Stop Being Overworked: Design Business Growth 📈 | LinkedIn's Strategy Leader Tyler Suomala Shows The Way

This Beyond Interior Design podcast episode focuses on the challenges and strategies for interior designers and architects in communicating our value and expertise to clients. We discuss the importance of understanding client needs, asking the right questions, showcasing problem-solving abilities, and emphasizing the broader impacts of design beyond aesthetics.

1. What are some common challenges faced by interior designers and architects?
2. How can interior designers achieve a balance between work and personal life?
3. Is there a difference between balancing work and life versus integrating them?
4. How can interior designers manage time effectively and optimize productivity?
5. How can interior designers use creativity in designing their business?
6. How interior designers get creative freedom by implementing processes and systems?
7. How design principles can be used to communicate effectively to clients?
8. What is the importance of setting up a client qualification process?
9. How to communicate the story and value of interior design in an image-driven cultures like Instagram?
10. How can designers effectively communicate the value they bring beyond aesthetics? 

Do you want to connect with Tyler? Please go to: www.instituteofinteriorimpact.com/tyler

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Transcript

I've never met anyone in our industry in interior and architecture and engineering or anything like that that isn't extremely passionate about what they do that doesn't absolutely love what they do in some kind of capacity um so it's that's never the challenge that's actually just something that almost we need to harness we need to figure out harnessing in the best way possible ladies and gentlemen welcome we're in the next Beyond interior design uh podcast and today we have Tyler civil malaks um he's from Tyler tactics and uh helping Architects to communicate their unique value and the way I was uh inviting him to the podcast is because um we are on the same Mission we are we are trying to unlock the potential of creatives to empower the creatives and Hey listen we are designers after all we can design our own lives is it so he's on a mission of doing projects that you love with clients that you want and for fees that you deserves that you deserve he's talking about sales marketing leadership architecture and business development and I think we have a lot of commonalities with the interior design sector so um here he is hey Mark thanks for having me really excited to be here um definitely excited to speak with someone else with a shared mission for sure yeah yeah I'm glad that you did you join the podcast uh great thank you for your time because yeah I saw a lot of posts and messages the last few months uh on LinkedIn that's uh that's our platform our favorite platform and um well it it's it keeps me awake let's let's call it that way it was it was sometimes you kick me in the ass you kick a lot of creatives and yes you are you are going to waking it up uh it's it's you are showing them a different perspective maybe sometimes a complete other lifestyle so I I want to know why are you doing this because it's we are sharing definitely the same frustration so sometimes it's like oh he's so frustrated what is it but I know there's a there's a big passion behind it so so yeah why why are you doing this what what's what's the goal well there's I mean there's a lot that precedes it right I mean I'm a I'm a former architect right and I now work kind of in the in I work at monograph now which is uh um on the technology side of architecture but I speak to Architects every single day about the challenges that they're facing in their practice and kind of what preceded a massive amount of uh of posts that I had last month you know in December really talking about these challenges and the lifestyle challenges that we have as Architects and designers and interior designers um was you know there was you know an 11 11 month build up um because I really started posting on LinkedIn about a year ago um now and so there was an 11 month buildup of really understanding um and making sure that the challenges that I faced um in the industry are also pretty common among other people right so there was this kind of long long winding path to understand I certainly wasn't loaning the challenges to helping other people realize that they're not alone in their challenges as well and then to kind of just deploy and this like you can almost call it like an awareness campaign right there's so many things that we're doing that we have control over and that we can that we can begin to change likely for the better it's not so much I mean I think it's a lot easier to change what's happening outside of our professional lives first right to like to give more time and energy to that and then that's certainly going to have a positive impact on what's Happening inside of our professional lives as well so what what do we mean are you talking about the private life or I just mean I just mean that they're the I'm more so talking about the balance right the balance between um work and life right we generally as designers we're so passionate right I mean there's I've I've literally never met I've never met anyone I've never met anyone in our industry in interior and architecture and engineering or anything like that that isn't extremely passionate about what they do that doesn't absolutely love what they do um in some kind of capacity um so it's that's never the challenge that's actually just something that almost we need to harness we need to figure out harnessing in the best way possible so that we're not focusing all of our energy on it at all times of the day and so that we do actually have opportunities to step away spend time with friends and family um and focus on these other things so that when we come back to it we're actually more energized we're more ready to um get this work done and to work productively so yeah there is another life uh than internal design and architecture but it's it's it's well we are supposed to we know you you are going into a restaurant with your family yeah and you were looking to the ceiling through the floor is it do you recognize this is entirely true this is entirely true you see the world completely differently from the second you take you probably your first or second course in University to write you're you're automatically just so much more observant of what's happening in the world around you and that part I think is good like I think that's good it's the it's the it's more so the time that we're actually spending in there like actively working on it you know thinking about it is I think something different when we're I mean we want to be more present in those moments that you're talking about you know in the restaurant with our families um we want to be more present with them um but more so we just want to spend like a little bit more time outside of the office giving our brain some time to um to like rehabilitate itself right yeah um and get that energy back for the next day or yeah but so but but how I think it's hard because we have you have a project in your mind and you're some people are searching for inspiration and you you are or maybe you need new projects so what's what's the what what can you do to um do we need a switch for that or because you you're talking about balance sometimes it's it feels if you're really fighting for a balance in your life it's like you there there are two words um what about this cool uh integration and I'm I'm playing with it um oh yeah yeah maybe the other the whole my whole life but I'm playing with it is it is it the balance or is it a really cool integration

yeah yeah I mean it could be I think it depends on the person right so there's it's one of these things where there's not there's not one right answer for anyone um my my balance probably looks different than what other people say I mean I've been married I've been married to my wife for like eight and a half years we were married when I was in undergrad we were married through grad school as well and through basically you know the beginning the the beginning portions of my professional career as well so I had different things that I was focused on you know I didn't and she's not an architect which is amazing that helps me that helps me step outside right um so you know I had different things that I was focused on outside of architecture and I think for me like that's something that I always recommend um especially like during University and and at the beginning of your professional career is that you make plans outside of work that you commit to those plans whether that's you know going to get drinks with friends after work or something like that and making that happen at like 6 p.m you know rather than at like 10 o'clock at night um you're getting those things done so kind of forcing yourself to step away making those commitments and allowing like other relationships outside of that to flourish but it really does depend on the individual everyone thinks differently about that but I think it's really about um we just even even for the people that are trying you know like you you're trying to you're trying to do more integration I think I'm I'm more about kind of separating those two areas um more and that's totally fine but the issue is that we don't usually spend too much time actually like thinking internally about that right so we're like you know we're so we're more on what you were talking about at the beginning it's like there's so many things to do we have a project that's always in the back of our mind and we're so focused on like actively working on that actively getting it done rather than taking a step back and thinking okay what is actually the most like productive way for me to tackle this um productive and healthy way for me to tackle this right like should I just block off a couple of hours where I'm going to focus on researching on this for two hours rather than trying to research at the same time that I'm getting work done and then at eight o'clock at night realizing that I'm still thinking about it because I didn't actually give myself the space to do the research and to yeah to come to more definitive decisions so you know there's different like productivity happens activity hacks in that yeah that you can use but yeah you're you're a big fan of efficiency is it I mean I love efficiency right I mean I love I love to-do lists I love time blocks I love trying to optimize um getting things done in a quicker way because time I mean time is everything to us that's all that's all that we have that's all that we have in this world is is time and managing it correctly is um to me in in speaking with like leaders all around uh at least the country here in the United States you know architecture leaders um that are leading like large firms and doing these things the thing that separates them from everyone else that I've spoken to so far is really it's their time management it's their ability to manage time in a healthy and productive way I I rarely talk to leaders that tell me that they've been pulling all-nighters for you know the the last 20 years of their lives and and that's how they got to where they are it's usually I found it actually be the opposite you know we have I've have a balance I have a family that I'm focused on I leave work at five or six o'clock at night um and I encourage my team to do that as well yeah yeah it sounds great yes time time is all we got so and the funny thing is we we the the most beautiful thing of our profession is the creative box for most of them of course if you like efficiency functionality practicality systems processes it's it can be nice too but when you are really focusing on the creative process um then you hate when somebody's calling you you are hating with when you have another email you are hating it when you have to check all your inbox and answer all the emails and if you don't what I found out in the beginning um especially in the beginning and before I met Sven my business uh business partner yeah you have all kinds of systems in place and I would I definitely was not fan of systems and I.T and and computer and gadgets not my thing when it works yes but then then we were slowly integrating some cool stuff in there so all the well repetitive tasks or things you just can do on autopilot we we created something for that to save us an amazing amount of time and then it spare me a lot of time to to spend on my clients on the on on building a meaningful relationship with it to go more in depth and the creative part which I like so so much yeah I mean and you're also neglecting the fact that arguably the designing of those systems that you just I mean that's also using a lot of creativity understanding how to make those automations and set up those systems as well which is something that I didn't realize as much until I stepped you know away from working directly like on my own studio with my own clients and then into the Technology field and kind of taking a step back having a different perspective and realize realizing oh I actually don't feel like I'm I'm not like missing the design side or the creative side of my life like I'm still employing it like every single day with everything that I do I'm just using it in a different way yes so you're telling me that that uh actually designing your business that's it's creative it's using your creative creativity too it is being created absolutely oh absolutely yeah yeah yeah yeah right now I I I experienced it in the same way because I'm really looking forward if I have something or there's a problem or a challenge or something that it's repetitive and I'm like how can how can we solve that so I I never ever have to do it again with all my energy and time and you can just save it so yeah yeah and sometimes I mean you have to look within to find that like I didn't actually realize until I stepped away I was like oh I actually enjoy you know like what you're saying I enjoy designing the business portion I I enjoy thinking and thinking creatively about business development and marketing more that I enjoy the design elements of like actually designing like the building um or the interiors and so it took me some time to realize that and I'm totally like I'm comfortable with that that's fine I know that I'm actually not the I'm not the best designer in the world and that's fine um there's people that are far better than me and I'd rather focus on on the elements that I'm passionate about and that fulfill me when when change that when was it the critical moment did you say hey I love the I love the other side of design because did you always wanted to be an architect or a designer or

no actually no I wanted to I I was definitely interested in architecture as a young kid like in my in my early teens probably and then I was a good student so natural like at least in the US there's this issue where it's like at the time we were getting like pushed in oh good students like you should be a doctor you should go into the medical field so I started I started my undergraduate degree in pre-med studying neuroscience and actually did that for three years until I took my first yeah Neuroscience until I took my first architecture course and I was about 10 minutes into that course before and that was just as an elective really to fill some space and it was about 10 minutes into that course before I realized wow this is amazing uh this this is way more this seems way more fun to me um I you know it was a free hand drawing course you know my professor she's amazing she was like she was totally like I was just totally enthralled with everything that she was saying about the like the perspective that we have in the world and things that we can I think you can watch out for how we can you know recreate that on a page and things like that so I was totally enamored by what she was saying and I was locked in and it wasn't long after that that I applied for the architecture program at that school and ended up and ended up switching in my senior year basically into into architecture yeah so so this this lady was showing you the Beyond architecture World exactly the bigger picture yeah exactly exactly yeah yeah cool yeah so but well you're you're an architect right now and you love you love all these processes and designing your business because it's a way to use your creativity too and that's really nice because a lot of creative people that want to design buildings or Interiors they are always busy with all the samples or coloring or really the the let's call it the artist site yes they forget how um how great it can be if you have some systems and processes and and or designing methods in place that you can get can go way more in depth and that you can get can create way more creative freedom for yourself and you have designed it when when it's there for you to support you in uh in a way is it yeah I mean I agree I think you just need to take time to actually do that because yeah the the vast majority of my day right now is speaking with Architects that are in um the mode that you're talking about where essentially they uh they run they're a principal like I'm usually speaking to design leaders right they're a principal at an Architecture Firm or an interior design firm or an engineering firm and they've just gotten themselves in this position um where they actually don't really have any idea what's going on in their business they don't have a clear understanding of it because they don't really want to focus on it because they've got so much work to do they've got so many clients to work on they they want to be focusing on their designing right and so they always say excuse yeah it's always always absolutely it's no sorry I'm I'm too busy for that I'm too busy and I'm like hey you save yourself so much time so if you have the marketing part already Yes enough projects at least it's great so please design your business in a way that that you can save a lot of time for you or they are not busy at all and they are focusing on something else yeah in your opinion what's what's the other Focus I think it's usually it's usually it's not I I don't come across them I've I don't know how often do you come across someone saying that they're not busy in this field it's basically like never um I almost never come across someone telling me that um no but it's usually it's not busy let's go called it busy and uh or and successful busy and successful or busy and efficient are different things yeah it's like busy it's it's they're busy because what they've done is they haven't taken time to set up these systems that you're talking about right so in the meantime what they've done because they're not aware of what's happening in their business they don't actually know how much work they need um they haven't thought about their fees in a long time that just means that they're kind of almost like they're like spraying and praying right I want to get every project that I can anyone that's interested in me if I have a client that's interested in me I'm going to grab them I want to do work for them now and so then what happens I have too much work for myself and I have too much work for my team and everyone's starting to get burnt out because we're all working long hours and we're all doing too much because we haven't taken time to actually understand hey um what kind of clients do we want to work with yeah and do we actually have the capacity to take on this project and is it worth it for us and do they value US enough to pay us a higher fee so that we can work with less clients still continue working 40 hours a week um and not have to worry about burning out our team and also you know losing losing out on the talent that we have on our team yeah good that you tell it because that made a big change in our in our firm with in our mass of their design firm that when we are kind of choosing and selecting and filtering our clients so good because we know exactly who was um yeah who paid a lot of attention to our methods and our vision and our how we see the world as designers and they they want to be part of that and they want to believe what we believe they want to right yeah we could create what's because it makes it so much easier right because you don't have to spend that you don't have to spend that mental energy up front convincing them that they should care about these things yeah because this convincing part and that's what uh in my opinion a lot of uh interior designers and creatives and Architects hate it's it's called selling they think selling is convincing is it no no I don't think so no I agree it's it's not but they they a lot of people think it's selling is about convincing something that they need to work with you and if you see it that way it's so hard because you're telling actually the wrong story is it yeah I mean it's usually it's usually framed completely incorrectly right so you have you have a client you have a prospective client that's talking to you and you're like before you even really understand what like what they're focused on you're already trying to kind of you're trying to kind of see where their threshold is at in terms of like what their interest is um relative to your interests right like are they actually interested in design like am I going to have enough flexibility in this to actually do what I want right so you're you're thinking but I mean I made this mistake a gazillion times when I was running my own studio right like I'm just thinking inwardly like I just want someone to come to I want the the perfect lines of me is the one that's just going to hand me like a million dollars and say all right go design go design my house you were searching investors for your portfolio right right yeah yeah you just but you're you're kind of trying rather than understanding what their challenges are and what their values are um you're you're flipping it around and you're you're thinking about hey do they can they actually offer me what I want when usually the best case scenario is that you you do it the other way right you're asking them um you're kind of doing a qualification process for them and helping them become aware of what challenges they're having that's leading them to want to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on whatever this project is that they want to do because people don't just wake up one morning and say you know what I want to do I want to you know I want to redesign the entire interior of my house and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars that's not people don't just wake up and decide that yeah right so what are the pains and the challenges that's leading them to do that and then it's really about like flipping that and that's where your value component comes in right because after you understand they're challenges and understand um what they're facing and and uh and what their situation is then you can frame you like you know those design components and those things that you care about and the language that they in a language that they're gonna that they're going to understand right you're raising the value of the design you're raising your value yeah because you're talking about it in terms that they care about we care about like design in general right we want to choose um the best furniture or the best materials right we want to have full preview over like you know bringing as much natural light in or doing doing Canon labors anything like we just want those components but what they care about is something completely different usually right like they want they probably just want like a kitchen that's large enough for their whole family to gather in one place or something you know or a kitchen where they don't have to keep on running into people and it's like so you have to understand you know what challenges they're having in their own in their own language what they prioritize is it about ability about Aesthetics about creating those moments together or yeah and you have to make sure that those are aligned right that that your interest and their interests are aligned but I think it's better to do it that way right you have to understand their situation um because if you just come in right away and you start to kind of start pitching yourself like in your design interest right away um probably like more often than not they're probably going to be like a little bit resistant to that right because they haven't even had a chance to talk about what challenges they're having so you might be put you might actually be pushing away like high high quality clients um and you don't even realize that they're high quality because you haven't taken time to understand um to understand that more yeah we we tell our uh our members beyond the terror design collab like it's more important that they feel understood than they understand you right yeah one thousand percent yeah absolutely yeah but how do you make sure up front because that's the best scenario that people know that you are the right architect right designer for them how can you solve how can you solve that thing because a lot of creatives are like uh they they have when they have a request they just say yes like they told you they're just taking everything they can and they let's find out if it's a nice or awesome person let's find out how much they want to pay let's find out how if it will go smoothly or not if I can right right yeah you find out in the moment like when it's happening yeah and then halfway through a project and realize that client is terrible that's well that's not called a plan yeah and it's it's you're running a business you don't want to it's not gambling you can you can make sure that it is a good person so how how can you do that up front what do you need to do to attract the right clients

the same design principles because for example the the functionality part if you're a really functional designer you need to communicate that but if you're definitely nothing you're focusing on Aesthetics you don't want this guy or woman in front of you that's asking yeah and how does this work and and now this is this work and I don't care about the color yeah yeah it's a problem oh yeah yeah yeah I mean well to be fair there's all there's almost always going to be an education like an educational relationship between you and your client right that's like that's the whole point of them hiring Professional Services right I mean you are a professional so for sure there's probably going to be moments where you have to explain why this in your case why like this piece of furniture or this color is a far better um is a far better option than you know whatever one they're thinking about or maybe attracted to um so that that that never stops but in in terms of uh what you were talking about before like how do we make sure um that the clients who are getting are right for us I mean it's just a it's a qualification process right I mean I'm sure that you and that that's just setting up a qualification process which can be as simple as usually one or two meetings you know the first meeting is to understand them understand what challenges they're having um kind of what are their pain points and um and Talking maybe talking briefly about you know what it is that you do and how you can help to solve that and then it's taking a step away um kind of reviewing your notes talking with your team seeing if this is something that that you think you'd be interested in and then it's setting up a second meeting to then walk through what that process would look like if they wanted to work with you right and kind of like basically walking through the proposal for them hey you know you mentioned that these were the challenges that you're having um this is how we solve those challenges in the past you can see examples of it with our clients ex clients why clients Z here if you'd like to work with us here are your options for working with us you know it's kind of like you don't want to persuade them I hate that word I hate the word persuasion right you don't want to persuade anyone to work with you you want to be upfront you want to be honest about exactly what it's going to look like exactly what this working relationship is going to be and um you know if you've done if you've done um if you've done well kind of in that Discovery process and in that qualification process to understand what their challenges are and you've also shown them a solution that's probably unique because your competitors aren't doing this most likely like they're they're doing the pitch thing up front I'm telling them you know exactly what they do then they're going to feel heard they're going to feel understood and if you you know if there's an alignment of values then they're going to want to work with you like it's like it's going to be a no-brainer for them yeah yeah it's a long long time ago that I started my first meeting by showing my portfolio I never showed it again with on the first meeting I assumed they saw it online sometimes he did it they just heard the story or but so I I never [ __ ] I never showed uh prospects my portfolio again it's actually really strange because that's how I started I was so proud of my first project yeah look what I can look what I did and then I was telling the whole story and then at the end would you like to buy my design can I can I have the assignment place yeah and this is all I mean that's also what prevents a lot of young designers from going to start their own thing right because they feel as though they need a portfolio honestly any young designer that's listening to this right now if you learn how to communicate effectively if you learn how to ask really good questions um if you learn how to understand the challenges that your clients are having right now and you can and you can come up with reasonable solutions for them there's nothing there's nothing stopping you from from getting work today yeah wonderful wonderful yeah I I totally agree because it's a really frequently Asked question I don't have a portfolio yet how do I start yeah or you're telling you don't need a portfolio you need the right questions yeah and yeah I need the kind of vision or what story you could share how do you raise your role I mean you could have a vision I think the first thing you should do if you're thinking about kind of starting your own practice in any way shape or form is have as many conversations as possible almost I would even say have as have as many failed conversations as possible like try to get excuse me like try to get as much work as you can find 10 to 20 people that are interested in your services have conversations with those 10 to 20 people be really observant about like you know what are the common challenges that they're that they seem to be facing you know are you doing if you're doing interior design is is the most common challenge that you're hearing that it feels like you know people are walking all over one another inside their home or something like that or that the office isn't as productive as they think it could be within the space you know you're going to you're going to hear like repeatable themes and repeatable topics and if you're if you're actually doing that in an aware way if you're tracking it if you're taking notes of these things um you're going to walk away from those conversations having a very good understanding especially relative probably to even what firms are that have been around for 10 or 20 years or something like that um you're going to have a very good understanding of what those challenges are and then you can begin to kind of craft your messaging around what those challenges are assuming obviously that you have the ability to kind of execute on that right you don't want to do something that you that you can't do but uh but yeah it's really it's really it's to me it's like 90 understanding what those client challenges are and understanding what the right solution is to it and it's 10 execution and ability your advice is go on the journey test it out test it out see what's what's happening yeah get told no a lot get told know a lot and ask them why yeah and yeah just just take the first next step that's it yeah dive dive into it and don't don't look at the at this full picture that is going to happen to you or might happen to you or it's not happening to you you never know yeah we're not told as much and we probably don't even see it maybe that much if we're whether we're working in the field or whether we're focused on you know what we were taught at school we're not told so much about not getting work right we don't it's like something that we don't talk about um but just I mean statistically I can I mean statistically you're you're not kidding probably more than 50 percent of the work that you're pursuing like most of the time and that's I mean that's just true across the board I mean your firms probably you might be winning 25 25 35 I mean 35 would be an incredible winway win rate you know so you're putting a lot in and you're not alone and getting no I mean you shouldn't be afraid to hear it because that doesn't just that doesn't mean that you're missing out on a project to me that means that you're that you have more room available to to work with clients that actually value you yes that's true and you have uh when you're a good listener you have so much many more information and so much more clarity why they didn't choose you right so you can Define why you don't want this person again maybe because you can end up with somebody at the table like maybe I need the deal maybe I need the money but yeah imagine how the process will look like with the person you don't like or is not on the same page as you are in a designer oh it's way worse yeah don't do it everyone I'm sure that everyone listening on this podcast is probably experiencing that in some capacity and can tell you yeah it's not worth it yes that's that that's part of the first trial and error process just try it but most of the time you know already what it is because it happens to you you're not you don't you don't have developed your radar yet right right all the problems coming up even you know afterwards say yeah well this guy was I I I had to knew this I could like a fortune teller now now you can know how it will end up with a person like that with a character like that yeah that's right that's right but hey let's because we we are we are passionate about the entire design architecture we we had together we have the power to design our world that's how well we're telling it the incidentally impact and actually it is because we have a in our opinion we are really important Shekel in in a long chain between the consumers and the manufacturers yeah we have the ability to to translate emotions to uh and translate uh uh uh well to come up with Solutions inventions and a new materials sustainability there are so many topics that we have we have a lot of a lot of power actually in that in that process and sometimes it looks like we're just the people that did shining beautiful stuff but there isn't important effect but is it is it really what what's what's the what's the impact we are are making as Architects as designers what what is it or are we just so passionate about it and we think it's the world I'm into the built environment right which we all occupy so that I mean that value is kind of that's immense you're you're actually I mean you're having you're having actionable impact on the way that people are using the space um around them right I mean that's extremely important we know obviously as designers like how important like natural light is to improving like your mental health or things like that um or how important just having you know spaces or using space productively or efficiently you know those have those have actual like returns um your Livestock on your lifestyle around the lifestyle of the people that are um that are using this space so I think it's just about understanding the different types of Roi you know the different types of return on investment right usually we think about return on investment Finance in financial terms right if you hear if you hear Roi you're thinking um you're thinking okay the client's going to put this much money into it and they're actually going to walk away hopefully with more value yeah right right it was something with something that's worth more than what they put into it like that's the goal um and that's true like clients do care about that and you should be aware of what that number is too it's important to tell them what that is but that's not the only type of Roi right there's also you can remember it's easy to measure figures about yeah figures like you should understand like I mean just at a rough level hey this is going to like client this is going to be what you're going to invest this is going to be the final value and this is our fee right and all of those things should align in a way that looks positive for the client you know ideally like and if you want to be like clear about that because that's great it really helps to alleviate any concerns that they have about your fee right but that's that's just one type of Roi there's also the lifestyle Roi you know we're talking about um people that might not have enough space to actually gather their their entire family and their home for example or something like that um and and you're going to be able to make a huge impact on their lives just by you know having enough space to gather their family or to do you know to do these things that they want to do this is this is related to those things that you're uncovering in the qualification process to better understand what challenges they're having but essentially like they have a current situation they have an ideal situation right and you are the vehicle to get them from point A to point B and you can't forget about that like that those are huge impacts that you're having on their life huge positive impacts that you're having on their life and the last one is just like mental Roi right we're talking about um you know having a positive impact on their mental health in different ways likely I mean you can talk about just one hey you're not going to have to worry about um you're not going to have to wake up being annoyed about not having enough room you know in your kitchen anymore like that's that's a huge thing right because these people you know they wake up for years before they decide to do this project right and they're thinking they're getting annoyed every single morning in their kitchen for whatever reason in the relation in the family yeah right right why did you put your backpack over there I lost my keys

everything's dirty yeah yeah these are that's huge that's which yeah like we we can't like you can't under you can't undersell that um that that kind of impact that it has not to mention just the mental Roi if you know if you're good at your job um of the lack of kind of concern that they have to have during the process right if you're if you're good at managing this project um in a way that keeps them informed and also like reduces their risk reduces their cost um you know there's a lot of different things like basically there's a lot of risks that you can reduce as a as a good professional um to help make their lives a lot easier during the process and after you know if you do it while you're talking about reduced cost on maintenance for example um from doing those things so I mean these all have huge like just extended rois far beyond um just the completion of the project so you can't think about those when you're talking about it yeah yeah you're talking about this error eyes it's it's definitely when you are on an architect you are building big spritzers you're working with bigger boot chats that's that's definitely the part but that's in in interior design we're talking more about emotions and taste and style and the Aesthetics but yeah the problem is if you just talk about style and Aesthetics I think if you want the ratio value you need to show them you need to talk about to communicate the other errorize that when you are finished how how does the life look like what yeah what can you solve for them paint the picture yeah yeah yeah if they if they think you're a designer you're just going to make it beautiful um how do you expect that people want to pay you a lot well there are I I know a lot of yeah if there are designers that make only beautiful stuff if you see you know for sure it's not working but it doesn't matter people that love to pay you just for the Aesthetics and they think you are the best designer in the world yes you are a target audience great yeah but if you want to raise your value and you are in your head you are so busy with all these small uh details and practicalities functionality and but they don't see it because it's hard we are we are showing pictures most of the time our portfolio our look at Instagram that's why I well I not don't hate Instagram but it's hard to tell a story or to start a conversation culture for sure yeah it's an image culture yeah and it's definitely not whatever not the story Beyond and Beyond The Terror design and architecture you want to you want to know why it looks like that and not how it looks like is it absolutely yeah I mean you're going to win more clients and better clients if you don't try to sell them on design and if instead you focus on telling them a story um and you and they're they're essentially the hero in the story right you are you're walking them through their current situation you're describing how you're going to and like how you're the vehicle to get them um from that situation now to exactly that ideal outcome that you uncovered uh before yeah so if you can show them their current situation if you make them aware that what's yeah most of the times work really well if you see some things going on in the interior design or around the house it's like hey why why is that there and and yeah how can you work with that and oh I never thought about it or I never hey and or if you talk about this maintenance part I had a client that was all the all the the the window frames to where so the the the paint was bladdering and was it looked so bad they would say Well when was it last time that the painter came by and said oh we we are not already seeing that anymore we don't see it anymore we were over it yeah so you know that it took then years to make the next step to the new home and if you talk about maintenance they want definitely this maintenance-free home but the problem was they were talking the whole time about a beautiful house and creating those moments and not talking about the maintenance but the maintenance was a they would like to spend a lot of money for functionalities and maintenance-free interior design yeah you know that's what I really like yeah yeah and you have to they they have to become aware of themselves it doesn't work as well if you're saying hey I'm seeing these are the 10 problems that I saw in your home yeah you know what are what are your challenges no instead it's like ask them up front like try you have to uncover up front like what hey what is the challenge like why do you want why do you want to work with an interior designer um what's wrong with your current home right and and start from there and then it's almost like every time you hear a trigger word right so it's like um you know I get I get annoyed every single day because the because the kids toys are uh like all stacked up like in our living room then it's like okay that's like I heard I heard a trigger word there I heard she's a like that's an emotion right they're annoyed about something let's dive a little bit deeper in that you know like hey can you tell me a little bit more about like why are the kids toys there why aren't they stored away somewhere else oh well we don't have like we don't have any storage we kind of have to like tuck them underneath the couch or something like that okay well why don't you have any storage uh because all of our storage is used up by like all you know it's like you just you just follow that trail all the way down to understand what those challenges are every time you hear a little bit of a trigger word and you're going to walk away with five or six just giant pain points yeah you can you can walk through through you know that you can include in that story that you're telling yeah it sounds bad like you're looking for those pain points but it's it is they they don't know you have to uh break again hey you have to ask those questions and well what what I do is maybe you can ask seven times why and you will get to them yes right exactly yeah you might have to ask seven times why why why why do you want to have this storage because then yeah the kids can store the their uh header twice and why why why do we want that because then I don't have to clean up my room when the kids go to bed I don't have to tell them that they uh they have to do it or oh I don't have to do it why yeah then I can spend some time I have more more free time why do you want that well I can spend more time with my with my husband or my wife yeah why do you want that because we have such a very busy lifestyle yeah because the house is not working for you guys the house is not working you are working for your house right right yeah yeah that's exactly right yeah you just you take them down that down that y Trail to really understand like until you get to that final Point like what is their final outcome in that case right they just want to spend more time um like with their family rather than rather than like cleaning up the house yeah and it's then you're going uh so much more in depth literally in depth because you are seven times why but you are on this emotional level about why they really want debts because it's really rational to think well I need more storage yes you can buy a closet why do you need me yeah yeah you what you want is your client to walk away from that meeting thinking wow I had no idea yeah that that my current situation was having this much of an impact on me like you kind of want them to be thinking that and being like well I'm thankful I'm thankful that they helped like bring this to my attention and they're going to be thinking about like wow they actually care about me they care about the challenges that I'm having so that when you do have that next meeting and you're saying hey we talked about you know these challenges that you're having um this is exactly how we're going to you know solve those solve those challenges yeah and imagine they uh have invited more designers at the table right and they are showing their portfolio right exactly who I am look how beautiful it's going to be right yeah it's it's a user but that's how you win projects that you love with clients that you want and for fees that you deserve because this is how you raise your value yeah yeah definitely well great um great Tyler I I I loved it you make them uh I think we we made a lot of creatives Architects designers aware of of that although we would like to talk about our passion and about their design and materials and colors and all the experience and emotions around it there is a way to get to that point and it's a better way to get to that point with asking the right questions and showing them and the first part to how you can solve their Solutions and then going much more in depth on why it's so important to solve that because absolutely a lot of we all know that people don't know what they want they can tell you I like that I love that that's beautiful and most of the time you say what they don't like yeah yeah you're exactly right you're exactly right so if you can get to that level and you need to design some cool stuff in your business for that some creative tools to do that you never ever have to think about it again it's just working for you those processes you can you can get to the core as fast as deep as possible is it yes chase down those pain points figure out what's going on um um my Shameless plug would be that if you sign up if you go to tylertactics.com and sign up for my newsletter in my welcome email I have like my three or four most popular um issues that I've done so far one of them is called Panic at the Disco which just means like Panic at The Discovery call right that that qualification process where I walk through step by step exactly the things that you can do to ensure that you're finding those challenges in your client and that you have like a productive meeting in that very first call that you have with uh prospective clients yeah great well for uh your your target audience really Architects engineers Architects Engineers designers yeah all right cool so now well I I really encourage you uh to do that subscribe at the style of tactics uh.com I'm subscribed as well every year Sunday morning I get uh some tips and it's really cool to see your uh to follow your what's going on in your mind and what you like to share with the world it's uh it's it's free and it will definitely um give you the right mindset to uh to take some action on the things you you don't like and if you can solve sometimes in a well in a split second yeah in less than five minutes yeah I don't make them long I keep them I keep them short because you all are busy all right so get it and it's gonna make quick impacts here yeah yeah it makes the job even more beautiful than it is already so uh yeah design your life design your business do it design it yeah do it and check out what you guys are building over there check out what Mark and cement are building because that's uh that's a really cool membership and program that they're doing it's going to help improve your business for sure thank you thank you yeah well Tyler um well we will follow each other definitely because we're absolutely uh the the universe will tell us what uh what's going to happen next yeah uh we will definitely meet again uh we will see what's going on uh here um yeah uh thank you for talking about uh again uh about beyond the terror design but beyond our passions all the things around it behind it in it uh how to how to solve it we get tested and design it uh to yeah to make life even more uh more great and make a profession even more great yeah thanks a lot thank you so much Mark I appreciate it good luck Tyler all the best all right see ya

wow that was definitely beyond the stereo design Thailand already invited you to Tyler tactics but if you even want to connect further leave your comments or anything else to share we've created a special landing page for that please go to Institute of interior impact.com slash Tyler that's t-y-l-e-r Dar Tyler until we meet again