|
COVER STORY
What a Fresh Look can Do
Repositioned and with a new emphasis, Interiors by Decorating Den
today is a full-service company that’s building on its success
and attracting new interest.
by Howard Shingle
"Making
the world more beautiful one room at a time” is a mighty ambition,
but it’s one that Interiors by Decorating Den has pursued
successfully for nearly four decades. And while the fundamental
concept behind this franchise opportunity has remained steady since
its founding, the products, approach, training and even the franchise
business owners themselves have evolved and today are reflected
in the company’s name—placing interiors first.
“We are a 37-year-old interior decorating franchising company,”
says Jim Bugg Jr. president and CEO. “We have our roots in
the window treatment business. We were primarily a window treatment
business for many, many years. In the last 10 to 12 years we’ve
evolved much more into a full-service interior design company.”
“Our fundamental concept has never changed: The basis of our
business model is that our franchisees are buying at true wholesale
pricing direct from manufacturers without any minimum, they are
then offering it to their clients at a competitive retail price—our
goal is not to be the cheapest guy in town or a bargain discounter,
but to offer competitive value on pricing—and, because of
our low overhead model and the margins associated from wholesale
to retail, they can offer unparalleled design service complimentary
to the client. So it’s a win-win for everyone.”
Not only is this concept successful, it’s also attractive.
System wide, the company has greatly expanded its network of suppliers
and has steadily increased its family of franchise owners, today
turning down many times more inquiries in a single month than it
accepts in year. “We are approaching 500 business owners across
the United States and Canada,” Bugg says. But there is a difference,
he notes. Once, most inquiries were from people who were more like
decorating enthusiasts and wanted to break into the field. Today,
the company attracts more people into the business who already are
in the trade.
It all adds up to what Bugg describes as “phenomenal growth”:
100 franchise owners were added last year, 120 are expected this
year, and retail sales have been up 15 percent a year for the last
couple of years. “Much of that is due,” he says, “to
the repositioning of the company, which began about 12 years ago.”
GETTING INTO POSITION
The Bugg family bought into the business in 1984 when it was known
simply as Decorating Den. At the time, it was an established shop-at-home
window treatment franchising company founded in Indianapolis, IN,
in 1969. Carol Bugg, an ASID designer and today the vice president
of design, and Jim Bugg Sr., a former executive at Century 21 and
now the chairman of the board, often wondered if they could find
a way to combine their two backgrounds into a business. Jim Bugg
Jr. was fresh out of the University of Maryland when he joined the
company. He became president and CEO in 1994. (He has two sisters
in the business as well.)
“Through the mid- to late-’80s and into the first part
of the ’90s we really focused on growing the company to get
it to a critical mass where we could enjoy the benefits of franchising,
which are buying power and economy of scale with national advertising
and so forth,” Bugg explains. “Primarily at that time
we were focused almost completely on window treatments but, more
importantly, a lot of our franchisees treated the business with
almost a part-time, more of a hobbyist approach. We realized we
had a great business and a great opportunity, so in 1994 we brought
in a consumer motivation research company and tried to identify
what business did we really want to be in, who was our ideal customer
and what were the future opportunities for us.
“We realized that the boom of the housing market stirred by
the Baby Boomers moving into their ’40s and ’50s just
opened up tremendous opportunity for a company positioned properly,”
he continues.
“At that time we decided to take a whole fresh look at our
company and we actually changed the name from Decorating Den to
Decorating Den Interiors, then later to Interiors by Decorating
Den. We went on a major expansion of our infrastructure to support
our franchisees and help them build more successful and profitable
businesses.”
TRAINING: OPPORTUNITIES, CHALLENGES
“We really set out on a program for, first and foremost, expanding
and enhancing our training and education program,” Bugg says.
“In addition to that, probably the biggest change in focus
was an expansion of our vendor relationships to where we have now
grown to well in excess of 100 vendors that we do business with;
and our franchisees have direct access, they buy at true wholesale
pricing direct from the manufacturer not through us or anyone else
as the middleman.” Vendors include window treatment manufacturers
and suppliers, of course, but also those offering fabric, furniture,
carpeting, accessories, floor coverings, wall coverings and more.
Interiors by Decorating Den is especially proud of its training
program. It is a big part of what the company has to offer. It includes
not only the initial training for new business owners, but ongoing
training locally as well as educational opportunities that take
place at the company’s annual convention. Regularly, franchise
owners go to High Point, NC, for a dedicated furniture training
school and advanced window treatment design classes also are offered.
“Training starts off with a 45-day home study program,”
Bugg says. “Then they come to our headquarters for our very
intensive two weeks of classroom training. That’s followed
up by a 12-module in-the-field training program (one day a week
on a specific topic) by local Field Managers. We have almost 50
across the U.S. and Canada.”
Modules cover advanced window treatment design, sales and marketing,
furniture arrangement and space planning, business management—all
components of what’s taught in the first two weeks of training,
but in more detail and in advanced fashion. “They’re
all taught by experienced franchisees who are certified trainers
with us, so not only do they learn the topic of the day but it’s
a chance for some one-on-one coaching and mentoring,” says
Bugg.
Training is divided into four components: Design Training, Product
Knowledge, Sales and Marketing and Business Management. “What’s
become more and more challenging is that our training has to accommodate,
satisfy and be helpful to not just the new business owners who for
the first time are in their own interior decorating business, but
also the experienced professionals we’re attracting today.”
Training was a top priority in 2004 when Interiors by Decorating
Den decided it was time to buy or build its own company headquarters
to its own specifications. The company moved from Gaithersburg to
Easton, MD, when it bought an existing building and did a complete
rebuild. “We started from the inside out,” Bugg says,
“first building our new training facility so we have a state-of-the-art
training facility.”
SUPPORT
It takes more than training to ensure success, however, and Interiors
by Decorating Den provides support for its business owners in a
number or ways.
“A big part of our support for our franchises is a detailed
and comprehensive advertising and marketing program that is highlighted
by a tremendous amount of national advertising on network and cable
television and national magazines. But then each franchisee has
access to and implements targeted local marketing with a big focus
on customized direct mail pieces. New, four-color advertising materials
and direct mail pieces are developed every single month,”
Bugg says.
The idea is to generate repeat customers. “When we brought
in a research company and did focus group studies back in the mid-’90s,
and then again just a few years ago, we found that when we interviewed
people who would never use the services of a professional decorator
or designer and asked the question, Why not?, the three biggest
objections were: the fear of high cost, the fear of losing control
and the fear of intimidation.
“Our goal, and it’s really what our company was founded
on, is to break down those barriers and educate people to realize
that our interior decorating service is not only affordable, but
often will help our clients avoid costly mistakes to get the look
that they want. We strive to be a friendly, approachable service,
to work around a client’s taste and lifestyle and to work
within their budget. This message is prominent in our marketing
and in our training.”
The broadening of consumers’ awareness of interior decorating
has very much played in their favor. “One thing that we have
noticed in the last 10 or 12 years,” Bugg says, “has
been a trend from consumers being what I call very product focused,
meaning that when the sofa wore out they would go to a furniture
store and buy a new sofa. Today, consumers are much more room solution
oriented, meaning that when the sofa wears out they think it’s
time to re-do the family room. Before they go out and shop for a
new sofa, they’re thinking about the whole look and feel that
they want for that room. Often, our designs start with a focus on
the window treatment, with the patterns and colors from the window
treatment used as a design base for the rest of the room.”
TEAM CULTURE
“Our franchise owners work very much as a team,” Bugg
says. For one example, when decorators go on appointments they have
a professional portfolio that they take with them that often will
have their own work in it as well as work of other franchise owners.
That’s so they can show the client many designs and the types
and quality of products and jobs that can be done.
But the biggest boost to the team concept has come through the use
of technology and its use as a communications tool. “We started
an intra-net system many years ago that’s called DecoNet,”
says Bugg. “All of our franchisees have access, and it has
e-mail functions, it has a library section with access to training
manuals and procedure manuals, but the most popular section of it
is an uncensored forum referred to as DecoChat, which is accessible
by almost 500 franchise owners who share ideas and learn from each
other.
“It truly has helped us create a learning organization where
we have franchisees on DecoNet almost every day with questions from
‘Where do I find a certain fabric that I’m looking for?’
to ‘How do I do this complicated window treatment?’
to ‘How do I deal with a difficult customer that I’m
having a challenge with?,” Bugg explains.
“We couldn’t say this a couple of years ago, but today
I say with complete confidence that, especially for new franchise
owners, when they post a challenge or question on our DecoNet system
— sometimes within minutes, but certainly within hours —
they will start receiving feedback from some of the most successful,
talented and experienced designers in our company. The most beautiful
part about it is that we have many 20-plus year veterans in our
company sharing their experience with somebody who has been in business
for two months.”
“Most of our franchisees start every day on DecoNet,”
he adds. “We have supplier updates, merchandise updates, talk
about everything from price changes to discontinued fabrics. For
most independent decorators that’s a nightmare to keep up
with.”
It is this type of communication that has created a sense of community
among the business owners. “We’ve been very successful
in developing a culture that our franchisees do not in any way view
each other as competitors,” Bugg says. It’s not unusual,
for example, for one franchise owner on vacation to have calls forwarded
to another—unheard of in the independent sector. Putting it
succinctly, Bugg says, “We love to say our business is all
about being in business for yourself, but not by yourself.” |
