Today we're sharing Part 2 of interior design business coach Terri Taylor's post on "Want to Get Paid What You Are Worth?" Besides running her award-winning design studio, Terri supports entrepreneurial design business professionals with a unique mix of proven design business systems and inspirational tools to create meaningful success (www.designbizblueprints.com). Terri will present a free, CEU-accredited business building seminar in Los Angeles at 1 p.m. on July 27 at the
Robert Allen | Beacon Hill showroom in the Pacific Design Center. There is still time to register for Terri's event-
call 310-659-6454 x104 to RSVP.
Terri Taylor
A designer’s job is primarily to facilitate change for our clients. While doing so, we need to remember to be open and willing to change ourselves. Our entire industry is going through major shifts and we need to be flexible in order to stay at the top of the game.
Designers everywhere are having problems getting paid what they are worth because they are losing product sales to internet shoppers or retailers willing to sell their inventory at zero profit. One of the changes that we need to embrace is the idea that we must move from selling product to receiving the bulk of our income from the fees for the service we provide.
This creates a need for a new conversation about the value and experience of creating a uniquely personal and beautiful space with the help and guidence of an interior designer rather than excitement about “cool” products to buy.
Designers bring many great values to a project. Here are three more tips that you can use when you are talking to potential and current clients.
Tip #4 Relationship: Designers take the time to deeply understand how their clients live and work. They become intimate enough with their clients to understand what brings comfort, beauty and joy to their entire family. They take the time to find out how a client wants to feel when entering the room as well as how it should look. All of those personal elements are brought into the finished design plan.
These relationships with clients often become friendships that last for years and their services to the family often reach far beyond interior design.
Tip #5 Unique: Designers help their clients create a look and an aesthetic that is a unique and an accurate expression of themselves. The interiors of our clients homes (or offices) are a snapshot of how they desire to support the health and well being of their family, as well as how they wish to be seen by their friends and business associates.
Tip #6 Artistry: Designers bring their unique brand of artistry, imagination and creativity to their design jobs. The ideas, options and selections that they bring to the table can be endless. Clients are often heard to say, “I would not have thought of that!”
Bonus Tip: Present yourself as a professional and make an offer to sell your services for a set fee on a Letter of Agreement with a defined and specific Scope of Work. Clients want to know what they are going to get and exactly what this service that you are offering will cost. Clearly tell them!
If your clients want you to purchase for them, offer to do so with a Purchasing and Procurement Service Fee over the designer net or wholesale price. Keep the pricing clear and transparent, make a modest profit on the product, and start shifting your profit margin into your design fees.