Marketing and Client Relations for Interior Designers

Discover the latest insights in marketing and client relations for interior designers To be a successful interior designer, it′s essential to market yourself and your firm effectively. A must–read for interior designers establishing a client base, as well as for seasoned interior designers aiming to grow their businesses, Marketing and Client Relations for Interior Designers offers valuable tips on enhancing client relations and building lasting relationships for a growing practice. This step–by–step manual helps you design the marketing program that best fits your unique practice and provides helpful business forms to help keep you on target, including staff questionnaires, planning guides, and design services outlines. With insight, simplicity, and uncommon sense, industry expert and authorMary Knackstedt guides design professionals through all aspects of promoting a design business, including how to: Design specialized promotional resources, market research, and personal interactions Establish a company profile that attracts clients Find clients who are most likely to want your services Budget marketing efforts accurately to avoid unnecessary expenses Handle complaints diplomatically and with minimum problems Build a better relationship with clients Create proper contracts and letters of agreement Set prices that are appropriate for your services Brimming with examples and proven strategies from successful, highly profitable firms that make it easy to apply the book′s marketing techniques to your own business, Marketing and Client Relations for Interior Designers is your design firm′s guide for business development, successfully marketing its services and maintaining long–term customer relationships.

Preface. Acknowledgments. Part 1: Effective Marketing Strategies. 1. Positioning Your Firm. 2. The Marketing Plan. 3. Objectives. 4. Company Profile/Internal. 5. The Marketplace. 6. Current Issues Influencing Our Market. 7. Market Research. 8. Targeting the Right Clients. 9. Partnering with technology. 10. Techniques That Develop and Nurture Relationships. 11. Who Will Lead? 12. Preparing Marketing Materials. 13. Becoming a Major Force in Interior Design. Part 2: Selling as Communication. 14. An Introduction to Selling. 15. The Client Comes First. 16. Rapport. 17. Organization. 18. The Art of the Interview. 19. Your Brand. 20. Preselling. 21. The Presentation. 22. Qualifying the Client. 23. Defining a Project. 24. Customer Service. 25. How to Handle Complaints. 26. Contracts and Letters of Agreement. 27. Charging for Your Services. 28. The Installation. 29. Learning. Suggested Reading List. Index.

Mary V. Knackstedt, FASID, FIIDA, is president and founder of Knackstedt, Inc., of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and New York. She is an interior designer, furnituredesigner, consultant, and lecturer, and has taught interior design business practices at Harvard′s Graduate School of Design for more than ten years. Knackstedt heads the Designers′ Business Forum, a program dedicated to raising the level of interior design firms. ALSO BY Mary V. Knackstedt, Published by Wiley: The Interior Design Business Handbook: A Complete Guide to Profitability, Fourth Edition