Business by Design this month opens up the mailbag to look at recent challenges facing design professionals.

THIS MONTH:

+ Money Talk
+ Targetting
+ Control and Commitments
+ Selling Yourself

Money Talk
We've been flooded with emails since asking readers a few months ago to share their biggest professional obstacles.

Some of your issues -- and our thoughts:

One of my biggest challenges is my fee schedule. I charge a fee for consultation and shopping time, and ...a design fee (for) room planning. I then make my money on the items people purchase.

I charge everyone differently because they have different needs. Is there a way to create more uniformity? I'm afraid clients will compare notes and wonder why I've charged them differently.

Linda Principe, Linda Principe Interiors

If there's one thing that puzzles prospects, it's pricing.

Simplify yours.

Create one pricing system (hourly fee?) for your service, another (markup?) for your stuff, bill for your expenses, and leave it at that.

No games, no guesswork. Use the same system for all of your clients, all of the time.

If you can't explain in 30 seconds -- or in one page -- how you charge, people won't get it.

Do you have any language that addresses the question from a client when they receive their first invoice reflecting our time only and they only have a concept board to show for it?

Jennifer Rose-Harris, Interiors on the Move

Stop "sticker shock" before it stops you.

Before you seal the deal, say: "This is how I work with my clients..."

Then, discuss the importance of planning, drawing, research, collecting samples,etc.

Explain how these tasks help you save them time, money and headaches on the design project.

Targetting
My biggest challenge is marketing to the right people.

Darcy Litt, Darcy Litt Designs

Don't pursue people. Pursue markets.

Identify the three best residential and/or commercial markets for your business, and devote all of your marketing efforts to them.

Network, speak, write -- do whatever it takes to insure that when people in those markets think of design professionals, they think of you.

I am considering my advertising. I would appreciate advice on how to reach my target market effectively.

Jill Robson, J.R. Designs by Appointment

Thinking about reaching your target market effectively? Don't think about advertising.

Think, instead, about the best advertising design professionals can't buy: free publicity. Articles by and about you have far more credibility and impact than ads.

Local editors, reporters, TV producers, and others are eager for the kind of tips and trend information you can share.

Then again, you can make news every time you win an award, sign a contract, take on a new product line, add additional staff, etc. All you need to do is email media outlets with news about your business.

Getting quoted and promoted in publications read by your key prospects is a shortcut to success.

Control and Commitments
My biggest challenge is really me. It's the fear of getting too much business, which I think would mean less control.

Debbie Callas, ASID

It's only when your business runs you -- rather than vice versa--that you lose control.

Set financial and other goals for the business, and make the achievement of those goals your major mission.

That will help you decide how many and what kind of clients to take on, what to charge, which design services to offer, etc.

Getting the commitments has been a challenge, as well as getting folks to call you after you have hung door hangers all day in the heat.

Diane Feist, V2K Window Fashions

Why you? Why now?

The better you answer those questions, the more sales you'll close.

Sell yourself ("I'm the ONLY window fashion professional in this area who...")first. Then give them a reason to buy from you NOW -- a special "gift," discount, upgrade, etc.

And ditch the doorhangers.

There are lots of wonderful ways to market your services and yourself. Doorhangers ain't one of them.

Selling Yourself
My greatest sales challenge seems to be trying to stay competitive ... with pricing of home furnishings so that clients will purchase through me.

Sharyn Kastelic, Primed by Design, Inc.

Your clients can get furnishings cheaper elsewhere, but there's one thing they can't get elsewhere.

YOU!

Your most important sale is the personal one.

Explain how you offer the kind of expertise, personalized customer service, attention to detail, and guarantees that are unavailable from those other guys.

Talk about your track record -- the clients you've served, the awards you've won, the classes you've taught, the articles your've written, etc. Share testimonials and a list of references.

People don't buy home furnishing from companies. They buy them from people. Your job is to convince them to buy from people like you.

I have difficulty discussing my business and successes. As a child, I was taught not to brag about my accomplishments. I still associate discussing my successes with bragging.

Michele Reed, Decor and You

Don't think of it as bragging. Think of it as customer service.

Discussing your accomplishments educates prospects on how you differ from your competitors.

That helps those prospects with their buying decision.
And that's a good thing.