Dear Gail,

Last week I was dealing with the question of why a client chooses one designer over another, even if the one they choose charges substantially more.  I laid out ten reasons that had first been presented at the “Creating Your Celebrity Brand” Conference we staged in Atlanta in February of 2007.

These ten reasons can be summarized by saying that you, the designer, must create an emotional experience for the client.  It is their neurons that must be ignited, but the only way to do this is through the “vibe” that you emote which is the result of your passion.  The tease for this edition, then, was “How do you discover this passion, this ‘celebrity?’  The answer is, you wake up.  And how do you wake up?  You read the next edition of the Insider Advantage!”

And here we are with the next edition, so are you ready to wake up?

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We have some exciting guests that we will be interviewing in the next few weeks.  If you haven’t listened to a teleseminar before, here is how it works: (more…)

We are so excited for you because these two companies will change the way you think about your business.   Be sure to share the news with our colleagues by clicking on the social bookmarking icons below this post, and if you click on the RSS feed on the upper right side, you can sign up for automatic updates whenever we post new information on the blog.  Be the first to find out from us!

About the author:  Gail Doby, ASID has twenty years of experience as an interior designer.  Her new mission is to help you as a sole proprietor or small residential interior design firm owner, learn new techniques and skills to grow your business, make more money and have the lifestyle you deserve.  Be sure to visit us frequently at www.interiordesignsuccessblog.com for the latest in practical and immediately applicable personal development and marketing tips.

By the way, A/D is holding open auditions for publication in future issues.  They will be interviewing designers in some of the major markets: New York and LA for sure.  Just visit their site for more details: http://www.architecturaldigest.com.

400 clients were surveyed (incomes above $100K).  Here are some of the key points: (more…)

We will be conducting a survey for our industry, and we would love for you to participate.  If you do, we will share the results with you after we have significant participation.  Just sign up for our newsletter to the right of this post and we will send the survey to you. 

We will find experts to help address these issues for you, and we will keep you posted about the calendar of events.

Be sure to share this post by clicking on the bookmarks below so we can get as many people participating as possible.  Also, as a timesaver, you might want to click on the orange RSS feed button so you are informed when we post a new article.

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My goal is to create a mastermind group for professional interior designers that are looking for support, ideas and creative education to improve their skills.  Are you interested?

Please let me know if any of these topics are of interest to you.  If you post a comment below and provide your name and email address (which will not be sold to anyone!), I will invite you to a free teleseminar. 

Here are a few topics that we’ve been considering for our teleseminar series - please vote and let us know if you are interested in these topics, or you would like another topic of your choosing:

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Q: As an interior designer, should you be concerned about a slowdown in the economy?

As a professional businessperson, you should be constantly on the lookout for trends that may affect your business. However, the most dangerous thing you could do right now is “assume” that the economy is going to get worse and that your business will suffer because of it. That need not be the case. First, since the same people who projected the Democratic primary results in New Hampshire are projecting economic trends, let’s not take any media hype too seriously. They may be right and they may be wrong, but we certainly know the media will hype anything all out of proportion.And let’s get one fact out of the way immediately–the super rich (your ideal customers) are not suffering. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal noted that while houses under $3 million are affected by the real estate decline, houses above that–especially in the $20 million and up range–are selling briskly. And the New York Times noted that while even a luxury purveyor like Tiffany’s had a huge drop in sales before Christmas, the drop was exclusively in products under $10,000. Products over $50,000 set record sales.That’s why at the Business of Design Conference next September, we’re going to make sure every attendee leaves with the skills necessary to dramatically increase the average net worth of their ideal customer. After all, the clear number one factor in profitability is client selection.

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