#3 of 10 Biggest Mistakes Interior Designers Make With Fees

February 12th, 2010 by Gail Doby • Related • Filed Under

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Here is #3 of the Biggest Mistakes Interior Designers Make With Fees…

Not doing a good job of qualifying clients with effective questions that help uncover potential problems before developing a design proposal is mistake #3.

What are some of the problems that may be encountered?

Pricing a project based on a typical client instead of understanding that someone may be indecisive may cost you money, and potentially all of your profit.
Not uncovering the real buying criteria and jumping to conclusions about what they value may lead you to proposing something that really doesn’t fit what the client wants.
Not having all decision makers participating in the interview process together leads to potential conflict. The dynamics are entirely different, and you get different stories from each client when you interview separately. What is important to one is a non-issue to the other in some cases. And, the flip side is also true. What is really important and derail your process may not be uncovered in separate interviews. You must have all of the decision makers involved in the initial interviews.
Not asking the tough questions and having a way to uncover the potential objections and fears that the client might have about your services leads to potential problems. When your clients are feeling stressed, it could be turned on you if you the problems weren’t addressed in the initial interview. Surface the difficult questions about money in the early stages, or you may face challenges later.

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kat

with people not wanting to spend money now...what is the best way to get clienst?

Gail Doby

What are you doing to market yourself right now? I have been hearing from designers across the country that business is picking up. How do people hear about you?

carolpardue

I have a client questionnaire, but I know I am missing important questions. I just read about one I need to put in there about fabric allergies. Never thought of that one. Would love to share questions to make sure I have everything covered.

Gail Doby

That's a good question. I would probably ask that after you get the client and in the programming questions. Thanks for sharing it.

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