With nearly 25 years of experience furnishing exquisite interiors, Christi Barbour and Christi Spangle are using what they’ve learned to launch The BSD Group, a product procurement service for interior designers.
“We know that as a young designer or a young design firm, it’s hard getting started. It’s hard getting accounts with vendors when there are minimum orders or annual minimums,” Spangle says. “We went through that when we started our business 24 years ago. We saw this as an opportunity for us to give back and support other designers … to mentor them through becoming successful design firms themselves — and to help those design firms out there that just don’t want to do procurement in-house anymore.”
The BSD Group’s procurement service is structured to give independent designers access to to-the-trade products, backend logistics management, order management and warehousing support — and to offer all that in as few as five touch points. Those touchpoints: 1) new project form, 2) onboarding review, 2) submit product details, 4) review and approve, and 5) sign off on delivery.
Procurement has been a strength of the women’s own residential and commercial design firm, High Point-based Barbour Spangle Design. They’ve had a team member dedicated to process for many years.
“We’re getting ready to celebrate our 25th year in business so we have a quarter century of history building relationships with vendors, working with sales reps, and learning the ins and outs of the procurement process,” Barbour says. “… It became apparent that if we can do a good job at procurement for our clients, we can do an equally good job for our peers in the industry who don’t have the cash or the credit or even the time or bandwidth to manage procurement.”
Designers can choose from two BSD Group models: In the first model, The BSD Group will sell furniture and accessories directly to designers’ clients. “That way the designer isn’t paying upfront for product or waiting to get reimbursed from their client,” Spangle says. “They have zero financial transactions at all” — and very little paperwork to deal with either.
In the second model, The BSD Group sells to the designer, who then sells the products to their clients. Under both models, designers who use the procurement service pay a flat annual fee.
“We remember the days when we couldn’t get into showrooms at High Point Market, where we could not or were not allowed to open accounts, where we did not have enough money to meet the opening minimum order, much less meet the annual minimum spend. It took us years of heartache and blood, sweat and tears (to reach this point),” Barbour says. “Our goal is to teach other designers how they can be good at procurement. Eventually, they may want to branch off and do their own buying and, when they do, they’ll have seen the process modeled well for them.”
The BSD Group is working with more than 25 vendors, with the number continuing to grow. The list includes Arteriors, Century, Currey & Company, Four Hands, Gabby, Hickory Chair, The MT Company and Summer Classics.
“We looked at the hundreds of vendors we work with and (initially) chose the ones that we felt like were going to be most recognizable, and who had a variety of products, good pricing and good customer service,” Spangle says. “The list is ever growing. We actually had a company reach out today asking if they could be part of the program.”
The procurement service is staffed by expeditors Madison January and Stephanie Strawn and business manager Kelley Werran, who have all worked with Barbour Spangle Designs for several years.
The BSD Group has been pilot testing its procurement service for about 18 months. “One of the things that people have told us has been a game changer for them is that we have one point of contact, so they are not getting a customer service line where they reach somebody different every time. And they’re not getting a robot pop-up online,” Spangle says. “They’re getting a person who knows everything about their orders and where they are in the process — and we all know how important relationships are in this industry.”
To assist the three-person BSD Group team, Spangle is reorienting her own workload to focus on the venture. “We’re committed to this, and Christi is transitioning her time, effort and energy into making sure that this is a success,” Barbour says. “She’s there to support Madison, Stephanie and Kelley, but also to support the designers.”
Barbour Spangle Design will officially unveil The BSD Group procurement service at the fall High Point Market, where Barbour and Spangle will present a panel, “Process to Profits: Can a New Generation of Designer Procurement Groups Better Your Business?” from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 26 at The Point.
Panelists will include Gail Doby, interior design business transformation specialist and co-founder of Pearl Collective; Brad Clinard, financial planner; and Holly Woodward, owner and designer of DASH Home & Kitchen; as well as Barbour and Spangle. The discussion will explore how new procurement models can help designers streamline operations and maximize profits. A Q&A afterward will allow designers to learn more about how The BSD Group can help their businesses. No RSVP is required.
“(The BSD Group)” is really a win-win-win,” Spangle says. “The vendors win because they’re not turning down small sales, we win because we’re generating revenue and increasing everyone’s buying power, and the designers win because they’re getting better pricing than they’d be able to, if they could even open an account, and the procurement is easier for them.”