With Labor Day around the corner, what better time to consider laboring less and making more?

If you’re working too hard, you’re not working smart.

So many interior design professionals these days have an “around the clock” working schedule.

They’re the ones whose  “workday” never ends. They’re still going at it late into the night — and into the weekend.

How can you find time for family, friends and fun when you spend all your time working?

There’s no reason why design professionals should have to put in those kind of hours.

I know lots of designers, decorators, window fashion pros, kitchen and bath specialists, retailers and others who earn big, big money working normal hours.

Or less.

You can, too, if you manage your time more effectively.

That means focusing on the 3-5 tasks each day that are most likely to increase your profits. It means determining which of your design services will generate the most income in the least amount of time.

And it means reaching out to those clients who can most easily afford those services.

Working too hard for too little?

That, according to the Work Less, Earn More audio program,  could mean you…

Waste your time. You’re “busy,” but you’re not profitable.

Give away your time.You don’t bill for all of your time, all of the time.

Charge too little. You don’t attach enough value to what you do.

Look for love in all the wrong places. You work with clients who can’t afford to pay what you need to earn.

Don’t know your business. You’re unaware of what brings in the most money.

Don’t control your business. You’re more apt to play “Let’s Make a Deal” than say: “This is how I charge.”

Don’t delegate. You don’t call on others to do what’s too menial — or too difficult — for you.

Don’t “maximize” appointments. You’re sacrificing income by not asking enough upselling questions.

Fred Berns offers sales and marketing coaching services and products to interior design professionals.

There’s no better time than now to abandon habits that hinder more than help you.

Want to be more profitable? Then STOP…

+ selling only “stuff.” Clients can get nice cabinets elsewhere, but they can’t get you elsewhere.

Promote your service and yourself.

The most important sale you’ll ever make is the personal one.

+ qualifying. Why waste time – yours and your prospect’s – asking questions that you hope will determine if they can afford you?

Inform them, instead, that they should look elsewhere if they’re seeking the cheapest fabrics or furniture.

But they should hire you if they’d like to work with, say, a home automation specialist with 20 years experience serving a variety of clients with a variety of budgets.

+ asking about “budget.” Prospects don’t have one.

They don’t have a clue what design professionals do, or how they work, so how can you expect them to have a realistic idea about what they want to spend on your service?

Focus instead on their wants, needs and priorities, then let them know your cost for fulfilling them. That will help them determine how they’ll invest their money.

+ closing deals. Your goal, instead, should be to open long term relationships.

Your best customers are your current ones. It’s easier, and more lucrative to do repeat business with a few good clients, then to close single sales with lots of individual customers.

+ resisting price objections. View them as opportunities rather than obstacles. They enable you to differentiate yourself from competitors who charge less.

And, they’re buying signals. Studies show your chances of closing a sale are substantially higher when price objections are raised.

+ apologizing for your price. You’re a unique, one-of-a-kind design professional who saves clients money, time and headaches. You should be compensated accordingly.

Fred Berns offers personal coaching services for interior designers and design industry partners worldwide.

As in, “What’s in it for Me?”

Follow-up emails to those prospects must immediately spell out the benefits they’ll get from hiring you.

You’re wasting their time — and yours — when you open your email by saying what a “pleasure” it was to meet them.

Even worse is when you open by thanking them “for taking time out of your busy schedule” to meet with you. That’s sounds  apologetic and subservient.

You’re much better off reminding them in the opening sentence that your firm can handle all of their remodeling needs.

Or that you can install within a week the motorized window treatments they’re considering.

Or that you can save them time and money by providing them with a floor plan for all of their corporate offices.

Spell out the benefits, and describe a new action you’ve taken since your meeting — such as pricing the carpeting they inquired about.

That will motivate those prospects to want to meet with you again.

Fred Berns is a sales and marketing trainer for interior design professionals and design industry partners worldwide.

When designers want what you sell, do they come to you first to get it?

If so, Sweet! If not, why not?

Is it because they don’t “get” what makes you special?

Is it because your marketing strategies are dated and your website’s wimpy?

If your promotion efforts aren’t what they could be — or should be — don’t blame the Economy.

Some of the most effective IP marketing strategies cost the least.

Some cost nothing at all.

A surprising number of vendors and suppliers are doing million dollar marketing on a shoestring budget. I can help you become one of them.

I can share with you dozens of high impact, low cost marketing strategies that I’ve uncovered during my months of interviews with top industry partners.

And I can help you identify and implement the strategies which are best for you.

If you’re interested in making lots more sales for fewer marketing dollars, you’ll be interested in my Coach Call program.

For details and scheduling information contact me at: Fred@FredBerns.com, or 303-589-3013. 

Fred Berns helps interior design industry partners connect more effectively with and increase sales to design professionals.

Ask Rodney Briggs his strategy for success in sales, and that’s what he tells you.

He’s used that strategy to become the No. 1 salesperson for the Ralph Lauren Home Collection. And to accumulate sales of $1 million or more for each of the last 19 years. And to reach $2.3 million in sales in one year alone.

Simple strategy, stupendous results for the sales associate based in Ralph Lauren Home’s Denver store.

One of his clients spent $1 million with him during a New York shopping spree. Another placed a $125,000 fabric order. Others routinely contact him with thousands of dollars in orders for everything from furniture to window hardware to accessories.

See that photo at the top of this post? That’s Briggs displaying some of the $95,000 worth of fabrics he sold to one customer last year.

That’s what happens when you build relations with clients by asking lots of questions, and listen carefully to the answers, Briggs says.

“A lot of interior designers try to impose what they want, instead of what the customer wants,” he remarks. “I try to get to know the customer first.”

He feels that it’s vital to keep an open mind toward clients, free of any preconceived notions.

He recalls how a man walked into the store one day dressed in overalls.

He became the customer who flew Briggs to New York in his private plane, booked accommodations in the Carlisle Hotel, and proceeded to buy $1 million in furnishings for his five Colorado homes from him at Ralph Lauren’s flagship store in the city.

Briggs, who doesn’t have an interior design degree, began his career providing design services and selling furniture for an Aspen, CO. store. He joined Ralph Lauren’s Denver store in the mid-1980’s at the time the company chose that store to launch its home collection.

Briggs attributes his sales success to his ability to convince prospects to invite him into their homes. He figures that if they’re willing to spend time to have him over, they’re ready to buy.

“Some designers are too cautious,” Briggs points out. “They don’t present a whole picture for their customers.” Briggs, who estimates that up to 30 per cent of his business comes from designers, says that he helps them “finish the picture” and decide next steps for their clients.

Briggs contends that the better he can get to know his clients, the better are his chances to works with them repeatedly, and get their referrals.

“I try to make them feel comfortable with me,” he says. “Sometimes that means getting to know their mom, and their dog.”

Briggs’ latest project is providing interior design services for Elk Creek Ranch, a 2850-acre luxury ranch community in Meeker, CO. He has designed, among other things, the main lodge and restaurant.

Fred Berns is a sales and marketing coach for interior design professionals and design industry partners worldwide.

My sincere hope is that every designer, architect, window fashion professional, kitchen and  bath specialist, stager, decorator and others in our industry comes up with a knock-their-socks-off promotional bio.

Why? Because the bio, and the “About Us” page on your website,  are your most  important personal marketing tools.

Problem is, most design industry bios bad.

VERY bad.

They’re so long on generalties and philosophy, and so short on specifics that their void of any value.

I’ve bellyached in a previous post about bad bios, and how they sabotage the success of design professionals worldwide.

You  can’t sell your design services, until you can sell yourself. And you can’t sell yourself without a bio that creates credibility and establishes your expertise,

If you’re up to creating a killer bio this month, go for it.

If you’re not, don’t.

I can do it for you, at a substantial discount off the regular price.

Register by Sept. 3, and you can get the $2000 “I-Write-Your” Bio Service for only $649.

You’ll get a first draft within two weeks, and a final version soon after.

Within 14 days, you can have a bio that presents you with polish, differentiates you and establishes your expertise.

Within 14 days, you can have a great bio at a great price– a bio that you can be PROUD of.

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

Fred Berns creates promotioonal bios and provides other marketing assistance for interior design professionals worldwide.

Get outta town.

If the economy has you down, if you’re severely challenged by your design business , if you’re burnt out, get outta town.

If you’re uncertain where to go from here, go there.

“There” can be a mountain resort, or a sandy beach, or a nice town a few hours away.

Get away for a few weeks, a few days, or a even a few hours. Just…get outta of town.

Nothing can give you more clarity about your business than time away from your business.

That means time away from your cellphone and email and blackberry and every other link to your workaday world.

A recent vacation in the Midwest reminded me how renewing and energizing time away can be.

I was so busy enjoying myself at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland,  Macinac Island in Michigan, and jazz clubs in Chicago that I didn’t have much time to think about business.

Nevertheless, I came back filled with fresh perspectives and exciting ideas about my speaking and coaching business.

And I returned with solutions to some challenges which had perplexed me for some time.

Time away is great for your mind, body and soul. And it’s great for your business, too.

Fred Berns is a sales and marketing trainer for interior design professionals, and the companies that serve them.

That’s my takeaway from dozens of interviews in recent weeks with manufacturing executives, showroom personnel, sales reps and others desperately seeking to boost sales to designers.

Many IPs still try to connect with design pros by hosting private and industry events.

But too often they find their designer clients out of sight and, in some cases, out of business.

Designer turnout at several of these events has been dismal.  Lackluster registration last month forced a major ASID chapter to cancel its annual Festival of Trades event at which IPs show off their products and services.

Some IPs are losing patience.

“We do events,  and sponsor CEUs and lunches that are sparsely-attended,” laments the owner of a flooring company in the Southwest. “Designers don’t seem to be very loyal to the people supporting them.”

Getting in front of design professionals has become especially difficult, according to some IPs.

“Our biggest challenge today is getting 1-on-1 face time with designers,” says Jackie Jordan, a national spokesperson for Sherwin-Williams. “It’s especially tough reaching residential designers who work out of their home.”

Finding ways to establish “top of the mind awareness” is more difficult  in this crowded marketplace, according to Joe Jankowski of Hunter Douglas.

“Our products require lots of knowledge, and a lot of designers aren’t getting our message,”  Jankowski remarked. “The challenge for IPs today is what avenue to pursue to get that message out.”

Educating designers about wallcoverings has been a fruitless and often frustrating task for the nation’s largest organization of wallcovering installers.

“We have many of our members active in local ASID chapters, and we’ve invited designers to our conventions,” notes Patricia Lowe, an executive with the National Guild of Professional Paperhangers.

“But they don’t show up, so they don’t know about what’s out there.”

Most of the individuals I interviewed blame the economy for the current turmoil in the industry.

“When designers’ business is down, our business is down,” says Closet Factory spokesperson Kay Wade. “In this economy, clients who used to order $50,000 closets are choosing $10,000 closets.”

Fred Berns trains design industry partners as well as design professionals on how to increase sales and market themselves more effectively.

Chances are,  you’re undervaluing your services or committing one of the other common “money miscues” of interior design professionals.

The audio program Twice the Price: Double Your Dollars as a Design Professionals points out that  many designers don’t get the fees that they set because they:

1/ fail to qualify prospects, as to their need, budget, commitment and authority to hire a design professional.

2/ lower their fees without reducing their service.

3/ undercharge for expenses.

4/ don’t explain their services

5/ don’t realize that price objections are buying signals. (A prospect wouldn’t take the time to complain about your fees if she was disinterested in your services.)

6/ give away their time.

7/ discuss price too soon.

8/ discuss budget too late.

9/ don’t differentiate themselves from those who charge less.

10/  don’t attach a value to themselves and their service.

Fred Berns trains interior design professionals and industry partners on how to dramatically increase sales and profits.

Million Dollar Marketing on a Shoestring Budget is your guide to high impact, low cost marketing.

This audio program, available as a digital download or as a CD, walks you through the ABC’s of money-saving – and moneymaking – marketing.

Here’s how to take the price out of your promotion in print, on-line and in person.

Articles and news releases by and about you, public speaking, website marketing, adult education classes, email, voicemail, referrals, bio sheets, hiring student interns, aligning with allied professionals – those are just some of the economical techniques covered in this business-building program.

These techniques don’t cost you much money.

Nor, do they take much time. Not if you follow the quick- fix solutions spelled out in this program.

The Million Dollar Marketing on a Shoestring Budget audio program spotlights strategies you can implement in 45 minutes or less, for $100 or less.

You’ll discover how to promote yourself for pennies, and market yourself in minutes.

Let your competitors moan and groan about the big expense and long hours that go into marketing.

You already have the money and time to do kickbutt marketing. How to do it is what this audio program is all about.

Once you invest in the Million Dollar Marketing on a Shoestring Budget audio program, listen to it carefully. And then listen again. And again.

The more you listen, the more low cost, no-sweat marketing tips you’ll pick up. Those tips will turn you into a promotion powerhouse.

Who says marketing has to be expensive?

Not you, once you master the art of Million Dollar Marketing on a Shoestring Budget.

For more information and ordering details for this digital or CD program, click here:
Million Dollar Marketing Audio  
 

Fred Berns provides marketing and sales training to interior design professionals and industry partners worldwide.

Will you find financial success or scarcity in the months ahead?

You have a choice, you know. It’s as easy to attain one as the other. All you have to do is put your mind to it.  All you have to do is decide.

Too many design professionals make that decision without even realizing it.

They choose to lose.

They choose to charge too little. And give away their time and expertise. And work with low budget clients. And cave into price objections.

They choose to struggle, rather than succeed.

They have every right to make that choice, of course. So do you.

Just understand, that if you choose to think impoverished thoughts, you get impoverished results.

If, on the other hand, you practice prosperity thinking, abundance flows into your design career.

Would you choose prosperity over poverty in your future?

If so, choose now to:

+ seek high end clients, and charge high end fees

+ convert single sales to long term relationships

+ avoid prospects who can’t afford you

+ focus as much on making money as saving it

+ make the most valuable use of your time

+ delegate tasks that don’t generate income

+ bill for all your time, all the time

+ present your prices with pride, not apologies.

Fred Berns is the world’s foremost business coach for interior design professionals and interior design industry partners.

That’s because Faten, who is based in Dubai, didn’t promote herself as well as she could. And should.

Her promotional bio — on her website and in her promotional materials — used to open as follows:

(Faten Alsaraff) “is known by many of her companions and industry partners as a hard-working motivator, a go-getter and an experienced interior designer and architect.  She is…the founder and owners of Final Fix Interiors.

Faten completed her Bachelors in Architecture from Baghdad University in 1989, and later on completed her Masters in Interior Design in 1998.”

Talk about underselling yourself! 

 Here’s a professional  with 22 years experience providing design services for the Sheikh of Dubai, the royal families in several Middle Eastern countries, and schools, offices, hotels, resorts, banks, cultural centers and other commercial facilities  throughout the region.

Faten hired me to revise her bio, and here’s how it opens now:

“Faten Alsarraf, among the Middle East’s most prominent interior designers, heads one of the region’s most successful and versatile full service-design firms.

Faten, the only female designer and contractor who has worked with so many top government officials and private clients in the UAE, Iraq and elsewhere in the area, directs a company that has more suppliers and resources than any other Middle Eastern design firm.”

A lot more powerful, don’t you think?

Does your bio undersell you, and disqualify you for the kind of clients you want and need?

If so, I would be happy to revise, or create your promotional bio.

I have time this Summer to work with three design professionals on their bios. Interested? Contact me at Fred@FredBerns.com. 

For more on promotional bios: http://www.interiordesignbusiness.net/2010/04/14/interior-design-business-bio-is-yours-a-boost-or-a-bust/

Fred Berns creates bios and other marketing materials for interior design professionals and industry partners worldwide.

That’s my takeaway from the Small Business Administration(SBA) statistics quoted in the July issue of Success magazine.

I base that takeaway on the fact the vast majority of commercial and residential design companies are small, independent firms.

And a good many design professionals are entrepreneurs.

The SBA says that small, independent firms:

+ have generated 64 percent of the net new jobs over the past 15 years
+ employ over half of private-sector employees
+ pay 44 percent of the total U.S. private payroll
+ create more than half ofthe nonfarm private domestic product.

Not only that, but:

+ 92 percent of Americans say entrepreneurs are critically important to job creation
+ 75 percent of Americans say that the U.S. can’t have a sustained economic recovery without a lot of entrepreneurial activity

So, you and every other design professional deserve a lot of credit. You’re not only helping your clients. You’re helping the nation.

Fred Berns is a trainer and coach for interior design professionals and design industry partners worldwide.

That’s one of my first impressions from my nationwide survey of the industry’s vendors and suppliers.

Reps from several companies tell me  they’re getting very little return on their investment of time, energy and money trying to connect with leading design professionals.

“We have very little to show for it,” lamented a rep for a wall covering firm that has put big money into  trying to entertain  and enlighten interior designers, architects, and others.

Problem is, too many companies are wasting time and money hosting events that their designer clients don’t care about right now.

IP events exclusively designed to unveil their latest product lines don’t interest design professionals coping with a challenging economy.

My early research indicates that some of the most successful industry partners today are the ones sponsoring events focused on how design professionals can boost their sales and business.

Sponsorship opportunities for as little as $3000 are still available for one such event, the September tele-seminar on how design pros can  dramatically increase their profits in the final quarter.  

Details: http://www.interiordesignbusiness.net/2010/06/10/reach-10000-interior-design-professionals-as-a-september-tele-seminar-sponsor/

Fred Berns is a business coach for interior design professionals and design industry partners worldwide.

Now you can close more sales and seal more deals and get higher fees with much less hassle.

That’s because now you can download a program on how interior design professionals can excel at selling.

Now available is a downloadable learning tool called Superstar Selling for Design Professionals.

The investment for this digital audio program will be $147 in mid-Summer.

But you can get it at the SPECIAL INTRODUCTORY RATE of $77 if you order by Friday, July 9.

Superstar Selling is a two-hour audio program focusing on what it takes to substantially boost your sales.

It spells out the top selling strategies of the world’s top interior design professionals.

This program teaches you how to dramatically increase your closing ratio, overcome price objections, present yourself and your pricing with polish, turn contacts into contracts, up-sell and cross-sell, hang tough when times are rough, and much, much more.

What we have here is the ultimate digital sales resource for design professionals.

Remember, you can invest in the Superstar Selling digital audio program for the INTRODUCTORY RATE of $77 if you order it by Friday, July 9.

After that, the regular price of $147 will apply.

For ordering and other information:
Superstar Selling Download 

Not in this economy.

Interior design may be your passion, and creativity your gift, but salesmanship is your key to success.

If you think you’re “just a designer, not a salesperson,” you’re in denial. Chances are you’re in debt. And you’re not likely to be in business much longer.

To make it to the top today, you have “star” at selling.

But how?

For starters, you have to sell yourself. You need to come across as a unique, 1-of-a-kind design professional.

 You must convince buyers that if they want what you sell, they absolutely, positively must come to YOU to get it. No matter what you charge.

Selling like a Star means asking more prospects more questions. That’s how you identify their pain, and present yourself as the remedy.

Selling like a Star means creating immediacy, selling “Now” as well as “Wow!”  And spelling out bottom line benefits, like energy savings and enhanced home value. 

And preparing for every “Question from Hell” and price objection, so you can turn  bellyachers into believers.

Selling Like a Star means up-selling and cross-selling, pedaling the window treatments as you lay out the furniture, or offering to do the corporate offices.

And discussing “Phase II” before you start Phase I.

Selling like a star means simplifying the buying process in tough times, offering flexible financing and pricing packages.

And selling like a star means selling while you sleep, offering products, floor plans and more from your on-line store to buyers worldwide

You can’t sell well unless you rid yourself of these Terrible Ten Selling Sins of Design Professionals: 

1/ Failing to Chart Your Course. A design professional without a sales plan is like a ship without a rudder.

2/ Failing to Qualify Prospects. If they can’t afford your price, you can’t afford to waste your time.
 
3/ Failing to Play Doctor. You need to find out what really hurts. Hint: It isn’t your price.

4/ Fear of Price Objections.  Welcome them!  They’re buying signals.

5/ Cutting Your Price Without Cutting Your Service.  If they want to pay less, you should provide less.

6/ Missing Signals. Questions about delivery, warranty, service, etc. mean they’re ready to buy. Are you ready to sell?

7/ Failing to Ask for Referrals. Ask, and ye shall receive. Don’t, and you won’t.

8/ Failing to Upsell.  Excuse me you left something on the table: Money.

9/  Failing to Ask for the Sale. How else can you seal the deal?

10/ Failing to Sell Yourself.  The most important sale you’ll ever make is the personal one. 

Fred Berns is the foremost business coach and trainer for interior design professionals and design industry partners worldwide.

+ frequent distribution of your marketing messages to nearly 10,000 top design professionals in North America.
 
+ a live “commercial” that you can present during the 45:00 program
 
+ a list of all the participants, including those who tune in to the program and those who download it.

+ inclusion in each of the three e-blasts that will be sent to our database before, and in the one after the Sept. 14 program

+ partnership in a program focusing on steps design professionals can take to substantially increase their business in the last quarter, and finish this challenging year with a flourish.

For more information about this partnership opportunity, contact me immediately at 303-589-3013, or Fred@FredBerns.com.

Fred Berns is an interior design industry trainer and coach.

The solution: raise the price issue before they do.

Conventional wisdom is that talking about your fees too soon will force a prospective customer to rule you out before you fully explain your services.

But, if you question their ability to pay, that can be a good thing. It can save you time now – and save them sticker shock later.

Determining the budget for your prospects can be difficult. If you can’t qualify them, try disqualifying them.

Begin by saying: “Let me tell you what I can’t offer you. I can’t offer you the lowest price for… (this floor plan, these wall coverings, etc.) If they balk, “disqualify” them. Politely explain that there’s no point continuing the conversation.

If they can’t afford your price, you can’t afford the time.

If they don’t protest, inform them what you can offer them.

Like the benefits of your 20 years experience working with, and solving problems for hospitality firms. Or the kind of personalized, customized service that’s unavailable from cheaper competitors.

 Or expertise about window treatments that are safe for children – and will increase their home’s resale value. Or access to a full array of highly-skilled subcontractors.

Disqualifying enables you to rule out those prospects seeking the lowest price for design services and products.

And it helps you connect with those who can afford to pay the kind of prices, fees and margins you need to make to reach your financial goals.

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

Depends on who you listen to.

The June issue of Elle Decor includes an article on the actress’ beach house in Martha’s Vineyard — a house that includes a Pottery Barn platform bed in a guestroom.

“That tells the story of the current state of interior design,” says Beau Holland, a wholesale-only supplier to designers of European antiques, custom-aged reproductions and furniture.

He says the choice by Ryan and her designer, Marsha Russell of the design firm Satinwood, is indicative of a trend toward saving clients time and money.

“Top Designers are now getting accessories and other things from Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel and Restoration Hardware,” Holland points out. “If you told designers 10 years ago that they’d be using Pottery Barn, they would have laughed.”

Meanwhile, Meg Ryan’s tastes are no laughing matter to the author of the platform bed lover blog.

“Then we move to a bedroom,” he/she writes in response to the Elle Decor article. “Low and behold she has a god awful Pottery Barn platform bed. Man. Famous actress with sophisticated tastes shops at Pottery Barn?”

Later commenting on the fact that the bed is included in Ryan’s guest bedroom, the blogger writes:

“Great taste requires that the guestroom is never just a guestroom, especially if your a kazillionaire hollywood maven. That said I wonder if Meg did the house herself or it was a designer. My guess, designer. I owe her an apology for blaming her…Sorry Meg!”

Fred Berns is a speaker, trainer and coach in the interior design industry.

Maybe so. I’ve published this article before.

I’m re-running it because so many design professionals continue to struggle in this uncertain economy with getting their foot in the door of higher caliber clients.

This article, based on information in the the Audio Success Series , is well worth re-reading.

If the right clients aren’t coming to your table, you need to serve them appetizers first.

In tight times, convincing new prospects to agree to major projects is challenging. That’s where the appetizers come in.

“Whet the appetites” of wary prospects with introductory programs that can lead to major — and multiple — projects. Introductory programs like:

+ Buy the Hour Consultations, in which individuals seeking “only advice” can get yours — for an hourly fee.

+ 45-Minute Makeovers, where you provide a quick “capsule” of their design and remodeling needs.

+ Room Reviews, in which you focus all of your attention on a single room.

+ Interior Design Energy Audits, where you supply a checklist of energy saving tips for everything from window treatments to lighting systems.

Each of these “get to know you” programs is an easy first step to take for even the most skeptical prospect.

Once you get your foot in the door, you can upsell, cross-sell and ask questions that can lead to long term, and lucrative relationships.

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