Episode #5 Transcription - How to Create a Successful Client Welcome Packet

Welcome to the designers Oasis podcast. I'm your host, Kate Bendewald, interior designer, mama and CEO of a thriving interior design business, built on authentic word of mouth referrals. It wasn't that long ago that I stepped away from my corporate architecture job to build my own dream, one that would allow me more time with the people that I love, the ability to serve my clients at the highest level, and to make a great living. It wasn't always easy, and I've made my share of mistakes along the way. Fast forward to today, and I've learned a thing or two. This podcast is for you - the inspired, creative, ambitious, and let's admit it,  occasionally overwhelmed interior designer who shares this dream of transforming lives by transforming homes. Join me and my guests each week as we walk through practical ways to build an interior design business you love, and helps you transform your clients' lives. You can do this.

Thank you for letting me spend part of this day with you. Let's get to it. I was recently on a one on one coaching call with an interior designer. By the way, I have retired one on one coaching services. But this is a client that I've been working with for a long time. But I was working with her and she asked me to review her welcome packet. It was beautifully designed. She had gorgeous photos. She used great, like font hierarchy. And overall it was just really pretty to look at. And the content what she had there was great. You know, it was it was I told her maybe a little wordy. We'll wanted to pull it down a little bit. But she was missing a couple of super important pages with really important information. So we talked about that and and then the next day, so I have the designers bases membership. And each month we have a live q&a call. And the same question came up in that live q&a call, like what do I include in good welcome packet for your interior design clients. So I thought, You know what, let's just revisit this, let's discuss it here today. Because when done well, a great welcome packet sets the stage for what it will be like to work with you, and to get your clients really excited for what is to come. 

So we're gonna dive into it. I will say I do offer a welcome packet template. So I do not include the copy. Because that's super important that you use your own words, that's a that's a very critical thing that you use your own branded language. But it's all laid out for you. It's all mapped out for you, and gives you something to start with. So I will link to that in the show notes. But today, we're gonna really talk about those words and the order in the format. And what should those pages look like? Okay, so to begin, the welcome packet is a packet you provide to your interior design client to present information about working with you. But there are two very common misconceptions about the welcome packet. Number one, the misconception is about its purpose and number two, when it's delivered. So I want to get really clear on those first before we actually dive into the content, because when you think about it like this, it's going to shift your focus a little bit, I think about what is the intention of it. So the name is a little bit nuanced, right. We call it a welcome packet. But I think that can create a little bit of confusion. 

The word welcome implies that your client has already been given a proposal that they have agreed to and paid your retainer, and you're welcome and you're ready to kick off your project together. The reality is that typically, you want to deliver your welcome packet. At that, let's just I'm going to use the full service example. So in person design, at the initial consultation, right, so typically, a typical in person design process starts with an in person paid consultation. I recommend you deliver it at this meeting, which is typically followed up with a proposal. So now If you're you're, you're delivering it to somebody who is technically a client, because they've paid you to be there. For the consultation, they might not be a full service client yet. So when you think about it like that. The other misconception is its purpose. And now it becomes a sales tool, and a client, right fit checker. I'm sure there's a better way to say that. But it's designed to help your prospective client feel like they're part of your world. Now. You're priming the pump and getting them excited about working with you. So yes, they might not be a full service client yet, but they've paid you to be there. So they are a client, and a welcome packet is in order. Okay, so you're going to deliver this at the in person consultation.

Think of it as a sales tool. All right. The other thing I want you to remember is that after the other question that comes along with this is that after you've given your client the proposal, and they've agreed to it, they've signed their agreement, they've paid your retainer, then we send them a welcome and onboarding email, and that's for another day. Today, we're talking about this welcome packet, which is really going to just paint the picture of what it's going to be like working with you. One more little thing I want to mention, before we get into the nuts and bolts of what's included, I want you to remember, words really matter here, you have the opportunity to help your clients understand the process, the level of service you will be providing, and why you're the best fit for the project. And guess what they're about to receive a proposal that reflects all of this. 

So you want to make sure you have head nodding copy. In your welcome packet, your client needs to see themselves through your words in the in your world, your worlds are carefully crafted to address your ideal client and their needs. They want to see this and read it and say, she gets it, right. She knows what I need. And she's got a process. And there's nobody else out there who can do this for me the way she can. And whatever her proposal looks like I'm on board, okay. So your welcome packet is really priming that pump and your words matter. So just as much as the layout just as much as the beautiful copy, you want to really, really focus in on those words, and make sure they're in alignment with what your client is really after. Okay. All right, so what's included, we're gonna start with the obvious a cover page. Usually, this is going to be a photo of perhaps your best interior project, it might be a collection of a few photos, it's also gonna include your business name, maybe your URL along the bottom, or it might include your tagline like mine does, which says creating livable luxury. So make sure that cover is really beautifully designed and laid out clear and not overly cluttered. Alright, the next page, if you're going and I think a real minimalist way to do this would be to do just a single page with an impact quote. 

Now, this is optional, but I like it. And I've got one in mind. But this is one sentence or a quote, from it can be from you or from somebody that you admire, that completely summarizes your belief about design. Again, it can be your stance, your belief, or it could be a famous quote that reflects what you want. Just make sure that it's simple. And it's clear, and it's not superfluous, right? Big and it's on that that second page. So mine says Your home is the most sacred place on earth. And for me, this is really important because my whole brand is about celebrating that sacred place of home. So that kind of ties into my branding, you decide. Number one if you want to include this page, and if so, putting in a quote that's really going to beautifully summarize your belief about design. And again, it's that head nodding copy that we're looking for. Okay, speaking of head nodding copy. That's the next page. I call this the head nodding copy page. This is the page that is going to address your ideal clients pain points, and paint the picture of the other side. So I want you to think about what are your clients experiencing? 

And I'll give you a hint. Your clients will give you these words, look at your clients intake forms and use their words. I actually have a folder in my office here, where so I take I have a form that I where I take notes for every single discovery call that I have. Not every discovery call turns into a consultation. But I don't throw those away, I keep those because as I'm listening to these clients, I'm writing down their words, clients will literally give you the language to use to describe their pain points. So you're gonna look for words like a feeling where it's in, there's both internal and external pain points, right? So maybe they're feeling overwhelmed. Maybe they don't know where to start, maybe they don't know how to pull things together. Maybe they can't agree with their partner. Maybe their space lacks functionality, or they feel embarrassed. But go to those client intake forms and do some mining, some digging of words, and use these to help you draft your head nodding copy page. And then you want to paint the picture of where you're going. 

So these are going to be sentences that start with words like, imagine if, or what if, okay, so imagine if you had a beautiful home that you were proud of, and it was functional, and I'm just riffing. I'm sure you could come up with something a little bit more creative than that. But you're you get the idea. You want to paint the picture. And often these words, or sentences are going to start with words like imagine if or what if your client above all needs to see you as the answer to their problems, you're their guide, and it's your job to paint that picture and tell them. So this is the head nodding copy page. And it might just be a couple of sentences, right? And maybe you mix in with those words, and interior photo of a past project a portfolio picture.

Sponsor Message: Hey there, did you know that the designers Oasis website is chock full of resources for interior design business owners just like you, including loads of free downloadable tools, templates, checklists, and business guides. It's not called designers oasis for nothing headed over to designers oasis.com To find the goodies like the client questionnaire, swipe file, or the asana template with my design process fully outlined for you, or the trade account action plan my step by step guide to getting started with an organizing wholesale trade accounts. So you can make more money and your interior design, business, all that and so much more. So head over to designers oasis.com and see what's waiting for you.

Okay, moving on page number four, is going to be an introduction letter. So you've given them your quote about the way you believe in design, you've given them that head nodding copy. So now they're seeing themselves in your world. And now you're, it's time for you to say, Hey, I'm Kate or Jane or Bob. It this is about you, but But it's about how you help your clients. This is not about your degrees where you went to school or the letters behind your name. Very important. This is about your relationship with your client, and about your promise to serve them through the design process. And then you want to leave them with an invitation to read through the rest of the welcome package. So this introductory letters introduction letter to you might be an abbreviated version of your bout page. So think of it like that you want to introduce yourself and you want to make it about how you will serve your clients. 

Okay, moving on. Next you want to talk about your design process. So this is going to be a recap, a very high level look at your design process. So if you have a services, an investment guide, or services and pricing guide, this may be the exact same visual of your design process and you want to make sure that it's really graphically designed in a beautiful way so that it's clear and organized. Personally for me the services and investment guide which they get before this they get before they book a call with me. It has the design process in a more in a higher level version. So it's it's more of the big picture. In the welcome packet, the design process graphics are this is going to layer in some more detail. Okay. I believe clients and people understand things best when you layer in the detail if you try to give it away all upfront. Certainly don't want to do this in the discovery call. You're going to talk about it in the consultation A bid. And but this is going to add a little bit more layer of details of the design process, the phases, what's included, how long things take that sort of thing. So this may be a few pages, it's totally up to you. But you want to provide an overview of the design process. 

Okay, then, and this may actually come before the design process if you've got multiple pages to outlining the design process. But this would be your working hours and standard holidays page. What I like to do is sprinkle in a testimonial and a portfolio page in this on this page. So working hours. Do you work five days a week? Are you working nine to five? Or do you have an abbreviated schedule? And for me, personally, Monday is a working day, but I do not have meetings on Mondays, Mondays are my day to get myself organized and clear on the week to come. And so that's outlined from the very beginning. There's zero questions about that. And what are the standard holidays. So I've personally look at my kids school holiday calendar, and I'm taking off those big ones with them. Right, this is part of why I went to work for myself is because I want to be able to take time off to be with my kids. Also, every first Friday, they're off, their school is off, it's a teacher planning day. Not 100% of the time, do I get to do this, but I'm usually trying to take that day off to be with them. Um, so that's also included in my working hours and my standard holidays. All right. Next, you want to highlight the really important policies you have. So of course, all of this is going to be fully and legally translated in your contract with your clients. But here is just a single page where you want to highlight kind of the big policies. So you might include things like, how do you communicate? Is text Okay?

Putting in your phone number, putting in a mailing address your social media handles? Those kinds of things? How do you accept payments? Do you accept credit cards? Or do you not? Your clients need to know how they can expect to pay you for product at this moment before they you know, are fully invested and engaged with you. Okay, how do you accept payments. Another really important thing is to talk about your project management software. And I'm actually going to get into that more next because that I think needs to be its own page. But just a quick snippet that says you know, for me, personally, I use IV or now house Pro. You I've heard design files is one that is super popular and sounds like a great program. But just a quick overview of letting your clients know that that will be the tool that you use to communicate about specific products. And then I think also putting their how to handle discrepancies. Give your clients clear direction that if at any point something comes up that they're nervous about, or they're upset about, make it explicit, the best way to handle discrepancies is to pick up the phone and have a conversation. 

We do not want our clients to be suffering or getting frustrated with something are upset or angry and not feel like they have a way to talk to you about it. They need to know that it's super important that you always bring things up in a timely manner is when they are happening. And don't wait because it's gonna be so much harder to handle those things down the line because you probably the details of what went on are going to be fuzzy. So just reminding your clients that you have a policy that you ask that we handle discrepancies in the moment. Okay, next, I recommend that you put a page if you're using a software project management software, such as Ivy, our house pro design files, take a screenshot of a couple of the pages that they might see. You want to give them a hint of what that will look like. So not only does this help them, see where they're going with you, but it also shows them it legitimizes you they say oh this person has has their their business in order. They're organized, they have a process. I know what to expect. And so that is a way to not only give them a little hint of that before they ever you know, have their own project setup in the software, but it also could help them feel really supported and excited about working with you 

Next is an FAQ page. So a Frequently Asked Questions page is a really great page to help you answer some of those common questions you are going to get. And so look at things that your clients have asked you before, make a list, and preemptively write them out. This can also be a nice way to present some of your policies to your clients. So maybe a frequently asked question is, is it ever okay to text you? And your answer? That would be yes. You know, and when would that be? Okay, you know, if, if they're running late for a meeting, if they've, they're standing there with their contractor, and a hammer, and they've kind of question they can text you and say, Hey, are you available for a call? How about a call to think through those questions, and preempt some of your clients frequently asked questions, they might not think about it in the moment, but that might help them to think through it after the consultation once once you've left. Always, whenever you're doing frequently answered questions, it's a really good practice to think about putting things into the clients best in the clients favor in their terms. So you know, for example, if a client is if you're trying to express for me, let me just back up for a minute. For me, personally, we we've always been boutique we've been small, the most people I've had working for me has been four employees. And even with that, we would only be in the design development phase with one client at a time. So our clients might be, we might have eight clients, but they're all in different phases, maybe summer in the Hi nice to meet you face summer in the ordering and procurement. Maybe we're getting ready to install on one, maybe somebody's just getting started. And we're working on concept. But for us, we would only work with one client or excuse me have one client in that design development phase at a time. And the reason for us to do this was because it allowed us to give our client our complete and full focus. This is what we're really diving into those details, we're really getting our heads and our hearts and our minds into that specific client. And we are totally in their world. And because we're a small outfit, this worked best for us. And the design was better because we were not pulled away or distracted by other clients, we were still able to handle the other clients in there other phases, but that intense design period of time, which is usually, you know, two to three weeks, is completely focused on our client. So as it relates to the FAQ page, what we would say here is the, you may have to wait a little longer to start working with us. 

But when the time comes and we get to that design development phase, you have our complete and undivided attention. And the result is you'll have a better design. So here, we're not making it about us so that we're just you know, because we don't want to be distracted. It's really about the client, because we want them to have the best experience. So whenever you're thinking about your FAQ page, and you're answering questions, put it in the clients best interest and make it about them and wanting them to have the best experience and they will appreciate that so much. Okay, next, you're going to want a page to represent your team, anybody that works for you. Maybe that's your puppy design assistant or your little baby design assistant, if you want to throw in some family members, but in all reality, if it's just you, you can skip this page unless you want to highlight in kind of a cheeky way. You're free design assistant. But if you have anybody that your client might be especially important if they're communicating with this person. So if you have a design assistant, if you have an admin person, you want to make sure that you're introducing them to your client. So I would include a headshot or very short bio and explaining their role. And you also want to include their contact information. Now I know that some designers outsource their drawings, for example, and they may work with somebody remotely who does all of their drawings. If that person is not directly communicating with your client, you probably don't need to include their information, but you certainly could. You are the best person to decide what is right for you in that moment. But just something to think about. Okay, and then the last thing that I like to include is a fill in the blank milestone dates page. So what this is, is This is a list of those big milestones. That would be things like site survey, deep dive interview, concept, design, presentation, and design presentation. Now, you probably at this stage do not have those dates nailed down. But as soon as your client signs on with you and pays the retainer and signs their contract and agrees to the proposal, all those things, and you're sending that initial kickoff email, you're going to want to establish and suggest those major milestone dates. And so this page does two things. 

Number one, it gives your clients a place they can print it out, or actually it's going to already be printed out because it's going to be in your little packet. But maybe it's something that they want to pin up by their desk and they can fill them in fill in the blank those dates once they are known. The other thing that it does is it helps your clients see into the future. You're casting that vision you're showing them that you have a plan, this is how you work and we're not going to deviate from it because the process works you know it because you're the professional so those that fill in the blank milestone dates page is a nice one whether your clients use it or not it at least lets them sort of see what is forthcoming. Okay, so I know that's a lot. Again, I do have a template for this if that's something that you're interested in it is in the designers Oasis shop we will link to that below. But before we go I want to stress the importance of also thinking about your paper selection and your envelope selection. Please do me a favor and do not print this out on your basic printer paper. Okay. I'm not saying you need to have this professionally printed at a print shop although you certainly could. 

But if you have a good printer at home, you can print these at home, but go ahead and spend the money on the better paper and I actually can link to the paper this bid I know that sounds like crazy detailed. But when you feel the difference, you'll know why. So we do printers here we have a color printer with toner, not inkjet I will say the quality of a toner printer versus inkjet is head and shoulders above an inkjet printer. At least from the days when I had an inkjet I've had a toner printer for so long, that's all I know. So maybe the inkjet printers have come a long way but typically you would see like striations and lines and it just didn't look crisp and sharp. So just make sure you have a really good printer that can do the job if not send it to Office Max or a local printer and have them print it for you. But I will link to this specific paper that I use it is more expensive than the typical paper but we don't use it for everything. We only use it for client presentations and printing these welcome packets. So it is a not glossy, it is a satin one but just adds a little heavier weight. So if you're trying to help your ideal client or prospective client and there's your high end clients to feel the difference, the physical difference of a paper that feels good, you're going to spend the money on the nice paper and it's not that much more expensive. And then the other thing is your envelope selection. So what are you going to put in this envelope. I do not prefer to staple you don't want to staple us together and hand over giant stack of papers. You want to really beautifully put this in an envelope that is on brand and you can do this a couple of ways. And Paper Source is one option their store they have physical stores and online stores. They have all kinds of cool envelope selections. You can look there there are of course companies like Zazzle where you can have custom branded folders printed and it gives you a place to put in say like your business card or some sticky notes or any other kind of collateral that you might add to this folder. So for us specifically we have these nice folders printed from Zazzle and then it does have a place for us to put our branded sticky notes and and our card but 

I do love also Paper Source has some really, really pretty envelopes as well. And you just want to make sure that it is beautifully executed and reflects the level of design and detail and quality that they can come to to experience in working with you. And then I mentioned I don't like to staple these I do like to put just a real tiny little brass binder clip. I think that just looks a little nicer than the than the stapled. version. So little details, it's totally up to you how you ended up finishing this product, you can have fun with it, make sure that it is high quality, it reflects your brand, it brings people along. And don't forget to sprinkle throughout these pages, testimonials and portfolio pages as well, you can don't don't hesitate to add a few pages at the end with some before and after pictures of some projects, maybe you want to go so far as to do a little case study and show, you know, this project has this address. Here's some before and after pictures and what you did. So you you can even take it to that level as well. But just make sure that this isn't just about the design process, but you're including that head nodding copy, they're really getting to see your personality coming through as well as some past work. And then those testimonials sprinkled in is so important for getting that social proof that it's going to help move them along. 

Alright, I hope you enjoyed today's episode. Don't forget only to all of these things in the show notes, including our template that we have the paper that we like to use, and all of this for you to review in the show notes. Have a wonderful rest of your day. And thank you for letting me spend part of the day with you. I'll see you next time. Thank you so much for letting me spend part of this day with you. If you're loving this podcast, please share it with a friend who you think might also love it. Or perhaps you can take just 30 seconds to open your podcast app and leave us a five star rating. And if you have just an extra minute, go ahead and leave a review. This helps me so much and it helps other designers like you to find the podcast. It also adds fuel to my motivation to keep making great episodes just for you. However you choose to help, please No, I appreciate you so very much. Thank you, my friend. Have a wonderful rest of your day and I'll see you next time.