10 things a renovation and interior design boss won't want you to know as a home-owner
You simply know nuts about this industry, and even after researching for months and talking to a dozen IDs, you still know nuts actually, but you may think you know a lot already.
5 contributors shared their experiences when they entered the renovation and interior design industry, focusing on the advice they received from their respective bosses in the past or even present. To make room for free sharing, we agreed to keep their identity confidential and hence, they shall be named as follows -
Julie, 28, Singaporean, used to work for a popular ID firm with 50 - 60 designers at any time during her tenure with them despite high headcount turn-over. She was with them for 1 year before leaving the industry. Prior to her ID stint, she was a financial advisor.
May, 30, Malaysian, the only qualified interior designer. Started working here since 2016 and joined several ID firms before her current employment since 2019 that she described as "finally a career found".
Ken, 38, Singaporean, started out also in a well known ID firm, for 4 years, before running his own firm since 2018. Prior to becoming a renovator, he sold pre-own cars, health products, magnetic mattresses, alarm systems and some other shorter term sales jobs.
Roger and Josh, 29 and 30 respectively, Malaysians, currently working in 2 different ID firms in the west region, since 2017. Both are kampung friends, and have no experience in interior design before 2017. Roger joined as Design Consultant, while Josh as Creative Design Associate.
Do note that this article is all about sharing their accounts of experience, and shall not form any blanket representation of the industry as a whole.
1. Don't waste time thinking about the design, let the 3D department do it.
"If you want to perform well in your sales figures, don't waste time in the design work", this was the exact line told to May (not her real name), by her former boss. She was filled with passion when she joined her former employer. She said, all they care were sales numbers, and less of design.
At some point I thought maybe I could render the interior 3D conceptualisation myself since I was the one talking and serving my clients. I attempted to negotiate a fee for providing the rendering, and I was discouraged. That boss simply don't need a qualified designer to be distracted away from sales figures. He is a prominent figure in the industry having been in it for more than 30 years (as he had claimed), May said.
May also said that it seems that many companies are still today, hiring sales people titling them as "Design Consultant", "Design Associate", "Creative Design Partner" when they are merely sales people. It was after multiple job interviews before she could get out of the fake interior design arena.
May now works for an interior design firm who specialises in offices and retails and said she finally found the professional environment where roles-fit-title and she feels more fulfilling now than ever.
2. High income, $100k annually as long you work hard to close deals.
Perhaps the recent years, companies begin to steer away from this $100k high income selling phrase, as well as using the job title "sales designers". Among all 5 contributors, all recalled vividly of seeing the $100k income, no experience needed, flexi-work-hour, from job openings that caught their attention, regardless if they have relevant qualification or not.
Ken (not his real name) remembered that this high income promise was what made him switched industry. His last job prior to becoming an interior designer was a pre-own car sales agent. He said that alike any other sales job, setting an income target is nothing unusual and that's the attraction of sales.
Ken added that his main responsibilities include selling packages, proposing design that pushes the bill up, bring customers to purchase lightings and sanitary fixtures that give good commissions. Of course aside from the sales aspect, he is also required to manage the sites and contractors (which he disliked the most, and it was rough when he first started out).
All 5 contributors were asked if $100k per annum income is achievable and they all agreed that it is achievable if you are good at closing deals fast. Ken himself have done it himself before the pandemic.
3. Close the deal first! Anything else discuss later.
That is what packages are for, said Ken. Packages are designed to look attractive, not just in the interior design industry. Customers are always looking for cheap deals, you know it when a customer greets you with this question - do you have any package.
If they didn't ask too detail, it is a bonus, best ending is to close the deal by signing up a package or 2. "Customer who ask very detailed questions tend to be extra careful and sometimes can be difficult to handle at the later stages.
So for us we see how things develop along the way, personally if I know the journey will be tough ahead, I will avoid, and one way to turn a customer away is to quote high", Ken shared.
Josh (not his real name) recounted a past incident where a customer wanted to back out a package signed during a renovation fair because it would potentially exceed his budget, and was informed that this would forfeit his $1,000 deposit he paid for the package. He tried to reason out with the boss that other than the floor plan with some scribbles and another piece of paper with more scribbles and numbers, he had not received any former designing service or even consultation. At some point the boss raised his voice attempting to intimidate this customer.
Josh left the company shortly after that incident. This company is a prominent name and promotes their design services and packages frequently.
4. Please look professional or fashionable, if you need to wear a pair a glasses, wear it. You all need to be visually convincing if you want to be interior designers
Above was said to an audience of "sales designer" during a weekly meeting prior to a road show back in 2018. Ken agreed that this is fundamental especially for newbies who just joined the company. Some do look like a newbie literally, more so for young chaps starting out their first job in Singapore, referring to his Malaysian colleagues.
May also shared that she was asked to dress in certain manner during her tenure with her former employer, who often participate in renovation fair in Changi Expo. "All designers attending expo duty (exhibition duty) had to be in full business attire and it was a protocol in that company", she said.
When asked if most of her former colleagues were actually interior designers, she replied: "No, only 5 including herself have training in interior design and architecture, the rest (50 others) have no corresponding qualification".
5. Only say the good things if you want to close deals
This is almost a sales rule that you should only share the pros of your products and services and not speak a thing about the cons. Note that it is "almost", and that many successful businesses have an entirely different approach to this. Roger and Josh both agreed fully as this contributes to their sales in the past and present.
"No doubt the digitalisation era in recent decades bring along more challenges in closing deals, everyone are promising things just to close deals, if we don't, we'll sure to lose out", said Roger.
He further shared that "after dealing with projects for some years, you know certain way of doing things would earn you better, even in the expense of the user in terms of usage, but for the money, who cares right? I am not the user anyway".
6. Don't let them walk away without committing, they won't return
The more time they have to consider, the lesser chance you have! Josh shared that most of his clients were secured during road shows, with the help of promotions and packages because they look less intimidating to the wallet. "Imagine we are all honest and kind to show the client the real prices to everything, do you think they will commit right away? The best way is to let them see the budget friendlier stuff and discuss later", said Josh.
Ken, a sales designer pro before, and now a boss, agreed that when they (the prospects) walk out without placing a deposit, their personal comparison, with equivalent or better promotions they exposed to elsewhere, their return will be almost impossible. That is why we spend more attention in selling packages, with some even marginal in profit, the aim is to let prospects confirm right away.
7. Support our vendors if you want commission
It is almost a widely known fact that there are suppliers who work closely with interior designers as they know customers brought along by them have some rapport built and easier to sell. In order to keep them coming is also the attractive commission coverage. Commissions are sometimes split between the interior designers and their respective company in various forms, and also share among their managers if over-riding is in practice.
May said: "I am disgusted by the kind of commission coverage some of these vendors give and yet the products are common products that customers can easily get anywhere for way cheaper. It feels like cheating my customers who entrust me with their projects. It is also upsetting to see better talkers (sales designers) getting better commission than people like me who does more professional work than sales talking because I am just not good at it". May shared that one of her former colleague got a $2,500 commission out of a 4-bedder condominium project's curtain's and blinds by bring her customer to this vendor where those items in the bill were common curtains and blinds; just imagine how much inflated the bill was to give such commission.
8. Avoid saying too much
Never teach your customers to be smart! Smart customers often give you trouble and you can't earn much from them. This is one thing Julie recalled from her former boss. She said her former colleagues were all sales designers including herself and the management often reminded them not to teach the customers things that were meant to create value for themselves.
9. Get your customer to take up renovation loan if they don't have money
Loan can burden or help you. You can easily overspend if you miscalculate it and guess what? Renovation loan is one of the tools some companies sell you to take up, if they feel you are tight in cash that equates a smaller contract size. They often coerce you into taking a renovation loan, aiming for a higher contract value to entitle you to better promotion items perhaps. "A successful loan case is a secured case to the firm, as the bank will release money on time to the firm according to their agreed payment terms. It is certainly a win-win for the firm", Julie once heard this during a briefing.
10. Never be a busybody fixing things for customers, they won't appreciate you.
When you find a very handy designer willing to get sweaty for you from time to time when needed, it should be a rare find, but that may not be how some bosses perceive, at least through their experience.
May grew up in a family of contractors; father is a carpenter, and uncles who are plumber and tiler. Naturally she said, she is handy in many areas. However, her former boss reminded her on a few occasions not to be hands-on for customers and let the contractors do their job, despite that she did it for timely handing over to her client.
She pointed out that her former boss doesn't like staff who is hands-on as the time spent on site doing such work could well be used to do prospecting and following up on new sales. "My former boss cared less of customers' in-progress experience, when things happened, it will always be my coordination problem and pushed my manager to assist who himself isn't knowledgeable about things and always "tai chi" to sub-cons for answers in many areas. When the "tai chi-ing" is taking a toll on the timeline and I dealt with it myself, I got reprimanded. It was hard to work in such a company culture", she added.
Do no lose hope!
Sharing the above 10 things that bosses once said to us all in our respective tenures in these companies doesn't mean you will meet a bad designer! Although it is worth taking note since you won't know their actual internal culture. We strongly believe that there are many professional designers out there going the extras with a supportive and ethical company.