The Interior Design Client Experience- Stage 1 - Consultation to Contract

This the first of a series of 4 blogs on the client experience. A seamless client experience should be aligned with your branding and should lay out the ground rules for the way the project will be completed. The key to an effective relationship is communication, communication, communication. Hopefully, if this potential client comes from your community, they will already know you and how you work. At every stage of the design experience, be clear about what you want and what is fair to the client. Lay out how you will communicate, be clear about expectations on both sides and your project will go a lot more smoothly.

The Interior Design Client’s experience has 4 stages:

Stage 1: Consultation to Contract

Stage 2: Onboarding

Stage 3: Fulfillment

Stage 4: Offboarding

---

Everything you need to know

• Communication is the key to an effective interior design client experience

• There are 4 stages of the client experience

• Stage 1 : Consultation to Contract takes the client from the pre-enquiry stage from the website through to receiving a signed contract from the client

Before you can even book in a design consultation with a potential interior design client you need to answer the following question:

SHOULD YOU LIST YOUR PRICES ON YOUR WEBSITE AND MARKETING?

Lots of interior designers agonise over this question. This is an important question to answer as it plays an important role in how you approach your pricing. As we've discussed before in this blog post, it is always good practice to charge for your interior design consultation, but often, if your pricing is not listed in your website, the question comes up in the initial call.

If you have not listed your prices, what do you do with your initial consultation? If you want to pre-qualify your leads you may want to mention pricing at this point. If you feel awkward doing this then it is important to make sure that it is clear in you marketing.

If you do charge for the design consultation, it is good practice to list this on your site plus any other charges that may arise (eg travel time etc). I’ve written a more lengthy post on design consultations here.

Essentially, if you are charging for the consultation , clearly state the terms and conditions and outline what they are paying for. One of the big questions is if, for example, for some reason the project doesn't proceed, do they get their money back? I think they are paying you for your time so your fee is non- refundable. You have spent the time with them. Think of it like going to the doctor. You may ask for advice and be told you need an operation, but you might choose not to go ahead. You don’t ask the doctor for his money back.

So it's always good practice to actually offer them something for the design consultation. So in my case, I make sure it is very clear that the design consultation has very specific goals. At the consultation, I will write and make notes on what we've discussed. And I'm very, very clear about the time that it takes and that there is no chit chat and it's a working session. At the end of the consultation I will give them my notes which I have entered into my iPad and then I will email them this form immediately at the conclusion.

So I believe that the best practice is to

1. Have a price listed on your website for the design consultation and an hourly rate

2. Be specific about what you will do during the Design Consultation and what your client will gain

3. List your hourly rate, but ensure that you note that all projects are different and after the design consultation you will provide a quote if required

4. List your minimum project size ($$$) requirements on your contact form to pre-qualify leads on your contact form

5. Charge for the Design Consultation

6. If the client wants to discuss working with you, you can send a quote which is based on your previous projects or your unique approach to pricing.

So let's get into my own onboarding process. I list the price of my initial consultation and my hourly rate. I have an explanation of how I provide a quote. Prior to the design consultation, I send a welcome packet which includes some information about prices and how I approach quoting a project noting that it is impossible to have a standardised rate as every project is different.

If the client wishes to proceed, I will send a quote and if it is accepted, I will send them an onboarding packet. I will go into much more detail about what should be in an onboarding packet in another blog post.

PACKAGES

You may have another lower priced offering such as a Designer for a Day product. This may be an effective way to get started as an interior designer to build experience and knowledge. Sometimes these short projects can lead to larger projects and referrals. For these types of projects you may consider offering a package at a set rate.

QUOTING

Your profitability will depend on the accuracy of your quote. You can set up a CRM system in an app such as Notion or use a platform such as Dubsado. This automated CRM has a lot of functionality in it and you can really automate your processes. If you are running a larger studio this could be really helpful. You can check out a typical workflow via their site here. But essentially, it will streamline your quoting system, help you process payments for your initial consultation, set up forms for your website. It also has a calendar system and email system. It is useful if you want an all in one system. For a basic plan it costs around $200US per year.

STARTING AT….

To qualify your leads, some indication of the fees that you may charge will be useful to clients. Instead of being specific, you could indicate the minimum project size that you will accept or have a “Starting at….” price.

I think it’s a good idea to have ‘Starting at…’ strategy to qualify potential clients who are interested in working with you. You may think that putting your price is cheapening your brand, but who are we to judge? It reminds me of that moment in Pretty Woman when the snobby sales person refuses to serve. Is it a case of if you have to ask, you can’t afford it?

Pretty woman movie - shopping scene

It would be terrible to think that potential clients would look at your website and leave without even getting in touch. Sure some might not be ready, but you might miss out on a great project! Finally, if you pride yourself on great customer service, shouldn’t you be open to talking about how much things cost? This perspective may come from having run a design store for a long time, but a lot of stress of interior design projects comes from not being able to talk about money.

SCHEDULERS

Another hotly debated topic is whether to include a calendar scheduler on your website. Some believe it cheapens your website and will lead to tyre kickers who will just waste your time. Others find it useful. I quite like them as I think it gives me an opportunity to link with potential clients and do some market research. The most popular ones are Calendly and Acuity Scheduler which is owned by Squarespace and works well.

I think it just depends on how you're doing. Now obviously, in your contact form, you can actually pre-qualify by having a minimum project cost. If you strictly stick to the time, you can minimise the time wasting!

Some potential interior design clients absolutely have no idea and one of the things you have to make sure that they understand is interior design is a luxury service.

Essentially, you are trying to create an experience that is aligned with your brand values. Have patience with clients, remember, you are trying to create a community that you will convert to clients. It’s important to be friendly, approachable and respectful.