Contrary to popular belief, an interior designer’s job does not consist primarily of design time.  This is not the sexy vision that young men and women dream about when they enter design school but it’s the reality that any seasoned designer can confirm.  Project management and project administration are the largest part of being an interior designer; all the brilliant design in the world cannot make up for a poorly run project and an unhappy client.  Effective management and administration will continue to be of paramount importance when running a successful firm but can there be a better mousetrap?

The question that I encourage you to ask yourself and your staff is where that important project management and administration borders on inefficiency.  If you’re like most design firms that we work with, that greatest inefficiency is in the purchasing process.  You may have great technology (like Studio IT) and great systems in place to make this process a little less painful but the reality is that pricing, creating proposals, creating purchase orders, tracking and expediting takes time, often a lot of time.  In fact, I can imagine that much of your purchase order management time can be summed up with a few of these frustrating points:

• Calling multiple showrooms and vendors to get pricing…leaving messages…then calling them again because they didn’t get back to you.
• Calling multiple showrooms and vendors to get pricing…leaving messages…and then missing their next calls because you’re on the phone with another vendor.  Thus begins the illustrious PO management game of phone tag.
• Checking on orders weekly (if you know what’s good for you) because you’ve had too many times where a vendor has failed to notify you that the sofa, which was supposed to ship last week, will actually be another four weeks.  The vendor does not have to deal with your irate client who wanted the sofa before Thanksgiving.
• Creating client proposals that accurately describe the items but don’t give the client too much information so that they don’t “shop” you.
• Dealing with a delay in orders when you’re on vacation, in High Point, on another project install, or generally completely incapable of handling the crises as you’re nowhere near your computer and your office, and might not even have a pen in your purse/pocket that seems to work.

In our design firm, we utilize great technology and we institute effective systems.  Despite our finest efforts, this has not, however, eliminated the items above from rearing their ugly heads.  The reality is that on each project, a design firm may deal with 30+ vendors and showrooms which mean 30+ lines of communication.  When I look at our bottom line, I see this part of our business as the greatest drain, the greatest hindrance to our growth, and our greatest cost.

When we launched Gibson Design Management, we focused on purchase order management.  While we now have multiple services that we offer for the interior design industry, I still believe that our purchase order management service is the best way to make a design firm more profitable and healthy.

Instead of having those 30+ lines of communication open at all times and being the central hub with a plethora of spokes, our purchase order management services give you one “go to” person that handles every order that you place, every item that you want to price, and every piece that you need to track.  At the same time, your company can actually make more money with fewer paper-pushing efforts.

As I write this post I worry that this might be the first time in the history of this blog that I’ve written a sales-y post that is also an educational post.  I would not risk our readers with shameless self-promotion if I did not truly believe that this service can have the greatest impact on a single interior design firm.

We offer a lot of great services and our team is really, really good at what they do.  However, when we sit and talk about our different services, purchase order management is the one service that the team unanimously says “that’s a no-brainer; every design firm should use that.”  Once I explain and write down the numbers on the time and money lost on managing purchasing in-house and then I show that the design firm can actually make more money, it’s not surprising that they say that.

In 2010, if you are interested in growing your bottom line and getting back to the real reason you became a designer, please contact me and we can talk more.  Don’t continue to do things the old way as we all now see that the old way is slowly taking a choke hold on the livelihood of our industry.

When is comes to purchase order management, one of the key components for success lies in the hands of the receiving warehouse.  If you are embarking on a new design project in an unfamiliar area here are some things to look for and consider when choosing a receiver.

1.)    What kind of inventory system do they utilize?  Does the warehouse have the technology to use photographs in their receiving reports?  Do they an accurate record of quantities of items from each vendor?

2.)    What are the hours of operation?   When you’re contacting the company do you speak with a live person or a switchboard?  Good communication with representatives within the warehouse is key.  Avoid warehouses with limited customer services hours.

3.)    Are they flexible and can they schedule last minute deliveries?  I recently encountered a situation where an office desk and credenza were delivered early to a hotel and needed immediate installation.  I was in a pinch, so I immediately called the warehouse we are using for the project to see if they could send an installer the next day.  Although it was last minute they were able to find someone that was available.  This was a win-win situation for both the client and for me.  Make certain you understand the warehouse’s delivery policy before you schedule an installation.

Talk to showrooms and designers in the area and feel out your options.  Build a personable relationship with your warehouse customer service team early on in the project.  They are there to help you run your project seamlessly.

It’s already Day Seven of our 12 Day Countdown – Suggestions for things you can do this month to prepare for a fabulous 2009!  Yesterday we talked about taking some time to remember why you became a designer and focusing on the areas of your business that you love.  So what about those areas that you don’t enjoy, aren’t proficient in, or are not a good use of your time?  What about outsourcing?

One of the best things you can do this month is take a half hour and listen to a great interview conducted by Gail Doby, Chief Vision Officer at Design Success University.   

Outsourcing Is Not a Four Letter Word: You Can Do Less of the Busy Work & Get Back to the Real Reason You Became an Interior Designer

Please click below to listen to the replay of this interview:

GDM Replay

Learn how you can outsource the parts of the business that you don’t like, make more money and have more fun.  Discover how you can grow your firm without the headaches and fixed costs of hiring additional staff…especially when the economy is impacting your business.

“[Outsourcing through] Gibson Design Management is exactly where I am headed, giving over these details to others to deal with so I can grow my business, and of course focus on the items that I really love.”

“Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things”

These well known lyrics from the Sound of Music lead us to Day Six of of our 12 Day Countdown – Suggestions for things you can do this month to prepare for a fabulous 2009!  Why not spend some time thinking about the reasons you became an interior designer in the first place.  Ask yourself:

• What do I enjoy most about being an interior designer?
• On the days I’m excited to get out of bed and start the work day, what am I doing?
• Why is being an interior designer fun?
• What makes me a great interior designer?

By allowing yourself even ten minutes to think about what it is that you truly enjoy about being a designer, why it is you became an interior designer in the first place, you will rediscover the areas of your business that you love.  Those are the areas that you should focus your time and energy on – why not make that one of your goals for 2009!  Doesn’t the saying go “Do what you love, love what you do.” 

Chances are pretty good that you are currently handling some areas of your business that you don’t enjoy – and quite possibly don’t excel at.  Why not make 2009 the year when you delegate some of those responsibilities?  Of course, Gibson Design Management would be an excellent choice for handling the Purchase Order Management, CAD Services and Accounting Services.  But maybe what is dragging you down is creating and maintaining a website or blog.  Good news, there are people out there who LOVE that and are really talented at it.  

Gibson Design Management - CAD Services

So take some time this month and really think about why you became an interior designer, what are your “favorite things” about being a designer – and then figure out how to get back to spending your days doing what you love.