Define Your Ideal Interior Design Client
What I’m really saying by that from a marketing standpoint is, don’t try to be all things to all people. You really must find a target market. That may not sound like new news or new information, but it is amazing how easy it is for interior designers to determine this.
The phone rings, you pick it up and somebody on the other side asks if you can you do “x.” Typically, you say you’ve never done it before, but how hard can it be? The next thing you know, you end up being scattered so thoroughly that no matter what you started out to do in your business, you end up off target.
In many cases, when I ask an interior designer to describe their target market, it comes down to anybody they think will pay them. Unfortunately, the problem with that is that it becomes so difficult to distinguish your business from another. Prospects want to believe that somebody can truly fill their needs.
A good example is an interior designer who works with family-owned businesses or maybe an interior designer who bills herself as a specialist in working with new homeowners. If I’m a new homeowner or I own a family-owned business, whether her claim is true or not, I will be predetermined to believe that her business is more suited to fill my needs.
It doesn’t matter if it’s true. It doesn’t necessarily matter if that person who works with family-owned businesses has any more special knowledge or experience than I do. If you say you work with just anybody, a lot of times your prospects will look at that and say they want to work with the other person who says they work more specifically toward their needs.
The problem really comes down to trust. One of your biggest challenges as an interior designer is to overcome this lack of trust. They’ve never heard of you. Why should they trust what you have to say? For many people, if they believe you understand them, you serve their needs or if you’ve served somebody just like them, you are more likely to get their business.
What I’m really asking you is to take a look at your ideal client. For those of you who have been in business for any amount of time, I want you to think in terms of what makes up your ideal client.
For many people, it’s as simple as taking a really good hard look at their current clientele and looking for common characteristics among your best clients. For a lot of people that may not be your biggest clients. Sometimes it is. It’s great when it is!
I want you to really take a good hard look at your existing clients and find some common characteristics of your best clients. For me, the best clients are those who really trust what you do, who really value what you do, who really look to your specific expertise in order to bring them the results they want. Sometimes the case may be you’re just starting or thinking about just starting and don’t have any clients. If you don’t have any clients, one of the tips I’ll give you is to think in terms of going to some complementary businesses, ones you admire perhaps, ones that wouldn’t necessarily consider themselves competitors but probably serve the same target market as you, and ask them to describe their ideal client.
For those of you who have been in business or have owned your own businesses, I think you’ll find people are very willing to help. People love to be asked their opinions. In many cases, that can be a great way for you to go out and find common characteristics.
When I’m talking about common characteristics, I am talking about types of businesses, sizes of businesses or number of employees.
For individuals, if you’re dealing with homeowners, look at what the neighborhood is like. Does the level of income of that neighborhood dictate where you might find your ideal clients?
One of the things I have found is when people will go as far as doing this and then look for ways to rank their clients, that they end up finding what makes up their ideal clients. It rises to the top in many cases.
Then again, what I want you to do if you go through that exercise is to then sit down and really describe your ideal client, business or person. Write it down on a piece of paper as though they were literally sitting across the table from you.
This exercise is very important for several reasons. I think it helps the interior designer get a firmer grasp on who makes up the ideal client and who to go after. It can be as simple as asking, “Where are more people who look and act like that or have this problem?”
It’s also a great tool. I find very few businesses that actually explain to their employees or other associates who they’re looking for. In some cases, their salespeople don’t really even know what to look for in an ideal client.
It’s also a great tool. I find very few businesses that actually explain to their employees or other associates who they’re looking for. In some cases, their salespeople don’t really even know what to look for in an ideal client.
There are many times that I have taken work from clients who don’t really fit my profile of the ideal client. If I go back to the idea of valuing what I do, what happens is those become the biggest headaches. You can really save yourself, in many cases, some of those headaches by really having this firm description and narrowing your focus. You can confidently say “no” every now and then when you know something won’t fit your profile.