EP #53 | How to run your Interior Design Consultation like a Pro

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. 

Do you want to have better proposals for new clients and new projects that come your way? The key starts with delivering better consultations. And so that's what we're here to talk about. Today, we're going to talk about how you can improve the quality of your consultations. So as you likely know, consultations are the first step to working with your interior design clients most of the time, this is especially true for full service projects. Now, I'll admit that a lot of times project types may not include a consultation, for example, virtual design, you may go directly from the discovery call to the consultation for designer for a day, that's at least the way I deliver it is does not have a paid consultation prior to the service. So consultations are really those opportunities for you to serve your prospective clients at the very beginning of typically larger projects that are either design only, or full service and in person. And so this consultation is your opportunity to gather more information. And to get to meet the client get to develop a relationship a little bit, see if this is somebody that you want to work with. Because we all know projects take a long time you develop a relationship with your client. And so it's a chance for you both to get to know each other before entering into a longer term engagement. So you really want to deliver the highest quality and the best experience consultation, that you can no matter what ends up happening at the end of the consultation. So we're gonna dive into how to do this. 

And I want you to just keep in mind that the better experience you can give them, the more likely they're going to want to work with you. The more information you can get about the project, the better proposal you can provide, because you're going to have all the information that you need in order to be able to put together a proposal that reflects an accurate scope of work, especially if you're charging flat fee. But really for any project, it's going to help you put together better, better quality proposals that are going to reflect the work that you want to do and give you that confidence. I don't know if this resonates for you. But I have definitely sat down after consultation and a client has requested a proposal and I've sat down to put it together. And I felt like I had more questions than answers right. I felt like I still didn't know a lot about what the client wanted at the end of the day, which made it very difficult to put together better proposals. Obviously, I've come a long way since then, and I've learned a thing or two. And so I want to share with you today. A couple of ways that you can improve the experience of the consultation for your prospective clients so that they're more likely to work with you while simultaneously getting enough information to be able to put together really great proposals. All right, so let's dive in. I want to start with the question around charging for your proposals. I or excuse me, consultations, I understand they're kind of two camps here, Camp charge for your consultation, meaning you pay a flat one time fee for the consultation, no strings attached. 

What Come what may, and then camp don't charge for your consultation is is the the idea of of not charging in hopes that they're going to like enough of what they see to want to hire you. I am strongly in the camp of charge for your consultation, I believe that it shows your value, and clients are willing to pay for what they value. And so not only do you feel good showing up and providing value because you've been compensated. But also it just demonstrates that this person is somebody who's willing to pay for your expertise, and that you're in alignment there. So you decide ultimately, what works best for you. But that's my opinion on that I think we should be charging for our consultations. I hope that what you learn in today's episode is going to ultimately help you feel more confident around charging for this time with your clients. So I don't know what your consultations look like today. But hopefully, you can gather some some little nuggets in this episode that you can take with you the next time you meet with a prospective client. Alright, so we've got a couple of things to cover, the one thing I want to start with is really around setting your clients expectations in advance, I can't underestimate how important it is to always be setting client expectations with your clients. And it's good to start, you know, doing that from the very beginning of working with them. But you're going to be setting expectations all the way through the end all the way through a project wrap up. So this is good practice. And client setting expectations for your client really comes around communicating with your client what to expect, and understanding and getting feedback from your client and knowing they get it they know what to expect. And they know what the deliverables are and and what that looks like. So one way that I talk about my consultations to clients is I refer to it as a mini design session. And that lasts up to two hours. It's that simple. 

And so when I say that, they understand that I'm not coming, they're not paying me to come and pitch them about working with me. I'm coming and I'm showing up, but I'm delivering value. And it's a mini design session, we have two hours to talk about your project. And yes, while I'm there, I'm going to gather enough information. So that should you decide that you want help in executing what we talked about, that I now have enough information to be able to provide you with a proposal so we could further our our work together. I let them know that most of the time, we'll be walking and talking and taking lots and lots and lots of notes. And that will leave about 15 minutes at the end of the consultation in order to chat, make sure that they are feeling good about some of the things that we talked about. And to discuss next steps. I don't typically say this when I'm talking to them, but it is mentioned in my little checkboxes that they have to click on in order to book the consultation. But I also let them know that the consultation is up to two hours. And if we don't end up using all of that time that that time is forfeited. This way, there's no expectation after the consultation to fill in that lasts 15 minutes or 20 minutes or whatever it is. But I'll be honest, nine times out of 10 We're using every last second of that consultation, but just something to keep in mind. Okay, so you've set your client expectations. Maybe you decide, like me to talk about your consultation and refer to it as a mini design session. 

Of course, you want to tell them how the duration and all that now that they've said yes, and you've got them geared up, you want to make sure that you do some preparations before the consultation, a little bit of prep work before your consultation goes a long way. Now I don't want you to find yourself going down a research rabbit hole before your consultation because that is busy work. And it's just going to waste your time. But I do think spending up to 30 minutes is a good amount of time, maybe an hour if it's a bigger project, and you kind of want to understand a little bit more context. There's certainly been times where I've spent more preparations before I go. But here's a couple of things to think about one. Remember, at this point, most likely you have received from them an intake form. Your intake form is what lives on your website. It's usually a short form, contact form that just gives you just a little bit of information about the project. Then you've got your notes from a discovery call, right because when they filled out that intake form, they're likely booking a discovery call with you at that point. So then you've got your handwritten notes from Discovery call, maybe you've typed them up. So you've got that word to refer to. And then typically, in our process, after a discovery call, and they say, you know, remember the discovery call, you're not pitching them on a full service project, necessarily, although you're going to outline what that possibility looks like kind of high level, you're really pitching them on the idea of a consultation most of the time for full service. So it's much easier to sell a consultation than it is to sell a full service package over the phone when you've just met somebody. So that eases that a little bit. So after the consultation, excuse me, after the discovery call, is typically when I send the booking link so that they can finalize their consultation date, they can pay for it, they check a couple of boxes, and then once we receive that, we send them a long form questionnaire. And so that is a really important thing to review before you set out for the consultation and the long form questionnaire. And we do have, I believe, we still have a digital download where you can get the questions that I have on my client questionnaire. But this is where you're asking some of those deeper questions around lifestyle and refining the budget a little bit more about the home itself, and that sort of thing. So you want to refer back to your intake form your discovery, call notes, and your long form questionnaire. And putting all of those together, usually in a folder is how I prep. Now when I show up for a consultation, I've usually got two folders. 

One, I've got my plain black folder, and that is mine to keep in that has my notes from when we've talked previously. And it's also got my consultation worksheet that I use while I'm talking in person. So I've got all that ready to go. And then I also have our welcome packet ready for the client that we deliver at the end of the consultation, should the client decide they want to proceed and request a proposal. So you've got this paperwork put together, you've reviewed that. Some other things you might want to do to prepare before your consultation is to do some research on the house, the vintage the neighborhood, think about the context, the age of the home, the style, the neighborhood, home values, those kinds of things. Those are all really important contextual bits of information that you want to know about the home. Of course, I'm always wanting to Google my clients prospective clients, I want to see who they are, what are they up to, I don't typically go into a deep dive there. But it is just kind of, for the most part interesting for me. So feel free to do that, if that helps you feel a little bit more comfortable. I think also understanding your clients long term goals for the home. And this is something that will typically Well, it is a question in our questionnaire, but it's something that we typically talk about in the discovery call. The reason for that is your design recommendations for a homeowner who is planning to only hold a home for three to five years, their investments in their project are going to look a lot different from somebody who's living in possibly their forever home a home, they really want to settle into and put some roots down for roots down with. For me personally, I a number of years ago when I when I really sat down and I and I did an entire revamp of my business from the inside out. This was one of the things that was my differentiator, my you know, my deal breakers, so I was committed to only working with homeowners who wanted to be in their house. Typically a forever home is what I'm looking for. 

But at the very least 10 years or there's no intention at the moment at least to sell. Because I wasn't interested in doing projects that were hinging on resale value. I want to design custom homes for clients. And so that's a question that we asked in the discovery call and it typically wouldn't move to a consultation for us if that was the case. So now, there are definitely exceptions. And remember that was me that when the choices that I made for my business, you can decide if that's something that's important to you or not. But I wanted to know what I think it's regardless important to know how long do they plan to stay in the house because that's going to help you you're going to make different suggestions depending on what their plans are there. I think it's important to to find out the names of kids and pets and kids ages. I think it's always nice to have their names tucked away so that when you walk in if you meet Fido, you know his name, you can say hi. It just feels really much more personal and like you care. People like to hear their names. It's there's a psychological comfort that comes with that. And so it's just a simple way to show that you've been paying attention and that you care Now I'll be honest, I'm terrible with names so I always write it at the top of my notes inside my my client notes before I show up because otherwise I Just honestly wouldn't remember that at least the first go round, takes me a minute, okay? Then you want to make sure you've got your bag all ready to go, I'll admit, I used to carry so many more things with me to the first consultation. 

And today I save most of that for the site survey. Really, when I show up, the main things that I've got on hand are a really high quality tape measure, my color samples, of course, my my folder, my welcome packet, and stuff to take notes with that kind of thing and an iPad. And the last thing is just to have your notes ready to go, and easy to access, you don't want your first impression to show up, showing up, be fumbling around trying to find your notes. And, you know, making sure that you have writing devices that work, I will admit I have, you know, shown up to a consultation and had a crummy pen that didn't work. And it's no fun asking to borrow a pen. Anyway, these are just little things, right? These are not going to make or break your consultation. But the goal here is doing your research and doing some preparation before you go. Because when you do, you're gonna walk in and with a lot more confidence to kind of know what you're getting yourself into. Next, I want to talk about just kicking things off, right? I just mentioned first impressions. First impressions are really everything. It's human nature. And so there are little nuances about how you first show up and how you present yourself. That can mean the difference between being perceived as a confident and professional authority on interior design. And just being a new friend with a little design advice here to help you out. Right. So you want to show up with that air of confidence, even if you're having to fake it till you make it. I know early on, consultations just gave me a little butterflies made me feel a little bit nervous. Today. There's a lot of excitement behind that too. So if you are currently feeling a little bit of anxiety or a little bit of butterflies, when you first show up to a consultation, remember, that's normal. And I want to remind you that if you just know 10% more than your client, then you are an authority and you can show up and you can provide value with confidence. You just need that 10% edge and chances are you have way more than 10%. So keep that in mind when you're when you're having those little butterflies. But I promise over time that confidence builds and showing up to consultations doesn't feel so nerve wracking.

So a couple of things just about kicking it off, right and having a really good first impression. It goes without saying Be on time. If you are going to be more than I would say five minutes late, you need to pull over and you need to call or text your client and let them know you've had traffic or whatever the case may be. But do not show up late any later than that without contacting them or at least attempting to contact them. Life happens we're human, but to the best of your ability be on time. And I would say also don't be early. I had somebody show up for a meeting with me one time early and I wasn't ready and it actually caused me to feel frazzled and frustrated and it didn't. It also didn't go over well. So just be on time. sunglasses off. Smile, what's your body language, what's your posture? You want to have just kind of this this warm, confident vibe about you that really draws them in as they open the door to meet you. Look around and take cues about shoes. A lot of times people have Shula's homes whether it's a for cultural reasons or cleanliness reasons or healthcare reasons, but here in Colorado in the winter time, oftentimes it's for the weather, a lot of people don't wear shoes inside in the winter around here. So your choice, you can either always be petty ready, or what I like to do even though I do like to be Petey ready. In my bag, I always keep just a small pair of ballet flaps that fold up easily. And I can always there for indoors only, and I can put those on. 

So just being mindful if they're not wearing shoes, and if you see shoes at the door, just ask, would you like for me to take my shoes off and be respectful of of how their household is run. Take the water, if they offer you a glass of water, take it sometimes it could be like, Oh, I don't want to put somebody out. But if they're offering, it's just a really nice gesture to take the water. Alright, and then you want to just get started right away, start by asking them to do a walk and talk and to share their vision. And I want you to be a really good listener. Early on in the consultation, it's super important that you are doing more listening than talking. And you're asking a lot of questions. And this is doing a couple of things. Obviously, it's helping you gather intel, right, it's gonna helping you gather information. But also, there's a psychological thing that happens here, because there is a chance that, especially if this is their first time working with an interior designer, there may be this perception that you are coming with the goal of selling to them. And so you want to disarm them a little bit and the way that you do that. So our left brain is our logical and vocal or verbal side of our brain. And our right side of our brain is more emotional. And it's hard to be in both sides of your brain at the same time. So their emotional right brain might be saying, Alright, Who is this kid is she going to try to sell me on something. And by forcing them not forcing them, but by engaging them in conversation first and getting them to do more of the talking, it kind of pulls them out of any emotional feelings that they might have, or any unnecessary feelings of fight or flight or perceptions that they're gonna get sold to, or had or any of those things. And I'm talking most people in any feelings like that, that they're having. It's gonna be really subtle, probably even imperceptible to them. But there is something subconsciously that happens to people a lot of times and so you can really just disarm that feeling by getting them to talk. Newsflash, this is why talk therapy is so important. So so popular, I should say, okay, so it works the same way. So you want to get them talking first, because it's going to help them to open up and feel more comfortable with you. Some of the things that you want to ask and have them talk about with you is lifestyle. 

So while yes, it's gonna be really important for you to talk about the nuts and bolts, talk about budget timeline, big picture goals, you want to talk about all of that. But I think you also need to ask about lifestyle. And this is where you show up as a differentiator between, say a contractor or an architect. A lot of times those guys or gals are not talking about lifestyle, you look at design through a lifestyle lens, if you're if you're a commercial designer, and you're doing work for the public environment, you can do this also by asking about their business goals and aspirations, right? Because what you're doing has a direct effect on their ability to run a profitable business, whatever the case may be. So I'm going to talk about lifestyle here because I'm a residential designer, and this is what is intuitive to me but everything I'm talking about, if you're a commercial designer, you can apply this same sort of thinking to your your clients as well. So architects are looking at a project to through a certain lens or looking at it through the structure, the envelope, the the the integrity, structural integrity of a building, fenestrations those kind of things. Contractor is looking at a project through the lens of budget and time and manpower and resources, those kind of things. You come to the project looking at it through the lens of all of those things and lifestyle. You want to ask questions like walk me through a typical weekday morning in your in your home, what does that look like? Or how do you spend your weekends at home kind of paint the picture for me and have them share with you what does a typical weekend day look like when they're hanging out at home? What about entertaining how do they host guests do they like to have a lot of people few people as intimate with a book club what what kinds of activities take place in their home? And so this is really going to show them that you are thinking about how to present solutions to problems that are specific to them and their lifestyle. And so that's really gonna go a long way in terms of building their trust and showing that you care and showing that all of this really does matter to design. So really find some time to ask about lifestyle, it's going to give you a lot of information that's going to be useful in providing helpful suggestions and taking the project in the right direction, but it's also going to help them feel more comfortable with you. 

Next, I want you to find things that you can highlight, highlight, highlight what's working in this space. So for example, let's say you walk into a project, and there's beautiful light, natural light, maybe there's really tall ceilings, perhaps there are incredible views. Share ideas for how you can play up these assets as a starting point, the last thing you want to do is to walk into a space and start to criticize, even if it's inadvertently criticizing something because chances are, your client will has aspects of the space that they love, and why they chose to live there or why they bought it. And so you want to make sure that you're not inadvertently disparaging the space. So really finding what is working for a space and pointing that out and saying, I really want to retain that right or find a way to highlight it, maybe it's really good millwork molding details, those kinds of things. So make sure to find time to highlight what's working for this space. All right. Next. Remember, I said before that we refer to the consultation as a mini design session, you feel free to use those same words or find words that feel like a good fit for you. But now you want to treat it like a mini design session. So you've shown up, you've asked about lifestyle, you've had them start talking about their vision for the space, you have really highlighted some aspects of the project or the home or the space that you love, and that you want to highlight or showcase. And now it's really your turn to start delivering value. And you want to deliver value no matter what happens with a project, whether they decide to hire you in a full service capacity, or whether this was a one off consultation, and they just need your expertise to help them move in the right direction. Okay.

So the way you do that the way you deliver value, there's a couple of ways. First, is you want to be a problem solver. Okay, what design solutions can solve their pain points, you've already done a lot of listening and talking and perhaps you've got some ideas flowing in the back of your head. And this is the time to really start bringing those out. Don't be afraid to throw out big ideas, okay, ideas that your client has maybe never thought of, maybe these ideas are way out of budget. So then you can talk about it, you can address it, you can say that's maybe not as far as we want to take this. Well guess what, that's a decision that they've made. And they've shared with you. And that is going to help you create a better proposal, right. But at the same time, maybe it's not off the table. And maybe now you've brought an idea that the client has never thought of, and oh my gosh, their heads are just spinning, they're like, I never thought of that. That's amazing. We've got to figure out a way to make that work, whatever the case may be. So play big, don't don't play small throw out big ideas. The worst thing that could happen is they say no, that's that's outside of the scope of what we're looking to do or that's going to be outside of our budget. And that's okay too, because that is also really good information to have. Thinking about things like can closing one door open greater possibilities for kitchen layout, can changing a door swing provide better flow first base can adding skylights, increased natural light to a space, can adding a door provide more flexibility or privacy right. So these are, these are all things structurally that you could consider looking at in a space. Next, another way that you can add some really tangible value really good value is to be specific, be very, very specific meaning whenever you are providing a suggestion you to the degree that you're able to even if it's within a range be as specific as possible. So if you're suggesting if you're let's say you're working on a kitchen renovation, and you're looking at thinking through different layout options, and you're talking about the island, how big can this island get six feet, seven feet, eight feet, you don't have to have it down to the the inches but if you can say you know, I think If we did this and move this here that we could actually put in a six to seven foot Island, that's very specific information that is hugely valuable for the client, no matter how they decide to proceed. Are you suggesting a new sofa? Okay, great, what size what types of materials are going to work well further lifestyle? 

Can you tell them you want to avoid velvet because you have this beautiful golden retriever, who is going to shed and then Velvet is going to just pick it right up. Instead, you could try leather or vegan leather options. That's the kind of specificity that I'm talking about window treatments, what kinda is gonna make the most sense for your clients top down bottom up blackout draperies that are all of those be as specific as possible. You want to write all of this down on your notes. I have an assistant that comes with me to consultations, and the minute we walk in the door, her pin hits the paper, and she does not stop writing the entire time. Okay, and we have an organizational method that allows us to keep those notes super organized the whole time so that we could go back to reference them, everything is very clear, and it's very easy to see what we talked about. Let's talk about some tools that you might have with you. I mentioned earlier a tape measure. I will if I remember, I will try to link to my favorite tape measure. It's funny, something as small as a tape measure may not seem that important. But over the years, I have seen probably a dozens and dozens of tape measures and they're not all the same. And so it's the way the increments show up on the tape measure. Plus, having a really long, heavy duty, at least 25 foot tape measure is all just part of being a professional and having the right kind of tools. So having a really good tape measure your paint swatches. One simple tool that I like to use is the iPad with the markup feature. And what you can do is you can actually take a picture, I use this all the time in designer for day sessions. But they're it's useful to in a consultation. And if I can find a picture of a recent one that I've done, I'll be sure to share it inside the show notes. But you can take a photo of a space and use SketchUp to sort of draw over the space, what you're thinking visually. And sometimes that can be a really useful tool. So if that's something you want to try out, iPad is an iPad with markup is a good option. 

Of course, there's there's all kinds of stuff out there. But and when it comes to measuring, I just want to be clear. Typically in a consultation, I'm not measuring a space, I'm not doing a site survey that that is something measuring happens during a site survey. Although getting a tape measure out, I'm making a few specific suggestions is absolutely within the realm of possibility. So I don't want to confuse what I'm doing there. Another way to make sure that you're adding a lot of value is really think through all of the surfaces in a space. So looking at the flooring, what is existing there? Are they going to keep it are they going to do they want to change it, looking at the molding, right? The baseboards, the casing, the the crown molding, all of that talk about that, it's real obvious to talk about walls, right, we do that. But sometimes we forget the floor is or the ceiling, the fifth wall. So don't forget to talk about the ceilings to what's going on up there. I can't tell you how many times I've walked into a house and there's just this runway, this massive, big flat surface with a bunch of recessed lighting in there. And there's no visual interest, there's no articulation, there's no delineation of space. And as a designer, it would be awesome to come in here and be able to create some delineation through molding through different types of surfaces on the ceiling. And obviously lighting is another way that you can do that. But if you go through a space and you miss the opportunity to talk about the ceiling and talk about the lighting, talk about the finishes, then when you get back to put together your proposal, all of a sudden you're like, I wonder what they would want to do there and you realize you might have to go back and gather more information or otherwise you're just kind of throwing stuff at the wall. So I think it's very important to make sure as you're going through each space that you're just just going from floor to ceiling and talking about every single aspect of that space as much as time will allow. And then you want to make sure to revisit the budget at the end. So you always want to be thinking how changes to one space may impact adjacent spaces, especially flooring, plumbing, those kinds of things, drywall so prior to the consultation, you should have gathered some budgetary information. And so the way this works for me is in that initial intake form, there is a drop Down button where they pick a budget range. 

And those are purposefully designed to be very wide ranges very generally speaking, okay? Because a lot of times clients don't know what things cost. And that's part of what they're seeking to understand and what you're there to help them with this identify what budget is workable. So I keep those ranges quite broad. When we have a discovery call, we revisit those budget items. And we're going to learn what, again a little bit more closely what it is that the client is hoping to achieve crosschecking that with? What did they put in for their their budget and doing a gut check based on your knowledge and your expertise? Does what they put in with this, what they selected for that budget range? And what they're asking to do? Does that feel in alignment? Or not? And so now, you've moved to the consultation, and you have a lot more information, right? So you've just spent two hours, almost two hours walking the project with your client talking with them. And now you can start to think to yourself, is the budget range that they've identified? Does that still work that still feel appropriate? And I think this is a good time to ask your client. So you know, by going back to what they provided and say, do you still feel like this is appropriate and getting their their reaction, there's an, there's a number of ways you could talk about the budget. And, and context matters a lot of times, so you want to, you want to read the room, you want to understand what they've may have mentioned, in conversation, or passing, and all of that. And if at this point, you feel like, what their budget is, and what their wish list is, if they're not in alignment.

First of all, that's not necessarily a red flag, but it is something that you want to pay attention to, and you want to have a conversation around. That could be a whole other podcast, so I'm just gonna keep it high level here. But you want to find out, are they flexible, right, you can say, Look, I'm going to be honest with you, I think your vision for this space, and what we could do together is amazing, I can help you get this to exactly where you want it to be. But what I'm seeing here, what needs to be done in your wish list and the budget that you've identified, I'm not sure they're compatible, I would need to do some more work in the concept level of design in order to be able to dial this in more for you to get to a better budget, budgetary number, the budget is refined through the design process, right? So we don't typically do a lot of research and budgeting on a client's behalf prior to the consultation, excuse me prior to starting a project. But you need to have enough knowledge and expertise and references to be able to know, does this ballpark work? How close are we? How far off are we what is what is the case. In some cases, it may make sense to start with a with the concept design only. And with concept design, this is where you can do some more of that discovery around budget and cost and present that to your client and provide that to your client. But you want that to be a part of your paid services, that wouldn't be a part of your proposal creation. So just keep that in mind. So free visiting the budget, do a gut check and find out. If you feel like you think it's an alignment. If it's not, you want to have a conversation, find out if they're flexible, and just take it from there. Okay. You want to wrap up on a high note, I think you need to give yourself 10 to 15 minutes at the end of the consultation and do a couple of things. Number one, you want to check in with your client. And just ask them how do you think today went? Did you? Did you enjoy our time together? 

Do you feel like you've received value from your experience? And hear from them that way? And then sometimes I like to know from the beginning whether clients intention is to work with a designer? Or are they looking for just a one off consultation experience. If that's not clear to you, at this point, this is the right time to circle back to that and just find out. Most of the time, it's pretty evident. But if not, you want to make sure that you do that. So I like to remind clients of their options. Option number one is they take what they've gathered here today in this consultation and they are going to use this information to execute the project on their own. In which case, they're going to get a copy of our detailed notes that we have have written what we'll end up typing them up for the client. Option two would be that they want to engage us in a long term, long term full service project or design only whatever the case may be And in this case, the notes that you took on the consultation, that becomes the tool that you use to create your customized proposal. And so they'll they'll see those notes reflected in the proposal as well as in the the concept design that will come at the beginning phases of design. So this is also the perfect opportunity for you to share your process and how you work, what it's like to work with you and give them the opportunity to ask what questions they might have what's come up for them. And this is why you don't need to go into excruciating detail on the Discovery call about your design process, right? On the discovery call, you want to keep it light, keep it quick, but your conversation with them at the end of the consultation, as well as your welcome packet that you're going to provide to them, that's going to help fill in the details about how you work, what's your process looks like. So just keep in mind, you'll have this opportunity to do it in person at the consultation. So you don't necessarily need to go in to that deep level of your process on the Discovery call. Okay. And then finally, if your client has said to you know, I'd like to take the next step with you, can you provide us with a proposal, this has been really helpful, then you want to make sure to give them your client a welcome packet. I don't give my client welcome packet. First of all, because they cost money, you know, we have nice folders printed out and everything's printed professionally. And so I don't want to give that to somebody who's just using this as a one time experience. And there's nothing wrong with that, right? That is just a part of the process. 

Sometimes I decide, I just don't think this project is going to be a good fit for us. But I've come I've done my work, I've been paid, I've given them value, they get their notes, that's great. We can all shake hands and take it from there. But if they have decided they're ready to take it to the next level, and they at least want to see a proposal, then we want to make sure that they get our welcome packet. If you want more information about what to include in your welcome packet and how that works. We not only provide a template that makes it super easy to plug and play your information and have it all branded with your colors and your logo and all that. But I have an a podcast episode number five, how to create a successful welcome packet that you can refer back to. And you can find the link to that podcast in the show notes. Just below wherever you're listening to this episode. Okay, so that's it for today. Just to wrap up, I want to just remind you of a couple of things. One, be mindful of your first impressions, show up with authority and confidence, show up ready to provide value. And you can do that by being really specific. Don't be afraid to share big ideas, consider each room from floor to ceiling. Don't skip the budget conversation, make sure you take really detailed notes, and leave time at the end to discuss next steps. So as you know, the consultation is just the beginning of any project and client relationship. This is your opportunity to steward the client into the next phase with you. And after this, you will work on preparing a proposal kicking off the project, taking them through design and execution if you're doing full service design. And when you do all of these things really well you end up with clients who rave about you to all of your all of their friends, I should say. So if you want to learn more about my exact client process, how I take clients, all the way from the beginning of a project kickoff all the way through the very end through project management, and everything in between. I want to encourage you to check out the interior designers business blueprint. Not only will I share with you my exact process on how I do all of this, as well as the templates that go with every step in the process. But you're also going to learn how to design a business to allow you to be more profitable, and build it in to support the kind of lifestyle you want instead of building a business that runs you. So to learn more about the interior designers business blueprint, you can head over to descenders oasis.com Ford slash blueprint to learn more. 

Don't forget, you can access today's show notes in today's episodes, if you want to refer back to anything that we talked about today, because I know we covered a lot. But ultimately, I just want you guys to really put a lot of care into your consultations because it's not only going to serve your clients better, but it's also going to give you better information to put together better proposals, which ultimately lead to better projects, happier clients, more referrals. It's a system it all works together. Okay. Thank you so much for hanging out with me. I will see you next time. Bye for now. Thank you 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 know I appreciate you so very much. Thank you, my friend. Have a wonderful rest of your day and I'll see you next time.

Transcription:

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. 

Well, hello there, my friend. And welcome back to the designers always this podcast. I am your host, Kate Bendewald. And it has been a minute since I've done a solo episode. And so I'm looking forward to just kind of hanging out with you and sharing some thoughts and things that have been on my mind recently, I've been doing just a lot of reflecting on my own interior design business over the last decade. And it's just interesting what comes up when you've when you've had some time and some perspective. And one of the things that occurred to me recently was that man, we get, we get so caught up in making progress and moving forward that we we forget to just take a minute and look back and see how far we've come and what all we've accomplished. And you know, I did that when we moved, I was holding on to all of these past projects, they're the client binders, and I had a giant stack of client binders. And just looking at the sheer volume of that was a physical reflection of the work that I had been doing over the last number of years. And you know, and so when you when you take the time to reflect, and you sit with some of these thoughts, and things come up. And so I just got to thinking about some of the things that I would have done differently. If I had had an older and wiser business owner hanging on my shoulder, what what would I tell my my younger self as a business owner, if you're new to the podcast, just a quick backstory, you know, I had a I an education, a formal education in interior design, I went to a site at accredited school. And so I had all of that going for me, I had the experience, I worked at a commercial architecture firm, doing interior design there, I worked in Austin for a really high end interior designer. And so I had the education and I had the experience. But when I went out to work for myself, what I didn't have was the business background that I needed to be a business owner. And so I have learned everything through a combination of lots of trial and error, working with coaches, and of course, my clients and just just the experience that you get over time. So there was a lot of stumbling in those early, early years that one can expect when you're just working on your own. And you're trying to figure these things out. And so I wanted to share just a couple of these insights that came up for me because I think whether you're just getting started or whether you've been doing this for a little while, what I'm going to share with you today, I think can be impactful. Because, you know, obviously if you're just starting out, I'm hoping what I share today can help sort of loosen the reins a little bit let you feel a little bit more relaxed in your business. And if you've been doing this for a while and maybe you're feeling uncomfortable in your business, maybe things aren't working like you would hope and it's not Really humming, I want you to come back to these reminders as well. So stick with me, it's going to be a shorty I think episode, say that. But nobody has ever accused me of brevity. So, without further ado, let's dive into these five insights that I've had recently about what I would do differently. If I was starting from scratch. The first thing that I would tell myself is I would be willing to invest in my business, I have invested in my business in a number of ways over the years. But in the early days, when there wasn't a lot of money around to write, I'm bootstrapping my business, there wasn't a whole lot of extra money around to play with and to invest in my business. So I understand that when you're just starting out, your investments might look different on day one, than they will look on year 10. Right. But even the smallest investment in your business, whether that's paying for the software that you need to get a job done, whether that's hiring a coach, whether that's investing in a mastermind, whether that's paying for a course to learn something to fill in those knowledge gaps. Every time I have invested in my business, that has come back to me tenfold, right? There has been no doubt that the investments that I've personally made have been beneficial, it's helped my business to grow, it's helped me to be more efficient. It's helped me to learn more to get further faster. And I think what happens, especially in the early days are if money's feeling tight, we look at every penny that we spent in our business as money going out the door, we look at it as a cost. And if you start to treat everything in your business like a cost, then you start to have almost this feeling of survival, right. And it's just a kind of a fixed mindset, a tight mindset, that's not expansive, it doesn't Imagine the Possibilities. Now, what I'm not, I want to be careful that this doesn't get misconstrued. I'm not saying just go start spending your money willy nilly, no, and not every investment I have seen plenty of I'm going to use air quotes here, coaches and programs. And I dig a little deeper and I look at him. And I just think to myself, I'm not sure that's got the depth or the breadth that I'm looking for. And so any investment, you want to spend some time, you know, making sure it's the right fit for you. And it's what you need at the time. But what I'm what I'm getting at here is investing in my business, investing in your business is going to come back to you as long as you're doing some due diligence, making sure it's the right move at the right time. There you can only get by on on free software for so long, you can only get by on free downloads for so long. And you can only get by on advice from free Facebook groups for so long. There has to come a point when you want to get serious about your business, that you're willing to put some more skin in the game, so to speak, and go ahead and spend some money knowing that that money is going to come back to you in the future in the form of better clients, better projects, more efficiencies, whatever that whatever that looks like for you. It can be a number of things, but investing you're investing in your business is something that you can do from day one. Okay. All right. So number two, is letting go of perfectionism. And I say this with a little bit of pause because this is this is an ongoing practice for myself. The reality is that perfectionism is unattainable. Right? It is the antithesis to progress. In fact, just sitting down to record this episode, I was thinking about my list that I had jotted down and I was thinking about how I wanted to present the information and, and kind of how to get things started. And this is what I do with every episode, right? But when I got to number two, and this perfectionism one, I was reminded that, you know, Kate, you're overthinking this, just put record on and just start talking from your heart. And that's what people want. People just want, you know, authenticity, right? And what I'm reminded of is that perfection dulls creativity. And so I would go back and tell my myself I was just starting from scratch that you just gotta get going. You have to get comfortable with failure you the only way that I've learned so many things over the years is through trial and error. And every time I've gone through a project, I learned something new about how a client responds to information or how certain information can easily be misconstrued or what works with certain types of clients and without with other types of clients doesn't always work. There's so many nuances in what we do. too. And so it literally is impossible to run your business with any sort of idea of perfection. And so letting go of that early on can really feel like a relief. If you can, you can work a little lighter, you know, worst case scenario, a lot of times, you can just ask yourself, What is the worst case scenario if I were to do this, right, and oftentimes, the worst case scenario isn't that bad. And so I think that when you're ready to start running a business with a little bit more ease and a little bit more grace, realizing the worst case scenario isn't usually that bad.

I've never had a situation in, you know, at this point, about 10 years of running my own business, this is in addition to my previous experience as a designer, but just in running my own business. I've never had a situation so bad that I couldn't go to a client and say, gosh, you know what, I made a mistake. Here's how I'm gonna fix that, I realized now how, you know, fill in the blank, oh, I could have done that differently. Or I could see how that could be misconstrued. Or I see how it would have been different, better to do it this way, instead of that way, or whatever. You know, clients realize that you're human, and they want to work with humans. And they love and appreciate the authenticity that that that comes with that you are not a robot. For now, as of the time of this recording, AI is not doing our design work. And so keep that in mind that most clients are going to be gracious, right? If if mistakes happen. And those are the kind of people you want to be working with, I could I have done and could do a whole episode on ideal clients and what makes what are some deal breakers. But for now, just keep in mind that you want to be working with people that are gracious, and that understand that we're real human beings and every project even though we have our processes, every project is a little different. There's nuances to everything. So letting go that idea of perfectionism can allow you to just breathe, be more creative, show up and start making progress. That is, that is the biggest thing to keep in mind is that perfectionism is unattainable, and it's the antithesis to progress.

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All right, so moving on to number three. I would tell myself I was just getting started are starting from scratch, you need to get comfortable with self promotion. That is a phrase self promotion. I almost wish I had a better word for it. But that's really what I'm talking about here. It's it's something that is oftentimes inherently uncomfortable. It it doesn't feel natural to oftentimes to go out and start talking about what you do. But I think what's important here is that if you're clear about what you do and who you serve, and you talk about that with excitement, and you talk about how you help people solve problems, and you tell people how you helped somebody overcome a challenge in their home, or paint the picture of the transformation that you're able to help your clients have all of a sudden, you're you're not talking about yourself so much as you're talking about the possibilities that are possible when working with you. And so if if you think about that a little bit differently, it can feel a little bit easier. Here to talk about it in those terms and really crafting a story, right? People are drawn to story we're built for story people resonate with story they, they, it stops them in their track tracks. So you can promote yourself in a way that feels more authentic, feels more natural, and just shows enthusiasm for the work that you do and the clients that you serve and the projects that you're on. And that is, it's very attractive to people who are either interested in what you do interested in hiring, you are interested in sharing with their friends about what you do, they'll remember those stories better. So getting comfortable with self promotion is something that I would do differently. If I were starting over starting from scratch, but it would look like the form of storytelling, and just sharing my excitement about what it is that I do and how I help people. All right, and number four, I would get clearer, more clear, more clarity on my goals. But I want to be really specific about what kind of goals Yes, revenue goals are important. And I want you to be thinking about your revenue goals and your gross revenue and your your margins and all of that stuff. And that's something that I teach inside of my program, the interior designers business blueprint. But also, I would get really clear on what does success look like? What are my lifestyle goals? What are my creative goals? How do I want to feel waking up every day and going to work? There was a period in my career as a business owner where and I've talked about this at length in other episodes and some other areas. But there was a period of time where I felt miserable. Because I had created a monster, I built this business that was making money. I was getting word of mouth referrals. I was busier than ever. But the problem was, I was too busy. And I was I was really seeking, I was chasing the dollar. I was chased. I was saying yes to the money. But I wasn't. I was also saying yes to everything that came with that. And so I had to do a lot of work around that to redefine how did I want to feel. And the problem was in that period of time, I was feeling burned out, I was feeling confused on what to focus on i My team was burning out, I was wanting to grow in a different way, and do different kinds of projects, I had kind of been pigeon holed as one type of designer. And that's not what I wanted to be known for. And so you know, I was I was getting referrals for projects, that wasn't exactly what I wanted to be doing. And so I had a big come to Jesus moment. But that's because I was really unclear on the goals that I wanted. And so when I started to focus on those core desired feelings, which for me was, I want to ease, I want peace in my business, I want clarity, I want to feel strong, I want to feel I want to feel like there's not the next big business disaster lurking around the corner, right. But I was so busy with the work that I had created for myself that it didn't have time to sit down and get clear on how I wanted to feel and what I wanted my life to look like. And so once I was finally able to sit down and get clear on my goals for my lifestyle, then it made it so much easier to back in my revenue goals. So in the interior designers business blueprint, I share with the students, the members how to how to reverse engineer your income, your revenue for the lifestyle that you want. And that whole model, that whole dashboard that I've put together is based on this experience that I had, where I hadn't built in any time for vacations for holidays, for you know, for my team, right for building a team and giving them time off to it was just a machine and so getting clear on my goals, but specifically, not just my revenue goals, but my lifestyle goals and how did I want how did I want to feel? And so that is that is a really important part of our business today. And every year when we do an annual master planning workshop that is that is where we start is we start with you know, what do we want next year to look like in terms of how many weeks out of the year do we want to work? How many hours per week on average? Do we want to work and then building in backing in our revenue plan from there. So okay, this is how many weeks this year we have to work this is how many hours on average we're going to work. And so in order to get to this income level, so how are we going to charge for our services how Are we going to how many projects are we going to get in? What's our minimum? And so those revenue goals are only developed after we've gotten clear on those lifestyle goals and those those goals around how do we want to feel so and creative goals to write that's important, like, what kind of projects might you up? What kind of projects? Do you want to be known for? What kind of projects would you be happy to have published in a publication and reflect, you know, the kind of work that you want to be doing? I know, for me, I did one type of project one time, and I got pigeon holed as the person who does this one specific style. And while the project was a great experience, and I learned a lot, and I was proud of the work, it wasn't necessarily a style I wanted to be known for. And so I had to pivot them. Alright, so getting clear on your goals, is number four. And that is a really good segue to number five. So the other thing I would tell myself if I was starting from scratch, is to be more selective about the projects and clients that I took. It's so easy to take on any project that comes your way, especially when you're just getting started. And I understand that everyone most likely is going to have to take on a project from time to time, that is going to give you the experience or the income that you need in that moment. But with every project that goes on, it's important to raise your goals and your expectations for the next ones, because you now have more experienced than you did before that project. The energy that we spend on a wrong fit client, or project actually makes it harder to reach your goals. It's carry, it's important to remember that when you say no to a project, what you're not saying, You're not saying no necessarily to the business or the income, what you're saying is yes to holding that space, your creative energy, your mental energy, for the right project and for the right client. And you you're the only one that can be the judge of who that is what project that is what that looks like and what you're willing to say yes to. You're the only one who can change your relationship with. Yes, right? Or no, like what do you say yes and no to nobody else can do that for you, you're the one that has to decide, is as a project that is going to light me up, help me, you know, get get better projects, better clients, fill my bucket creatively. And of course, pay the bills, right, it needs to it needs to be able to do some, some if not all of those things. So I understand. Just to reiterate, when you're just getting started, sometimes we have to take on what projects we can in order to pay the bills or get the experience that we need.

And remember that every single time you do that is an opportunity to step up your game. And because the more experience you have, the more selective you you get to be. And just continue to aim to get pickier and pickier with every single opportunity that comes your way. And when you do that, before you know it, you will look and realize that you've got a roster of clients that you love to serve, that are projects that light you up and fill your bucket creatively and are compensating you well for your expertise and for your creativity and everything that you bring to the table. So let's just recap those one last time before we wrap up. So number one, I'd say invest in your business, let go of perfectionism. Number three, get comfortable with self promotion. Number four, get clear on your goals and not just your revenue goals, but your lifestyle goals, your creative goals and how you want to feel showing up for work every day. And don't be afraid to be selective about the projects and clients that you take on knowing that that's energy that you're giving away and you want it to come back to you think of your energy spent as an investment so I hope this helps. Don't forget that the I D BB the interior designers business blueprint information is on the website. There's a waitlist there so you can go plop your name on there if you want to learn more about that. But in the blueprint, I show you how to take your lifestyle goals and put them at the center of your revenue goals and back in your revenue from there. So if you want to learn more about more about that, go to designers oasis.com forward slash blueprint to learn more. Alright, thanks for hanging out with me. I will see you next week on another episode of dissenters Oasis podcast. Bye for now. 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.