One of the biggest complaints I hear about from designers is getting caught in the trap of asking aclient to approve a couple of furniture pieces at a time when they’re trying to build a room design.
This approach causes so many problems!
First, clients have trouble making decisions because the pieces are out of context with the whole design, so they end up “thinking way too much” and stopping the design process. Secondly, clients get focused on the cost of one item instead of seeing it as a part of the whole. And finally, the designer is always making way too many presentation appointments, meaning that the amount of time spent doing these multiple trips cannot possibly be recaptured out of the design fee..
This style of building a room design turns into a real lose-lose situation.
How to fix this “bad habit?”
It’s easy! Get the client budget approved right from the start. Then when you present to the client you’re showing the entire project instead of piece by piece.
This is overall a better presentation and far easier for the client to understand. When they can see the relationship between the pieces you’ve specified (yes, you’ll need to explain), clients are less likely to get stuck on that one piece. And the same goes for pricing of furnishings. When you present the design and say, “I can provide all of this for the agreed upon $30,000 budget…” the way you got to that number isn’t really important to clients anymore.
And the best part? You’ll be far more successful by presenting a complete design to your client and it’s much easier to make the sale. You’ll turn you lose-lose situation into a WIN from the beginning!