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Foreign.
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And welcome to episode 284 of the Kate Show. And today I have a special guest, Portia Williams of the Prototype on to tell you all about basically how you can get more luxury interior design clients. Now, that being said, a lot of what we talk about today will also be applicable to those of you who own organizing businesses, window treatment and home staging businesses. So if you are not an interior designer, don't skip this episode because you're going to miss out on a lot of really valuable advice and tips. The things you could implement right away in your business to start growing. So let me tell you a little bit about our guest. Portia Williams is the CEO of the Prototype, a business concierge firm specializing in client experience and lead generation for interior designers. Passionate about streamlining business growth, she helps designers attract ideal clients, nurture relationships and scale confidently while staying focused on their creative vision. Through the prototype's expertise and client experience and lead qualification, Portia ensures that designers can freely and manage effortlessly their business, allowing creativity and operations to work hand in hand. Since 2020, her team has supported luxury interior design and architecture firms across the U.S. canada and Australia and has partnered with IDS, ASID, Business of Home, Mydoma by Studio Designer and so many. Now she's bringing her expertise to the Designer's Guide to Reliable Lead Generation. This is a course you'll hear us talk about at the end of today's interview and it is meant to help designers build scalable, stress free lead generation systems while strengthening relationships and driving long term growth. Basically, Portia and I speak the same language. Portia is a wife, a mom of two and a champion of helping interior designers run their businesses their way without the overwhelm. So without further ado, enjoy today's conversation on getting more luxury design clients with the prototype. Hello everyone and welcome back to the Kate Show. I'm here with the one and only Portia Williams. Portia, thank you so much for being on the Kate Show.
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Thank you so much for having me. I'm really excited to be here.
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B
Yeah, I'm glad we can make this work out because much like we specialize in working with interior designers and others in the home industry, so does your firm. And, and I am so intrigued by everything that I've seen come out of your business, the prototype, because I love a good system. It makes everything so much easier. It's easier to scale, it's easier to delegate and outsource. So I would love to get a overview from you on the most common issues that are preventing specifically interior design firms from growing, because I know that that's the type of client you guys focus on working with the most.
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A
Yes. So the, what I see kind of as the underlying issue is not being focused interior designers not being focused on sustainable growth, client experience and building relationships from the beginning. So for many designers, they start with the execution of the actual design project and the business of operating the business comes after. And it often times happens after bad habits have already been created. So they're in catch up mode. Right. And so when you're in catch up mode, you are, you're chasing shiny objects for a quick fix. So that may be relying too heavily on social media. That may be never taking the time to really hone in and define your client experience or leaving meaningful relationships unattended just because everything feels like an afterthought at that point. So, and I will say, like, this is, this is my perspective on interior designers, but it's not unique to the interior design industry at all. This is entrepreneurs everywhere. But I think it's easier for interior designers to fall into it because the non operational side of their business is creative, it's fulfilling, it's what they're passionate about. So that's where their focus lies. But what I've come to learn is that creativity thrives when business operations are optimized.
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B
Yes.
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A
That is like, that frees you up so much mentally to be able to stay in your zone of genius when things are running smoothly on the back end.
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B
Yeah. And you know, I can hear a chorus of interior designers in the background saying, but I became an interior designer because I wanted to design. That's all I wanted to do. I didn't want to run a business.
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Exactly.
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B
Oh, and then that's.
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Yeah, but that's, that's what you have to do. Unless you have the, unless you have the funding to hire your full support team from the beginning. You are the one, you know, creating the systems and really designing. And you should design how you want your business to run.
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B
That's a great point. Yeah. Before you design client spaces, you have to figure out how is this going to operate on a daily level so that things don't fall through the cracks. And I like how you described that, you know, they might be like, oh, I have, I have a cash flow problem or I have a client inflow problem. Let me go fix that by doing more social media or running more ads. And that's a classic case of fixing the wrong problem.
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A
And yes. The symptom versus the, the underlying disease.
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B
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I've said it many times on the podcast, but I will say it again. There's no amount of marketing, even really good marketing, that can fix a business that just has flawed systems or has improper money management. Like, those two things will kill a business no matter what else you're doing. And. But the good news is, like, those things are so fixable. And so I know that before I started recording, we were talking and singing the praises of Slack. Like, just the. The basic element of being able to communicate with your own team. And a lot of designers struggle with. I hired someone, but I feel like I still have to hold their hand and everything, so it's not really helping me. Now, Portia, you tell me if I'm, if I'm off track here. It sounds to me like maybe there's no system in place for this new person to follow.
- [06:57]
A
Exactly. Like before you. That's where you have to start is by auditing what you currently have going on, auditing your current system, and then identifying how you want things to run and using tools like Slack to help get things out of your head. Like, you. You have to. You have to operate with the intention of not being the bottleneck. There's so many tools, AI ways to create SOPs that make it really easy, especially for repeatable tasks that you're doing that when you're ready to bring somebody onto your team, it's, It's. It's a lot easier to just hand over something that you've created because you took the extra five. Now I'm. It's the hardest thing in the world to do. Yes, but you gotta take the extra five minutes to just document what you're doing and then. And because it forces you to realize all the steps. Like, it comes easy to you because you've been doing it. But there's a lot of steps involved in a client intake process or a workflow, for instance. Like, there are a lot of steps and a lot of things that you just naturally do one step to the next, to the next. And when you're trying to hand that off to somebody else, and this is with delegation on anything, you really want to set them up for success by making sure that you cover in detail what that, what that process entails, but then also share that it's the way it is because I've been the only one doing it. So if there is a way to improve this and make this more efficient, I am all ears. This is why I brought you on. I respect you. I believe that you're smart and capable and that you're going to bring something new to the table. So please share ways that we can operate more efficiently. Efficiently. But I'm gonna start you off by giving you a clear road map of what it looks like.
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B
Yeah, yeah. And just, I mean, this is hard even, I guess, for any creative industry, especially because we are so emotionally tied to the work and our own internal process. And, like, when I first started delegating, it was out of necessity. I. I believe I was actually approaching maternity leave with my first baby. And, like, babies change everything, you know? Yes. But for a lot of people, and maybe that's not their situation, but they're just like, I'm so busy. Okay. But then you have to stop and ask, well, is this busy work I'm doing necessary? Like, does it even need to be done at all? Because I think it's so easy for us to just tell ourselves we need to be doing X, Y and Z without actually having a reason for doing it, and then it just becomes a time suck. But then the other part of it is, okay, if this does need to be done, could someone else possibly do it? Like, does it have to be done by me? And most often what I've seen just in my own business is it doesn't need to be done by me. And if I think it does, that might be more of a pride issue than anything else.
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A
Yeah.
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And a control issue.
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Yeah. And that, like, that's how we. That's how we've talked about it with, like, outsourcing the client intake and experience and. And the discovery calls. Like, if your ideal projects, your ideal client can be communicated to someone else, let someone else do that. Like, we have a specialty in doing discovery calls and pulling information out of prospective clients and really vetting projects. So as long as you can communicate what you're looking for, what will be best for you, we are going to protect your time more than you will, because we're going to make sure that you're only getting in front of ideal clients as best as we can.
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B
Yeah. Yeah. And looking at the how much is my time worth Situation, it opens up a whole other can of worms because a lot of us as creatives, we don't know how much our time is worth.
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Yes.
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And we feel like it's a very emotional topic again.
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Yes.
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And maybe.
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Or we don't know how long things take. Yeah. Doing an audit. When. When I. When I prepared for my sabbatical last year, one of the things that I did is a time audit for. I think I did two weeks of just every single day I had it in an Excel spreadsheet. Every single thing I did and how long it took.
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B
Smart.
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The list was so long. But there are so many things that I was doing that I didn't really need to do. And things took so much longer than I originally thought it would take. Because for a lot of things, you start it and then something else happens, and then you come back to it, or you. You start it and then you find out that you need more information and you have to come back to it. And so it. From beginning to completion, a lot of times is longer than what we anticipate.
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B
Yes. You know my cfo, who's also my husband. Yeah, I know. It works out really well. He's. He's like the Time Lord. Like, I started calling him that a few years ago, and it has just stuck because he's so good at estimating time. He was a lead remodeling carpenter, you know, working for the gc, so, like, he had to do that. But now when we're making business decisions, he's like, well, how long is this going to take your team to do? And I'll give him a number. And he's like, okay, let's take that times two and a half. Because he knows I'm terrible at estimating time.
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Yes.
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Like, even if I, like, even just doing, like, household chores, I'm like, oh, that'll take me 10 minutes. It takes a half hour.
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Like, whatever.
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I'm terrible at estimating.
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And I'm blindness.
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Yes.
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I have it bad.
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Yeah. Yeah. And a lot of creatives do. We just get sucked into our work, and we also kind of enjoy it or we don't. It just depends. But I have had to try, and it's still a struggle for me to. To take at times, too. Like, even doing proposals for clients, I'm like, okay, I think I can do it in this much time. I better take at times, too, because I know I'm going to take longer because constantly under bidding is really going to hurt the interior designer, because then she will never afford to delegate to. To hire things out. So for the interior designer who's like, okay, I know I need systems, but I don't know where to start. I'm overwhelmed at the very idea of it. What should she do first?
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A
Okay, so what I would, like, I. Like I said, I would start with an audit of what you're currently doing and identify what moves the needle in your business. And if you haven't started yet, define how you want to operate what is, or what do you want your client intake process to look like and look through, look at what's slipping through the cracks for you currently? Because when you dig into that, you'll see patterns. Right. You were. If. Are there common points of friction in a project that could be mitigated through clear communication through a client. Welcome guide early on. Right. Are you always chasing down consultation payments when you could collect the consultation payment at the time of booking and not have to worry about that at all? So I think that the most important thing is to be deliberate and how you want to run the business. Or else it's going to run you.
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B
Oh, yeah, like crazy.
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Run you into the ground. Exactly. So, yeah, just start with identifying where you're at and being intentional about how you want it to operate.
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B
So when designers start doing that and they're. They're making their lists. I know because I've seen it on Zoom Calls and I have been this person. I will have notes everywhere. I have sticky notes here. I will have digital notes in different project management platforms. So then we have to deal with the idea of how do we consolidate everything? Put it in a system, software, whatever. What do you recommend designers use when they start tracking their SOPs or the standard operating procedures?
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A
Well, I think it depends on kind of what operating system you're on. Like, for, for us, everything is in Google Drive. We have a shared drive within the company. And most. And some designers use Dropbox or, or, or whatever cloud kind of storage you want to use. But, but yeah, get everything in to have one home where it lives at. And then I would say set a practice for consolidating those sticky notes because you don't want to change the nature of who you are. If you're a sticky note person, you're a sticky note person, but the change you have to make is letting it stay on the sticky note forever. So something that I do sometimes is I will put all of my sticky notes in a notebook, because I also have a notebook and I write notes in there. So. And just taking the, taking the time to consolidate all the physical things together, I think can be, can be helpful for designers.
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B
Yeah. Literally just getting organized. And I know all the professional organizers listening to this are like, yes, I kind of told you that. Put like with like, let's sort this out.
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Yeah, yeah, sort it out. Yeah.
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Yes. So, I mean, I know that for my team, we use Asana. Do you guys use asana or do you use something different?
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We don't use asana. We used ClickUp and We're in the process actually of moving to a new project management software called Nifty.
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B
Okay.
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A
It's similar to ClickUp. Um, but, but so our. We primarily rely on Slack and then we have different channels for, for each client and, and things like that, and then our, and then our Google Drive. But when it comes to like, client information, a CRM is essential and it will. Client information and, and some of the business management stuff. So when you're able to keep track of design and automate the workflows, that helps to really set the. It helps to manage the expectations for clients and it streamlines the process. And so. And it gives you that opportunity to get things out of your head and into a system so that you don't become the bottleneck. We've worked with Dubsado. I've been in my, in my business, I've had Dubsado for, I think, seven years now. I love Dubsado and we've implemented that for clients. We worked with HubSpot Monday.com last year. We started using a tool that was created by one of our former clients and one of our current strategic partners is called Sidemark. And it's a CRM and business management platform that's developed specifically for interior designers. It makes the back end so much smoother. And yeah, so having, having the storage of your information figured out and organized, having a CRM to keep track of client interactions and other business management things. Like with Dubsado, that's where I send. I use it to send contracts and payment or invoices and then something else is an online payment processor or just a payment processor. Like there's so many interior designers that, that don't have any way to accept client payments except checks.
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Yeah, that's risky.
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So, yeah, you want to make it easy for people to pay you. So getting some of those online tools up and running will help you.
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Yeah, yeah. I mean, if I were an interior designer, just knowing what I know now, I would either be using Dubsado or Honeybook just to keep everything automated as much as possible, have set up workflows, be able to add team members to the CRM so they can just hop right into the flow. Like so much easier than trying to treat our inboxes as our CRM because.
- [19:42]
A
Yes, that's not gonna work. No, but I mean now Google is great. They have so many, like we use labels and filters and, and there's, you know, the rules that you can set up to, to organize things, but like the amount of, what is it called? Like the thread of emails and just having that set up so you actually see the last email instead of back from the beginning and missing messages in between. Like, it's not enough to just rely on your inbox at all.
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No, no. Things get lost. Things get mysteriously, permanently deleted.
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And it's like, and it's like distraction central.
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Y.
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Like during the day, you don't want to be in your inbox all day because then your inbox becomes your to do list.
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Yep, yep. And playing ping pong with the inbox, you don't get anywhere fast. Like, yes. You know, every now and then I catch myself doing that. Like, what am I doing? Close this tab. Like, ah, yes. Not every message must be responded to right away. Okay, well, I'm, I'm loving this conversation because I'm such a nerd when it comes to having systems that are scalable. Because there are some systems out there that are not scalable. There are some systems that literally just live in our heads because we're stuck in our own routines. And I'm guessing I would love to know from you, do you help clients break out of old routines that are not working?
- [21:11]
A
Yes, we do. But we identify so we ease into it. I'll say this because change is hard. And for many of our clients, hiring us to handle the discovery calls and these important parts of their business that don't really require them is a really big step. So we are sensitive to that. So first we, we learn about what their process is and, and then we make suggestions when the time is right. Yeah, but we're, we're constantly looking out for ways for things to be more efficient. And so we have like a questionnaire that we send them that asks them about their systems, if they have a CRM, if they have a client service email, how they take payments. We ask for access to those systems and then we do a two hour onboarding call where we walk through their design process, ideal projects, lead sources, all of that to, to learn about them. But we, it depends on, also depends on what their process is. Because some, like when we were starting to work with designers, a lot of them were part of the business of design community. And so that's a very specific design process that's taught in that community. And there's other designers that have done other coaching programs and they have different processes. So we start with what their process already is. And we don't want to come in and be like, you're doing all of this wrong. You need to do this, this, and this. So, but we'll make suggestions when it makes sense and help and, and in a way that helps them realize like, oh, okay, this does, this would actually work a little bit better than what I'm doing now. But a lot of times, like you're doing what you know to do or what you thought was right to do from the beginning. And, and those, and the, and the needs and the processes sometimes need to change over time. Like based on the results that you're getting. You want to look at that and make strategic changes that make, that will actually give you like an ROI instead of just changing things for the sake of changing them because you haven't given one thing enough time to work.
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B
Yeah, yeah. And I'm glad to hear that you ease people into it because, yes, change is hard. Naturally, as humans, we're very resistant to any sort of change. It just feels uncomfortable. But yeah, running a business is all about constantly changing as well. Unfortunately, one thing that you mentioned you guys do for clients, among the many is the discovery call portion, and I'm curious about that. So. And I would imagine that when you do that, a lot of designers come to you with a lot of initial questions of like, well, how are you going to handle this, that and the other thing. So what information do you need from a designer ahead of time in order to make sure that, you know, they feel confident that you're going to conduct this discovery call for them the way they would or the way it, quote unquote, should be done?
- [24:39]
A
Yeah. So during that onboarding meeting, we're learning about their process, what's ideal for them, the areas they like to work in. And then, because our goal is to educate the prospective client on that design firm's unique value and make sure they understand what they can expect from the designer as well as what the designer expects for them as a client. So we have that conversation. We do role play scenarios before we take any calls for designers to make sure that we. Because a lot of times they have, they may have common objections that come up. We do role plays to make sure we are able to really speak in their, in their voice and that we can communicate in a way that, as, as if we're an internal member of their team. So prospective clients have no idea that we're an outside service. And so we're communicating with them from the design firm's email, from a local area code. And that just really helps. It helps the designer because it's something off their plate. But from the perspective client side, they know and they're experiencing the level of support that that design firm has. So it's not so, so the designer isn't the one wearing all of the hats. Like we may not be an internal member of your team, but we are a part of the team and we're there to support the designers. And that gives, that really helps build, build credibility to prospective clients when they know that the designer is not the only one responsible for every single aspect of their project.
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B
Yeah, yeah. And so once you're on the call with a potential client and they understand that, you know you're, you might as well be part of the internal team, they don't know any difference. And I love that that's, it's all very cohesive. At what point then if you're like, okay, this is a good fit, you relay that to the designer. When does the designer get involved?
- [27:02]
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That, that depends on the designer's process. For some clients they, the client doesn't meet the designer until the consultation and for others they do like a virtual meet and greet. After we've vetted the project, they'll do like a virtual meet and greet like in Australia for example. And this is unique to Australia or different from the U.S. many prospective clients there don't feel comfortable paying for the consultation until They've had a 15 minute chat with the principal designer. So once they've been able to put a face with the name, even though they've seen the website and all of that, they've seen the projects, that face to face really helps to give them more confidence. And from there the consultation is booked. So it just depends either way the prospective client is aware of what to expect in terms of the process. Process and the communication for the project.
- [28:08]
B
So in light of that, can you give us a general outline of the ideal lead follow up process? Because I have noticed a trend in like, okay, I get the lead, I get the discovery call and then they ghost me. You know, I've heard this from so many clients over especially as through 2024. 2024 was a rough year for a lot of interior design firms for whatever reasons. There's a lot of reasons. But what's the ideal way to follow up with a lead so that the ghosting doesn't happen?
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A
Well, I would say first, first is timing. That is the most important thing. Reaching back out to a lead the same day. Ideally Super. Ideally within two hours, but no more than 24 hour. 24 business hours is the most important thing. Like the average lead Response time is 47 hours. Oh my, like people have moved on in that time. Life happens. Priorities Change what was super important to them when they reached out is maybe at the bottom of their list by the time you've reached out and it's two days later. Right. So we. So because of that, we reach out to leads at least three times within the first five days, either by phone, by email, by text, and whatever the designer's preference is. Like, some designers don't have the system or they don't like text as a part of their client experience. Right. So we follow what, what the designer's preferences are there, but we follow up within. We follow it three times within the first five days and then we follow a schedule of reaching out over the next year. And so, like, because the fortune truly. The fortune truly is in the follow up. And you have to remember that you're not bothering people by following up with them. They reached out to you.
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B
Exactly.
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A
So you want to make sure, like, they're looking for your help. Right. So reaching out to them is not bothering them. It's making sure that they understand that you're interested in learning more. And you have to. And you do it with a spirit of, I want to close every. Not with the spirit of, I want to close every single lead that comes in because every lead is not going to be a good fit. And that's okay. Right. So you want to be comfortable. And this is something that we're really comfortable doing is telling a client or prospective client if it's not a good fit. Right. You have to be honest about that. You have to be willing to say no. But we like to do no with options. So we'll be able to, if we, if we are able to, we give them a referral to another designer for whatever reason, it may not be a good fit, whether it's timeline, budget, what have you. So we have no problem saying no because we're committed to getting our clients in front of the right projects. And I think it's harder for designers to say no when they're doing their own discovery calls 100%. Because they are invested in the. Yes. Right. Like they, they just want to help. They just want to take on the project and they miss a lot of the red flags. And so it's. So, yeah, so that's where we, that's where we help in that. In that regard. Just making sure they're getting in front of the right, the right people.
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B
I like what you said about saying no with options. Because.
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A
Because. Go ahead.
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B
Well, I shouldn't say it because most of us are people pleasers. Like creatives tend to Be people pleasers. And it is so painful to say no. Like, what am I doing turning down work, I might need it in six months. So. So that does take a certain level of confidence of intention and strategy. So can you, can you expound a little bit more on the no with options?
- [32:19]
A
Yeah. So. Well, one part of it is that people remember how you treated them. So if a prospective client reaches out and your firm is not a good fit, it's truly not a good fit and you just say, nope, sorry, good luck, and you don't give them anything, they're going to remember that. But if you say, you know what, you're not a great fit, or this project isn't great fit for our firm at this time. But I know we have a, we have a, another design firm that we work with that or that we've worked with before that would be perfect for your project or has more availability. More availability. Or is specializes in projects within your budget range. They appreciate that you didn't just leave them hanging. Yeah, that's one part of it. And it's a way to plant the seed and give back and start to build the referral relationships. Other designers, other trades, they appreciate when you refer them. So it may not be. So one step is when you're starting and that's part of our onboarding is talking to our clients about who would you refer if this project isn't a good fit for whatever reason, so that we can have that information at the ready. Like one of our, one of our clients in Boston, she, for she has, she does more luxury design. So for people that didn't meet the budget requirements, we would refer them to the Boston Design center because that's another resource. They still have a path forward. And maybe when they're ready to invest more or they have a larger scale project, they're going to remember that we didn't leave them high and dry and they may come back and say, hey, now I'm ready to work with you. So that's kind of in the spirit of it. It's not leaving people high and dry.
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B
So you also, you mentioned as part of that, you know, you're kind of growing your referralship, referral partnership base by saying, yep, go work with this design firm or whatever. How do you help your clients connect or find more of the right referral partners? Because when I was digging through on your website, I saw that you mentioned that as some of the packages that you offer and I thought that was amazing because a lot of designers, especially if they're Newer, or if they have just moved to a new area, they feel like they are starting completely over. I don't have my connections anymore. So, like, how do you help them navigate that?
- [35:03]
A
Yeah. So we have a system for reaching out to. To potential strategic partners, and it starts with a conversation with the designer, and it's literally pulling the contacts and possible connections out of their head. Right. Like, if you ask enough questions, you'll find those opportunities. So we talk about vendors that they truly enjoy working with, people in their circle of influence that may not have done business with them before, internal team members and, you know, other business relationships. We ask a lot of questions about the nurture, about the nature of the relationship, and then we start to reach out on behalf of the designer. Sometimes that is setting up a coffee or a lunch. Sometimes it's just. It's sending a handwritten note. Sometimes it is if they're featured in a magazine, sometimes it's mailing the magazine just to say, hey, this is where we were featured. Just to keep you. The whole goal is keeping you top of mind. And if you don't have any relationships established, we do the research to identify potential strategic partners that may be in your area, and we start that process of starting to reach out to create those relationships. For one of our clients, she hadn't moved to a new area, but she was wanting to break into a new area. And just through the conversation.
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B
It.
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A
She remembered, she. She talked about the realtor that she worked with seven, eight years ago when she bought her house. And turns out that realtor is now working in the area that she wants to get into. Right. So then we reached out and it's like, oh, yeah, I, like, you have to stay top of mind. Like you. It was. It was. It was a situation of, oh, yeah, I'm actually in that area now. Now you can be part of my referral network for. For. For clients that are potentially looking for. For interior designers. So it just goes back to deliberate action. If you have a lot of designers have worked with vendors for years and have never received a referral for them from them, and that's because they've never asked for it.
- [37:37]
B
Yeah.
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A
And they haven't nurtured the relationship beyond where the project ended, and that's where we come in to help.
- [37:47]
B
Yes. You know, the importance of just asking for what you want is so undervalued. Yes. And also, you know, I've had some designers say to me, like, on our mastermind calls, well, I told the builder that I work with that, you know, I Would love it if he would refer people to me. I'll, you know, and he'll say, okay, well, like, who's a good fit? And she'll say, oh, like, anybody. Anybody with a house. And I said, aha, there's your problem. Because anybody means nobody. Yes, unfortunately.
- [38:18]
A
Yeah.
- [38:19]
B
So it has to be specific.
- [38:22]
A
And what can you, how can you show, show that person what it's like to work with you? Have you, have you shared your design process with them? Have you shared your client welcome guide with them so they can understand what the experience will be like from the client's perspective? And are you checking in, are you checking in to say hi? Are you sending them an article that, that you came across that might be relevant for them? Like, it doesn't have to be. It can be, it can be casual and intentional at the same time.
- [39:05]
B
Yeah. And that's often what's more effective is when, when it's casual. When you see them at different industry events, make it a point to say, hello, how are your kids? How is business? You know, like all those things.
- [39:17]
A
Ask questions. Yeah.
- [39:18]
B
But then also, you know, back to what you said earlier about, you know, you have to have your defined ideal client. And if you don't know who your ideal client is, it's going to be really hard to communicate to a referral partner what kind of leads you want because you just don't know exactly. Like, goes back to the. Anybody with a house, anybody with a budget. Like, yeah, it's just not clear enough.
- [39:41]
A
So that's really, really important. Yeah. Yeah.
- [39:43]
B
And. And knowing who your ideal client is will also determine which referral partners are going to be worth pursuing and which ones won't be.
- [39:53]
A
Exactly.
- [39:53]
B
You know, I've all. I've run into awkward situations once, maybe twice in my own career where I realized someone was sending me tons of leads, but they were terrible leads. Like, they'd sign on with me, they were miserable to work with. And I finally had to go back to that referral partner and say, hey, you don't need to refer people. It was so awkward. Like, oh, my goodness.
- [40:17]
A
I can only. I can, I can imagine. I've been in that situation too. Because your business changes.
- [40:23]
B
Yeah.
- [40:24]
A
Over time. Right. And what was, what, what was a good referral partner 3 years ago May not be a good referral partner now, but that person won't know. If you haven't talked to them in the past three years, maybe, like even just having them having your referral partners on your email list.
- [40:42]
B
Yes, completely.
- [40:44]
A
Like, so they know what's going on with you and what changes are happening is like, is a really big game changer and making, and making, you know, all of it more effective and less like throwing spaghetti at the wall.
- [40:59]
B
Right, right. And that's the exact phrase that I will hear from clients who are struggling to get referral partners. They are, have referral partners, but they're not getting any referrals from them. Yeah, it is a hard thing, but no word of mouth. Referral is still the number one source of clients for high end luxury interior design. It will always be that way. It doesn't matter how fancy your online marketing is. What really matters are the relationships that you're cultivating and relationships with past clients, with colleagues, with vendors, with partners. And how many referral partners do you recommend your clients have at any given time? Because what I've seen is like, you don't have to have a dozen in order to make it work. How many would you say is like the ideal?
- [41:50]
A
You know what, I've never thought about a specific number. I think it is the industry that they're in. So if you think about who's in your existing network and where the holes are, do you have a, like, you don't need to have five realtors. Do you have one solid realtor? Do you have like people that serve people that also service? The same type of clientele can be referral partners like luxury, like smart home consultant, av. AV equipment.
- [42:37]
B
Yep.
- [42:38]
A
Contractors, what have you. So I think if as long as you have a good variety of people and industries, people in your circle of influence are people that you may not have ever done business with, but they know a lot of this. They know your potential clients not because it's their business, but because it's their circle of influence. Right. So maybe it's the, maybe it's, maybe they're not in, in the interior design industry or in the design world at all. Maybe they're a financial advisor that are advising wealthy clients who are, who have the means and trust your expertise enough to decide to hire a designer when they're ready to work on their home. Right. So it's just having a good variety of industries and networks. More so than a specific number, I think.
- [43:39]
B
Well, and it sounds like it involves some thinking outside the box because it's really easy for us to get boxed into our own industries.
- [43:47]
A
But yeah, yeah, and that's, that's part of that conversation is like, who else? Like who's a mover and shaker? Who do you, what do your girlfriends do? What do you what do your girlfriends do for a living? What industries are there in. What industries are their husbands in? What. What are the other moms at school? What industries are there in? Are they in? So just thinking. Yeah. Thinking outside of the box about. But think outside of the box with the specificity on their proximity to your ideal client.
- [44:24]
B
Yep. I love it. I love the strategy that is behind all of it. And speaking of strategy, you have a course that would be a great fit for a lot of interior designers who are listening now. Disclaimer for everyone. We're recording this episode months in advance because of my maternity leave. It has nothing to do with Portia. She's not making this difficult. I'm making this difficult because I, I just, I cannot podcast and breastfeed at the same time. I mean, I think I've probably done it before, but I'm not going to do it again. It's too hard.
- [44:55]
A
You live and learn.
- [44:56]
B
Yes. Yes. So we're recording this at the end of February, but you all are listening to this in June. So your course probably has a wait list right now in June.
- [45:09]
A
Yes, we're probably so first. I'm so happy to talk about the course. Thank you. And so it launches. It launches in April. And so we'll have a. We'll probably be on our second wait list for the next launch in June when this airs. But. So the course is called the Designer's Guide to Reliable Lead Generation, Build, Scale and Grow. Kind of a long title, but it is a game changer for interior designers who are looking to take the guesswork out of attracting and converting the right clients. So in the course, I teach a five part framework for generating qualified leads through relationship based methods like what we've spoken about today. And these are all things that have worked for clients in the past. So we focus on re engaging your existing network, aligning with ideal clients, developing the strategic partnerships, amplifying success through gifting and client experience, and then refining the whole system with data and the metrics that really matter for your business. So I am super excited to launch this. This is our first course and we've put so much time and effort into developing it. And I feel like this will be a real help to designers to give them a pathway of actionable items that they can do when they understand the growth that can happen from really intentionally building those relationships. It's not an overnight fix because relationships take time. It'll take time to implement the strategies and things like that, but it will be. You're so much better for it when you're, when you put that intention behind it as a designer and what, what.
- [47:13]
B
Type of designer is a good fit for this course?
- [47:17]
A
So I would say a designer that is newer or wants to refine how they've been doing things, maybe they're more seasoned, but they're ready to kind of re establish some of these foundational pieces. Our monthly clients generally this is something that we're, that we're helping them, them with. But if it's a designer that's a little bit newer, wanting to get started on the right foot or wanting to refine what they've been doing in the past, this is a great, it's a great course for them. The price is 497 for our first launch. It'll go up after that. But yeah, it's a designer that is, I'll say it like this. A lot of designers don't consider themselves luxury, especially when they're new. Yes, right. But, but interior design is a luxury industry. It's a luxury service for the people that are able to invest in it. They expect a luxury experience. And so using the course to really help you streamline, level up, elevate how you're doing things when it comes to lead generation will really be helpful in getting you those, those luxury clients that, that you're looking for that's required to really grow.
- [48:51]
B
Yeah. And tell me about the course components itself. So is it like videos, workbooks, are there live call components or what can people expect?
- [49:01]
A
Yeah. So we will do for the first launch we will do, I'll do weekly videos where I teach the course materials and then they'll be uploaded to the course hosting platform. So there, there will be a portal where you can log in and take the course on your own if you'd like to. But for the first launch I'll be doing it live once a week. And then we have some really cool bonuses. We have a whole bonus, extra bonus module around client experience and aligning with the ideal clients we have. One of our bonuses is the relationship mapping worksheet that helps you think through all of those relationships that are really important in establishing who are your referral partners are going to be. You'll have an opportunity to have a one on one call with our team and of course we'll have email support and things like that.
- [50:01]
B
This sounds really good. I mean I wish that I could funnel every new interior designer especially in there because like I'm just imagining how cool it would be to start your business with this foundation in place.
- [50:14]
A
Yeah.
- [50:15]
B
Versus having to go back and do it later, which is totally doable. But I imagine it's a lot easier to just get it set up right from the start.
- [50:22]
A
Yes, it's so much easier to get it set up right from the start. So, so yeah, we're, I'm really, really looking forward to it and I'm excited to see how people respond to it and what really resonates and, and, and excited to continue improving it as we go along and we, and we release it multiple times. So, yeah, thanks for asking.
- [50:45]
B
Yeah. Those courses are never just one and done. Like there's always refinement. So where can people go if they want to register for the course or get on a wait list for it?
- [50:57]
A
Okay, so you can head to our website. It's www.theprototype.net. we actually have a, that we just came up out with last month. We have a two minute quiz that will help identify the gaps in your business that may be holding you back. And then based on the results, you'll receive a tailored strategy document to help you kind of start turning things around. By doing that quiz, you'll automatically be added to the course wait list. So you'll know whenever the cart will open again and you'll be able to join the course live. And then of course we'll like follow on social, on Instagram, it's at the prototypelifestyle, I share tips and resources and strategies. We're coming out with a resource library that I'm super excited about in the next month or so that will have all sorts of good things for you to download and purchase to help get the operations streamlined and yeah, so take the quiz, get on the wait list and let us know when you have found all the right clients.
- [52:10]
B
Awesome. That's the prototype.net correct?
- [52:13]
A
Yes.
- [52:15]
B
Don't want to get that mixed up with.com? yes.
- [52:18]
A
Not.com net yes.
- [52:20]
B
Okay. Well that sounds so cool and I think it's neat that you're doing the first round live because you're going to field a lot of really good Q and A's that will help other people.
- [52:31]
A
Yes.
- [52:32]
B
So brilliant way to do it.
- [52:33]
A
I love, I love like doing webinars and master classes and I feel like it's a great way to like that engagement and that instant feedback is super helpful. So. So yeah, I'm really, really excited and I hope people tune in.
- [52:49]
B
Yeah. Well, I think that it's something that's desperately needed in, in the business culture that we have, you know, in the us, uk, Australia, because it's really not all about what you're posting on social. It's about the relationships that you're nurturing and the strategy that you're applying. And those are the hard things, things that are not so fun to think about, but completely necessary to build a sustainable, scalable business. So thank you very much for coming on the show today. This has been great.
- [53:17]
A
Thank you. This has been great. Thank you so much. I, I, I learned about you through some of our clients that have worked with you in the past, and I think it's amazing service that you, that you offer. And so it's just a huge pleasure to, to be here and to get to meet and talk to you.
- [53:35]
B
Oh, thank you. Thank you. I have the best clients. Like, they have gotten more opportunities for me and more connections for me than I could have ever gotten for myself. It just goes back to those relationships.
- [53:45]
A
So it's the relationships. Yeah. Yes. Awesome.
- [53:47]
B
All right, everyone. Well, thank you so much for watching or listening. Whatever you've chosen to do, please go to the prototype.net and sign up for the course. Get on the waitlist, take the quiz, do all the things, contact them, do everything.
- [54:00]
A
Yes.
- [54:01]
B
Until next time, guys. Keep your marketing simple, your message clear, and I will talk to you soon.