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The Kate Show
5 Ways Your Interior Design, Staging & Organizing Brand Needs to Change in Order to Stay Relevant
00:34:28
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Foreign. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the Kate Show. Today, I'm sharing five ways that your business in the home industry, whether you're an interior designer, a home stager, professional organizer, or a window treatment professional, five ways your business should be changing to keep up with the times, to. To adapt. You guys know just as well as I do that businesses become stagnant over time unless we are proactively making sure they're up to date. But we can get stuck in the weeds in our own businesses. It's so easy. We can get so focused on one thing. We get a laser focus on, say, client projects or even a laser focus on marketing that we forget about the other elements of the business that need to be tended to as well. It's like trying to grow a vegetable garden, which I did a lot of growing up here in Wisconsin and only tending to the tomato plants while the peppers and the potatoes are overtaken by weeds. So this week, we are talking about the five things that you need to keep track of and change in your business. And these don't have to be complicated or frustrating. They don't have to be difficult. But. But if you let them go too long, it will take a long time to fix. Now, for those of you watching me on YouTube or on Spotify, you're going to see me looking down a lot. It's because I have my phone right here in my hand to read my notes. Because ever since becoming a mom, I can't remember all the stuff I want to say. It's just like a severe case of mom brain. And I know a lot of you are rolling your eyes right now, like, oh, yeah, that happened to us too. So we're going to get started with the internal systems that you should be changing. Your pricing strategy, your photography, and yes, of course, your marketing. Because as the CEO of a marketing agency, you know, I've got to go there. And then also just practical tips for improvement that may or may not be relevant to you. So let's get into today's episode.
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This episode of the Kate show is brought to you by Honeybook. I love using Honeybook for my business because it helps create a streamlined workflow when people decide they want to work with me. Because, you know, there's one thing to do the right marketing to get the client, there's quite another to impress them all the way through the end of the project. And with Honeybook, my clients are able to review and sign the proposal, make their payment, and then be told what to do next, all in one fell swoop I've set up automations that remind them when they need to send me certain assets so that their website project can go off without a hitch. And if you've ever worked with us, you know that Honeybook kept you on track. It kept us on track and it.
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Was really easy to use.
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If you're interested in using Honeybook for your business, go to honeybook.com and use the code socialite at checkout for 50%.
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Off your first year.
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This episode of the Kate show is brought to you by the foundation website Guys. If you need a new website for your business, but you can't afford a fully custom site or you just don't have that much time to spare, you should check out the semi custom website design service from the Socialite agency for home pros who need more than just a DIY website template. How many times have you purchased a website template only to never use it or get stuck because you don't know how to complete it, you don't know how to connect all the things and well, doesn't that end up being a waste of money? It does. That's why the foundation website exists. If you want a professional to set up your website, handle your on site SEO, optimize your images and write your copy and you want to maintain full control over that website moving forward, this website is for you. You'll be able to see what's included and what's not included by heading over to katesocialite.com and under the services page click on Semi Custom website Design. Every great build begins with a solid foundation and we've made it easy. You'll be able to learn how to exactly how the process works, why we have a 10 business day turnaround, and why we can keep the fees so darn affordable with no ongoing fees to us whatsoever. The cool thing is, and the thing that a lot of our clients appreciate is that when you get our website, whether it's fully custom or semi custom like this one, we are available to help make updates to your site. We only charge you when you actually need an update made, which means that months, years might go by, you don't have to pay us a dime, but when you're ready for help, we're there to help you. Head over to katethesocialite.com and look under the services tab to get the website your business deserves.
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All right guys, so we're starting with internal systems first. Because quite honestly, the internal workings of your business are more important than what your clients see. Because the internal workings will affect what they experience experience. And that's the most important. Do you? This is a big question I'm just going to dive right into because most of you are going to say crap, no. So here it is just prefacing that. And there's no shame or guilt. There can only be change. Do you have a system for managing your inbox? Are you committed to Inbox Zero at the end of every week? Okay, I get it. We all get a lot of emails. I get tons of emails. I've got multiple email addresses for my business. Sometimes I'm responsible for multiple inboxes at once. Sometimes I have team members helping. I know it's a lot. However, if we can't handle the communications coming into our business, that's going to take a toll on the business itself. So that's why I'm starting with something that seems small. And a lot of people will tell me that they've got thousands of unread emails in their inbox. I would say 90% of those are probably junk, but there could be missed lost opportunities in there as well. And that's why it's so important to stay on top of your inbox. So it can be difficult because sometimes I find myself playing ping pong with the inbox, like, oh, another message came in, I better go do something about it. So I turned off all my email notifications on my phone and I close my email tab when I'm working on my computer. And for those of you who are, you know, you don't have a desk job like I do. You're actually in clients homes working. I encourage you to disable those notifications and then just have set times where you sit down and you go through your emails. There's nothing more satisfying than clicking on a dozen or more junk emails and hitting the delete button and then seeing how tidy your inbox becomes. Now some of you might be to the point where you want to hire a VA to do that, totally fine. It's worth it to your business and to your mental health to be organized. Now I know all the organizers out there are like, well, yeah, we could have told you that. But I also know a lot of the organizers out here have disorganized inboxes. And that is not again, it's not a thing to be ashamed about. It's just one of those things we have to look at and say, okay, I could have done that better and I am going to do it better. And it's so simple really. It just means setting aside time every workday. I Do advise that you not check your email on the weekends. I succumb to that every so often and all it does is get me back into the work brain and that's not helpful. It's not fair to my family. So I don't recommend that. Two stars. Don't recommend. Um, but if you can get organized in that way, you're gonna feel a lot better. And even for the people who are not professional organizers listening right now. So, designer stagers, you know that a tidy, well kept space makes your homeowner client feel better. How much better will you feel when all the tiny details of your business are organized too? And by the way, the reason I bring this up is because I've worked with, I would say about a thousand home professionals at this point in my career. That seems like so much, and it is, and it's amazing. But the, the trend that I have seen is the reason people struggle is because they're disorganized in business. And the people who get the least amount of impact from the subcontractors they hire or even the agencies they hire are those who struggle with timely communication. That is why I had to say it. Now let's switch gears and talk about your discovery calls. Are you personally doing the discovery calls when someone contacts your business? Do you have a good method for someone to book a discovery call without having to play ping pong in your inbox? Back to the inbox again. I highly recommend that you use something like acuity or calendly put it on your website so that people can book discovery calls with you. Maybe it's 15 minutes, maybe it's 30 minutes, really shouldn't be longer than that. But it allows them to see what your availability is, fill out some questions that you might have to qualify the lead, and then they can book a call with you. You can even use this for paid consults where they can both the consult and pay before you ever meet up with them or talk to them on the phone, whatever that consult looks like. But the other thing is, if you are not the one personally doing the discovery calls, you should consider making that change in your business. I know that you may have very valid reasons for wanting someone else to do the discovery calls. Maybe you feel like it takes up too much of your time, someone else can do it better. You have other things to do. But here's the deal. If you are the one running the business, you are. If you are the one representing the business, which you are, and especially if you're the one who will ultimately be showing up at client meetings and in clients homes. They should be talking to you first. You should be the first point of contact after the discovery call. You can hand them off to an admin or a VA who will work them through the property paperwork trails so they can start working with you from there. But it is so important not to outsource one of the most crucial steps in your sales funnel. You've gotten them all the way through the sales funnel. They're almost ready to pay you the money. They want to talk to you. And if they're not getting to talk to you, they're talking to someone that you've outsourced your discovery calls to. Like, that will decrease the conversion rate. Do I have metrics to support it? No, but I have common sense. And common sense says people want relationships and they don't like feeling like those relationships have been farmed out to other people. Now when people get on discovery calls with me, I actually was surprised over the years how many people were like, oh my word, I didn't know I was going to be talking to you. I can't believe you still do discovery calls. I thought you would have had someone on your team do that. This is so special. And that has told me I absolutely need to keep doing the discovery calls. But also I want to, I want to hear firsthand what your struggles are as an entrepreneur in the home industry. And it doesn't mean that I think I can convert every single person I talk to. There are plenty of people where I'm like, yeah, we can't help you. We're not a good fit. But there are a majority of people who I talk to, they're like, oh, okay, you guys all have the same core problems. Let me modify my agency's offerings to better suit your needs. And that is something that you can do whether you run a design business, an organizing business, or something else. Doing the discovery calls yourself allows you to not only potentially increase the number of people who actually end up working with you, but it gives you special access to intel you will need to help better guide the future marketing efforts and future product or service offerings that your business creates. So I'll get off that soapbox, but you know, I'm going to hop on another one. The other thing you need to consider is your pricing strategy. A lot of us get really stressed out when it comes to pricing. And the best thing I can tell you is you need to look at your pricing through the eyes of your ideal client. And that can be hard, especially if your ideal client is not Similar to you. So I have a lot of clients who will kind of laugh and tell me, yep, I work for rich people. And I'm like, well, that's cool, we like rich people. To which they respond, yeah, because they write us the checks. And however you define rich or not rich as your personal business. But I find it interesting when someone in the home industry is trying to target a higher end demographic, but they keep their prices in the middle, that does not instill confidence in the person potentially hiring them. That person is used to seeing higher numbers, higher prices for pretty much everything from the grocery store to the clothing store because they gravitate toward more expensive brands because that's a lifestyle they've become accustomed to. They may not do it because they think they're, you know, better than thou. It's just they are now able to afford to buy all organic food at the grocery store. So they're going to do that or they like shopping at Prada or whatever it is. You have to make sure that you are on that level. So that doesn't simply mean, oh, just put a high dollar amount on your prices and you're good to go to target a higher demographic. No, it also means the perceived value. So the way you present yourself, the way your packages are structured, the features and amenities and benefits they include should all be tailored to that ideal client who is probably used to a high level of service, a high level of hand holding, a high level of customability. And if you can do all of those things, then you are going to be speaking their language. But it happens time and time again that we will create businesses based on what we would feel comfortable paying. And if we are not our own ideal clients, then we are completely missing the mark. It's like trying to. Because if you'd liken it to archery. Let's say there are two different targets. One target is the high end project. The other target is the mid range project that you're okay with, but you don't really want. Ultimately, your eyes are on the big target, but your arrow keeps pointing at the, the medium target and you keep hitting that one. That's frustrating, isn't it? But that's where we have to make sure that our goals are lined up with the actions that we're taking, or vice versa. And that is why your pricing really should have a strategy behind it. And on that note, be very careful not to offer too many services. A classic example of this is an interior designer who offers a paint consult and then who also offers an interior design consult and Then who also offers an exterior color consult or the home stager who offers a variety of different consults. The problem with this is someone may need to talk to you about all three of those things and they're going to think they have to hire you three different times to get their questions answered. And if that's the case, they're not doing it. Or they might be like, well, I could talk to her about just one of these things and, but I don't know which one. So anytime you create confusion in a client, they're not going to become a client. The best thing you can do is keep your services a little bit more broad while remaining niche focused. Let me explain. If you're going to offer a variety of interior design consultations, just say interior design consultation package starts at X amount for, you know, one and a half hours or two hours, whatever it is. During this time we can talk about anything related to your design project, whether it's interior and exterior color palettes, floor plan layouts, furniture recommendations, like whatever it is, we can talk about it. That prevents you from putting your client in a box. And it also makes it simpler on the internal side of your business to know that you don't have to track or price all these certain consoles. You just know you've got a consult with Stacey Smith and you're going to show up at her house, she's already booked and paid for. It's wonderful. You, you're going to spend two hours with her, get all her questions answered and there is good potential she will become an actual client beyond that. So keep it simple. There is a big trend and I think it's starting to fade a little bit. But there's been a big trend of offering designer for a day services. And really that can be confusing because then there's also like designer buyer sign services. So if you're offering both of those, pick one. I say this as a marketing person who has spent a lot of time creating websites for these services and marketing content around these services and then coming to realize, you know, there's really not a lot of difference between these two. All it is doing is creating decision fatigue for leads to pick a service. So I don't recommend it. 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Go to patriotmobile.com kait and use the promo code Kait to get free activation. Guys, on a personal note, I have been using Patriot Mobile for about a year and a half and it has been amazing. Not only was I able to keep my phone, keep my phone number and have amazing coverage, I was also able to get on a plan that just made more financial sense for me and my family. And if you go to patriotmobile.com kait, you're going to be able to do things like check your coverage to make sure that you will have the right amount of coverage for your location. Choose a plan that works for you, get a new phone if you need one, bring your own device, keep your phone number and even get cellular Internet. It's kind of amazing there are personal plans or if you have a bigger business then you can also get business plans with them too. And get your employees, all your team members on Patriot Mobile. Guys, go to patriot mobile.com kate and use the code Kate for free activation. All right, moving on. Let's talk about photography. A lot of us do not like photos of ourselves. I get it. However, you have to do stuff you don't like in business in order to be successful. That's just the truth of it. It's like my, my business coach said on a group call, which I just loved. She was like, it is okay for you to do things that you do not like. And I appreciated that because it kind of removed the element of entitlement. We have a huge problem with entitlement in this culture. Like it's so bad. And I say that from the standpoint of someone living in the us Maybe it's not that bad in the uk, I don't know. But here in the US people are pretty darn entitled. They think everything should be easy. They think that if something doesn't bring them joy, they shouldn't do it. And it's really sad to see how many of us have lost our grit, how many of us have lost the ability to push through. However, I've got a lot of pretty amazing clients who have overcome some incredible obstacles and it has made them exponentially successful. So if you went through 2008, if you went through 2020, if you went through personal hardship and your business continued, now, not at the expense of your family, because family is always more important than business, but if you persevere through these things, like high five to you. Because it is not easy running a business. And anyone who starts a business because they want an easy life is living in a pipe dream. Like, it's not easy, but it's meaningful and it's fun and it's exciting and it's challenging. And there will still be things in your business that you'll have to do and changes you'll have to make that will not make your life easier. They will make your life harder. They will stress you out. And that's okay, because a lot of those things will only make your life difficult or stressful for the short term. But the long term, the big picture, which is what we all should be looking at as business owners, is that it will benefit the team or the clients or the bottom line. There has to be a big picture in mind when we're making decisions on how to make the business more relevant and current to whatever culture or demographic that you are serving. I know that most of you have no problem doing hard things. By the way, I have seen it. You guys have the grit and you have the determination and you have the willingness to learn new things. And I say that because I'm so inspired. Like, I have a subset of clients who are. They tell me how old they are. Okay. By the way, this is something about my clients. They love to tell me how old they are. So the ones who love to tell me how old they are the most are those in their 60s and 70s. And I am so encouraged by these women because they do not sound like they are 72. They sound like they're 42. They are so full of zest. They are so excited about their businesses. And I'm like, man, as a 33 year old, I have got like zero to complain about. I have got my whole life ahead of me. So what if it's kind of hard right now because these women are still doing it and they're still excited about it. So I would encourage you that if you are not feeling excited about your business, be okay with that, because it will change. You'll be excited about it. You'll be glad you did the hard things. I actually Have a little wooden plaque on the bookcase behind me. So those of you on Spotify and YouTube might like, see it. But, um, it's right there. See, it says, I can do hard things. And that was from my business coach. And it's a nice reminder that we don't have to be comfortable. In fact, getting comfortable leads to stagnation in any facet of life, including business. And I don't want to be comfortable. I want that sore feeling I get from working out because I know that progress is being made. And sometimes progress being made also means know muscles have to tear a little bit. That sounds terrible. Okay, moving on. Okay. Talking about photography and how we don't like pictures of ourselves. All this pep talk I just gave you was all to say, please get photos of yourself. Please get a professional photographer to take a brand shoot, lifestyle shoot, whatever you want to call it. It could be done in your home, your home office, your studio location. It could be done on a project like, so they could take photos of your project and photos of you and the team in the project. That's pretty cool. These are important for your website, for your email marketing, for your blogging, for all sorts of marketing, including print. And also, you need to have photos of your work. There are a lot of people who kind of skip over this part because they feel photography is too expensive. And I get that. But again, you sometimes have to invest in in order to grow. So get your best projects photographed and with all the other ones that you still like. But maybe they're not like the creme de la creme. Just take pictures with your smartphone. You can use the Teza app T E Z Z A to apply Lightroom presets. It's super easy. You just tap it and it's there. It looks beautiful. So that you still have photos of your work and you don't have to pay a photographer every single time. But paying for a photographer pays for itself too, so it's well worth it. Okay. The other thing is, how are you storing and organizing your portfolio images? I can't tell you how many times my agency has struggled to help someone market their business because that person does not have all their photos in one spot. They have some photos on their tablet. They have some photos on their phone. They have some photos on a flash drive somewhere in their office. They have photos on their desktop. Nothing's in the cloud, and it's a disorganized mess. And unfortunately, then that business owner has to spend hours and hours getting all their photos into one place. And Then organizing them by project. Okay, all the Smith project photos go in this folder. All the Anderson project photos go in this folder. And I don't even know what to do with these photos over here. So I'll put those in miscellaneous. I mean, that's fine. But putting them all in the cloud and keeping them organized makes it so easy for you to share that Google Drive folder or that Dropbox folder with someone like my team so that we can market for you. Because it's okay to use stock photos, but it's better to use your own photos, even if they're not professional. Now, on the note, stock photos, there have been some rumblings in the design community lately about how they can't find the best stock photos for their marketing. For whatever reason, the photos in their portfolio are not ideal. So they need stock photos, but they can't find exactly what they want. They can't find the right design aesthetic. It's very frustrating to them. And because of that, they do not publish the blog post. They don't send out the email newsletter. They. They don't do anything except be frustrated. And to that I say done is better than perfect. Because if you're trying to find the perfect photo, it truly does not exist. And you can use photos that represent your ideal client that you don't have to use, photos that always represent your work. So if you don't have a big portfolio, get photos taken of yourself and then also supplement with photos that represent your ideal client. So if you go to my website, you're going to see stock photos. I use stock photos and I also use professional photos that I paid for, like of myself and my family actually. And I'm actually due for more new photos. I got to get on that. So I'm going to take my own advice here. But my point is if you wait around on trying to get the perfect photos out there, you are hurting your business. Your marketing is going to be effective even if you use a less than perfect photo. So just get it out there. Just do it. Let go of the control freak tendencies that all of us business owners have and get out of your own way. I'm telling this to myself as much as you guys, trust me. All right, so this leads us directly into marketing itself. So marketing is the summation of brand messaging, how you talk to your ideal client, visuals, so the images, graphics or videos that represent your business and the experience or the vibe you offer to clients. So the literal customer journey. And if any of those elements are out of alignment, you can still have effective marketing, but it's going to feel harder and it's probably going to take longer to see results. So if you have your website up to speed and if you are making sure that your branding is on point, you haven't outgrown your brand. Some of us started out with really janky looking logos in the beginning of our businesses. Been in business for a few years. You look at it, you realize the logo makes you look like a teenager, but you're actually a mature woman now. You know what I mean? Get a rebrand. It is so worth it. It'll make you feel better about your business and, and it will attract the kind of people that you're looking for as well. And so quick, shout out to my favorite graphic designer for rebranding or new brands, whether you need a fully custom brand or a semi custom brand. Joolapaper.com that's J U L A paper.com her name is Jill. She is fantastic. I sent all my clients to her. She's also the one who rebranded my business at the beginning of this year, 2024 and she's so wonderful to work with. It is not hard to get a rebrand. It is one of the best things that you can do if you think your business is stale now. You can't just rebrand and change things for the sake of changing things. There does need to be an actual reason for it and you'll know, you will know if you need to rebrand and also you'll know if you need to change your business name. Now that is a little bit harder because there's like legal paperwork involved and it's not that fun. But if you need to change your business name, if you were trying to be clever when you first started your business and now you're like, why did I name my business that? And maybe you want to switch to using your personal name or maybe you plan to sell the business so you would actually like to transition away from your personal name so that it's something less tied to you so that it makes more sense to sell it in the near future. Then do it. Have big picture glasses on. Think big. That's a shout out to my coach. Again, I've learned so much through business coaching, guys. If you've never done it, you need to do it. It's worth the investment. Okay? So the other thing that you need to make sure is that the experience someone has with your business is consistent. So if they're seeing high end visuals and they're reading high end copy and by the way, high End copy does not mean using fancy words. It means speaking to your ideal client the way they would speak to you. Often, they don't speak like they're highfalutin, as we say in the Midwest. They speak like normal people. But the problems they experience and their reasons for hiring you might be different than someone else who would rather just DIY it. Because they would never in their wildest dreams pay for someone to do what you do. Which is fine, they're not your client. But you have to make sure that the written and the visual content going out for your business is representing the person that you want to work with. So to wrap this up, let's get into some practical steps for improvement. And some of these might be a slight repeat, but I think most of this is fresh content. So if you aren't sending out a mass email newsletter every two to four weeks that offers insight into a service that you offer or provides inspiration. So maybe your goal is to get more kitchen remodels. So you could talk about the three key things that homeowners should know before remodeling their kitchen or something like that. You need to do this stuff because otherwise you're missing out on leads. And. And if you don't have all your past leads and clients, you know people who have given you permission to contact them. If you do not have those people in your mailing list, put them in your mailing list. They need to hear from you. Also, make sure that your newsletter doesn't turn into some sort of Reader's Digest or travel journal situation. Because when people tell me, well, email marketing didn't work for me, I'll look at what they've been sending out, and usually 10 out of 10 times. Actually, now that I think of is a conglomeration of too many things. Here's a project. Here's a blog post we did. Oh, here is our trip. Here's our Instagram feed. Follow us. And it's like, whoa. There is no clear call to action. There's no actual benefit being provided. And while visually it might look stunning from a sales and strategy standpoint, it's flat, it's lifeless, it's purposeless. And that's why email marketing doesn't work for some people. All right, so just a quick reminder that I do have on air. If you've outgrown your brand, your business name, your logo, your color palette, marketing is going to feel awful. Getting a rebrand is helpful if you truly need one. And then also if your goal is to increase your website traffic, first Track the traffic you're already getting. I have heard from people over and over. I feel like I'm not getting website traffic. And then I'll say to them, okay, but have you checked Google Analytics? Well, I don't even use Google Analytics. Well, then how do you know you're not getting any traffic? Well, because I'm not getting any leads through my website. Okay, so what are people doing when they go to your website? I don't know. So I'm not saying this to make fun of people because I've been in this situation too. I have so much compassion for this situation. But the problem is we cannot make decisions, strategy decisions, based on our emotions. And that's what happens when people say, I feel like I'm not getting website traffic. They're just saying, I have an internal emotion and I'm tying it to this reality that may or may not be true. That's a problem. You need to actually use Google Analytics and Google Search Console on your website for at least 30 days, ideally 90 days, in order to figure out where your traffic is coming from, how much you're getting, and what people are doing once they come to your site. All right, so the other thing you can do once you have checked all those analytics is start blogging. Blog at least once a month, twice a month if you can. And those topics should be optimized for SEO. And that's a whole other topic that I could get into, but I'm not going to get into on this podcast. Just know that if you need help with the email marketing, the brand messaging, the sales funnel set up, the blogging, that is what we do in my agency, so you can check us out. But regardless, guys, I am so excited for the rest of 2024, because at least in my agency, it has been a year of change. It has been nerve wracking, it has been a little frustrating, it has been hard. But it's also full of new opportunities that I did not even expect, that I did not even see coming. And I know that's not exclusive to me. I know that if we're willing to take risks and if we're willing to make changes and bend in ways that are uncomfortable, think like new yoga positions or something, we are going to see beautiful results from that. And I know that you're willing to do hard things. So I'm proud of you already. All right, guys, until next time, keep your marketing simple, your message clear, and I will talk to you soon.