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.

On January 1, 2007, the Boise State Broncos shocked the country by upsetting the powerhouse known as the Oklahoma Sooners in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.  At the same time, the Broncos showed, in a David vs. Goliath battle, that hope, faith, and preparedness can be recipe for greatness.

I was lucky enough to be at this game.  I must admit that I lost faith; it seemed that the there were so many things that had to go “right” for Boise State to win the game after losing a 17 point lead and falling behind with only 1:30 left in regulation.  Sooners fans filed out of the stadium, bound to get an early break on the traffic, to only listen to the game going into double overtime on their car radios.

There is a great article from the New York Times about how this game even inspired the numbed sportswriters in the press box to believe that great things were possible.

This is not a football blog post though.  This is a New Year’s post about the importance of hope, faith, and positive thinking in each of our businesses.  We must be prepared.  Boise State would not have succeeded if they had not been completely prepared.  However, almost more importantly, when it seems that the odds are against you, there is never an excuse to give up hope.  Hope costs you nothing.  Great things happen every day; they’re not just on the SportsCenter highlights.

When setting your company goals this year, remember the nuts and bolts, but don’t ever forget the hope and faith that must accompany every day that you run your business and face adversity.  A little team from Idaho stunned the nation; everything did go “right” for them that day.  When you are faced with adversity in your business, don’t forget the Broncos.

The design industry is no stranger to the acronym heavy list of professional organizations available to the trade. Professional organizations serve a vital purpose to those well established within the industry, help to foster connections with those that are new to their chosen field, and act as a resource and a mentor to those seeking an education or degree within the trade.

Let’s spell out a few of them for you!

AKBD – Associate Kitchen & Bath Designer. A certification examination for students provided by the National Kitchen & Bath Association.
ASID – American Society of Interior Designers. The leading organization for interior designers. Founded in 1975, with 40,000 members, there are also student chapters that are very active throughout the country.
IDS – Interior Design Society. Founded in 1973, dedicated to serving the residential interior design industry through its 3,000 members.
IIDA – International Interior Design Association. Founded in 1994, this organization has a global reach with 13,000 members in 29 chapters around the world.
NCIDQ – National Council of Interior Design Qualification. A competency based examination for interior designers, and serves as a qualifier for many of the professional organizations.
NKBA – National Kitchen & Bath Association. Founded in 1963 with over 40,000 members serving 11 industry segments in chapters throughout the US and Canada.

These organizations provide an excellent opportunity to network with your industry partners, celebrate at their many festive events and laud the achievements of fellow designers.

Many of us set out each day, especially each Monday, with a spring in our step and the greatest of intentions to do many of the business tasks that we have been putting off for far too long.  History has shown, however, that as business owners or managers when we walk through the door to the office our best laid plans are going to be sidetracked.

Mondays seem to frequently start for me as mentioned above and then quickly spiral out of control; all of a sudden it is 6:30 or 7 pm and while I have been frantically busy all day, I have not checked one item off of my best laid Monday plan.  Unlike Office Space, as a CEO, this is what I call our Case of the Mondays.  While I will take our Mondays over the cubicle nation Mondays depicted in the movie any day, I still feel less than fulfilled after a day like this of heavy firefighting.

I recently read a great article by Peter Bregman for Harvard Business Review with tangible steps to managing your day.  As today is a Monday and we still have four more days left this week, I thought this might be particularly applicable to making the most out of not just tomorrow but the rest of the week.

[Below is an excerpt from Harvard Business Review]

An 18-Minute Plan for Managing Your Day

Yesterday started with the best of intentions. I walked into my office in the morning with a vague sense of what I wanted to accomplish. Then I sat down, turned on my computer, and checked my email. Two hours later, after fighting several fires, solving other people’s problems, and dealing with whatever happened to be thrown at me through my computer and phone, I could hardly remember what I had set out to accomplish when I first turned on my computer. I’d been ambushed. And I know better.

Read more…

Accounting Services is now offering more competitive pricing!  Our team will continue to provide the same high quality of service and expertise to our members, but at our new lower rate.

Our Accounting Services team would be happy to set up a complimentary call with you in order to discuss the scope of your typical accounting needs.  Let Gibson Design Management handle:

• Creating invoices for time and goods
• Disbursing checks to vendors
• Operating payroll
• Calculating and paying sales tax
• Running reports to show both the financial health of your business and where you need to improve
• And more…

If you would like more information about Accounting Services, please contact Margie Strickland, Associate Director, Accounting Services.

As an added incentive, Gibson Design Management would like to offer our members a 10% discount on all accounting services provided through July 31, 2009. 

Utilizing Gibson Design Management Project Sourcing services has many benefits for your design firm.  From more hours in the day to increased profits, you will see the advantages when you let your Project Sourcing team assist you in meeting the needs of your design projects.

As a designer, you have undoubtedly faced the challenge of finding that perfect piece for a project only to learn that it won’t work.  Maybe it’s the price point, maybe you are looking for an eco-friendly option or maybe your client has fallen in love with a particular fabric and you have just been told it has been dropped by the mill.  These are all great opportunities to utilize your Project Sourcing team.  Our team will research the options and provide you with alternatives that meet your needs; meanwhile, you can continue to focus on other matters and keep the project on track.  You’ll have a solution to design emergencies before a client meeting, keeping things positive and moving along.

“My client will NEVER go for the price tag on that piece!”

For your client’s new dining room you have chosen a Grange Louis-Philippe 2-Door China Cabinet, a beautiful piece.  When the price quote comes in, retail is almost $9000.  Knowing the budget constraints on this project you realize you need to find a more affordable alternative.  Fortunately, your Gibson sourcing specialist is able to locate a similar look in a piece that retails for about $5600 from Woodbridge Furniture – savings for your client of more than 35%.

“I love this fabric, but my client prefers to work with green materials”

You have found the perfect fabric,Glant Couture Herringbone N. 4/Parchment. However, you need to locate a green alternative.  Not only is your Gibson sourcing specialist able to locate an eco-friendly fabric, they’re able to save you money as well.  The original fabric you selected retails for $220/yd.  The green selection from OEco Textiles  retails for 20% less. 

 “We have fallen in love with this fabric for the window treatments in the dining room, and now find out the mill has dropped the line”

Imagine having found the perfect fabric, introduced your client to your vision and watched them fall in love only to find out that particular fabric is no longer available.  You can put your Gibson sourcing specialist to work locating an alternative and have the sample in hand for your next meeting with your client.  Crisis averted!    

Chances are good that you are not familiar with the term “teamsourcing.”  While outsourcing professional services is nothing new, we feel the word outsourcing doesn’t quite capture the innovative essence of what Gibson Design Management is all about.  Our goal is for our members to view us as a part of their team.  Traditionally, when most people think of outsourcing, there is a lack of personal connection.  Our team genuinely feels excited to help our designer members grow and prosper in their business; our members are not just another client that we process a job for. 

We’ve come up with our own official definition of our new word – Webster’s hasn’t quite caught on yet to our cutting edge way of thinking…so straight from the “Gibson” dictionary:

teamssourcsing (noun)  teamssourcsing [teem sawrssing] the innovative, strategic utilization of a fully staffed team of professionals to increase a design firms’ efficiency, profitability, expertise and versatility. 

Now that we all understand just what Teamsourcing is, let’s talk about some of the ways teamsourcing can help you run your interior design business.

Technology – Recently my daughters were moaning and groaning while using our family computer because it is “so ancient and slow!”  Since my husband and I both have our work laptops we don’t end up suffering the perils of this 3 year old computer very often; therefore, we haven’t felt the need to upgrade yet.  It seems like with anything in the technology realm you are constantly feeling out of date and under equipped.  With Teamsourcing, you have the benefit of an expert team who are continually learning the latest and greatest, while investing in the necessary equipment to deliver it.  You are able to offer your clients the most up to date technology without large expenditures on equipment and training.

“Thanks so much for your team’s work on our project. The kitchen designs were immaculate,3D work was stunning and the client is now very happy.” -David Bassett-Parkins, CEO, Ava Living

Time – The commodity most of us are probably most lacking in today’s world is time.  Try as we might, we haven’t figured out how to invent a 30 hour day.  However, by teamsourcing some of your responsibilities and tasks you are able accomplish much more with the 24 hours that are in a day.  Delegating tasks to a team that can handle them quickly and proficiently allows you the time necessary to focus on the aspects of your business that you enjoy.  We can’t create more hours in the day, but we can certainly maximize each hour we do have.

“I was at a conference all day on Friday. When I returned from the conference I had all of my proposals ready and waiting for my next client meeting thanks to Gibson Design Management. If I wasn’t a GDM member, I either would not have been prepared for my client meeting or I would have had to miss my conference to prepare.” - S. Lee Wright, Allied ASID, Holistic Designer New York, NY

Expertise –Let’s face it, we can’t all be experts at everything.  To be honest, I wouldn’t even want to be an expert at everything because quite frankly there are jobs out there I would not enjoy.  A major benefit to teamsourcing is the ability to call on your specialized teams that have the expertise (and passion) for what they are doing.  In our own homes most of us don’t try to take care of everything.  We have trained professionals we call on for assistance with at least some of those tasks (plumber, electrician, handyman, landscaper, housecleaning, etc.)  My landscaper and his crew take really good care of my yard!  Yes, I am capable of doing it myself, sort of, but it sure doesn’t look nearly as good and takes me at least twice as long.  Teamsourcing affords your design firm the advantage of expert teams available to take care of those areas of your business where you lack the proficiency and enthusiasm.

“There is no task too large or too small that the friendly Gibson Design Management staff cannot assist with. The team at Gibson Design Management has made the entire project as effortless & seamless as possible.           -Matthew B. Quinn, Air Sea Packing Group Inc., Long Island City NY 11101

Profitability – One of the most significant benefits to teamsourcing is increased profits.  With most of our services our members can easily mark up our service fees and pass it directly onto their clients, making a nice profit.  Additionally, you also have those hours available to generate revenue yourself, at your hourly rate.  And if you decide you want to celebrate your new profits by taking a trip to the Bahamas, you won’t need to worry about keeping an assistant busy.  Our team is there when you need us; not a financial drain when you don’t.

“Gibson Design Management has taken a burden off my shoulders in a way that allows me to service customers in a timely manner and still profit…THANK YOU, THANK YOU. I look forward to doing more and more with you.” -Valerie Steil, A.S.I.D., Marc T. Nielsen Interiors, Valparaiso, IN

Flexibility – the ability to be nimble, to expand and contract as your projects require is a huge benefit to teamsourcing.   The amount and complexity of projects you are working on is bound to fluctuate; it’s never any fun to have to turn down a project because you lack the team to handle it or to lay off employees because you lack the work to support them.  Teamsourcing gives you the flexibility to handle bigger projects, take a month off in the summer to play with the kids or redefine yourself as a designer.

“Outsourcing to Gibson makes perfect sense because it gives you the ability to handle bigger projects with their help and expertise” -Laurel Quint, Q Interiors in Denver, CO.

Professional Networking – In any business, networking has always been of vital importance.  In today’s culture it’s not only possible, but critical to network with industry contacts around the nation (and beyond.)  When you teamsource to GDM, you have the ability to let our social butterflies handle some of the networking for you.  We are always connecting with industry affiliates to form and strengthen relationships, keep up on all the latest trends and news, and stay informed about information our members need to know.  Our team loves to connect our members with industry affiliates and contacts, open doors, and help our members get and stay connected to the interior design industry. 

“I still can’t believe I have accomplished my social networking goals in just a matter of days. I would still be an “unknown” in the social networking world if I did not sign up” -Linnore Gonzales, Decor and You, Denver, CO.

This is the third part of a multi-part series of lessons learned from Inc. Magazine’s GrowCo conference. These lessons have been translated and applied to the interior design industry for relevance.

In interior design, we are hired by our clients to be innovative and creative.  However, are we carrying that ability to innovate and be creative into how we run our businesses?  Furthermore, are we using our gift of visual thinking to represent that innovation?  In a main stage presentation called Fostering Innovation in Turbulent Times, Tom Wujec, Fellow at Autodesk, gave a convincing argument for not only the importance of innovation in general, but also for the special importance of encouraging innovative process creation through sketching.

Tom Wujec

The backbone of every good product or service is innovative teams that augment their creativity, Wujec argues.  How do they augment this creativity?  They make the creativity visible.  In an industry where many of us are primarily visual learners, this becomes of paramount importance.  When thinking about how to innovate and improve any of your business processes, post visuals on a giant bulletin board or use a huge white board to visual where you are going.  Could your manuals or communications be more visual?  Wujec gave a great example of Mattel turning a 60 page manual that shows the flow of money through the company into a 1 page visual that even a 12 year old could understand.  Let’s be honest, who is going to read 60 pages?  Let’s also be honest, who has time to write 60 pages??

Wujec argues that in order to propagate a new idea, whether it be for a large problem within the firm or for a small task, put it on one page and make it visual.  An example of this from Autodesk is below:

Wujec also argues that a linear innovation process doesn’t work anymore.  If you try to innovate linearly, it’s much easier to get stuck and bogged down in one aspect of the process.  When you get stuck, you are much more likely to throw in the towel.  Wujec used this visual to show the innovation process.  Not a coincidence that he shows the innovation process as a drawing.

Again, as an industry of visual people, we have a leg up.  From this point forward, make all of your conceptual ideas visual.  At Gibson Design Management and Gibson Design Group, we are big fans of the giant post-its.  It’s rare that one is not on the wall with a process that we are tossing back and forth.  “Writing on the walls” serves one main purpose: collaboration.  Through putting up what one, two, or three of us are working on, others can and will chime in with ideas.  We are then able to propagate an idea much more easily than a piece of paper that sits on one of our desks.

The $60 million question is: are you taking the time out of your day to actually come together and flush through a process?  Even if you are a sole proprietor, are you setting aside some time to figure out where innovative improvements need to be made?  As designers, I would imagine that many of you sketch to solve design problems.  Why aren’t you sketching to solve business problems?  Give it a try.  The next time you sit down and think about an area of your business that needs improvement, start drawing.

Post note: There is a book by Dan Roam called The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures.  I would recommend picking it up if you subscribe to the idea that through drawing we can solve ideas more quickly and clearly.  If you’re not sold yet, you might be swayed by this excerpt from the book:

“When Herb Kelleher was brainstorming about how to beat the traditional hub-and-spoke airlines, he grabbed a bar napkin and a pen.  Three dots to represent Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio.  Three arrows to show direct flights.  Problem solved, and the picture made it easy to sell Southwest Airlines to investors and customers.”  – excerpt from The Back of the Napkin

Dan also has a great website that explains many of the theories at BackoftheNapkin.com.

I can’t begin to explain how ecstatic I was to see this article posted yesterday on Fast Company’s website.  It’s about time that 1. the extremely complex nature of the interior design industry was brought to the forefront and 2. the industry, in and of itself, garnered respect as an industry of professionals and not just of weekend or afternoon hobbyists.  Way to go Fast Company and even more kudos to Design Investors.

Bringing Dollars and Know-How to Design Studios

With all the hoo-ha over laser-cut patterning and mid-century styling, it’s easy to forget that design is a business. But is it a profitable business? The folks at Design Investors think it is–or can be with smart management.

Design Investors may be the first attempt to bring the tricky magic of venture capital and private equity to design. Will it bring the breath of life to design seedlings?

Started two years ago by Peter Sallick (left), the former CEO of Waterworks, the firm has so far invested in just three outfits: Rose Tarlow Melrose House, Twill Textiles and Waterworks, Sallick’s former employer. Design Investors, which is based in Wilton, Connecticut, used its own funds and pooled with a dozen investors. (Sallick declines to say how much capital they have invested.)

Click here to see the full article on Fast Company’s site…