Questions and Answers About A Designer’s Eye

Read what A Designer’s Eye President Stephen Fofanoff President, Vice President Chris Warnock, and the Director of Franchise Operations J. Kathy Repique have to say:

What is A Designer’s Eye?

A Designer’s Eye is a unique approach to home and garden design, focusing on making affordable design available to everyone, especially those who otherwise might never hire a designer. 

What makes you different from your competitors?

We have two categories of competitors: Interior designers, who represent our industry competitors; and franchises, who represent our distribution competition. 

In the design industry we have revolutionized the fee structure by charging for our design talents on an hourly or a flat-fee arrangement, as opposed to the percentage most designers take. 

What separates us from other home-based design franchises is that our offering is not product-sales based.  Our franchisees sell their time, enabling them to work with a wider array of clients in almost any market.

How did you get the idea to start A Designer’s Eye?

We both tried doing it the old way and it sucked. We felt like scam artists trying to win clients’ trust, then overcharging them. We really just wanted to swoop in, help clients come up with great ideas and cool designs, then give them a hand pulling it off. Not latching on and draining them until the next juicy prey came around.

Once we decided we were going to do it our way, it was easy. Clients loved it. We just built our business around the things clients needed.

What consumers do you target?

The simple answer is that we target anyone who has a home and would like to improve it.  The fact that these same people think they can’t afford a decorator is what makes what we’re doing such a challenge.  It will be interesting to put our product out there and leave it up to the public to see how we could potentially be of service.

Who would make a good A Designer’s Eye franchisee?

Someone looking to have the flexibility and ease of entry of a home-based business, someone who enjoys home and garden design —maybe watches HGTV or reads Domino or Better Homes and Gardens, and someone dedicated to being a professional… willing to learn and to continue learning.

Once you find yourself in someone’s home, your connection with them becomes closer than it probably would in a store.  So it is important that our franchisees be comfortable, considerate and able to connect with their clients. 

What’s unique about your franchise program?

Our support systems and technology are unique -- especially in our niche.  It allows us to partner with our franchisees every step of the way, maximizing their potential for success. 

Also, systems allow our franchisees to focus much more on the job of providing design services and less on administrative annoyances. We’ve invested heavily in technology to build an easy-to-use system that can adapt, grow, and improve consistently over time. We really tried to find options that would keep us from stagnating.

What are some of the unique programs you have in your company?

We believe in treating our employees well by offering an aggressive benefits package that includes employer-paid health care, flexible working arrangements and telecommuting, paid time off every month to do volunteer work in a non-profit in their community, and a flexible time-off system that encourages our employees to take care of themselves and their families. 

We encourage our franchisees to create a local relationship with Habitat for Humanity in their own community and are working on creating a national partnership with Habitat as we grow out our network of franchisees.

Our franchisee training is exceptional. It is extensive and fun and crafted to let franchisees get a real sense of the design industry, our company philosophy and how to build customer relationships.

Why would you create such an aggressive and unique benefits package as a start-up?

If our employees are constantly worrying about how to pay their bills, health care, spending time with their families, etc., they’ll end up resenting their job and us.  By letting our employees know that their well-being as a whole is important to us, we build company loyalty.

What is your prospect matching service?

We’ve found that we have prospects interested in buying a franchise who may not have everything they need, but who could partner with another prospect in their community to purchase a franchise together. 

So we work with those prospects to introduce them to each other and perhaps form a business partnership that enables them to proceed with their purchase of one of our franchises. 

We’ve also found it easier to be in business when you have other people working with you to achieve the same goals.

How do you see your charitable work with Habitat for Humanity tying into your mission as a company?

Our mission is to help people achieve the potential of their own style, especially through their homes.  We believe that mission extends beyond simply those who can afford expensive real estate.  Everyone should have access to decent, affordable housing.

Why did you create the position of Business Development Coach?

We view ourselves as partners with our franchisees owners and wanted to streamline the support system to ensure that these owners receive what they need from the moment they sign the documents. 

So, rather than having a franchisee get tossed from person to person and department to department, we model the same customer service approach we want them to have with their own clients. 

Each franchisee is matched to a Business Development Coach who serves as their primary point of contact for anything and everything they need from just providing general coaching and support to helping them resolve technology issues, completing the training, setting up their home office… you name it, the Business Development Coach is there to help them.

Where do you see the company in 5 years? 10 years?

We see ourselves growing and improving. A lot of that will depend on how well we’re received by the public.

Aside from our company growth, we hope we’re part of a trend in business that puts value back into customer service where it belongs.  But on the business side, our goal is to have 500 franchises operational in North America. 

We have plans for some exciting new innovations and at least one other franchise concept and consumer brand which we plan on launching in the next year or so. 

Additionally, we’re working on some additional revenue stream opportunities for our franchisees and we have a couple of tricks up our sleeves that we’re very excited about.

Changing Course and Valerie Young are proud to endorse A Designer’s Eye. To learn more about A Designer’s Eye go to http://www.ADEfranchising.com