Episode #8 Transcription - Services & Pricing Guide - Why your Business Needs One

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. 

Welcome back. I hope you are having a fantastic day. Thanks for joining me. Today we are going to talk about your services and investment guide. And why I think this is a really important part of your design business. So years ago, I had a wonderful discovery call with a photographer who I was interviewing for a project. And when we wrapped up, she sent me a drop dead gorgeous PDF that showcased her work, and also broke down her process and all the investment details. She offered a premium service. And at the time, it was a huge investment for me. I wasn't ready to commit on the phone, although it was a great conversation. And I was I was excited and intrigued but not quite there yet. 

However, she sent me this investment guide. And after spending time reviewing it, I decided to proceed with working with her and she got the job. So it was pretty much at this point, I decided, well, that was really the thing that kind of was a tipping point for me to say yes. So I said to myself, I really need to create a version of this for my own business, which I today call the services and investment guide. And let me tell you, my friend, it has been a total game changer for my design business. So I want to share with you a little bit more about that today. It's how I convert more potential leads into happily paying clients faster and with greater ease. So now after the discovery call, assuming that we have screened the client and determined it would be a good fit, we're prepared to send the client an email with this guide right away. And the services and investment guide really does the rest of the selling for me. So often, we end the call already verbally booking a consultation, assuming it's the right fit, right? It's not always and then the conversation goes a different direction. But we're, we're taking it from the point where we've spoken with a client, we've determined that this is potentially a really great fit, we're gonna want to start with a consultation. Usually we'll get a verbal confirmation on the phone, but we still send it no matter what regardless. 

So I just want to make that point that even if you get that verbal, yes, you still want to send this sometimes it's like, Uh, yes, maybe I need to, you know, chat about with my partner, that sort of thing. Yes, and the guide, it'll help me have that conversation. So here's what we're going to talk about today. First, we're gonna talk about how does this work in tandem with your discovery call. Next, we're gonna talk about three things that this services that investment guide helps us to achieve. And then I'm going to share with you what's inside. So if you already have some kind of a services and pricing guide, in your business, keep listening because you may have some important information missing that you might want to add or improve upon. So let's start with how this works with a discovery call. So I mentioned the forthcoming guide and the discovery call. So discovery call big overview. 

First, I Clients share more about their project, I may ask some follow up questions or get clarification. I like to let the client do a lot of talking and sharing before it's our turn very important. They usually say something like, gosh, I feel like I've shared too much. And I reassure them, they have not, when it's finally our turn to talk, if they sound like a right fit, it might sound like this, I might say, I think your project is an ideal fit for full service design, I'd like to give you a quick overview of how that works with us. But when we get off the phone, I'm going to send you this guide that outlines all of this in much more detail. So you can stay focused on our chat today. And you don't have to worry about jotting down copious notes. And then I go into a brief overview of the phases of design, starting with the consultation, they can decide after the consultation if they want to move forward with full service design. 

So first, we always try to end the call by verbally booking a consultation, followed by the Services Guide. So I hope that makes sense. That's just generally speaking how it works with the discovery call. So they know they're going to get those more details that lets us stay in the moment stay focused on the client, and and moving forward. So there are three things that a services and pricing guide can help you to achieve number one better discovery calls. And I just mentioned a little bit about this, having this guide in your back pocket allows you to focus the majority of your discovery call on the clients and learning about their needs. After I hear about a project, I can confidently offer a client an initial consultation, because I know the PDF will do the rest of the selling for me, I don't need to get into all the nitty gritty details of the design process during this call. My calls went from 30 to sometimes 45 minutes, to just 15 to 20 minutes max every time. So I'm saving a lot of time. Number two, it gives better confidence, less confidence. So let's be honest, it can be hard to talk yourself up. Let the PDF do it for you. This is a chance to showcase your work and client testimonials alongside the details of working with you. And finally, it makes a better first impression.

When you create an on brand piece of marketing collateral like this an email immediately after your call, your new client says Man, this guy or gal really has her stuff together. So she's broken down all the investment details, the design process in an organized matter. And this is gonna allow you to shine your prospect will know exactly what to expect and feel confident moving forward with you. So just a quick note, we have for us we've taken our investment guide. And we've created several versions of the same one. For different types of projects, for example, we have a version for full service. And that's when we use primarily, when we were doing a lot of redesign, we had any design version of it as well. And we've also created a designer for day version of this. So most of the pages are the same in those three versions. But the pages on the process and the investment are unique to that guide. So we just have three different versions, they're mostly the same. A few pages are different tailored to the type of service, I find it's better to guide the client to the service type that you think is the best fit versus and how do I know this because I've done it before and it's a mess, versus laying out all of the options and making your client decide, you're likely to lose a client, because you're not helping them make a decision. Instead, you're complicating it for them. S

o if you confuse you lose, right, so you heard in my little sort of script in a discovery call, I will say specifically to a client, I think this project would be a great fit for full service, or maybe design or designer for a day, whatever types of service offerings you offer, you're going to want to guide the client to the one that you think is the best fit, don't lay it all out for them, and make them decide because it's just going to cause overwhelm. So just wanted to make that clear. And the way we do that because a while back in our services guide, we did include all of the different kinds of services that we provided and how they're different. And eventually we realized it would be better to create a specific guide for that type of service. So super easy to do. Most of the pages are the same. All right. So one of the questions I see that sometimes comes up is you know, Kate, isn't all of this information on my website. Can I send them there? Well, your website should not go to excuse Sharing detail about your design process. It should be painting broad strokes of the design process, showing your portfolio and testimonials, helping them to understand your personality and the benefits of hiring a designer, then a call to action to book a call with you, or whoever does your discovery calls, if it's not you. You want to drip feed information to your clients. If you detail every step of the design process on your website, it has to be done very carefully to avoid overwhelm. I think it's better to present that information after the discovery call with the services and investment guide. 

The delivery and presentation of this information is key. And they kind of feel like an insider at this point, and you're already off on the right foot. When a client receives that gorgeous document that highlights the benefits of working with you. You've cut the need to search out more information and instead handed it over to them on a silver platter. So your services as an investment guide is going to provide more detailed information than your website. Okay, are you with me? Trust me this works. Okay, one more thing, your sources and investment guide should speak directly to your ideal client. And I say this till I'm blue in the face. But here's why they need to be able to see themselves inside this world. If they don't, they might realize that you're not what they need. And that's totally okay too. That's kind of the point. It's just an additional tool to help you check if the fit if the client is a good fit for working with you. So if they can see themselves in your world, and they're reading through it, and they're saying yes, yes, yes, this is what they want, then you know that you've you're in alignment right there. Okay. Another question I get all the time is Kate, how is this different from the welcome guide that you sometimes talk about? Well, pretty simply, the welcome guide is still a sales tool. It's provided to the client at the consultation. It's a physical printed guide versus a PDF. And it will generally recap the process. But it's gonna give more details like FAQs, how you prefer to communicate and that sort of thing. So if you if you want to go back to it, I think episode five. That's where I sort of talked about the welcome guide and how you can utilize that to your benefit.

All right, so let's wrap up by talking about what's inside, what do you include in your services and investment guide. So I am about to outline for you exactly what I include, you can totally make one of these for yourself. Or you can use this list to revamp any existing document you have if you but if you don't want to start from scratch, we've got a template for you. I will link to it in the show notes. So we've got all this stuff ready and laid out for you. And it outlines kind of where to put where to put what information and so that's a template available for you. Otherwise, you could take this information and make one for yourself. All right, starting with a cover page, pretty obvious. I think this works best when it's a collection of your best work, or at least one image of your best work. So if you're still working on your portfolio, I have a blog post for you a link in the show notes and it's called four ways to get photos for your website. Before you ever have a project. You can use the same photos for this welcome guide or excuse me services, services and investment guide. If so, if you're if you're if you don't have a big library of project photos, go check out this blog post and and we'll link to it in the show notes. Alright, so cover page, you want to highlight a collection of your best work if you don't have a huge portfolio, your one best image that you have. Next, a quote page. I like to include a quote that represents my overall philosophy. Be on design it, it wants to be kind of like your anthem, right, the thing that you just will put the flag in the sand for and say, This is what I stand for. This can be a quote from another designer that you're inspired by, it can be your tagline, it can be your words. But whatever it is, you want it to represent, really the essence of what you believe in about design and how it can help people, whatever that might look like. 

Okay, next is the head nodding copy page or pages. This is where you're gonna want to get into the hearts and minds of your clients, you want to cast the vision for what to expect and take them through it, take them through the process. And you want to position yourself as the hero the one that can, can help them. So this is where you're going to start thinking about what are your ideal clients pain points. And, and I know this is a terminology that gets thrown around a lot. Not every designer or, or entrepreneur or anybody in business. But your clients pain points might be different than mine, or my girlfriend who's an interior designer. So that's, that's a really important distinction that I'm throwing out the term pain points, but yours are going to be different because you're talking to your exact ideal client. So the headline and copy page is really about outlining their pain points, really kind of digging in there and, and reminding them of why they searched you out in the first point first place. And then you're going to cast a vision for how you can help them and position yourself as the hero. So that's the head nodding copy page or pages. All right, and then you're going to provide a welcome letter. So this is the kind of where you the segue to introduce you as the hero in this case. So this is a letter to you from your client, you're going to give them a hint of your personality. And let them get a sense of how you intend to serve them. Be professional, but warm. Avoid being overly cutesy and, above all, don't make it all about yourself. You want to talk about how will you serve your client's needs and help them solve a problem. It's about you and how you can help your client. So it's very strategic, it's very thoughtful, it's authentic. It's you, you want to let your personality come out. But it needs to be directed. And you want them to just feel a sense of relief like oh my gosh, they found there person in the just can't wait to get started with you. Okay, so that's the welcome page. 

Then you're going to get into the design process, and there's going to be usually a couple of pages on the process. This is your chance to explain what it looks like to walk through the design process from start to finish with you. Be careful not to overcomplicate things, or use industry lingo that may be confusing. Use simple language and focus on the outcome and the benefits and why this step in the design process is important and why it matters. So for example, let's take the site survey. My welcome, excuse me, my services and investment guide says this For the site survey. In this first step, we'll come to your home and take detailed photos and measurements. So that you can be certain everything we specify will be the right size for your space. Notice how the language here is clear and easy to understand. That's how you want to describe each step. Keep it as as simple and straightforward and focused on benefits as possible. All right, you want to answer questions like what problem does this service solve? What are the benefits? What is the timeline? So if your service is designer for a day, how many hours is it? Is it one day? Is it two days? Are there options? So thinking about the timeline, same for each design, same for full service? So the timeline or timeframe is really important to include in the in these pages? Also, what is the investment? Is there a starting dollar amount? Is it a fixed rate, this is also going to help you screen before you move forward, they need to have an idea of what their investment will be before they ever book a consultation with you. 

So if your minimum for a full service project is $20,000 Regardless of the scope of work, put that in there, okay, they need to know that at the very least it's going to be right here. So if they look at that number and they're like, yikes, you know, then you're you're at least starting from a place of knowing knowing where the starting point is right Of course, you're going to provide a custom proposal right after the consultation. But if they see that number and they're not, you know, it's in alignment with what they're thinking, then you know, you're in the right place, and you can move forward with confidence. Okay? Sit indicator, paint the picture of who might be the best candidate for that particular service. So for example, in an E design package, you might remind clients that this service is ideal for someone who appreciates great design, but has the DIY spirit to complete the project independently. That's assuming that you set up your design projects so that you provide the design and then they execute, right. So that's one example. Full service might say it's ideal for busy professionals who just don't have the time it takes to complete a space no matter the service described, this package includes a call to action to book a consultation, right. So client testimonials. And I would just want to mention that you can sort of play around with the order of these pages, this is how ours is outlined. But if something makes better sense for you, that's a super easy thing to change. So keep that in mind. Okay, client testimonials, even if all you have is one Client Testimonial at it. Other testimonials you can ask for include.

Let's say you're brand spanking new out of design school out of, you know, whatever, wherever your path is coming from, think about past teachers that you've had, or other trade professionals that you've worked with a contractor, any internship experiences, you might have had any showroom managers, if you have a fellow designer who you work with, if you've worked for a family, that's okay, their testimonials matter, too. So think about including some testimonials here. And if you need some ideas for getting some I just laid a couple of ideas out there for you. Okay, the next page or pages is the project profile page. And really what this is, is a ramped up portfolio. Think of it more as perhaps a case study. Again, this is an optional page. But if you've got a past project that you're super proud of, why not showcase it. This is more than just photos of past projects, but it shows the before pictures and after pictures you want to demonstrate with text and words and arrows, problems that you solved, and how you create value for the client. And even better, if you've got a testimonial from that client, add it to this page as well. And sometimes this might be a couple of pages or a single page, but you're really taking a pretty picture and you're pointing out specific things that you really want to draw their attention to and and how you solve that problem. And then finally, you're gonna wrap up with a call to action, wrap up with a positive tone, and inspire them to book a consultation. For simplicity, I leave this in the PDF, even if they've already booked with me. So don't, you don't need to fuss over that. But this document will still have the information they need. So ideally, this is a digital document, whether you created an InDesign or Canva, or whatever your preferred tool is, with both of those tools I mentioned, you can create a button with a link. So in the PDF, they can click that button in the PDF and then go straight to your book a consultation page that you have a setup. Or maybe it's that you click it and it links to an email address. And they say, Hey, we're ready to book this consultation with you. Thanks so much. 

So one thing I will mention that I used to do, and I took it out was at the end of the PDF, I would have that call to action. But then I also had more from Kate Bendewald interior design. And then I think there was a link to blog posts link to website social media, maybe I pulled that out because I think it's a distraction. If they're right there at the end, and you're providing fourr calls to action instead of one. What happens if they click on Oh, let me follow her on social media. And then they go over to your Instagram and then they start scrolling Instagram, and then it's 20 minutes later and oh my gosh, I gotta go pick up their kids up for school. Guess what, you just lost them. So one call to action, no more. So really important distinction there.

 Okay, so I hope this helps. I hope that today you have been able to if you already have a guide, maybe you've gotten some new ideas, some ways to improve it some things to change. If you don't have a services and pricing guide, I highly recommend you create one right now for your business. So that is my challenge for you this Week, if you have an existing one, go back and give it a once over ask somebody else to put eyes on it that is so big. So, you know, sometimes we get so caught up in our heads, we can miss things. And I can't emphasize enough the value of getting a trusted friend, partner, family member business partner, to review your guide and, and give you a second opinion on how it reads for them. But maybe there's some pages you want to add, maybe there's some things you want to change or take out like you have too many call to act calls to action, whatever the case may be, give it a once over, if you do not have a services and pricing guide, I want you to make one, you can do this super simple. If you want to go grab our template, it's on our website, we'll link in the show notes. But you can also create one on Canva, which is, you know, free free design tool. They have a free version. I'm a big advocate for the pro version. But in any case, it shouldn't cost you any money at all, to to make one with the free version of Canva. But yeah, and then just get ready to have that available after your next discovery call and let your client know, or the prospective client know that you're gonna highlight the overview of the design process and how you work in pricing. But in the phone call, you'll leave it to the broad strokes, and they will know that that's on its way. 

All right. I love sharing this time with you. I appreciate you letting me be a part of your day. I will see you in the next episode. 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 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.