Design as a Business Investment: Keep Your Best Team

Why Do Business Owners See Interior Design as a Cost Instead of an Investment?

[Randi Lynn Johnson]: While many businesses focus on marketing strategies or product enhancements, the environment in which business is conducted often gets overlooked. Robin, is it fair to say that most business owners bringing on a commercial interior designer see it as a cost rather than an investment?

[Robin Pasley]: I think that is probably true, because they are imagining all of the layers of costs that are going to go into their new space. They have the basics of the lease and utilities. Then the construction team comes in — the general contractors — and if they're adding walls and electrical, they've got architecture and MEP on top of that. I think they just tell themselves, "I don't need somebody to make it pretty, so I'm going to cut that layer out."

How Does Strategic Commercial Interior Design Grow a Business?

[Randi Lynn Johnson]: So how do we flip the script and help business owners recognize the profitability potential from a well-executed design?

[Robin Pasley]: For us it starts with what sets us apart and how we approach office interior design. We pay close attention to finding out who they are as a business — why they do what they do, how they do it, and what would make them more successful. That is literally how we talk to them. We don't ask, "What's your favorite color?" and "Let's make sure you have a place to work." That's not how we approach design. We ask: How do you want to be positioned in this community as the business you are? Who are your competitors? How do you stand apart from them? We approach design with business strategy at the front of our minds, and we look at how they can grow their business from that conversation. We also understand that their success depends on having the best employees working alongside them.

[Robin Pasley]: So we come at it from that angle as well — to find out how we can help them keep their best employees. That's part of our discovery process: what would make your best employees stay? We understand that is an investment. When they train an employee, that relationship goes a long way. If they can keep that employee for a long time, they are adding real value to their business.

[Randi Lynn Johnson]: That's great.

[Robin Pasley]: So from that angle we believe we are not just adding something pretty. Of course we are going to address aesthetics — that is who we are, and our designs reflect that. But for us, aesthetics are a layer of business growth strategy, a tool for making businesses succeed. We assume they have already done the great work of thinking through their sales process and how they serve people. We come in as an investing piece of that.

[Randi Lynn Johnson]: That totally makes sense. A well-designed office space is going to retain the best employees, make those employees more productive, attract more clients, and ultimately drive business growth.

What Gets Missed When a Designer Isn't Involved Early?

[Robin Pasley]: The employee side of it is significant. A client is often very focused on the product or service they sell — that is their business. Then I start asking questions: How do you engage your employees? Where do you hold meetings?

[Robin Pasley]: We were just discussing this for a recent project where all the other rooms had been planned, but there was no place for the team to meet together. We started talking about how important team synergy is — if they don't have a place to come together, face-to-face, around a table to work through their sales process or other challenges, it will impact them. That room had been left out of their own design plan entirely. We had to go back and design it into the space, because not having it was going to affect their future growth.

[Randi Lynn Johnson]: That makes a lot of sense. We talked in a previous podcast about first impressions and what they mean to clients coming into a space.

[Robin Pasley]: If you do any research — even a quick Google search on client experience — you will find that it is now outpacing product and service when it comes to why people return to a purchase or a provider. It is more about client experience than anything else. It is not about price; it is not about product — it is about experience. Social media plays a role in this too, because now we post everything we do and share where we are, what it looks like. People get to see where others have been. Going to a place — even for something like insurance, something that used to be purely transactional — now carries an expectation of experience at every level of daily life engagement.

[Randi Lynn Johnson]: People really want an experience. Look at the rise of coffee shops — anyone can make a cup of coffee, but people want to go to comfortable spaces to work or places that simply feel good. They want that experience.

[Robin Pasley]: Yes, and I think this connects to FOMO. You are watching your friend go to this amazing coffee house and you think: I need to go right now. People want to feel like they are living their best life. And then there is the other side of client experience — not just the felt and seen environment, but the customer service dimension. Part of what we work on with clients is how the space is actively serving them and their customer, client, or patient as well as possible. We never assume we know more than our clients, but sometimes we know more about space than they do, and we ask questions from that angle. Squeezing every square inch of functionality out of a space is one of our real strengths.

[Randi Lynn Johnson]: And that helps them avoid a costly expansion or relocation — they can think ahead and know exactly how much room they have to grow.

[Robin Pasley]: Absolutely — it is an investment in the future.

Should a Commercial Interior Designer Be Involved Before the Architect?

[Robin Pasley]: We partner with architects all the time. But because we are quasi interior architects ourselves, the way we see and engage space is different — and having us in at the beginning of the conversation about how a space will be used is critical. We find quite often that when we are pulled in near the end of a project, where we are expected to simply go select materials, we do our process with the client regardless. We ask all those questions, and nine times out of ten we pull out information that was never surfaced before: a special equipment placement need, a cabinetry requirement that was over- or under-specified, a layout that doesn't match how the team actually works.

[Robin Pasley]: When we uncover those things, it can slow the process down — but that is important. Function is critical. What we do not want is for a client to have spent tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars to arrive at a built environment that does not function the way they need it to. We put real stock in our discovery process and in how we think about design as it relates to business outcomes.

[Randi Lynn Johnson]: So to sum it up — if a business owner is thoughtful about business interior design, brings someone like you in to help them think it through, they are going to keep their best employees, make the space welcoming to clients, and plan for how the space will support future growth while avoiding costly mistakes.

[Robin Pasley]: Yes. First impression, function, and keeping your best employees — those are at the top of our list on every project.

[Randi Lynn Johnson]: And that is what makes interior design an investment, not just an additional cost.

[Robin Pasley]: Yes.

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