Is your pricing keeping you stuck in a loop of burnout, resentment, and budget clients? In this episode, Rebecca gets real about why interior designers are afraid to raise their rates — and how it’s hurting their business. From impostor syndrome to DIY expectations and industry confusion, we’re unpacking the stories that hold you back and the exact strategies to move you forward.

You’ll learn how to structure your services, explore pricing models that go beyond hourly billing, and communicate your value with clarity and confidence. Whether you’re new to business or a seasoned designer ready to level up, this episode will give you the mindset shift and tools to raise your rates — and feel damn good about it.

episode highlights
  1. Where the fear of raising your rates really comes from
  2. What undercharging is actually costing your business
  3. Proven pricing models for interior designers (flat fee, square footage, percentage)
  4. The power of having a clear, structured service offering
  5. How to confidently talk about money with clients (scripts + objections)
  6. The importance of client-facing pricing materials that elevate your brand

 

Episode Resources

Read the Full Transcript ⬇️

00;00;00;00 – 00;00;23;01
Rebecca Hay
The challenge that I’ve always seen in myself and in other designers is that design is both an art and a service, so it makes the value so much harder to quantify because yes, it’s a service and that you can see the value of the service, but the art creation comes to us intrinsically and I can see it. How do I quantify that?

00;00;23;04 – 00;00;55;03
Rebecca Hay
All right. I’m Rebecca Haigh and I’ve built a successful interior design business by trial and error podcasts, online courses. And so many freaking books. Over the last decade, I’ve grown from an insecure student to having false starts to careers. And now I’m finally in the place where I want to be. Throughout my journey, it’s been pretty obvious that I’m passionate about business and helping other entrepreneurs do the same.

00;00;55;06 – 00;01;23;21
Rebecca Hay
Each week, I’ll share tangible takeaways from my own experience and the experiences of other badass women to help you build your confidence and change your business. Hey hey hey, it’s Rebecca and you are listening to Resilient by Design. Today I am diving into the topic of pricing and why most designers are scared to raise their rates and what you can do instead.

00;01;23;24 – 00;01;48;17
Rebecca Hay
Here’s the thing. There is a critical relationship between confident pricing and the success of your design firm. There is no question, and I know that many, many designers really struggle with how to price their design fee so that they’re profitable without scaring away their clients. So that is what we are going to do today. So hang on to your horses because here we go.

00;01;48;20 – 00;02;09;24
Rebecca Hay
I want to walk you through three parts today. The first part is the root of the fear. This idea that most interior designers and decorators, in fact, heck, most creatives are scared to raise their rates with their clients or with future clients. And so I want to talk, first of all, where this fear comes from. What is the root of the fear?

00;02;09;27 – 00;02;42;10
Rebecca Hay
And then I’m going to share with you what that real cost is of underpricing your design fee. And I’m going to give you some examples of how it really isn’t serving you. And even if you know that sometimes it’s helpful to hear someone else tell you. And then in part three, I will share with you design industry specific pricing strategies to get the wheels turning in your head so that you can take action at the end of this episode and start to make more freaking money, honey.

00;02;42;12 – 00;03;03;17
Rebecca Hay
Here we go. So let’s first talk about under charging. Why? What’s going on with that, guys? Not even why? Let’s let’s like, take it even back a step before that. What are the symptoms like? How do you know that you are under charging your design fees like for your services? Well, first of all, you ultimately will get burnt out.

00;03;03;17 – 00;03;24;07
Rebecca Hay
If you are not already burnt out, you will be burnt out because you are wearing so many hats. You are trying to do everything and you’re not making enough fricking money, which then leads to resentment. Can you raise your hand? Hey! It’s me. Have you ever resented a project or a client because you didn’t feel like you were making enough money?

00;03;24;07 – 00;03;46;13
Rebecca Hay
Or maybe you thought you did a good job pricing it right, like you thought you calculated your design fee accurately. You figured, okay, this is going to be such a lucrative project and things went sideways. Whether your fault, clients fault, contractors fault, who knows? And now you are so freaking resentful. Have you ever resented a project because you are losing money?

00;03;46;16 – 00;04;23;20
Rebecca Hay
Also, oftentimes when we are not pricing our services accurately or we’re under charging, what happens is we are actually having a poor client experience. And what has been my experience is that I don’t go the extra mile because I don’t have the money to go the extra mile. I don’t have the money. When I was under charging my design fees, like severely under charging for my services, and now, granted, I was early in my business and I wasn’t a highly experienced designer in the sense of I hadn’t been running my business for decades, and so maybe I couldn’t charge top dollar, but I was definitely under charging.

00;04;23;22 – 00;04;42;04
Rebecca Hay
And so what would happen is I wouldn’t give the clients a gift card to go out for dinner because their kitchen was, you know, an upheaval, or they didn’t have a kitchen because we were renovating because that $200 gift card or, oh, I’m laughing because as if you could go for dinner for two people in Toronto now for that much.

00;04;42;06 – 00;04;59;17
Rebecca Hay
Right. Or the Uber Eats gift card or, you know, you’ve heard these stories of people putting their clients up in a hotel the night before the reveal. That wasn’t even a thought. Even just bringing an extra bouquet of flowers or a gift basket made me feel resentful, because all I felt was, this is coming out of my bottom line.

00;04;59;17 – 00;05;23;11
Rebecca Hay
Or maybe I didn’t even have the profit, and I felt like I was just paying for it. And so my clients weren’t getting that best experience or client gifting aside, maybe I wasn’t going to cite as frequently as I should because I knew that I’d already maxed out my hours. Every time I went to say it, I was just losing money, or the client didn’t want me to go to site because they didn’t want to pay for the extra time for me to be there.

00;05;23;16 – 00;05;47;18
Rebecca Hay
They figured, no, that’s fine, we’ll be there. The Tyler’s coming. We can help him. We can get them sorted. We’ll call you through any questions that is going to affect your client experience. I cannot tell you how transformative it can be to price your projects properly. It will transform your design business and create a much more sustainable business to run.

00;05;47;20 – 00;06;13;26
Rebecca Hay
So let’s dive into the first part, which is where does this fear come from? I think we can all agree that if not now, then at some point in your career you have under charge for your services, right? And if that’s not you, you can skip this episode. I would guess that most of us have either been there in the past, or are there or thought we got away from it, but now we feel like we’re there again because we’re constantly growing and in the types of projects and the work we do is growing.

00;06;13;26 – 00;06;48;07
Rebecca Hay
And so we need to have our pricing grow with us. The root of this fear comes from internally, our own minds, our thoughts, and our beliefs about the value that we offer. And the challenge that I’ve always seen in myself and in other designers is that design is both an art and a service, so it makes the value so much harder to quantify because yes, it’s a service and you can see the value of the service, but the art creation comes to us intrinsically.

00;06;48;07 – 00;07;14;03
Rebecca Hay
It’s who I am, I, I just know intuitively that that pattern doesn’t work with that pattern. I can’t explain it, and I don’t just came to me and I can see it. How do I quantify that? Another root of this fear comes from client expectations from television shows. You guys know what I’m talking about that are based on design deals, right?

00;07;14;06 – 00;07;34;10
Rebecca Hay
A social media DIY, you can do it yourself. And but the thing is, the client doesn’t want to do it themselves. They’re hiring you, but they are expecting it to be at the DIY price point. Or I’ve seen it done on HGTV like they flip that house for 100,000. Like, why can’t we do that? And so the expectations, I think, in society have shifted.

00;07;34;12 – 00;07;55;19
Rebecca Hay
It used to be 80s and 90s. Interior design was extremely luxurious service. There were not as many designers. There was not as much demand for it because no one even fathom they would be able to afford it. And let’s be honest, most people weren’t even exposed to great design. We didn’t have the design TV shows showing our general population what’s possible and how much it can improve your life.

00;07;55;24 – 00;08;19;04
Rebecca Hay
It’s great that we have that now because now there is demand, but we have to also help our clients to have more realistic expectations. I think a lot of us fear that, and this is a misconception, that by charging a premium rate or charging more money, we’re going to scare away our clients. And so we’re afraid to do it because what if then there’s no work for me?

00;08;19;04 – 00;08;38;05
Rebecca Hay
What if no one hires me? And there’s a unique challenge in that every project that comes our way is different. It just is. That’s just the nature of what we do. There is no two projects that are the same, even if it’s two kitchen projects, even if it’s two new builds, even if it’s two nurseries, or maybe a nursery if you have all the same things.

00;08;38;05 – 00;08;54;24
Rebecca Hay
But you know what I mean. Right? There. No two projects are the same. And so when every project is different, there can be this standstill or this moment where you freeze and you think like, I don’t even know how to price this because it’s so different than that and I can’t. It’s not apples to apples, right? It’s like apples to limes and lemons and oranges.

00;08;54;24 – 00;09;17;05
Rebecca Hay
And how do you price it when they’re not? There’s no consistency. And then making matters even worse, within our industry, there really is no standardization. There’s no standard way of pricing your services. There are certain ways, and I’m going to share those with you today, but there isn’t. You know, you don’t come out of design school. And they say to you, charge $150 an hour bill hourly.

00;09;17;05 – 00;09;57;22
Rebecca Hay
That’s how it goes. So when client comes to you, they just know, oh, that’s how your industry works, right? In the legal profession, there is a standard that people expect it to be done in a certain way. That’s not true of our industry. But then ultimately all of these sound like excuses because I know you can still raise your right, even though projects are different, even though there’s a lack of standardized pricing in our industry, even though you think your clients might be afraid and be scared off, even though HGTV and all these DIY TV shows tell clients that it’s not going to be too expensive, even though this is an art and a service,

00;09;57;25 – 00;10;22;20
Rebecca Hay
you can still raise your rates. You can still charge more for your value for the service that you provide. It is your impostor syndrome that is holding you back. And I do believe that imposter syndrome affects designers differently than it does other professionals. Stay with me here for a minute. This is the root of our fear. Our fear is not all these excuses.

00;10;22;20 – 00;10;45;29
Rebecca Hay
Yes, those are the reasons we tell ourselves. That’s the story we tell ourselves. The fact is, we’re afraid we’re not good enough. The fact is, we don’t think we’re as good as someone else, and we’re not charging enough. Those are the facts. And then we make up all these stories of why we can’t raise our rates. I’m going to walk you through how this is really affecting you.

00;10;46;01 – 00;11;07;13
Rebecca Hay
I now want to talk about the real cost of underpricing your design services. Here’s what’s going to happen if you don’t. What’s the expression? It’s terrible. Like net up, pull on your big girl panties. These are all terrible expressions. My apologies if I’m offended anyone. I’m just trying to think of like, anything that we use in our in our culture where it’s like, put on your jacket.

00;11;07;13 – 00;11;29;19
Rebecca Hay
I’m going to make that one up, put up, put on your jacket and start charging for your services properly. Okay, here’s what’s happening by you listening to these stories. They’re holding you back from charging more for your services. You are likely going to be trapped if you are not already in what I refer to as the budget client loop.

00;11;29;22 – 00;11;52;26
Rebecca Hay
If you’ve been around my world for a little while, you’ll know I talk about this. This was me in the early years, attracting clients who always want discounts or always are at a certain income level, or always want to find a better deal, or always going to be shopping you when you are only charging a limited amount of money for your services, you are going to attract clients that don’t have a lot of money.

00;11;52;26 – 00;12;18;29
Rebecca Hay
It is just fact. You could change that though. The only way to break free of that loop is to raise your rates, is to get in front of a different clientele, and when you’re not charging enough money, you cannot invest in the quality materials and design choices that will reflect your design vision, your passion, and your skill level.

00;12;19;02 – 00;12;42;20
Rebecca Hay
When I was charging, I don’t even know what I was charging maybe $95 an hour, but I wasn’t billing for every hour I worked or I was charging $1,500 to design a main floor like something ridiculously cheap. Ridiculous. I did not have clients who wanted to do, wood kitchen island. I did not have clients who wanted to do a framed kitchen.

00;12;42;27 – 00;13;01;29
Rebecca Hay
I did not have clients who wanted to do a custom area rug. Maybe they wanted to, but they did not want to invest. And likely it was because they didn’t have the money to invest. If you don’t charge enough money, you’re not going to get the clients that really see and invest in your vision and want to do that extra detail.

00;13;01;29 – 00;13;44;05
Rebecca Hay
I want to do the crown molding. I want to do all those little finishes that are going to take it to the next level so that you can get those magazine worthy photographs, and then when you don’t charge enough for your services, what happens is the real cost of that manifests in not having a margin, not having a little surplus of cash to help you hire out when the project demand exceeds your capacity, or to help you hire somebody to do the CAD drawings, or to help you hire somebody to help you run around in source fabrics, or to help you hire somebody to be at a consultation or whatever it might be.

00;13;44;07 – 00;14;04;27
Rebecca Hay
You don’t have the revenue to grow, and you get more bogged down and you’re more exhausted. You’re more likely to burn out because you’re doing everything yourself. And then lastly, it is a vicious cycle, so low prices. And I think this is what I’m making clear, is that when you are charging low prices, you are limiting the budget, right?

00;14;04;28 – 00;14;29;07
Rebecca Hay
You’re you’re attracting a certain client that has a limited budget. So there’s a budget limitation to what you can do, what you can design as a result, you are making design compromises. Right? I’m like drawing a little circle here in the air. Right. So you’ve got low prices then you have budget limitations. Then you have design compromises. Well, I really wanted to go with, you know, a beadboard on the wall.

00;14;29;07 – 00;14;54;22
Rebecca Hay
Well, maybe instead of that will just do fill in the blank and then it results in portfolio limitations. How are you going to get those photographs? How are you going to elevate the designs you’re doing if you’re in this cycle? It is a vicious cycle. You’re going to continue in that loop. This is the real cost of underpricing your design services.

00;14;54;27 – 00;15;15;17
Rebecca Hay
So first we need to understand these are stories we’re telling ourselves that we cannot raise our prices because you can. And then we need to get really clear on where is this showing up for me. Where is this holding me back? Because chances are, any one of those costs that I’ve shared with you likely applies to you. Where you’re at, your business.

00;15;15;20 – 00;15;38;19
Rebecca Hay
So now I want to move into part three, which is strategies, because in this podcast, I want to make sure I leave you with strategies not just like, oh my God, I’m totally underpricing Rebecca’s right. What the frick do I do? There are four areas. There are four categories, four areas where I’m going to give you strategies to get you thinking on how you can increase your rates.

00;15;38;19 – 00;16;03;13
Rebecca Hay
So really these could be seen as steps. You know I like a good step process. Number one structure your services. Strategically. You need to define a clear core offering instead of being a design generalist. This is something I talk about inside power of process. I feel very strongly about it. I believe you should have one core offering. Once you master that, by all means add on more.

00;16;03;15 – 00;16;28;19
Rebecca Hay
Do not have a smorgasbord of offerings. You are going to deter clients because they won’t know where they fit. Structure your services strategically so that it’s easier to price so that then once you have a clear core offering, you can create distinct pricing models for different phases. So if you follow, process similar to mine, I have a cost for consultation, which is our first phase.

00;16;28;21 – 00;16;52;26
Rebecca Hay
I have a cost for the design, which is our second phase. And then I have a cost for the implementation, which is our third phase. When you develop a signature process, it will then justify more premium pricing. When you get clear on the service that you’re offering, it’s going to be a easier for you to price because it’s really straightforward and it’s not messy.

00;16;52;29 – 00;17;20;24
Rebecca Hay
And then B, you are going to be able to justify that pricing in your mind and to your clients. So structure your services strategically. That might look different for everyone. That could be someone maybe just loves to do consultations. And I knew a designer, a few years ago. And actually, there’s a few designers inside our community who do this, but I remember meeting a designer a few years ago, and all she did were consultations.

00;17;20;24 – 00;17;37;10
Rebecca Hay
Now, her consultations were $1,500 for a consultation. That was her only service. She priced it as a premium at the time. And this is probably like 5 or 6 years ago now. And she had certain deliverables. I don’t remember how much time was involved. I don’t remember the entire structure of her consultation, but that was her only offer.

00;17;37;12 – 00;17;56;26
Rebecca Hay
She would not do full service. She would not manage your project. She would not go shopping with you. She would not pick all the items for you. She would do what she could in that to, I’m making this up two hour timeframe. But that was her service. It was super clear. It was easy for her to communicate, easy for her to price, and easy for her to justify that premium pricing.

00;17;57;00 – 00;18;23;16
Rebecca Hay
So whatever your offer is, get clear. Okay? That’s number one. Number two is I’m going to share with you design specific pricing models just for your consideration. So first of all, square footage. Square footage calculations help you to account for complexity. Consider where this could be useful for you, helping you calculate your design fee. Fixed fees have you considered fixed fees?

00;18;23;16 – 00;18;51;04
Rebecca Hay
A lot of designers just do. Hourly fixed fees really can be effective for a creative phase of a project. You could use hourly for implementation and then also consider a percentage based model. So these are sort of the three different types of calculating your design fees. So you can do square footage pricing. And this is in addition to hourly I don’t feel like I need to talk about that right now because everybody is familiar with it.

00;18;51;06 – 00;19;11;27
Rebecca Hay
But there are some design industry specific pricing ways that are in addition to hourly that maybe some of you haven’t considered. So you can do square footage based on square footage calculations. You can do pricing based on a fixed fee, like a flat fee. Maybe it’s, maybe you estimate hours. You could do hourly for implementation. That’s something that a lot of designers do.

00;19;11;29 – 00;19;40;13
Rebecca Hay
Or you could also look at a percentage base, a percentage of the budget would be your fee. Consider what works for you and what I always recommend. And I teach this inside my course pricing with confidence and I share. Actually, there’s a bonus. Excel calculator in there, but I like to reference different pricing models to help me come up with my design fee, not just do it one way because I want to ensure that I am still going to be profitable and I’m making enough money.

00;19;40;15 – 00;20;05;01
Rebecca Hay
And then specifically when it comes to your design pricing model, I want you to consider setting a healthy project minimum. So this could be one of two things a healthy project minimum could look like. Design fee. We only work on projects where our design fee is $5,000 minimum, for example, or it could be a minimum for the project spend.

00;20;05;01 – 00;20;29;02
Rebecca Hay
So we only work on projects where the client spend is a minimum of $200,000, or we we don’t consider or. I mean, this isn’t how I would say publicly, but this is this is for us inside our businesses to talk for me, a few years ago, I realized that I no longer wanted to take projects where the client had less than $250,000 to spend.

00;20;29;02 – 00;20;52;29
Rebecca Hay
That was on the the construction, the materials decorating and our fees, because I realized it would be the smallest little design project for us, because the bulk of that money goes to construction and the construction prices just going up and up and up and every year. And I encourage you to do this in your business. Every year I assess all the projects that came our way, and I look at what was the average budget for each project, you know, how do we feel about that?

00;20;52;29 – 00;21;11;13
Rebecca Hay
Are we making money? Do we want to level up? Did it make sense to take on those two small powder rooms? No, they really just distracted us. They took up a lot of our time. We didn’t really make a lot of money. Okay, let’s no longer entertain projects that have less than a $250,000 band, or that have less than 100,000 or 50,000.

00;21;11;13 – 00;21;31;24
Rebecca Hay
I mean, that’s how it started for me. Initially it was like 50,000. I’m not going to do a project where the client has less than $50,000 to spend. And you can also then consider, okay, what does that mean? My design fee would be. So I know designers who tell clients potential clients are project minimum is this. I also know designers who tell clients are minimum design fee.

00;21;31;24 – 00;22;00;04
Rebecca Hay
Is this. That’s something I would get you to consider so that you’re not tempted to take on the smaller projects or underprice a project. Step number three. So you’ve structured your services strategically, right? You are getting clear on a pricing model that works for you. Now, what you need to do if you’re going to raise your rates and start charging more money, I recommend that you build client facing materials that are related to pricing.

00;22;00;04 – 00;22;23;07
Rebecca Hay
So client facing pricing materials, sales materials you want to create ideally something as visually compelling a pricing guide that’s going to reflect your design esthetic. So for us we call it our about us document. Some people call it an investment guide call or whatever the frick you want. Basically, it’s a very pretty PDF that will educate your clients on what it looks like to work with you.

00;22;23;09 – 00;22;46;14
Rebecca Hay
You want to develop sort of pricing terminology or explainers, like words and phrases that you can use to educate your clients on the value of professional design. What value do you add? You know, we handle the details so you don’t have to sweat the small stuff or, you know, we provide your contractor with a full spec binder, so there is no confusion.

00;22;46;19 – 00;23;02;03
Rebecca Hay
There’s no back and forth, there’s no last minute decisions or, I don’t know, whatever it might be for you. And then also I would recommend that you create. So in addition to a forward facing investment guide or sometimes you could call it a pitch deck. That’s what they use term they use in marketing something visually to represent your pricing.

00;23;02;03 – 00;23;19;02
Rebecca Hay
So it gives them backup. Because if you’re going to raise your rates, it’s helpful for them to see what do I get for this? Oh wow. You know, we typically work on this type of project. And these are the services you offer. And this is your strategic core service offering. And if you want you can include your fee structure in that you don’t have to.

00;23;19;05 – 00;23;41;06
Rebecca Hay
And then lastly for those client facing materials, I recommend you create a template for your proposal so that it is ready to go so that you’re not starting from scratch. Every time you write a proposal for a client, you want a template that clearly communicates both your deliverables and the investment, not just a one pager that says the price of your fee.

00;23;41;11 – 00;24;08;00
Rebecca Hay
You need to have that back up. For me, our proposal is one and the same as our contract. So all I need to do is fill in the applicable details and information for the client. I fill in the price and then I attach the scope of work, whatever that looks like for you. Create a template so that you have it sitting on your desktop in your Google Drive, so that anytime you’re going to write a proposal for a client, you’re not reinventing the wheel.

00;24;08;05 – 00;24;27;02
Rebecca Hay
Okay. And then now lastly, step four, I want to talk about how you communicate because this can be the make or break it. If you’re already nervous to raise your rates, chances are you might be a little nervous on how to communicate that to a new potential client, or even to a repeat client. I know designers who want to raise their rates.

00;24;27;02 – 00;24;41;28
Rebecca Hay
They go ahead, they start doing it, and then a repeat client comes back to them and they’re like, well, I couldn’t do that. Oh my God, I couldn’t charge them my new rate. I mean, the last they knew, I was charging $50 an hour, like, there’s no way I’m going to charge them 150. And I want the business and I want to keep them happy.

00;24;41;28 – 00;25;03;01
Rebecca Hay
And it is completely reasonable for you to have raised your rates since the last time you worked with a client. The best thing is they should be the easier ones to convince. If convincing was even the word, you probably should not use that word convince. But do you know what I mean? Because they already know your value and they’re going to say, whoa, wow, you’re really like taking off.

00;25;03;01 – 00;25;21;21
Rebecca Hay
You’re in high demand. We want you. And give them a discount if you want. But that’s not my recommendation. Communicate how you communicate your design fees is going to be very important. It’s going to make you feel confident, and it’s going to make the clients feel confident in choosing you as their designer. So a few things that I recommend.

00;25;21;24 – 00;25;46;17
Rebecca Hay
First of all, scripts use a script for discussing money confidently during a discovery call. During your consultations, during any time that you have a conversation about money with the client, but especially in the early stages. Use a script. And when I say script, I just want you to know I it’s not like paragraph form of what you need to say exactly, because obviously conversations are organic.

00;25;46;20 – 00;26;22;17
Rebecca Hay
Every project is different. Every client is different. I use the term script loosely to essentially indicate a checklist. Suggested phrases, recommended questions to ask. That is one area that really helped me build confidence in my business is every time I’d get on the phone or I’d be in a zoom call, I would have that script in front of me, and I would make sure I ask the right questions, and I would have answers to the clients when they ask me questions that maybe I would feel uncomfortable to just say organically, but because it was on a piece of paper, I could read it and they didn’t know I was reading it, and then have either

00;26;22;17 – 00;26;49;17
Rebecca Hay
in that piece of paper, that script, or separately have strategies for handling client objections, common pricing objections. What are typical things that a client or potential client would say to you when you are presenting your pricing? How how have they objected or how do you anticipate or how do you fear maybe that they will respond when you say our project minimum design fee is $10,000?

00;26;49;21 – 00;27;11;15
Rebecca Hay
Like if they say, oh wow, that sounds really expensive. I talk to another designer and they don’t have a minimum. What are you going to say to that? Do you have it ready or are you just winging it because like, winging it can only take you so far. And that’s where sometimes I find if you don’t have it on a piece of paper, you don’t have examples of how to reply to objections or respond to objections.

00;27;11;15 – 00;27;34;29
Rebecca Hay
You don’t have scripts or prompts in front of you. If you’re someone like me who’s a little bit insecure and a little nervous to charge and doesn’t always see their own worth or their value, then what happens is you cave. I would cave and I would ramble, or I would say something that I knew I didn’t want to say anymore because I was trying to uplevel my business, have it in front of you.

00;27;35;01 – 00;27;55;12
Rebecca Hay
And then I also think it’s a great idea to have methods for explaining your value versus a DIY big or big box store alternative. So in a discovery call, I will often have the conversation where I say we do not work with Ikea kitchens. Here’s why. Even if they haven’t asked us. But if I’m getting a sense that this is a really budget focused client, I will bring this to the.

00;27;55;12 – 00;28;14;03
Rebecca Hay
Because then what I say is I will share the contrast between, you know, and I’ll say also, well, when I worked in television on HGTV, we did a lot of Ikea kitchens. And like, they can be really great when you’re doing it yourself. But as a design firm, we no longer work with them because of the time investment and because of the quality control and the deliveries and all the things.

00;28;14;06 – 00;28;36;22
Rebecca Hay
What we do love to do is manage the details where the company that is building your kitchen is responsible for installing it. So if there’s ever any issue, it’s that we manage them and whatever. You can talk about the value, the customizable, like whatever it is that you that could just be for kitchens, but come up with different methods to explain what your value is versus DIY or big box store alternatives.

00;28;36;24 – 00;28;54;21
Rebecca Hay
What you will find is as you start charging more money, you get fewer and fewer objections because you’re getting closer and closer to those ideal clients. And you know they’ll be one that slips through the cracks here and there. But eventually, you won’t even be mentioning Ikea kitchens because it’s such a ludicrous idea. I can tell you from experience.

00;28;54;23 – 00;29;26;04
Rebecca Hay
All right. So I just walked you through my three part A framework to raise your rates. First, we talked about what is causing this fear, the stories we’re telling ourselves that we need to stop. And then the second part was what is the real cost to you? Here is how is manifesting by under charging for your services. And then I just gave you specific pricing strategies, the four step system so that you can communicate your raised rates confidently with your design clients.

00;29;26;06 – 00;29;51;06
Rebecca Hay
So now you need to take action. Evaluate your design service offering. Identify which are the most profitable of your offers and which drain your resources. If you offer multiple offers, then I want you to create a designer value document. I want you to outline everything that the clients get from you beyond just their esthetic outcome, because that is assumed and expected.

00;29;51;10 – 00;30;06;22
Rebecca Hay
The more you really see the value of your service, the easier it will be for you to communicate. And then, of course, I’m going to recommend that you practice the pricing conversation with role play. You can do this with a with a partner if you want, or just do it in the mirror and write down those objections, right?

00;30;06;22 – 00;30;33;00
Rebecca Hay
How are you going to handle them? Practice. Practice the conversation before you get on the discovery call. If you have any client-facing materials, update them. If you don’t have one, consider what you could create and remember your expertise is needed is desired. There is demand for what you do. You transform spaces, yes, but you also know that you transform lives, the people living in those spaces.

00;30;33;02 – 00;31;03;04
Rebecca Hay
When you price confidently, it will directly impact the creative freedom and the quality of your designs. Your ideal clients value professional design. When you do, your clients will value your professional design when you do so. If you’re ready to price your design services with total confidence, I want you to check out my comprehensive designer-specific course is called Pricing with Confidence.

00;31;03;07 – 00;31;29;27
Rebecca Hay
You can find it@rebecca.com. Forward slash pricing. It is packed with literally everything I’ve learned from scaling my design firm to seven figures, including real examples calculators. As I mentioned earlier, frameworks specifically for interior designers. I show you how I calculate my design fee and how others do it to dive right into it. Today it’s rebecca.com/pricing. The course is called Pricing with Confidence.

00;31;30;00 – 00;31;49;07
Rebecca Hay
And let me know was this episode of value. Are you going to raise your rates. Send me a DM on Instagram I would love to hear from you. And as always, I’ve got you. I’ll see you soon.