Leveling Up After Highpoint Market to Deliver our Interior Design Clients the Best of the Best!
Our Four Goals at Highpoint Market
And how they benefit our Interior Design clients!
Y’all…we’re still buzzing over our first trip to Highpoint Market!
After waiting nearly 13 years of being in business to visit the “Paris Week” of Interior Design, it was one for the books! Inspiration - Knowledge - Motivation - Insight - Community….oh…. and the Touch, Feel & Sit Factor. Incomparable experiences that will help us be able to offer our interior design clients the best of the best in enduring value, quality and style.
In this post, I’ve included a recap of our main goals for Market and how they will help us level up our business and client service. In a Part II post, I’ll take a deeper look into the major industry trends that we saw, which we’ll all start seeing more and more of in retail shops and in the press/social media.
Because it’s impossible to visit all the showrooms at Highpoint Market, some major pre-planning is needed. We did our share, but I found it tough to map it all out without having ever been. Since I’m (obviously) so visual, I wanted to first take it all in and get my bearings, and then fine tune our plans as we went. There were lots of night time planning sessions to map out our next day’s adventures.
That being said, we definitely went into the whole experience with 4 main goals and were able to accomplish them all, having loads of fun along the way…as well as achy backs and feet!
Our Mission
GOAL #1
Get the scoop from those “in the know” on how to make best use of our time there. We were fortunate to be able to book early and reserve a spot on a Highpoint Market Insider Tour for first-timers. This allowed us to hit the floor running (literally!) and greatly speed up our learning curve. Our guide, Linda Holt, who is a professional photographer and designer, and beloved by everyone we met….curated an incredible list of various showrooms and educational events that set the perfect stage. During every meal, bus ride, and sidewalk chat as we scurried off to our next showroom, it was nonstop industry chatter as we downloaded as much information to best plan out our time there.
GOAL #2
Scope out the mid through mid-to-high price point vendors’ products to touch and feel it all. I am very familiar with the high-end and luxury manufacturers in the space, but at CID, we’ve become known among our clients for our panache for mixing and matching price points. It’s a high / low ratio that really works and allows us to maximize their budgets. Our clients are all busy working individuals and families that appreciate the value of quality and are prepared to pay for it. However, there is room to mix in more affordable pieces that still hit all the right style and durability points needed. Communication is key and informing our clients of all these details helps them make the best decisions possible.
An example of this can be sourcing the most high quality family room sofa that will get a lot of use and prioritizing budget for it. Whereas the settee in the study that gets used significantly less, we may not need the creme de la creme (insert $$!!). This is where seeing, touching and feeling and experiencing so many brands was invaluable. We closed and opened a ton of doors and drawers, swiveled our hearts out and bounced up and down on countless sofa cushions. We poured liquids on performance fabrics, tugged on tassels and peeked below console tables to see how they were built. Mari and are also different heights, so we were able to get that insight in testing out sofa and chair depths as well! All that in addition to the 6-7 miles we walked daily was quite the work out!
Goal #3
Establish relationships directly with furniture and textile manufacturers, and meet our area sales reps in person. Zooms, emailing and calls are great, but there is NOTHING like vibing with another industry professional. A personal connection. Having them see what makes you tick and being able to offer you choices suited to your needs. Also just seeing how theywork and listening to their insider knowledge. Total pros who were also so darn fun. We established accounts with so many new manufacturers to be able to continuously provide our clients the best pricing and quality possible. A win win!
Goal #4
Observe the industry trends that will be driving consumer choices. Clients are more exposed to furniture and home decor than ever thanks to Pinterest, Instagram, design TV shows and blogs. A lot of our clients tell us they have no idea what they’re doing when it comes to designing their homes. But whether they realize it or not, they know what they don’t like…and that becomes a discerning eye little by little. Interior design is not as mysterious as it once was…and certainly not how we run our business at CID.
It’s incredible to be able to offer your clients things that are fresh and NOW…that speak to our times and how we live…but without being “trendy.” We’ve always designed spaces to last with timeliness signature pieces and more pops of fun and “on trend” items that can be more easily replaced down the line. But again, this was about leveling up our offerings…and the inspiration was second to none.
So “Disney for Designers” as it is often called, definitely lived up to its hype and more. Highpoint Market was a major career bucket list item and one I will definitely be repeating…hopefully quite often! Stay tuned for the follow up to this post as we highlight some of those trends and how we plan to work them into our clients’ projects, and how you can do the same in your home!
