Pro to Pro: How to Build a Long-Term Relationship With Clients
Top Indian designers share insights on why nurturing your existing client base is as important as finding new business
The world of design thrives on creativity and experimentation. However, building and investing in client relationships can help scale and support your business in ways you might not have thought about before. Deepti Bansal and Joaquim Rodrigues of Purple Studio, Jiten Tosar and Yatin Kavaiya of Usine Studio, and Mansi Sethna Pandey of The Design House Company share tips on how to cultivate and foster long-lasting relationships with clients and homeowners.
What advice would you give to young firms?
- The most sustainable practice is one built on word of mouth. Happy clients always promote you. Keeping them updated about your latest works is helpful. Social media is a powerful tool in this regard and has a broad clientele reach. Our firm is relatively new to social media, but in the short time that we have been on it, it has helped us grow and get leads. It also keeps existing and prospective clients updated on your work and design process.
- Not keeping the client in the loop during design and execution decisions. A client should always be aware of the final outcome of the design. It also helps in happy site handovers.
The Design House Company
Interior designer and founder: Mansi Sethna Pandey
How can designers build a long-lasting relationship with clients?
Interior designer and founder: Mansi Sethna Pandey
How can designers build a long-lasting relationship with clients?
- When starting a project, make sure you know what the clients want and how they live. Clients have their own vision of how they want their house to look.
- Regular communication and site visits help to show the client how dedicated you are to the project. It avoids any miscommunication between client and designer, and the project goes on smoothly.
- Interior designers need to be proactive with clients to understand why something works the way it does and how.
- After-service is critical too. Once the project is handed over to the client, an interior designer should ensure everything is working properly. Calling the client once a few months and checking up on the project is a good way to ensure a good relationship with the client.
- Old clients are far more important than getting new clients. A designer can be proactive and stay in touch with the client about how to improve their home with new materials or technology.
What advice would you give to young firms?
- Listen to what the client wants, communicate and schedule meetings to avoid miscommunication.
- Be there and come up with solutions to problems.
- Lack of communication with the client and getting approvals on time normally creates problems and backfires on the designer and delays the work.
Usine Studio
Co-founders and architects: Jiten Tosar and Yatin Kavaiya
How can designers build a long-lasting relationship with clients?
Co-founders and architects: Jiten Tosar and Yatin Kavaiya
How can designers build a long-lasting relationship with clients?
- We firmly believe that transparency is a key factor.
- It is very crucial to develop an understanding relationship with the clients from the beginning. As designers, we must understand our client’s basic requirements and incorporate them into our designs.
- While selecting any material, we believe it is important to interact with clients and give them exposure to different materials and vendors. It helps to bridge the client–designer relation.
- We stay in touch with the clients even after a year or so. This helps them, and us too, in sharing their experience of living in the space. It creates an enduring rapport with the clients.
What advice would you give to young firms?
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Tell us:
How do you nurture client relationships for long-term growth? Share your thoughts in Comments below.
- A very simple and important piece of advice is to understand the client’s brief thoroughly. The design should be user-driven, and for that, recognising the client’s personality and reflecting the same in the project will always stand out amongst others.
- Creativity is great, but balance that with function as well.
- Furthermore, consider the climatic conditions of India during the design process. It would evolve as good design in the end.
Pro to Pro: 4 Ways to Be a Good Mentor
Pro to Pro: How to Connect Your Website and Social Media Presence
Tell us:
How do you nurture client relationships for long-term growth? Share your thoughts in Comments below.
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Principal architects: Deepti Bansal and Joaquim Rodrigues
How can designers build a long-lasting relationship with clients?