Why Virtual Meetings Suck (Except When They Don’t!)

Lately, watching live TV has been illuminating. Whether it’s news, sports, or home channels, it’s obvious there are problems with remote reporting and commentary. If you’ve also been trying to stay in touch with family, clients, and team members during the lockdowns, you know that much of the time, virtual meetings suck.

It seems like when they don’t suck; it’s time to celebrate because that is so unusual.

Of course, this then begs the question of why having meetings using video chat apps is so disappointing. Is it the app? Is it the host (you!)? Is it the guests or team members you’ve invited?

Well, according to an article at Forbes.com, it’s all of the above and more!

It’s Hard to Really Connect Virtually

Thanks to the world suddenly going off the rails a few months ago, it’s likely you’ve been required (forced?) to attend a few of these meetings yourself. Or, you may have conducted some as The Boss, or as a way to stay in touch with clients. Whatever the reason for these experiences, connecting virtually rarely eliminates the sense of isolation many have been feeling.

By definition, “remote” means “far apart in time, relevance, relationship or kinship.” That kind of separation is tough to overcome with a webcam video connection. (Not to mention a sometimes sketchy internet connection.)

After all, if virtual meetings were so great, we would all have been setting them up and using them all along, wouldn’t we? Yeah, in-person meetings are so much better because it’s easier to connect and interact on a personal basis.

Still, when online meetings are needed just to stay in touch, there are ways to make them better.

Tips for Effective Virtual Meetings

Harvard Business Review offers a dozen tips for effective virtual meetings, a few of the most important we want to share:

• Test the technology ahead of time. Beyond the apparent essentials of using video and audio, nothing kills momentum at the start of a meeting like a technical delay or unfamiliar software. Before a virtual meeting, all participants should test the technology and make sure they are comfortable with the significant features.

• Make sure faces are visible. Video conferences are more effective when people can see each other’s facial expressions and body language. Ask individuals to sit close to their webcam to help to recreate the intimacy of an in-person meeting. (And, ask them to remove distractions or inappropriate backgrounds before your meeting.)

• Stick to meeting basics. Before the conversation, set clear objectives, and send a pre-read if appropriate. During the session, use an agenda, set meeting ground rules, take breaks, and clearly outline the next steps (including timing and accountabilities) after each section and at the end of the meeting.

• Assign a facilitator. It’s usually harder to manage a virtual discussion than an in-person one. It can be helpful to assign one individual to guide the conversation, allowing the other participants to focus on the content. The facilitator can also use a polling system to “take the pulse” of the group on particular questions and ensure that everyone can participate if they wish.

• Call on people. Getting everyone to participate without talking over each other is one of the more challenging aspects of running a virtual meeting. To forestall this, we recommend periodically calling on individuals to speak by “going around the table” before finalizing a decision. This helps the facilitator drive closure without the risk of excluding an introverted participant’s views.

Virtual Meetings Will Remain Popular

While it’s never easy to predict the future, human behavior is a bit easier to guess. In other words, once people become familiar with a new technology or procedure, they tend to adopt it as their own. Don’t be surprised if you wind up attending far more virtual meetings even after the end of the lockdown.

We guarantee that there are people out there who do not agree that virtual meetings suck, so be prepared to make them a part of your life from now on.

To get in touch with Ted for answers to business consulting questions, or more design business tips, trends, and marketing ideas, get in touch with TD Fall today.

The Future of Interior Design – How, and How Much, Will It Change?

Too bad Nostradamus moved to the Great Beyond some 450 years ago. Had he been more contemporary, he might have been able to give us some clues to the future of interior design, luxury furnishings, and business in general. (A few thoughts about online marketing would have been super helpful too!) Alas, we must instead rely on our own experience, knowledge of human nature, and guidance from industry experts.

For the latter, we offer you this link to an article at BusinessOfHome.com, which examines (predicts) what the industry will (may?) look like a decade from now.

Before going there, however, we feel the need to mention our own predictive blogging on the subject of changes in the short term, here and here.

While these posts focus on the ways that doing business will likely change following our recent health crisis, the article mentioned above addresses the probable evolution of the design industry. This is just the first in a three-part examination of upcoming design business trends from the folks at BoH, so we hope to offer more soon.

Long Term Design Industry Changes

For now, the article is devoted to the thoughts of people who predict trends for a living:

“Our crystal-ball gazers are Brian David Johnson, the futurist-in-residence at Arizona State University’s Center for Science and the Imagination; Dror Poleg, a consultant and the author of Rethinking Real Estate: A Roadmap to Technology’s Impact on the World’s Largest Asset Class; and Piers Fawkes, an innovation consultant and the founder and president of consumer research agency PSFK.”

Familiarity Will Not Breed Contempt – By nature, human beings are habitual in their behaviors and environments, resisting change for the comfortable and familiar. This means that despite the inevitable technological advancements we will undoubtedly see in the future, home designs will remain largely consistent. Too much change coming too quickly leads to stress and uneasiness, which most tend to avoid.

Still, making an impression online will be even more important moving forward. Although innovation will generate interest as it always has, things that roam too far outside the box will get little play.

“I tell my students that if you walk out your front door and it looks like it did on The Jetsons, that’s a nightmare. We don’t want our homes to change all that much.” (Johnson)

Personal Space Becomes More Valuable – For many, their recent experiences with stay-at-home orders and working remotely will have a profound effect on how they view their personal spaces. According to the article, this trend was developing before the restrictive regulations in response to the pandemic, and have only been reinforced by them

In other words, “The manipulation of space will become more important, and furniture will get more and more multifunctional.” (Fawkes)

As will a designer’s ability to deliver value: “So in a world like this, the ability to capture more profit shifts to the design of a space, the sales experience, the unique components, all of that. Long story short: Interior design is becoming increasingly a driver of the value of a building, and that will continue to be the case.” (Poleg)

People-Focused Design Becomes Ever More Important – As mentioned above, technology intrigues everyone, interior designers, and homeowners included. Yet, no matter how advanced it becomes, it will never replace relationships between human beings. That means, “Interior design isn’t really just about designing the interior of a home. It’s about people and solving their problems… [so it] isn’t going to be done by robots and artificial intelligence.” (Johnson)

Even more telling, “The profession will still exist, but I think interior designers may need to develop another layer of technical sophistication to understand what people’s desires are for their homes. They may need to go from ‘This is wallpaper that looks nice’ to ‘This is wallpaper that looks nice and blocks Wi-Fi signals and protects digital privacy’.” (Fawkes)

As much as people resist change, the natural evolution of all aspects of life forces us to deal with it. This is as true in business as it is for life in general. Though predicting the future is difficult, experience and recognition of current trends can offer direction. This makes predicting the future of interior design critical to your success, whether you are resistant to change or not.

While he’s not in the same league as Nostradamus (and doesn’t claim to be), Ted continues to offer business consulting support to interior designers and furnishing store owners. With more than 25 years’ experience in the luxury furnishings industry, and through all sorts of economic crises and natural disasters, he should be able to help you get ready for your future.

To get in touch with Ted, or for more design business tips, trends, and marketing ideas… Get in touch with TD Fall today.

More on After-Pandemic Success – What is the Purpose of Your Business?

Surviving the pandemic through a strategic marketing plan is all well and good but, to prosper in the aftermath of a crisis, you will need to answer the age-old question: "What is the purpose of your business?"

(Uh, oh. Get out the wetsuit; we're getting deep today!)

You would do well to consider the purpose of any business that is successful as a model for your own, whether interior design or a luxury furnishings dealer. After all, the line "to make money" isn't going to get you very far as an after-the-crisis Mission Statement, is it?

Besides, thinking like that is superficial and, ultimately, a cop-out. Why? Because counting pennies like Scrooge just ain't going to cut it when it feels like the world is going to hell in a handbasket.

Why Go Through the Struggle Again?

Stated simply, "The purpose of a business is to offer value to customers, who pay for the value with cash or equivalents. Minimally, the money received should fund the costs of operating the business as well as provide for the life needs of the proprietor." (Alan Weiss, PhD)

The value offered, he explains, is through products or services that provide value in exchange for compensation (usually those pennies you were counting).

The beauty of this type of thinking is that you can stop worrying so much about profitability and focus on the value you have to offer. When you focus on providing value as the purpose of your business, profits pretty much take care of themselves!

Yes, it's true. When you offer real value, all that other stuff (like overhead, expenses, and the additional "costs of doing business") seems to get taken care of without much conscious thought or effort – or loss of sleep.

Now, when it comes to defining value, we have a whole new concept to consider. At a fundamental level, a client perceives value as receiving something worth more than they paid. If you can deliver that regularly, and do so honestly, you won't have to "struggle" through tough times again because they likely won't be tough for you – a recognized value giver!

While there's a bunch more that can be said about offering value and the purpose of your business in the aftermath of the pandemic, this seems like a good start. If it gets you thinking and optimistic about your future, we've done our job for now.

Business Coaching with Ted Can Help

If you're struggling with developing the purpose of your business in the face of the pandemic, Ted continues to offer business consulting support to interior designers and furnishing store owners. With more than 25 years' experience in the luxury furnishings industry and through all sorts of economic crises and natural disasters, he should be able to help you cope with all the craziness.

To get in touch with Ted, or for more design business tips, trends, and marketing ideas… Get in touch with TD Fall today.

Is Your Online Marketing Strategy a Victim of the Pandemic?

The pandemic and resulting lockdown orders have created a massive challenge for in-person service providers. And, while the internet offers thousands of articles on how to respond to such a crisis, few of them actually address the effects on an online marketing strategy for such a business.

Instead, most of the content out there is focused on how to sell and to deliver products during a crisis. While that may be helpful to a portion of the industry, which is the furnishings suppliers, it does little to help interior designers.

According to the digital marketing folks at Forbin.com, now is definitely not the time to go quietly online. Instead, they say:

“Now more than ever, you need to look at your website as your virtual store or office as this is going to be the most accessible representation of your business – the world’s window to your business. This is a great excuse to finally dedicate time to updating the content on your website to reflect how you're serving customers today.”

This means spending time increasing your profile on social media, as well. While many of us complain about the not-so-social aspects of platforms like Facebook and Twitter, it cannot be denied that their use has grown almost exponentially in response to the quarantines we’re dealing with.

Because of this, you should develop and execute a solid social media marketing campaign. Just make sure it’s not too “salesy” and that you offer high-value information instead of a perpetual sales pitch.

Realize that Online Search Trends are Changing

Again, according to Forbin, “Since mid-March, search trends have changed dramatically. We’ve seen obvious search terms like ‘coronavirus’, ‘take out’ and ‘delivery’ soar to top trending terms, but there have also been increases in more unexpected search terms.  For example, the week of March 15-March 22 saw a dramatic climb in healthcare keyword searches that are still on the rise.”

Doing research into trending search terms that align with the services you offer will show big benefits. While it may seem like a stretch to relate interior design to the pandemic, a bit of creative thinking will help.

After all, there are a massive number of people who are stuck at home right now, either working remotely or spending their days streaming Netflix. As the days and weeks under stay-at-home orders pass, these poor souls will become increasingly conscious of how their interior spaces affect their moods, productivity, and comfort.

Many will want to merge their virtual and physical environments. According to an article at Forbes.com, “Video conferencing is making people more aware of how they are perceived, and spaces in the future will be designed with that in mind. Muffled or reverberating sound, harsh or inadequate light will be considerations as we inhabit virtual spaces.”

The need for ongoing distancing, as well as emotional, mental, and physical health needs will become paramount for these folks and a sharp designer will develop solutions to those needs. This will include the no longer rare home office (which actually gets used), as well as the need to keep the entire family comfortable.

Expand Your Menu and Your Marketing Strategy

Granted that isolation has become a dominant trend in our culture, it is death to an interior design business. Expanding your menu and your reach are both going to be critical to your after-pandemic success.

While figuring out how to get this done in the current business environment is challenging (to say the least), it cannot be denied that the designers who survive will find a way.

If you're struggling with developing an online marketing strategy in the face of the pandemic, Ted continues to offer business consulting support to interior designers and furnishing store owners. With more than 25 years’ experience in the luxury furnishings industry, and through all sorts of economic crises and natural disasters, he should be able to help you cope with all the craziness.

To get in touch with Ted, or for more design business tips, trends, and marketing ideas… Get in touch with TD Fall today.

Responding to the Pandemic – What Comes Next for Your Business?

Depending on where you live and work, things should be loosening up a bit for you, though it begs the question of what comes next in response to the pandemic and its aftermath.

We hope that as the lockdowns and stay-at-home orders are relaxed, your life and your furnishings or design business begin to resemble something like normal. Although it's likely to take some time to get back, you would do well to believe that we will evolve from crisis living to a more acceptable way of life and work.

While uncertainty may be the dominant mindset at the moment – we must all remember that it is just a moment – a particularly stressful point in time that will not, that cannot, last forever.

Yes, it may seem like our situation is dire for now. Yet, there is no reason to suppose that the negative aspects of the current situation will be especially important over the next six months or the next few years.

Experience teaches us that human beings are remarkably resilient in the face of crisis and tragedy. It is an integral part of human nature that we bounce back from disasters and look to the future, despite the most serious of challenges.

Examples of this might be the 9/11 tragedy, hurricane Sandy, or the many other natural and manmade disasters from which most of us have recovered. And yes, that is the key. That we have recovered – and that we will recover again.

Visualize Your Future Beyond the Crisis

As you look to the future, you will need to ask yourself some questions – about yourself, your business, and about your clients' lives. The answers to these questions will be an invaluable guide for moving forward successfully and with as little ongoing disruption as possible.

Questions to answer about your business:

• How has your design business changed in the past 60 days? (Or, your life.)

• Do you need to change your value proposition?

• What will be different moving forward?

• What short-term changes have you made, and what are the long-term effects?

• More specifically, which suppliers and subs have weathered the storm and are ready to get back to work?

It may also be helpful to pay attention to your competitors. Some will surely do well despite the current crisis, while others may disappear altogether. Do what you can to emulate the former and avoid the latter like a deadly virus.

Questions to answer about your clients:

• How have things changed in their lives, homes, and offices in the past 60 days?

• What do they value that they did not before?

• What will be the most helpful and relevant things you can do for them to help them recover?

• Which types of clients (which homeowners and office tenants) are doing well and can afford to become clients?

• Where and how can you be empathetic to those who are afraid while accommodating those who are not?

These are essential issues that we will all need to consider as we work to restore relationships, rebuild our client lists, and return to business as usual (or, as as-usual as we can).

One More Thing to Consider

Among the many changes you're likely to see from clients and prospects, as well as suppliers and subs, will be ongoing fear and residual anger. Some will be afraid we are trying to recover too quickly. Others will declare it was a "fake news" conspiracy, and there is nothing to worry about. Neither of these beliefs can be discounted out of hand, for the simple reason that you need their business or support and can't afford to ignore them.

So, work hard to be considerate and respectful of everyone you encounter since you have no idea how deeply or tragically they may have been affected. In other words, employ the Golden Rule and treat them as you would wish to be treated. Your business will appreciate you for it, and your "What comes next?" question will quickly be a thing of the past.

If you're struggling to answer any of these questions, or with creating a vision for your future, Ted continues to offer business consulting support to interior designers and furnishing store owners. With more than 25 years' experience in the luxury furnishings industry and through all sorts of economic crises and natural disasters, he should be able to help you cope with all the craziness.

To get in touch with Ted, or for more design business tips, trends, and marketing ideas… Get in touch with TD Fall today.

Open For Business Through Uncertain Times & An Unpredictable Future

We’re navigating our way through uncertain times. It also appears that we face an unpredictable future, while individual states continue to enforce stay-at-home orders even as others declare themselves “open for business” once again.

Having stated the obvious, we feel compelled to let you know this: All of the companies we represent are financially stable and fully operational. In response to the unprecedented situation in which we find ourselves, they have implemented steps to weather this storm and protect their customer’s and client’s investments.

Likewise, we at TD Fall are open for business as your partner in design and luxury furnishings. Though our teams are being diligent in following social distancing guidelines, our facilities remain open. To help you keep your projects moving forward, we will hold your orders until you have a time and date for delivery, as needed.

This type of message is essential in the wake of the global health crises we’re facing, with repercussions for businesses at all levels. Experience tells us that, much like the 2008 recession, some will not make it through to the other side. 

Then as now, “On one side of the equation, the buyers are wary. On the other, sellers are stressed. Taken together, it’s an industry-wide game of chicken. With millions of dollars in the balance, designers continue to ask each other the same question nervously: Are you placing orders?” (BusinessOfHome.com)

The follow-up question to this is obvious: Are the vendors healthy, and are the brands ready and able to ship?

Stick with What – and Who – You Know

A recent article at Business of Home, titled Are you placing orders right now?, outlines many of the concerns of both designers and manufacturers in response to the pandemic (and its potential aftermath).

So, where does a designer or furnishings business turn in uncertain times? While small companies may be more versatile and responsive, large manufacturers likely have more resources to fall back on, having weathered such storms before.

As described in the article, “Large or small, the new table stake for any brand is transparency. Companies that don’t pick up the phone, or aren’t willing to send detailed updates about the state of their operations, are rapidly falling out of favor with designers. Now more than ever, vendors have to be willing to field tough questions.”

Of course, vendors also have concerns about those with whom they do business. They can’t help but wonder if their designers and dealers are working on a solid foundation. In other words, this is a two-way street of business stress. Both sides want to be supportive, and both sides worry at the viability of the other.

Even as the article offers the opinions of various designers and vendors, the conclusion seems relatively apparent – the solution is to rely on relationships. “Designers tend to be deeply involved with the companies they work with, and a worldwide health crisis has only deepened the bonds.”

Based on our decades of experience, the relationship we’ve built with Kravet is as stable as it has ever been. Further, working with the recognized leader in the home furnishings trade has instilled a sense of confidence in our ability to support our customers as fully as we have in the past.

In short, our relationships with the vendors we represent allow us to proclaim confidently… Yes, we are open for business!

Are you looking for more tips on growing your design business, new design trends, designer marketing tips, and product ideas? Get in touch with TD Fall today.

Does Working from Home Lead to Feelings of Increased Isolation?

As we continue to cope with the Coronavirus pandemic or try to, a multitude of changes are taking place. Most evident of these is the trend toward working from home instead of heading to an office or, in the case of an interior designer, the studio. These changes also lead to questions such as:

• Does working from home cause feelings of increased isolation?

• Does creativity suffer from a work-from-home lifestyle?

• Does working from home allow for more flexibility and freedom, or do you feel trapped in the unfamiliar?

Of course, the concept of telecommuting and working in the virtual world are not exactly new. However, this approach applies to a relatively small number of people. Now, while it’s becoming increasingly popular to claim that our experiment with social distancing will inevitably lead to a “work-from-home revolution”, others have serious doubts.

With these things in mind, let’s consider what the future may hold as the pandemic plays itself out.

The good news: The rate of coronavirus infection seems to be slowing, as is the mortality rate as new treatments become available.

The bad news: Many states and localities remain on “lockdown”, requiring tens of thousands to continue isolating themselves by working from home.

Whether or not you believe the various stay-at-home orders were necessary for keeping people safe from Cov-19, it appears they will remain in place for some time yet. This will only exacerbate any of the negative consequences that shifting to work from home may have caused for you and your team.

Consequences of Social Distancing: Are Isolation and Loneliness Inevitable?

There certainly are some fantastic benefits to working from home. These include, “The flexibility to plan your work around your life, not the other way round, the control you have with the flow of your work and the hours you add back to your day from not having to commute further than the stroll from your bedroom to your office (or dining table).”

Then again, while staying in your uber-comfy work PJs all day makes you happy, “Working from home has one big drawback that burns people out and makes them depressed, and that’s social isolation and loneliness.” (TheWorkAtHomeWoman.com)

The sense of being disconnected due to social distancing is very real. Granted, it may be an unintended consequence, but that does not mean we shouldn’t have seen it coming. In fact, with the benefit of hindsight, it seems to have been inevitable.

If you’ve begun to crave more social interaction than our current restrictions allow, you can get it virtually and stay safe.

Online business meetings – Staying in touch with your team, clients, and others in the design and furnishings industries will enable you to feel more in touch with your business. It may even enhance your professional relationships by displaying your commitment to staying connected in times of distress and/or crisis.

Social meet-ups – Family and friends are an invaluable resource for engagement when you begin to feel socially isolated. Just because you can’t visit them in person does not mean you have to avoid them altogether. Stay in touch with all who matter to you so you can remain close when the current pandemic ends – and it will.

Live online events – If you’ve been thinking about signing up for a particular webinar or getting some online training, now would be a great time to follow through. Heck, you could even produce your own online event!

With a live event, you may also benefit from the opportunity to connect and network with others in the design or furnishings industry. In other words, use this as an opportunity instead of adding to your sense of loneliness and isolation by avoiding the chance to connect with others, virtually.

You would do well to remember that many of the people you used to interact with daily, whether personal or business, are in much the same boat as you. If you’re feeling isolated, it’s likely that they are too.

Are you looking for more tips on coping with COVID-19, design business consulting, marketing tips, and product ideas? Get in touch with TD Fall today.