As an interior designer, you’re no stranger to the hustle. 

From client meetings and site visits to sketching design concepts and answering a flood of emails, your day is a whirlwind of creativity and coordination. 

Unfortunately, many interior designers fall into the trap of trying to do every single task themselves…which often leads to burnout, less productivity, and missed opportunities.

No matter how much passion you pour into your work, there’s one undeniable truth in business—productivity fuels profitability.

In other words, if you’re not productive, your business won’t grow.

If you find yourself deep in the weeds of business to-do’s but struggling to see growth, it’s time to make a change. In this blog, we share top strategies interior designers should implement to finally see the productivity (and profits) they’ve been dreaming of. 

Let’s get started.

Double-Down on Marketing

Without question, marketing your interior design business will help target potential clients and scale your business. However, if you’re trying to market your business without following key marketing strategies, you’re likely wasting a ton of time.

So how can you level up your current marketing strategies? I’d suggest one of two options.

If you love marketing and have the space for it, follow the steps below. Otherwise, outsource your marketing to a specialist. 

Here are marketing tips you should be following regularly:

• Understand your target audience: In other words, who are the exact people you want to be serving? What are their likes and dislikes? What are their biggest pain points? What are their design preferences? When you can zero in on your exact target audience, it’s much easier to create content that speaks directly to them.

• Build an online presence: How will your target audience find you? In today’s digital world, it’s critical to create a website and social media accounts that showcase your skills and expertise. We’d also suggest creating a Google My Business page, which will increase your search visibility.

• Show up on social media: It’s not enough to simply create a social media account—you also need to regularly post content. Why, you ask? Because approximately 34% of people use social media to discover new products or services. That’s one-third of your audience!

• Get referrals: If your clients are pleased with your work, they will be more than happy to refer you to others. It’s simple. Just send them a templated email asking them to refer any family and friends who may be looking to redesign a space. The best part of referrals? It’s easy and doesn’t cost anything.

• Create content: Content is an absolute must-have for marketing. It helps build brand awareness, establishes trust, improves search engine optimization, and drives conversions. Content marketing can include anything from educational articles to videos to social media posts and anything in between.

Understandably, this may feel like a lot (especially when you’re trying to run every other part of your business). If marketing seems like a chore and is not something that you enjoy, I’d suggest outsourcing this work to a specialist. 

If you’re looking for marketing assistance, we’d love to help. From blog writing and newsletters to social media content, our experts increase brand awareness so our clients have the space to do what they love!

Automate Repetitive Processes

If you’re still entering everything manually, stop.

Technology, automation, and AI have exploded and most businesses are now harnessing these tools to help their processes run faster and smoother. If you’re not already doing this, you’re behind the curve.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t catch up. The first thing you should do is identify your repetitive processes. Then, automate them. 

If you’re not sure where to begin, we’d suggest implementing these tools:

Project Management Tools: Interior designers are constantly coordinating multiple moving parts, delegating tasks, and managing a specific timeline and budget. When you can do all of this in one central platform (like Clickup or Monday.com), you ensure everything moves smoothly and no one is left out of the loop.

Client Relationship Management (CRM) Tools: A good CRM is critical for business growth. Platforms, like Dubsado, help interior designers efficiently manage their client experience and streamline workflows so everything is organized under one umbrella.

Design Project Management Tool: This is an absolute must-have. We recommend Studio Designer who also recently took over MyDoma. This platform has it all when it comes to supporting the design phase! Our designers love it for many reasons, but what I feel is most supportive is that it gives you a place to store all of the design related pieces. This means you can save your specified pieces, send proposals, collect invoices on those selections and so on.

If you don’t have the time (or interest) to set up and learn these tools, consider outsourcing this work. Here at Hannah Bowyer & Co., we help interior designers set up their CRM in Dubsado (ask about my Dubsado discount code) so they can jump right in and run their business without a hitch.

Plus, we offer Virtual Design Assistance, helping craft floor plans, elevations, 3D renderings, and more!

Create Templates

If your CRM is set up, but you’re still writing every client email from scratch, you’re not taking full advantage of the platform. CRMs are designed to easily store templated documents so you can seamlessly connect with clients.

So instead of writing an entire email for each stage of the process, you can reuse pre-written, customizable emails and simply switch out key details that pertain to each client.

This will save minutes…to hours of your time.

Ready to start templatizing? First, determine the documents you use that could easily be reused and adapted for every client. This could be anything from your invoices and emails to welcome and investment guides. Then, create the customizable documents and add them to your CRM workflow.

Not wanting to create your own email templates or guides? Shop our expertly written email templates and our beautifully branded Welcome and Investment Guides.

Focus on You Zone of Genius And Delegate the Rest

Let’s be honest, you didn’t get into interior design to manage spreadsheets or schedule meetings. Then why spend so much of your time doing the tasks that zap your energy?

Here’s a key piece of advice that can majorly boost your productivity and your profits.

Determine which tasks you love to do. Then, outsource the rest.

It’s easy to assume you must do every task, even if it makes you want to pull your hair out. 

We’d argue, though, that your business will be much more profitable if you focus on high-value activities that bring you joy and hand the tasks you don’t enjoy to experts.

Here are a few reasons why:

• Delegating tasks that feel like a chore gives you the space to spend time on high-value activities that bring in revenue and expand your portfolio.

• You’ll have more energy to develop innovative designs that truly showcase your talent. Which, in turn, will bring in more referrals and clients.

• When you rely on experts, you ensure that those tasks are performed with precision and professionalism.

Outsourcing to other professionals is an investment you won’t regret.

Create a Schedule that Prioritizes You First

Last, but certainly not least, create a work schedule that puts you first.

I know, I know. Business owners are notoriously bad at this. They spend all their time and effort running their business. And at the end of the day, they have nothing left for themselves.

It’s important to understand that you’ll always be more productive (and a better business owner) if you block out time for yourself first. So before you schedule anything else in your week, carve out personal time. This could be daily yoga, coffee dates, or time at your kids’ sports games. 

Then, create your work schedule around your “you time.” This will ensure you stay refreshed, energized, and excited to show up at work.

Start Today

All these strategies may feel like a lot, so here’s what I would recommend: pick one and start implementing it today. This could be documenting your processes so you know what to streamline in your CRM. Or maybe it’s as simple as searching for a Virtual Design Assistant. 

Every time you make a small change, it will push you that much closer to a more productive business—and yes, higher profits.

Need help managing your growing interior design business? Schedule a free consultation to see how we can lighten your load.

Outsourcing to other professionals is an investment you won’t regret.

Need help managing your growing interior design business? Schedule a free consultation to see how we can lighten your load.