How Do You Get Interior Design Clients Without A Portfolio?

How Do You Get Interior Design Clients Without A Portfolio?

ALL INTERIORS BLOG
January 7, 2021/0 Comments/by Jo Chrobak

This is one of my favourite topics! How do you get interior design clients without a portfolio? I built my own business and helped hundreds of interior designers get their first clients without a portfolio (and typically, without any prior experience in the industry). So why does everyone think they need a portfolio? Why are people still teaching that you need one, and why do universities aim for you to graduate with one?

If you ask your university lecturer, course instructor and what seems to be everyone teaching interior design all over the internet, they all say that you need a portfolio to get clients. They believe this to be true because they know that clients want proof that you’re qualified for the job or that they want to see if they “gel” with your style before they invest their money into you.

What if your style isn’t visual, or you’re selling a skill (like I was) rather than a style? What if you can prove that you’re qualified another way? Creating a portfolio is helpful if you have loads of completed projects, have a specific design style or are straight out of university and are trying to get a job. But what if you’re like the hundreds of thousands of designers starting in this career who don’t have any examples of work, let alone completed projects?

You’ll be pleased to know that this is a common problem that all new designers and most start-up businesses in the design industry have. The majority won’t have a portfolio at all. Some will be highly qualified designers with many years of experience (like I was) who cannot use past work to prove their abilities thanks to copyright over the material.

So let’s firstly dispel the myth that a portfolio is the best way or the only way to get clients when you’re just starting in your design career. And let me be clear, I’m not saying that it isn’t one way to get clients later on once you’ve established a brand, got some projects under your belt and are ready to filter clients – I’m saying that, trying to build a portfolio isn’t the right way to get a client when you’re first starting out.

Quick Reference Guide

Why? Because your projects probably have a much lower budget than what you’re used to seeing in Elle Décor, House Beautiful on Pinterest or even on Instagram! Also, suppose you’re a new interior designer (or architect). In that case, the reality is that you’re going to make mistakes (not like killing people mistakes but just obvious beginner kind of mistakes), and you don’t want those haunting you and turning off potentially better clients once you’re ready for them.

If you still want to start building a portfolio, know that it takes time, but it is worth understanding your aim. Once again, this is a very confusing and misleading topic, so I have written another post to clarify everything about portfolios here: (Make sure to watch the video and get the downloadable which contains 50 ideas to help you build your first portfolio!) How To Build An Interior Design Portfolio (When You’ve Never Had A Client) – CLICK HERE.

If you’re still here, you’re open to the idea that you don’t need a hundred finished, beautifully photographed projects to get your first client. You’re probably the type of person that says:

And you’re right! There are novice or start-up interior and architectural designers getting this opportunity every day. There’s no reason you can’t if you’re motivated, driven, and passionate (note – talent doesn’t come into it!) Let me show you how!

There are an endless number of ways to land a project or get a client without a portfolio! I’m proof of that, I’ve been running my interior design business since 2016, and I still (at the time of writing this post, almost five years later) have not got a single image of my work on my website. I’ve had hundreds of clients and projects and made hundreds of thousands of pounds in my interiors business alone.

I’ve now also helped hundreds of start-up interior designers and architects with no previous experience, portfolios or degrees to get paying clients too. So please know that’s it’s not only possible, but designers are getting clients without portfolios every single day, and so can you!

Since Covid, I have seen an increase in people asking to see portfolios. I cannot figure out whether that’s because there are just more people searching for designers or whether there is now less trust online since the explosion of content on the internet. Either way – if you get asked, it’s not the end of the world.

So how do we do it? Without rewriting my interior design course for you here, I’ll give you five of the easiest and most effective ways to get interior design or architecture clients without a portfolio to help you on your way.

If you read through these and think – “it can’t be that easy” or “it won’t work for me because…”, know that the main reason for failure at this stage of your career is failing to act! Much of what I do in my mentoring is helping people feel ready, gain confidence, and increase their skills to get them to take these simple steps. Making money and getting clients isn’t rocket science – but we’re human, and we often avoid taking action due to hidden beliefs or fears. So if you hear yourself saying:

“They will know I’m not qualified” or “I’m an imposter” – know that the voice will always be there – it can come along for the ride, but it can’t steer the wheel on your career journey.

What if you’re not a newbie? What if you’re trying to start your interior design or architecture business, but you’re an experienced designer (like I was) when I was first starting my business? In most cases, you’re in the same boat as the inexperienced start-ups because you can’t use examples of any past work (typically because those projects belong to someone else). That’s even worse than not having any experience at all because you have to get creative to sell yourself and prove that you’re qualified and competent!

You’ve got experience working on amazing projects and years of experience, but you can’t prove it. It’s ok when you’re looking for another job because you can usually show your drawings to the new boss as they know what they’re looking for, but try attracting a client with that same pack of drawings – not the same (and not an easy way to get clients either).

So what do you do instead?

In my case, I sold myself with my services and my skills rather than a visual portfolio and then proved that I was qualified for each job with individual examples that exceeded the project requirements. In each case, it was different; sometimes, I needed to get references from a past boss or send samples of work from my cv or in a few cases, I spent a few days building a design project concept that showed my ability. I think it’s also important to note that I made the client know that I wanted the project and that it meant something to me. I secured the project in 99% of pitches, and you can too if you want the project or client – so find a way and don’t give up.

Other designers enter design competitions to build up their own body of work. In my case, I only ever entered competitions that were going to give me the portfolio images I needed to land a specific project or push me to learn a new skill or software. If you’re an experienced designer or architect who is trying to start your own business, fast forward to the professional portfolio section in this video I did. It will provide you with answers and ideas (the blog post also includes ideas to pimp areas of your portfolio that are lacking): CLICK HERE

So you’ve done the hard work, and you’ve managed to speak to your first potential client (yay). One thing to know is that this question only pops up if that client has found you in a way that’s considered a “cold lead” – which is typically the most challenging way to find a client (so pat yourself on the back!) You usually won’t get too many cold leads at the start because, to attract clients this way, you’ll typically be working through a marketing strategy. So if you’ve stumbled across a client that is reaching out as a cold lead, they probably haven’t seen you sharing any examples of work or even spoken to you or someone who knows you yet, and that’s why they are still asking to see a portfolio.

If you’ve been speaking to clients through one of the routes I mentioned above (in the five points) – it’s improbable that the potential client will still ask to see a portfolio. But if you’re getting cold leads, those potential clients will not know anything about you and so will go back to the basic idea that they need to see a portfolio (because most people don’t know any better – and also don’t want to look like they don’t know what they’re talking about!) Most people think that an interior designer or architect has a style, and so they believe the only way to hire one is to make sure they see that style (can you see how harmful all of those innocent blog posts/tv shows can be to a start-up – people don’t know what they don’t know!)

So when a potential client asks to see a portfolio and you’re just starting out (so obviously don’t have anything to show) – ask them what they’re specifically looking for or what they are hoping to see. This gives you a chance to prepare something and also gives you time to build rapport with the client (if it’s the first time they’ve reached out to you).

Here are a few standard scenarios and responses to help you respond most professionally and hopefully secure the client anyway:

If you try the above tips and the client isn’t interested or doesn’t get back to you, know that it’s pretty hard to convert this type of cold-lead into a paying client and that you tried your best! If someone has messaged you on a social platform and hasn’t bothered to check your feed (and you’ve got examples of some work on there), remember that this person isn’t prepared to go out of their way to research you, and they’re probably just comparing you against other people. This might not be the type of client you want anyway; maybe they’re very fussy, needy, demanding or very critical or high maintenance (you don’t want one of those clients… so move on!)

Don’t forget that there are many reasons why an architect or interior designer won’t have a portfolio, so you shouldn’t feel alone. Often it’s because they are just starting in their business, but it doesn’t always mean they aren’t experienced. Many experienced designers cannot show their past work because it belongs to their previous employer, or the client hasn’t permitted them to share it (a real pity, but it happens pretty often).

Some types of projects are not allowed to enter the public domain and are confidential. These could be copyright projects, commercially branded projects, naval/armed forces or government projects. Also, some projects genuinely take years to complete! A typical large project can take 2-3 years as standard from concept to completion – and that’s if everything goes according to plan. I worked on projects for many more years; one of my favourite projects lasted five years!

In my case, I spent my first years predominantly working on E-Design projects. This work was still relatively new back in 2014, and many people didn’t know that this was even possible (seems impossible now in a post-Covid world!) Typically, E-Design projects are small, can take a long time to come to fruition (as people work on the project in stages as and when they can afford to) and are project managed by the client themselves. For this reason, the projects are often too small to hire a professional photographer and aren’t impressive in terms of “design” (even though the client loves the job you did for them!) So even though I had loads of projects, I didn’t have many photos that I wanted to share because, as an experienced designer, I had worked for 15 years on unique projects that I was proud of – but obviously couldn’t share as part of my work!

So you see, there are so many solutions and so many different ways to progress; there is no need to go round in circles or get upset, thinking there is no hope.

To give you one final confidence boost – remember that there are hundreds of thousands of interior design and architecture graduates that graduate with a portfolio each year, and their portfolio can’t land them a job – let alone a client. There are also interior designers and other designers who are supposedly “unqualified” who land fantastic jobs/clients/projects every day! So stop making excuses and start working on what you need to do, to land that client without fussing over the fact that you don’t have a portfolio.