Dear Dakota | How to Encourage Clients to be Distraction Free During Meetings
Dear Dakota,
How can I encourage clients to be fully present and free from distractions for our check-in sessions and review meetings?
For example, I have one client who brings their young children to our meetings and another who continues to take work calls and answer emails and text messages during meetings. The clients are pulled in several directions in trying to review their designs and tend to their children / answer emails, etc., and meetings inevitably run longer than scheduled, causing additional frustration. It also results in a fair amount of "I don't remember seeing that" from the client because they are not fully present when drawings and materials are being presented the first time.
I try to be as patient as possible because I know we all have significant demands on our time, but my time isn't infinite and it is incredibly difficult to move the needle in any direction during these meetings. I've gone so far as to offer meeting times after work hours and on weekends to ensure someone else can be home to watch the kids or the endless phone calls can stop. How do I get my clients to prioritize our time together?
My Response:
In the times we live, where multi-tasking every minute of the day is the norm, it is extremely difficult to carve out focused time within our days. It's hard to get ourselves to focus on just one thing and much harder to get someone else to do it.
There is so much to dive into with this question, and I want to make sure we first address the cause (not just the symptoms).
My first question is, why are these meetings not important to your client? The assumption is they are investing in your design fees and their home - how in the world is this not important?
If we assume these meetings are not important to the client, then that brings up another question.
If the meetings aren’t important to your client, are they actually necessary?
You say you’re presenting materials and designs. So this is obviously important. But something is off.
And just a side note: I have three kids, a husband who travels most days of the week, and I run my company full time. I understand being busy and I get that emergencies happen. If your clients are bringing their kids because someone is sick or a work thing came up once in a while, that’s okay, but it should not be the norm.
Your client should be working to clear their calendar just the same as you are.
WHY is the meeting more important to
YOU than it is to your client? It’s their home!
You referenced these meetings as “check-in meetings” and “review sessions.” At a glance, these don’t sound productive or important.
Are you scheduling multiple meetings to review bits and pieces, here and there?
Are you scheduling non-essential meetings?
Are you scheduling meetings your client actually DOESN’T need to be a part of, perhaps, and maybe they think, “I don’t know why I’m here or why you want my opinion - you’re the expert; you tell me!”
So, here are a few changes to consider:
Reduce the number of meetings and in-person check-in sessions you have with clients. Scale it all the way back so there is only one meeting during the design phase. ONE SINGLE MEETING. If your clients are truly this busy, it is possible that your current process doesn’t align with your ideal client. Busy clients typically prefer fewer meetings and more of a white-glove experience. Adjustments likely need to be made to your process.
Based on the behavior of your clients, another concern I have is that you’re undercharging for your services. You know the saying, “When you pay, you pay attention”? Is it possible your pricing is so low that your clients don’t think it’s a serious investment and, therefore, don’t take the meetings seriously?
Assess the importance of the project BEFORE you sign someone on as a client. If during the inquiry phase they’re like, ‘Well, we’re taking on this project because we thought it would be fun.” Or, “Well, we thought it would be cool to see how the kitchen might look if we renovated, but we’re not totally set on moving forward”, it’s possible this project just isn’t important to them and maybe it’s a project you don’t take on. Weed these projects out early on. Once you bring clients into your pipeline who don’t place any value on their project that’s when you’ll really be spinning your wheels. You’ll experience distracted meetings, sloooow (if any) progress, no design approvals or furniture purchases, no concern for timelines, lack of involvement, projects that never come to life, etc.
Does Your Process Align With Your Ideal Client Type
As a full service interior designer, a huge service you offer to clients is that you take all the gazillion decisions and options out there that could work for them and you distill them down to a single design that WILL work for them based on their style, their home, their budget, and their functional needs. It is possible your client type may not think they are needed for these meetings or may not want to be involved in certain meetings. Maybe the topics aren’t something they shouldn’t be weighing in on because they don’t really know and it’s something they would rather hand over to you. So, ask yourself - do they neeeeeeed to be at these review meetings? Or can you refine the design and the decision process down so they don't even need a meeting to discuss.
If you’re like, “But Katie, I do only hold one meeting during the design phase, and I’m already charging top of my market for fees and products.”
Then the next thought is that the VALUE and PURPOSE of these meetings haven’t been clearly communicated to the client. (But remember: only involve the client in important and essential meetings!).
Here are some things to help communicate the importance of these meetings to the client (assuming all the meetings are necessary):
When setting up the appointment, share with your client the importance of the meeting, what will happen during the meeting, what you’ll need from them during the meeting, and what will happen after the meeting. Maybe they just don’t know what to expect and don't realize they need to be in focus mode.
Schedule reminders to go out to your client one week, two days, one day, and two hours in advance. These emails should remind them about the above items. You could play around with the actual name of the meeting to ensure the client understands the importance. Rather than call it a “Design Review” or “Check In Session”, call it a “Detailed Design Presentation Meeting” or something more “official” sounding.
You could also send out a personalized email reminding them about the budget you agreed upon and that the design you’re presenting is within that amount. Example: HI Katie, we’re so excited about your design presentation on Friday. We cannot wait for you to see everything we’ve chosen and it’s all coming in within the budget of $100,000 we previously discussed and agreed upon. Here’s what you can expect during the meeting. Here’s what we’ll need from you during the meeting. Here’s what happens after the meeting. If anything changes in your schedule and you won’t be able to attend and be fully focused, please let me know so we can reschedule. Our next available date for a presentation would be around XX/XX and that would mean we’d likely have to push out your install date by a few weeks due to x, y, z.. Otherwise, if all sounds great, we’ll see you Friday and be ready to dive into the design!”
In your reminders, you can share how other clients have felt during their design presentation meetings. Something like, “Just a reminder that we will be meeting on Friday at 2:00 to review your design presentation and all the items we’ve selected for your home. Clients have told me these meetings make their heads spin because there are so many details to review! But this is when you’ll see everything come together, so please plan for some distraction-free time so we can really make good progress. Let me know if you need to reschedule due to lack of childcare or a busy schedule.”
Start the meeting with a few statements summarizing the attention required, such as, “We have ninety minutes slotted for your presentation (or, I have this meeting scheduled until 3 o’clock) and will be reviewing a lot of details so I’ll need your full focus. Do you need to silence your phone, use the restroom, or grab a drink/snack before we start?”
Include details about your Design Presentation in your Welcome Guide so the client sees right from the start the key meetings they’ll need to attend and when they’ll need to attend them.
Set the meeting schedule right at the initial project kickoff. This way, your client will likely have at least 6-8 weeks to clear their calendar and prepare for the meeting.
To the designer who submitted this question: don’t change your schedule for your clients.
Don’t work nights and weekends for them (unless that works with your schedule and you enjoy it).
By doing that, you’re inadvertently showing them that your “off hours” aren’t important. Your time isn’t finite. You can and will make exceptions for them. So they DON’T need to be present during regular business hour meetings, because you’ll just make it work after hours or on the weekend.
Work your normal business hours. Just like any other business would.
I am yet to meet a CEO, Wall Street banker, lawyer, accountant, hedge fund manager, celebrity, or high net worth individual who doesn’t have time for a 1.5-2.0 hour meeting to view their design presentation and discuss their home (unless of course it was determined from the start that they wanted to simply “show up” to see their completed space with no involvement from them at all).
——-
Have a challenge you’d like help with? Be sure to join The Weekly Install® where you can submit a question and get it answered on the blog!
Looking for more? Keep reading:
