8 Problem Solving Strategies for Interior Designers When Things Go Wrong

Have you ever had a client who is questioning your most recent invoice, they want to do something outside of your contract terms, or they misunderstood information. So what can you do to salvage the relationships?
In today's episode, I tackle a listener question on how to handle challenging client situations. I'm sharing 8 strategies that can help you in ANY sticky situation and hopefully bring a resolution without sacrificing your dignity or your income.
If you haven't yet faced a challenging client situation, you simply haven't been in business long enough. Certainly, these situations are minimized with the more experience you have because you know what to look for, and how to circumvent issues that arise, and you have more confidence to take the wheel on projects.
In this episode, we discuss:
👉 How and why to buy yourself some time before responding in a stressful situation.
👉 How to focus on the facts and out the story and emotion.
👉 How to activate your empathy in situations with clients who may not fully understand the design process.
👉 The need to normalize problems such as an item arriving damaged or delayed as a normal part of the process.
👉 How I make sure to put my clients best interest in center stage when addressing a concern.
👉 The importance of accountability and flexibility
Running into challenges is an inevitable part of running an interior design business. It can be hard not to take things personally or feel like your character/integrity is being challenged but you have to separate yourself from the claim vs your intention.
After utilizing these strategies, you may occasionally realize a project/client doesn't have room to move forward and that's also okay. If you employ these strategies you can feel good that you did the best you could to come up with a viable solution. If they are inflexible, it's better to establish it now and cut ties instead of trying to force something that will never get easier.
Mentioned in this episode:
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