Selling to Women Successfully

Think about your favorite female client. The one you connected with the best. She loved your ideas, was easy to work with and her project was a breeze. You both thoroughly enjoyed it!

Women in particular are looking for ways to connect and build relationships. Taking the time to figure out what your ideal female prospect looks like (and wants) will make closing a sale with them… a piece of cake.

Step #1. Take a minute and draw a circle, then write the words “female prospect” in the middle. Next, draw a series of circles with lines that lead back to the center. Inside each circle, write the qualities of your ideal client. Below I’ve listed some you might want to consider:

– Age (20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s)

– Single corporate women (with kids/without kids)

– Married corporate women (with kids/without kids)

– Single entrepreneurs (with kids/without kids)

– Married entrepreneurs (with kids/without kids)

– Single white collar workers (with kids/without kids)

– Single blue collar workers (with kids/without kids)

– Stay at home moms

– Different lifestyles

– Active

– Sedentary

– Education level

– Ethnicity

– Religious affiliations

– Aging parents/grandparents

– Hobbies

– Pets

– Financials

As you can see, the list is endless. And it shows that your client will have very different needs, depending on her life stage, hobbies and interests.

Step #2. Think about where she lives, where she shops, what motivates her to spend, what problems you solve.

Step #3. Choose a gender, an age, a back story, even a name. You’ll want to be able to picture that person and write directly to her in all your marketing materials.

Step #4. When developing your marketing materials (your ezine, blog, ads, etc.) a great trick is to imagine writing to just ONE PERSON, rather then a ‘mob’ of people. Allow her, that one fictional person, to represent the majority. She’s your ideal customer. Write to her.

Here is an example of a well thought out ideal client – Nikki Stanton, a 37 year old divorced entrepreneur with a web conferencing business. She’s Internet and business savvy.

– Invests most of her profit back into the business.

– Lives in San Diego in a gated community with her 10 year old daughter, Madison.

– Involved in daughter’s school and drives her to dance classes.

– Has a home office making approximately $117,000 per year.

– Jogs 3 times a week in the neighborhood.

– She loves to find bargains on designer clothes.

– And dreams of visiting Italy with her daughter someday.

Using these tips will make your marketing materials very personal, as if you’re actually talking to her on the other side. This is a great way to connect with and draw in your ideal client.

(Based on an article by Lorrie Morgan-Ferrero of Red Hot Copy.)
Think about your favorite female client. The one you connected with the best. She loved your ideas, was easy to work with and her project was a breeze. You both thoroughly enjoyed it!

There is no doubt men and women are vastly different in so many ways. Do you then treat them differently in how you sell to them?  female prospect

Women in particular are looking for ways to connect and build relationships. One way to do this is with your marketing materials – what you write in your ezine, blog, ads, etc. Taking the time to figure out what your ideal female prospect looks like will make closing a sale with them… a piece of cake.

When developing your marketing materials, you’ll want to be very specific about who you’re talking to. A great trick is to imagine writing to just ONE PERSON, rather then a ‘mob’ of people. Allow her, that one fictional person, to represent the majority. She’s your ideal customer. Here are some fun tips on how to do that -

1. Take a minute and draw a circle, then write the words “female prospect” in the middle. Next, draw a series of circles with lines that lead back to the center. Inside each circle, write the qualities of your ideal client. Below I’ve listed some you might want to consider:

– Age (20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s)
– Single corporate women (with kids/without kids)
– Married corporate women (with kids/without kids)
– Single entrepreneurs (with kids/without kids)
– Married entrepreneurs (with kids/without kids)
– Single white collar workers (with kids/without kids)
– Single blue collar workers (with kids/without kids)
– Stay at home moms
– Different lifestyles
– Active
– Sedentary
– Education level
– Ethnicity
– Religious affiliations
– Aging parents/grandparents
– Hobbies
– Pets
– Financials

As you can see, the list is endless. And it shows that your client will have very different needs, depending on her life stage, hobbies and interests.

2. Think about where she lives, where she shops, what motivates her to spend, what problems you solve.

3. Choose a gender, an age, a back story, even a name. You’ll want to be able to picture that person and write directly to her in all your marketing materials.

Here is an example of a well thought out ideal client – Nikki Stanton, a 37 year old divorced entrepreneur with a web conferencing business. She’s Internet and business savvy.

– Invests most of her profit back into the business.
– Lives in San Diego in a gated community with her 10 year old daughter, Madison.
– Involved in daughter’s school and drives her to dance classes.
– Has a home office making approximately $117,000 per year.
– Jogs 3 times a week in the neighborhood.
– She loves to find bargains on designer clothes.
– And dreams of visiting Italy with her daughter someday.

Using this one little trick, will make your marketing materials very personal, as if you’re actually talking to the her on the other side. This is a great way to connect with and draw in your ideal, potential client.

Article based on a concept from Lorrie Morgan-Ferrero of RedHotCopy.com

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[VIDEO] Interior Design Email Newsletter Articles

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Interior Design Email Newsletter Articles

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Done-for-You Interior Design Videos

Skyrocket Your Sales by Sending Video!

Easily Add Beautifully Designed Videos to Your Email Newsletter

Internet video has become the most innovative, cost-effective way to sell products and services. It’s especially true for the highly visual field of interior design.

When you incorporate the use of professionally produced, beautifully designed videos, you become established as the expert and create a competitive advantage in your marketplace.

Skyrocket your sales as you create a compelling experience for your clients like no other. Adding the use of video turns them from shoppers to buyers.

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Done-for-You Interior Design Ezine Articles

Get a Hyper-Responsive Client List that Buys from You and You Alone!

Discover how easy it is to stay in front of your clients with pre-written, interior design articles for your email newsletter. Use, re-write, edit and customize these high quality, keyword dense articles in any way you’d like. You can even put your name on them as the author! Go ahead, take all the credit! Written by a successful, published interior designer exclusively for High Dollar Designers. If you’d like -

  • A client list that buys from you and you alone
  • Better clients with bigger budgets
  • Turbo charge your bottom line

No one needs to tell either one of us that getting new clients in the door can be difficult these days. If you’re trying to run your interior design business every day – pulling fabrics, specifying products, purchasing, following up with workrooms and vendors, talking with customers, overseeing installations, putting out fires… and so much more. All that just to get one project completed!

So tell me, who has the time, the energy or the desire to learn how to set up, manage and implement a strategic, step-by-step marketing system from scratch – that gets clients in the door? Ugh!

Good News!

I’m here to tell you, getting new, big budget clients in the door can be as easy as typing a few words and clicking send. When you use our specially designed email newsletter articles, your clients hear from you in one of the most effective ways available today. Email newsletters!

But I must warn you…

There’s a lot of confusion surrounding email, ezines, email newsletters, pre-written articles and marketing your interior design business these days. I’ve listed 5 criteria you absolutely, positively must have to be successful in any email marketing solution you choose.

Do NOT buy ANY pre-written newsletter articles unless they meet the following 5 criteria:

1. Are the newsletters written by a professional interior designer working in the field?
As a successful interior designer for over 20 years AND published author, you get well-written, informative and engaging articles that are of keen interest to your readers.


2. Are the topics informative and engaging? Or are they bland, rehashed information from the internet?

Our topics are current, informative and about interior design trends that are of interest to your clients today – not years ago. As you know, interior design is always changing – colors, styles, hot trending topics, etc.

3. Do the articles have secret built-in buying triggers or calls to action?
Our articles have hidden psychological triggers designed to create a need and prompt prospects to respond to your message.

4. Do the articles provide value for the customer? Are they true meat and potatoes or just ‘fluff’?
Much of the interior design information on the internet that your customers read is light, fluffy and without much substance. It doesn’t provide true value. When your customers read your newsletter, they’ll recognize that you have true in-depth knowledge and experience. When they’re ready to buy, they’ll call you first. You can then charge higher fees.

5. Are the articles written in such a way that they’re engaging and personal as if they’re coming from you? Or do they sound formal and text-bookish?
People buy from those they know, like and trust. When your customers feel like they know you personally, it’s such an easy sale. You want your newsletters to get read, not put aside because they’re dry or formal like a boring text book. Our articles are intentionally written to be informative, personal, engaging and fun.

Get over 8 times your money’s worth!

For many years, in our interior design business, we sent a black and white, printed newsletter to our clients. We received rave reviews, got lots of calls and it was a money-making success. We heard constantly about how much our clients liked and appreciated the newsletter, and how they passed it along to friends, family members and co-workers when they were done with it.

This newsletter cost around $433.74 per month to send to 375 people. Again, the sales we generated paid for the cost of the newsletter many times over each month.

If you’re currently signed up for Constant Contact’s basic email newsletter service, you probably pay somewhere around $15 per month. Add the cost of one article and you’re paying less than $49.95 per month to stay in touch with hundreds if not thousands of clients!

Save time, money and frustration. Get started today!

Since it’s 100% to your benefit to act right away, I’d like to sweeten the pot and give you every possible reason to say YES today! If you respond immediately, you’ll also receive the following bonuses:

Bonus #1:

15 Minute Newsletter Marketing Consultation with Barbara Deckmeyer. Consult with Barbara about your newsletter. Get better clients and bigger-budget projects with a better newsletter. Discover how to put your email newsletter to work for you day and night, 24/7 so you don’t have to. Ask Barbara about your marketing plan or bring up any other questions you might have.
(Value – $197)

Bonus #2:

Access to (and use of) my Personal, Private Collection of Interior Design Photos. These are the photos I personally use in my high-end newsletters. Hundreds of high-quality, interior design digital photos are collected from all over the world. You have private access and can use these photos too, if you choose, in your email newsletters, blogs, twitter, etc.
(Value – $549)

Bonus #3:

Million Dollar Resource Rolodex – The resources I use to build my interior design business. You know how interior designers diligently guard their resources, we hold them so tightly, never revealing or giving them away. It takes many years to establish a high-quality list of reputable resources that do excellent work.
(Value $Priceless)

Here’s how to order right now!

To order your High Dollar Designer Newsletter Articles and to receive your bonuses, click here to send an email and we’ll provide you with a quote.

To your success,

Barbara Deckmeyer

P.S. “Remember, our supply of the free bonuses is limited to just the first 100 designers that order. Once those orders are fulfilled, we won’t be able to give access to our private collection of photos. We just can’t have everyone using the same beautiful photos. We can only guarantee you’ll receive all the bonuses if you order right away. So don’t delay. Act now while it’s fresh on your mind.”

© Copyright 2009 – 2011 by High Dollar Designer Marketing Success System – All Rights Reserved

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Step #2 – How to Market Your Business Online

Step-by-Step to a Powerful Presence Online that Brings in New Clients

Now that the holidays over and we’re well into the New Year, have you started thinking about how you will communicate with your clients for 2010? In our series about updating your online presence, the next step has to do with a little planning.

Step #1: Write Your Editorial Calendar

Oh I can hear the groans already. I understand, believe me. When it came to sitting down and writing out a plan and a year’s worth of promotions the very first time, I protested quite loudly too (even though it was only to myself). “I don’t have the time to do that!’ I felt overwhelmed before I even started!

However, I will tell you this… after I did this exercise (had to bribe myself to do it), I have to admit that it was one of the best things I ever did. AND… I have done one every year since! Here are some great results you can expect to have when using an Editorial Calendar -

#1. Save time - What used to take FOREVER now gets done quickly!

#2. Eliminate frustration – You have a plan. You know what to write about. No staring at the dreaded blank page trying to figure out what to write about.

#3. Be pro-active – Your marketing is well thought out, not re-active to whatever the wind blows in that day.

#4. Get complete coverage - It’s easy to see the entire year, insuring that each product line (or service) that you offer gets the full attention it deserves. Nothing accidentally gets left out.

#5. Set a strong foundation - Nearly everything you’ll do online, builds on this one sheet of paper – blogging, featured products, Tweets, Facebook posts, newsletters and more.

Save yourself time and frustration… write down an Editorial Calendar. It’s not too late to put one together for 2010.

PS: Don’t forget to leave a comment! I’m waiting to hear from you… groans and all.

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Step #1 – How to Market Your Interior Design Business Online Step-by-Step

Step-by-Step to a Powerful Presence Online that Brings in New Clients

With Twitter and Facebook just about everywhere you turn – blogs, TV, magazines, the news, radio, the internet… have you jumped on the Social Media bandwagon yet? If not, is it because you just don’t know where to start? Maybe you’re embarrassed to say that you don’t even have a website yet. Well, not to worry.

As an online marketer and interior designer, I thought it might be helpful to walk you through the process I use when I’m hired to help a company establish an online presence. It’s systematic, step by step and the same for every business, no matter the industry. Would you like someone to walk you through the process? To make it easy and simple? I thought so. So let’s get started.

Step #1

First and foremost, we’ll need to assess where you are, right here, right now. Just like with a client consultation, you need to know what they do have, what they’re missing and what they need before you can develop a design plan for them. Take a few minutes to answer the following 5 simple questions. It’ll take you less than 5 minutes. Then post the answers below and click ‘Submit Comment’. It’s easy and it helps me to be able to help you! Think of it as personalized consulting lessons, written just for you!

1. Do you have a website? (If so, please provide the link.)

2. Do you have a blog? (Please provide the link.)

3. Do you have a Facebook page?

4, Are you on Twitter? (If so, please provide your name there.)

5. Do you have a resume or profile on LinkedIn? (Again, please provide the URL.)

Ok, that’s it. Go ahead and post the answers to these 5 simple questions in the section below and click ‘Submit Comment’. I’ll take it from there. Then keep an eye out for the next newsletter for step #2. This is going to be so much fun!

If you’d like to be sure not to miss even one step in this series, then go to www.HighDollarDesigner.com and sign up for our newsletter on the right side of the page.

Don’t forget to leave your answers and/or a comment below! I’m really looking forward to hearing from you.

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Your Interior Design Business & Why You Need 3 Plans for Success!

We’ve all heard it before when it comes to goal setting -  “If you don’t know where you’re going, how will you know how to get there?”

In order to be successful in your interior design business, you’ll need to sit down and carve out some time to do some planning. Otherwise you’ll try to do too many things at once, you’ll get confused, frustrated and waste time on things that don’t bring in revenue.

For overall balance to your life, there are 3 plans you’ll want to create (not just 1 for your business):

Your Business Plan: Set up a website, collect email addresses and build your list, network, get on Twitter and Facebook, etc. (All the basic functions of getting an online presence for your business).

Your Entrepreneur Plan: What are your goals? How many hours do you want to work?  How much money do you want to make?

Your Personal Plan: Do you want to take a vacation?  Do you want to buy a new car, a new house?

You can’t run your interior design business without being organized. If you’re organized then you’re ready for success and you’ll achieve that success much sooner.

  1. Plan a year ahead then break that into 4-90 day plans.
  2. Break your first 90 day plan into 3 month plans.
  3. Then create a 4 week plan from month 1.
  4. Then break down week 1 into daily tasks.
  5. Then plan tomorrow today.
  • Keep your focus so you won’t get lost.
  • Do the most urgent tasks first.
  • Do this and your life will change.

An idiot WITH a plan will always beat a genius WITHOUT a plan!

This article was adapted from my friend Gigi Messina’s Blog. Please visit Gigi’s blog and tell her to write more of these excellent articles!

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Why Do I Need a Blog if I Already Have a Website?

Have you seen the Meryl Streep movie, “Julie & Julia” yet? Did you realize it’s based on a blog! You’ve probably noticed all the recent attention lately that Social Networking has been getting? It’s in the news, on TV, in print, in movies! You just can’t seem to get away from it!

Today, there are many ways to market your interior design business online, but don’t worry, you don’t have to become proficient with every single way that’s out there. Thank goodness, that would be so overwhelming! Today we’re going to touch on just one – blogging!

First and foremost I’m guessing you’re wondering why you need a blog if you already have a website? That was one of my questions too when I first got started. Here are 5 reasons to blog and how it can help grow your interior design business today.

1. You Look Marvelous -
As an interior designer, you know everything you do is all about the way things look! Your blog is a great way to showcase your talent, your personality and design skills. Post before and after pictures, talk about projects you’re working on, post photos of cool products you like, give your opinion on current trends. It doesn’t have to be long and complicated every time, short and sweet is good too. Just be sure to mix things up.

2. Do-it-Yourself –
You can update your blog without having to contact your web designer. It’s that easy! Many websites end up old and stale, kind of like an online brochure, never changing much because it’s a hassle to get the web designer to add pages, change the pictures, etc. But changing and updating your blog can be done in minutes! It grows, develops your personality and gets your customers coming back to your blog time and time again.

3. Customer Relationships –
Establish a more personal relationship with your customers. Get to know them, and let them get to know you better. Blogs are a great way to start discussions, provide tips and insights or receive feedback from your customers and readers. Ask for their opinions. Listen to what they’re asking for and then provide it.

4. Become the Expert –
Position yourself and your interior design business as a leader in your community. Are you a specialist in window treatments, kitchen design, high-end hotels, restaurants, etc? Use your blog to become the one person they call for those needs.

5. It’s So Easy – Setting up a blog is FR:EE and easy to do using the many tools out there. My two favorites for ease of use are WordPress.com and Blogspot.com.

Here’s a link to a website with some great videos and information on blogs. Also if you know you need to get started blogging, but are feeling overwhelmed at the thought of getting everything set up, here’s a link to a company that has an excellent service that will set your blog up for you, the right way. And they specialize in working with Interior Designers! I don’t get any affiliate commissions for referring them. I just really like their service and think they’re an excellent company!

PS: Make sure to send me an email with a link to your blog when you get it set up. I’d love to see it!

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Email Newsletter Articles for Your Interior Design Business

Pre-Written, Email Newsletter Articles just for Interior Designers

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZnvKFSXOSS4" width="425" height="344" allowfullscreen="true" fvars="fs=1" /]

Sign up for our email newsletter just for Interior Designers. Get fun marketing tips, tricks and techniques to grow your Interior Design business.

Click HERE now to sign up.

What did you think? Did you enjoy the video? I’d love to get your feedback or comments below.

Grow Your Interior Design Business with Email Newsletter Articles

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