Keen to try the huge array of Houzz Pro tools, but wondering how best to use each one to help you run your renovation business? From marketing your firm, attracting leads and communicating with clients, to managing a project from start to finish, there’s a tool for everything.
So in this series, we’ll be looking at a particular aspect of your business and highlighting which Houzz Pro features can help. This time, we’re focusing on improving relationships with clients.
1. Help clients to visualise their project
Tools to use: Mood Boards and 3D Floor Plans
How do you ensure that you and your client are on the same page right from the beginning of a project? Well, one of the key means is to communicate your vision in a way they’ll understand.
In recent Houzz studies, homeowners have told us that the ability to visualise how a project will look at the end has been a major challenge for them during renovations. In the 2023 Houzz Homeowner Activity Study, for example, around 30% said this was a challenge they were facing as they planned their project.
Fortunately, Houzz Pro has some great tools that make it easy to share design ideas with clients, including the Mood Boards feature. With this tool, you can create a presentation and quickly drag over items from a product library you would have created earlier, images from Houzz ideabooks, and even paint colour swatches.
To help your clients really visualise the products you choose, there’s also the option to remove the background and skew an item to change perspective and show it in situ.
Another useful feature is the Floor Planner tool, where you can speedily create a plan of the room and then show your client the layout in 3D, Dollshouse and Walkthrough views.
Sacha Berger of Honeybee Interiors & Joinery, who created the plan above, says the Houzz Pro 3D Floor Planner is a game-changer. “I can really quickly mock up a plan and show it to the client,” she says.
2. Give clients more control
Tools to use: Selections and Product Clipper
James Woodham of Akiva Projects stresses the importance of making clients feel heard. “By demonstrating you understand their perspective, you can build trust,” he says. You can do this by ensuring they’re on board with all decisions relating to their project, including the choice of products.
So how do you allow clients to give feedback on all product specifications without delaying the project? The Selections feature is an ideal tool, where you can create a board for each room and add products, floor plans and mood boards, then share it with your client.
Use the Product Clipper to add products from all over the internet to a product library, then drag these over to your Selections board. The client can look at each product in context with the room scheme, get an overview of the item, and click through to the product’s website.
A chat feature allows them to have a conversation with you in the Houzz Pro app, and then they can quickly approve or decline each item. The Selections board will then update the budget in real time, so they feel they have complete control over their budget.
Omar Bhatti of Space Shack, who designed this room, uses the Selections and Product Clipper tools often. “We use the Clipper tool religiously in the studio,” he says. “It’s the best Houzz Pro feature for sure, as it makes saving and sharing the items we’ve sourced so much easier.”
3. Update them on timings
Tools to use: Schedule
Sticking to a time schedule can be one of the trickiest parts of a project, particularly if your client has a tight deadline or even unrealistic expectations. If you’re not clear about timings at all stages of the renovation, your relationship could easily unravel.
“If you have a tight deadline set by a client, it needs to be made very clear from the outset that decisions have to be made quickly to keep things moving and keep delays to a minimum,” Sarah Davies of Floella Interiors says.
To make things easier, you could try Houzz Pro’s Schedule tool. With this feature, you can create a schedule for each project and assign tasks to team members, contractors and clients. Your customer can get an instant overview of the project’s schedule, what’s happening when, and what they need to do to help the process run smoothly. By having an overview like this, your client should feel more in control and less stressed about progress.
4. Keep them in the loop
Tools to use: Client Dashboard
When it comes to good customer service, communication is the number one most important thing you can do. Even when there are issues and challenges during a project, transparency helps to reduce stress and increases trust between you and the client.
The key Houzz Pro tool for easy, clear communication is the Client Dashboard, and this is the place where your client can access all the other features we’ve discussed in this article. You can also share daily logs with your client via the dashboard, send them live updates, have conversations, and set up easy payment options.
“I use Houzz Pro to communicate with all my clients, as I find it a great way of presenting ideas and keeping track of everything,” interior designer Alison Anderson says. “It saves me time and reassures me, and it’s great for the clients, as they have a reference point to access information rather than going through their emails.”
