PRWeb is sponsoring a free webinar entitled “Small Business Marketing: Use PR to Grow Your Business“.

Wednesday, October 22nd at 2:00 pm Eastern

Entrepreneur Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief Amy C. Cosper and Host of Startup BizCast and EndGame PR President Steve Mullen will lead the webinar to discover powerful, cost-effective ways to build your business.

Learn more and register: https://event.on24.com/eventRegistration/EventLobbyServlet?target=registration.jsp&eventid=123560&sessionid=1&key=C199278534EE843AACD69D36A07438B6&sourcepage=register

Sorry for the short notice but if you can attend, it looks like it will be well worth your time!

Gail Doby, Chief Vision Officer of Design Success University, and Nika Stewart, The Designers’ Success Coach, are co-hosting an exciting event that you don’t want to miss–The Interior Design Summit on October 28, 29, & 30.

Click here to learn more

This three-day event is unlike anything that has been done for the interior design industry to date. They are interviewing 11 speakers (so far) that are top-selling authors, business consultants and agents to celebrity designers, and other amazing guests that are sure to help you grow your interior design business.

What is unique about this event is that you can listen to this from the comfort of your office or home during these three days. No travel expenses, just a nominal fee for the event and you will receive recordings so you can listen again at your convenience.

Here are some of the things you will learn:

How to book yourself solid

How to market so you don’t have to “sell” to get clients

How to build amazing referral partners that send affluent clients to you

How to create your marketing plan to get a steady flow of business

How to work with the ultra-affluent clients – how to get them and how to serve them…learn what they are looking for in an interior designer

How to use newsletters to stay connected with your prospects and clients …without having to write!

How to use social networking to create an online portfolio especially if you don’t have a website

How to build your personal brand so prospects and clients immediately know who you are and what your business represents

How to build a great team and manage your staff effectively

How to streamline the parts of your business that you don’t enjoy

And much more…

Save the dates and plan to make this an event in your office by bringing in lunch and having a discussion (with yourself if you work solo, or with your staff) to create a winning plan to take your business to the next level.

Click here to learn more about the event

Designing Profits, Inc. performed a major national survey of interior designers this year.  These survey results are now available for purchase on their website ($89).  From the DPI site: “This package contains both the actual results of the 2008 “What Designers Earn” survey, and David Shepherd’s 38 minute PowerPoint presentation with audio voice over. More than just an analysis of the survey, Shepherd provides a mini-MBA in strategies interior designers must adopt in order to create sustainable profits in the future.”  I saw David present some of this information at the 5th annual Business of Design Conference last month and was very impressed with both the findings and with his presentation technique.

Visit the Designing Profits site to purchase this informative and eye-opening package.

With the fall of Lehman, the Merrill Lynch acquisition, and the AIG fiasco, many of us could be left scratching our heads and wondering, “What could possibly protect my business if these giants can’t even hold it together?”

I watch CNBC every morning. In the last few weeks, there has been a recurring theme that these giants toppled because of their lack of risk management strategies. Maybe it was greed, maybe it was lack of foresight, but these companies did not manage their risks and now their employees and their shareholders are feeling the brunt. Mr. Lehman, who built the company 158 years ago, is also rolling over in his grave. The question is, “How can we, as interior design firms, manage our risks in a time when the state of the economy is a day to day prognosis?”

Client deposits. I have spoken with far too many designers that only request a 50% deposit to place an order for goods. Let’s take the following example:

ABC Design Firm orders $100,000 worth of goods for Mr. and Mrs. Smith

ABC Design Firm marks up goods 30%

Total sales = $130,000

However, ABC Design also only requests a 50% deposit to place the order, even though many of ABC’s vendors require 100% up front.

Deposit that ABC receives = $65,000

That means that ABC is $35,000 in the hole on these orders. $35,000!?!? Not only is this bad for cash flow, it could potentially ruin ABC’s business in one fell swoop.

What if something happened to Mr. or Mrs. Smith? What if one of them lost his or her job and there was no longer money to pay for these orders? Mr. and Mrs. Smith may be very nice and honest people, but if the money is not there, the interior designer is going to be one of the last in line.  If Mr. and Mrs. Smith fail to pay ABC the other 50%, ABC will be forced to cover $35,000 of the manufacturers’ bills, not to mention freight charges, and will have lost $30,000 in gross profit.

COVER YOUR COSTS IN YOUR DEPOSIT. Better yet, request 100% deposit to order. At least if ABC Design Firm charged a 75% deposit ($101,250) on this order, their $100,000 cost of goods sold would be completely covered. If something happens, they will only be out their profit and some freight. (I say “only” but I know that hurts too).

Risk management is not just an important business practice for the giants. It is crucial to small businesses and especially to interior design firms.

Our company calls and checks on lead times and stock on hundreds of goods for our members every day.  It’s been a very apparent trend that fewer and fewer manufacturers are keeping items in stock.  For truly custom items, lead times are getting longer and longer.  It is not abnormal to now see 12-16 weeks when we used to see 8-10.  This makes good business sense for those vendors that we work with, but what can designers do to deal with the longer lead times?

1.  Ask vendors that you work with often to update you with a stock list.  This can be especially helpful when you’re working with a lighting or accessory vendors.  If you need that lamp for an installation in two months, you don’t want to keep selecting lamps with estimated ship dates 6 months out.

2.  Set client expectations.  This economic situation is largely outside of our control and everyone realizes that.  A reasonable client will too if you let them know the logic.

3.  Stay on top of your orders.  Check on them frequently.  Due to longer lead times, a delay due to miscommunication or missing information can really set a project back and add more weeks to an already lengthy lead time.