Create Fast Results for Interior Design Clients

One of the problems with interior design is the long timeline. A lot of money is invested before clients see much progress. It can be scary for clients. To lessen the fear, you want to create fast results.

When I was working full-time as an interior designer, I was hired by a couple to help turn their track home into their home. This was at the beginning of my business and I was still feeling out how to run it. About a month into the project, after I’d done the design plans, had contractors come out for quotes, and we’d met a couple of times, I got an email from the client.

She was pissed. She was so upset by how much time and money she felt was already used (though I felt like I had done a fair job of setting her expectation in that department) that she refused to speak to me about it on the phone and obviously, stopped using my services.

Like most projects that turn sour, it was because of unmet expectations. I thought I did a good enough job of setting expectations, but obviously not. I also needed to do a better job of setting my own expectations with their budget because the bill she refused to speak to me about was only about $1000.

Like all projects - good and no-so good - there were lessons to be learned. And one of those lessons was that maybe if those clients had more to show for the money they spent, I wouldn’t have gotten that super-uncomfortable email.

But that’s an issue with interior design services, it takes time. It takes time to do a design plan and source product. It takes time to make decisions and get product in. A lot of money is spent in design fees before the clients ever get anything concrete.

To counteract this, you want to create a fast result for your clients to get them hooked early. Give them an early win. Some excitement to carry through the project.

Give them milestones to look forward to.

Provide something tangible early.

An easy way to do this is to have renderings done of your design plan or a 3D walk-through. But these aren’t always necessary or feasible in a project. If you have a client that is a little spooked at the beginning, consider what you can do to give them an early win to carry them to the next phase of the project.

But also let clients know it’s a long game. After that client, part of my onboarding included letting the client know the typical emotional stages of an interior design project (my client stopped in the “what have I gotten myself into” stage.