If you specialize in design/build services, you know there’s often a lot of due diligence upfront. Design discussions are necessary to create a space that meets the needs of the clients. They can also help you determine if a lead is a good fit for your company.
One tool that can help streamline this process is a design questionnaire. You can utilize these as an early interest form to weed out the tire kickers or to help your current clients focus on conveying their wants and needs.
By creating a custom design questionnaire, you can help your clients articulate their preferences and desired aesthetics beyond a traditional consultation. When your designers have a clear roadmap of a client’s expectations, this will help reduce misunderstandings and constant revisions.
Questions to Ask
Your design questionnaire is only as useful as the questions you ask, so think about some of the common areas where clients can get hung up when conveying their wishes and develop questions that can help them think more deeply about their landscape preferences.
Some of the areas to think about addressing in your questionnaire include:
- Aesthetic preferences and style – Do they have a specific style they are looking for? Are there any features in the space that should be enhanced or capitalized?
- Functional needs – How does the client use the space? What are their hobbies? Does anyone in the household have impairments or accessibility needs? Are there any children or pets that need to be accommodated?
- Desired features – Do they have a need for privacy? Do they wish to entertain large groups? What hardscaping/structures would they like to add?
- Plant and materials preferences – What are their favorite plants and colors? What plants and colors do they dislike? Do they have a preference for hardscaping materials?
- Site considerations – Do they have any zoning or HOA restrictions? Are there existing drainage issues? Are there certain pests like rabbits or deer in the area?
If you want your questionnaire to help identify good customer fits, asking a prospect for their location, budget and timeline for completion can all quickly let you know if they match your criteria.
Other questions to ask in an interest design form include how often they utilize the space, their maintenance expectations, and what aspects of the design are most important to them, like budget, quality or sustainability.
For instance, if you know your ideal client is an individual who loves spending time in their garden, is willing to pay for white glove maintenance services and cares most about the quality of the project, a lead who never spends anytime outside, wants no maintenances and cares most about the price of the project, probably isn’t going to align well with your organization.
You don’t have to rule out a lead solely based on their responses in a design interest questionnaire, but it can often save your team time from vetting prospects. Sometimes their lack of responses on the form can also be an early indicator that they may be challenging to work with.
Pitfalls to Avoid
Design questionnaires should not replace discussions with the client about their project needs, but can serve as a catalyst to get the conversation going in the right direction.
Make sure the way you word the questions is not too broad, as you can end up with clients leaving vague, unhelpful answers or, worse, skipping the questions entirely. Simply asking, “What are the needs of your landscape?” might be too daunting for some clients if left as a fill-in-the-blank option.
You can format questions like this where the applicant can simply check all the boxes that apply to the services you provide.
Similarly, a client may not know how to describe their aesthetic, but if you give them a handful of options to choose from as well as a photo representing each one, these can help them convey the look they’re after. You can also provide them a place where they can upload pictures of their own or a link to a Pinterest board if they are struggling to put their vision into words.
When developing your design questionnaire, avoid using industry terms unless you explain in the document what you are referring to. It may seem like common sense for people to know what a perennial is, but it’s best not to assume knowledge and avoid confusing customers.
The biggest mistake with design questionnaires is creating a long, complex document that becomes overwhelming for the client to the point many fail to complete it.
One option is to let the client know in advance they can answer as many questions as they’d like. Let them know their answers will help you learn about them and will make your time together to be more productive.
Another route is to structure the questionnaire so it will take the client about 15-30 minutes to complete and touch on key points like the elements they’d like included and problems they’re facing so you can formulate more specific questions in person.
Don’t forget to outline the next steps at the end of the questionnaire so clients can know what to expect after taking the time to complete your form. Touch on when they can expect to hear back from you and why completing the form is beneficial to their overall project.
After implementing a design questionnaire in your process, evaluate it annually to see if there are any areas that can be improved. A question chronically left blank by applicants could be confusing or too broad for individuals to wish to answer. Meanwhile, a design topic that comes up constantly later in the process may be beneficial to add to the list of questions.
