INTERIOR DESIGN CLIENTS PA

by WILLIAMS,THOMAS L.

• ISBN13: 9781581156768
• ISBN10: 1581156766
• Edition: 00
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2010-06-17
• Publisher: PERSEUS

Summary

Clients are the lifeblood of any interior design firm and a sound understanding of how to manage those clients is essential.Interior Design Clientsis an informative yet fun read for entrepreneurial designers interested in gaining a better understanding of how to build and manage their clientele.Tom Williams, designer, author, and blogger, deconstructs the pitfalls and challenges that can waylay even seasoned designers. As many professional designers learn, clients can be intimidated by interior designers and sometimes can even be fearful of the process. This unreasonable intimidation can often hinder the designer-client relationship and can even stop clients from asking for what they want. This leads to clients being unsatisfied and then walking away with a negative impression of their designer. Learning why clients fear their interior designer and developing strategies to allay those fears is essential for gaining and keeping a satisfied clientele. Everything from good client, project, and time management to interview techniques and staff and paperwork organization can all lead to making client interaction as rewarding as possible and are important aspects of the business rarely addressed by the interior design community as a whole.Interior Design Clientscovers the subjects rarely taught in design schools such as specific presentation and interview skills and how to sell to market. Through frank discussion and practical examples, Williams weaves the art of selling into his lessons on interviewing, presenting, and pleasing the client as a natural part of the design process. Becoming a residential or commercial interior designer is not an easy undertaking, but Thomas Williams'Interior Design Clients: The Designer's Guide to Building and Keeping a Great Clienteleprovides the fundamental lessons and innovative solutions to help designers succeed in the ultra-competitive world of modern interior design.

Author Biography

Thomas L. Williams is a co-author of Starting Your Career as an Interior Designer and author of 20/20: IFDA's Vision for the Future, a series of articles on the business of interior design. He has taught business practices for interior designers at Monterey Peninsula College, and, as a cofounder of Hale-Williams Interior Design, has drawn on his years of interior design firm experience to create seminars and multi-day classes for private schools. Williams, an avid blogger, lives in Carmel, California.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. ix
Introduction	p. xi
The Ideal Client	p. 1
Marketing to the Client	p. 19
The Initial Interview	p. 37
Signing the Contract or Letter of Agreement	p. 55
Creating the Budget	p. 79
Client Communication and Contact	p. 99
Preparing the Presentation	p. 115
Presenting to the Client	p. 133
The Client and the Sale	p. 149
Ordering, Follow-up, and Project Management	p. 165
Delivery and Placement	p. 185
A Client for Life	p. 203
Afterword	p. 219
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