By Fred Berns

Your biggest obstacle to closing more sales may be ...YOU.

Many design professionals sabotage their success by using sales strategies that don’t work anymore. In this era of increased competition -- when it’s never been easier to buy elsewhere what you sell – you can’t do business the old way.

That’s a theme of the sales and marketing programs I present at design industry events around the world. My goal is to provide ways that design pros can cope in an era when financial hurdles are greater, competition keener and customers more demanding (and knowledgeable) than in the past.

One of the best ways to succeed in these challenging times is to stop engaging in business practices that hinder more than help you in today’s marketplace.

Want to boost your sales and income? Then STOP…

+ advertising the old way. Instead, do what your competitors don’t: try your hand at website advertising. Or, capitalize on free publicity, the best advertising that design pros can’t buy. The media is very interested in stories by, and about you, and you get visibility and credibility when they run them. In my 16 years speaking to and coaching thousands of design professionals, I have never met one who got a big job from a big paid advertisement in a print publication. Never.

+ selling “stuff.” Clients can get nice furniture, fabrics, and window treatments elsewhere, but they can’t get you elsewhere. Promote your service and yourself. The most important sale you’ll ever make is the personal one.

+ qualifying. Why waste time – yours and your prospect’s – asking questions that you hope will determine if they can afford you? Disqualifying prospects makes more sense. Inform them that they should look elsewhere if they’re seeking the cheapest design service, wall covering, lighting systems, etc. Advise them to hire you if they’d like to work with, say, a color and space planning specialist who is an award-winning designer with 20 years experience serving a variety of clients with a variety of tastes and budgets.

+ asking about “budget.” Prospects don’t have one. They don’t have a clue about what design professionals do, or how they work, so how can you expect them to have a realistic idea about what they want to spend on your service? Focus instead on their wish list. Discuss their wants, needs and priorities, then let them know your cost for fulfilling them. That will help them decide and you to know how they’ll invest their money.

+ closing deals. Your goal, instead, should be to open long term relationships. Your best customers are your current ones. It’s much easier, and more profitable to do repeat business with a few good clients, then to try to close single sales with lots of individual customers.

+ giving away your time. The most successful design professionals all charge for their time -- all of their time, all of the time. An hourly fee has become an industry standard.

+ resisting price objections. View them as what they are: opportunities, not obstacles. They enable you to differentiate yourself from competitors who charge less. In addition, they’re buying signals. Studies show your chances of closing a sale are substantially higher when price objections are raised.

+ apologizing for your price. You’re a unique, one-of-a-kind design professional who saves clients money, time and headaches. You should be compensated accordingly. High-end clients are used to paying top dollar for top service. They question how good you are if you charge too little, and/or are uncomfortable quoting your fees.

+ working hard. Work smart, instead. Make the most valuable and productive use of your time, and you can double your income without working longer hours. How? Focus each day only on the 3-5 activities which will generate the most income.


When it comes to taking your business to the next level, what you don’t do may be more important than what you do. Don’t do business the old way. Times are too competitive for that. Today, you have to think bigger, market smarter, and attach more value to who you are and what you do. Those simple strategies can and will help you reach a level of success as a design professional that you never dreamed possible.


Fred Berns, the biggest name in the business of interior design, speaks to and coaches design professionals and showroom managers worldwide. He’s the author of a new audio training program, the Superstar Selling System for Design Professionals, and several other design industry books and tapes. For more information about his coaching services, his books and tapes and his monthly ezine, visit his website, www.fredberns.com, call or email .