I hear this time and time again… “I don’t have time to add anything else, like marketing into my already busy schedule. How do I make time for marketing?”
We’ve talked about how to prioritize your daily tasks and how to arrange your schedule for maximum client acquisition. What if you still can’t seem to find the time to work on marketing and attracting new clients?
Now it’s time to start working on your appointment scheduling. Most interior designers waste vast amounts of time on appointment scheduling. Consider this –
1. Are you meeting with clients only when it’s convenient for them?
Take control of your time and learn to schedule your client appointments in a way that’s beneficial for you and your interior design business.
One way to do this is to ‘cluster’ your client appointments on certain days or at specific times in the day. Instead of scheduling appointments all week long, concentrate them on two or three days of the week. Keep the other days free for marketing and other important tasks in your interior design business. For instance – my client days are Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. Mondays and Fridays are reserved for my own business admin work and marketing.
If you need to schedule appointments every weekday, then it’s a good idea to arrange them as successively as possible. For example, if you have several appointments in one day, don’t schedule one at 9:00 AM, another at 12:00 PM and the last one at 3:00 PM. Instead of scattering them through the day, see if you can group and consolidate all your appointments before noon.
When your appointments are scattered throughout the day, you waste a lot of time. For example, if you have a free hour between appointments, it will be very difficult for you to get any concentrated work done during that time. It could take you 10 minutes to unwind before being able to fully concentrate on other tasks. Then, by the time you start making progress, you’ll have to stop and prepare for the next client. Break that cycle and cluster your client appointments.
2. Are you agreeing to meet with vendors whenever you have a ‘free moment’ or even worse, when they ‘drop in’? Stop doing that. The same holds true with vendor appointments as it does with clients.
Take a few minutes to establish in your own calendar, a very defined schedule for vendor appointments and updates. For example, the first Friday of the month is “Vendor Day”. And that’s the only day they can schedule a time to see you. It will be convenient for them to know they can schedule a meeting with you during that specific window of time. And they’ll be sure to have all their product updates and information organized and ready to go if they can only see you on that day, for a very specific amount of time.
Finally, remember you can be more efficient and gain more time by organizing your daily tasks and clustering your appointments. You will gain at least one or two hours each day, which can then be used for client attraction marketing. Contact Barbara for more information on how you can make more time for marketing and get more clients.
Thank you for the reminder on scheduling strategies. It may feel awkward at first to adjust to these tactics, but I found that I regained control of my business, my non-work life, and my sanity.
That is sooo true Chantel. Sometimes things really can get out of whack, so it’s good to re-evaluate every now and then. It’s important to keep fighting for that balance!
Barbara
Barbara,
What excellent ideas on taking control of one’s schedule. I find that to be one of my biggest challenges in my decorative painting business. I always try to accommodate my clients and work them into my already-booked schedule. If I try to set aside one day a week for appointments, it’s usually the day that they can’t meet with me. Although I try to give myself a break on the weekends, this is generally the best time for estimates.
I’m so glad you liked the ideas in the article Debbie. Thank you! I too have found that balancing an already busy schedule can be a constant battle! It seems there are times when I am able to manage it better than others… Keep up the fight for your free time!
Barbara
I am very new to running my own business, and can already see that I need to be better with my time management!! I try to book clients first thing in the morning, that way I am up and out the door…. works great for me!
Hi Natasha!
The beauty of running your business is that you can create systems that work for you.
Thanks for your feedback.
That is great advice, thank you!
You are welcome Stephanie, I’m glad that was helpful!