Posts by Melissa Galt
Smarter Interior Design Sourcing – How Great Reps Save You Time, Money & Project Headaches
Designers tell me sourcing a single room took them 12 hours, sometimes 24. That number is not a badge. It is a signal that you are working alone when you don’t have to. Your reps carry deep product knowledge, best pricing, logistics muscle, and a national network of receivers and problem solvers, and most designers…
Read More5 Ways Tech Is Costing You Interior Design Clients
Technology should be doing two things in your practice. Making you faster behind the scenes and making you clearer in front of your client. Most designers have it backward. They under-use it where it would sell for them, and over-use it where it damages the relationship. The same firm loses clients both ways in the…
Read MoreInterior Design Markups, Day Rates, and Flat Fees
Key takeaways ✔ Every purchase goes through your firm. When a client insists on purchasing, your contract hands them full responsibility for receiving, inspecting, damage, and returns. Internet sources get treated like any other source. Purchase order, receiver, procurement management fee. ✔ There is no industry standard markup. 15 to 20 percent is too low.…
Read MoreFrom $70,000 in Debt to Six Figures and Debt-Free in 18 Months
I did not start my design business from a position of strength. I started it $70,000 upside down. No savings to fall back on. A cramped apartment, too many credit card bills, a whopper of a car payment, and jobless because I had been let go from Ethan Allen. (A quick aside: never argue with…
Read MoreSteal Back 10 Hours Every Week: A Better Workflow for Interior Designers
Synopsis ✔ You cannot manage time. You can only manage your behaviors around time. ✔ Time-shrinking thoughts like “I’m so busy” and “I’ll never get it all done” become your reality, because you live into your expectations. ✔ Track every waking hour for one week in 15-minute increments. It will reveal your revenue rabbit holes…
Read MoreThe Interior Design Welcome Kit That Wins Clients
Here is the reframe that changes everything about your welcome kit. It is not a thank-you gift you hand over once the ink is dry. It is a marketing tool you use before your client has committed to anything. That one distinction is the whole game. When you deliver a welcome kit after they have…
Read MoreThe One Word That’s Sabotaging Your Interior Design Profits
Your talent is not what decides the size of your projects. Your words are. I have watched gifted designers undersell, under-charge, and talk themselves out of the very projects they most wanted and deserved. Not because of their portfolio. Not because of their process. Because of the vocabulary they carried into the room. I taught…
Read MoreStop Hiding in Your Interior Design Business: How to Get Seen, Found, and Hired
Here’s something I see in interior design businesses all the time, and it has nothing to do with your talent. You’re hiding in your business. Not on purpose. But you’re hiding all the same. And hiding means you’re not being seen, you’re not being found, and you’re not getting hired. Let me share how I…
Read MoreIn-House vs. Outsourced Marketing for Interior Design Firms: Pros and Cons
Running a design firm at $500K or $1M+ in revenue means you’ve already made dozens of important business decisions. Yet many designers have never stopped to calculate what their approach to marketing is really costing them. Most design firm owners either underestimate what in-house marketing actually costs when you account for your own time, or…
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