When it comes to pricing, most interior design professionals focus only on what it costs prospects to hire them. In contrast, savvy designers focus on what it will cost prospects if they don't.

Chances are you periodically encounter price procrastination when presenting your cost to prospective buyers. They tell you that they want to "think about it" or talk it over with their spouse, or perhaps "get back to you tomorrow."

But tomorrow may never come. Deal with their delay mindset by asking: "What will it cost you if you don't act now?"

Ask them the cost of not moving ahead with the bathroom remodel, or the expansion of the executive suites or the update of the corporate offices.

The idea is to get prospects thinking about the inconvenience, aggravation and frustration, as well as the lost time and higher prices that will result if they don't hire you now to fix their problem.

In addition, you might point out why now is the best time to move ahead with you on their project. Explain, for example, how you can help them today reduce heating and cooling bills in their home or office by installing more energy-efficient window treatments. Or note how you can immediately help them enhance their home's value and prepare it for resale.

The right prospects are primarily seeking — and will pay any price for — the best solution to their design challenges. But they may not be fully aware of those challenges. You can help them understand their major concerns by asking the right questions.

You need only play doctor here: Find out what hurts (cramped kitchen, perhaps, or outdated bathrooms or a clash of colors in the family room) and prescribe remedies. You'll get the business if you effectively present yourself as the ultimate fix.

Sometimes a prospect wants to move ahead with the project now, but opts to hire others to help them. That's an indication that you need to do a better job of selling yourself and the unique benefits that you offer.

How well you attach value to yourself and your design services will determine how much money you earn. Personal promotion truly is the key your financial success.

You can set and get any fee as long as you can differentiate yourself from those competitors who charge less. It doesn't matter what you say about your fees. What matters is what you say about yourself.

What does it mean when, despite your best self promotion efforts, your prospects continue to focus only on getting the rock-bottom, lowest price? That means you may be "looking for love in all the wrong places," and that you need to think bigger and aim higher in your prospecting.

Target only those prospects who can afford to pay the kind of fees you need to earn to achieve your financial goals. Should you encounter any price resistance from those prospects, simply challenge them to consider the cost of not hiring you.