This guest post is by Fred Berns of InteriorDesignBusiness.net
The people who need to know you, don’t.
Your prospects don’t. Your website visitors don’t. Even your clients don’t.
That’s because, if you’re like most interior design professionals, your promotional bio is a bust.
Chances are your printed bio sheet and your website “About Us” section undersell you. As a result, those you seek to influence don’t know all that you do, have done, and can do.
This is not to say you’re unqualified, or lacking in interior design talent and skill.
It is to say that you don’t adequately share that information on your website, and in your marketing materials.
Your personal bio is your most important on-line and print marketing piece.
Is yours boosting or blocking you?
The beginning tells a bundle. A sure sign your bio doesn’t work is if it starts by saying that you “launched your company seven years ago.”
Or that you’re a New York native. Or that you received your design degree in 1999. Or that you belong to an association.
Nor am I impressed when you tell me that you “search beyond typical design solutions.”
Or that you “believe that your home interior reflects your lifestyle.” Or that you feel that “good design enhances the quality of life.”
Oh, pul – eease!
Skip the baloney, and give me benefits.
Tell me how you can enhance my home value or increase my workplace productivity, and how you can save me time, money and headaches.
And tell me how you differ from your competitors.
Bio Boosters
What goes into a good bio?
The Superstar Selling System for Design Professionals recommends that you include your:
- “Only” phrase (” ____ is the area’s only designer who…)
- Awards and other honors
- Design specialities
- Experience
- Accomplishments
- Skills and capabilities
- Other qualifications
- Unique services and products
- Publication history (where/how you’ve been published)
- Client profile (who you serve and how)
- Resources (vendors, contractors, etc.)
- Affiliations
- Educational background
Get it Written Right
If you’re up to creating a killer bio, go for it.
If you’re not, don’t.
You can spend long hours writing and rewriting, and polishing and perfecting your personal promotion piece.
Or I could write it for you.
Aren’t you supposed to do what you do best, and delegate the rest? What you do best is interior design.
What I do best is help design professionals earn lots more money and recognition by promoting themselves more effectively.
Give me an hour on the phone to interview you, and I’ll give you within three weeks the most powerful bio you’ve ever had.
“Hiring out” your bio isn’t cheap.
But, then again, what’s your current bio costing you in lost sales, projects and revenue?
Can you afford to continue using a bio that undersells you and disqualifies, rather than qualifies you for the kind of clients you want and need?
I can create for you your most vital personal promotion tool.
I have time this Fall to work with three design professionals on their bios. If you’re interested, contact me at Fred@FredBerns.com or 303-589-3013.
Fred Berns is an interior design industry business coach and promotional copywriter who specializes in creating bios, website copy, blogs, articles and other marketing materials for design professionals. For more information on his copywriting, coaching and speaking services, visit http://interiordesignbusiness.net