The Interior Design Business Handbook - A Complete Guide to Profitability by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub

Past client follow-up summary.

After you have completed a

job, you need to stay in

contact with the client. This

summary sheet works very well

for postoccupancy review and

additional follow-ups.

Normally, it is advisable to talk

with clients every three to six

months. This type of reference

sheet appropriately filled out

will help manage that process.

as well as the client’s needs, then your firm is capable of handling more of this type of work and should continue to market for this type of project. Handling Complaints. How you handle complaints can be an important part of marketing and sales development because it strongly affects the way the clients re-late to your firm in the future.

The fact that the client called you at all is positive. It means that he or she is in-terested in your firm and may plan to use you again. If this weren’t so, the client wouldn’t bother to call; he or she would simply go to someone else. Look at a com-plaint as a positive response.

214 Interior Design Business Handbook

In most complaints, emotion and facts get mixed. To get the facts, acknowledge the emotion, but do not respond to it. This is discussed more fully in the section on telephone communication (see pages 301–312).

Mainly, give the client attention. Let him or her know that you are concerned, that you are on his or her side, and that you will find a way to solve the problem. Try to make the client a part of your team in solving the problem, but let him or her know the problem is a priority issue with your firm.

It is best to have scheduled programs for handling complaints. Many firms re-quire complaints to be handled within twenty-four hours of receipt, and sooner if possible. The faster you can get back to the client, the less time he or she has to worry about the issue. Prompt handling of complaints is a very important strategy. There are some clients you can never please. But if you have gone through the whole project with the client, and he or she is generally pleased with it, usually complaints can be easily managed.

Give complaints priority handling, and try to leave the client with a positive im-pression of your firm. It takes too long to develop a client to let some small item become a major issue. The better your management of a project, and the more you know about the contractors, various installation people, and other people who are interacting with the client, the easier it is to avoid complaints.

Client Retention

On any residential or contract project, the designer and the client develop an in-tense relationship that was built on daily contact. When the project is finished, the intensity must diminish so the designer can go on to the next assignment. The client must be weaned away from the constant support and affirmation of the de-signer in a way that does not decrease his or her regard for the designer.

This takes special handling. If the project was an office building with eight hun-dred rooms, the

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