3 Reasons You are Not Making Money as a Lighting Designer

“Why are my competitors killing it while I am just as good or better a lighting designer?”
“Why is my revenue down when the economy is booming?”
“Where are the people with REAL money to spend? Not these cheap so and so’s?

Does this sound like you talking? If it does, this is what it sounds like to your friends, your family, and your business associates.

“Waaaaaaaa!” Do you want some cheese with that whine?”

Here are 3 things that may be holding you back from making the big bucks.

1. You Marketing is Practically Non-Existent

Quality makes a difference, and cheap marketing efforts just like cheap suits don’t look good on anyone. Cheesy flyers you make at home and stick in mail boxes will not showcase the branding message you want your company to be known for around town. Why would I expect someone who can’t design a decent ad in a magazine or a professional flyer to be able to design the lighting at my home. I’m not saying you have to learn graphic arts, but hire someone who has that skill and work with them to create a clean modern looking website optimized for key industry search terms, while creating quality brochures, flyers, and ads to engage and brand your company to drive future business opportunities. You should know what your marketing materials should say and how it should represent your business to gain a competitive advantage in your local markets, and if you don’t, hire an expert who can help.

Network! Don’t settle for slow business growth and letting jobs slip away to your competitors. Get out there, follow up, and connect with your community to close more sales. Join a networking group or your local chamber of commerce. Sponsor community events. They’re a great way to meet new people and get the word out about your services.

Are you building strategic partnerships, and taking the time to reach out and stop to talk with builders and business owners, if not you have already lost the game. Connect with landscape designers, pool installers, anyone that is a shoulder business to your own, Tell them how you improve lives with your lighting designs and help them see your business differently. They will be an additional sales force that costs you little to nothing. It will make all the difference to your bottom line.

2. Your Pitch Sucks

Do you have a pitch that clearly conveys to your prospects what your competitive business advantages are? When you meet with them, do you do a nighttime lighting demo for them? Are you using the best quality lighting fixtures and equipment possible? If so, do you tell them about your products and how they are not only beautiful but durable? If not, you need to up your game and use better products. By using Garden Light LED products you can say with confidence that you’re going to light their homes with products made in America that come with a 20-year guarantee. Show them the fixtures which are not only elegant and sleek to look at, but are built to withstand any weather condition and the test of time. Put a Garden Light LED fixture in their hands. Just the weight and feel of it will convince them of the quality of the product and will increase their faith in you as a designer. These are fixtures you can’t buy at a big box store.

If your pitch is all over the place, it’s time to refocus and refine it so that you close more people, right on the spot. You need to impress upon them that lighting design, as an art form, adds value to their lives. You need to make that the focal point of your pitch. LED landscape lighting is more than just a pretty face. Your lights will bring safety, joy, peace of mind, and will increase their happiness.

Yup, I said lighting makes people happier. And happy people live longer. You’re more than just a lighting designer, you’re a doctor of lights!

3. You’re Too Slow with Your Follow-Up

Business is really slow. The phone isn’t ringing (see reason 1) and you’re sitting in your office with your feet up on your desk, playing on Facebook, and bemoaning your lot in life. I have a hunch that you have lots of outstanding quotes and you’re not closing them in a timely manner.

You pitched the potential customer, quoted the job and now… you’re sitting there waiting. You don’t want to call because what if they say, no? Well. It’s a sure-fire no if you don’t follow-up with them. Maybe they need a little push, a few more details, or maybe they’re shopping around and if you show them you really want the job, it’ll be a yes.

So, stop wasting your time, put your feet back on the floor, and follow up. Don’t sit back and whine about being slow, get out there and make a difference in your life and the lives of others. Don’t let your profits and revenue slip away.

Get moving!

Need help? Garden Light LED is here for you. Contact us at 1-800-511-2099 or complete our contact form to have us get in touch with you.