If someone says something negative about your business online, what should you do?

Let’s face it, if you are a retail business or a company that gets a lot of traffic, you will probably get some bad reviews.  However, WHENEVER POSSIBLE, be sure to respond to those reviews or mentions.  A bad situation can actually be turned 180 degrees with offering a solution or offering to help.

Here are a few things to know about bad reviews online:

1. The writer may feel like they can hide behind a computer screen and when you publicly ask them how you can help make it better, they will back down and be sheepish.  You will also come across as looking good because your answer will be paired with their criticism.  For future onlookers, you will look like you tried to find a solution and that’s all most people want.
2. You may have legitimately done a very bad job and then you need to apologize and let them know that they are right.  Then be sure to list what you are going to do to make it better.
3. Go on the PR offensive.  Typically, there are plenty of people/clients out there thrilled with your service.  If the only person that has ever written about you online wrote something negative, appeal to your happy customers and clients, asking for their honest reviews.  Most of them will be glad to oblige and 5 positive reviews will quickly drown the negative.

In the very rare cases of libelous material, respond to the writer privately and ask them to take the material down.  If they don’t, figure out if you want to consult an attorney.  This happens very, very rarely so don’t lie awake thinking about it at night.

The difference just might be their mastery of the social media whirl, their presence on the major Social Media platforms; Twitter, Facebook, Ava Living, LinkedIn, or their focus on up-to-this-very-minute trends showcased in twice-weekly blog posts.

Case in point, Tobi Fairley, known for her signature look of fresh simplicity that is both beautiful and functional, launched her blog in September 2008.  Today, it is read in 95 countries!  She is dedicated to timely updates of her business Facebook page, which has just about 3,200 fans, and at least 3-4 tweets per day.  All of which allow her to remain engaged and committed to her base, potential clients, and any publications looking for content.  She has been showcased in House Beautiful, Traditional Home, Better Homes & Gardens, along with other local and national shelter publications.  She is seen as a taste-maker and a trend-setter.

But all of this takes time, energy and the search for trends and topics that are interesting, and if that candle is burning while you are hard at work on a project, how do you do it all?  Gibson Design Management, and our sister company, OttoPilot Media, are experts in Social Media.  We know how to move the pieces around the gameboard to maximize your visibility and your fan base.  We would welcome the opportunity to answer any questions, and help you through the Social Media maze!  Please contact Martha for details.

I do not limit who can see my tweets and our blog is completely open.  I only limit my LinkedIn account to people that I know, especially from school or professionally, because I think that a LinkedIn connection is somewhat an endorsement in and of itself.  However, on LinkedIn, I’m on my best behavior because that’s what people do on LinkedIn; they sit in their virtual suits with their virtual resumes and they virtually shake hands.  They don’t fist pump, take tequila shots, and wear jorts (jean shorts).

Facebook is another story.  When Facebook started showing business potential, we quickly jumped on the bandwagon with groups and then later with business pages.  However, I always kept my Facebook personal profile for me.  While it will not surprise any readers, there are probably pictures on there that I don’t want broadcasted to everyone and their mother, literally, and I have friends that post things on my wall that I might not want our banker to read.  That’s okay- I use privacy settings for anyone who is not a friend.  As Facebook has become more and more prevalent amongst professionals, I have started receiving many friend requests from people that I know purely in a professional capacity.  I used to never accept these; I made a conscious rule that my Facebook profile was for me and I could share it with whomever I wanted (that would also like to be my friend in return, of course).  A couple of months ago, when privacy settings became more robust, I started accepting purely professional contacts and put them on limited profile.  I broke my own rules.

Is your personal Facebook page under lock and key?

I immediately felt weird about it, but I felt worse denying someone that I do like “friendship.” As a result of breaking my own rules, I paid the price.  It was a minor incident and, for all intents and purposes, a miscommunication.  However, it was my fault and I knew better than to break my rules and boundaries.  I knew what I was comfortable with and I should not have wavered.

Since then, I “defriended” everyone that I previously had on limited profile.  If you are one of those people, I apologize.  It has absolutely nothing to do with how much I like you or a change in the “status” of our relationship.  I feel the same about you before the defriending that I feel about you now.

Is it not enough to connect with someone on LinkedIn and to follow them on Twitter?  Can’t they like our Facebook business page? My Facebook profile is for me, and if it means that my friends get to know me better and end up referring business to us because they like me, then that is tremendous.  Am I still friends with some people on Facebook that I first knew, and may primarily know, professionally?  Yes.  However, I feel comfortable with those people seeing more of my life.  I won’t give you reasons and I don’t have to give reasons.  It is my prerogative.  It usually has to do with how cute your profile picture is.  Of course I’m kidding but if I want that to be my friend guideline, then that is my guideline.  It is not our company rule–it is my rule.

The bottom line that I’m making here is that even the most transparent of us social media people might want to have a sacred online place too.  Don’t be offended if someone that you know does not choose to connect with you on a certain platform.  Everyone has different rules and guidelines and we don’t all need to be hyper-connected.

This is obviously my opinion considering I started about 80% of the sentences in this post with “I” but “I” would be curious to know what you all think.  Do you keep anything sacred or do you let it all hang out there?

Here are four lessons to be learned from Scarlett:

1. Be resilient. Scarlett did not have an easy go of it after the Civil War.  She was forced to work the fields and manage the house after the death of her mother and the onset insanity of her father.  Furthermore, she had not a penny to her name and was deeply indebted to the tax collectors.  However, she pushed through.  We’ve all lived through the last 2 years of a terrible economic storm.  Even without poor market conditions, businesses will go through very tough times.  Resiliency, and will power, can often be the only thing to push us through the difficulty when it seems like everything is going to mud.  Sometimes it is about putting one foot in front of the other when things are really dismal.
2. Dress the part. When Scarlett goes to Atlanta to visit Rhett Butler in jail and ask for money to pay the taxes on Tara, she dresses the part despite being destitute (and wears the velvet drapes that Mammy fashioned into a gown).  As Thomas Fuller said “Good clothes open all doors.”  When you want something from someone—a sale, an investment, etc.—you need to look and act like you will survive without it.  Dress the part, inside and out.
3. Think about it tomorrow. Some days are overwhelming.  If you think about eating the whole elephant in one sitting, you will be sick thinking about the enormity of your task.  Not everything has to be done today.  Don’t bury your head in the sand but give yourself a break and realize that you are one person with the same 24 hours that everyone else has.  As Scarlett says, “I’ll think about it tomorrow.”  Some days you should do just that.
4. Don’t be foolish chasing after something that is not meant to be. Occasionally, we all really believe that a certain product or service is what is going to be our savior for our company.  We continue investing money and time, putting other lucrative services and products on the back burner.  Be honest with yourself about what areas of your business are really producing revenue.  Focus a majority of your efforts there.  Don’t spend your business life chasing after Ashley when Rhett is really the best fit.

Starting in 2007, the market for interior designers turned into quicksand.   The credit markets tightened, and projects that typically went to designers were brought in-house both residentially and commercially.

HGTV and the Internet created more competitors in the middle of the market from the consumers themselves, and frankly, for most designers, those weren’t and aren’t your best clients anyway.

High-end projects stayed fairly steady until the economic debacle of October 2008, and then many of the projects slowed, stopped or didn’t start at all.  Especially in markets tied to the financial markets like New York, the wealthiest clients lost their jobs and their sense of security if they were in jobs associated with money and wealth.

The commercial market was devastated by the credit crisis, and according to economists, the concerns aren’t behind us yet.

Even with this perfect storm, some designers were very busy.  Why?  They adapted to the market shifts, changed their pricing strategies, developed an online presence, spent as much as 10% on marketing, focused on a niche, learned how to differentiate themselves better, and didn’t wait for the phone to ring.  They took these conditions as a challenge and they worked even harder than before.

If commercial and hospitality is your preferred area of business, you’ll want to focus on renovations.  If you can show companies that an investment in renovation can lead to more dollars at the bottom line especially if they depend on consumer spending, then you have an opportunity to build a logical reason why a company should invest.  The commercial designers that become a marketing partner with their clients differentiate themselves and become a valuable solution-oriented team member instead of an expense.

If your specialty is residential design, bathroom and kitchen renovation is still steady.  The budgets might be smaller, but there is work in this specialty area.

A kitchen renovation featured on the Traditional Home blog

Some designers created packages of services they offered on their websites.  Why did that work for them?  The consumers wanted (and demanded) to know the investment required .

Other designers offered Value Based Fees because consumers resisted hourly fees.  ASID surveyed consumers a few years ago and approximately 70% said they wanted fixed fees.  Designers who offered this option found that it completely shifted their role from an hourly wage slave to a trusted advisor, and that helped many designers kick-start their businesses even during the last several months.

You could be the greatest designer, but if people don’t hear about you consistently, then your business will struggle.  These days, you need great photography, a great head shot, articles about you in magazines, online and in newspapers (third party endorsements), a web presence including a website, blog and social media and search engine optimization of your website and blog.

And, if you don’t have a written business plan, marketing plan, vision and strategy for your business, it’s time to get busy and take action.  Referrals and networking may have worked in the past, but they are less effective than ever, so that means it’s time to rethink and reposition your business.

[Originally written for Decorati Access Interior Design, Published June 11]

Too Familiar?

Here is a new system that we created within our company.  I suggest that everyone have the same 3 categories across the team, but that the prioritization is role-specific.

Determine your 3 categories that all of your actions fall under (or should fall under).  In our company, I determined the following as our 3 categories:

1. Revenue producing:  an item on the to-do list that will bring money into the company
2. Service-related:  an item on the to-do list that will make our members or clients lives and businesses better
3. Brand awareness and networking: actions that will help build our brand throughout the industry and beyond

Based on your list, prioritize your categories.  My particular role in our company is bringing in new business and also long-term strategy.  If my role was to service our clients and members more directly, I would prioritize the categories differently.  Therefore, my category prioritization is as follows:

1. Revenue production
2. Brand awareness, strategy, and networking
3. Service

Determine some examples of what each category would entail.  For example, I would use the following examples for our company:

1. Revenue production: sales calls, creating letters of agreement, invoicing, etc.  For your firm, this might also be billable hours or creating proposals.
2. Brand awareness, strategy, and networking:  arranging presentations at design centers, writing blog posts, staying connected with my professional network, etc.
3. Service:  adding functionality to the website that would improve the client experience, monthly member calls, etc.

A few more ideas:

• Establish a “D” category.  There will naturally be things that fall into the “Other” category.  We call those category “D” items.  These will still need to get done but in the prioritization exercise, they will be the items that are least important to your business.
• Every time you add something to your to-do list, make sure that you put a letter next to it or color code it.  This will show you where you need to be prioritizing and what items can be downgraded.

For more great techniques to work smarter, I suggest Gina Trapani’s columns at FastCompany.com. What systems do you use to prioritize your laundry list of to-dos?

The question that I encourage you to ask yourself and your staff is where that important project management and administration borders on inefficiency.  If you’re like most design firms that we work with, that greatest inefficiency is in the purchasing process.  You may have great technology (like Studio IT) and great systems in place to make this process a little less painful but the reality is that pricing, creating proposals, creating purchase orders, tracking and expediting takes time, often a lot of time.  In fact, I can imagine that much of your purchase order management time can be summed up with a few of these frustrating points:

• Calling multiple showrooms and vendors to get pricing…leaving messages…then calling them again because they didn’t get back to you.
• Calling multiple showrooms and vendors to get pricing…leaving messages…and then missing their next calls because you’re on the phone with another vendor.  Thus begins the illustrious PO management game of phone tag.
• Checking on orders weekly (if you know what’s good for you) because you’ve had too many times where a vendor has failed to notify you that the sofa, which was supposed to ship last week, will actually be another four weeks.  The vendor does not have to deal with your irate client who wanted the sofa before Thanksgiving.
• Creating client proposals that accurately describe the items but don’t give the client too much information so that they don’t “shop” you.
• Dealing with a delay in orders when you’re on vacation, in High Point, on another project install, or generally completely incapable of handling the crises as you’re nowhere near your computer and your office, and might not even have a pen in your purse/pocket that seems to work.

In our design firm, we utilize great technology and we institute effective systems.  Despite our finest efforts, this has not, however, eliminated the items above from rearing their ugly heads.  The reality is that on each project, a design firm may deal with 30+ vendors and showrooms which mean 30+ lines of communication.  When I look at our bottom line, I see this part of our business as the greatest drain, the greatest hindrance to our growth, and our greatest cost.

When we launched Gibson Design Management, we focused on purchase order management.  While we now have multiple services that we offer for the interior design industry, I still believe that our purchase order management service is the best way to make a design firm more profitable and healthy.

Instead of having those 30+ lines of communication open at all times and being the central hub with a plethora of spokes, our purchase order management services give you one “go to” person that handles every order that you place, every item that you want to price, and every piece that you need to track.  At the same time, your company can actually make more money with fewer paper-pushing efforts.

As I write this post I worry that this might be the first time in the history of this blog that I’ve written a sales-y post that is also an educational post.  I would not risk our readers with shameless self-promotion if I did not truly believe that this service can have the greatest impact on a single interior design firm.

We offer a lot of great services and our team is really, really good at what they do.  However, when we sit and talk about our different services, purchase order management is the one service that the team unanimously says “that’s a no-brainer; every design firm should use that.”  Once I explain and write down the numbers on the time and money lost on managing purchasing in-house and then I show that the design firm can actually make more money, it’s not surprising that they say that.

In 2010, if you are interested in growing your bottom line and getting back to the real reason you became a designer, please contact me and we can talk more.  Don’t continue to do things the old way as we all now see that the old way is slowly taking a choke hold on the livelihood of our industry.

Why? Here are our top 10 reasons (but trust us, there are many more):

1. Credibility – Having a website gives credibility to your design firm. It gives you an opportunity to establish yourself as an expert in the field.
2. Portfolio – An online gallery of your work is important for any business in a design related industry. A website is the easiest way to display examples of your work. Your portfolio can speak the most about who you are as a designer.
3. Feedback – Your website is the easiest and most efficient place for your clients and the design community to find you and contact you with feedback. Good feedback and testimonials are a great way to establish credibility.
4. Around‐the‐Clock Access – A websites makes your information available to clients and potentials 24/7. Even when you’re not working, your website is still working for you!
5. Chances for FREE publicity ‐ Local media or a design blog could find your website, like what they see, and want to mention you in an article or blog post. Free publicity? Yes, please.
6. Search Engines – When a person is looking for design services, the first step many of them will take is to run an online search on Google, Yahoo, etc. Don’t miss the opportunity for someone to find you just because you don’t have a website!
7. Referrals – A website is the simplest way for your friends, family, and happy clients to refer their friends to you. Place a “Share with Friends” link on your website and with the click of a button a site visitor can send your information to someone new!
8. First Impressions – An informative, well‐designed, professional website can make a great first impression on site visitors in search of a designer. A poorly designed or nonexistent website might send a potential client to someone else.
9. Provide Information – Educate your customers on your background and what services you offer. An advertisement or live conversation will explain the very basics about who you are, but what about when someone wants to learn more before calling about design services? Give your social contacts and potential clients an easy way to find out more about you.
10. Clients expect it! – Most importantly, it’s expected.  In these modern times, the internet is the first place someone will look for information, services, and products. If they can’t find you, they’ll find someone else!

Are you in need of a new website or website overhaul? Contact Martha at
martha@gibsondesignmanagement.com for more information on launching your online
presence.

Martha will continue to oversee our project sourcing services–sourcing fabrics, furniture, and finishes for our member firms’ projects.  However, this new position will also mean that Martha will be the “go-to” woman for each of our members and any of their business needs.  We anticipate that in the near future, additional team members will be added to this type of position as we are growing quickly.

We created this position to answer a need.  Internally and externally, we felt that our services forced our business into a siloed effect.  This siloed effect did not allow us to serve our members as well as we would like and did not make us as tight of a business team as we would like.  Even as a reasonably small company, it was amazing to see how easy it was for different service areas to not communicate effectively about one of our member firm’s needs.  In response, we emphasized the importance of the relationship and being the one-stop business resource for each of our members.  Through having one point person, design firms will be able to create a better and more seamless relationship, truly making GDM an extension of their own teams and utilizing our offerings to their fullest.

As this is a new position and a new structure for our business, please provide us with feedback!  If you are not a member but enjoy reading our blog, please comment with any thoughts or suggestions about our solution.

Congratulations Martha!  We are lucky to have you.