Interior Design Business Questions for 2010

Happy New Year!!!

Now that a challenging year is behind us, consider this: What’s it going to take to make 2010 your best year yet?

Good answers to some basic questions.

You don’t need slick advertising or a glitzy new web site or trendy new product lines to make this your “career year.”

You need answers. Answers to questions about goals, what’s working, and what needs to work better with your design business.

Many design professionals never consider the kinds of issues raised below. That’s why they’re so unfocused and unprofitable.
 

What do you want to be when you grow up?

No-Service-Just-Online-Design.com? Home Depot? Under A Buck Blinds? If not, stop trying to act like or compete with them.

Create your own unique message. Target your own market. You make a great you, but a lousy somebody else.
 

Why you?

Competition has never been tougher. It’s never been easier to buy elsewhere the design services and products that you sell.

What do you offer that your competitors — especially the lower priced ones — don’t?  Don’t say “good customer service.” Every other design professional in your area talks about the same thing.
 

Who’s Lovin’ Ya, Baby?

Kojak, the TV cop, raised a key question there. Who are your blue chip clients? How have you built rapport with them? How do you stay in touch with and generate additional business from them?
  

How Do You Find the Fatcats?

Where and when do you get your best clients? What marketing strategies work best for you? What are you MVP (Most Valuable and Productive)promotational activities?

 What’s Makin’ Ya Money?

What are they buying? What’s your most lucrative product or service? How much of your income comes from your design consultations? From product sales? What percentage of your sales comes from residential clients? From commercial clients?
 

Who’s on Your Team?

Who do you turn to for help when the going gets tough, as it did last year? 

Do you have–or can you create–an advisory board with a financial advisor, a lawyer, a business coach? Who are your mentors? Are you aligning yourself with top clients and/or allied professionals?

Fred Berns is a trainer and coach for interior design professionals around the world.