How can you add value and ultimately increase revenue in your design business without increasing your workload? Rather than taking on more projects than you can comfortably manage, the smart solution is to generate more income from the projects you already have. This can also be a prudent strategy in times when there may be less enquiries.
In this month’s article we highlight 3 areas that you may not have thought of before where you can potentially increase revenue by including 3D as part of your service.
#1 – Higher design fees and higher conversion rates
Probably the most obvious way to increase revenue in your design business is to charge more for your designs. Sounds simple enough but actually doing so can be a daunting task, unless you can provide good reasons for the increase.
You can read more tips on how to include 3D in your design fees in our previous blog article, “The Power of 3D and how to get your clients onboard“.
There’s a huge range in landscape design service offerings out there. Everything from hand drawn sketches and highly detailed CAD plans to 3D images and fly-through movies. The fees charged are just as varied as the services.
If you are offering 3D as standard in your design fees, you are placing your business ahead of other competitors in the market. You will be perceived as delivering greater value to your clients and enable you to command higher prices for that superior level of quality. You are also telling the market that you value your own capability and are not offering a discounted product or service.
As 3D gives your clients confidence in knowing exactly what they are getting, it helps them with their decision making process throughout the design and they are often willing to pay extra for that certainty.
On top of that, clients are also more inclined to go with a designer that can provide that level of certainty. This is especially true of clients that know they can’t visualise the end result themselves. Which means your conversion rates can increase as well.
If you are able to outsource that service rather than completing the 3D in house, this value is something you can build into your design business without having to grow into a larger company with higher overheads. Allowing you to increase your profit instantly.
#2 – Additional product revenue
As a designer, your clients have engaged your services for a number of reasons. When you add all those reasons together, it all comes down to trust. They trust you and your decisions for their backyard. Once you can articulate your vision to them and they love it, they are more likely to follow your lead on all aspects of the design. That includes the plants, products and finishes that you have specified in their design.
It’s clear that 3D can help sell your overall vision but there is another benefit as well. 3D also puts the focus on the finer details such as the plants, products and finishes that you specify. Often when a client sees the complete picture in 3D including all the furniture, pots, plants and other features, they start to form an expectation of what they want their backyard to look like. Sometimes saying comments like, “How can we make it look just like that?”
If you are able to source and supply all those products for them you are adding additional support to your client. With the extra benefit of being able to increase revenue in your design business from the project.
#3 – Enable yourself to generate more value
As the owner of your business, your job is to ensure growth. That means you need to concentrate on tasks which will directly generate the most value for your business and your brand. However, too often, business owners find themselves maxed out dealing with everyday tasks, or staff issues and responding to demanding clients that want everything yesterday.
Let’s just look at the design process alone. Your greatest value here is to win the confidence of your clients, listen to their needs and wishes and then propose a clear design response that addresses them. Everything that happens in the design process from that point onward – including putting together 3D imagery or any other drawings for that matter, can very easily be done by others.
By outsourcing the 3D work of your business you can free up your time to focus on your clients.
This is equally true whether you are swamped with projects and feel like you are drowning in work, or worried there may not be enough work coming in. Having that space to think and strategize is so important for long term success.
Summary
Offering 3D as part of your design process can offer some added benefits that you may not have thought of before. By outsourcing this component, or even parts of it, rather than doing it yourself you can amplify the benefits. It can potentially provide a higher level of service to your current offering. Plus allow you to charge higher fees and possibly even win more projects. It can also create an uplift in revenue from existing clients when they agree to your sourcing of specified products for them. Or at the very least it can just enable to you find space to breathe and focus on the direction of your business.
All these elements can help increase revenue in your design business. The best part is, if you use an on-demand provider you only pay for it when you want to so there is no ongoing financial commitment or downside. So what have you go to lose?
About Pitch Box
Pitch box is a low cost, fast solution that delivers leading 3D visuals of your designs when you need it.
Providing realistic 3D images, fly-throughs and even SketchUp Base Models, to residential designers so you can provide that high end service or improve capacity without the need to hire in-house staff. Ultimately allowing you to be more productive and more profitable.
The company prides itself on exceptional customer service, with a dedicated customer support team based in Brisbane, Australia. Delivering high quality products with a guaranteed project completion turnaround time of only 5 – 10 business days. Unlike many 3D external service providers, Pitch Box’s pricing is transparent and competitive. Our customers know exactly what they are getting, each and every time they place an order. Discover more about how Pitch Box can support your business and place your order by visiting our website today!
