Ep. 14: Everything’s Backordered — Now What? Handling Backorders & Lead-Time Chaos with Interior Designer Maggie Griffin

What do you do when the sofa is delayed, the fabric is backordered, the tariff surcharge shows up after the order is placed, and your client is staring at you like you personally disrupted the supply chain? 

In this episode of Stuff Interior Designers Need To Know, Rebecca sits down with Maggie Griffin, founder and principal designer of Maggie Griffin Design in Gainesville, Georgia, to talk about one of the least glamorous — but most business-critical — parts of running a residential interior design firm: backorders, lead times, substitutions, and client expectations.

With 18 years in business, Maggie has learned how to source smarter, lean on trade reps, communicate delays professionally, and decide when it’s worth waiting for the perfect showstopper versus when it’s time to reselect and move on with your life.

Rebecca asks:

1. How does Maggie source to reduce the risk of backorders?
2. How does she anticipate lead-time issues before they derail a project?
3. When should a designer accept a delay, and when should they proactively reselect?
4. How does Maggie deliver bad news to clients without creating unnecessary panic?
5. How can designers use reps, receivers, and local resources to manage logistics more professionally?
6. What should newer designers know about building real-world sourcing and product knowledge?
7. How do tariffs, gas surcharges, and changing costs affect the way Maggie communicates with clients?
8. How can setting expectations early help designers protect trust, timelines, and the client relationship?

If you’ve ever had to tell a client, “So… funny story… that thing we loved is now unavailable,” this conversation is for you.

Maggie reminds us that backorders may be part of the design industry now, but chaos does not have to be part of your client experience. With the right process, the right questions, and the courage to communicate clearly, designers can handle delays like professionals instead of hiding under the desk with a no-longer-available fabric memo.

Enjoy!

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About Maggie:

Maggie Griffin is the founder and principal designer of Maggie Griffin Design, a high-end residential interior design firm based in Gainesville, Georgia.

Maggie discovered her love for interior design early, often visiting Atlanta showhouses with her mother and grandmothers. She went on to study Furnishings & Interiors at the University of Georgia, with time abroad in Florence studying the History of Fabrics and Retail Design. She also double-majored in psychology, which has proven especially helpful in a client-centered industry full of big decisions, big emotions, and lots of different personalities.

Since founding her firm in 2008, Maggie has become known for her distinctive Southern design style, blending playful patterns, colorful fabrics, comfortable upholstery, and a pinch of chinoiserie. Her work reflects her belief in “using your best stuff every day” and creating homes that feel classic, stylish, comfortable, and deeply personal.

To connect with Maggie and Maggie Griffin Design:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maggiegriffindesign/
Website: https://maggiegriffindesign.com/

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Transcript

Transcript

Rebecca West:

Welcome to Stuff Interior Designers Need to Know, the podcast all about building a residential design business that makes you, your clients, and your bank account seriously happy.

I’m Rebecca West, former interior designer, author of Happy Starts at Home, and your interior design business coach with Seriously Happy Coaching & Consulting.

Today I’m talking with interior designer Maggie Griffin about the darker side of interior design: the things that can go wrong that are outside of our control, like products getting backordered, and what a designer can do to get ahead of lead-time chaos — or at least prepare clients for the reality of our world.

With more than 18 years running her design firm in Gainesville, Georgia, and more than 66,000 followers on Instagram, Maggie knows her way around residential interior design and building a strong design business.

Let’s learn what to do and what not to do from a pro who’s been in the design trenches for going on two decades and counting.

Hello, Maggie.

Maggie Griffin:

Hello, Rebecca. Thank you so much for having me.

Rebecca West:

To set the stage, tell us what kind of design you do. Are we talking about backorders for kitchen and bath projects, furnishing projects, or both?

Maggie Griffin:

We are a high-end residential interior design firm based in Northeast Georgia. We strictly do residential work, and that could be starting from a ground-up new build and going through the installation process, or we may be doing what we call more of the decorating side.

But it is full-scale interiors. No commercial.

Rebecca West:

So we’re talking everything from kitchen and bath to a beautiful living room and everything in between.

Maggie Griffin:

We’re really talking more about the actual furnishings of the home — if you wanted to put it into terms of what a client would take with them if they were going to move.

Of course, we’re here to advise on beautiful paint colors and wallpapers and, yes, cabinet design. But really, our wheelhouse is the logistics involved in furnishing a home to the client’s expectations.

Rebecca West:

I am making an assumption here, but assumptions put us in bad places. So are you sourcing from to-the-trade vendors, retail vendors, or both?

Maggie Griffin:

About 80% of what we source is through our trade accounts. Those are accounts where we have long-established relationships. We have incredible reps in those accounts, and those are the items that help make our clients’ homes feel as individualized as possible.

We have a distinct look here at Maggie Griffin Design. We’re based in the South. We love layered things. We love that Southern hospitality vibe, and you can see that thread through our work.

But we also love to source from a big box store. There may be a great lampshade we’ve loved from Ballard Designs, or maybe there’s an awesome easel at Pottery Barn, or a great grid wall of art from Restoration Hardware.

So it’s a little sprinkling of that, but mainly we’re sourcing from the trade.

Rebecca West:

Can you tell us about some times that backorders have caused chaos?

Maggie Griffin:

We have always tried to underpromise and overdeliver, especially when it comes to lead times.

I’ve been at this for almost 20 years, but I’ve learned more in the past six years than I ever did pre-pandemic. We sort of overnight turned into logistics experts.

If I’m vetting someone over the phone, it’s literally from day one: “Okay, I just want to talk through this. What are your expectations on when you would like this project completed? Are you hosting a party? Are you having all your family for Thanksgiving or Christmas?”

The worst-case scenario is when someone just slips that in there and we had no idea.

So just setting that expectation up front — and then the sofa magically appears a month early — everyone is thrilled.

Rebecca West:

Obviously, that’s the best-case scenario: arriving early. When you find out that it’s not going to arrive early, or even on time, how do you deliver that information to your clients in a way that doesn’t freak them out any more than they have to be freaked out?

Maggie Griffin:

We really try to start talking to our clients about this particular stage — the installation and ordering process — from the moment we meet them.

Because our work is in larger-scale homes, and our clients are more established, what we’re doing is custom for them. So we’re building the upholstery. We’re having someone manufacture the lampshade that I want in a certain fabric on the lamp. We just manage that expectation up front.

During the height of some crazier times, we did some things in six weeks, but that was for maybe a second home they were getting ready to rent. I like that kind of challenge and pressure, but I knew it from day one. So I figured out how to source things that I could get there.

Yesterday I was meeting with a mother and daughter, and we had a lot of points of guidance for them: “Well, if we do this, that’s a really great choice, but if we shift over here, it will get here a little quicker. Maybe it’s a little bit more economical.” Or, “I know you have your heart set on that fabric. It looks like it’s backordered right now, but this one is really similar.”

If a client says, “I have always wanted this wallpaper in this powder room,” then we can ask, “How long is it going to take?”

There is much better communication now because of what we’ve learned over the past six years between us and our reps. They tell us those things up front. I can tell the client, “Hey, I know we’re looking at that together. It’s 12 weeks.” Then the client can make that decision on their own if they’re willing to wait.

Substitutions are going to happen. They’re annoying. They’re a pain point. But it’s also okay to have our heart set on something and give it a little bit more time.

Now, if something is a year out, I’m like, “Let’s find something else.”

But if we’re going to have to do two installs anyway, then we will tell the client, “It’s okay. We’re going to do a chunk up front, and then we’ll have a little trickle-in back here,” because that’s the nature of the design industry right now.

Rebecca West:

What I’m hearing behind your words is so much specific experience. You know your market. You know the availability for your design aesthetic and for the clients you’re working with.

What tough love would you like to offer a designer who’s in the first years of business and thinking, “Well, I don’t really know what things cost. I don’t really know how long things take.” What do they need to hear?

Maggie Griffin:

If your business is centered around trade accounts, those trade accounts are going to have a point person: your representative for that particular trade account.

Building a relationship with that trade rep is key to the success of your projects. Someone who you trust, and who likes you, and where it’s a symbiotic relationship — they’re likely to pull a favor when you need it most.

They’re going to say, “Okay, we have three of these on reserve. Two are spoken for. I’ll go put your name on the other one.”

If your clients are budget-conscious and you’re down to the dollar, the rep will help you. They might say, “I see you’ve sourced that beautiful blue velvet. If you swap to this one, it’s the same quality, but it’s a little bit different construction, and it will save you four or five figures.”

That kind of communication and rapport is so important.

Also, take the time to familiarize yourself with trade accounts. If you have a merchandise mart near you, educate yourself on those lines. Talk with showroom representatives and say, “Hey, what’s your normal lead time here?”

If you have a client base that wants things done quickly, then knowing something is guaranteed in stock is music to everyone’s ears.

Getting to know your local resources is such an important part of that. In Northeast Georgia, I can get to AmericasMart in Atlanta very easily. Here in Gainesville, we’re lucky enough to have a design center. We have a place where we can go grab Benjamin Moore paint colors. We can go and look at plumbing in person.

Get to know who the carpet suppliers are. Who supplies tile locally? Who is bringing in the countertop slabs? Where are they coming from? Who is supplying the plumbing, the lighting, all those things? Because we do love to support local.

We also have clients who know we’re educating ourselves in that way. They may be in a remote area where they can’t get to a beautiful showroom to look at that Sub-Zero refrigerator or that Wolf range, but they’re trusting us to make that call.

I am constantly in education mode, learning more about the products that I’m telling my clients to put into their homes.

So I can tell them really quickly, “Hey, you’re asking for that. That’s going to take a little while, but here, we can do this and it’s going to be a much shorter lead time.”

Rebecca West:

I’m curious how all of this has informed the way you market your company, because you’re talking about expectation-setting and education. Does this filter into marketing?

Maggie Griffin:

Absolutely.

It’s interesting when a client has an expected timeframe, because there is so much on television that we are fighting against. It is actually not possible to renovate an entire bathroom over one weekend. It is not possible to build a house in seven days. These things are crazy.

“Who told you this was fast and inexpensive?” That is not a message I’m putting out.

We say it nicely to a client and remind them, “The decisions we make deserve to be considered. The homes you’re building, especially at the price point we’re working in, deserve consideration. They deserve time. It does not need to be fast. And if you’re trying to save money on my hours, maybe that’s a red flag up front.”

What we’re offering to our client is a living, breathing relationship, especially during a residential design-build. We’re there educating and helping them make decisions along the way and saying, “We need to think about placing these orders because this is how long it’s going to take.”

A normal home build is somewhere around two years. I can tell you what that schedule looks like. I can tell you about the framing schedule and when we need to have those plumbing fixtures chosen.

And let’s maybe not source something from overseas because it’s going to have a much longer lead time. I would never want to hold up the renovation process because I told the client, “Let’s get that faucet in from Italy,” and it has a six-month lead time because it’s all being hand-forged. I would feel terrible. I would never do that.

Rebecca West:

Especially if there is a reasonable alternative solution, which there almost always is.

Maggie Griffin:

There almost always is, yes.

Rebecca West:

Speaking of international orders, tariffs have been all the rage lately. Has that directly affected where you’re choosing to source from?

Maggie Griffin:

It hasn’t necessarily changed where we’re sourcing from, but it has changed the way we’re telling our clients the billing process is going to go.

We may not even know what that tariff surcharge is until after we’ve placed the order and it has landed where it’s going. We got one the other day that was a gas surcharge. They’re nominal in the grand scheme of the billing, but it’s also a line item we’re having to include.

I really think it’s unfortunate, but it is where we are right now.

Rebecca West:

I know this is case by case, but big picture: how do you help the client, or yourself and the team, decide when to accept a delay versus when to proactively reselect? How long do you play the game before you cut the cord and try again?

Maggie Griffin:

If it’s one of those one-of-a-kind items and our client is thinking, “This is something I’ve always had my heart set on,” or “I just love the way it makes the space feel,” then I will encourage them to wait a little while.

If we’re waiting on a backorder of, say, a velvet, and the fabric company has chosen to find a new mill to make it, well, let’s just find another velvet in the same colorway.

Things like hand-designed rugs and custom-designed textiles can actually take a really long time because we’re waiting for a strike-off, or we’re waiting on a color match, or there may be an international component or a language barrier that is delaying the process.

If that’s something we have our heart set on up front, then we’re starting that really early in the building process or the design process.

Things like lamps, I’m not going to sit here and hold on forever. Now, the shade — I will say that shade and that particular fabric may be perfection, so let’s give it a little bit more time, especially if there is something already there.

What I would never want is for the client to be waiting and they’ve got an empty room. They can’t entertain. They can’t watch TV. They don’t have a dining room table because it’s stuck in custom. That’s what we’re really trying to avoid.

We’re also using receiving, and that has a fee component too. If we’re sourcing things that I know are going to take a while, we’ll go ahead and order them and send them to the receiver because we know we’re not going to have to pay that storage fee for a couple of months.

Now, if an item is in stock — things like bedding or smaller case goods — then we will not order those until closer to time so the client isn’t incurring storage fees for things we knew were going to be sitting there.

Rebecca West:

You said that sometimes, on some of the smaller items, you’ll wait to order them so clients aren’t incurring receiving and holding fees. There’s a bit of risk with that because that thing — like my favorite lipstick — could get discontinued. It could just go away.

Do you feel that’s a lower risk because you’re mostly sourcing to the trade? Is it lower risk because your reps are aware of the order you’re intending to place and they’re keeping an eye on it? What are you considering when you’re managing that risk?

Maggie Griffin:

They’re lower-risk items, and we’re waiting to order those things because they’re easily replaceable if that happens.

Rebecca West:

The showpiece items, yes — take care of those.

Maggie Griffin:

Yeah.

Rebecca West:

What I’m hearing is just layers and layers of experience built over years and years of doing this. When you were a new designer, I’m guessing you didn’t know all this.

Maggie Griffin:

Oh, I didn’t know anything.

Rebecca West:

So how did you grow your knowledge? What would you tell a new designer right now? They’re not going to start where you’re at, but they still need to help, educate, and empower their clients.

Maggie Griffin:

There is nothing that can teach you real-world experience on these things.

Rebecca West:

Friends, we just had a technical glitch, so we’re going to be picking up the conversation again here. Sorry if we lose our thread just a little bit as we dive back in.

Maggie, you had just said that when you were a new designer, you didn’t know all this, and you laughed like a schoolgirl and said, “Yeah, I didn’t know anything.”

My follow-up question was: how did you grow your knowledge? Did you start off with smaller projects? Did you do a bunch of unpaid work behind the scenes? How would you advise a new designer to build the knowledge they need in order to set the kinds of client expectations we’re talking about here?

Maggie Griffin:

When I was in college, I worked in high-end home furnishings. That was really my first exposure to quality sources. A lot of those things I learned 25 years ago, I am still using those lines now.

It was such a great education in what a quality item was because I could see it in person.

I tell anyone who is wanting to get into the industry, if they can get a job similar to that — high-end retail — it teaches you so much.

Merchandising is a huge one. How to make things look pretty. We were changing our displays all the time. I learned how to hang things. I learned how to measure.

Also, how to deal with people. How to deal with the general public. Someone who may be considered a little bit more difficult as a customer — how do you problem-solve when something happens?

Rebecca West:

You’re really using work experience as a workshop, so you’re gleaning this knowledge from somebody who has already figured out how to do this.

Maggie Griffin:

Yes. And that’s really where my first clients came into play.

Someone would come into the store and say, “Okay, I want refreshed bedding. I want my bookcases to feel updated.” So the lady who ran the store at the time — my boss — would let me load up my little Jeep. I would fill it up and take things while I was technically on the clock.

I came back with an empty car and made this really big sale because I made it easy on the client.

While I wasn’t in a position then to charge an hourly rate for that design service, I was gaining knowledge. I was creating a little beginner client base. Word of mouth, of course, is everything, especially here in the South. “Oh, Maggie can help with these small things here and there.”

Back then I had much smaller budgets, sourcing things I could get in person. There were fabric stores in Atlanta where I could walk in and buy 30 yards of fabric off the bolt right there. It was a $20-a-yard fabric, a $30-a-yard fabric. I would dream to have that now.

We’re still trying to stretch every dollar, but those were the sweetest days where I could really show my client, “Okay, we can do this, and this is the labor cost for the drape,” and sort of make things happen.

Some of it, yes, was kind of pro bono. A family friend, even my own mother, or someone who just needed a little help. It just gave me more and more experience.

I had the courage to hang out my hat, but I didn’t know anything. I feel so blessed that I had people who trusted me early on.

Rebecca West:

One thing I notice with newer designers is that they’re honestly afraid to tell clients the bad news. Like, “Hey, this thing we sourced is no longer available,” or “It’s going to be a much longer lead time than we expected.”

Did you come to the table knowing you had to be upfront with your clients, or did you build that confidence over time too?

Maggie Griffin:

It was certainly something I had to build over time. No one wants to deliver bad news, right?

Back then, though, we could turn things around a little quicker. Maybe I was going into a furniture store versus a to-the-trade account, and we were buying a chair, a sofa, or a coffee table off the floor. It was a different kind of business setup.

Rebecca West:

Right.

Maggie Griffin:

It did take a lot of years to have the confidence.

I will say, I’ve always been — I don’t want to say an assertive person — but I always was able to speak and tell the client.

Now, we’ve had interns or people who have shadowed with us over the years, and I can tell pretty quickly if this is something they’re going to be able to acquire, or if it’s something they’re never going to be comfortable with.

At the end of the day, we have to be assertive with the client. Even the best clients are going to say, “Are you sure?” Well, of course I’m sure. Of course I am.

Rebecca West:

But they’re nervous.

Maggie Griffin:

They’re nervous.

Rebecca West:

And my confidence builds their trust.

For anybody who’s listening, I want to speak to the idea that you don’t have to be super extroverted to have this level of confidence.

One of the gals I hired was very quiet and very soft-spoken, and I thought, “I don’t know how this girl is going to do what I do,” because I only knew my way, which is just putting myself out there.

And she was absolutely as good as I was. Her conversion rates from inquiry to sale were just as good as mine. It really opened my own eyes to the idea that there is not just one way to have this confidence and to shepherd your clients forward. It doesn’t mean you have to be brash and out there.

Maggie Griffin:

Absolutely. In all actuality, I think it’s better.

Rebecca West:

The other thing you were saying before we got cut off was that they don’t teach this stuff in school. The stuff we’re talking about here is school-of-hard-knocks, real-life experience. Do you want to go back into that a little bit?

Maggie Griffin:

Absolutely.

The thing about school is that they teach you a little about a lot. My program at the University of Georgia was centered on residential design, so they teach you a little bit about fabric construction, a little bit about drapery style, a little bit about architecture, a little bit about how to build a house.

But the industry is so big. You get out and you’re like a deer in headlights, thinking, “Okay, what do I want to do?” You just want to wave your hands and make things look beautiful.

But what it requires to get there — what I always try to do is listen to the person who is the specialist in that particular thing.

If I’m shopping for tile, I want you to say, “Maggie, that’s really not great flooring. We need to pick out something that’s going to fit better around a drain.” I am listening to all of that.

Same thing when we go into flooring. I want to know about the LVPs, the LVTs, the carpet, the broadloom, all of those things. How can it be cleaned? Can it even be cleaned?

I’m an appliance junkie. I love a new appliance. I love to cook. My husband and I both do. We’re big cooks. But I want to know, if my client is not a big cook, do we really need to do this really expensive thing? Can we shift the money elsewhere?

So it’s really just about listening.

It’s the same thing when I’m on a job site. If I’m there with the trim guy, or the electrician, or the plumber, I’m picking up all of those little things along the way so I can kind of talk the talk.

I’d like to think the contractors I work with don’t run when they see me coming because really, it’s a joint effort to create a beautiful product. We’re here to make them look good, and they’re here to help me do that too, and to give our clients a quality product that we’re all proud of.

Rebecca West:

You touched on another really important thing there. You’re asking questions, and this is another thing I find newer designers are so afraid to do.

They get it in their heads that they’re already supposed to know everything, and if they show any ounce of uncertainty, people will find out they’re new.

And I’m like, “We know you’re new. We can see that coming a mile away.”

I encourage them: ask the questions. Don’t pretend to know everything. That will keep you from learning.

I used to do this when I was brand new. I don’t know why I had the courage to do it, but I would just go into a new shop and say, “I’ve never been in your shop before. I don’t know what your products are. I don’t know what kinds of clients you want. Can you please tell me?”

And then I’d just shut up and listen.

It does start with asking a good question and being willing to look a little dumb, because you are — and it’s okay.

Maggie Griffin:

And it’s okay.

Even now, if I hear a word that’s unfamiliar or a technique I’m not aware of, I’ll say, “Talk me through that. Tell me why. What’s a better solution than what I’ve presented here?” Because it’s changing every day.

Even right now, the codes we were familiar with three years ago have actually reversed back, so we’re having to talk our clients through that. They’re like, “Wait, we can’t do that anymore?” And we’re saying, “Nope, we can’t. We’re shifting back.”

Every little minute detail.

I get to work with such wonderful people who are so knowledgeable in their lane, and I never want to overshadow that. I have my lane and they have theirs. It’s such a good friendship-type relationship too.

Rebecca West:

And you mentioned that you have interns. Did I hear that correctly?

Maggie Griffin:

We have had interns over the years. I don’t currently have one, but yes.

Rebecca West:

What have you noticed in their training? Where are the biggest gaps? What advice would you like to give them in retrospect?

Maggie Griffin:

The bigger gaps are probably in the logistics part. How do we take that fabric from here to the end result of that beautiful fabric on the walls in that living room? How do we get there?

Another gap is really about how to present it to the client. How to say, “This is what you need to do,” without stumbling or saying, “Okay, what do you think?” Just say, “This is what I want you to do.”

We need to shoot for the moon because the client may not even know. They may not be educated on quality. Let’s not dial our creativity back to meet them. We have to say it out loud. We have to put it out there and say, “Okay, this is the total vision of the space.”

Then they can make the choice if they want to go top to bottom, left to right.

Rebecca West:

I may be misremembering this, but I think you had spoken to the idea that you could move things through in phases if you need to. If somebody buys into your whole vision, there’s no reason they can’t phase it in over time if they want the whole enchilada, but the enchilada is a bit expensive all at one time.

Maggie Griffin:

Absolutely.

What I try to tell my clients is, “Let’s go outside in.” Let’s get the big stuff in. Let’s put the rug down because you don’t ever want to have to move the furniture to put the rug down. Let’s get the drapery hung. Let’s get the big pieces.

If you call me in six months and say, “Okay, I’m ready to splurge on the art or the small accessories for the bookcases,” because those things add up too, then we can do that. But let’s not do it backwards.

Let’s get the wallpaper in, the paint color right, get the backdrop as good as you can, and then keep layering in over time.

Rebecca West:

The gift you’re giving clients there is that feeling of impact.

I think people shy away from the big purchases because they’re the big, scary, expensive ones. They say, “Oh, let’s just do this small thing.” Then that small thing has no impact, so now they’ve spent some money and don’t feel any reward for it.

You’re laughing. This must be hitting a nerve.

Maggie Griffin:

I feel like we could have a whole episode just on this.

Rebecca West:

Tell me more.

Maggie Griffin:

No, you’re hitting the nail on the head. You’re so right.

To see someone who feels comfortable every weekend going off with their girlfriends, or to their local antique mall, or wherever they’re going, and they’re spending a couple hundred dollars every time on accessories or a mirror or whatever — that feels more comfortable, especially if they’re trying to pay for things on their own or maybe not dip into a larger budget.

What you just want to say is, “If you could have just not done that three times, we could have this.”

So yes, absolutely.

Rebecca West:

I wanted to say that because I know one of the struggles as an interior designer is getting your clients to see your vision through and getting that portfolio picture that really represents the best you knew you could have brought to the table.

And to your point a second ago, if you don’t present that idea, there’s no chance it’ll ever become a reality. But then the way you present that idea, the way you talk about it, and the confidence you have — it’s all one package that has to work together. And it’s hard.

Maggie Griffin:

It is hard. And no client is going to come to you and say, “You know what? I actually want to spend double.”

If we’re doing a full-scale home, a new build, we tell our clients, “Let’s get the places that people see and you see every day. Let’s not worry about the basement. Let’s not worry about upstairs yet.”

Also: “If you let us do our job, we’re going to make you look so good. You’re going to look great. You’re going to feel good in your house. Your friends are going to ooh and ahh. You’re going to have the confidence to host that holiday party you’ve always wanted to, and it’s going to be complete and ready.”

Rebecca West:

I have to follow that up with this question because I’m assuming you’ve had clients who are not letting you do your job. In that situation, what do you do?

Maggie Griffin:

This is a really tough one, and we still deal with it.

What I really like to ask the client is, “Tell me why you came to me to begin with.”

I feel sure it’s because you’ve seen our work, you’ve seen our portfolio, and we were referred to you. Do you think those projects were successful by doing what you’re doing right now? That person trusted me. They let me do my job.

I’m not saying it’s always my way or the highway, but it is about the total look. If you’re worried about every tiny detail, every teeny $10 here or $1,000 there, we can overanalyze it to where now we’ve sucked all the fun out of it.

The best clients are the ones who just say, “Okay, I get it,” and they’re the happiest too.

We don’t photograph everything we do. I wish we could. The projects people are seeing of ours in magazines and online publications are because of that trust. I don’t want to say “letting go,” but it’s that, “Okay, I see it. You have the vision. I’m going to let you do your job.”

Rebecca West:

I’m hearing you say that you have to speak up about that. If they’re going off the rails, you need to go to the client and say, “Remember, you hired me to do a job, and right now you’re not letting me do it.”

It makes me think of hiring a lawyer to run a lawsuit for you and then you keep stepping in and going, “How about we run the lawsuit this way?” when you don’t know law. That’s not going to turn out well.

Maggie Griffin:

I would never do that.

Rebecca West:

Right? Somehow we see design differently.

People think they’re allowed to see behind the scenes of how we price and how we mark up. They think they should get access to all of our discounts, which are things they would never ask in any other industry.

If we want to be treated like professionals — a lawyer, a dentist, whatever — we have to treat ourselves as professionals and expect that treatment from our clients. And we have to speak up when they’re behaving in a way that is actually injuring themselves and the project they hired us to do.

Maggie Griffin:

Right.

I think if you hire someone to help you with your home, it’s such a personal relationship. Probably more for the client than it can be for the designer, because at the end of the day, we are running a business.

Rebecca West:

And they’re going to—

Maggie Griffin:

And they are going to live there, so it’s so personal to them. Then they feel like maybe there’s more of an open door, a looser boundary with some of that.

People can just be nervous. You’re spending a lot of money.

We had a client, and we were in the middle of an interiors walkthrough, and she had this panic of, “Well, how does this actually all get here?” And I just said, “That’s our job. We will do that. You just have to give me the green light, and it will all come together.”

Rebecca West:

Before I go over the takeaways I heard in our conversation today, is there anything you want to say to put a bow on what we were just talking about?

Maggie Griffin:

There are a couple of things.

For anyone starting in the industry, take your baby steps and don’t be afraid, like you said, to ask questions. Get to know the people you’re sourcing from — the tile place, the lighting, the exterior people, the brick people.

Learn from a contractor, because that is going to give you a leg up with your clients. Get to know your cabinet guy. Get to know how they build a cabinet and the way they design kitchens.

But I think it’s such a blessing to be in this industry. If you come in as the designer, and as the client, and you’re like, “This is going to be fun, and I’m going to allow the creative process to manifest,” it will make for such a more successful project.

It’s hard to put into words, and I’m sure you feel that. But if you can let that part rest between the two of you, it would just be so great.

Rebecca West:

Yeah.

All right, here are some takeaways. Backorders: how do we handle this professionally?

Number one I heard was underpromise.

Maggie Griffin:

What I mean by that is, if you’re telling the client, “Okay, let’s just be prepared for an install in six or eight months,” but then you call them in a couple of weeks and say, “You know what? I think we can go ahead and do layer number one,” that’s happy news.

They’ll say, “Oh, I had no idea. That’s so great. I’m having a party. I’d love to go ahead and have my rug, my drapery, and my sofa.”

That’s happy news.

Rebecca West:

So underpromise sets everything up for success.

Two: set expectations. And I added to that: give the client the information they need to make an informed decision. Tell them substitutions will happen.

Maggie Griffin:

One thousand percent.

Managing the expectations of lead times and expense up front is something we are really trying to do from the moment we are engaged.

If I get an inquiry on our web form and it hits my inbox, I write that person and say, “I’d love to talk on the phone.” I can usually tell pretty quickly if they are reasonable in their expectations.

We have found that if someone says, “I only want to do one room at a time,” that is a really big red flag. It creates so much more work, but also heartache for the client.

If you need some more time to prepare to do more, we’re here. We’re here for that.

I can also tell really quickly if they throw out a number and I know that’s not reasonable for what they’re asking for. We’ve had clients come back and say, “You were 100% right. I don’t know what I was thinking.” So they increased their budget and their expectation of what that looks like.

Rebecca West:

Going back to honesty, you’re not trying to hide any truths. You’re trying to say, “This is what you want, and this is what it will take,” and then letting them decide.

And you’re vetting the client. You are trying not to take on clients who won’t be a good fit for what you do.

Maggie Griffin:

Yes, absolutely.

I especially like to know: show me a room of mine, something we’ve done that you love. I can tell them how much that was, and I can read whether they think that is exorbitant or not.

This is actually what it takes to achieve that look and get that space.

I can say, “Look, this house was this big. This is how detailed it was. This is how much time I spent on it, and this is how long it took to build.” It’s right there in black and white. I’m not making it up.

Then the client can mentally prepare themselves. If you think something is going to happen in one week, but it actually needs to take six weeks, you just need to know that.

Rebecca West:

Next was: ask important questions.

Maggie Griffin:

Me asking important questions, or the client asking important questions?

Rebecca West:

You asking important questions of the client.

Maggie Griffin:

Absolutely.

That’s really more about the extent of what they want from me. If you just need a cheerleader, or someone to procure things for you, then we’re not interested in that.

We are really more interested in a hands-on approach of working with you and creating a home, while we’re allowed the creativity to do that with you.

We don’t want to sit here and say, “Okay, if every time we need a substitute, do I have to approve the cream linen for the cream linen?” Are you going to let me figure that out?

I’m extremely efficient. I’m not hemming and hawing over the decisions. You’re paying me to do this, and I would never want anyone to feel like I was wasting time along the way.

We try to do things up front. We try to prepare as much as we can and help them get to the end of the project and not have a giant surprise.

Rebecca West:

Which requires having that tight rein on your process, because if you’re allowing your client to constantly derail the process or change the process, there’s no way you can be efficient. Everybody is just getting derailed constantly in that situation.

Maggie Griffin:

Yes. We’ve had times where we had to talk to the client and be more direct, just to say, “Hey, I have a process. It works really well, and right now we have veered away from that. We’ve got to get back on track. So this is what we’ve got to do next.”

And they’re like, “I know, I know. I hear you.”

Especially now, in the digital world, you can pick up your phone and text anybody. Well, I can’t design a home for you through text messaging. That’s not how this works.

If we need a site visit, let’s schedule a site visit.

So it’s really about getting back on track with that process. And it’s okay. I’m not saying this in a bad way. I’m not fussing at the client. But you do have to just say it.

It’s funny. We can get back on track really quick.

Rebecca West:

Yeah. If you address it.

It’s when you don’t address it, and you keep hiding your head in the sand, and you don’t go to the client and get things back on track, that things go completely south.

Maggie Griffin:

Yes.

Rebecca West:

All right, you said: wait for the showstoppers, but stress less about the things you can replace.

Maggie Griffin:

Yes, absolutely.

If you’re gauging something you’ve sourced and the lead time is really unfortunate, but it’s the really beautiful thing you’ve had your heart set on, then we can do that.

At the end of this, you have to think about the big picture. By your next holiday, it will all be there. Or your next party, or your next whatever, it will be there. It’s not like I’m telling you to wait 10 years.

We did a huge basement refresh for a client. We made substitutions along the way where we had to. We sourced a different rug because the first one we wanted was not going to be available for a little bit of time.

We got 98% of everything in, and we were waiting on this one fabric for two chairs in front of the fireplace. She loved it, and she was willing to wait. I said, “Me too. Let’s wait then.”

Well, guess what? They’re done now.

There was a waiting period, but she had her sofas. She had her other pair of chairs. It wasn’t like she had an empty room.

So we did make some concessions along the way, but when it came down to it, we both really wanted to wait on those chairs.

Rebecca West:

The last thing I wrote down was: lean on your reps.

Maggie Griffin:

Lean on your reps. Absolutely.

I think that’s because I’ve had such wonderful personal experience with ours. That’s their job. Their job is to help you get across the finish line for whatever you’re doing.

If you’re sourcing upholstery, or a great fabric, or helping design a rug that’s going to come from Turkey or wherever, lean on that rep because they know and they can help guide too.

Our reps are so wonderful. If we have a really great floral and it’s a six-month lead time, they’ll say, “Hey, listen, you’ll have some substitutions in your mailbox in a couple of days.” Then they show up, we can find one, and we’re all happy with that.

It’s almost an extension of your own business. They want your work. They want your business. They want to keep that relationship with you, so they’re willing to do that. And if they’re not, there are lots of other people who will.

We work with really wonderful ones. They’re always willing, especially when we go to somewhere like High Point or the Mart, to show us new product.

I think that’s so important too. Keep your eyes and ears open for new and great things. Don’t just stay with the same old, same old. Of course, we have our tried and trues, but be open to new things and how to do new things, and the new products that come on the market all the time.

Rebecca West:

And the new challenges that come our way, because we’ve had recessions, we’ve had COVID. We’re always going to be pivoting, and if you don’t emotionally prepare yourself for that in this industry, then you’re lying to yourself about what the journey is going to feel like.

Maggie Griffin:

Absolutely.

The backorder process, while it is a challenge, is the nature of our world now. It’s something we unfortunately just have to roll with.

We try to keep it lighthearted and tell our clients up front that this is what’s going on.

We keep a shared document with our clients that they can log into and see. We’ll make a note: “ETA is end of May. Estimated time of completion is early June.”

So they can see that too. It’s not a secret.

Sometimes you don’t have to have that uncomfortable conversation if you just put it in a digital form. It just helps everyone.

Rebecca West:

So set clear expectations, but also keep your clients well-informed along the journey.

Anything you want to leave our listeners with?

Maggie Griffin:

I just thank you so much. It’s so awesome that you’re doing all this. I think it’s an incredible tool that those of us in the industry can listen to, but also people who are just fans of the industry.

We’re all in this together. We’re all dealing with the same problems, and we’re all running our businesses. Thank you so much for having me.

Rebecca West:

Absolutely. Thank you so much for giving us your time because we know you are very busy.

Maggie Griffin:

Thank you, Rebecca.

Rebecca West:

Hey, friends. Isn’t it nice to know that there are things you can do to mitigate the effects of backorders and keep them from derailing your projects?

As Maggie shared, a big part of that is making sure to set the right expectations up front about what is in your control as their interior designer and what isn’t.

Which means having the courage to have the tough conversations long before those misaligned expectations become frustrating misunderstandings and cause project delays.

If you need help establishing clear client expectations, you might want to check out my Lead to Launch course. It’s a live, six-week onboarding boot camp for designers who are tired of clients sabotaging their own projects and are serious about running a professional, profitable design studio.

You can find that, and me, over at beseriouslyhappy.com.

Thanks for listening. Till next time.