8 simple ways to improve your design business
Here are 8 strategies to put in place to help you refine your business strategy and remain competitive.
1: Start tracking leads and conversions
Running a design business means you are a professional sales person.
If you don't know your sales numbers, you're running your business blind.
Start taking sales seriously and track your sales funnel at every stage of the process.
Learn more about sales skills over on my free topic page HERE >>>
2: Consistent branding + messaging
Be consistent with your branding across all touch points of your client journey.
This will:
Be a better client experience
Build trust
Show your professionalism and attention to detail
Learn more about branding and marketing over on my free topic page HERE >>>
3: Make time to work on your business (not just in it)
Set time aside every week to work on strategic business tasks that will grow your business.
Examples:
refining your marketing strategy
building strategic partnerships
goal setting and financial planning
updating or writing your policies and procedures (Standard Operating Procedures - SOPs)
Or save time and purchase my complete Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) database for interior designers from my shop
4: Proactive lead generation (every single day)
Stop the 'feast or famine' cycle where you have clients some months and none the next.
Do this by focusing on strategic lead generation tasks every single day.
5: Know how many clients you need each month to earn what you want to earn each year
Know your numbers!
Figure out how many clients you need each month to hit your revenue targets.
Don't have revenue targets? How do you know what you're working towards??? Set them!
See how I track my own monthly targets in my monthly reviews (and get my FREE template) HERE >>>
6: Provide an exceptional client experience
Examples:
Upgrade your client onboarding process
Communicate more than you think you need to
Under promise and over deliver (e.g. think a concept will take you 2 weeks? Tell them 3 weeks and deliver it in 10 days)
Educate your clients (remember you've done this lots of times, they probably haven't - take them on a journey)
Exceed expectations, don't just meet them (e.g. add finishing touches without additional charge, deliver projects early)
Get more ideas in my Client Experience short course
7: Get your systems and processes in order
Examples:
Implement a Client Project Tracker
Set up a standardised procedure for client onboarding (e.g. Client Welcome Pack and Onboarding Questionnaire)
Organise your digital files in a systematic manner to make things easy to find
Use financial software to track revenue, expenses, invoices etc. (e.g. Xero)
Develop a system for managing and tracking client orders
You can find templates in my shop to help with most of these processes if you need them
8: Build a range of revenue sources
Reduce risk, increase profitability, balance seasonality and become more financial stable by diversifying your revenue sources.
Examples:
offer stand alone design consultations (or 'designer for a day' service)
sell online products, templates or courses (start by watching my free webinar if this interests you)
affiliate marketing
offer design workshops
membership site
supplier/partnership sponsorships
Learn how to scale your business over on my free topic page HERE >>>
Thanks for reading and catch you in my next post :)
Clare x
Dr Clare Le Roy
Courses and Templates for Designers and Architects
DO YOU WANT TO….
Improve your professionalism?
Find more clients?
Bring in more revenue?
Create better systems and processes?
Then check out my business courses and templates for designers and architects.
These courses and templates leave you with work done - not just a long list of things you need to do next. We have a really strong focus on taking action and getting things created that improve your business.
