This post on commissions elicited a big response on the blog. Here’s one that really got me thinking…

From: EM

The Befuddled Future Client is still confused. One one hand, I have a published designer with 27 years of experience, an office, and a staff that requires things like payroll taxes. On the other, I have a designer with 1 year of experience with (in all likelihood) no staff or additional NYC rents. So why is the 35% markup the same?

Vicente Responds:

I’ve always wanted to make my work accessible to most, but I do wonder, do you charge a lot and get a few or do you charge slightly less and catch more with your net?

On what I charge I find business to be profitable. When times are good I am able to take care of my staff, my lifestyle, my travel and live a very good life. Do I want three times as much money? Of course, but my shrink said to me that you can’t be looking at what other people are making as they may need more to lead their lives. I earn what I need and am comfortable.

Someone’s who’s been in business for two years and earns the same as me, maybe their clients feel that it’s worth paying for their style, even at a lesser level of experience. Consider the art market – artists in their ’20s charge thousands for their work. It’s what people are willing to pay for it.

To me it’s a better perceived value, but we’re not talking here about buying tomatoes. We’re talking about a point of view, a style that people are hiring, so it’s not just about how much somebody charges, it’s about what product and service and perception they’re putting out in the market. And I think a high percentage of prospective clients don’t really research, trying to find what is available design-wise in the marketplace. A lot of it is through social connections and word of mouth. I don’t think most people looking for a designer do their due diligence in finding the best possible match for themselves – style, experience and talent-wise.

But what makes good taste? Why pay $30 for a pair of jeans at Gap compared to a $1,000 at Versace? It’s what you think is worth spending your money on. That’s the marketplace. Why do you pay more for tomatoes in Wholefoods compared to the same stuff you can get at Gristedes? It’s perceived value and what makes you feel good about yourself.

Hey EM, you got me thinking…maybe I should be charging more.

Have you researched how your income balances out the cost of running your business? Let’s talk about it.

From:Jennifer Bramwell
Subject: Question for you

Hi, Vicente, I enjoy your blog and appreciate your willingness to give advice.  Myself and my business partner have an interior design business with a studio in my home.  We have avoided taking on the overhead of retail space for the past five years and enjoy the flexibility and low overhead of not having inventory and a retail business to take care of.  However, we are trying other methods to attract clients including a monthly newsletter and a blog.  We are still facing some dry spells and can take on and need more business.  We are primarily residential and live and work in a four season tourist community north of Toronto so there is lots of business to be had if we had the magic bullet.

Any suggestions?

Kind regards,
Jennifer Bramwell

Vicente Responds:

For many years I ran my business from a separate office in my apartment and was lucky enough to build my business from there.  When I first went on my own, I felt that to feel fully professional, I needed a seperate office where I could be perceived as established and grounded. I think it helped to build confidence and respect from the clients that I got.

If you keep a plant in a small pot it won’t grow bigger, but if you transplant it to a larger pot it will flourish. Think of your business in the same way.

Regarding that magic bullet for new business…I suggest you think of ways in which you can get connected to clients that are out there (and when you find that one that works best, let me know so I can do it myself!).

Here are some of my quick thoughts:

• Socially, I have no kids (only a cat), but I understand that the school connection is pretty good in helping to get the word out there.
• Are you published? Perhaps you should target your area’s design magazines with your best job and see if you can get published. That usually gets the phones ringing.
• Talk to real estate people so you can form a partnership where they can help you sell services when they sell a new apartment.

Maybe some of the readers have additional ideas – let us know what has worked for you by sharing them here!

When I started as an interior designer I had no training and no tools. Because of my dyslexia, going to school was really not the best option for me. But I was committed and determined. I trained myself to do scale drawings, to do all the things required to be able to execute a job. I was an assistant for somebody and saw the pitfalls first-hand, I learned to go to the marketplace and what it took to produce and put a job together. I did presentation boards, drafting and I paid my dues, maybe with a lot of loose change, but I learned through experience and a lot of very hard work.

Very often these days people think that because they like shopping at expensive design stores they have what it takes to become a designer. I think that to start one’s career because of contract or style, without really getting all the things it requires to be able to call yourself a professional in place could be interpreted as unfair to those who have paid their dues – be it by working their way up from the bottom, or by going to school and learning to do it that way. (I’m also considering the clients that are going to have to suffer through one’s learning curve!)

Maybe I’m wrong, maybe those who went to school would say that about me who didn’t go to school. What pitfalls have you who didn’t go to school experienced? And the ones who did go to school? Let’s share our pitfalls with those who feel that merely a good eye and connections can start them in this business.

Presenting to me is one of the two most exciting parts of a job. I’m putting forward my creative solution to the problem, but it can be challenging. By now I think you all know how I present to a client. I give a presentation of what I think is the right thing and I very rarely give options. Once we get to presentation stage I feel a 100% committed to what I’m presenting and that it is the best for the space. However, sometimes a situation warrants giving a choice. It’s usually for the benefit of the client and to make them a participant in the process. (I always ensure that I would be happy with either option, by the way.)

For clients that are unsure of what they like, the presentation process can be daunting. Many times they want to see twenty things because this gives them an out. In my experience, the more choice you give these clients, the more confused they get.

If a client says ‘I don’t like this because…I don’t like the color / The material doesn’t please me / etc. you have to try and get from them what the color is that they want and what about the material it is that doesn’t please them – and what would. Always, these issues were already addressed in the first meeting, but sometimes a client just doesn’t know what he/she wants and are not sure themselves why they don’t like something. These are tricky situations and I guess guiding them through the process is what great designers do well.

Friends say “give them choices and make your life easy”. I don’t know. I find it hard a) to design two or three different ways of creatinga space and b) being unemotional about the one I feel is the best answer. What are your experiences about giving options when presenting your design idea to clients?

In all the thirty dot dot dot years that I’ve been in business I’ve never let a client take over a job – I’m too controlling. But that recently changed. A client that I’ve been working with for many years was redoing an apartment in New York that I originally did 9 years ago. (I’ve worked with them on many other projects over the years.) We estimated the job, presented it and then the client said “Oh I know a contractor, I can get it cheaper, I’ll hire my people”.

I still got paid my commission, but lost control of the project. The client was talking to the contractor directly, changing things without discussing it with me and became a real loose canon. The reality was that the contractor the client hired turned out to be horrible. but by that time it was like a stampede of horses – with the client changing things, going out and shopping it and completely taking over the job.

The result? It has been time-consuming and everything is taking twice as long to complete. The client has not allowed the job to be done and anytime somebody is judging a finished product before actually finishing it, they are not seeing the completed thought.

My lesson? All the things that I’m always preaching “Don’t do, Don’t do” I’ve gone and done. So ‘Mea Culpa’, I’m paying the price for not listening to my own advice. This project has been a nightmare and has driven a real wedge between me and one of my favorite clients. Something that I for sure never want to repeat again. Has this ever happened to you?

Last week Parsons had a career day and invited different architects and designers to visit the school and talk with students who are looking for internships. I’m always fascinated that schools don’t really give the students a sure-fire method of presentation or teach them how to really put across their concepts. I think that they’re focusing on developing within the student a concept, but they don’t give them the tools in how to sell that concept and successfully put it across.

I sat with around 15 students and I was disappointed in seeing how few of them were able to sell their book to me and explain their concepts in a clear and concise way. That was most of what I was telling them – how to sell it, what to eliminate, what to say, what not to say. So many of them started off by apologizing, which is he kiss of death.

Many of the questions coming through this blog focus on presentation skills. If you don’t know how to present your thoughts it’s like getting on a ship without a map of where you’re headed. It’s a sure trajectory to getting lost. I feel that it’s our duty as professionals to share information and experiences. And I’m not saying that my way is the right way. I can only say that my way has carried me through 37 years of business with very few failures at presentation time.

Do you share your experiences with others? How can we as an industry ensure that students and other professionals are equipped to sell their concepts and ensure success?

It’s hard to believe – with the economy being what it is -that so many vendors are still not pampering and following through and catering to us designers who are providing them with business. “Oh, the truck broke down, the glass broke, the workman didn’t show up today”, or the ‘I’m not going to answer your phone call or return it’ and the sort of excuses I have heard for years which say to me “I don’t give a shit about you” just makes me so angry.

Naturally I’m not saying every supplier, but I will tell you this, the ones that are doing this to me will not work with my firm anymore. It’s hard enough trying to find clients and trying to keep the relationships with the clients smooth. Who needs a supplier throwing a spanner in the works?

Are you all having similar problems? Please commiserate with me if you do!