# 73 | 3 Mindset Shifts for Pricing Your Interior Design Services with Confidence

Interior design BusinessMoney MattersMindset3-Scaling2-Establishing

Mar 7

“You don't need to justify or explain your rates or your prices when presenting them. You just need to show your value.”

Confidently pricing your services is one of the top questions that I receive from interior designers at every level of experience. Over the years, I have found three mindset shifts that will help you confidently price your services and reframe your mindset when presenting your pricing. I believe that building your value starts in the discovery call which should be used as an opportunity to understand your clients’ problems and offer solutions.

Let’s dive into the top 3 mindset shifts you should make to reframe your mindset regarding pricing.

#1 - Separate your Value from your Time

My top tip for separating your value from your time is to stop pricing based solely on your time i.e. using hourly rates. Your time is not equivalent to quality. If you think about a situation where you are charging an hourly rate, the logic doesn’t work symmetrically for you and the client.

For example, if a project takes less time, should it cost the client less? If it takes more time, are they okay with paying more? In many cases, as you gain more experience, you may also increase your efficiency and if you are charging hourly, you are punishing yourself for your efficiency.

If you are finding that clients don’t value their time, they won’t value yours either. I encourage you to start thinking in terms of what value you bring to your clients and how to frame that when talking to clients to show the value you bring instead of the time spent on a project. Think about this in a few ways:

Return on Investment (ROI)
Property Value Increase
Saving clients from costly mistakes
Improving the functionality of a space
Saving your clients time
Your expertise in terms of experience, education, and artistry.

#2 - Stop Selling to your Clients & Start Serving your clients

If you’ve followed me long, you know that I love the idea of “being boutique” in terms of how I serve my clients. I truly believe that the experience you can bring to a project can add so much value. You may not always be able to compete on pricing, but you can compete on service.

How do you bring more value to clients?

When I am meeting with a potential client, I ask alot of questions! Think about your discovery call as a way to uncover a potential clients’ desired future state in terms of the space they are asking you to design. What do they really want?

It may take some time to figure out the flow of questions that feels natural to you, but aim to find out what the real problems with the space are, how they want to feel, and what matters. The best questions usually start with “why”.

A few questions I like to ask are:a

Why are you calling me to help you with your interior design?
Why does this matter to you?
Why not do it yourself?
What would it mean to you to have full support with this project?
Why did it not work out with the past designer?

Little tip - whoever asks more questions is in control of the conversation. Your goal is to understand where they are now and where they want to be so that you can, in turn, show them how valuable you would be for their project and the outcome they are looking for.

#3 - How to Reframe Rejection

Inevitably, you will not always get a yes from every proposal that you send out. Rejection can be tough but there are two paths you can take:

If you want to work with the client, find a way to get creative and come up with their “must have’s” list vs their “nice to have’s list” to help with cost.
Remember, you shouldn’t have a 100% closing rate. If you do, that’s a sign that you are likely priced too low! Aim for a higher number (60-80%). This is a sign you’re attracting the right kind of clients for your business.

In closing, keep in mind that you are a business and businesses make a profit (and that’s okay!). You are in business to make money (don’t shy away from that!). When you attract the right types of clients, you’ll find you get repeat business, less hesitations, and will gain more confidence in your pricing.