We recently hosted a webinar all about geerating new clients with a few seasoned Interior Designers and great friends of Mydoma; Claire Jefford, John McClain, and Gloria Staats. They provided us with incredible insights from their combined decades of experience in the industry. In this article, we’ll outline some of the key takeaways from their conversation with our CEO & Co-Founder, Sarah Daniele. But, if you’d like to catch the recording, we invite you to check it out here.
Claire Jefford shares that she sells “Designer for a Day” services during economic slowdowns. This service provides a unique opportunity to engage potential clients who may not be ready to commit to a full-scale design project but still require professional assistance.
Whether revamping a living room layout, selecting paint colors, or brainstorming decor ideas, these sessions offer a chance to showcase your expertise and establish connections with potential long-term clients.
You can easily get this service set up using Packages in Mydoma. You can embed your service package directly on your website, have a client pay upfront, and start working with them in Mydoma’s client portal immediately.
When economic times are tough, it might seem like projects dry up, but you might just need to tweak your services, explains John McClain. “You need to have a place for the clients who can’t afford your full-service design.” Don’t adapt your hourly fee or devalue yourself. “Your hourly ffee is your hourly fee” Gloria shares. Adapt your packages to your ideal client, not your pricing. “This allows you to keep working towards that ideal client and serve who you really want to serve.”
When looking for new business, “don’t freak out and don’t throw services out there that you don’t necessarily love” says John. Keep working with your ideal client, but this is the time to develop different services. Sit down and think about what services would work for your ideal client.
An example of this for John is his ”Room in a Box” offer. Clients can purchase a specific design from him that’s already been created and sourced. This allows clients to benefit from his expertise and unique design aesthetic without the need for extensive consultations or custom work. With “Room in a Box,” clients can simply select a pre-designed room package that fits their style and budget, making the design process efficient and hassle-free. Each package includes all the necessary elements to transform a space, from furniture and decor to paint colors and accessories.
If you sit down, you can come up with these packages, almost like a McDonald’s menu. Take time to think about what you want to offer and what deliverables go behind it. These will become the packages that you can offer now to generate new clients and repeat business when projects are not necessarily flying your way.
As Gloria Staats started planning her strategy for the first quarter of the year, she created window treatment and flooring consultations to meet her clients where they are. She’s digging back into where she started with consultations. It gets her name out there are people get to know her for what she’s good at. Now she has projects in the books.
Don’t forget to put your name out there and nurture your email list which we’ll talk about in the next point.
Don’t underestimate the power of your past clients and email list contacts. Claire Jefford explains that “email is not dead. It’s really important to stay in touch with potential clients.” If you’re concerned about the size of your list, a bigger list is not necessarily better says Claire Jefford. Her best clients list is under 100.
Stay top of mind. Email people once a month, she explains. “Share photos from your suppliers, and share what’s trending if you don’t have projects to share.”
Additionally, your email signature should include a CTA. says John McClain. He also uses his business email when he does things like get his car serviced. You never know who might be looking for design services!
Claire Jefford emphasizes the importance of getting into people’s homes and providing value during consultations. She advises designers to establish a structure for consultations, ensuring clarity on payment terms beforehand. Claire addresses common concerns about giving too much during consultations, reassuring designers that providing value upfront can attract clients.
“Here’s the thing, the clients who are going to hire you for full service, they’re going to hire you anyway but the people who maybe just need a little bit of help and aren’t quite there budget-wise or you know aren’t comfortable in spending the extra money you know they still appreciate if you can give them some value upfront. Don’t hold back.”
When you give them ideas, you’re giving them more things to think about that they might not have necessarily thought about before. Now you open the floor for services you offer and how you can help them in the overwhelm. Services like
Before you know it, you help them with that one project and six months down the line through email nurturing, you can help them with other spaces in their home.
Claire Jefford touches on the importance of in-person connection. “Stay in touch with them, take them out for lunch let them know what you’re doing,” she says. When you have clients who have spent tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars with you, stay in touch with them. Social media is also a great way to do this. Follow them back on Instagram and engage. “Relationships are everything”. These strategies can also result in great referrals.
Get away from the “Contact Us” form on the website. These are too ambiguous and often lead to decision paralysis for potential clients. Use Mydoma to embed your consultations and packages on your website. This allows potential clients to book right into your calendar, skipping the messy email back and forth to find a time to chat.
Additionally, John McClain says you should “treat your website homepage like the front page of a newspaper.” Keep it fresh and updated to keep people coming back to see what’s new.
Gloria has also been leveraging her Google Analytics this year. She uses it to see where people are coming from on her website. She’s learned that her blog posts are driving a lot of traffic, which has helped her guide her marketing strategy and save time
Claire emphasizes the importance of leveraging your expertise in a specific area, whether it’s lighting, hardware, or another niche. By becoming the go-to expert for something specific, you position yourself for long-term success. Consider offering digital downloads or packages tailored to your specialty, laying the groundwork for sustained growth.
Showing up and being present is a great unexpected way to open up new business opportunities. John shared that this is his year to show up and be present. He’ll be attending more in-person events this year. “Don’t think of marketing as just to clients. Make connections with vendors, and trades, and you never know what kind of opportunities can come from it” he explains. You might even meet other designers whom you can offer your services to. If you’re good at rendering, you could work with another designer to help support them when business is slow.
Direct mail might seem like a practice of the past, but this can actually make you stand out. Claire Jefford incorporates direct mail into her marketing strategy by running two campaigns per year, often timed around smaller holidays like Family Day and Mother’s Day. Similarly, Gloria also utilizes direct mail in her marketing efforts and has seen success, receiving two inquiries as a result of her campaigns this year.
All of the designers we chatted with stated that Instagram and Facebook remain their favourite platforms for reaching their ideal clients.
John McClain explains that you can now add up to five links in your bio. Every Monday he sets aside time for what he calls “Marketing Mondays”. He uses this time to plan his content for the upcoming week, ensuring that each post delivers value and resonates with his audience.
Claire favors Instagram as her primary platform but also leverages her personal Facebook account to broaden her reach. She explains the power of stories for authentic, personal sharing, a strategy that often garners more attention compared to traditional business posts. That gets shared more than your business accounts because those platforms want you to pay to play.
Gloria is a master of content repurposing to reach audiences across multiple platforms. She crafts captivating content tailored for Instagram, ensuring maximum impact. But Gloria’s strategy doesn’t stop there – she extends her reach by sharing this content across various channels. She uses LinkedIn as well to broaden her reach from a business perspective.
In conclusion, as you navigate the landscape of attracting new clients in 2024, it’s evident that innovative approaches and client-centric strategies are key. Meeting clients where they are by offering tailored solutions is so important alongside staying connected to past and potential clients. By embracing these approaches, you can position yourself for success in attracting and retaining clients in 2024 and beyond, even amidst economic uncertainties.
For more tips from Claire, John, and Gloria, check out the webinar recording from New Ways To Attract Clients in 2024!
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