Virtual Assistant for Interior Designers: A Flexible, Cost-Effective Solution

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Interior Design: When Business And Creativity Meet

The interior design industry is growing. It’s expected to be worth $317,870,000 by 2030, as there’s an increased demand for customized and creatively designed residential, commercial, and public spaces. This is good news for interior designers, as you may see increased clientele, especially if you’re using social media platforms like Instagram and Pinterest. Prospective clients also look to websites like Houzz, Elle Decor, and House Beautiful for inspiration. So just imagine the influx of clients you may have if your work is featured there! 

There’s nothing quite like watching your creative business grow, but more clients also equals more responsibilities. You’ll no longer just be doing the creative lifting. You may also find yourself completing increased administrative and customer service work. Before long, it can become difficult to balance the core interior design services you’re known for with the essential business tasks that also have to be done. All the busywork associated with running a business can get overwhelming! Fortunately, hiring a virtual assistant for interior designers could offer much-needed relief. 

Let A Virtual Assistant for Interior Designers Handle Some To-Dos

You didn’t become an interior designer to sit in an office and answer emails all day. You became an interior designer to provide clients with stunning living spaces and aesthetically pleasing floorplans. If the busy work starts to last longer than the creative work, you run the risk of burning out.

A virtual assistant can help relieve some of the growing pains of your creative business by managing various tasks. For instance, an administrative virtual assistant could assist with researching vendors, ordering supplies, and sending invoices. But if you need help with customer support tasks, your interior design virtual assistant could follow up on phone calls, text messages, and emails. 

We’ll dive into some of the other tasks they can assist you with below, but before we do, let’s explore why a self-employed designer should consider hiring a virtual assistant.

Why Should Interior Designers Hire a Virtual Assistant?

For clarity, a virtual assistant is a self-employed professional who assists individuals and businesses remotely. Since they’re self-employed, they’re responsible for their own benefits, insurance, workspace, equipment, and more. This results in cost savings for business owners who may not feel ready to take on those costs.

In addition, virtual assistants are very flexible to work with. Unlike employees, who are paid a salary or wage regardless of the amount of actual work completed, interior design virtual assistants only charge for true time worked. VAs are considered fractional support, as you’re able to benefit from their high-level talent without the employee price tag. This is crucial, as you may not be at a point where you need a 20 or 40-hour-per-week employee. Some of our clients only need a virtual assistant for 10 or 20 hours per month. In addition, the package you choose can be adjusted based on your changing business needs.

What Tasks Can a Virtual Assistant for Interior Designers Do?

An interior design virtual assistant can assist with everything from administrative functions to 2D and 3D renderings. Here are several examples of tasks you can delegate to a qualified virtual assistant. 

#1 Interior Design Virtual Assistants Can Do Administrative Tasks

There are tons of administrative tasks you can assign to your virtual assistant for interior designers. For instance, they can help you with: 

• Recording notes in a CRM, like Honeybook or Houzz Pro, following client and prospect interactions
• Sending contracts via DocuSign or another tool to clients and sending reminders if needed
• Creating digital folders using Google Drive or OneDrive for each client  
• Developing and tracking client proposals
• Schedule appointments 
• Assist with compiling a portfolio of your work.
• Help manage time and money to budget
• Research fabrics, floor and wall covering, antiques, and accessories
• Generate invoices and purchase orders
• Follow-up on orders
• Create a list of reputable vendors
• And more!

#2 Virtual Interior Design Assistants Can Help With Customer Support Tasks 

Great customer support goes a long way in the interior design industry. Falling short in this area could be devastating, so it’s important to stay on top of things. A virtual assistant for interior designers could: 

• Answers phones in a pleasant and friendly manner (if you schedule them to be available during a certain block of time)
• Take messages and give callers information about company services, menus, resources, hours of operation, etc. If they don’t know, they can direct the caller to the correct person.
• Develop relationships with vendors and help negotiate advantageous terms
• Email requested materials to clients, vendors, and other employees 
• Reply to text messages and emails
   
• Upsell products and services
• And additional customer support functions

#3 Virtual Assistants for Interior Designers Can Manage Your Social Media 

One solid photo of your work can go viral on a platform like Instagram and lead to a whirlwind of new inquiries. People love seeing beautiful spaces, so you should make a point to share your work. However, we understand how time-consuming a task like this can be. This is why you should hire a virtual assistant to help with: 

• Creating a social media strategy for various platforms like Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, YouTube, etc. 
• Retrieving your interior design photos and videos and organizing them in a digital folder 
• Researching content that would resonate well with your audience 
• Scheduling your social media content using tools like Planoly, Hootsuite, Buffer, etc. 
• Using Canva, Photoshop, or another tool to design graphics if needed
• Monitoring the social media analytics and making adjustments as necessary
• Replying to comments and direct messages that come in
• And more!

#4 Interior Design Virtual Assistants Can Engage Your Leads With Email Marketing

As an interior designer, you should be using email marketing to connect with leads and clients. Admittedly, email marketing is an entire job in itself, but it’s incredibly useful. You don’t want people to visit your website and leave without sharing their name and email. For them to even land on your website means that they have some interest in the work that you do. Therefore, draw them in with a great lead-capture item that’ll enter them into your nurturing email funnel. A virtual assistant for interior designers can: 

• Develop email marketing campaigns 
• Create engaging email content, like copy, visuals, and persuasive calls to action, that resonates with our audience and aligns with our brand voice
• Schedule the content to send weekly, biweekly, monthly, or whatever frequency you choose
• Evaluate email campaign key performance indicators, such as email deliverability, open rates, click-through rates, conversions, and ROI.
• Upload email addresses, names, and other details
• Implement A/B testing to assess performance metrics to optimize campaign effectiveness and engagement rates
• Segment your email list based on purchase behavior, preferences, demographics, etc. 
• Create an on-brand lead capture form
• And more

#5 Interior Design Virtual Assistants Can Help With Tech Tasks, Too

Technology can help your business stay ahead of the curve, but it’s not everyone’s strong point. Fortunately, a virtual interior design assistant can help you with that, too! Your virtual assistant can: 

• Add or update your portfolio to include new photos and videos
• Assist with website management 
• Organize blog posts so leads can read about previous events you’ve pulled off 
• Troubleshoot different software 
• Set up your CRM tool and/or project management software (Asana, Trello, ClickUp, etc.)
• Assist with integrations that can help you automate various tasks 
• Set up a teaching platform like Teachable, Thinkific, Kajabi, etc., so you can launch an online course to teach other interior designers
• And more!

#6 They Can Provide Remote Interior Design Services

Your interior design virtual assistant could also step in to complete remote interior design tasks. Here are some examples: 

• Design floor plans, elevations, and 3D views and material boards for client presentation
• Assist with FFF&E
• Develop color schemes based on client specifications
• Create CAD designs and mood boards
• And more!

#7 Your Interior Design Virtual Assistant Can Assist With Personal To-Dos As Well

The support doesn’t just end with business tasks. Your virtual assistant can help out with personal tasks as well. Consider the following:

• Find and schedule house cleaners
• Search and shop online for gifts, clothing, etc.
• Manage the family calendar
• Arrange for grocery delivery
• Help plan vacations
• Schedule doctor appointments and family events
• Arrange for transportation
• Research child care options
• Set up pet care services (dog walking, vet visits, etc.)
• Research senior care services
• Help with meal planning

Bonus: A Quick Video On How Virtual Assistants Can Help Interior Designers

Finding The Right Virtual Assistant for an Interior Design Firm

Finding the perfect virtual assistant for your interior design firm might just sound like more work piled on top of everything else; who has time to find a remote assistant when they’re busy designing dream homes and calculating finances? If you’re swamped with client calls and product orders, it may be time to find a virtual assistant to help manage your business. But where do you start? Well, Imperative Concierge Services has you covered.

Don’t worry about taking valuable time out of your day by drafting job listings or interviewing virtual assistants. Imperative Concierge Services has the perfect virtual assistant (or assistants) for any and all of your needs. We’ll connect you to virtual assistants with plenty of experience and an eye for design so you can rest easy knowing anything you delegate is in good hands.

Book a Discovery Call Below: Learn More About Interior Design Virtual Assistants