Client Advocacy: The Measure of a Great Interior Designer

Good Old-Fashioned (Action-Driven) Customer Service Is A Key Asset  

 In today’s knowledge-based new construction and home remodeling market, many consumers are willing to pay top dollar for those interior designers who shine like diamonds in the rough. That is, those who provide the most treasured, yet unfortunately increasingly rare, asset: expert customer service. On the other hand, designers who conduct business with imperious attitudes, smoke-and-mirrors consulting, and bait-and-switch techniques are personae-non-gratae to consumers demanding high yield in exchange for high dollar and sans high anxiety.  

All over the world, skilled, principled interior designers are offering up action-driven customer service for a whole roster of discriminating private clients, treating each as if they were the only one. This method of advocating for clients is creating a much-needed expansion to traditional customer service – or lack thereof – and has eager audiences of clients expressing their appreciation both verbally and financially.

Totally vested and slightly obsessed, action-driven design professionals are tireless and endlessly proactive, guaranteeing a sense of urgency that homeowners and business owners can rely on. These powerhouses work overtime, on weekends and holidays; they follow up and follow through in order to avoid mistakes and accomplish deadlines set forth by the collaborative team of contractor, engineer and architect. They frown upon and hold accountable those designers who – after they receive the deposit check – fail to return phone calls, lack commitment, and mistreat clients by attempting to take advantage of them. Nursing lead times and delivery dates while hawk-eyeing sneaky additional charges, over-inflated restocking fees, and shameless back charges. An honest, conscientious designer aims at never accruing additional fees if they can be avoided and working out any mishaps to the client’s advantage!

These bionic interior designers granting the highest level of action-based customer service are experts in multitasking, time management, advising, educating, supervising, teaching, leading and communicating – all while mediating possible arising issues between the supplier, manufacturer, dealer and sometimes builder/general contractor. In the big business of commercial and residential interior design, where contractual obligations are signed, currency is exchanged, and egos get bruised easier than most, putting the emphasis on client advocacy brings great rewards – not just monetarily, but in the form of  repeat business, and most of all – the golden referral!

Customer service used to be de rigueur and free with purchase, but times have changed. Today, unfortunately, it is the exception rather than the rule. And it’s not just the rich who are willing to pay good money for those who do what they say they will do and maintain integrity in the often unscrupulous world of commerce. They have learned that it’s well worth the investment to seek out such advanced counsel from a professional, licensed interior designer who will act as a true client advocate. The payoff is that this individual can be the vehicle that transports their next project from good to gold. On the other hand, accepting shaky ground and sneaky plays simply in the interest of lower fees is a disaster waiting to happen.

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Posted by Shane D. Inman, ASID, IIDA at 8:46 am