Organize your Interior Design Client Experience Workflow: How to Nail Your Sales Call
Updated September 2023
One of the benefits of having a streamlined client experience process in place is that it will help you to feel confident during sales calls so you can book more dream clients. In this post, I’m going to walk through how to structure your sales calls AND some red flags to keep an eye out for.
If you’re new here, you may want to read these posts first:
Step One: Create a Pricing Guide
Step Two: Set Up an Autoresponder for New Leads
Step Three: Screen Your Leads
If you need help creating a pricing guide, check out my Done-For-Your Client Experience templates that you can send out in less than an hour.
If you follow the above steps and the tips in this email, I know you’ll feel more confident during sales calls, and they will become easier, shorter, more productive, and more highly converting!
TIPS FOR NAILING YOUR SALES CALLS + BOOKING MORE DREAM CLIENTS
So you’ve gone through all the steps above, you’ve screened out this new potential client, they know your pricing and have an overview of your process, and they are ready to get on the phone with you. Yay, right!?
If you’re still nervous, here are a few tips for feeling confident and in control during your sales calls:
TIP ONE: MAKE IT EASY FOR THEM TO SCHEDULE THEIR CALL WITH YOU
For discovery calls, I am a HUGE fan of using a scheduler. It is quite inconvenient to go back and forth over email trying to find a time that works when you could simply click on someone’s scheduling link and book a time right away. You’re offering a high-level luxury service, and that means it should feel easy for the client every step of the way.
Sidenote: I have actually NOT moved forward with a company I wanted to hire because scheduling a discovery call was so frustrating and it felt very unprofessional. If they’re that inefficient from the start, what other manual inefficiencies will I be paying for in the price of their service? No thanks.
I personally use Acuity for all my appointments, even though I also use Honeybook, which has a scheduler as well. To be honest, I’m not a huge fan of the personalization options for Honeybook’s scheduler, and it doesn’t sync with my calendar, so using their scheduler is not an option for me.
When you use a scheduler, it means clients can schedule appointments with you automatically (if you share the link). You can include the link in your pricing guide, or, you can omit it from your pricing guide and send it out only after you’ve reviewed their inquiry so you can make sure you do want to get on a call with them. Language like this makes it so simple:
“If you’d like to talk more, please find a date and time convenient for your schedule at the link here.”
If you don’t use a scheduler, be sure to offer a few dates and times and use client-focused language.
Instead of this: “I’m available on Monday at 2 or Tuesday at 1. Which of those works for you?”
Do this: “Are you available on Monday at 2 or Tuesday at 1? If those dates don’t work for you, please let me know a date and time that is best so we can get something confirmed.”
I know schedulers don’t work for everyone, especially business owners who are often out in the field or with vendors and clients. BUT if you are looking to streamline your business and the way you work, you can certainly set one or two blocks of time each week so you can manage sales calls and schedule them when you will be in the office. It’s your business after all–if something isn’t working for you, you get to stop doing it.
Sidenote: If you are available for sales calls M-F 8-5, that is not good for your business. I recommend two time slots each week for sales calls and then blocking your day around those. This way, you have control over your schedule and can plan and prioritize your other work, knowing when you’ll be on calls vs. when you’ll have solid chunks of focus time.
The benefits of using a scheduler are that 1) you remove yourself from all the back and forth of finding a date that works, 2) clients can book automatically without ever talking to you, and 3) if you prefer not to give clients access to book, you can manually go in and book the appointment type for them so it will send out reminders to you and your client--let your scheduler act as your personal assistant!
TIP TWO: BE PREPARED FOR THE CALL, BUT DON’T GO CRAZY
Be prepared for the call. Check out their project address or venue. Reread the inquiry notes they shared via your contact form. Have their information pulled up for your discovery call so you can reference it while you talk.
If you need to see photos or plans for the discovery call, be sure to have your scheduler reminder email request that information so you have it handy during the call.
TIP THREE: CALL THE CLIENT (NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND)
Always BE THE ONE TO CALL THE CLIENT! Don’t ever have them call you. NO. Not professional.
You are the expert; you set the stage and you initiate the call. Always let them know you will be the one to call them. Include this in your reminder emails.
TIP FOUR: STICK TO YOUR DISCOVERY CALL QUESTIONS TO STAY ON TRACK
During the call, have a template for the questions you will ask and follow it (not a script!! I am not a fan of scripts and always know when I’m being spoken to with one–no, thank you. Luxury service means customized, boutique, tailored to me…not read from a script that a robot could do.)
Start each call by confirming if now is still a good time. Then, remind them that this is a twenty-minute call to talk through their project, talk about the service you recommend, and then answer any questions they have.
Having a template of your 4-5 questions that you will ask will keep you on track and in control of the call. BUT NEVER USE A SCRIPT. EWWWWW.
*By signing up through my affiliate link, I may receive a small commission at no cost to you. You’ll receive access to our free Honeybook Guided Setup course as well. WOO HOO!
TIP: You can include an internal section at the bottom of MUST SHARE details to make sure you don’t forget anything. Pricing, budget estimates, timeline, availability, etc.
Because you’ve already screened out your leads and provided them with pricing, this call is really about connecting and making sure their project is a good fit for your business and vice versa.
TIP FIVE: KEEP YOUR INTERIOR DESIGN DISCOVERY CALLS SHORT
This is a complimentary discovery call and should be 20-30 minutes max. First, no one wants to spend an hour on the phone if they aren’t even sure they’re going to hire you, and second because you sent out a pricing guide first, you’ll be able to save a lot of time because you won’t need to talk so in-depth about your process or your pricing (because your pricing guide has that information!).
Discovery calls aren’t the time to find out what their style is, what their favorite color is, or what hobbies they have. The discovery call is to discover their needs and expectations so you can determine if you are a good fit based on their budget, timeline, location, and goals.
Tip: If your interior design discovery calls last way longer than this, I recommend looking at your contact form on your website to make sure it’s actually gathering the RIGHT information. If all it says is “Name,” “Phone,” “Email,” and “Message,” you’re missing a huge opportunity to pre-screen clients in an automatic way.
Read about how to fix your contact form here.
TIP SIX: MAKE YOUR RECOMMENDATION
At the end of the call, it’s up to you, the professional, to make your recommendation to them on whether you can help them, what service will be the best fit, and what the next step is. Then, once you’ve made your recommendation, you should ask them what questions they have for you.
Tip: When they ask their questions, WRITE THESE DOWN and use them for future Instagram posts or blog posts (and maybe even consider adding them as FAQs in your pricing guide). Potential client questions are GOLD!!
TIP SEVEN: SEND A POST-DISCOVERY CALL FOLLOW-UP EMAIL
After the call--DO WHAT YOU SAID YOU WERE GOING TO DO! Oh my goodness, I get so frustrated when I am on a sales call (as the potential client) and someone tells me they’ll send me more info or a proposal or pricing or whatever and then I never get it. Then I have to reach out to them to ask for it and it is just uncomfortable. It’s like “I’m asking you to let me give you money and you won’t even send me an email to make it easy for me to do it!” Never a good thing to feel unimportant as a potential client. If you don’t care about me now, will you even care about me once I’ve paid you?
This can be an easy step in your process–either your scheduler sends out an automated post-call message with the next steps (you should keep this one general) or you can create a template that you can personalize and send out right after the call. This email should thank the person for their time, recap what you discussed, share anything you said you would share, and let them know what to expect next (and when to expect it).
TIP EIGHT: SET A REMINDER TO FOLLOW UP EVERY 2-3 DAYS
The follow up! This will set you apart from your competitors. I’m telling you that right now. Whether you have a CRM or not, I highly recommend setting a reminder in your calendar for two to three days after you send your recap email to follow up with the potential client on the information you sent over. Then follow up again two to three days after that.
I personally do two follow-ups before I send a third “BYEEEEEE” email. You can read more about why I recommend following up with prospects here.
SOME OF THE BIGGEST MISTAKES I SEE INTERIOR DESIGNERS MAKE DURING THE INQUIRY PHASE ARE:
Not sending pricing information before the call and wasting tons of time talking to prospects who aren’t ideal or can’t afford them
Worrying that if they send pricing, the potential client won’t book a call with them because they’re too expensive (if you’re doing this one thing right, this shouldn’t be an issue)
Not positioning themselves as the expert during these calls
Not following a set of questions to keep themselves on track during the call
Not following up after the call and doing what they said you would
Letting the potential client lead the call
COMMON RED FLAGS DURING THE INTERIOR DESIGN INQUIRY PHASE
Like I said, I’ve been doing sales calls in person, over zoom, and over the phone for 14+ years, and I have always been in the service industry, so I know a thing or two about handling people and reading their signs.
Some red flags I see in the inquiry phase from a potential client:
The potential client clearly didn’t read any information you sent over and didn’t look at your website at all. They did literally nothing to prepare for the call. Garbage in. Garbage out.
Their timeline is ASAP, and the whole project is an emergency. EEK. Lack of planning on your part does not equal an emergency on my part.
They ask you to do something outside of your well-designed process.
They have worked with many designers before, and it wasn’t a good fit, or their last designer “stopped working.” Now, they need someone new to help them ASAP.
They dangle a carrot of bigger projects down the road. Ha!! Seriously, does anyone fall for this trick?
Discovery calls that go well over the allotted time. A lack of respect for boundaries and time constraints usually is a personality trait.
DON’T MISS THESE RED FLAGS EITHER
While these aren’t necessarily red flags, they are certainly something to pay attention to:
You have no idea how you will help them or what they actually need. As the expert, if you are confused, it’s probably not a good fit.
You feel like you need to customize something for them because they don’t really fit into any of your services, and that voice in the back of your head is saying, “don’t create a new service, that is too much backend work.” We all know that no good deed goes unpunished in the service industry.
You just don’t like them. Interior designers and wedding planners are with their clients for a year or longer, and if you don’t like them at the beginning, when they are the most excited and nothing has gone off the rails yet, you probably won’t like them once you’ve been with them for a bit and the common challenges are starting to pop up.
How they talk about their previous designer or previous experience working with someone in your industry. If they didn’t like how they worked, or they loved how they did x, y, z (but you don’t do x, y, z), be sure to let them know that’s not how you work and you actually don’t know that you can meet their needs because you run your process differently.
They are rude or condescending.
They show up late for your discovery call or miss the call altogether.
Do you struggle with the inquiry phase of your process? If so, I have a few easy we can help you. With my Designed to Scale® Business Blueprint (the SOPS you need for your interior design business) or my Done-for-your Client Experience Templates for interior designers and wedding planners, you’ll have all these steps mapped out so it’s easy to explain your process to potential clients AND stick to it. Once you know exactly what you’re selling and how you’re selling it, you’ll feel so much more confident in talking with potential clients.
xo
Katie
