4 Things I Learned From Auditing My Investment Guide
If you’ve been listening to the podcast lately, you’ve heard a lot of conversation about tailoring our messaging to appeal to your ideal client. It started when Rebecca went to the Haven workshop and shared how her conversation with Renee Bush from Tandem helped kick-start her work to reimagine her website, marketing materials, and Instagram. Listen to more from Renee in Episode 150. As Rebecca shared more of her changes for Studio Plumb, it made me think about how my business, Wrensted Interiors, was presenting itself, and whether my messaging still aligned with how I want to spend my time in my business.
I recruited one of my local designer friends to come to my office, and together we spent a few hours “auditing” each other’s websites and marketing materials, like our Investment Guides and Welcome Guides. The most illuminating discoveries came from my Investment Guide. Honestly, I was shocked at the things I was missing, and it helped so much to have an objective set of eyes from another designer to help me. Here’s what stood out:
I was leading with the wrong services
My services were tiered from bottom to top: consultations, design only, full-service furnishing, and full-service remodeling. Why was I giving Consultations the top billing? It seemed so obvious, but really, when you go to Del Taco, they don’t lead with a side of fries. Consultations (virtual and in-person) represent a good chunk of my revenue, but most of my consultations are tied to a proposal for a project and not as a stand-alone service. If I want to spend more of my time on the projects that are my most fun (and profitable), then I don’t want to lead with my entry-level service. So I’m revising my Investment Guide to start with my Full-Service offerings.
It was time to clean up my menu
In the last few years, I’ve found that Design Only is one of my least fulfilling services because I never get to see projects completely finished. Most of the clients who select Design Only run out of steam, and I don’t blame them since design work takes a lot of time, attention, and dedication to get to the finished results. I’d already been toying with retiring this service, and now I can get back to focusing on the most fulfilling types of projects.
My photography needed a glow up
I have so many project photos to use for marketing materials, but for whatever reason, my Investment Guide was just reusing a lot of the featured images from my website already. I want to keep potential clients engaged, and they’re not going to be if I’m just showing them the same 10 images over and over. So my Investment Guide is a great place to show off more of the detail or vignette shots I get during photoshoots, or even some of the lesser-used portfolio images that I’ve edited out. I paid for them and they’re gorgeous, so I might as well use them!
My website and investment guide weren't telling the same story
Earlier this year, I updated my website to be more engaging to my ideal client: better copy, more of my favorite projects up front, and COLOR. When I updated my website, I didn’t update my Investment Guide, which was a missed opportunity. All those updates to my website should have been applied to the Investment Guide at the same time. Now, potential clients will get a consistent and seamless experience when they put in an inquiry on my website, and I send out the guide.
I’m sharing all of this with a healthy dose of grace. We have a lot of hats to wear as business owners, and many of these things were easy to push down on my to-do list. But I’m sharing them now with the hope that you’ll reach out to a fellow designer to see what they think of your first impression. It was such a relief to talk with someone else who gets it and to truly help one another to make our businesses better.
Fizzles & Sizzles
Rebecca's Fizzle
Right before my 10-day trip, a leaky water bottle fried my laptop ports. Between last-minute work, sending it for repair, borrowing my husband’s computer, and setting up a replacement after, it has been such an annoying pain.
Rebecca's Sizzle
I celebrated turning 50 with my college friends and our husbands, and the trip was such a gift. We traveled through Marrakech, Barcelona, and the Costa Brava, sharing unforgettable meals and finding inspiration everywhere I looked. I barely looked at my phone and captured it all on my camera instead. That step back gave me the reset I needed, and I came home ready to bring my work to a new level.
Shaun's Fizzle
Summer is over, and so are my Summer Fridays. I’m really happy I gifted myself the time off from work during this season and I highly recommend it if you’re working on your own work-life balance. Who says it just has to be during the Summertime?
Shaun's Sizzle
Moe’s Home invited us to Vancouver Design Week and it was the most gorgeous getaway. Pictured here is Dear Gus, a wine bar designed by Gillian Segal, who recently launched her own collection with Moe’s.
