Kitchen & Bath Business - January 2016 - 28

Dealer Dish

burned or burned out doing design and want regular hours, a reliable paycheck and benefits. Often,
the more experienced employees who have given
up their design careers will stay on the job longer.

Staying Power

EXPERIENCE AND REWARDS MATTER

How to keep good designers
working in showrooms

HAVING DESIGNERS ON staff in your showroom is good
for business, and designers like working with salespeople
who have design experience. They know the salesperson
will understand their needs, terminology and pertinent
information about a product they need. When designers
have a positive experience with a showroom - especially
with the staff - they tend to come back again and again.
Keeping designers on staff, however, can be a challenge.
By nature, designers are creative folk, and showrooms provide limited opportunities for them to put their passion into
practice. Many new designers take jobs in showrooms to
learn that side of the business and various product lines, but
they may not be comfortable with all the duties required of
them and eventually lose interest. Or, they believe they can
earn more money doing design or some other kind of work.
THE SOLUTION TO THE REVOLVING-DOOR ISSUE

Turnover is a constant problem for showrooms. On average,
a designer will stay two, maybe three years at most, often less.
"It's rare to keep them for very long," says Doug Hartsell,
vice president of corporate showrooms for Duralee Fabrics in
Washington,D.C."We plan on that.For us,if a designer stays
for two to three years,we consider that a good return on our investment in hiring
and training them. If they only stay for six to eight months, that's not so good."
Hartsell worked as a designer for 10 years before taking a position with
Duralee. He knows the business from both sides and understands why designers choose to move on.
"There's a lot of grunt work in a showroom, and many designers don't like
selling," he said. "What they really want to be doing is designing, so when
they have an opportunity to join a firm, they go for it."
A position in a showroom is a good stepping-stone to a first design job.
This is especially true for designers who haven't decided on what they want
to specialize in or what kind of firm they want to work for. Employees gain
valuable experience and knowledge, and they get inside information about
who's hiring in the design community.
"Working in a showroom is a great starting point for a new designer," said
Hartsell."It teaches you the business - something most of them lack - and it gives
you hands-on experience dealing with a lot of issues designers have to cope with."
What attracted Hartsell was having a more stable lifestyle. His showroom
has hired a number of experienced designers over the years who, like him, got

BY LLOYD J. PRINCETON,
talent search expert in the
interior design and home
furnishings industries

Connie LeFevre, a Houston interior designer who
also owns and manages two showrooms all under
the name of her firm, Design House, says she prefers to hire more experienced designers who know
product, as many new designers still have a lot to
learn about how designers work and the various
product lines she carries.
"It's a lot of work to train someone new to the
industry," she said. "In our fabric showroom, for
instance, they need to be able not only to show
the inventory and take orders, but they also have
to be able to answer questions about whether a
particular fabric meets code, fire safety and abrasion requirements."
More experienced employees sometimes are
more reliable, but there are no guarantees.
"These days, new employees sometimes don't
last more than a few weeks or even days," added
LeFevre."If they think they have a better opportunity somewhere else, they're gone. It's the biggest
problem we have in our business now."
Still, the designer has managed to maintain a
loyal core of employees - one former designer has
been with her for 10 years. For starters, she pays
them a salary instead of commission and rewards
them with raises when they perform well. To feed
their passion for design, she has them create vignettes in the showroom and provides regular updates on the latest products and trends. She lays out
a career path,starting in the memo room and works
up to sales and a stable of their own clients. If they
show an interest,she mentors them in other areas of
the business. In addition to raises, she rewards and
incentivizes them in other ways, such as accommodating an employee so she could work part-time
for a while after returning from maternity leave or
taking an employee along to an industry trade show.
"We work as a team," she said. "I invite their
feedback and listen to their insights and opinions
on what products we should sell. It requires constant vigilance to keep the chemistry right."
The way to keep good designers in your showroom, as these experienced pros have learned, is to
treat them well, pay them well and respect their
knowledge. Make the workplace challenging and
welcoming. Give them the opportunity to learn
and to contribute, and - like your best customers
- they'll keep coming back.


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Kitchen & Bath Business - January 2016

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