Over my years of coaching and training interior designers I’ve noticed the same 10 Big Presentation Mistakes being made over and over again. Since I want you to succeed, so let’s look at what those ten mistakes are, and what you should do instead!

10 Big Design-Presentation Mistakes
(that make decision-making harder for clients)

1. Focusing on YOUR favorite features. 
   • Clients only care about the features they care about. Before you start offering solutions and touting the cool features of your idea or product, you need to find out what they want, need, and care about. Fail to do this and your client won’t feel heard, and will feel frustrated, destroying any trust you may have built and making the design process harder.
2. Sharing too many details.
   • Clients can only hold so much information in their brains at one time (remember, this stuff is all new to them) so edit yourself and only share the details they need to know in order to make an informed decision. For example, you might need to know the slip coefficient of the floor tile, but do they?
3. Describing the option.
   • “Describing the Option” is like saying “this tile is blue” or “this is a french door fridge.” The client can see with their own eyes that the tile is blue, or the fridge has two doors. Rather than describing the option (or item), describe the outcome of that option, like “this blue tile will make the room feel crisp, bold, and fresh” or “this french-door fridge will make it easier for people to pass through the kitchen when someone has the fridge open.” Give them the information that will help them make a decision, and don’t fill their head with words that describe what they can see with their own eyes!
4. Filling the silence.
   • Folks need time to digest what you’ve shared and thoughtfully make decisions. Shush up and let them think!
5. Using technical jargon.
   • Your clients are trying to become designers, and using technical jargon can make them feel dumb, and even make them agree to things they don’t understand just to not look stupid. You should *know* the technical terms, but make your descriptions client-friendly.
6. Holding marathon meetings.
   • We’ve all bee through marathon meetings. Watch your client’s body language and take breaks when needed. Powering through might lead to them second-guessing those decisions later.
7. Making the decision list too long.
   • Just like meetings can be too long, meetings can involve too many decisions at one time. Thoughtfully prioritize your questions so that you get the most important decisions made early in the meeting, just in case they run out of steam.
8. Offering too many options.
   • Most folks hire interior designers because they are overwhelmed by All The Options. That means it’s your job to edit and curate based on the needs and wished of the client.
9. Asking for lots of individual choices.
   • This one bugs me. How can a client tell you which faucet they like if they have no context for the decision relative to the other elements that will be in the room, like tile, lighting fixtures, etc. Shopping and buying without context is how we end up with things in our closet that we never wear because they don’t go with anything else. Give your clients context, and group your options into well-styled collections. Check out this blog on more about how to do this better!
10. Asking for last minute decisions.
    • I mean, no one makes great decisions when they are rushed. And since contractors seem to be terrible at giving clients a heads up about up-coming decisions, we have an opportunity as designers to step up and overdeliver by thinking ahead about upcoming deadlines and helping our clients avoid stressful last minute decisions.

So, what should you do instead? The opposite, of course! 😀

10 Good Habits That Help Clients Make Decisions

1. Focus on what’s important to the client.
2. Only share details that help make decisions.
3. Describe the outcome.
4. Be quiet after asking a question.
5. Use familiar words.
6. Keep meetings as short as possible.
7. Phase the project/decisions as needed.
8. Present a small set of curated options.
9. Group options together.
10. Communicate deadlines early & often.

Want to know more? Have questions? Want to practice some of these before you try them out in front of a client? That’s what coaching is for, and I’d love to help! Hop over to my scheduling calendar and let’s set up a sesh to get you presentation-ready with habits that will keep your clients happy and your project profitable and on-schedule! Can’t wait to chat!