Interior Design Business Podcasts - Episode 21
Interior Design Business Podcasts November 16, 2022 - Episode 21
4 great interior design business podcasts today from…
Beyond Interior Design - Marc Muskens - Kristoff DuBose: The office isn’t dead, just the way we’ve always used it... - 58 min
Designed by Wingnut Social - Darla Powell - How to Ask Your Interior Design Clients for Their Budget (with Hilaire Pickett-Martin) - 22 min
The Interior Design Business CEO - Desi Creswell - Client Capacity - 30 min
The Chairish Podcast - Michael Boodro - Jean-Louis Deniot on the Practicality Behind French Glamour - 38 min
Beyond Interior Design - Kristoff DuBose - The office isn’t dead, just the way we’ve always used it... - 58 min
In this episode of the 'Beyond Interior Design' LIVE SHOW, host Marc Muskens chats with design strategist Kristoff DuBose about the workplace office - post-Covid.
“After COVID” hospitality is booming back, but offices? No, they haven't. Bars, restaurants and hotels became strong competitors of the office space... again. For years we lived the ‘presence first' reality, which means full office buildings. But now the new ‘digital first' reality is here, with remote work, more freedom, more autonomy and more choice.
So... what are we going to do with all of our offices? Transform them into a ‘digital first’ office? We are forced to look at it in a different way.
In this podcast, host Mark Muskens & design strategist Kristoff DuBose are going to attempt to crack "The Office Design Code".
If you’re a designer faced with the challenge of designing hybrid workspaces, you’re going to want to listen to this episode of the Beyond Interior Design podcast
Highlights:
‘Presence first' reality VS ‘Digital first' reality.
How an idea makes his way trough the office.
And… Is a full office is an illusion of control and productivity?
You can check out this podcast episode here:
Designed by Wingnut Social - How to Ask Your Interior Design Clients for Their Budget (with Hilaire Pickett-Martin) - 22 min
How do you get that elusive budget from your interior design clients?
On today’s show, host Darla Powell is discussing client communication and transparency with guest Hilaire Pickett-Martin.
IMHO, this is an episode that a LOT of residential interior designers should listen to…Hilaire is here to tell us to not shy away from answering (and asking) the tough questions with your interior design clients - plus how to ask your interior design clients for their budget!
Key Takeaways from the Episode
Hilaire says transparency starts at the first meeting with your client. It’s important to really listen to your client and understand their challenges. What does your client ultimately want? Use your first meeting to get to the bottom of their goal. Hilaire sets expectations along the way, even in the initial design presentation. She may show her clients design choices that have big lead times; she makes sure to articulate these timelines to her clients. She also tries to get a sense of the client’s budget and timeframe (even if it’s a range) to make sure they align with her vision. Hilaire is very authentic in her conversation with her clients, being fully honest if she doesn’t think something can be accomplished within their budget and timeframe.
How do you get your client to tell you their budget? There are several different approaches. If your clients have a number but are just hesitant to share it, Hilaire recommends asking for a range - “give us a high, give us a low.” Another approach is to identify pieces within the space that the clients are willing to spend money on. You can find a budget range by value engineering specific pieces. Value engineering is a fancy way of saying “working within a budget.” There are 3 things you can have - price, function, or quality - but you can’t always have all 3. You might have to sacrifice one or the other. If you value engineer the price of an item, you may not have the best quality. At the end of the day, you have to pick what’s important and what you want to spend the money on.
Being transparent during the final steps of the design process is just as important as being upfront in the beginning. So you’ve procured furniture and it’s on purchase order - having open communication about delivery is crucial. Obviously there has been a huge amount of pressure on expediting over the past few years due to supply chain issues. Hilaire is very open about deliveries, letting her clients know that the timelines and delivery dates are subject to change. She feels people have been relatively understanding of these delays coming out of a pandemic. Additionally, Hilaire and her team are present for every install. They make sure everything comes off the truck in great condition, and if they’re not, they let the client know and work towards repairs or returns. Lastly, they communicate with their clients at the very end of the process upon invoicing.
You can check out this podcast episode here:
The Interior Design Business CEO - Client Capacity - 30 min
How much work can you comfortably take on in your interior design business? More importantly, how much work do you want to take on? You get to decide on the lifestyle you want and how that pairs with your business, and how you decide on your client capacity plays a huge role in that.
Defining your client capacity starts with being clear on how you use your time, making intentional decisions, and of course, honoring those decisions.
In this episode, host Desi Creswell helps us decide how much we want to work and what kind of money we want to be making, so we can make an informed decision about projects we undertake, how we set your fees, calculate markups, and make that lifestyle balance a reality.
Sound good?
Key Takeaways
Why it’s great to be in demand, but we need to be intentional about what we take on.
What it looks like when you have more clients and a bigger workload than you have the capacity for.
Why you get to decide what being at your capacity looks like, and why it doesn’t have to be operating at your absolute maximum output.
The discomfort so many interior designers experience around saying no, and how to start normalizing and feeling comfortable with the discomfort.
3 of the most common thought errors that lead to interior designers having a workload that is over capacity.
The importance of considering your emotional capacity as well as your work capacity.
What you can do to adjust your inputs and give yourself space to grow your level of capacity.
How to use a client filter to start deciding what you’re going to say yes to, and where you need to say no to avoid being over capacity.
You can check out this podcast episode here:
The Chairish Podcast - Jean-Louis Deniot on the Practicality Behind French Glamour - 38 min
For two decades, Jean-Louis Deniot has brought a cool, contemporary edge to French glamour, and endowed projects around the globe with his unique French accent. His work is lush but never overdone, contemporary but always inclusive of the past, and bold yet always comfortable.
In this exclusive interview with host Michael Boodro, he tells why he always looks first for the flaws in any project, how important it is for a designer to abandon any pre-conceived ideas, why he believes that luxury and sustainable design are compatible, and shares his strategy for enticing clients to go far beyond their initial vision.
You can check out this podcast episode here: