If you’d asked me my feelings about selling when I first started my interior design business, I would have cringed.

I loved talking to people about their project and hearing about the transformation they wanted to bring about.

And I was able to ‘feel their space’ and come up with creative ideas, which – along with all my years of project management experience – meant I knew I could help them.

But I couldn’t find the right words or the confidence to convey my ability to help them and the value they would receive. So whilst I was ‘converting’ and signing new clients I was selling my services for a fraction of what they were worth. 

I’d run multi-million pound projects from London’s City Hall and looked after the most senior politicians in the country, but then I’d falter and put forward a fee proposal which had me working my socks off for pennies. 

I was frustrated and felt like a failure. Because let’s face it: it doesn’t matter how good you are, and it doesn’t matter how many enquiries you get; if you can’t turn those leads into profitable clients you don’t have a business…

I knew it was something I needed to crack and so I set off to learn all I could about sales psychology, and overcome the limiting beliefs I had about myself and what my services were worth.

And with that knowledge I could suddenly see clearly where I was going wrong:

🤦🏼‍♀️  I dominated every sales conversation and made it about me – not from a place of arrogance but from a deep place of insecurity.  If I could convince them that I knew my stuff then maybe I could convince myself, so instead of allowing them to explain why they needed ME, I was constantly trying to prove my credibility and worthiness.

🤦🏼‍♀️  I was so keen to tell clients all about my services I wasn’t listening to what they were telling me about what they most wanted (at a deeper level than simply what colour the kitchen should be painted), so I couldn’t articulate how my services would create the beautiful transformation they desired and why it would be worth every penny of my multiple £000s fee proposal.

🤦🏼‍♀️  I approached every sales conversation with the thought of “please let them like me” rather than an objective assessment of whether we were a good fit for each other. I don’t know whether my desperation was felt by my clients but it was certainly felt by me, and when I sat down to write a fee proposal I’d be swamped with insecure thoughts of “I must win this project or it will prove I’m no good” and would then proceed to massively low-ball myself.

Mastering sales and creating value-based proposals is what allowed me to scale my business and is now at the heart of what I work on with my clients.

My top tips for success?

1) Come from a place of service. Park your ego and remember – your ideal client has a problem they want to solve. You have skills and experience that can help them. Let your curiosity about whether you are genuinely a good fit for each other, rather than your desperation to win the client, lead the sales conversation.

2) Know your numbers. Strategically work out the minimum amount you’re prepared to accept for any project and stick to it.

3) Price the VALUE not the time you’ll take to do the work. Meaning – if your client has just bought a £2 million house, what’s it worth to them to have a beautiful and functional interior design? What’s the value of you taking all the time-consuming sourcing and stressful decision-making off their hands?

If you know you need support to master the finances in your business and sell your services with confidence then check out the links below…

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Watch my free interior design business masterclass here

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Read more insights on how to grow your interior design here 

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Let’s Refine & Grow Your Interior Design Business

​Katy x