Your World is Changing. Are You?
It’s a time of transition in the business of interior design, and there are a whole lotta changes going on.
Your prospects are changing. The Web has made them wiser.
Never has it been easier for them to buy elsewhere the design services and products you sell. All those choices have made them choosier.
Your clients are changing. The uncertain economy has made them more demanding, and more inclined to put off until tomorrow the projects they used to order today.
Your marketplace is changing. High end clients are becoming younger and hipper, much more attuned to texts and tweets than showhouses and shelter magazine ads.
The market, once exclusively local, is going global.
E-commerce and virtual tours enable you to make money while you sleep. “Wow!” websites now have more impact than polished portfolios.
Your profit centers are changing. Even tight-fisted prospects are paying a high price for advice.
Interior consultation is becoming as — and maybe more — profitable than interior design.
Technology is changing.
Take home and office automation.
Are you benefiting from, or merely bewildered by the trends: from security to sound systems, monitoring to motorization, HVAC to health care, lighting to locking, remotes to robotics, video gaming to video conferencing, pet feeding to plant watering?
Tuning into Trends
Challenged by change?
Some ways to become adept at adapting:
+ Differentiate Yourself. You’re an original. Promote yourself accordingly
+ Sell “Now” as Well as “Wow.” Say: “This is the best time to invest in my design services because….”
+ Serve Appetizers. Get your foot in their door by offering a “Room Review” or other introductory program
+ To Improvise, Advise. Offer “buy the hour” consultations, then turn those contacts into contracts.
+ Talk Tech. There’s big money to be made in selling newer, bigger, and better toys.
+ Digitalize Your Design. Go global by offering downloadable floor plans, tipsheets, special reports, etc.
Fred Berns is the world’s foremost business coach for interior design professionals and design industry partners.