Dear Dakota | How Interior Designers Can Handle the “Discount” Conversation
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Written March 2023 | Updated January 2025
DESIGNER SUBMITTED QUESTION
“I presented the final design to my client along with the invoices for their rooms and they balked that there was no discount. I don't offer discounts or market anything about discounts. What do I do, and how do I prevent this from ever happening again?”
My Advice as a Business Consultant to Interior Designers:
Some of my designers would simply terminate the contract and not work with the client any longer. This is also why it's so important to price your design fees right and collect them in full prior to presentation because you can't guarantee product sales and need to be paid properly for each arm of your business (service is one arm, products are another arm, etc.).
If an arm of your business isn't profitable, guess what? It might be time to close that arm down.
How to Handle This Situation Now:
Reference your contract where you mention anything about designer pricing and purchasing that protects you.
Terminate the agreement based on your contract's termination policy. Reference that policy in your email to the client.
If terminating isn't an option, remind your client of any additional fees and the agreed upon timeline for their project at this phase, and if they aren't ready to move forward let them know what happens. (This again should all be covered in your contract). Check out my Sample Scope & Service Agreement for Interior Designers here.
How to Avoid This Issue in the Future:
Share how you bill for furniture in your investment guide (mine does this).
Discuss how you bill for furniture in your discovery call and consultation.
Include your billing process and terms in your contract.
Add a question to your onboarding questionnaire that clients have to acknowledge that reminds them yet again that you source from to-the-trade vendors and orders must go through you (you'd say it nicer than this, and use the wording verbatim from your contract). My contract template covers this.
Discuss how you bill at your onboarding meeting when you talk budget so there are no surprises.
Remove the word discount and “mark up” from your marketing. Instead, market the value. The experience. The time savings. The amazing result.
