Our 5-Step Guide to Securing Design Retainer Agreements

This guide will equip you with a 5-step approach to securing design retainer agreements, allowing you to focus on what you do best: creating stunning outdoor escapes for your clients. (Side note: After my first sales call using this process after nearly 20 years of doing it “the old fashioned contractor way “my remark to my boss was “This is like shooting fish in a bucket!” It works!)

Step 1:  Needs Analysis –  Unearthing Dreams and Hidden Concerns

The initial stage sets the tone for the entire project. You start off the onsite sales call or virtual actively listening and asking probing questions that go beyond aesthetics.

Become a Master of Inquiry: Craft insightful questions that delve deeper than “What kind of plants do you like?” Explore their lifestyle, entertaining habits, desired functionality, and challenges with their current landscape. Ask questions about what you’re seeing there that are pertinent to the project as they have described it to you during the Inquiry Qualification process. If you’re there about a patio ask about the current patio or deck. Probe into why they are unhappy with the status quoi. If they give you an answer and you don’t know the why of it, ask why. Probe deeper. These answers may help you avoid objections later in the process. When you feel you know enough then go deeper in the example of a patio, you could ask about the possibility of adding a water feature, a fire pit, lighting and a pergola. Ask ask ask! or “And good questions to ask no matter the reason your there are: Do you have any specific concerns about drainage or maintenance?” These can spark great conversations, add value to your visit, enhance their vision, and can spark valuable insights.

Embrace Transparency: Discuss your design process openly, outlining the steps involved and the timeline for project completion.

Identify Budget Comfort Zones: While budget specifics might not be nailed down at this stage, a gentle conversation about comfortable spending ranges helps manage expectations and ensures you’re on the same page.

Step 2:  Your Story, Their Oasis – Building Trust and Credibility

Once you have a deeper understanding of their needs, share your company’s story. Highlight your design philosophy, unique strengths, and past successes with projects similar to theirs. Showcase your design portfolio, focusing on features that resonate with their aspirations and answer any concerns about the project they may have or past experiences they’ve had with other contractors.

Passion is Contagious: Let your enthusiasm for creating outdoor living spaces shine through.

Focus on Solutions: Showcase past projects where you’ve tackled challenges similar to those the homeowner might be facing.

Testimonials Speak Volumes: Consider including client testimonials in your portfolio or presentation to add a layer of social proof.

Step 3:  Envisioning Possibilities – Collaborative Problem Solving

This stage allows your design expertise to take center stage. Based on the information gleaned from the Needs Analysis, discuss a range of conceptual design alternatives.

Speak Their Language: Use clear, concise language to describe potential design directions that address their specific needs and budget considerations.

Embrace Brainstorming: Encourage the homeowner’s active participation. Sketch out basic design ideas on a whiteboard or use online design tools to foster a collaborative environment.

Be Flexible and Adaptable: Be prepared to adapt your initial concepts based on their feedback. This collaborative approach demonstrates your willingness to listen and create a design that truly reflects their vision.

Step 4:  The Design Brief – A Roadmap to Reality

The reality of all this is that it cost money. This step outlines the design process in detail and explains how their ideas will be translated into a conceptual design. The Design Brief also clarifies the budgets for each part of the project you talked about and next steps upon signing the Design Retainer Agreement.

The Design Brief typically includes:

• A detailed description of the agreed-upon conceptual design direction
• Material specifications
• Estimated budget ranges for key areas: Provide a general range for core elements like patios, fire pits, plantings, or water features. This transparency helps manage expectations and allows for further refinement during the design phase.

Step 5:  Partnering for Success:  The Design Retainer Agreement

The Design Brief serves as the foundation for the Design Retainer Agreement. This agreement establishes a formal partnership for the design phase.  The retainer typically represents a percentage (e.g., 10%) of the total estimated project cost and demonstrates the homeowner’s commitment to move forward with you and the project.

Upon signing the Design Retainer Agreement you begin developing the conceptual design. Working with SOD all that is required for us to get started on that is a sketch, the plot or plat plan and ove measurement you got on site for verification of scale. Send those to us and you’ll have a conceptual plan within a week. We ask you to approve our 2D conceptual, (present it to your clients) and with approval we’ll get to work on 3D.

Our next article will cover will cover the psychology of sales Find the link for that [here].