How to Identify Other Professionals for Interior Design Referrals

Referrals are by far the best way to grow your interior design business. Hands down, the best opportunity because prospects trust their friends, family, and professionals they do business with. But, how do you find referral opportunities? In this video, I am sharing how you can find other professionals that can help you build your business through referrals.

Now, here is a really important point. Every business relationship needs to be a two-way opportunity. Therefore, if you are seeking referrals from another professional, you must also make it enticing for them.

For instance, if you are a residential designer, you may build relationships with realtors. You may want to meet their new home buyers in a certain price range. A new home buyer with a higher-end home may be an ideal client for your design services. But, what’s the benefit to the realtor for passing their client to you?

The simplest reward is to refer clients back to the realtor, but that isn’t always possible. Unfortunately, you may not have many opportunities to refer clients to the realtor. Therefore, you need to look at other opportunities to add value to the realtor.

As a service provider, many realtors are looking to provide more client benefits that don’t take more time. For instance, many realtors may have a list of high-valued consultants who can offer their clients additional services. When clients use one of these referred professionals, they are even happier with their realtor. As a result, the happy client will refer the realtor to their friends. They will also refer you. Crazy how that works.

If you are looking to grow your interior design business with referrals. I recommend you check out these two articles:

Quick Guide to Generating Interior Design Leads with Referrals

 

10 Business Referral Avenues to Help Grow an Interior Design Business

If you want to grow your interior design career or business, join our community of designers. Our goal is to build a stronger interior design community through training, education, and ongoing support. Join our community for more business and career advice today! 

Video Script:

Hey, Jackie Green here from GAI’s Behind the Design. Are you struggling with working in your business versus on your business? Too often, designers get busy working on a current project and forget all about generating new business. This leads to big chunks of time without work, which wreaks havoc on a business. A great way to keep business flowing is by generating referrals from other professionals. But, how do you find these professionals, especially when you are super busy? Here is a quick tip for you. Try LinkedIn.

First, identify who you want to connect with for the best relationship. I have an entire list for you on our blog at behindthedesignco.com. Then, start searching for those folks on LinkedIn. Be sure to specify your search to the geographic areas you specialize in. Next, write a quick 300-character introduction to ask for the connection. After they connect, simply send a follow-up offering your services. I like to write my response ahead of time, then customize it for each connection. This saves me time, and I can send multiple connections when I am short on time.

If you found this helpful, I encourage you to check out my other tips at BehindtheDesignCo.com. Also, be sure to sign up for our newsletter for more great business and career tips. GAI’s Behind the Design is helping build a stronger design community by reimagining how we train, educate, and support interior designers after college.