Episode #14 Transcription - How to Attract Full-Service Interior Design Clients

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. Today we are talking about how to attract the right kinds of clients for full service interior design projects. Today's episode is going to be a short one, but it is immediate. So stick with me. We're gonna cover a lot in a short amount of time. But the topic idea came up because I was recently pulling members of the designers Oasis membership for this upcoming masterclass, which I'll share more about with you at the end of episode. But the masterclass that's coming up is on project management for interior designers. It's you know how to do all of the work that happens after the presentation. And I wanted to find out from them, what is it that you want to learn about the most on this topic. And I was expecting to hear mostly questions around managing full service projects, specifically, keeping up with the tasks and to do's and working with the contractors and architects, builders, that sort of thing. And trust me, there were plenty of those questions, too. But the one thing that surprised me was that so many also shared their struggle to get clients to commit to full service. Either they're attracting the wrong kinds of clients, or they don't have the tools or the skill set to sell the benefits of full service to potential clients. So there's this missed opportunity, though, I realized, before we could really get into talking about how to manage full service projects, we really have to be able to get those kinds of projects in the door. 

So in the masterclass, I am going to talk about that. But today, I wanted to get that conversation started, I want to talk about what are the things that we can be doing in our businesses, to attract the kinds of clients who are ready and willing to invest in full service design. So here's what we're gonna go today. First, we're gonna talk about the benefits of full service design, not only for the clients, but also for you, and who is a good fit for full service. We're going to compare the differences between full service clientele and DIY minded clients, we're going to tap into the minds of full service clients, you've got to understand what it is that's important to them so that you can start talking to them through your social media platforms and your website. We're also going to look at how to attract full service design clients through the client journey, starting with your web and social, looking at your intake form, onto your discovery call into your consultation, and then of course in your proposal. So we're going to cover a lot and when all of this works together, when it's on brand, when your message is consistent, you will start to attract those clients. You'll be able to confidently position full service as the service you are known for and ensure your prospective clients are willing and excited to invest in this concierge level of service. 

All right, before we dive in, I wanted to mention a past episode that you might find beneficial that sort of relates to what we're talking about today. And that's episode two, which is five have types of interior design services to consider offering. And we'll link to this in the show notes. But in that episode, we discussed these five different types of services, common types of services, and who they're good for both in terms of designers and clients, if you're trying to build a portfolio, and certainly if you have goals to get published, you need to be doing some full service design work. So that's really the big one there. Okay, so, when you're done listening to this episode, go back and listen to episode two. If you haven't, I think you'll find that will tie in nicely with what we're talking about today. All right, let's dive in. So let's start with the benefits, what are the benefits, let's start with you. The benefits for you to be doing full service work over other types of design. Well, number one, when you do full service projects, typically you will see these projects through to completion, which means they're photographable. And when you have photographable projects, you have content for your portfolio, and it may even get published in the press. That is something that you are highly at risk for giving up when you are working with DIY minded clients. 

And when I say DIY minded clients I'm not talking about they're the kind of clients who are gonna go paint a bed, I'm talking about the kind of clients who want your vision, but they want to execute it themselves, they want to do the ordering, they want to do the project managing. So that might be services like design only, it might be services like designer for a day or II design. And there's nothing wrong with those services, I have offered all of those at different points in my career. To this day, I still do designer for a day, which I love. But to get a project through to completion, so that it is photographable Full service is where it's at. All right, next, you can make more money. With full service design, you can lean on your to the trade vendors where you can access trade only pricing for greater margins.

Number three, concierge level of services means happier clients, your clients are going to be more at ease, they're going to feel like the whole process was kind of a breeze because you're going to make it look easy, right? This means they're more likely to refer you and send their friends to you. So it creates a referral business. And I'm not saying that you can't achieve that with those other kinds of services. But when you give them an exceptional experience, they're going to rave about you. And they're also more likely to come back to you for future design needs.

Alright, next, let's talk about the benefits for your clients. Big one huge one, they get their time back. They know you're paying attention to the detail so they can focus on the things that they are experts in full service design is great for busy clients. And this is one of the biggest benefits is there time to projects actually get completed versus tackling a little here and a little their clients who manage their own projects tend to lose enthusiasm and get derailed. And it's nothing wrong with them. It's just that they're pulled into many different directions. From a time standpoint, they need doing this kind of work doesn't come naturally to them. And it's it's only normal, it's only natural for them to lose enthusiasm. But this won't happen when you're in the driver's seat when you're doing full service design.

And finally, when a client works with you and a full service capacity, they have access to bespoke one of a kind custom details that is only achieved through working with the designer. I'm going to give you a couple of examples of some really custom things that we've done for clients over the years. The first one is actually what we're working on right now. So this these are some just some examples. There are countless more. So we're working on a kitchen renovation and we're doing a banquette that is built into the island. There's a custom seat cushion in one fabric and then on the back there's a different custom back cushion that has leather straps with these antique buckles that we're importing from Europe. And then so you've got the the dining table and then the chairs on the other side of the bank that will have this hair on hide custom upholstered backs. With matching leather straps that tie into the banquette. It's going to be so cool, it's going to take forever and it's gonna be so expensive, it's gonna be beautiful, but it's been so worth it and just being able to to do the drawings for these and to find the buckles and specify every last little thing down to the kind of stitching that you're doing on these cushions, is just going to be so worth it and remarkable and nobody else is going to have it on the block and that's kind of a cool thing.

Another one, we had a client a number of years ago who liked a metal bench that she saw in a hotel, it was a metal frame bench with a, an upholstered top, it was really unique. We couldn't find one like it that was in the right size. So we had our metalsmith make one, and then we did a custom upholstered seat on top of that. Another custom detail, we have done a brass inlay in the wood floor where the wood transitions from herringbone to a staggered floor pattern. So these are just a few quick examples of some of these really cool custom and bespoke details that really make a project shine that are only achieved in working one on one in a full service capacity with a designer. So when you're thinking about selling full service to a client, that is something that they would be giving up as the ability to do those things easily when they're not working with you in full service. So alright, let's, let's move on, we're going to talk about who is a good fit. For full service, we're gonna do a little comparison here. 

To start full service is a high end or luxury service designed for clients who are typically busy individuals. Maybe they have a robust professional career or lifestyle, whether it's raising kids or volunteering or traveling whatever the case may be. They're typical, typically very busy individuals, they're accustomed to paying for convenience and services. Services such as housekeeping, landscaping, professional organizers, laundry and dry cleaning services, personal styling services, travel services. So when we think about our ideal client, these are the kinds of other services that your ideal client may be accustomed to paying for. That involves concierge level of services and convenience. And full service clientele likes custom. So going back to this couple of examples that we had a minute ago, their desire for custom extends beyond their home. Maybe it's custom stationery, custom bikes, monogrammed items, clothing tailored for them, they are used to and like and appreciate the level of detail that they get with custom items. 

So if you are to attract more clients who are ideal for for full service, it's important to understand what they value most. And I think this is easy to do when we compare this to other types of services that you might consider offering I mentioned a few a minute ago, design only II design designer for day, a couple of examples. Alright, so here we're going to compare full service to DIY minded clients and again, DIY only. In this instance, I'm only talking about there, they're interested in doing their own ordering and project managing I'm not talking about DIY in the sense of making things themselves. Okay, so if you can visualize with me two columns, and on the left is the DIY minded client. And on the right is your full service minded client. And we're just going to visually compare this if you if you will, with me, if you're not driving, you can close your eyes and do this if you want. Okay, so on the left, we've got DIY on the right is full service. DIY clients are more budget conscious.

Full service clients are more time conscious. DIY clients want more design direction, whereas full service clients want done for them. DIY clients want more control, where full service clients want to give you the reins. DIY clients are more satisfied with semi custom and ready made product. Whereas full service clients desire some custom and one of a kind design elements for their home or their space. So I hope those are just a couple of examples of how you can sort of distinguish some of the things that are different in what a DIY client might value and prioritize over a full service client. I want you to just kind of tuck that away into the back of your mind because now we're gonna get into talking about that customer journey, and what that looks like so that you can start to fold in some of the things that you know, full service design clients value, and weave them into your brand messaging. Alright, so let's go through the customer journey. We're going to start with your social media and website. Then we're going to look at your intake form. We're going to talk about your discovery call. We're going to talk about your consultation, paid consultation and your proposal and we're gonna keep this a bit high level. 

But there's a couple of specific things that I want to talk about. All right, so it starts with your website and social media. The imagery matters. But it means nothing without good copy. That's the words and the language that supports your brand message. So here are a few questions to get you thinking about how your brand messaging might be targeting the wrong audience. All right, so here we go. Here's a couple of questions to think about and ask yourself, are you priming the pump by describing full service journey and benefits? So when I say priming the pump? Are you?

Are you using language that describes the full service client journey, and the benefits in everywhere that you show up online and digitally? Are you showing the kinds of projects that you want to be known for. And one way that you can do this, I'm just going to derail here for a second is through your let's just take your Instagram for an example, through your Instagram, even if you're just getting started, and you're building your portfolio, one thing you can do is weave in and sprinklin every now and then projects from other designers very carefully, that you admire. And you have to do this very carefully. Because you have to make sure that you're giving all of the credit where credit is due. So if it was published in a magazine, you want to identify where it was published who the photographer was, and it goes without saying, of course, the designer as well. And making sure that they are getting credit, people know it's not yours, but you can pinpoint what is it about this space that you love, and that you appreciate and you admire and you desire. So if you are a designer who really loves modern design, that's the kind of stuff that you're going to be sprinkling in throughout your other content, this isn't going to be your whole feed, right?

If you like more historical homes and traditional designs that you're going to find, you know, really beautiful projects that that make you give you butterflies in your stomach, right? Those are the kinds of projects that you want to be known for. So that is one way that you can do it. Alright, let's move on. Are you clear about the kinds of projects that you specialize in? So on your website, are you saying we specialize in full service, renovations and new construction? You know, if that's what you want to be known for? Are you being really clear about that? What are the first words on your website, your first words are so important, make sure they're impactful? What does your Instagram bio say?

Throughout your social media and website? Are you using words like luxury, high end forever home turnkey concierge service bespoke custom one of a kind? All of those words are going to trigger to people who are reading that they're going to they're going to know if they're playing in the right sandbox so to speak. Do your words emphasize pain points around time? And clients not having enough of it? Or do your words emphasize pain points around budget or speed?

When describing your relationship with clients? Do you use words like partner or collaborator? These words are going to signal to DIY clients? Or do you describe yourself as the guide? The guide is a word that would indicate that you are in the driver's seat. Okay. Those are just a couple of questions to get you thinking about how you're showing up with your words, which are so important in your brand messaging, so copywriting and brand messaging, it's nuanced. It is a good idea to take a close look at your words and how you show up, to be honest with yourself if you think they need a refresh, to start to attract the kinds of clients and projects you want to be known for.

All right, let's move on to your intake form. And I want to specifically look at your question about money. Are you using the word budget or investment?

Is it clear? You're asking about their overall budget and not just design services, you want to make sure there's no confusion over what you're asking when it comes to money.

When it comes to asking for your clients investment range, I never recommend leaving a blank field for your client to insert a budget number. I always recommend providing the ability to choose from an investment range. Okay, so if you're providing investment ranges, what are your ranges?

If your lowest price range is $10,000, guess what you're going to attract budget minded clients. However, if your lowest range starts at 2540 $50,000, you're more likely

To attract those clients who are coming to you with bigger projects, or projects with more generous budgets. And I want you to be careful though, you always need to gut check their investment range that they provide alongside to their product goals. For example, $50,000 sure is a lot of money. But if they're wanting to do a full kitchen and primary bath renovation, that money doesn't go so far. So you put those ranges in there, but you also want to sort of check that alongside their project goals. And then of course, you're gonna get more clarity in the discovery call.

Back to the ranges, I recommend, don't make the ranges too narrow, that causes your client or prospective client in this case, to maybe have to overthink some things. So I recommend keeping them fairly broad, you're going to dial in on those budget budget ranges as the conversations and the project progresses. So here are some examples. You might include five ranges that starts with this 50 to 100,000 100, to 250,250, to 500,000 500,000, to 1 million and then 1 Million and above. So I hope this helps you to start to think about your intake form and how you might make just a couple of small tweaks for big impact. All right, let's move on to the discovery call. On the discovery call, you really want to set the tone, you must be able to confidently position full service design to clients, and ensure they are willing and excited to invest in concierge level of services. So do your sales calls, your discovery calls, which our sales calls sound like this?

Well, I've got four options to choose from depending on what you're looking for. And then you go into excruciating detail on the difference between design only full service, blah, blah, blah, or do your sales calls or discovery calls some more like this.

Miss Jones, after hearing you today, I can tell that you really want to finally have a home that works for you. And that is beautiful, but you are a busy woman and the work you're doing is important, and it needs your attention. Because of that full service design is going to be the best fit for you. Let me paint the picture for you of how that works. And then I would like to get started with an in home consultation. And then from there, you would go on to briefly cast the vision, and a big picture overview of how full full service design works. And then a call to action is to book a consultation, you can tell the difference there, right? You're listening to your client's needs, you're listening to what it is that they are hoping to achieve. 

And then you are putting them into the right service versus giving them this platter to choose from. So you don't offer all the things listen to their clients words, determine if they're right fit for full service. Sometimes clients may be on the edge, maybe they're afraid of spending the money on full service design, remind them, they don't have to decide right now, to help paint the picture, tell them about full service, then go ahead and book the paid consultation and you're gonna give them a stellar experience. And then you're going to offer them a proposal. If they're still on the fence. If they're telling you they want full service, then you just need to create a proposal that gives them exactly what they want. But if they're on the fence, you have the option to give them a proposal that gives them the option of design only and full service side by side. And then you can walk them through the benefits of the pros and cons of each. And let them decide at that point. And in the meantime, you're going to really talk about the benefits of full service design and full service when the time is right. All right, the in home consultation is next. And hopefully, it goes without saying that you are charging for your consultation. designers who offer high end services never do free consultations. If a prospective client is not willing to pay your consultation rate, they sure as heck aren't going to want to pay your design fees. So this is an easy place to start. If you haven't been charging for your consultations, start doing that now. All right. Next, I want you to ensure that your communications before and after are buttoned up. So you want to make sure that you have a well crafted confirmation email when they book along with a reminder email a day or two before full service clients. They're remember they're expecting concierge level services. They don't want to have to follow up or double check on anything and if they don't hear from you. Once they've booked it, it might make them wonder Oh gosh, did did she get the payment are we good to go? How what's next? How does this work? You always want to get in front of your clients questions. So if you also have a reminder email that goes out a couple of days

Before you just say, you know, Mr. Miss Jones, we're looking forward to seeing you on Friday at 10am. Here's a couple of things to expect. When we arrive, we're looking for it forward to at least if you have any questions, it doesn't have to be in depth or overly complicated. But making sure that you get ahead of any questions and that you've, you're communicating with them before, during and after, is really something you should expect of yourself. When you're offering concierge level of services. We use dubsado for all of our onboarding, communications. And so all of this is automated for us. All right. Next, you want to show up professionally, and in attire that reflects the kind of designer you want to be known for. And even if being casual is part of your brand, today, maybe leave the jeans and sneakers at home, save those for trade day. I don't care how designer II they are or how cute they are. I'm not suggesting that you need to wear a dress and heels, God forbid, but dress authentically for you and comfortably, but professional, you have seconds to make an impression. Okay, well as soon as the door open. So you need to have your sunglasses off, when they answer the door, you need to have a free hand ready to shake, there's maintaining a warm smile and eye contact and your posture is confident. Don't show up with a bunch of big bags hunched over your shoulders with your shades on no free hands, you're gonna look scattered, you're gonna look like a hot mess, right? You want to come in cool as a cucumber. Because that is what shows your confidence, okay? And when you have confidence in yourself, they will have more confidence in your abilities as a designer.

All right, once you're in the house, take the water. What I mean by this is if they offer you a glass of water, and I am guilty of doing this i In the past I say oh no, thank you. I'm okay. Which may or may not be true. But it's it's polite to take the water

whether you need it or not. I don't take anything else. I don't take coffee or sodas or any other offerings. But if they do offer water, it is polite to take the water and accept their gesture. All right. Throughout the consultation, you want to continue to hone in on your clients words, what are they struggling with? What are their desires, so that you can craft a custom proposal that reflects this back to them and provides them with the exact solution to what they are looking for. Now, I'm not going to go into detail on how to run a consultation in this episode, because I do have a couple of resources for you on that. And I'm going to link those in the show notes. But real quickly. 

Number one is we have a blog post called 12 tips for a rock solid consultation. That's a great place to start. And I also offer another masterclass called How to Sell your interior design services with confidence. So look for the links to that in the show notes below. That is where I go into more detail on the consultation itself. Overall, your goal is to provide tremendous value. Remember, they are paying for it, they're paying for this service. You want to leave a few minutes at the end to discuss the next steps and how you think you can best serve them, as well as leave them with a beautifully designed and printed welcome packet. If you need a template, I've got that on my website as well be sure to link to that below. In one question. I will just mention quickly before we move on is I hear designers ask well, what happens if in the consultation, I give them everything they need to know and I just give away all my ideas. There's nothing wrong with that. If you're giving them the consultation, if you're if they're paying for it. That's what you're there to do. You're there to give them the ideas. You're not there to execute, but you can help them you can help cast the vision and paint the picture of what's possible through this space, right?

Then they've got those ideas to run with. And if they're a full service client, they're going to be ready to have you take this vision and figure out how to make it work, how to do it, figure out the nuts and bolts and if they're not a good fit for full service, no harm done, right? They've paid you, you've provided a service, you're done. And you can you know, send a follow up email and your follow up notes and then you're good to go. Right? So it's just a little bit of a mind shift there that there's nothing wrong to go in and just literally give them every idea that you have that you think could possibly suit their needs. Okay, let's move on to the proposal. So your proposal should address their needs. Specifically, it's customized for every single full service client. Your proposal should open with a letter but thanks them for the opportunity. It shows that you get them you see them and it positions you as their guide that can help answer and solve these problems that they're experiencing.

Sometimes it helps to price anchor your services, which creates contrast, it makes the service you want them to accept look much more approachable. So for example, let's say your

proposal for full service rolls in and a cool 40k. Perhaps you also provide a second option that is 100k. And with that option, you're going to add all of the over the top

extra things that you could possibly think of here a couple of ideas, something like unlimited revisions, access to you via text message, evening meetings, extra touch points and get creative with it. But the idea is that the 40k standing alone may feel like a big investment for design services. But when you provide some contrast and you pricing for that with the extreme luxury version of that same service with some add ons, all of a sudden, the 40k doesn't look so bad, after all. So this is a very common practice for for high ticket items. And so this is something that you might consider doing in your proposal. Alright, so I told you this is going to be a quick but meaty episode we are going to recap, with a overview of what we just chatted about. Remember, full service isn't for everyone. If your primary goals right now involve building your portfolio, or getting published in press, you need the full service projects that are going to get you there. So you're going to want to make sure that you're aligning your interior design business with the right kinds of clients. I want you to review all of the places that you show up and make sure your words are helping you filter down to the clients who are no strangers to paying for convenience, service results, and one of a kind design.

Your social media and website speaks to the heart of your ideal client who is eager and excited to work with you. From start to finish. They need your help because they lack the time and the expertise to oversee their project. Perhaps they're inviting you to round out their team of professionals such as an architect or a builder. Then you want to take them on an amazing client journey. From the moment they land on your website, AKA your business's front doorstep, to a thoughtful discovery call that leaves them feeling like they have found their person their guide, and then knocking their socks off with an amazing consultation followed by a perfectly crafted proposal.

All right, my friend. I hope this helps provide you with some clarity on how to attract full service clients and get them on your calendar. But before we go, I want to share with you some information about an upcoming masterclass that I'm hosting. Once you have these clients in your calendar and in your queue, you're going to want to have a streamlined and repeatable process for implementing your designs. I'm going to show you how to do this in my upcoming masterclass project management for interior designers. The complete A to Z blueprint for delivering a turnkey process your clients will rave about and that gives you portfolio worthy interiors that will attract new projects. So I hope you will join me live on September 8 at 12pm. Mountain Standard Time. And I will share with you exactly how to deliver an exceptional experience for your clients. Without the burnout that a lot of designers experience with full service design. I'll show you how to nail down your implementat

ion process so that it's organized. It's streamlined and it's repeatable, no matter what kind of project you're working on. I'm going to show you how to manage client expectations so you're always in front of their questions. How to effectively coordinate with tradespeople oversee quality control and site visits so you can spot and prevent issues in real time. How to prepare for and deliver a successful installation that gives your clients a jaw dropping reveal and how to expertly perform post occupancy steps such as binder delivery, photography, surveys, and of course getting those blush worthy testimonials. Again, this is live on September 8. But if you're catching this message after the live event, don't worry, you can still access this masterclass. Just head over to designers voices.com For details on

I hope to see you there. 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.