay Area, for example.

If you're still struggling to figure out how to attract luxury clients in your marketplace, Ted’s business consulting services may be exactly what you need. He’s worked in the luxury furnishings and design industry from New York to Utah and has more than 25 years’ experience helping designers grow their business.

Curious if he can help you? Get in touch with TD Fall today.

Selling Design Services and a Commitment to Client Satisfaction

As explained in a previous post, we are offering a series on selling design services that we hope will enable you to increase client satisfaction, close more deals, and boost profits. As promised, we would like to reinforce and expand on our three quick sales tips for designers

• Do NOT offer solutions prematurely – Until you know what your prospects think of as their individual pain points or needs, you do them and yourself a disservice by offering advice before they are ready to receive it.

• Practice active listening for clues to closing – Far too many salespeople forget to listen. The most successful salespeople will tell you that every client they work with literally tells them how to close the deal, if only they listen actively.

• It’s all about them – Got invoices to pay; inventory to get rid of; contractors to keep busy so you don’t lose them? So what! This is not about you and all they really want is find someone to hear them before offering any design advice. (They literally want you to shut up and listen to them.)

Since these are the absolute minimum required to successfully sell yourself as an interior designer, we will expand on them below.

Expanded Sales Tips for Interior Designers

Do not jump the gun – Known as “qualifying” among sales pros, asking questions and exchanging information about the wants and needs of your prospect is the first critical step in selling your services. Offering advice and/or suggestions before you know what they want is presumptuous in the extreme and, more often than not, self-defeating.

For example, imagine the response to a designer who walks into a potential client’s home and says something like, “Oh, that piece in the corner just doesn’t work at all. We will need to replace that right away.”

Now imagine what happens if the client were to say, “Oh, you mean that bureau that my grandmother loved and was left to me when she passed after a painful battle with cancer? The piece she begged me to keep as she lay dying?”

Might as well turn around and walk right out the house, huh?

Be the Designer You Would Want to Hire

Be curious, understanding, respectful, and responsive – There is obviously a better approach than the one taken by our designer with foot-in-mouth disease. Instead of jumping the gun on the bureau in question, imagine what might have happened had she said, “Tell me about that piece in the corner; it’s history and place in your life”.

The prospect’s answer would have provided an insightful look into the importance of the piece, as well as a peek at the homeowner’s personality. Doing so would have been a first important step in understanding the prospect and building a relationship – instead of angering them and leaving their home looking for another job.

In other words, since it can be difficult to overcome a prospects biases and preconceived notions, you should avoid going into that first interview with any of your own.

Turn the Law of Unintended Consequences in Your Favor

Offer solutions that benefit them (not you) – We call this “benefits-based selling” because it focuses on results that are advantageous to the client; individually and exclusively. Stated as simply as possible, the key to the long-term success of your design business will be found in a sincere commitment to improving the quality of life of your clients.

Of course, this can make your job a bit more difficult and challenging than if you were able to plug their home into some sort of template that spits out a new design. But, it will ensure more client satisfaction – and referrals. It will also make your work far more fulfilling.

It’s very important to recognize here that by focusing so strongly on your client’s needs, your own will be taken care of as a matter of course. In other words, there is a wonderful reward to a benefits-based sales approach – your business will naturally (and almost unfailingly) grow. (Think of it as the Law of Intended Consequences!)

By now it should be clear that your commitment to building and growing your design business must be mirrored by an equally strong commitment to satisfying the needs of every client you can. Without this, other “secrets” and “tips” for selling design services from the so-called experts will leave you, and your business, wanting.

Looking for more design sales tips, new design trends, new products, and ideas? Get in touch with TD Fall today.

How the Internet Has Made Selling Design Services Harder (Instead of Easier)

The internet can be an invaluable tool for research and acquiring knowledge. It can also be hazardous, a place where consumers can find just enough information to make them dangerous to themselves. This can make an interview with a prospective client difficult in the extreme because it forces you to overcome misconceptions from sources. In short, and in many ways, the internet has made selling design services harder than ever before.

While it may feel counter-intuitive, experiences teaches that the more choices an individual has the more difficult it is to make a decision. While this is not always true, it is the case often enough that anyone with experience in sales of any kind will agree that they watch out for it.

According to PsychCentral.com, this is a real phenomenon that is known as decision making paralysis. As a quick example, consider your own experiences when shopping online. You will likely begin with a Google search for a new leather jacket, let’s say. You type in “women’s leather jacket” and Google, always eager to help, takes less than a second to offer you – more than 500 MILLION choices!!! (At least that’s what we got.)

Non-plussed (and not a little amazed), you decide to narrow the search a bit by adding the phrase “near me” to your search query. Whew, that helped. Now you only have 1.4 MILLION choices to consider.

Do you begin to see where the “paralyzing paradox” created by too many choices comes from – and how it can impact your design business?

Google Searches May Create Buyer Objections

Of course, this example has little to do with interior design so, what happens when you search for a local designer? Uh oh, we got nearly 6 BILLION returns to our query. Needless to say, there are not 6 billion design businesses in the world but, these results include a plethora of sites that offer advice on how to choose an interior designer, which could lead to even more confusion for the searcher.

So, human nature being what it is, most potential design clients are going to stick to the first page of the search results so they will only have to consider 10-15 choices. Despite this, however, there are still going to be “expert advice sites” that will tell them what to avoid when hiring a designer. This is the type of thing that may lead to objections you’ll be forced to overcome that have little or nothing to do with your business.

Well, now that we have you deathly afraid of buying and selling anything online, we beg the question about how you might overcome the biases your prospects may develop from their “research.”

3 Quick Sales Tips for Designers

Since this is the first in an upcoming series about selling design services, we are going to offer a few quick selling tips that we will expand upon in future posts.

• Do NOT offer solutions prematurely – Until you know what your prospects think of as their individual pain points or needs, you do them and yourself a disservice by providing advice before they are ready to receive it.

• Practice active listening for clues to closing – Far too many salespeople forget to listen. The most successful salespeople will tell you that every client they work with literally tells them how to close the deal, if only they listen actively.

• It’s all about them – Got invoices to pay; inventory to get rid of; contractors to keep busy so you don’t lose them? So what! This is not about you, and all they want is to find someone to hear them before offering any design advice. (They want you to shut up and listen to them.)

So yes, thank you internet for making life more difficult by offering too many choices to all of us! On the other hand, now that you’re aware of the problem, with tips to overcome it, selling design services should become much easier.

Are you looking for more design sales tips, new design trends, new products, and ideas? Get in touch with TD Fall today.

Designer Business Building Tip – When You See Obvious Interior Design Mistakes

According to a recent article at HGTV.com, there are several common home design mistakes that DIY homeowners make. For today’s designer business building tip, we would like to highlight some of the most challenging situations you may see when you’re approached by one of the do-it-yourself types of client. (Or, would that be former do-it-yourselfer?)While you have to admire their conviction and determination, their lack of design experience and training often takes the DIY designer to a place they would rather not be. As a talented interior designer, when you see obvious design mistakes, you know it’s not your place to make negative judgments about their choices. Instead, your job is to offer design solutions they will enjoy.When the TV Dominates Living Room DesignPerhaps the most common design mistakes from DIY homeowners is this one: designing a room around the television while allowing the TV to dominate the space. While understandable to some extent, since this is where many families gather, it can leave guests wanting.Despite a lovely, comfortable living room design, the TV dominates this space to the point of distraction. This will force guests to focus on electronics rather than their hosts, and vice versa. When you see a room like this, your challenge will be to keep the focus where it belongs, with a living room design that emphasizes people; both guests and hosts.When Style Trumps ComfortFor the uninitiated, the style will often take precedence over comfort – and even utility. When a sharp designer is confronted with a situation like this, stylish alternatives will come quickly to mind.Regardless this dining room may look to your client, or you, the purpose of the chairs is to be sat on, hopefully in comfort to make the dining experience pleasant (at a minimum). Choosing dining chairs based solely on a trendy style, rather than comfort, is a definite DIY design mistake. As a designer, your challenge would be to maintain the look and feel of this space, while dramatically increasing the comfort of the diners.Choosing Inappropriate Design ThemesConsistent design themes make a strong impression and increase comfort in a space. However, decorating too much in the same print can be overwhelming and tacky.A home's decor needs to be authentic and provide a sense of where you are, as well as who you are – as a homeowner and as an interior designer. Bringing order to chaotic or inappropriate design themes is a challenge you will likely see fairly often. Be ready!Unbalanced Furniture PlacementFinding balance in design choices can be difficult, especially for the DIY homeowner. For example, a sofa with mass cries out for smaller surrounding pieces to compliment it.Some people don't have an eye for furniture arrangements, and cannot balance a room. Shifting the pieces in this room to make the space more dynamic would be challenging, so replacing some for them may be necessary. If the furniture has sentimental value to your client, it can always be used in another room, as long as it adds balance to the new space.Cluttered Spaces DominateWhether you find a cluttered kitchen or disarranged family room, cluttered spaces dominate many homes. Although many homeowners deny caring, claiming they’re “not trying to impress anyone,” clutter adds stress and discomfort to any home.Helping your clients reduce clutter throughout their home will enable them to enjoy the space and feel more relaxed. It may also increase the value of their home, which is also a good thing. As we’ve said so many time here, the kitchen is truly the heart of most homes and the hub of family activity, but all this activity can cramp your kitchen's style. Piles of dirty dishes and countertops crowded with small appliances aren't appealing.Are you looking for more business building tips for your design business, new home design trends, designer marketing tips, and product ideas? Get in touch with TD Fall today.

Business Building Tip: What your clients don’t know can hurt them – and you!

Small business owners of all types spend a great deal of time on lead generation and client acquisition. This makes sense because virtually every “marketing expert” on the planet claims this is the best (or only) way to build a business. But, as an interior designer, you have a valuable business building resource you may be ignoring – your current clients.

In a recent article at MultiBriefs.com, an online source for targeted, industry-specific news briefs, author Fred Berns makes a strong case for the value of building lasting relationships with existing clients. When you realize that satisfied clients have other needs that you can satisfy, the next logical step is to make yourself available to do so.

According to Berns, “Your current clients are your best ones. They’re the ones who know, trust and value you. They’re the ones most likely to refer you. And they’re the ones as interested in forging lasting partnerships as you are. Perhaps more so."

“They’re looking for a professional they know and trust to handle their future challenges. They know it is less time-consuming and expensive to develop a lasting relationship with a single firm. It’s in their best interest, as well as yours, to develop long-term relationships.”

When you think about it even briefly, this makes a great deal of sense. After all, if landing new design clients is difficult for you, imagine how difficult it might be for a homeowner or business owner to find a designer they can trust and whose vision corresponds with theirs.

Keeping Clients Interested in Your Design Services

When it comes to keeping existing clients interested in your interior design services, Berns offers a simple tip: use the “What about…” question. “No question leads to more sales than one with those two words,” he writes.

For example:

• “What about your kitchen?”
• “What about your vacation home?
• “What about new furniture for the regional offices, too?”
• “What about having us redesign all your hotel lobbies?”

While many clients will need additional services beyond a single project, very few will know the full range of design services you have to offer – unless you tell them.

In fact, they may have no idea that there is further work to be done. They are not the expert here, you are. It’s not their responsibility to know what you can do for them, it’s your responsibility to let them know.

According to Berns, current clients are the greatest asset you possess for building your design business and a hugely valuable resource for boosting your bottom line:

“A repeat customer spends an average of 67% more than a new one. The long-term value of each client is over 100 times the value of a single transaction. The cost of retaining an existing client is a mere 20% of what it costs to attract a new one.”

Also, “…the average company has a 1 in 14 chance of doing business with a prospect, but a 1 in 4 chance of working more with a customer.”

With numbers like these, it’s obvious that what your clients don’t about you know can hurt them – and you!

Looking for more business building tips for your design business, new home design trends, designer marketing tips, and product ideas? Get in touch with TD Fall today.

Designing Your Design Business – Overcoming Client Sticker Shock

This post is the first in a series dedicated to providing guidance for you as you are designing your design business; presenting you with design business tips, designer marketing tips, new products and trends, sales tips, and the benefits of offering your clients luxury home furnishings. Our hope is that the information we share will be helpful in growing your client list and building the design business you dreamed of when you began.Client sticker shock can be a sticky problem when you bid on a design project. After all, relatively few homeowners have ever worked with an interior designer and many opt for a cheap but sturdy alternative when buying furniture. This can make talking about the cost of a renovation or remodel an eye-opening experience for prospective clients.With help from a recent article at Houzz.com, here are a few tips for overcoming client sticker shock.The author of the article, design business coach Chelsea Coryell writes, “There are some simple business practices you can establish when taking on a new client and ways to address money issues without coming across like a furniture snob.”Designer Sales Tips – Overcoming Price ResistanceVirtually every prospect you encounter will have some idea of what they want, or hope, to spend on their project. Before you share your first ideas or furnishing recommendations with them, you need to get an idea of their budget. While they may not have a firm number in mind, they will have at least a ball park figure. You need to know this early so you can discuss realistic costs and manage expectations.In other words, don’t be shy about price. They know going in that they will be spending money with you and you are entitled to be compensated for your talents and expertise.Below are three critical things to keep in mind to either overcome, or even avoid, sticker shock from a prospective design client:

• Qualify potential design clients – Make sure your prospective client is ready to work with an interior designer before you meet with them for the first time and do not be afraid to talk about the cost early on. This is a business transaction, not a favor for a friend, and all business involves the exchange of money for services and/or products.
• Stress value over price – Since most homeowners have little experience working with a designer, or buying high-end furniture, it’s in your best interest to focus on the value of your services and quality furnishings while also managing their expectations.
• Stay firm on price – If you lower your price when a client voices objections, you will also lower their expectations, of you and the quality of the furnishings you recommend. You will also ensure they keep asking for steeper discounts, reducing your odds of making a profit.

It’s important to remember that everyone has a basic concept of the difference between value and price. With this in mind, you should focus on the fact that they are making an investment in the beauty, comfort, and value of their home when they hire you.The key to this is adding value and adjusting your client’s expectations. “If price is a problem,” explains Coryell, “then you need to express an item’s value and describe it correctly, pointing out its features and benefits. (This goes for your design fees as well.)”Have you run into this problem when meeting with prospective clients? How have you been able to overcome client sticker shock? Feel free to share your thoughts and experiences in the comments section below.Looking for more tips on designing your design business, new home design trends, designer marketing tips, and product ideas? Get in touch with TD Fall today.

Interior Design Options Online – Overcoming Online Competition

If there is one thing we have all learned about potential clients who spend time “researching” interior design options online it is this: the internet provides them with just enough information to make them dangerous, to themselves and us. In other words, regardless of how much time a consumer may spend online before they decide to buy, they really have little to no idea of what is truly possible for relieving their pain points or satisfying their interior design needs.Overwhelmingly, the online competition you face as a designer is based on price: cheaper furnishings, wall coverings, draperies, and rugs or carpeting. Of course, by doing this, today’s consumer may base their decisions on what they read and research online without consulting an actual expert. In fact, they’re encouraged to think that the “advice” they receive online is as good as that of someone with years of training and experience. As a result, they impatiently browse for a bit before clicking the “order” button.Online purchases like these can be misguided and are always impersonal, which frequently costs the consumer more money in the long term.As an interior designer you have a distinct advantage over your competition from online sellers and resellers who focus exclusively on price – you are face-to-face with the client. Nothing can beat building a relationship, the more personalized the better, and online stores are simply too impersonal to make the type of powerful impression that you are capable of making.

Be the Design Expert Your Client Needs

Although many consumers have shifted their attention to online sellers, nothing beats one-on-one consultation with a designer or retail personnel who can provide highly personalized advice on quality furniture that would accurately reflect their lifestyle and image. In order to do so, a designer or seller would need to first take a shift in perspective; moving from merely “making a sale” to offering the satisfaction of creating and fulfilling a design concept that satisfies the needs of the client.Regardless of market niche, today’s savvy consumer wants true value for their money. Therefore, the equally savvy designer must suggest that luxury furnishings can be a long-term investment that can go beyond generations and will never go out of style. In addition, high-end furniture is a direct reflection of a business or a person’s image that would certainly make a statement to prospective business partners, employees, friends, or family. Finally, quality sets or pieces can be sold again through online consignment shops and can still command a respectable price.Click here for tips on Helping Clients Focus on High-Value Improvements.Looking for more new design trends, marketing tips, and ideas? Get in touch with TD Fall today.

The Key to a Successful Design Business – Selling Value Over Price

At TD Fall & Company, our goal is to help designers by providing innovative solutions for their interior design challenges. We do this by providing you with access to outstanding products that will empower you to fulfill your client's dreams, enabling you to build a successful design business.Perhaps foremost among those challenges for most designers is the struggle with trying to convince their clients of the true value of buying a higher quality product that really belongs in their homes. From flooring to wallcoverings and from window treatments to upholstered furniture, many design clients become fixated on cost with little regard for value.There are basically two ways to handle this particular challenge:

• Target better – Create an ideal client profile that is based on your market research. In a perfect world, you would generate a client list for whom “money is no object”. In the real world, however, you’ll need to be a bit more practical. A well-researched and thought-out ideal client profile is a tool you and your team can use to identify the specific segment of customers that will bring you the best business. Then, once you begin focusing on certain types of clients, you're likely to attract more of them. As the old adage goes, “Birds of a feather flock together”, and referrals from such clients will help to bring you more of your ideal clients.
• Sell better – Known as “upselling” among professional salespeople, you must learn to create a compelling story that will convince your design clients to buy quality over price every time. Not only will this put more money in your pocket, you’ll also build your reputation as a designer who focuses on value, creating a greater sense of client satisfaction and trust, while increasing the odds of more of those referrals we mentioned above. Making an investment in a quality sales training program would certainly help with this approach.

Ultimately, your goal must be to sell the value and the benefits of your product or service to your customer. This can only be done by keeping your focus on explaining and expressing the impact of the choices they make on the client. If you focus on the benefits and value of a higher quality product, the price will become less and less important. If you don't focus on value, the only thing you can talk about is price – playing right into their perceived need to resist the more expensive options you present.Building your sales skills will have long-term benefits that are difficult to quantify; which is also true of researching your market and creating an ideal client profile. Both will generate increased confidence in your ability to “close the deal” with more prospects, even those who don’t match the profile.Regardless of your talents and skills as an interior designer, if you're a small business or solopreneur, you must accept that your ability to analyze your market and sell to a variety of prospective clients will determine whether you are able to build and sustain a successful design business.Click here for tips on Analyzing Your Market.Click here for tips on Helping Clients Focus on High-Value Improvements.Looking for more new design trends, marketing tips, and ideas? Get in touch with TD Fall today.

Making More Design Sales is About Building Relationships: Part 3

In Part 2 of this series, we discussed the second step necessary to begin building a relationship with a prospective client that will lead to making more design sales; that is, making a friend and finding out what is most important to your prospect.A quick reminder from that post: Every positive sales encounter eventually devolves to the relationship created between the salesperson and the prospect. A positive experience, that is, when a sale is made, is the result of a relationship that benefits both of you – and – as a professional, it is your responsibility to build that relationship.After all, the prospect has already done their part by coming to you (however that may have been done) and presenting you with the opportunity to make a sale, which leaves the next part of the encounter, building the relationship, in your hands.

Overcoming Objections to Buying

More than anything, objections to buying are about you – NOT your prospect. When you receive an objection, your prospect is telling you that you have not effectively managed one of the steps in the sales process: you have not built a rapport, you have not made them your friend, or you have not listened to them as they explained their pain points and their perceived solution.When this happens – do NOT give up – it’s simply time to start over.Imagine yourself walking down a hallway full of doors (client objections). As you walk down this hallway with them, address their concerns and objections, but be sure to “close and lock” each of those doors as you progress. Meaning, when you address the objection, make sure it is no longer an issue; make sure they cannot run back into that door. The nature of their objection will tell you where you took a wrong turn during the process sales process, letting you know where to go to get them back on track.To help you with this, you can ask a question such as, “Can we put this (the concern/objection) behind us?” Or, “Have I fully addressed your concern?” As you do this, make sure to read body language and listen intently to their tonality. (Of course, if you do this during the sales process, you’ll save yourself a great deal of time and stress when closing – but – this is a great tool for overcoming objections at the close.)You want to create a situation where, if they tried to run back down that hallway, every exit has been bolted down and all that is left is the obvious path… Your solution!Looking for more new design trends, tips, and ideas? Get in touch with TD Fall today.