The windows may be the best way these days to gain entry into the homes and offices of high end prospects.

One of  the easiest ways to introduce yourself to a classier clientele is to discuss their window treatments.

That’s because so many prospects nowadays  are so focused on reducing their energy bills. Good  window treatments can help them meet that need — and qualify customers for federal tax credits.

Take the Hunter Douglas Duette Architella collection, for example. Architella shades can save up to 50% of the energy lost through the window, and customers may qualify for a $1500 federal tax credit.

Granted, window treatments may be a very small part of your product mix, particularly if you present yourself as a “full service” design professional.

But many leading design professionals have been successful using window coverings to whet the appetite of  promising prospects, and then selling them the main course: the full service project.

Fred Berns is the world’s leading business coach and trainer for interior design professionals.

When you work with large commercial clients, multiple contacts are as key as meaningful ones.

For years you work with a big client– a firm responsible, say, for hospitals, or banks or shopping malls. The design projects and the orders and the money keep pouring in. You couldn’t be happier.

One day, your key contact — the person who brought you in – - quits. The company never hires you again.

Whose fault is that?

It’s great to have a key contact at a corporate client. But that’s not enough.

A key contact can get reassigned.

Or get fired.

Or retire.

Or die.

If you haven’t connected with others at the firm, then see ya later.

You’re gone, too.

Your future with a corporate client depends on how many people in the company you know — and how many know you.

In this era of downsizing, outsourcing, turnover and change, it pays to “go deep” within the company.

Some tips on how to to do that:

Seek contacts from your contact – Ask the person who brought you in for names of others you should know.

Aim high — Request that all of the senior managers and vice presidents attend initial brainstorming sessions.

Gab with the Gatekeepers — Network with office managers, secretaries, executive assistants and others in tune with daily operations.

Bond with the Brass — Seek onging input throughout the project from top decisionmakers .

Play Pool – Set up your “next shot” by discussing additional projects and other services you can provide.

You can never know too many people within the company.

Fred Berns, a trainer and coach, is among the biggest names in the business of interior design.

What if I can show you that you’re 10 steps away from success?

10 steps away from bigger profits, and bigger contracts and better clients?

10 steps away from having your best year ever?

That’s what I’ll show you in my Jan. 26 tele-seminar entitled: “10 for ’10: The Ten VERY BEST Ways to Turbocharge Your Design Business in 2010.”

The “10 for ’10” Tele-seminar is scheduled for 11 a.m. – noon, Eastern time (10 a.m. Central, 9 a.m. Mountain, 8 a.m. Pacific) on Tuesday, Jan. 26, and IS OPEN ONLY TO THE FIRST 35 WHO REGISTER.

The investment is $29.

You won’t have to leave your home, office, studio, or showroom to learn strategies that will absolutely, positively make this your most successful year. All you need do is dial in and enter your pin number.

Tune in to the “10 for ’10” Tele-seminar, and you’ll learn what you can do to get longer term and more lucrative projects.

And what you can say to close twice as many sales, and convince clients to buy NOW.

And what you can create that will attract more high caliber prospects.

And what you can offer to turn those contacts into contracts.

And what you can do to instantly get more recognition and respect.

Give me one hour of your time on Tues, Sept. 26 and I’ll give you the VERY BEST Ways to have your VERY BEST Year.

Sign up NOW for: “10 for ’10: The Ten VERY BEST Ways to Turbocharge Your Design Business in 2010.”

For more information and registration details, click here: http://fredberns.com/teleseminar
Fred Berns is a sales and marketing trainer and coach for design professionals around the world.

Can you handle another year like 2009?

Can you handle another year of declining sales and disappointing revenue, of smaller and fewer projects, of working more for less?

Even if you can, do you want to?

If not, tune into a Jan. 26 tele-seminar entitled:
“10 for ’10: The Ten VERY BEST Ways to Turbocharge Your Design Business in 2010.”

Register for The “10 for ’10” Tele-seminar, and you’ll learn ten strategies that can immediately turn your business around, and dramatically increase your sales and profits.

You’ll discover something you can do to get longer term and more lucrative projects.

And something you can say to close twice as many sales, and convince clients to buy NOW.

And something you can create that will attract more high caliber prospects.

And something you can offer to turn those contacts into contracts.

And something you can do to instantly get more recognition and respect.

And something you must STOP doing immediately in order to substantially boost your revenue.

For more information and registration details, click here:  http://fredberns.com/teleseminar/

Remember:  The “10 for ’10” Tele-seminar IS OPEN ONLY TO THE FIRST  35 WHO REGISTER.

Fred Berns is a sales and marketing trainer and coach for interior design professionals around the world.

Happy New Year!!!

Now that a challenging year is behind us, consider this: What’s it going to take to make 2010 your best year yet?

Good answers to some basic questions.

You don’t need slick advertising or a glitzy new web site or trendy new product lines to make this your “career year.”

You need answers. Answers to questions about goals, what’s working, and what needs to work better with your design business.

Many design professionals never consider the kinds of issues raised below. That’s why they’re so unfocused and unprofitable.
 

What do you want to be when you grow up?

No-Service-Just-Online-Design.com? Home Depot? Under A Buck Blinds? If not, stop trying to act like or compete with them.

Create your own unique message. Target your own market. You make a great you, but a lousy somebody else.
 

Why you?

Competition has never been tougher. It’s never been easier to buy elsewhere the design services and products that you sell.

What do you offer that your competitors — especially the lower priced ones — don’t?  Don’t say “good customer service.” Every other design professional in your area talks about the same thing.
 

Who’s Lovin’ Ya, Baby?

Kojak, the TV cop, raised a key question there. Who are your blue chip clients? How have you built rapport with them? How do you stay in touch with and generate additional business from them?
  

How Do You Find the Fatcats?

Where and when do you get your best clients? What marketing strategies work best for you? What are you MVP (Most Valuable and Productive)promotational activities?

 What’s Makin’ Ya Money?

What are they buying? What’s your most lucrative product or service? How much of your income comes from your design consultations? From product sales? What percentage of your sales comes from residential clients? From commercial clients?
 

Who’s on Your Team?

Who do you turn to for help when the going gets tough, as it did last year? 

Do you have–or can you create–an advisory board with a financial advisor, a lawyer, a business coach? Who are your mentors? Are you aligning yourself with top clients and/or allied professionals?

Fred Berns is a trainer and coach for interior design professionals around the world.

One of the most common questions I hear from design professionals these days is the easiest to answer.

The question: How can I work with better clents?

The answer: Ask your better clients.

Your best customers can and will help you build a higher caliber clientele.

They can introduce you to people they know who appreciate fine design and quality products. And can afford them. And who want to establish a long term relationship with a design professional.

All you have to do is ask.

Your best customers can be your best marketing representatives.

They can give you testimonials and referrals. They can tell you which local organizations to get involved with. And which local publications to submit articles to.

Maybe they can even introduce you to local realtors or builders or facility managers.

All you have to do is ask.

And there’s no better time to ask than now. The holiday season provides a fine opportunity to take your best clients to lunch, and  seek help from, as well as give thanks to your best clients.

What better season to express your appreciation for their business? And, what better setting in which to ask for their suggestions on how to build your business?

+ Four Magic Words

“I need your help.”

Those are the words I advise my coaching clients to use when they take a client to lunch.

What surprises these design professionals is how positive is the response.

They’re amazed how flattered their customers are to be asked, how eager they are to help, how willing they are to make personal introductions, to track down information and assist in any other way they can.

Your best customers know you, and like you and want to help you. Often, they have insights about the high end market that you don’t. They can answer the questions that you can’t.

You best customers can and will open doors for you.

All you have to do is ask. 

Fred Berns is  a sales and marketing trainer and coach for interior design professionals around the world.

Dubai, U.A.E. — Many design professionals around the world are many things to many people right now – but, a “priority” isn’t one of them.

They’re interior architects and space planners and specifiers and project managers. But they’re not recipients of priority treatment.

Yet.

You know you’re not a priority when clients cut back on their interior budget. And put projects on hold. And constantly bicker about your price. And wait 90 days, or more to pay you.

Those are the challenges facing many design professionals here in the Middle East, and elsewhere in Asia and Europe.

They’re the same challenges confronting interior designers in the U.S. and Canada.

How to make yourself a priority was a major focus of my seminar here at the conference of the International Federation of Interior Architects and Designers(IFI).

I touched on the same theme a few days later in my presentation at INDEX, the Middle East’s largest interiors trade show.

Getting more respect, recognition and income in this uncertain economy involves attaching more value to yourself and your design services and products.

How?

By explaining how you make your clients money, and save them money and time.

Point out, for example, how you supply office furniture and lighting that will make their employees more productive.

Explain, too, how you provide the expertise and personnel to get projects done more quickly and efficiently.

You make yourself a priority when you identify the “pain” and problems clients have with their interiors – and then propose remedies.

And when you differentiate yourself from competitors, and establish yourself as a uniquely-qualified, one-of-a-kind expert in your field.

And when you share success stories and testimonials from satisfied clients.

Among the speakers at the IFI conference was Ross Lovegrove.

He’s the award-winning industrial designer credited for creating the walkman for Sony, computers for Apple, and other products for companies ranging from Airbus Industries to Motorola.

He told the audience that he travels around the world, and clients gladly pay whatever he charges for his products… “because they’re mine.”

Here’s a guy who believes in himself and, as a result, his clients do, too.

He’s made himself a priority.

Fred Berns is the world’s leading sales and marketing coach and trainer for interior design professionals.

When most interior designers talk, do people understand?

Madeline Lester thinks not.

Madeline, ex-president of the International Federation of Interior Architects and Designers(IFI), believes that inadequate communication skills is among the biggest challenges facing design professionals today.

“Too many designers can’t articulate the process,” Madeline, an Australian designer with 35 years experience with residential, commercial and retail clients, says. “Then they submit their bill for 50 or 60 hours, and the client doesn’t understand what they’re paying for.

Madeline contends that design professionals must be far more “strategic” in how they present themselves and their projects.

“How we interpret our work is greater than the end product,” she points out. “It’s not enough to show color boards and sample boards. We need to show and explain the process we go through.”

Madeline, who is on the program with me as a speaker at the IFI conference in Dubai Nov. 9-15, also believes that designers in this challenging economy must do a better job of communicating what makes them different and unique.

She notes that one outcome of the “very tough time” facing design firms worldwide is that principals at larger firms are handling more mundane tasks.

“You see senior managers doing the work themselves–working at the drawing boards and computers and managing projects from start to finish,” she says.

IFI (http://www.ifiworld.org)  is an organization representing 70 member groups and 65,000 interior design professionals in 45 countries.

Fred Berns provides business skills training and coaching to design professionals around the world.

When you disappear, you die.

That business truth is important to remember next time you’re tempted to cut back on marketing. ебут мужа

Too many interior design professionals have succumbed to that temptation in recent months as a way to curb expenses in an uncertain economy.

Bad idea. REAL bad idea.

Now is no time to reduce your on-line and print presence, or to lessen your exposure to potential customers.

Now is no time to play Hide and Seek: forcing prospects to seek, as you run off and hide. просмотр порно регистрации без смс

Prospects won’t hire you unless they know you.
They won’t know you unless they find you.

They won’t find you unless you market yourself.

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Are you serious about building — or rebuilding–your design business in these challenging times?

If so, stop obsessing about saving money, and start focusing on making it.

Promote yourself with pizazz this Fall.

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Use marketing strategies that will help you differentiate yourself, establish your expertise and create credibility within your target market.

Your articles and columns can help you do that. So can live presentations. So can appearances on local TV stations, and a blog or ezine, and a killer website.

Fred Berns is an interior design industry business coach and trainer.

If your business is off in this uncertain economy, blaming others won’t help.

If you’re facing financial challenges this summer, it’s not the economy’s fault.

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Nor should you blame your clients.

Or your competitors.

Or the Internet.
Or big box stores.
Or Dolly Decorator.
Or your contractors.
Or the weather.

Everybody’s got challenges. Get over yours.

I’ve heard too many designers, window fashion professionals, kitchen and bath specialists, showroom managers and others at my presentations this year play the Blame Game.

They’ve cited everything from the Recession to bad luck to their vendors and suppliers as reasons for their disappointing sales.

I’m not buying it.

If you’re facing financial challenges, this is no time for a pity party. It’s time for a planning party.

Stop whining. Start winning.

What’s not working?

When you’re in a slump, troubleshooting questions can get you out of it.

Are you not…

+ thinking big enough?
+ working with the right clients?

+ differentiating yourself?
+ managing your time well?
+ charging enough?
+ marketing enough?
+ asking upselling questions?
+ asking for referrals?
+ hiring the right people?

Seek answers to those troubleshooting questions.

List your five major sales and marketing obstacles, and turn to colleagues, coaches, and even clients for advice on how to overcome  them.

Create a recovery plan with timelines and deadlines.

Success happens by choice, not chance. Choose to bounce back, and you will.

Fred Berns is an award-winning trainer and coach in the interior design industry.