These quick and effective steps are ones I use regularly to turn prospects easily and quickly into clients (if there is a fit).

1. Listen. It sounds simple and it can be but too often we get caught up in wanting to tell them all about ourselves. This isn’t about us; it is about them, so focus on how much you can learn, not how much you can teach.
    
2. Ask for the details. When a prospect calls and shares that she is moving to a new home, I immediately ask for details about the new house and about the house they are still in. I use this as a chance to dive deep and get involved in their process.
    
3. Get excited. Any business can be stressful; it is your job to make it fun and easy. I share with prospects that my goal is make the design process easy and fun. I offer flexibility to them while still maintaining control of the project and communications.
    
4. Banish the budget. I never ask for their budget, I do ask what they are willing to invest. These are vastly different questions. An investment can be made at any time, in any amount, for any reason, with anyone; while a budget is a limitation, an expense with a lifecycle. (Get the book! Change Your Words, Change Your Results)
    
5. Stop quoting. Too many design professionals jump in with a price or hourly rate when asked. If you are being evaluated on your rate, you are at the bottom of the market! A designer of genuine talent is measured on their portfolio, their references, and their personability to work with. These are intangibles and therefore eliminate the competition rather than encouraging it. Don’t quote until the prospect is ready to be a client.
    
6. Acknowledge their time frame. Often prospects have specific time frames in mind, be sure you are aware of these and that they are reasonable. Always acknowledge by restating what they have shared with you and that you are available and their expectation is realistic. If it isn’t then educate them about why it isn’t. Don’t leave them with a false expectation.
    
7. Give them homework. I always ask prospects to complete a Lifestyle Questionnaire together (if there is a partner or spouse) and to review current design magazines and catalogues for their Wish List. They gladly do this and further become attached to my process. If they aren’t willing to do their homework, I’m not willing to work with them. If they don’t invest, I can’t deliver.

When you take the time on the phone with a prospect to exercise the steps outlined here you will find that you can determine if that prospect is a good fit (and not everyone is) and knock out the competition at the same time. In 15 years as an interior designer, I never bid a job. You don’t have to either!

If you are ready to take your interior design business to the next level, contact Melissa for a complimentary strategy session! melissa@melissagalt.com (and remember, I always reply in 24 hours, or the technology gremlins ate it and you need to try me again!)

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Want to Use This Article in Your E-zine or Website? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Interior design entrepreneur, speaker, and coach Melissa Galt publishes the award-winning “Interior Destinations” bi-weekly ezine with 3,500+ subscribers. If you’re ready to jump-start your marketing, make more money, and have more fun in your small business, sign up now for your FREE tips and your personal subscription at www.melissagalt.com.

Being somewhat of a personal and professional development junkie, attending seminars as often as possible, listening in to teleclasses, and checking out webinars, I’ve realized something VITAL. Success is not just about having the right ingredients (which, by the way, we each are born with) but it is also about following the best recipe. This is all about modeling as well as following to the letter some of those manuals picked up, seminars sat through, and calls recorded. Too often we find it easy to listen and view with the attitude that we’ve been there and seen this, so we know it. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

If, in fact, we did “KNOW” it, then we’d be as successful as the person we are watching or listening to. Instead we only understand it and have no “KNOWING” of it. We must open ourselves up to what they are truly saying, demonstrating, and suggesting and follow the example they set. In other words, we have to stop guessing that we “KNOW” it all and genuinely take the time, effort and energy to “LEARN” it so we can surpass understanding and jump to knowledge.

When we truly MODEL another’s success, following their example to the letter, we are guaranteed a more certain success. By duplicating what they have done to succeed we ensure our own accomplishment. This beats running off and creating our own stock pot of various recipes which in fact gives us indigestion (otherwise known as lack of success).

Modeling includes finding out their personal habits. Find a mentor or someone whom you simply admire and research their habits, what they read (brain nourishment), how they eat (body nourishment), and their relationships (heart nourishment), and even about their faith (spiritual nourishment). You’ll find that those who succeed are feeding themselves continually on every level. Are you? Or are you trying to cook up success by omitting critical ingredients and fundamental steps in the recipe.

Every one of us has an award winning Iron Chef of success locked inside, the question is how long will it take you to learn from the masters before you and beside you so that you can go from mere understanding to true knowing and prospering?

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Want to Use This Article in Your E-zine or Website? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Interior design entrepreneur, speaker, and coach Melissa Galt publishes the award-winning “Interior Destinations” bi-weekly ezine with 3,500+ subscribers. If you’re ready to jump-start your marketing, make more money, and have more fun in your small business, sign up now for your FREE tips and your personal subscription at www.melissagalt.com.

Home is truly our external heart and as such it needs a lot of care and attention in its decorating and development. Invite friends and family to contribute to the creation of your home. A house is merely a dwelling; it becomes a home when you use your heart to express your environment in a comfortable and inviting manner.

Here are some easy ways to celebrate your home with friends and family.

Housewarming by the Room
So few people it seems remember to throw a housewarming or if they do it is a couple of years after moving in. So, to get this ball rolling, don’t wait for the entire house to be complete; instead, celebrate room by room. Very few folks decorate their entire home at once anyway, and it counts to measure the small successes, even if it is a powder room, not to mention the big successes like a kitchen or bath remodel.

How many entertaining opportunities have you missed by waiting to get your house complete? Remember if your friends are waiting to see your drapery and not you, you might want to consider some new friends! Life is in the connection, not in the stuff. Celebrate every step rather than waiting for just one big one.

Celebrate your home with room by room housewarmings!

Stock the Pantry Party
No one likes to show up at a party empty handed and this is an easy way to get guests to bring what you need and want, while you share the welcome of your home and hospitality.

Create a master list of pantry stockers desired or even register if you are including kitchen appliances like blenders, toasters, and food processors. Let everyone know what you are into, whether it is a pantry full of bottled water, chips and dip or you are a bit more of a cook and want great exotic spices, tins of imported specialty foods, and international flavors. Sure flour and sugar are necessary staples, but I bet you can get more creative.

On appliances and kitchen tools, think hard about what you want and what you’ll use. Sure some are almost required like the blender and even a toaster still, but what about a divine bread maker, the latest ergonomic palm held peeler, a butterfly trash can by Simply Human, or a classic wine rack. You can even suggest gift cards from favorite big box retail kitchen good stores like Bed Bath Beyond, Williams Sonoma, and Crate and Barrel.

Celebrate your home with a stock the pantry party!

Grow the Garden Party
This is one of my favorites as I’ve come relatively late to the realization of a green thumb. The grow the garden party is ideal if you enjoy potting house plants, or dream of a cutting garden, or perhaps harbor visions of growing your own herbs and vegetables. Invite your friends to an outdoor picnic and while you provide the food and drink, ask them to provide a plant or garden tool.

Of course you may want to suggest gift cards from local nurseries for those that are green thumb challenged, and you’ll want to specify full sunshine or shade for desired plants. The point is that you get a more eclectic mix and when all are in bloom, they remind you of each guest and their personal contribution. You could even name each plant with tags after the person that provided it.

Celebrate your home and Mother Nature with a grow the garden party!

Get your copy of Celebrate Your Life! available at www.theartofcelebrating.com or at amazon.com/celebrate. The hardcover is revised with 30 additional pages of Memorable Moments, Lessons in Celebration, and Design Tips! A great gift for friends, family, colleagues, and coworkers.

Text here may be reprinted only if the following text is included: Online entrepreneur, lifestyle designer, mentor and author Melissa Galt publishes her ezine Interior Destinations weekly. For you free subscription, be sure to sign up today at www.melissagalt.com. Better ideas on how to architect your dreams, design your life, build your vision, and decorate your life with rewards all the while prospering by design! Join Melissa.