Interior designers are very busy people and they always have so much going on! From picking out fabrics to meeting with clients or designing new office spaces; it can be easy to lose yourself in the many different activities on your to-do list.
That’s why I’ve created this list, to provide you with some tips on how to stay efficient and organised:
Create your schedule
Creating a schedule will ensure that interior designers have a clear view of what is coming up. it doesn’t matter whether you work from home or in an office – the key is to ensure that you meet all the needs of your clients and business demands. Client meetings, appointments and consultations need to be put into a schedule to ensure everything is done on time and all the projects are of a sufficient standard. You will need to set aside certain parts of your day for things like responding to emails, placing purchasing orders and other administrative tasks that need to be completed in order to keep the business running smoothly.
Deadlines
When it comes to deadlines, they go hand in hand with scheduling. As with any business, unexpected things will happen sometimes, in which case you have to be ready to adapt. These mishaps can seem like less of a surprise if you have deadlines in place and know exactly when each task needs to be finished. When you already have a note of it, working out a solution won’t seem so overwhelming. Knowing how to correctly manage your time effectively will allow the interior designers to get everything done on time.
Communicate
Having constant and clear communication is key to maintaining successful business relationships. If your clients are happy and you’re clear about the tasks that need to be done, the relationships will be strong in all business interactions. Verbal communication is important to customers and interior designers should not forget it!
In addition, it’s important to ensure you are writing in a professional manner. This is very important for continued success and it shows that you carry on with good business. If you have messages that are not written properly it can result in miscommunication about things like budgeting, project timing, duplicate responses and so on. You will need to keep all the communication lines clear, and ensure that you stay on track when it comes to regular contact with your customers. This can help you to stay organised and efficient every day.
Delegate
Time is limited when working in a small firm, so you need to ensure you are making the most of your resources. Hand out the tasks that play to the correct employees if you have other staff members which will ensure the jobs are don’t in the most efficient time.
Tackle the accounting practices
The above are tips are good organisational tools to bring into your business, but there is no point in doing all those things if you have poor accounting management. Paying your invoices late could leave the customers sceptical of when they should be paying you, and you can be left in a tight spot for cash if you are not keeping track of purchases and expenses. Ensure you are following up with invoices, expenses and purchase orders in order to reduce stress and ensure payments are made on time. If you cannot tackle your accounting yourself, then you should hire a professional to come and take care of that before it starts to have a negative impact on your business.
