Sourcing Tips & Tricks
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As you are aware, being an Interior Designer means juggling a multitude of things from client meetings, to sourcing, invoicing, proposals, dealing with contractors and the list goes on and on. Streamlining processes are crucial to building and maintaining a successful interior design business and so today I’m going to write about sourcing.
Sourcing can be as simple or as complicated as you like, but to simplify things I’ve got a few great tips and tricks for you below.
1. Narrow down a list of key vendors. I know many interior designers that only work with their favorite vendors … you know the ones. They are easy to work with, offer great commissions and their shipments come on time and intact. Keep this list in your computer or better yet go to each of their websites and save them to your favorites. This way you can have tabs across the top of your website browser that you can get to easily and quickly. If you need help with a list of key vendors … let me know as this could be a blog post entirely on its own.
2. Keep an ongoing list of your favorite products. I realize you don’t want all your clients’ homes to look the same but there are a handful of items that even the most successful interior designers’ source for multiple clients. For example, I follow a popular interior designer on the east coast who has a very popular blog and from her portfolio I can tell that she loves tulip tables, X benches, anything leopard print, trays and popular design books. She has her go-to sources and can easily source these items.
3. Organize your favorite products in libraries on Pinterest, Excel or another area of your computer. This way when you have a client looking for a kitchen table you can go to your kitchen table cheat sheet to see if there is a great kitchen table there. I realize these lists will always be changing but it’s a great time saver if you spend a few minutes updating them as needed.
4. Trust your gut and move on! When you create the design for a client you know what you want and what you’re looking for. Choose a few options for each piece and move on. You could spend hours getting lost down the rabbit hole of products available. If you know you spend way too much time sourcing for your clients, decide ideally how much time you should be spending, set a timer and get to it. Again, pick a few great options and move on!
5. Outsource your sourcing. I realize this is hard for some people but when you find someone great who understands your style and what you are looking for it can be such a huge benefit to your business. Working with a trusted virtual design assistant can be a huge asset to your business.
Hopefully you’ll find these tips helpful in creating a system for sourcing that will save you time and headaches!