I am always amazed at how many
"ladies" spend every work day having lunch with their clients.
Not only are they in the design center working with the client in tow they stop
for an hour or more to have a bite. Is that a good way to use our very
valuable time? Is it a good way to spend our clients design time
dollars? Well, I think not. Interior design is a business, not an
avocation. We, as professionals, should use the design center to source
our projects, not as a testing ground for clients reactions to certain
furniture and fabrics. We should be secure in the knowledge our decisions
will meet the design criteria for the project and we need not produce more than
two, three or four selections for any given element. As the
"ladies" spend hours in a social whirl with Mrs. GotRocks instead of
producing the given project it becomes evident to all concerned the project
will probably drag on forever. Decisions are delayed and selections not
made. For the client, who generally doesn't know any better, frustrations
may build to a point that a confrontation is inevitable. For the
"lady" designer profit slips through her fingers and she just can't
understand why the bills aren't getting paid. I would advocate this
"lady with taste" move on to the bridge table and let some of the
very talented young designers show her how it's done. As a teacher of
Business Practices for the Interior Designer I find more and more young
designers getting the message about business. Yes, Green Design, is all
the rage but without a profitable business none of that "green" is
going to grow. So stop having lunch with every client that comes down the
pike and produce the project in a timely and profitable manner.
Repeat after me, Interior Design is a business.
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