The Buyer's Brain™
How clients really make decisions.
Clients don’t hire with spreadsheets and logic. They hire with instinct, emotion, and trust, and only rationalize the decision afterward. The Buyer’s Brain™ workshops take you inside that process and show you how to work with it.
In this track, we’ll explore the shortcuts and biases that shape client behavior and how they appear in real design conversations. You’ll learn how loss aversion influences budgets and approvals, how identity and trust position you as the safe choice, and how framing techniques move clients from hesitation to action.
By the end, you’ll understand exactly how psychology and behaviors apply to design sales — and you’ll have a practical way to use them.
The result is simple: you’ll stop over-explaining and defending, and instead lead decisions with authority so your proposals land as the obvious yes.
Scroll down to see when the next workshop begins.
JOIN US!
Workshop THREE
Designing the Connection: Your Client Tells You Everything If You Know What to Listen For
MAY 20, 2026 AT NOON CENTRAL
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN:
- My 8 client archetypes which are personality profiles I've developed from decades of working with every kind of buyer imaginable.
- How to spot who you're dealing with in the first 10 minutes of a discovery call, and more importantly, what to do about it.
- How to adjust your language, your cadence, your proposals, and your boundaries based on the actual person sitting across from you.
- A framework for knowing when friction is fixable vs. when it's time to say a graceful no.
Workshop FOUR
Designing the Decision: The Science of How Clients Choose
(and How You Can Shape It)
COMING SUMMER 2026!
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN:
- Pull from behavioral economics and real project case studies to show you exactly how anchoring, loss aversion, and the three-option framework work in interior design pricing.
- See our actual numbers and give you the tools to build your own three-option structure before you leave.
- How to stop losing projects to indecision with verbiage for the money conversation that will keep you out of the "discount" trap.
- Gain the confidence to present your fees without apologizing for them.
Workshop ONE
Say It So They Believe You
JOIN THE WAITLIST FOR THIS WORKSHOP
When your business is stuck, the problem is often not strategy. It’s positioning.
The words you use shape whether clients see your price as stewardship or sticker shock. This workshop teaches you how to communicate your value so clearly, so consistently, and so confidently that clients stop asking for proof and start asking for proposals.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN:
- Refine your Value Bank™ into client-facing proof points that sell without overselling.
- Replace weak phrasing with authority-driven Language Swaps that reinforce trust and expertise.
- Use narrative and case study storytelling to defend your price without sounding defensive.
- Prevent the Itemization Trap by shifting focus from tasks to transformation.
- Keep your website, proposals, and consult language aligned — so your message always sounds like a business, not a plea
Suitable for Designers with at least 2 years of solid experience.
Workshop TWO
The Psychology of Yes
JOIN THE WAITLIST FOR THIS WORKSHOP
Clients don’t make decisions by logic—they make them through emotion and instinct, then justify it later. In this workshop, you’ll learn how to recognize the patterns behind how people decide and how to use that understanding to guide clients with confidence and ease. We’ll explore the natural “shortcuts” clients take when choosing who to trust and what to invest in, things like avoiding loss, seeking validation, or wanting to see themselves in the story you tell. You’ll learn how to weave these principles into your consults, proposals, and presentations so decisions happen faster, with fewer stalls, and more yeses to your process and pricing.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN:
- The ways cognitive triggers show up that cause hesitation.
- What we do to prevent stalls and lack of commitment by the client so they move forward without pressure.
- How we redirect fear into forward motion without dumbing our value down with discounts, stupid coaching scripts, or high pressure sales tactics.
- Share the specific ways we connect long before we ever meet the client. ( yes ideas!!!)
Suitable for designers with at least 2 years of experience.
THE IDEA ECONOMY™
Click below to
read more about our workshops on how to price your thinking, position your expertise, and sell what clients can’t touch.
SELLING BY DESIGN™
Click below to read more about our workshops on how to build a strong sales system that positions you as the obvious choice, and closes projects without discounting or second-guessing.
DESIGN DELIVERED™
Click below to read more about our workshops on how to to turn your goals into defined deliverables, describe them in a way clients understand.
Sarah B.
SBTB & BOB MEMBER
" I appreciated your program. I am a silent follower and don't often participate in the live zoom calls. But, my business has exploded the last few years and I can attribute the growth to the confidence I gained as part of this group. I've listened to every podcast, zoom recording and read through all materials posted. I appreciate the honesty and effort put into elevating the industry. When I feel unsure and a little beat up, I pull up a zoom recording and it resets my confidence. Thank you!"
Ryan W.
TDP DESIGNER
"Your business model of being a discount designer will pigeonhole you into clients looking for a bargain. I HIGHLY recommend talking more with Cheryl. She changed how I’ve billed after having the wrong mindset for 20 years. Trust me. I left so much money on the table and not because I’m not a damn good designer. My brain was just working against me due to how those who trained me thought."
Sasha B.
TDP DESIGNER
"Cheryl has not only a business brain but is insanely creative in the marketing realm. I have never had so many ideas to implement. She is just different than anyone else out there coaching today. All coaches have good things to impart. But Cheryl is the real deal and her philosophies challenge things said by others that get you so excited because they just make sense. And she shows you exactly how to do it and explains why first then how. She and Liz have renewed my passion in this business. I can do this!"
Success is for those who are willing to put the time and effort into being prepared and learning how to run a business. And not let the business run them.
Meet Cheryl Clendenon
A serial entrepreneur and owner of In Detail Interiors, a 7 person, multi-million dollar design firm based on the Gulf Coast. In addition to winning dozens of industry awards throughout her 25 years in business (proving she's a dang good designer who knows her stuff), she also has actual knowledge and experience in business that head and shoulders above the rest of those who currently coach and teach within this industry.
That’s why, instead of bringing you more fluff about how to sign luxury clients or social media marketing (🙄), she is going to teach you what you really need and WANT to know, which is how to increase your bottom line WITHOUT adding more to your workload.