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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 an interior design business, 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!ย 

VA getting ideas for templates

There’s nothing quite like watching your creative company 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 an interior design virtual assistant could offer much-needed relief.ย 

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

Virtual Assistant for Interior Design Firm

You didnโ€™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.ย 

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 Hire a Virtual Interior Design Assistant?

For clarity, a virtual assistant (VA) 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, a virtual interior design assistant only charges for true time worked. Remote design assistants 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 VA for 10 or 20 hours per month. In addition, the package you choose can be adjusted based on your changing business needs.

Woman helping interior designers

Flexible

A Virtual Interior Design Assistant only works when you need them to. So, if some months are busier than others in your design business, they can adjust. In addition, if you need assistance after hours or during the weekends, that may also be possible.ย 

Efficient

We’ll match you with a top-tier U.S.-based Remote Design Assistant with the specialized skills required to complete the tasks you need help with most. As a result, they are less likely to waste time or money when handling to-dos.

Cost Effective

A Remote Design Assistant is responsible for paying their own taxes, benefits, and computer equipment, allowing an interior design business to save more than they would with in-house employees.ย 

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.ย 

Design assistant helping with space planning

#1 A Virtual Design Assistant Can Do Administrative Tasks

There are tons of administrative tasks you can assign to your Interior Design Virtual Assistant. For instance, they can help you with:ย 

VA doing work for designer clients
  • 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
  • Scheduling appointments
  • Assisting with compiling a portfolio of your work.
  • Helping manage time and money to budget
  • Researching fabrics, floor, and wall covering, antiques, and accessories
  • Generating invoices and purchase orders
  • Gathering design details and sharing that information with your team
  • Finding ways to streamline operations and improve various business processes
  • Following up on project orders
  • Creating a list of reputable vendors
  • Supporting other interior designers on your team
  • Maintaining vendor management
  • 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. Therefore, to ensure business success and help you and your team focus on other to-dos, let a virtual design assistant:ย 

  • Answer phones in a pleasant and extremely professional manner (if you schedule them to be available during a certain block of time)
  • Take messages and give callers information about company services, features, menus, resources, hours of operation, etc. If they don’t know, they can direct the caller to the correct team member.
  • 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
  • Create a process for handling common challenges
  • Provide solutions to customer complaints
  • And additional customer support/client management functions
VA working on interior design business
VA helping an interior design business

#3 VAs Can Do Social Media Management For An Interior Design Business

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 social media management can be. It’s difficult trying to meticulously craft homes and find time to post regularly. This is why you should hire a VA for an Interior Design Business and let them use their professional skills to help with:ย 

VA working on social media management
  • Creating a social media strategy for various platforms like Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, YouTube, etc.
  • Sharing examples of your projects so people can get an idea of your service offerings and expertise
  • 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
  • Making a process for creating and publishing content so that others can step in and do so if needed
  • 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 information like their last name, email address, etc.

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 form that’ll enter them into your nurturing email funnel. An interior design virtual assistant can:

  • Develop email marketing campaignsย and templates
  • Create engaging email content, like copy, visuals, and persuasive calls to action, that resonates with your audience and aligns with your 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 a lead capture form that matches your brand style
  • And more
VA entering e-mail address

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

Technology can help your company 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:ย 

VA working on various technical tasks
  • Add or update your portfolio to include new photos and videos
  • Assist with website management
  • Evaluate your current service delivery process for various business operations and find ways to implement tech tools to enhance service delivery
  • Set up any new technology that’s gaining popularity in the interior design industry
  • Organize blog posts so leads can read about previous events you’ve pulled off
  • Troubleshoot different software
  • Create a link for discovery calls
  • Set up your CRM tool and/or project management software (Asana, Trello, ClickUp, etc.)
  • Identify ways to use technology to streamline and improve client management
  • 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 virtual design tasks. They could assist with the following:

  • Designing floor plans, elevations, and 3D views and material boards for client presentation
  • Assisting with Furniture, Fixtures, and Equipment (FF&E) for different client projects
  • Sharing ideas for various projects
  • Helping with space planning
  • Developing color schemes based on client specifications
  • Designing mood boards, CAD designs, concept boards, templates, etc.
  • Assessing building codes and inspection regulations for each project to ensure success and compliance
  • Performing vendor management, such as speaking with architects, constructors, etc.
  • Creating renders and designs and determining what details would be a good fit for each client project
  • And more!
VA looking at renderings and doing virtual design

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

The support doesn’t just end with business tasks, either. The VA for your interior design business can help out with personal tasks as well. This can significantly help with work/life balance and help you focus on other goals. Consider the following:

VA helping with personal projects
  • Find and schedule house cleaners, laundry services, etc.
  • 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
  • Other personal projects that arise

Bonus: A Quick Video On Hiring A Interior Design Virtual Assistant

Time To Find The Right Virtual Interior Design Assistant

VA providing support to designer

Finding the perfect VA for interior designers 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