How To Generate Leads For Interior Design in 2021

How can you generate leads for your interior design business?

Lead generation is the life-blood of any sustainable business. And having a solid, reliable, and proven plan is essential to the process.

So if you’re looking for the answer to the question “how to generate leads for interior design”, then you’re in the right place.

Here’s how you generate leads for your interior design business:

  • Start by defining who your dream customer is
  • Define what’s the ultimate result you can get for that dream client
  • Figure out what the “core” parts of that ultimate result are
  • Figure out what the most exciting part of the process is
  • Decide what goes into the various parts of that process are
  • Create a super sexy lead magnet based on the most exciting part of the process
  • Learn how to get people to download your lead magnet
  • Create a low-price tripwire product to introduce them into your world
  • Create an incredible and irresistible offer for the DIY people in your audience
  • Create an application funnel to get your dream customer begging to work with you

Lead generation is a challenge for virtually all businesses, especially when you’re when there is a lot of competition.

But there are some under-the-radar tactics & techniques that you can employ online. Today, I’m going to show some stuff that will rock your world, fill up your funnel and book you solid.

How to generate leads for interior design

As someone who’s also a creator, I can feel your pain and frustration when it comes to generating business.

I’ve been there and done that.

But what most creators are missing is that there’s more to their business than just the done-for-you services that they offer.

Define your dream customer

If you want to figure out how to generate leads for your interior design business, you need to start from the beginning and that starts with figuring out who your dream customer is.

Before our eyes glaze over and you dismiss the idea, hear me out (I know this happens because it’s what I did myself!)

Let me tell you a short story.

I was new in my web design & development business, and I was desperate to bring in money.

I was doing ok, but I really needed to amplify my efforts and income and I was taking in every bit of business that knocked on my door.

I had this one customer come in that had some pretty basic needs and I knew I could help and it would be a good-paying job, but it felt like this guy was a little outside of the normal people I’d been working with.

I went ahead and brought him on and started working on his project.

While the work was in my wheelhouse, and I knew I could deliver great work for him, I dreaded every conversation I had with him.

He was the neediest client I ever worked with. I dreaded working with him and I eventually had to fire him.

After going back through what went wrong with this client I figured out something that changed everything for me:

He wasn’t anywhere near my perfect dream client!

And if I knew who it was that i wanted to work with before we got started I would have never taken him on as a client.

These days things have completely changed for my business.

I’ve figured out precisely who my dream client is, and who I love working with and those are the people that I now get to work with in my business.

If I can’t relate a prospective client to who my dream customer is, I pass on the job. It’s that simple.

So, how do you figure out who your dream client is?

I’ve got a lot of other materials on that, so no need to go too deep on that here. I’ve linked up a couple things here to help (here, here and here), but essentially what you’re doing is figuring out the things about who you would love to work with, and figuring out how you can solve the problems you’re having.

Define what’s the ultimate result you can get for that dream client

Here is where things get fun.

You’re working with your dream client and you have an unlimited budget.

What’s the ultimate result you could deliver for them? Would you fly out to their location and do hands-on one-to-one work with them?

Whatever that picture looks like, write it out in detail if you haven’t done that already.

This is going to be your flagship offering and it’s a perfect fit for your dream customer who’s got plenty of budget to work with.

Outline out what the “core” parts of that ultimate result are

Revealed: Revolutionary New Way on How To Generate Leads For Interior DesignNext, you need to figure out what the various parts of delivering that ultimate result are.

What are the things you do to deliver that ultimate result?

It might be stuff like

  • blueprints
  • Site and floor plans
  • mood boards
  • swatches
  • rendering showing new ideas & concepts

Your most successful project will consist of a few big chunks of things you do to deliver that result, so these are the things you want to define and quantify.

Figure out what the most exciting part of the process is

Now from those different core result areas, which one is the most sexy and exciting? I know for me, I get most excited when I get a vision for what the completed project, so that would be exciting for me to see.

Since you know your dream customer so well, you know what will get your dream customer most excited, so pick the core result that will get them the most excited – we’re going to do something VERY cool with it.

Decide what the various parts of that process are

Since we’re using the rendering as our example, now we’re going to take those and collect the very best ones we’ve done.

One of the most exciting parts of this whole process is the before and after renderings where your dream customer gets to see what their space is going to look like once you’re done with it.

And to do that we’re going to collect the before and after concepts for what’s possible when it comes to remodeling a space.

When you’re as good at your job as you are, you have a collection of amazing concepts you’ve worked on where you took a space that was dated and ugly and transformed it into something that would make a great cover story for Architectural Digest.

Create a super sexy lead magnet based on the most exciting part of the process

Now we’re going to create what we call in the digital marketing world a “lead magnet”.

A lead magnet is something that will be highly valuable to your dream customer that will introduce them to your world and how you can help them.

We’re going to take our collection of before and after shots of what you’ve accomplished and compile it into a guide on the top 10 things that homeowners need to know about remodeling their space that they never even considered, or something like that.

Lead magnet exampleThis is where you get to demonstrate your expertise and how you solve those issues.

This lead magnet is going to be something that’s highly valuable for them, but is relatively easy for you to create.

And you could choose a couple different methods to deliver it – you could create a video that walks them through those 10 things and show them your before and after examples of how you overcame those obstacles for your customers, or it could be a downloadable PDF.

The point is you want them to learn something and get a quick win and demonstrate your authority and expertise.

You want them to understand that you know what you’re talking about and that you are an authority that can help them answer those questions and solve those problems.

In order for them to get the lead magnet they’ll provide their email address so that you can begin to build your relationship with them via email messages you’ll be sending directly to their inbox.

This is just the beginning!

At this point we’ve found our dream customer, we’ve provided them some small value, and we’ve introduced them into our world, but they may not be ready to pick up the phone and call you yet, so we’ve still got a little more work to do.

One of the things that we’ve not talked about yet is where our dream customer is at in their customer journey.

This is a key part, and I’ve got another entire post on how to figure that part out, so I’ll just link that here so you can check it out – “What is a value ladder and why does it matter?

Here’s the deal:

Some people, as you know, are going to DIY things first before they pick up the phone and call you and that’s ok. You’ve got something that can help them, and this is where you’re going to start charging them for your expertise because we’re now going to go deeper than we did in the lead magnet.

But before we get into that, I want to cover a question I’m betting you’re having about your lead magnet.

How do I get people to download my lead magnet?

Now that you’ve got something put together that’s going to be super attractive for your dream customer, how do you get people to grab onto your hook?

There are a couple ways that I’ve used that are very effective.

Create a free Facebook group

One of the places your dream customer is hanging out is on Facebook (like just about everyone else on earth). In this group you can gather your dream customers and you can use the group to teach about interior design concepts, ask highly engaging questions and get your members excited about interior design. Do interviews in your group with relevant people in your space – contractors, architects, designers, etc. and keep adding value to the group by selling your own products and services.

Create a free 5-day challenge

This is a fantastic idea for the interior design market. So many people are doing things themselves these days, but lack expert guidance. You can take them through a 5 day challenge where you lead them through a simple project that will get them the result they’re looking for then pitch your done for you service at the end.

Use social media to your advantage

One thing that many are missing these days is the advantage of doing social media correctly. You want to focus in on building your brand, but also using your social media profiles to drive traffic into your lead magnet using the available resources on each social platform. Many use the “link in bio” to drive people into their funnels.

Ok – does that make sense?

Let’s talk about how we start to make passive income from these leads.

Create a low-price tripwire product to introduce them into your world

A tripwire product is a low-price low-risk way for your dream customers to take the next step into your world and go a little deeper.

What you’ll want to do here is create something that goes deeper than the lead magnet and gives them even more great information to help them along their journey.

This could be something like:

a guide/cheatsheet – this could be a set of budget and planning forms that you use with your custom work clients.

You can create an ebook on tips that flippers and remodelers needs to know before they waste a bunch of money that covers the things you’d go over with your customer so that you can protect them as much as possible during their project.

A short, concise video that covers the same topic but goes a little deeper.

Create a DIY course or program showing them the behind-the-scenes of how to get the result they want

As we ascend the value ladder, we’re still working with DIY customers, so the next step could be something that you create that is a training course for homeowners that are doing their home improvement themselves where you’ve got a multi-module course along with the resources they need to get the job done right.

This could be a five or six part series that goes more in depth and reveals more of your secrets about how you do what you do.

I can already hear you saying, “but I can’t give away everything!”

Don’t worry about giving away too much in this resource.

This is important for two reasons:

First – there are some people who are your dream customers who can’t afford to work with you in your ultimate flagship program, so creating something like this is going to be the next best thing. The best part for you is that once you create it’s done!

Second – the greatest value your dream customer can experience is when they hire you to do what you’re teaching them to do, so you’re not at risk here at all. Some people are never going to hire you, and that’s ok. But wouldn’t you still like to be able to help those people? That’s what we’re doing here and someday they may change their mind if you help them with something smaller at this point in their journey.

Ok – back to our regularly scheduled program.

This more in-depth training product is going to be more expensive – in the $200-$500 range, but it’s completely DIY-driven. You’re providing the expertise and the resources, they tackle it themselves.

It’s important to remember that these things are resources are easy for you to produce, but has high value to your dream customer

Another option that is also another step up your value ladder is a “done with you” program where they’re getting access to your training course, showing them the behind-the-scenes of how to get the result they want in a group setting.

You can deliver value by collecting these customers into a private Facebook group where they get weekly training time with you during a weekly Q&A session/office hours.

The goal here is to deliver a ton of value and resources for your dream customers, but to do it in a way that doesn’t demand too much time commitment for you. After all, you still have other “done for you” clients, and you have to take care of them too – they’re your top priority!

Create a done-for-you program where you do all that on behalf of the customer

The whole point of building a sales funnel is so you can fill your business with your dream customers so you can meet them where they’re at in their customer journey.

Instead of having to suffer through the peaks and valleys of done-for-you work, you now have a plan to meet your dream customers where they’re at and deliver real value!

Next, we’re going to improve how we get done-for-you clients into your sales funnel.

Create an application funnel

The best and highest-paying dream customers are your done-for-you clients. These are your dream customers that are ready to work with you, so now it’s time to create an application funnel.

An application funnel is a web-based tool where you present your dream customers with an application to work with you.

Your skills and talents are valuable, and you don’t work with just anyone, so the goal here is to gather information about your dream customer to see if they’re the right fit for you.

Keep in mind – this isn’t a new client questionnaire. I’ve made that same mistake myself.

We want to flip the script from “hey, you should work with me!” to “tell me why I should work with you”.

We want them to get excited about the possibility of working with you so you’re going to present them with a set of pages on your website that will introduce them to why the redesign is going to help them.

Once they’ve submitted their application to work with you, then you can evaluate whether or not this client is going to be a good fit for you to work together.

At this point you’re probably thinking, “How do I put this all together?”

We’ve covered a lot of stuff.

There’s a good bit of stuff we’re talking about creating here.

So how do you put it all together?

Create an online sales funnel to generate leads for your interior design business

You do this by creating an online sales funnel.

You may be thinking “but I’m not a tech person – I can’t do all this!”

I totally get that.

The good news is that you don’t have to be a tech person to build any of this.

The tool that I’ve found that makes this the fastest and easiest is called ClickFunnels.

ClickFunnels is an all-in-one marketing tool that will cover all these things for you – from starting your email list, to building your funnel pages, to setting up and selling the products we’re talking about creating here.

If you want to learn more about ClickFunnels you can check this out.

Related questions: how many leads do I need to stay booked?

This is simply a math game and you need to know your numbers. You need to figure out how many submissions to your lead magnet to get one conversion of a paid customer.

Then, from those who bought your tripwire product, how many purchase the next training?

You follow those numbers to get to where you want to get to in terms of revenue generated and appointments booked.

Related questions: What do I do if I’m over booked?

This is the best problem to have and here’s how I’ve handled it in my web design & development business. Since we’re both service based businesses, the concepts I use can apply to your interior design business.

When I’ve got more work than I can do at one time I do two things: Raise my prices and schedule out my work in advance.

When my dream clients are dying to work with me, they won’t mind waiting a bit to be able to start our work together, so I book them out in the future and secure their spot with a deposit.

When I’m booking out a few months in the future, it’s also time to raise my prices.

Next steps

It will take some experimentation and tweaking, but with practice, you’ll get it right, and you’ll have your dream customers drawn to you like a magnet!

Have any questions about any of this? Just leave me a comment below.

OR

If you’d like some help implementing what you’ve learned here I want to invite you to join my free Facebook group, Digital Marketing Mastery – would love to have you over there.

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