Page 60 - enLIGHTenment Magazine - April 2017

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InterIor DesIgn Focus

Reducing HeadacHes

“I’m the job and friendship and start asking for favors or
advice on the cu . “I might hear, ‘Can you stop

quarterback by tomorrow?’ And I will tell them I’m booked for
the next 2 weeks, whether I am or not. That elimi-

for my clients nates those weekend phonecalls from Restoration
Hardware, where the client is shopping and asking

and my job
if something would look good.”

is to protect sTep 5: puBliciTy

them; I have Grubb will send out postcards to past clients and
potential ones – such as real estate agents – when

their back.”
he’s completed a project to keep the rm top of

mind. Reach out to media editors and local journal-
ists who cover home design or real estate locally.
— Christopher
“Become the expert” these media professionals
Grubb
can count on for professional design advice.

He advised checking in with media profession-

als every few months to share recent projects or
topics that might be relevant to their readership.

“Give them content they can use. It ups your
game,” he said, adding that there is also the “pay

to play” option of paying for advertorials in re-

gional consumer magazines.
When having photography of your projects

done, make certain there are vertical shots. “Don’t
just do horizontals; verticals are for covers,” he

stated.

For interior designers who create a lot of cus-
tom designs for their clients, Grubb suggests

asking the furniture manufacturer if they’d like to
add your design to their line, and ask for roughly

5 percent. “Don’t give away your designs for free,”

he advised. [Grubb has started up two product
design companies.]
sTep 4. psycHoloGy

Grubb also stressed keeping your company Budget is always a tricky thing to determine be-
Web site – and especially the introduction portion cause no one wants to spend more than they have

up to date – even if most of your projects come to and clients are o en afraid of being judged by

from word of mouth. An interior designer in the the number they throw out there.
audience from Flagsta , Arizona, mentioned us- “So how do you nd out the real budget? I o en

ing Houzz.com to create les that she can share ask, ‘What number scares you.Is it $75,000?...
exclusively with her clients to create a “look book” $100,000?’ And immediately they’ll say, ‘Oh we

of sorts. She noted that Houzz.com also provides can’t do $100,000! Well, now you know their

the ability to tag other professionals whom you’ve budget,” Grubb stated.
worked with on each project [it will show up on Since interior designers spend a lot of time get-

their Houzz pro le as well], nothing that a con- ting to know their clients’ likes and dislikes and
tractor she works with has done this on Houzz and because projects will o en span several months,

that it has brought her business. Grubb asked the it’s natural that a friendship begins to form. How-

interior designers in a endance whether they had ever, it is important to set up boundaries.
ever go en a project from their Houzz or Face- “We don’t do this as a hobby, and doctors don’t

book page and was pleased to see that quite a few work weekends,” Grubb commented, referencing
have had success using this method. how some clients will try to blur the line between
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58 enLIGHTenment Magazine | april 2017
www.enlightenmentmag.com