Interior designers always have multiple balls in the air – it just comes with the gig. We’re only human, though, and eventually we get to a point where we need help. Growing a team is a big step in an interior design firm’s journey, but even before you get there, having the right tools and resources can help you manage before you scale up. We’re biased, of course, but we think Design Manager’s project management and accounting software can be the extra set of hands you need, both as a small and scrappy firm, as well as a growing team with multiple personnel.

Design Manager was created specifically for interior designers. Its vast set of features can do wonders for saving your business money, and its cloud-based offering makes it simple for interior designers on the go to work from anywhere. All of which helps you manage your projects, stay on top of accounting, and gives you more time to focus on what got you into the business in the first place – creating those beautiful spaces for your clients!

Here are 7 ways Design Manager can save you both time and money:

1. Enter data once: One of the best features of Design Manager is that you only have to enter a piece of information one time and it will save in your system forever. If there is a piece of furniture you want to add onto multiple documents or reuse across projects, those details will always be there to call up with the click of a button. What’s even better is that Design Manager lets you save images of items by simply clipping a picture from your browser and saving right into your system.
2. And it’s not just furniture items that you can save for future use: Design Manager will save everything from contacts, to your proprietary pricing formulas. Entering information once not only cuts down on data entry, but also on human error, which can cause costly and time-consuming headaches down the road.

1. Easily track your time: Keeping track of the time you spend on a project is crucial to understanding the profit and loss of your individual projects. Even if you don’t use time billing as part of your pricing structure, knowing how much of your time you’re spending on which facets of the business is essential to managing your time. And you’ll love Design Manager’s timer app that lets you click to start and stop the timer function, then save that data to a specific project. You can use this feature on the full version of Design Manager, or the mobile app!
2. Skip the graphic designer: With Design Manager, you can create beautifully branded proposals, invoices, and a multitude of other client-facing documents. While you could easily spend thousands on a graphic designer to set up templates or pay someone in-house to create the same sleek looks, Design Manager will do this for you as part of the basic plan, giving you different templates to choose from.

1. Automate the purchase order process: Instead of using valuable employee time to take an approved proposal, create and submit a purchase order, then invoice the client, Design Manager will set up the entire process and prompt you to take the next necessary action. Think of all the time you and your employees will have to work on creative endeavors with Design Manager handling this highly cumbersome process!
2. Be your own bookkeeper: Bookkeeping is an important function in any business, and it can be time consuming and tedious work. Design Manager’s one-time data entry helps to take bookkeeping in-house, or at least cut down on the amount of times you need to visit with a professional throughout the year. Design Manager’s reporting and reconciliations on bank and credit card statements makes it easy to look for red flags early before they snowball into bigger issues.

1. Be Your Own CEO, CFO, and COO: Of course, the day will come when you will need to outsource these C-suite tasks, but in the meantime, Design Manager’s reporting function will allow you to stay up to date on your financials by providing real time ledgers and profit and loss reports. Your accountant will love you and you will never be late on a tax payment again. You can also easily control and keep tabs on employee activity with the user management functionality. Don’t forget to check out the industry-specific reports that will keep you on top of everything you need to know about what’s going on with your order management, project schedules, and even your custom CFA (Cutting For Approval) pieces.
2. Collect payments online: Last but not least, Design Manager, via Stripe, makes it super simple and entirely secure to collect payments online via credit card and ACH (bank transfer). When it’s time to invoice a client, you can simply email them the link to pay electronically, which makes it easy for them to complete the task right away. Not only will you save time and money by getting paid faster, you’ll cut down on those awkward follow-up calls when you haven't received your paper check via snail mail. 

“With Stripe, accepting credit card payments is a much more efficient process. I can send one link that covers one or multiple invoices to our clients and they are able to pay at their convenience. The appropriate fees are applied and journal entries are booked in Design Manager all automatically. My old process through TSYS involved many more steps and I’m loving the time savings!”

-Andrea Hipsher, Bria Hammel Interiors

While these are seven ways Design Manager can save you and your interior design business time and money, each of these topics could be a post to themselves. Design Manager has vast and far-reaching functionalities that are customized to suit an interior design business model - don’t forget the product clipper which saves hours of time on sourcing!  

Instead of spending countless hours managing the admin part of the business, sign up for a free trial of Design Manager and see what the industry’s leading accounting and project management software can do for you!