Interior Designers – Relationship Mistakes Can Kill Your Business

First of all, I have to say that I’ve made every mistake in the book as far as relationships go. Having been through some stressful times as a result of it, please allow me to share some lessons learned.

If I can help you avoid these same mistakes, it will make me very happy. The ones I’m sharing are the ones I’m most guilty of, and if you’ll hold me accountable, I’ll hold you accountable. Deal?

Let’s break these down into the different relationships you have in your business, and as I share the mistakes, just remember, doing the opposite will actually reduce your stress and accelerate your success:

Yourself

1. Problem: not taking frequent breaks to recharge – how can you give to others when you are feeling burned out? Solution: schedule your fun and family times before you schedule your work.
2. Problem: not running your business and life based on your values and priorities – your health, personal relationships and joy for life are severely limited. Solution: rank your priorities and schedule your time based on your desired lifestyle and say “no” to activities or people that drain you.
3. Problem: letting fear or negativity rule your thoughts. Solution: substitute positive activities including friends, family, exercise, etc.

Employees

1. Problem: poor morale. Solution: tell them what you appreciate every day and praise results, not busyness. Find out what is going on in their lives and offer help if you can.
2. Problem: poor productivity – not addressing it honestly and immediately. Solution: loving sandwich of positive acknowledgment + issue that needs correction + positive acknowledgment.
3. Problem: poor work ethic or difficult to deal with. Solution: ask why the situation is occurring as soon as you see it happening, give them specific steps that you expect them to follow, hold them accountable. If they don’t correct the problem, document it and address again with warning. Cut them loose quickly if they are not making the grade. If you don’t you will lose the respect of your team and you will feel the stress even more.

Clients

1. Problem: not paying the bills. Solution: address it in person and ask if there if they have questions or concerns about the bill. Sometimes, they are upset because they didn’t expect such a big bill…learn from that and set expectations as you start your engagement. If they have cash flow problems, discuss that and try to work out a solution. Do not continue to work if they are not paying you on time. Something is wrong.
2. Problem: they become unresponsive or difficult. Solution: address it in person and immediately.
   Sometimes it is about their personal life and they are preoccupied. Sometimes they are upset about something that your company did – it might have been due to poor communication or miss set expectations. The sooner you deal with it, the less stress you will feel. If you can’t work out a reasonable relationship with them, fire them. It’s not worth the stress to deal with difficult clients.
3. Problem: their budgets aren’t realistic. Solution: start the relationship assuming they don’t know how much things cost. Educate them and show them their options so they can make reasonable decisions. They don’t want to appear stupid or cheap and it is your job to help them feel comfortable and supported.

Vendors

1. Problem: they aren’t following up and you are spending too much time trying to get answers. Solution: set up auto-reminders in your email system that go to them automatically. If that doesn’t work, address it directly with the owner and see what you can negotiate. If that doesn’t work, find another vendor.
2. Problem: they are in financial trouble and your order isn’t shipping. Solution: sometimes this happens. Be the squeaky wheel and if you can’t get immediate resolution, contact your attorney. You may be responsible financially to your clients, so don’t let this wait. Take immediate action.
3. Problem: they aren’t standing behind their products. Solution: tell them your expectations, why they should handle the problem and when you expect resolution and do it in writing. If you can’t resolve it this way, contact your attorney. Most importantly, be sure you are working with the right vendors with the best reputation possible, treat every person in the business with courtesy and respect. Arrogance and rudeness will be punished especially when there are problems. I fired employees immediately if they ever treated by vendors or subs in this way.

Architects

1. Problem: attitude of superiority and stubbornness. Solution: when you see a problem in others, it is often in you as well. Recognize your trait and then patiently work to build a relationship and address the issues directly with the client’s best interests at the center of the conversation.
2. Problem: their design doesn’t work and doesn’t take into consideration the needs of the client. Solution: discuss your concerns privately and suggest some options. Sometimes it is too late to make changes without significant redrawing and that will cost more money to the client and will affect your relationship with the architect. Tread carefully.

Builders, General Contractors and Subcontractors

1. Problem: too many cooks in the kitchen. Solution: one person needs to be the point person. Who was the first person on the job? Who does the client contact first? That is the point person in most cases. Defer and do not go around the point person.
2. Problem: the quality of the workmanship isn’t up to par. Solution: take the issue to the person who is in charge of the job in a solution-offering way.
3. Problem: your crew goes around you to the client or the client tries to hire them without going through you after the job. Solution: always have a written agreement with each of the parties and explain your reasoning about the clients contacting you directly. If they clients do contact the subs, builder or general contractor, decide in advance how you will handle it. Also discuss this with the client in advance and have the stipulation in your contract.

Moral of the story: For best relationship results, clarify expectations, communicate quickly, openly and honestly about the good and the bad (without anger and blame), assume positive intent first, ask questions, have and expect integrity in all situations, use emotional intelligence and thank each person frequently and sincerely.

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