NOBELINKS

Links to People, Places and Ideas: Predictions for 'To-the-Trade' 2020

To the Trade 2020: Predictions

Today’s Age of Disruption

Most business models conceived fifty years ago are ill-suited for meeting the challenges of todays dynamic markets. Residential interior design is similarly challenged. 

Wishful thinking that consumer demand can continue to be channeled through a labyrinth of conventions ‘to the trade’, in an era when consumers are in control and unwilling to abide by most consumption orthodoxy, is perilous to industry incumbents and restrictive to consumer choice. Some ask, “are we about to be Uber-ed?” shocked like so many others in the transportation industry.

The trade resources, distribution channels and media that make up the system of interior furnishings (the design ecosystem) understand the challenge and are beginning to transform a defensive posture in favor of a ‘eyes wide open’ offensive and strategic approach to the future.

That value system depends on each of the subsystems to perform at its best. Just like the ecological health of a natural system, the health and vitality of the design ecosystem depends on the health and vitality of each valuable contributor to designers’ most resourceful clients. A synchronous alignment of supply and demand.

Tomorrow’s Client

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.  Actually, tomorrow’s client resembles in many important ways today’s client. Boldly empowered by technology, they are seizing control of the conventional decorum for decorating and going rogue. Beyond the 1 in 5 affluent households that play by the rules, this corps of discovery is agile on line, flirts with digital enablers and recreates by DIY.

They have pulled back the veil on the mystique surrounding decoration, mistrust those who hide behind it and presume the fix is in for intruders. With the genie out of the bottle, though, they circumvent the conventions ‘to the trade’ and deflate the value of interior design. Meet the militants on a mission at home.

A designer’s next best client, however, may be one from the emerging elite aspirational class: educated and cultured HENRYs who are admittedly time constrained, lead complicated lives, prefer to spend on services rather than on material goods (those that anyone can get anyway) and whose confident self image aligns with their economic status.

For them conspicuous consumption is out. Inconspicuous consumption is in. They aspire to being more rather than having more. If designers can show clients that they ‘get me,’ can ’do it for me’ and can explain ‘why its worth it,’ this client's flight to value lands at that designer’s brand.  Probing empathetically into their motives and behavior, becoming advocates for customizing their individual quality of life, is our Job 1, right now.

Interventions at Work

Yet to meet those expectations for luxurious client experiences, interventions are now and will be necessary to earn their trust and then their wallets, no matter how deep. 

To keep up with them, our pace needs to quicken. Think of all the other professions that have become commodities: investment, travel, book buying and other markets that overnight had to earn income based on the value of their advice and judgement, rather than on preserving boundaries for consumers to buy the way they wanted them to.  And think of the professions that are paid for what they know (not just what they do): legal, financial planning, accounting, psychology and many others.

Experiential luxury is the new standard; a higher bar than even functional benefits, emotional appeal, and craft. It’s what keeps executives awake at night, even at the most luxurious brands throughout the world. What this means for interior design is a new way of looking at interior design through the experience of the client. More than imaginative shopping, experiential luxury is the whole journey taken by clients with their designer.  And every ‘touchpoint’ matters. It’s a system dependent on respect and reassurance from the initial client meeting, all the way through the ‘big reveal’ after installation, and everything that matters to the client in between.  Indeed, it all matters.

For experiential luxury to be luxurious, it takes a system to live up to its potential.

It’s a System; designalign

This system of product and service providers (trade resources for the life well-lived) is really a community of entrepreneurs passionate about making, marketing, merchandising and story-telling through its media.

Faced with recession in 2010, some of its leaders shook hands, reorganized as DFA and agreed that “we are all in this together,”  setting out to inspire and engage with these most resourceful consumers by enfranchising the trade and marketing the value of interior design.

This year, DFA’s DoItFor campaign staked that claim by promoting the value of design in language tuned to consumers; it imposed upon itself the responsibility to lead the way.  As of this writing, doitfor.com is about to launch on digital and social media an emotional invitation to consumers to “do it for” … themselves, their friends and families and especially their homes as the background for their lives.

But a consumer-friendly invitation needs shared responsibility by the design ecosystem to perform up to high expectations. And to meet those expectations, each ‘touchpoint’ along the client’s journey within the system needs further review and even some re-engineering.  That system in 2020 could be the industry’s strongest competitive advantage.

 

 

Contact me for your homework assignment, with a smile. 

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Links to People, Places and Ideas: Pricing and Profits

Professional fees for professional services (both fixed and hourly) continue to trend upward in designers’ search for the pricing model that outperforms profits from procurement. In a survey conducted by my firm, designers reported that today, pricing models are a mix of revenue sources.  Tomorrow, they say, that mix will be heavily weighted toward fees. 

Clearly, there is no one pricing model that is always profitable for all designers. But many designers have increased or are increasing their income through higher hourly rates and fixed or variable design fees.  In my view, they are earning what they deserve from design, not procurement. Consequently, their reliance on income from sales margin is declining.  Once again, there is no single formula or income mix that serves everyone’s circumstances.  But respondents to the survey now have a clear way to think about what works and how it works for their profit picture. What if your income was earned the new way? Numbers talk. Our next survey on marketing is coming up.

Design Is ... links to people, places, ideas

"Design," said Steve Jobs, "is a funny word. Some people think design means how something looks. But of course, if you dig deeper, it's how something really works."  As Apple's guru, he was hitting on something big. I think many of you are on to something big, too.

We know that interior design is not just about product — it is about how it is experienced. It is about something much bigger than the things your clients think they are buying, and what they cost. It is about how the things in situ make them feel in a life well-lived.  In your hands, that’s design.

As summer becomes fall, my consulting clients are part of design’s evolution from that which is exquisitely and tastefully decorated (not withstanding who judges taste) to the more absolute meta-value of design that is memorable and meaningful.

As we consider new ways of marketing design beyond product and rather as  experience, we evolve your business to the next level that is ‘memorable and meaningful.’

Links to People, Places, Ideas

As we have grown to know each other over the years, I learned that one of the central passions of your life – interior design - empowers you to delight your clients and enrich their lives, creates an excellent body of work, and dependably sustains your livelihood. 

Others want to know how you do it but I am not about to ‘tell all’.  However, I have been asked to present a keynote address on my Top Ten Tenets to Take Charge in September, so as I draft what I am going to say, I thought I would share the drafting process with you.  Chime-in if you like.

The title is “Design Entrepreneurship: Money and Mojo Matter.  It starts with setting your intentions with confidence and taking charge of your future.  That's mojo. Alice in Wonderland said, “If you don’t know where you want to go, you will never know which road to take.”

 

I have asked many of you to write letters to your self describing your vision for yourself and your business as thought it was 2020. A lot of those letters say the same things over and over: 

• “I want to do design: I’m tired of doing administration, and expediting orders.” 
• “I want to have better clients: fewer bigger projects.”
• “I want to make more money.” 
• “I want to be part of a design community, re-energized and restored, not isolated in my studio.”

What would your letter to yourself in 2020 sound like?  

How’s this for a start to the presentation? Post your thoughts, too.  I'll keep drafting until we get it right.

best for the summer

Links to People, Places, Ideas

I am delighted to be writing to you again this summer. These reflections don't come from under a beach umbrella, although I wish I were there. They do come from my reminiscences of when we began this odyssey toward ever-improving business success. And since then, top designers like you, many of them my clients from around the country, have overcome real or perceived limits and achieved what we call 'success beyond success.' 

These firms have already nearly mastered the basics; they are now aiming to take their businesses to ‘the next level,’ what ever that means for them. Many have already made it there, only to find that their vision can still be refined. When I am privileged to work with them one-on-one, we face head-on a full range of issues, including personal and professional balance, money and mojo, contracts and fees, attracting and keeping best clients, responding to the inner voice that keeps you up at night and getting to the heart of the big strategic question: what’s next? Sound familiar? The summer reading list begins later this week.

 

Links to People, Places, Ideas

When I am privileged to work with designers like you, one-on-one, we face head-on a full range of issues, including personal and professional balance, money and mojo, contracts and fees, attracting and keeping best clients, responding to the inner voice that keeps you up at night and getting to the heart of the big strategic question: what's next? Sound familiar?

Let’s start with you; what would satisfaction feel like to you in 2017? That's another way of asking, how do you see yourself in two years? Are there other professional roles for you to aspire to beyond 'designer' or 'entrepreneur'? Do you worry? If so, about what?

Imagine designing your business to be what you intend it to be two years from now. As a designer, you know that good design is always intentional; so are successful businesses. You may be better than you think at designing your business, too. Create that vision of what you want your business to be – then can take the steps necessary to make that vision a reality. 

So, what’s your intention? I talk to a lot of designers and I hear them saying the same things over and over: “I want to do design - “I’m tired of all the administration” - “I want to have better clients” - “I want to make more money.” 

Are your intentions similar? None are right or wrong. The trick is to know what intentions are right for you, then focus your efforts on realizing them. 

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NOBELINKS, my consulting firm, celebrates its 20th anniversary creating 'links' for new people, places and ideas in the design community. Our acquired body of knowledge is a luxury worth sharing, so expect to hear from me regularly with links to ideas, people and places that strengthen the value of design.

 

Consulting 360

I approach the business of design from the inside out; from the designer's soul to the enterprise balance sheet. We start where it all starts - in my experience, the most progressive businesses examine themselves through three dimensions: the self satisfaction of the leader, the culture that connects people in common cause and the enterprise itself. Considering all three dimensions simultaneously is powerful. Narrowly focussing on just one dimension, while overlooking the affects of the others is often extremely disappointing. We often aim to do a lot in a short amount of time, so we go big.

Phase #1.   We begin the review where it should begin - with your self. What would satisfaction feel like to you in 2017-18? That's another way of asking, how do you each see yourself in two years? Are you optimistic?  If so, what gives you confidence? Do you worry? If so, about what? Other questions will emerge as you think about your self and we seek answers freely during this initial phase. Imagine writing a letter to yourself describing 'you' in three years.

Phase #2.   This phase is designed for you to evaluate the nature of your service to the firm and its most valuable asset - its organization - with you as leader. This phase is not so much about 'what' gets done at work, but how it gets done, whether it's pricing, contracts or other results from a SWOT analysis of the firm. You mentioned that strategy and overall project management resides mostly in your head. Imagine the potential benefits in terms of productivity and lower stress if they all knew what's next.

Phase #3.   With your intention in place and a culture that empowers everyone to achieve it, we examine the enterprise itself; prioritizing the benefits from some improvements in project management, finance, pricing, client relations and contracts, or even new opportunities you may be considering within the context of the core business. 

As an experienced business owner, you know these are big questions. So we will go about answering them in a very conversational and constructive way. I invest my expertise synthesized from hundreds of engagements with other top designers like you. So, let's get started. 

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