Many interior designers are uncomfortable with the idea of selling their services to a client. For them, the word “selling” carries a connotation of persuading someone to buy something that maybe they don’t want or can’t afford. There are other ways to approach a sale, however. Keep in mind that prospective clients are looking for help from you, the expert. Explain to them what you have to offer and explore whether you are a good fit for each other.

In this episode, Gail talks with Shannyn Lee, managing director of Win Without Pitching, based in Kaslo, British Columbia, Canada. Shannyn stated the firm seeks to help people in the interior design industry and others to learn to sell more professionally.

Shannyn stressed that designers need to accept that “it’s okay to sell and price like the experts they are.” She said a professional sales approach is a combination of understanding the client’s mindset and then giving them a framework for the different conversations that happen during the sales process. Let them know they have choices and options.

From the designer’s perspective, said Shannyn, think of the discussion with the prospective client not as an opportunity to pitch a sale but as a qualifying conversation. Leave room for the client to open up and talk about what they want, what’s motivating them to make a change. You’re looking to see if you’re a good fit for each other. You may find that you have reservations about taking on this project or working with this client.

“It’s okay to have power in the sale,” said Shannon. She advises that before meeting with the prospective client that designers repeat a helpful mantra: “I am the expert. I am the price to be won. I am on a mission to help. I will only be able to help you if you let me lead. All will not follow, and that is okay.”

For many designers, Shannyn said, it’s a matter of getting “comfortably uncomfortable” with selling. They just need to shift their mindset that it’s okay. “When you have the right mindset, typically the correct behaviors follow.” Keep in mind it takes a lot of practice to build up your confidence. Work on your skills and give it time.

Shannyn noted some common mistakes designers make when selling or pitching a project. She also discussed why the better option for some designers might be not to sell but rather to hire a business development person to handle that side of the business.

For all that and more, listen to the entire podcast.

If you’re listening on your favorite podcast platform, view the full shownotes here: https://thepearlcollective.com/s12e2-shownotes

Mentioned in This Podcast

For more information about Win Without Pitching, including the many resources they have available, go to the firm’s website at www.winwithoutpitching.com.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJv3Ji76LhY

Episode Transcript

Note: Transcript is created automatically and may contain errors.

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Welcome to the podcast, Shannon. I am so excited to have you on here. Thank you, Gail. I am too. I’ve been looking forward to this, so thanks for having me on. it’s my pleasure. Well, we met in a mastermind, and it has been a lot of fun. And I have found out what great expertise you have in an area that I think will be great for our listeners today, which is sales, especially for people in the services business. Yes.

I can’t wait to talk about that. But first, I have to ask you a few questions that are a little bit personal, and I would love to hear about these. And we asked this question about what your biggest life lesson was. Why don’t you share with us what you shared? So I have to remember honestly what I shared, but I’ll tell you what I think I shared. Okay.

There’s a lot of life lessons, but I know one that made a big impact on me was when I was fired from a job. And it definitely was humbling, but also lit a fire. And what I mean by that was it caused me to take a hard look at who I was and what I was doing and where I belonged. And I did not let myself give in to the story that I had failed.

I reframed it for myself because I do think that was the truth. And the truth was it wasn’t the right fit. I shouldn’t have been there. They probably shouldn’t have hired me. And it was a beautiful moment in a lot of ways because it caused me to really just think hard about where do I add value? Where do I want to be? And that really started a journey for me that ended up at win without pitching eventually. But it started a journey for me where I went to work for small to medium sized independently owned businesses and left.

corporate America, which I wouldn’t have traded that experience on the corporate side, but I certainly figured out what my unique ability was after that. Well, I think sometimes it’s important to have those setbacks because if we had it all going so well, I don’t think we would learn the lessons that we really are here to learn. 100%. I am unafraid of failure, of setbacks,

hard conversations, like it just changed so much for me in that moment. And so it was a good thing in the end. Well, that’s an interesting comment that you bring up about having the hard conversations. I was just having a conversation with another client this week about hard conversations and I still struggle with it. tell me your secret to doing that. You know, it’s a really good question and I don’t know for sure if I’ve landed on why it’s

okay for me or why it feels comfortable for me. But I think it has something to do with a combination of life experience, a combination of just trusting myself and knowing what’s right and finding the right words to convey that to somebody that that honestly come with a lot of love and a lot of care. Like I really believe in empathy and vulnerability in life and in the professional setting. And I think if we’re just really focused on

the greater good and this idea of an abundance mindset. When something feels hard, I think we should be able to talk through it. And I did have a boss at a previous job tell me one time that it’s almost like climbing a mountain or having a baby. She said, like, it’s scary and the moment is going to come and it might cause you, this is what she said, it was so like visual. It might cause you to just kind of feel like you have to throw up.

But the minute you start talking, everything is okay. The minute you start climbing, everything is okay. The minute labor starts and you’re having that baby, everything is okay. So it funny analogies I know, but it really like struck me as yeah, it might feel hard in the moment, but the minute you get going, it’ll work itself out. I think too what happens, I know for me, if I’m pushing myself and I haven’t done something before or it seems uncomfortable to do, I probably should do it because I’m going to learn from that. And it’s

hard to overcome that resistance to doing that, making that leap from wherever you are, which is a status quo to something that’s going to be probably a hugely important learning lesson for you in life, right? Yeah. Yeah. And I think it’s okay to practice a little and think a little bit about what that hard conversation is going to be and how you might handle it. So you’re just a little more prepared.

And then I think you don’t want to overthink it. It’s time to just take action. that’s another really good topic too, which is following that gut instinct about what to do. And I think sometimes we take that away from, or we quit doing it because we feel as if we should follow a process or do things a certain way or somebody has taught us a certain way. But in the end, I think that gut instinct, don’t you, is really critical.

Trust your gut. It is really critical and I agree with you that most of us don’t give ourselves enough credit for trusting our gut instinct. And after years of coaching and working with lots and lots of clients, they are smart and they have good instincts and I see it in them. And I see it as they’re working through a problem and talking it out. And in most cases, I’m just raising my hand saying, you actually know what to do here. You just need to trust your gut and…

and be unafraid to say what you need to say. So I think we all need to listen to ourselves a little more. that’s well said. Well, and because you’re teaching how to sell without really being salesy, I think it’s so interesting that we as individuals tend to maybe have a poor feeling about people that are in sales, which is unfortunate because we all sell every day.

We sell our ideas, we sell what we want, if we’re trying to talk our spouse into doing something that maybe they didn’t think about or didn’t know they wanted to do. So we want to sell them on our ideas so that we’re getting them to do what we want them to do. So I don’t think it’s a bad word. So talk to me about sales. Why did you get so interested in that? Yeah, I kind of fell into what I guess is considered a more

formal sales role, but you’re right that I’d been selling all my life...

Sell Without Selling (Shannyn Lee)