Working with interior designers day in and day out offers me glimpses into the inner workings of interior design businesses across the world. I often see patterns and trends in the challenges my designers are experiencing.

Being able to share my insights to help designers all over, even ones I’m not currently working with, is one of the best parts of my job. In this post I’m sharing three trends I’m seeing for interior designers and their businesses in 2023, and giving my top three tips for taking your interior design company to the next level this year.

Here’s what I’ll cover in detail in this post:

Dear Dakota,

How Do You Handle Storage and Receiving Fees when there are Long Wait Times?

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If your goal for the year is to automate as much as possible in your interior design business, you have to know this one thing before you invest in technology, consultants, strategists, or done-for-you services. 

If you've ever sent out an interior design proposal to a potential client (you might call it a contract, LOA, scope and service agreement, etc.) and then waited on pins and needles for their response…this tip is for you. 

Expire your proposals.

Most of our designers expire proposals within two weeks MAX. Some expire them within seven days.

Unless you’re a general contractor or a cabinet supplier, your interior design firm SHOULD NOT be ordering building supplies.

This is one area where I occasionally see interior designers taking on responsibilities that cause extra headaches and coordination. Not to mention that ordering building supplies doesn’t yield sufficient profit from markup to offset the hassle. 

Designers should refrain from placing orders for materials that would be considered building supplies.

It’s no secret that interior design is a competitive market. Interior designers need to stay front-of-mind with potential clients by consistently marketing their services. Unfortunately, we see a lot of marketing tactics that don't actually yield any measurable results for interior designers. In this post, I’m sharing the most common ineffective marketing tactics we see so you can STOP doing them and allocate that time toward something that actually generates revenue (or joy!) for your business.

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Are you using Google Forms in your interior design business? We love using Google Forms, especially as a part of the onboarding and offboarding phases. It’s a great way to send out your onboarding questionnaire and feedback form and allows your clients to submit their information online (rather than having to print out a form or work through a clunky word document).

In this client experience tech tip, I’ll walk you through the most common questions we receive from our clients about using Google Forms, including: