How To Get Luxury Interior Design Clients
High-end clients generate the potential to bring in higher profit margins, they elevate your reputation within your chosen niche and they can often present opportunities for the most amazing, unique, and exciting projects that, as an added bonus, also help boost your design portfolio.
Whether you’ve been in the design industry for a long time or you are just beginning, targeting and connecting with high-end clients can feel a little challenging. These people know exactly what they want and they expect the best. With the right strategies, you can uplevel your offers to meet these clients and offer them exactly what they need and desire.
Are you up for the challenge?
You’re probably wondering how to target these types of clients.
How can you bring luxury clients into your space?
How can you catch their attention?
What to offer them?
How to present yourself?
…
Fear not, we are sharing our top tips on how you can start attracting luxury interior design clients right away.
What defines a luxury client?
First, let’s better understand what defines a luxury client.
In its most simplistic explanation, luxury clients are those clients with bigger budgets.
But it isn’t just about the budget. While these clients tend to be willing to pay more for your services, their expectations tend to be heightened.
They will be desiring a higher performance from any service provider they hire. They’re willing to pay not just for the service you will provide but also for the whole experience that comes with it!
It’s important to understand that we are not only talking about the end product, in this case, the final interior design. The entire process from start to finish needs to be seamless, personal, and highly efficient.
It’s indeed a whole experience they are buying into. Often these people have busy schedules and expect you to know their needs from the start, allowing them to take a step back from the design project to focus on their own endeavors.
They don’t need to be a part of every single design decision, and this is why they want to be able to fully trust you. They want to hire the best possible person for the job, one they can rely on to make the right call, and be sure their best interest is also top of mind.
This is one of the biggest differences that separate high-end luxury clients from the rest.
How to start working with luxury interior design clients
Rational versus emotional
You’re selling more than a product and it’s important to not just point out the rational aspects of why they need to come work with you. Luxury clients don’t want to find the most practical choice. They want the most extraordinary and exceptional service.
Connect what you’re offering with emotions. What stories, lifestyles, and feelings are you going to offer?
Quality + limited offers
Luxury services aren’t about quantity. It’s not mass-produced, it’s not available all the time to everyone.
Instead, it focuses on high quality. It requires time and energy and it means it is also limited.
You’re not available for everyone, all the time. You might have a waiting list or limited-time-only offers. It creates a sense of urgency.
Highly personalized
They’re not only buying a product or an end result. They’re buying into an experience. This experience needs to be highly personalized to the client. You want to make the client feel like you understand them, you listen to them, and you are adapting to their needs. Make them feel special every step of the way and you will leave a lasting impact on them!
Less is more elegant
If you think you need to give more, you might be going down the wrong path.
Just like in interior design, more can quickly become overwhelming.
More offers, more products, and more choices can create a lot of noise and can turn people away.
Instead having a more simple approach can create a much more elegant impression.
That works for your offers, your branding, your marketing, and so on!
Where are you trying to do more when you could simplify and create a bigger impact?
8 things you can implement right now
Working with luxury clients means marketing to luxury prospects. Your first step is going to be to upgrade your marketing game!
1. Define your niche
When attracting luxury clients you can’t be targeting the masses. You need to decide right now who your target audience is going to be. It doesn’t mean you can never offer your services to people outside of your target audience but if you want to reach luxury clients, your marketing needs to be onboard of that specific market!
Learn more about defining your ideal client here.
If you want to attract luxury clients, then your digital footprint needs to reflect that perceived level of value that illustrates your high level of professionalism and expertise. It needs to be very clear that you serve these types of clients, and them alone.
This is why it’s crucial to first define who they are. It’s interesting to understand that luxury clients might not be only the very rich ones. They may be interested in luxury services for some areas of their life without living an entire luxurious lifestyle.
Your website, portfolio, and social media channels all need to share the energy of luxury and premium service! And this starts with you. These clients will be demanding a bespoke service so you’ll need to do your due diligence to know what’s going on in their minds, you need to understand their needs so that you can offer the design solution they so desperately want.
How do high-end interior designers get clients? Click here to learn more!
2. Upgrade your branding
Your brand needs to match the level of luxury these clients expect to see. You’re a walking testimonial!
The colors, fonts, and imagery you will use play a role in the impact you are making.
Learn more about why is building a brand important in interior design.
Not every brand will tell the same story.
You want your brand to share a specific luxurious story. Spend time researching other luxurious brands and see what you feel called to, which emotions you want to share as well, and how you would want to be perceived.
3. Invest in your photography and make your portfolio stand out
According to Ipsos, 78% of luxury clients will do online research before making a purchase, so your digital presence, including your portfolio and website could make the difference between landing the perfect client, or repelling them.
As mentioned, high-end clients will use your branding as an indicator of whether or not they want to work with you or not. They want to feel that ‘yes’ before even considering contacting you.
Your branding and your photography will either help this or hinder it.
High-quality photography that captures your work is critical. You want to grab their attention and fast. No matter how hard you’ve worked to deliver a beautiful design, poor image quality and average image editing can really impede your ability to attract a luxury client. Investing in high-quality images is a powerful part of your sales mission.
Download our free photoshoot guide to leverage your project photography and optimize your photos for your marketing.
4. Get your interior design business published in high authority press
Customers rely on high-authority industry press and experts to work with companies they don’t have experience with.
High-authority industry experts and influencers (whether they are a single person or a group such as a publication) have gained recognition over time from their audience in a specific niche. The content they create and publish is considered high-value and trustworthy.
For example, readers of Architectural Digest or ELLE Decor will trust journalists of these publications in regards to interior design trends. If the publication recommends a product, a service, or a company, readers will be more likely to trust these brands and give them a try.
It’s important to choose the publications you are working with wisely. Make sure they are targeting your ideal luxury clients!
Click here to read more about the advantages of getting published in high-authority media publications and how to get your name out!
5. Improve your customer experience
Landing a luxury client is far more transactional, they want the job done with as little ‘back and forth’ as possible.
Exceptional customer experiences can really help you to attract luxury clients and be successful in your industry. Your customer experience can help you jump forward and be ahead of the competition.
But what is a customer experience exactly?
It’s the entire journey that a customer will go through when interacting with your business. It’s the relationship between your brand and the customer. From the very beginning to the end. It includes all the direct interactions but also the passive ones. It’s your branding, your communication, how you work with them, and all the perceptions the client has of you. It’s as emotional as tangible.
If you want to land luxury clients, you’re going to need to improve your customer experience.
We’ve talked about your branding already and how you are being seen.
Now, how does it feel to interact with your business? Is it easy and streamlined for them to ask questions, and share reviews? Can you make it even easier to pay invoices?
Is your customer experience set up to solve your customer's needs, challenges, and problems, and are you being proactive about it?
How’s your customer support? Is it easy for your customers to get in touch with you and receive help when they need it?
Look into all the big and small aspects of your interactions with them - what can be improved, upgraded, updated, changed, removed, or added?
An excellent customer experience will be highly beneficial because:
Customers will be more loyal
Customers will be more satisfied
You will get better word-of-mouth recommendations, marketing, and positive reviews which will help get even more clients!
To improve your customer experience make sure to:
Listen to your customers’ needs as they might change. Don’t assume you know everything they need. Stay aware and conscious of what they might be looking for.
Ask, receive, and analyze feedback regularly to be constantly improving yourself.
6. Work on your circle of affiliates
A luxury service comes with luxury goods. You’ll want to ensure your contacts in the industry that you’re working alongside provide the level of quality that your clients desire. Premium relationships go a long way when it comes to landing your ideal luxury client. When they see you’re affiliated with a brand they trust, they are far more likely to hire you. This will also boost your credibility in the high-end interior design industry. So get networking!
7. Consider your pricing
If you’ve been offering lower market rates on your website for more budget-friendly clients, you’re not likely to attract luxury clients. It’s important to note that price is not a concern for most luxury clients. They are willing to pay more if they believe they are getting more value from you.
Now, don’t just charge more and expect to be considered a luxury brand. Pricing needs to reflect all the value you are providing.
Look at your competitors and see what they are charging and create a pricing strategy that puts you in their league. Then ensure your marketing and brand are a reflection of your higher pricing.
8. Go the extra mile
Overdelivering will make a positive impact! Don’t oversell yourself to land the contract. It’s better to keep positive surprises, gifts, and extra bonuses, instead of having the client feel like they didn’t get everything they were promised.
Luxury clients want to buy a solution, and that’s you. Choose the design services you want to offer these high-end clients and make it very clear that this is your area of genius. Invest in your brand and you won’t regret it.
Would you like support to grow your brand to attract more luxury clients? Click here to schedule a Complimentary Brand Consultation.
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