Interior Designers Search For New Answers To Changing Consumer Demand
Consumers are a fickle group, aren’t they? They are changing their buying behavior and they are becoming more and more demanding every day. They want what they want, when they want it and how they want it.
They’re checking you out on the Internet before they even pick up the phone to call you. If your phone isn’t ringing, is it because they aren’t spending money, or are they just not spending money with you?
Consumers were rudely jolted into the new reality…a changed financial picture that may or may not include hiring someone with your skill set…at least for awhile. Or is that true?
Even the most affluent consumers are definitely making more value-based decisions. However, they’ve started opening their checkbooks again. They won’t accept the old way of doing things, though, so you’ll need to be flexible and savvy to adapt to their changes.
If you’re still slower than you’d like to be, take time to work on your technical and marketing skills. Here are a few suggestions for you:
- Join us for our second free webinar introducing Studio Webware on December 14th. If you’ve subscribed to our newsletter, IDEAS, you’ll receive notification about it. Lance Haeberle, Chris Wilson and Walleen Rimer of Studio IT will answer your questions and demo the new web-based version of Studio IT. I’ve used the desktop version for eleven years, and the only other product I’d consider purchasing is the new Studio Webware. You can literally sit on the beach with your laptop and Mai Tai and do business anywhere in the world. The product is currently in beta testing and will be available on a limited release on December 1. We had so many great questions and such great feedback that we decided to offer the webinar again. Don’t miss it. January 1 is the perfect time to do a conversion to a new system.
- Check out Decorati and sign up. It’s free. It’s extremely important that you know about what’s happening on the Internet. Decorati will sell directly to consumers at retail. Once consumers see this, you might have some serious competition for product sales. What does this mean? It means that it’s time to re-think your fee structure. One bright spot? If you change your fee structure so you don’t make all of your profit from product sales, you’ll be ready to address the issue that’s already been causing problems for many designers…consumers buying products without you.
- Social media – if you haven’t set up a Twitter or Facebook Fan Page for your business, this is the perfect time to get that done. I’m taking a Social Media Certification program and will be teaching new classes about Social Media during 2010. We’ll talk about strategies and systems you can use to expand your reach globally. I shared some amazing statistics in this week’s issue of IDEAS, our online newsletter, so if you aren’t a subscriber, be sure to sign up in the top right corner of this site. It’s free.
That’s enough for now…join the conversation…it’s time!
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