Interior design professionals can boost their bottom line and have a fantastic finish to 2014 if they follow seven simple strategies.
1. Toot your flute.
You're too good to be your own best-kept secret. That's why you should promote yourself as the "star" you are. Present yourself as a uniquely qualified, one-of-a-kind design professional.
Spell out your specialness and skills in your promotional bio on your Houzz site, your website and in your social media accounts. Make yourself memorable by including the million-dollar marketing word: "only," as in "We're the area's only firm that specializes in designing the interiors of animal hospitals and veterinarian's offices."
2. Build a "buzz."
Competition is too keen and prospects too picky for you to promote yourself the old way. Nowadays you need to step up and speak out.
Be a trendsetter and a newsmaker. Teach (in YouTube videos and public presentations) and tweet and text about what's hot, what's not, what's cool, what's in, what's neat and what rocks.
Start a Facebook group ("Memphis Window Covering Professionals," for example) and invite competitors to join. You'll get lots of traffic. And, as the group administrator, you can position yourself near the top and include a discreet link to your site.
Be a blogger. Blog posts help create your credibility, establish your expertise and boost your search engine rankings.
3. Focus on the future
Tell them what to do now (call, check out my Pinterest portfolio, buy this, download that) and what to do next.
Check with current clients about future needs. Ask "what about" questions, as in "What about the kitchen?" Or: "What about new furniture for your vacation home, too?" Or: "What about also redesigning your regional offices?"
Convert contacts into contracts by asking questions, pinpointing pain and offering your service as the remedy. Set up your next shot: discuss the next project before finishing the first. Upselling, cross-selling and other strategies lead to long-term relationships.
4. Wow 'em with your website.
Be captivating, cool and concise as you describe your services, your benefits and yourself. Be timely and topical, explaining what's new, now and newsworthy about your design firm.
Be interactive: Use Q&A columns, surveys, and search boxes to get visitors involved. Be visual: The images should be compelling. Small photos of big rooms don't work. Large photos of small details do. And remember: Little captions can say a lot.
5. Sell from the top down.
Leading design professionals save the best for first. They show their best before they discuss the rest. They discuss their highest-end products and their premium package of services from the outset.
They figure that, as the best, they should show the best and expose clients to the top of the line options. Then, they let those clients decide what they can and can't afford. They don't presume their clients won't invest in high-end window treatments or expensive furniture. And, because they don't presume, they prosper.
6. Serve "appetizers."
"Whet the appetites" of wary prospects with introductory programs that can lead to major — and multiple — projects. Examples:
- 45-minute makeovers, where you provide a quick "capsule" of their design and remodeling needs.
- Interior value assessments, for which you offer advice on how residents can update, upgrade and enhance their interiors, and add value to their homes.
- Interior design energy audits, where you supply a checklist of energy-saving tips for everything from window treatments to lighting systems.
Once you get your foot in the door, you can upsell in ways that can lead to long-term relationships.
7. Don't quit.
Winners never quit. Quitters never win. Never, ever give up.
Follow these seven steps, and you'll supersize your success in the months ahead and earn the profits that you want and deserve.
