Designing a Business: How to Avoid Client Choice Overload
Design business coach Chelsea Coryell shares an efficient strategy for creating the best design solutions for a client
Interior designer and design business coach Chelsea Coryell of Washington state-based consulting and training firm Design for a Living has been helping fellow designers grow their businesses for more than a decade.
Q. How do you help clients who can’t make up their minds?
Q. How do you help clients who can’t make up their minds?
Understand Your Role in Guiding a Client’s Decision
There are two main reasons designers get carried away showing their clients too many choices — and it’s up to you as the designer to do a little heavy lifting and have some self-restraint up-front in order to avoid choice overload.
First, it’s in our nature as designers to select beautiful things, and these days our available resources can feel limitless. That doesn’t include the endless variations or customizations we can dream up. I’ve seen countless designers create gorgeous spaces down to the last detail, only to continue to search for a “better” fabric or the “perfect” chair.
The second reason some designers self-sabotage with too many choices is that they don’t feel entitled to make a final decision. What if the client doesn’t like what they selected, or they might come off as too pushy for making a definitive choice? But that’s exactly why they hired you! Your clients need your help to wade through the overwhelming choices and tell them what you think as an expert.
There are two main reasons designers get carried away showing their clients too many choices — and it’s up to you as the designer to do a little heavy lifting and have some self-restraint up-front in order to avoid choice overload.
First, it’s in our nature as designers to select beautiful things, and these days our available resources can feel limitless. That doesn’t include the endless variations or customizations we can dream up. I’ve seen countless designers create gorgeous spaces down to the last detail, only to continue to search for a “better” fabric or the “perfect” chair.
The second reason some designers self-sabotage with too many choices is that they don’t feel entitled to make a final decision. What if the client doesn’t like what they selected, or they might come off as too pushy for making a definitive choice? But that’s exactly why they hired you! Your clients need your help to wade through the overwhelming choices and tell them what you think as an expert.
Practice the D.O.N.E. System
This is a technique that I teach to help designers control their design compulsion and efficiently create the best design possible for their client. I call it the D.O.N.E. system.
First you Decide on a selection that fits your client’s budget, time frame, needs, desires and taste. Then you stop looking and Own it. Remind yourself of why this piece is great and how it meets all the criteria, then move on to the Next item. You’ll find that in the end, you might tweak a few things here and there, but everything will Evolve into a wonderful design that your clients will love and, best of all, is easy to sell.
This is a technique that I teach to help designers control their design compulsion and efficiently create the best design possible for their client. I call it the D.O.N.E. system.
First you Decide on a selection that fits your client’s budget, time frame, needs, desires and taste. Then you stop looking and Own it. Remind yourself of why this piece is great and how it meets all the criteria, then move on to the Next item. You’ll find that in the end, you might tweak a few things here and there, but everything will Evolve into a wonderful design that your clients will love and, best of all, is easy to sell.
Show Backup Options Only if Necessary
You need to keep tight control of your design selections and only show your client your “best design” first. Have a few “back-pocket” choices tucked away in your design bag so you can quickly pivot in case of a design emergency. If you overwhelm your clients with too many decisions, they may become frustrated and lose confidence in your abilities, then want to second-guess every decision you make.
I always tell designers to remember that the “perfect design” doesn’t really exist. How can it when our choices and combinations are endless? You can create a beautiful design that fits all your clients’ wishes, and they’ll be over the moon. They don’t need to know about all the choices they could have had.
Have a question for Chelsea? Email it to editor@houzz.com, Attention: Chelsea Coryell, or post your question in the Comments. It could be featured in a future column.
More for Pros on Houzz
Designing a Business: How Do I Set My Pricing Structure?
Designing a Business: How to Work With an Overeager Client
8 Things Successful Architects and Designers Do
You need to keep tight control of your design selections and only show your client your “best design” first. Have a few “back-pocket” choices tucked away in your design bag so you can quickly pivot in case of a design emergency. If you overwhelm your clients with too many decisions, they may become frustrated and lose confidence in your abilities, then want to second-guess every decision you make.
I always tell designers to remember that the “perfect design” doesn’t really exist. How can it when our choices and combinations are endless? You can create a beautiful design that fits all your clients’ wishes, and they’ll be over the moon. They don’t need to know about all the choices they could have had.
Have a question for Chelsea? Email it to editor@houzz.com, Attention: Chelsea Coryell, or post your question in the Comments. It could be featured in a future column.
More for Pros on Houzz
Designing a Business: How Do I Set My Pricing Structure?
Designing a Business: How to Work With an Overeager Client
8 Things Successful Architects and Designers Do
Think about going to a restaurant that has a menu with chapters. It takes forever to decide what you want to eat, and then you’re usually left second-guessing your choice and wishing you had ordered what your friend did.
That’s why I prefer a simplified selection of delicious choices, each carefully created by a chef who’s an expert at knowing what flavors work best together. This same thinking applied to home design is why your clients hired a designer.
With that in mind, it’s important to have a strategy for what you show your clients, and how involved they’re going to be in the selection phase of your design.