The Best Ways to Scale Your Interior Design Business
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In the business world, what got you to one stage probably won’t get you to the next. It’s true that changing your structure or way of working, investing, and creating a work team can feel like a lot, especially if you have been working on your own for a while. But it’s a reality that you have to face in order to scale your business and take it to the next level. When you've gained enough traction to expand your team or move to a larger office, that's great news. But how can you start increasing your revenue without significantly increasing costs or effort?
Is it Time to Scale my Interior Design Business?
First, it is important to make moves at the right time. Enlist the help of a financial planner to crunch the numbers and conduct a study of the current market as well as the performance of your business so far. This will help you determine what, if any, changes are in order. A couple of indicators that it may be time to reevaluate things, too, are if you're getting more client requests than you have time to handle or are overwhelmed with administrative tasks. Basically, if you feel maxed out and like you’ve hit a revenue ceiling, take heart. It gets better.
Review Your Business Plan
Scaling can look different for different business models or directions. Write down the aims and values of your company, niche, and target client profile. Write your business goals and get help in mapping out strategic 1, 3, and 5-year plans, even if you later decide to make adjustments. Budget for slow seasons, such as the winter holidays, and be intentional about your investments. Having all of this established will position you to spot the best opportunities.
Renovate Your Service Offering
Evaluate whether any of your current service offerings should be repackaged or repriced. See what complementary services you could add and upsell, creating multiple revenue streams. And, perhaps best of all, establish additional passive income streams that will add to your revenue on an ongoing basis with minimal upfront investment. Some examples are promoting brands on your blog, earning through product affiliate sales, using platforms like Sidedoor or Like To Know It, becoming a brand ambassador, or selling digital products like an ebook or pre-made mood boards.
Be picky about your projects
Since you have already determined what your ideal projects and clients look like, don't waste time on projects that don't fit. Each project involves a certain amount of resources, and there will be projects that will strengthen your portfolio and reinforce your brand better than others. If you filter the requests you receive accordingly, it's another way to get the most out of your efforts.
Put Technology Tools to Work
To level up you will need to improve your digital marketing strategy. It's time to work with online marketing automation and CRMs, and perhaps improve the quality of your social media content. Don't skimp on tools that save you time, and help you organize, improve, and automate processes. There are many project management programs out there designed specifically for interior design studios that could make a real difference in your productivity.
Streamline Your Processes
Your company should have a manual with standard operating procedures outlining the order of tasks and responsibilities for each stage of a project, as well as administrative maintenance and growth initiatives. Analyze and write down what has worked so far, and keep your manual updated with any new insights. This will allow you to stay on top of your company's management, not let leads or other opportunities slip through the cracks, and also keep your team on the same page as part of your ongoing communication with them.
Train and Delegate
Design and administration are equally important to the success of your business, but there will be times when your need for the support of one skill set is greater than the other. Take inventory of the skills that aren’t your strong points and see if they fall into a similar category in order to hire one person to take them on. Start there and expand your team gradually, depending on your company’s needs at each juncture.
Properly training new hires and working side by side with them, especially in the beginning, will save you time in the long run. Keep in mind that the onboarding process can take a few months, so be prepared to invest that time and your salary amount, even before their work really starts to reflect in the company's profits. If you’re not ready to take on a new team member full-time, consider working with a virtual assistant who is able to help you with a wide range of tasks.
As you can see, scaling your business has everything to do with optimizing its various facets. It's about staying open to doing things more efficiently and taking advantage of revenue-generating opportunities while your day-to-day efforts are right where they need to be.
xx, Danae