Advice on Designing During an Uncertain Time
In this webinar, design firm owner Susan Wintersteen shares tips for strengthening your business amid the current crisis
Houzz
March 27, 2020
In these challenging times, it can be helpful to focus on what you can do to make your business stronger, now and for the future. As part of our Resilience series, designer Susan Wintersteen of Savvy Interiors — a design firm with a general contractor license — recently shared her advice in a fireside chat with Reisa Elden of Houzz. In case you missed the event, read some of the highlights here or click the link below to watch the full webinar.
Wintersteen covered a number of topics related to adjusting for the coronavirus crisis, including how to:
“The difference between now and [the economic downturn of] 2008 is that in 2008 we started to see the decline over time,” she said. “We kind of knew it was coming, and there was kind of some time to adapt.”
- Plan for what your business will look like in two months
- Reset your company goals for 2020 while continuing to move forward
- Structure your work-from-home environment to stay productive
- Consider new ideas for service offerings
“The difference between now and [the economic downturn of] 2008 is that in 2008 we started to see the decline over time,” she said. “We kind of knew it was coming, and there was kind of some time to adapt.”
This time, Wintersteen said, “it really didn’t hit all of our businesses until March.” Wintersteen’s business is in California, and she has stopped all projects in an effort to preserve the health of her workers and clients.
“As a construction company in San Diego, even though our governor said that construction is an essential service, I think the intent of his message was for infrastructure, hospitals, plumbing and electrical, emergencies, if you have personal safety issues where you don’t have running water in your home — those kinds of things can continue.… I don’t think that remodeling high-end $3 million properties was part of that intent of the exemption for construction.”
Her clients — who tend to be doctors, C-level executives and attorneys — are either extremely busy responding to the coronavirus crisis or laying off staff as their businesses struggle. So renovation projects are suddenly on hold. As a result, Wintersteen had to lay off her staff — at least for now. She hopes to bring them back in a few weeks should projects start to pick up again.
“The big question mark between now and 2008 is, are we going to come back to a pent-up demand in the design field, where people have been at home and are like, ‘Oh my god, I can’t look at my kitchen one more day’?” she said. Or, she wonders, are people going to feel cautious and hold off on projects?
“As a construction company in San Diego, even though our governor said that construction is an essential service, I think the intent of his message was for infrastructure, hospitals, plumbing and electrical, emergencies, if you have personal safety issues where you don’t have running water in your home — those kinds of things can continue.… I don’t think that remodeling high-end $3 million properties was part of that intent of the exemption for construction.”
Her clients — who tend to be doctors, C-level executives and attorneys — are either extremely busy responding to the coronavirus crisis or laying off staff as their businesses struggle. So renovation projects are suddenly on hold. As a result, Wintersteen had to lay off her staff — at least for now. She hopes to bring them back in a few weeks should projects start to pick up again.
“The big question mark between now and 2008 is, are we going to come back to a pent-up demand in the design field, where people have been at home and are like, ‘Oh my god, I can’t look at my kitchen one more day’?” she said. Or, she wonders, are people going to feel cautious and hold off on projects?
Here are some of the key takeaways from our chat with Wintersteen.
- Save your resources.
- Communicate with your team and your vendors to figure out your options. Keep the lines of communication open and work toward getting people back to work.
- Talk with all past clients. Remind them you have a small business that is being affected, and offer them value-adding incentives to work with you.
- Keep up with marketing and advertising options. Be visible and talk with local real estate agents and home builders.
- Offer some freebies to create loyalty.
- Educate yourself on a part of design you are unfamiliar with, and become the expert.
- Refine your systems and processes so that you will be ready for increased demand.
To learn more, watch the full webinar.
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Thank you, Susan for the load of info. We do a few things differently here in Cape Town, but it was still wonderful being connected. Your were great!