Overcome Client Objections with Proven Responses from Interior Design Experts

Every interior designer will face client objections. Recognizing these concerns and understanding their root causes can make the difference between a lost opportunity and a successful project. Let’s delve into some of the most common objections you might come across and learn how to overcome them with tips from the experts.

Common Objection: “I’m concerned about the project taking longer than expected.”

According to Kate Bendewald, when clients are concerned about a project taking longer than expected, you need to assure them you are equipped to help keep the project moving along. With 15 years of experience designing luxury residences and public spaces, she knows a thing or two about time management and setting realistic expectations.

However, it helps to have tools to streamline your efficiency for those time-consuming tasks like sourcing products. For example, creating your own product library allows you to clip products ready for use directly into your design boards, tear sheets, POs, etc. This saves time, so should delays beyond your control arise, your efficiency provides a nice buffer.

Here’s Kate’s iron clad advice:

“Whenever a client is concerned about a project taking longer than expected, your response should be balanced between assuring them you are equipped to help keep the project moving along while also setting realistic expectations that normalize delays. That’s just the reality of this industry.

I say to my clients, ‘Look, I can’t guarantee there won’t be delays outside of my control, but what I can promise you is that my team and I are here to help manage delays when they do pop up so that you can stay focused on your day-to-day life. The alternative is trying to manage a project yourself that is going to rob you of your time and energy. We are experts and assure you the project will go much more smoothly if you allow us the opportunity to support you during this exciting project.”  

Common Objection: “It’s too expensive”

Sought-after interior design business and life coach, Nancy Ganzekaufer says this is one of the most common objections interior designers hear. Named as one of the Top New York Coaches in 2022, she tells designers that listening to clients provides talking points that make it easier to show them that your service is THE solution they seek.

Using professional design boards allows you to address what clients want and why, point by point and product by product to demonstrate the value of what you offer.

Nancy has an undeniable but effective no-nonsense approach to overcome this objection:

“The ‘It’s too or more expensive than I thought it would be’ objection is probably one of the most common ones you hear as an interior designer. The first rule? Don’t take it personally. This, like every excuse, has a meaning – one that rarely has anything to do with your pricing.  Most of your potential clients start out with a maximum investment level (or budget) in mind. This number is often unrealistic and is not likely to be shared with you accurately. So, don’t focus on convincing them to spend their money.  

Finding the best solution to their problem, educating them, and being a great listener is typically more important to them than meeting their investment expectations. Listen carefully to WHAT they want and WHY they want it. Think to yourself, is there a service model that I offer that could work for them? Can we roll out the project in stages? Are there economies of scale in the project that I haven’t considered in my proposal? Have I explained accurately all that this project entails? Then address each point they mention, showing them that your service is THE solution they seek.

Ultimately, overcoming this objection is all about listening, communicating, and building trust.”

Common Objection: “I’m worried about hidden costs”

Design maven and Interior Design business coach Melissa Galt considers this question more likely to come up when your agreement lacks transparency and clarity. She’s been in the design business for over 25 years and coached thousands of other designers on how to earn more in less time. She says you can often avoid this question altogether by providing a concise, detailed agreement covering all design investments.

Using a tool that creates comprehensive quotes and invoicing makes overcoming this objection much easier, with a point-by-point list, including:

• Service fees
• Product fees
• Shipping and handling
• Receiving
• Storage
• Installation
• Repairs and anything else that comes with a cost

Here’s Melissa’s advice on detailed pricing:

“If a client is asking about “hidden costs” they need clarity on your agreement. All design investments… must be detailed in your agreement (aka contract.) In the agreement we provide to designers, shipping and handling is a percentage of the furniture and applied to each invoice. This includes receiving and limited storage. If you know that you’ll be storing for a longer period of time, you need to include that in the design investment. And you want to ensure you’ve included your installation whether it’s a half day, a day, or a week or more. In addition, you want to recommend to every client that they have a 15-20% contingency for design discovery, often there are unforeseen surprises (not hidden) that require additional investment particularly in the case of remodeling and renovation. No client should ever be subject to hidden fees, transparency wins trust.”

Common Objection: “I think I can find materials cheaper myself and avoid designer markups.”

According to Desi Creswell, a Master Certified Life and Business Coach who helps interior designers build thriving businesses sans the stress, this comment calls for empathy. Trying to understand the prospect’s thought process allows you to use the comment as a teaching moment.  

Understanding why someone believes they’ll do better on their own helps you educate them on the value of your process/services. For example, with a carefully curated digital vendor library you can quickly generate automatic detailed product lists for your design boards not only for client approval, but also to allow them to shop that look themselves. They get the best of both worlds!

Here’s Desi’s take:

“With objections I always want to look at the thought process behind the objection. In this example, the client is likely thinking something like “This won’t take me that long” or “This (the design process) is going to be expensive.” I recommend the designer consider the client’s mindset for two reasons. First, understanding reduces defensiveness. When designers hear an objection, it’s easy to take it personally and make it mean the client doesn’t value their expertise or that they are being taken advantage of. This isn’t necessarily true. Second, when you understand what’s prompting the objection, it informs how to educate the client on the value of your process/services and opens up dialogue to address questions or concerns. The designer can then neutrally and factually offer an explanation without being in convincing energy or trying to justify the fee or markup. It might be possible that this client is not a fit for the designer’s business, or it might simply mean that the clients need additional information to understand the value and the process.”  

Common Objection: “Would I have access to your trade pricing and not pay retail?”

Your discounts exist to help nurture vendor relationships that maximize your profit, making it easy to charge your worth. Kim Horton, Owner and Principal Designer of KH Home Design advises the best response to this question should always start with a firm yet polite no, such as: “Unfortunately, we do not pass along designer discounts for a variety of reasons.”

You should then expand on the reasoning for this decision explaining the following:

“Designer discounts are a professional courtesy that helps maintain strong relationships with vendors and suppliers, ensuring continued access to their services and support. The time and effort required to manage designer discounts often exceed the discounts you would receive, therefore mitigating any savings opportunities. I pride myself on providing comprehensive design solutions that extend beyond product purchases, offering creative problem-solving skills, industry insights, and access to exclusive resources, resulting in a tailored and personalized design outcome.”   

A carefully curated digital vendor library is your connection to exclusive resources that create those tailored design outcomes.

Here’s her brilliant rationale:

“Clients often think about what they get and it’s important to set the tone that what they get is YOU and not the pricing that would come with you. These pricing models are put in place for a specific reason and it’s because of the designer’s relationship with the vendor. These margins are placed to encourage a designer to maximize their profit and continue using the vendor. It’s part of the designer’s profit and passing this along only undercuts and undervalues your worth as a designer. It’s also really important to emphasize here that the trouble a designer would go through to manage such discounts takes up the designer’s time. Now, if they’re charging hourly, they would end up paying for more than the discount is worth. This verbiage also sets the tone for clients shopping you and allows the clients to see their designer in a manner of leadership.”

Common Objection: “I’m not ready to commit yet; I need more time to think.”

Rebecca Hay is CEO of Rebecca Hay Designs, as well as an international speaker, podcast host, and business coach for interior designers. She says the best way to get clients to commit starts with your onboarding process. For example, sharing a customizable questionnaire to collect all essential project details via email is an immersive client experience that helps inform your initial calls.

Rebecca offers solid advice to turn leads into paying customers:

“The best way to get clients to commit starts with your onboarding process. Start with a discovery call. Get to know your client to pre-qualify them and educate them on What it looks like to work with you. After the call get them to Book a paid consultation. Never leave it open-ended allowing people the time and space to be indecisive and postpone making a decision. In the discovery call, offer actual dates for your paid consultation. Get the potential client to make a decision on the spot. If it’s the right fit, they will book, and If they’re not ready to commit, you can move on.”

Tackling objections head-on is crucial for interior designers. By identifying common reservations clients might have, you’re better prepared to address them effectively, building trust and establishing credibility like the experts.

Using a design software streamlines time consuming tasks to keep you on schedule, develops professional design boards to educate clients and demonstrate your value, itemizes your products, invoices and quotes for complete pricing and sourcing transparency, and collects project information to help pre-qualify leads. Click here to try DesignFiles free!