There are milestones and highlights that all businesses hope to reach when they set out on their journey, and I’m thrilled to share that The Designers Collaborative had a successful event that qualifies as such. At the Fall 2023 High Point Furniture Market The Designers Collaborative (TDC) coordinated an event that was sold out and then some!
It was TDC’s first time hosting an event and the “Pricing for Profit” panel discussion was clearly a topic that interior designers were hungry for. We had 140 people registered and 160 attend! It far surpassed our expectations.
Our panelists Lesley Myrick, Sara Lynn Brennan, and Gordon Kessler totally nailed it by sharing their golden nuggets of wisdom. The panel discussion went deep into what makes an interior designer profitable.
We went over how crucial it is to work with ideal clients and how to weed out the ones who only eat up your profits and cost you in the end. One of my favorite quotes shared was “don’t paint the red flags pink”. Being choosy about your clients is really step one in having a profitable design project.
Sara Lynn Brennan shared how she uses “Profit First”, a book every entrepreneur should read by Mike Michalowicz, to ensure she has a clear plan to pay herself, her staff and all her bills with ease. I can testify to how it has transformed the way The Designers Collaborative handles our bookkeeping making it stress free.
I really loved hearing how each of our panelists have set their fee structures for their design services. Their answers varied from a completely flat fee to a hybrid combination of both flat fee and hourly. They each shared their personal journey of how they arrived at their decision, which is really helpful in figuring out what fee structure to choose. I was really impressed with “The Key”, which Lesley Myrick and Nancy Ganzekaufer’s offer as a tool you can purchase that answers this age-old dilemma interior designers face. Why not skip the confusing trial and error of how to price your services with “The Key”.
Our rock-star panelists are also all Members of The Designers Collaborative and shared how transformative it has been for their businesses. From having access to amazing vendors, the unbelievable pricing, and how professionally run TDC is.
We ended our talk with an enlightening discussion on how each of them talk with their clients about how the purchasing of products will take place, including which words they use to set up a successful and smooth project. I loved how clear, defined, and candid they all were when going over everything with their clients from how they will be doing all the product purchasing, and the fact that they will get fair
pricing without talking about discounts or mark-ups. Another favorite gem of wisdom I took away from these experts was that we are NOT SHOPPING we ARE SOURCING for our clients, which is a key difference that needs to be explained to clients and embraced by designers. This eliminates the potential friction between the client and the designer when purchasing furniture and other products for their design projects.
I am still overwhelmed with gratitude for the abundant turn out to the event and many heartfelt compliments that attendees shared afterwards. The biggest compliment was that our panel talk was “the best at market”! That’s an extremely high bar and am so honored and grateful to all our panelists and Zimmerman Chair who allowed us to use their beautiful showroom. It would not have been possible without them.
If you are not a TDC Member yet Join Us Now click here for the Application and start earning at least double the profit!
