Create Winning Marketing Strategies with Fred Berns
Welcome back to season 7 episode 1!
Today, I have Fred Berns, a business coach specializing in home design professionals, on the show. We chatted extensively about marketing your home staging business, ways to promote yourself and dealing with pricing objections.
Today’s Sponsor
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About Fred
Fred Berns is among the biggest names in the business of interior design. He’s an award-winning coach, promotional copywriter and professional speaker who trains and creates promotional materials for design professionals and real estate stagers worldwide, helping them promote themselves more effectively and dramatically increase sales and profits.
His training and coaching sessions for interior designers, stagers, window fashion professionals, kitchen and bath specialists, and other design professionals from Dallas to Dubai focus on how they can double their sales, connect with better clients, and make a maximum marketing impact for a minimal investment of time and money.
Fred, who speaks at design industry events around the world, also creates marketing materials, and social media and website copy for designers and stagers. Those materials include everything from promotional bios to articles for use online and in print.
Fred presents sales and marketing programs at design centers, marts and conferences worldwide. He was an emcee and presenter at the International Federation of Interior Architects and Designers(IFI) in Dubai, U.A.E.
In addition, he has been a featured speaker at the International Window Coverings Expo; Neocon events; the High Point Market; Surfaces; design symposiums; home and design expos; furniture, gift and accessory shows; and national conferences of such groups as ASID, NKBA, IFDA and Decorating Den.
Fred’s blog, InteriorDesignBusiness.net, reaches thousands of design professionals around the world. He also regularly writes for a variety of design trade publications and online outlets.
His Interior Design Business Library includes a vast collection of books, video and audio programs and other business-building resources for the design industry. His resources cover topics ranging from setting and getting higher fees and overcoming price objections to branding and million dollar marketing on a shoestring budget.
Some of the Qs I asked Fred on Today’s Show:
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How did you get started coaching home design professionals?
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In your experiences in coaching designers, what are some of the biggest mistakes design professionals often make when it comes to selling themselves and their services?
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How can they change their mindset and behavior to sell themselves better?
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In your opinion, what makes good marketing?
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A mental block that I often see when it comes to self-promotion, a lot of people feel a bit funny about it. Maybe they are shy or they feel like selling can come across sleazy. What do you recommend your clients do when they feel this way about self-promotion?
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What are some of the ways that stagers and other design professionals can effectively promote themselves?
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In my experiences, a lot of stagers, especially new ones, are afraid or don’t know how to reach out to their potential clients. How can a design professional reach out to their clients?
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What online platforms do you recommend nowadays?
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How about face to face? What can stagers do to get themselves out there and meet potential clients?
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And if they want to reach a higher end, higher caliber client base, how can they do that?
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The other biggest hurdle, even for seasoned stagers, I’ve seen is that people are afraid to ask their price. What are you recommendations for pricing your services correctly and get the design fees that you want?
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And how do you know if you are pricing correctly in the marketplace? Or do you ignore that and ask for what you want?
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What if the client has pricing objections? What are some of the effective ways that you recommend for stagers to deal with that?
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What is the one top tip you will give to stagers when it comes to self-promotion and selling themselves?
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What is the most effective self-promotion tool for stagers?
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You have identified a “million dollar marketing word” for stagers. What is it?
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You give a program entitled “Methods of the Masters.” What are the top sales and marketing strategies of the most successful stagers?
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What do you mean when you say stagers need to “re-introduce themselves” to the marketplace?
Connect with Fred
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fredberns
Twitter: https://twitter.com/fredberns
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