Five things to stop doing if you want to grow your design business
If you want to grow your business then stop doing these 5 things…
1: Relying on Word of Mouth Referrals
While referrals and word of mouth are powerful tools, they shouldn't be your only marketing strategy.
The lifeblood of any growing business is a steady flow of new leads and if you're not consistently putting effort into generating new leads, your business growth will stagnate.
Lead generation should be a daily non-negotiable and not something you focus on only when business is slow.
Need help with finding leads? Try my lead generation short course.
2: Underpricing Your Services
It may seem counterintuitive, but underpricing your services can actually deter potential clients.
It gives the impression that your work is less valuable or lower quality than others they will be pricing you against.
Instead set prices that reflect the quality of your services and the expertise you offer. Being the cheapest in the market won't win you more work. It's more likely to put people off as they will question what's "wrong" with you.
Need more help with pricing? Try my pricing short course for designers.
3: Ignoring Social Media
If you're not actively sharing your work and what you are up to behind the scenes, you are likely missing out on a significant pool of potential clients.
The power of visual storytelling on Instagram, YouTube, or even LinkedIn can exponentially increase your reach.
If you aren't "good" at social media, then take proactive action and learn how to get better. Remember - everyone starts with no followers and has no idea what they are doing! Teach yourself!
Need more help with social media? Try my Instagram short course for designers.
4: Not Providing Real Value
Value in interior design is about understanding your clients' needs and tailoring designs to enhance their lives.
If you are focusing solely on aesthetics without considering how your designs solve problems, improve functionality and reflect personal style, you're likely failing to deliver the real value clients seek.
No client wants a beautiful laundry without space to store their ironing board!!!
It's your job as their designer to think through both aesthetic AND functional problems and create solutions. That's what they are paying you for.
5: Neglecting the Importance of Technical Skills
While talent is essential, interior designers require a solid foundation of technical skills.
These include:
understanding space planning
technical drawing
lighting design
local building codes and legislation
software skills
client management
and heaps more
It's unethical to charge clients money while you attempt to 'learn on the job'. If you lack technical skills, you should be investing in your professional education and upskilling in your areas of weakness BEFORE you start taking money from clients.
It's your responsibility to know how to successfully run a client project from start to finish.
Here’s what to do instead:
Do daily lead generation - even when you're busy.
Start charging properly for your services.
Learn how to use social media properly, and post every day.
Put effort into providing real value to your clients and solving their problems via your designs.
Only start charging clients when you know what you are doing and have the technical skills to back it up.
Thanks for reading and catch you in my next post :)
Clare x
Dr Clare Le Roy
Courses and Templates for Designers and Architects
DO YOU WANT TO….
Improve your professionalism?
Find more clients?
Bring in more revenue?
Create better systems and processes?
Then check out my business courses and templates for designers and architects.
These courses and templates leave you with work done - not just a long list of things you need to do next. We have a really strong focus on taking action and getting things created that improve your business.
