Attention Interior Designers and Interior Decorators: This is where you learn how the business side of interior design works.
You are about to discover how to find your …
Design Biz Blueprint provides information, education, workshops, business tools and mentoring to high achiever interior designers and decorators who are serious about bringing their creative gift to the world in a big way.
Do I Need to Drive a BMW to Work With High End Clients?
A designer recently asked me if driving a Toyota Camry was hurting her ability to sell high end jobs and preventing her from moving her business up to more high end clients. Should she splurge on a BMW?
In some communities and some client markets it is necessary to look that good. I know that it is not a good commentary on our society, but that is the way it is. More importantly, if you feel awkward or embarrassed about the car that you drive, then it is likely you appear to your client to be less confident. Lack of confidence will cause you to be unsuccessful when presenting high end concepts and products. You do need to realize that buying an expensive car will make you look good but will not solve your confidence problem.
The trick is, to fully adapt and believe in “the Mindset of a Million Dollar Designer” so that you daily act with confidence and make decisions in the way that a designer that has “arrived” would do. In that case then you do not need a BMW (but you certainly could afford it.) Unfortunately most designers don’t “get it” that easily, it takes a bit more work. Most of us have family money histories that were not filled with luxury cars, expensive furniture and European vacations. This can make it hard to grasp the concept, hold on to the idea and feel of a Million Dollar Mindset. Sometimes stepping “big” into something that you have never done or experienced before, like buying a luxury car, committing to a mentoring program or developing your branding and marketing will propel you into the business mindset that you are looking for. But you don’t have to start there…
Can I Combine a Letter of Agreement and a Proposal?
Q “I was just wondering if a Letter of Agreement and a Proposal could be one? I guess what I am trying to ask is; can I combine the two documents?”
A “I would not recommend trying to combine the two; I think your clients would be confused. The public and your new clients don’t understand how we work or exactly what it is that we do. The more we can clearly educate them as to our services and benefits, the better off we all will be. It is important to clearly separate and define the design portion of your work. This is the part that utilizes your creative genius, develops a “one of a kind” space for the client and takes lots of time to work out all the details. The time that it takes to develop all the purchasing specifications is part of the Letter of Agreement. That means that everything that needs be purchased, who it will be purchased from and how much it costs is provided by you as part of your scope in the Letter of Agreement.”
“The Proposal to purchase merchandise comes after the design work has been completed. This is just the agreement to buy the merchandise that has been specified in the Letter of Agreement above. A purchasing/procurement fee may be added to the merchandise to cover the administrative work to produce the purchase order, track the incoming order and set up delivery. When you clearly separate the two tasks your pricing remains transparent and your clients are well informed and happy.”
Are You Devaluing Your Own Time and Worth?
Has this ever happened to you?
A good Designer created a plan that requires contractors and sub contractors to build and install interior cabinetry and tile according to this her drawings. When the job was sold to the client the cost of the time to project manage this installation was not included. This could be because of oversight on the designer not including it in the fee or the Designer is billing by the hour and the client is tired of paying her or the client refused this portion of the design fee.
But here is the catch…
The designer goes out and manages the project anyway. She is there almost every day making sure that everyone is reading the drawings correctly and the job is done right. The client is aware of this and realizes that he is getting all this support, knowledge and time for free. This client even calls her on a Friday night and expects to see her on site on Saturday morning and she shows up. What a deal for the client! The designer is stressed out because she is not getting paid for all this, upset that the client isn’t even acting grateful for this gift and she doesn’t have time to market for new business because she too busy managing an unpaid job and her checkbook shows it. So, whose fault is this?
The designer, to her credit, is working from a place in the heart where she cares so much about creating, designing and helping people that she is willing to do it for free. While this big heart is an admirable trait, it does not serve her well in her business. The result of this behavior is the exact opposite of what she thinks that will happen. The client will not be happy and grateful that she has done this and then hire her at a higher fee for the next job. No way, instead the client realizes that they don’t have to pay her at all…
