Are you really doing everything?

Doing everything you can and yet not seeing results? When clients are scarce, discovery calls are quiet, and your efforts seem to echo back without response, it can feel like you're De-lu-lu. However, this episode challenges the notion that you're doing all you can. Often, there's room to refine or adjust your strategies. We'll explore key areas where you might be missing opportunities—from focusing on your high-ticket services to simplifying your website's user experience. This conversation, inspired by a recent coaching session, offers actionable steps to shift from feeling stuck to celebrating client inquiries. You'll learn to re-evaluate your service offerings, enhance your marketing tactics, and embrace a solution-focused mindset that transforms challenges into opportunities for growth.

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Transcript

0:15

Welcome to Designing Success from Study to Studio. I'm your host, Rhiannon Lee, founder of the Oleander Finch Design Studio. I've lived the transformation from study to studio and then stripped it bare and wrote down the framework so you don't have to overthink it. In this podcast, you could expect real talk with industry friends, community, connection, and actionable tips to help you conquer whatever's holding you back. Now let's get designing your own success. Today's podcast episode is on what happens when you feel like you're doing everything. But you're not onboarding clients or clients aren't coming to you or people aren't requesting discovery calls and no deposits are being banked. And it's that feeling like I'm doing everything I could possibly be doing and still nothing's happening. Now, immediately, generally, when I'm working with you, I will refute that idea because there's a good chance there is a couple of activities that you're actually not doing or you're not doing well or you're not doing to the best level or there's always something we can learn myself included. There's always something we can get better at, we can upskill at, but I'm going to give you a couple of actions based off a conversation I had just last week working with a private coaching client around that feeling. I've done it all. I've done everything. I've built Rome and they have not come. And we took this approach. This is exactly what I told her private coaching. And I'm going to talk you through it as well. And it's something that you can go, okay, this episode Isn't going anywhere. It's forever recorded. And if you sometimes need to come back to it, you could be like, I could just pick out one of these things. And that's what I'm going to focus on this week and create a result for my business. It's not about sitting, being the victim, playing the victim, whatever that feels like. It's very solution focused and very much about, okay, pick one of these things, put all of your energy into it. And you will start to see a shift from feeling like everything is just crickets and tumbleweeds to, okay, yep, I am actually getting really great client inquiry lately. The very first thing I want to talk about is your services. So immediately I just said to her, okay which services are you concentrating on right now? Are you talking about your high ticket service? When was the last time you laser focused in on that? When was the last time you even sold that? Are constantly redirecting people into your low ticket offer or your medium is about as high as you go and maybe you're not doing any marketing or sales work on that higher end offer that you have in your business. We also spoke about the, market evolution and things change. And when did we set up your service and offers? Do they still reflect the best of what you are actually providing your clients? Sometimes the market demands a shift. Are there smaller, more specific services that you could offer derived out of your main offerings? So I'm talking about, can you bundle something up? Can you pull a couple of things together and create something new that you could go out with a one time offer just for the next fortnight or just for the next three clients, whatever that looks like. You might find a way to quickly inject it. Some work into your business by looking at the offers that you already have in a totally different way or marketing them in a different way. In one coaching clients case, we had a look into the service office and I was just like, do you know what? They're just so confusing. They're really probably confusing your potential clients to the point where they've just gone. There's so much process in here and there's so much information available to me on this website. That I can't make my way through the weeds. I can't get to the core of what the offer is and it becomes too confusing. And so I'm just going to close down the tab because I've had a really hard day at work and I'm trying to do something fun, which is research interior designers and get some help with the new build or get some help with my home. And you've complicated that for me. I would also tell you to check your website and check that it guides them through really gently step by step. into a discovery call. Less is more on that front facing client facing web page. What you want to do is give them the confidence and get them assured that you can help them, but then get them to get in contact with you so that you can take them through the next steps, like the process and take them through the inclusions yourself. You know, This product or this service more than anyone else and better than anyone else. And you should be able to sell it with such conviction because you know the result that you provide, you know that you're capable of taking this project and making it an amazing one. So this is where the discovery call does a lot of heavy lifting. If you feel like you could use a little bit of a refresher around converting that discovery call or closing the sale on that go back to chats that convert the webinar excerpt that is designing success episode 39. There's a good half an hour in there with actual scripts and advice on what to do with them to close the sale. So just to reiterate, if you are looking for a quick win, go back, look at the offerings that you have and evaluate it. Consider breaking down the bigger services into smaller, more manageable offerings that meet your client's immediate needs. Something that they're struggling with right now. Are you marketing and selling what you offer every single day? And I'm not talking about a content strategy that's like you have to post every single day. Nope. What are you doing? One particular activity in your business every single day that helps market that business. What am I doing today that's going to market my business for tomorrow. And you have to do that activity every single day. So I'm again, not talking about a content strategy, not talking about showing up on Instagram every single day. Instagram isn't your only marketing. When did you update your LinkedIn? When did you just do, even if that's a YouTube tutorial on Pinterest, a 15 minute YouTube tutorial. So you learned. to do marketing a little bit better. That is still an activity that will see an outcome that is not just saying, Oh, I do heaps of marketing and expecting clients, but then frustrated as to why you're not seeing them. This is also a really good time to assess what's been working lately. Maybe you showed up and told a story on your Instagram and it got heaps of engagement and you probably didn't park that result anywhere. So thinking back over the last 30 days, because who can remember, I can't even remember the last three days, but thinking back, was there any one thing that you did? Maybe you shared a particular lamp and it was controversial, really consider what you have been doing and what's working and move in that direction. Just kill the stuff that isn't working. And I'm not talking about instant gratification. If you've just done one thing and you don't have Many examples to do a comparison then you can't really make an educated decision yet on what works and what doesn't work. And if that's you, get your spaghetti and start throwing it at the wall. I want to know that you have shown up and tried a whole bunch of stuff. You've tried a faceless reel, you've tried b roll content, you've tried showing up with this. Face to camera. Have you tried interviewing your next door neighbor about their opinions on the vignettes in your own home? Have you tried going live with another designer and just talking about the challenges now that we've brought in some new laws around, Bench top materials. Most likely when I am talking to people, they haven't actually tried everything. They've tried some things that they used to try and they don't feel comfortable anymore and they don't feel like they're working anymore. And then they blame the algorithm or they've told me their shadow band, which is very unlikely or some other excuse. And I know I sound terrible, but I am really solution focused in my work. Marketing specifically. It's like in the marketing workshop, just teaching other ways to do things is really something I'm passionate about because marketing is consistently evolving. The goalposts change every single week. And that is one thing that doesn't change the fact that it does change. Part of being in business is riding that wave and actually going, that's what's fun about it. I don't have to do the same thing that I did in the first year of my business when I'm in the sixth year of my business. And. I can influence change by moving in the direction of the things that get me the positive data and outcomes and leaving behind the things that don't work for my brand. And what works for me is going to look completely different to what works for someone else. And that's why in this coaching call last week, I was like, you should do more of this because you're really strong in that space. And that is a skill set of yours that I don't see many designers having. Or that is an aesthetic that is not as common. So you should be Doubling down on that and let's go all in. And we really talked through that, but she did admit, okay, yeah, there's heaps of stuff in the marketing realm that I'm not doing, as well as the consistency piece had been like, Oh, I don't really want to shop on my stories all the time. Or, I did it three times last week, but not at all this week. And we just talked through the why of that. Got a little bit deeper around what's stopping you? Is it time? And if it's time, can I help you schedule? And if it isn't time, is it nerves or is it fear? Or you really have to know this stuff about what you bring to your business because it's the stuff that's scary where the biggest growth opportunity exists. So it's the stuff that you really hate and that you're groaning that I'm going to mention next or that I'm even talking about now. If you're somebody who's putting both hands up and being like, Oh no, I don't want to get on camera or whatnot. Then that is absolutely your opportunity to do that activity and make a change in your business and get the clients instead of the cricket. This may not work for everyone, but I think it's important to have realistic and honest budget conversations with clients. We do it in initial consults. We do it in the discovery call. Assumptions really help your potential clients self qualify and often they will self qualify away from becoming your clients. And what I mean by that is people who don't show their pricing on their website, there's sometimes an assumption like I couldn't hire her. I bet she's, cost 10, 000 just to do the initial home consult. When in fact you have a very reasonable 90 minute rate to come over and have a chat as a first step. Or sometimes You know, people haven't used an interior designer before. And that world feels very scary. And I'm treading really carefully here because I don't want to be like, Hey, when was the last time you went on your stories and said, I'm actually really cheap guys. Or, none of that. That is not what I, my intention is. I do not want to cheapen the industry in any way. Please don't at me. If you are not ever discussing the cost to work with you, then you could find yourself in a place where people are assuming what it costs to work with you and maybe they are making decisions based on that assumption that's actually not right I spoke to this client last week and I said, Hey why don't when we do some flyers and things, why don't we have a from prize that says, Come and chat to me for 90 minutes from 3. 95 if that's your in home consultation fee or have a 90 minute project pre qualifying meeting with me from 4. 95. I am making up all of these numbers, of course, but you could do a slide in your stories that just says, reach out and spend an hour and a half with a qualified designer from this much. And that's just your in home consult. And those aren't scary numbers. Those are usually pretty comfortable numbers for people and that might make people start to go, Oh. Okay. I didn't realize that I actually thought it would be five figures to start working with you. It's just a different way to approach things start having conversations about budgets. Get on your stories and talk to people about Cozy Lives. It's happening to everybody. It's. Certainly I'm seeing it in the framework. I'm seeing girls like very thankful that there's now a one 99 per month option because it was getting a real struggle. I want the 12 month support, but I don't have the end figure at the beginning. I need to get some clients to be able to afford it. And so that has helped, but it hasn't solved that problem. I am very open in my stories and in my conversations around I get it. I get that it's a big investment and I get that you are making a financial And the same to be said of your own potential clients, they are going to be investing in you, but the outcome is what we're selling here. And we know we can make a difference worth above and beyond the invoice figure. So maybe jumping in your stories and talking about, have you recently considered removing interior design from your must have list in your new build because of expenses? and then showing and educating what can happen when the builder chooses the white paint and when no shade on builders please again don't at me but like you know what happens if the electrician picks the pendants and if the guy from the flooring shop just Nods and smiles at you every time you say you really like that light oak floor, but it's not the right thing for your style outcome, but you just didn't know. there's plenty of people out there who still recognize that we are not in a recession in a way that's catastrophic for our industry. No way. I'm still seeing absolutely positive things. But don't be afraid to have those conversations in your stories around budget, because putting your head in the sand and pretending that it's not an issue for people or that they're not having to overcome something themselves with their money mindset in order to invest in you is not doing you any favors. This one goes back to marketing, but it's just a little tip that I like to use all of the time. And that is to go back to my previous clients or case studies or testimonials or people I've gotten along with really well and being like, Hey, can I grab you for 10 minutes? It's nothing major, it's just a quick phone call. I just want to ask a couple of questions about the process that we went through together and the outcome and get a little bit more information about how my business has helped you those sorts of things. And then I take really full on notes and I use the exact language that they use with me back into my marketing when you really connect with things, it's generally because it's simple and it's spoken the way you think about it. Yes, I am feeling really overwhelmed about that. Or I do feel the responsibility to my husband and my whole family to get the undertones right. Even though I don't have any education in getting the undertones right. Stuff like that. Let them tell you what they're struggling with and then use all of that amazing gold to reverse engineer your marketing even better. If they'll jump on a zoom with you, you then have video clips. If they'll sign a release and content that you can use as video testimonial on your website. This next one, I cannot express to you how important it is to literally pound the pavement to get out and talk to your potential clients, to learn more about them, to ask heaps of questions, to go to the house and garden show, go to your local display homes on the weekends and chat to the people who are looking and saying I am a local interior designer. I'm just here getting some ideas. Actually, while I've got you, can I ask you a couple of questions? This is not a sales pitch or anything. I just, if you have ever used an interior designer, would you ever use them? What do you think they're for? I am such a curious person. Hence this podcast has always had interviews since I launched it because I love those episodes. I get to learn things about people and the best way to market correctly and to get the service and offers right is to go and meet the people that are your ideal clients. So when I was coaching this person last week, I was like, we know your ideal client and I know you know a group of these types of people. Can you take five minutes of the next birthday lunch with all your girlfriends and go around and just say, I know it's annoying, but it's so helpful for me. Take lots of notes, ask lots of questions and ask them lots of questions. Okay. And this last tip is just something that when I challenged her over last week, I realized this was happening a lot. And that is de selecting your priority. I'm not de selecting. What do I want to say? Like putting the things that are going to make a difference in your business. moving them down to the bottom of the to do list every single day because you're like, that's just marketing or selling on stories. Yeah, I'll do that tomorrow. I didn't get to it. Okay. I'll do it next Tuesday, you should come in and look at your overall to do list and look at where your businesses are and know your finances and know what's going on and say, what are the top three revenue driving activities and lead generating activities that I can do to help propel my business forward. And let's do those first. Fiddling around with a Canva template is nowhere near as productive as getting on a phone call and asking some questions of your potential client and then knowing exactly what language to use in that Canva template. or it's not as important as saying I've been meaning to learn email marketing properly and I just keep thinking it's really overwhelming. today I'm going to take 30 minutes out of my day and I'm going to watch the tutorial on YouTube that I know exists. But I keep just putting email marketing at the bottom of my to do list. turn that to do list upside down, reverse it. Whatever you're afraid of and whatever you keep minimizing and putting down the bottom, that is the exact activity that can help solve this issue of I'm doing all the things and nothing's happening. Because you're probably not doing that thing and we always talk about consistency But marketing like all the things that I've spoken about today, they have to be happening every day It's just don't put the pressure on yourself to have them perfect But do put the pressure on yourself to show up for your business and run it like the CEO that you are you need to Be coming in every day and going right? Okay. What is everyone doing today? Of course, everyone is just you and what are we doing to build the bottom line? What are we doing to make a profitable business that gives us flexibility and meets all of the brand values and missions that we have? How do we do that? Of all the things that we've got to do, which three things will do that the most? Great. Let's start there, guys. Off you go, team. Go and do your thing. And that's exactly how you should approach your individual morning meeting with yourself over coffee. I hope that's been helpful today. I'm looking forward to bringing you a great chat on Thursday with Lauren from Triple R Creative. Lauren and I are running an amazing event. Tickets are selling fast. It is a full day of content creation, marketing workshop. We're going to go through the content pillars. We're going to learn how to use all of the content that we film. It's all video content, which is amazing. Plus your 20 fully edited professional headshots. I'm going to chat to Lauren on Thursday all about personal branding more about that later have a great week. Bye for now. That wraps up another episode of Designing Success from Study to Studio. Thanks for lending me your ears. Remember, progress over perfection is the key. If you found value in today's episode, go ahead and hit subscribe or share it with a friend. Your feedback means so much to me and it helps me improve, but it also helps this podcast reach more emerging and evolving designers. Now let's get out there and start designing your success