Interior Design Debriefs: The 20-Minute Profit Booster: Transcript

Katie Decker-Erickson [00:00:00]:

do you love interior design but can't make the business side work? You've come to the right place. Welcome to Success by Design Mastering the Business of Interior Design Whether you want to elevate in your current interior design firm, start your own firm, or move the needle when it comes to your existing firm's trajectory, this is your masterclass and I'm your host, Katie Erickson. Learn from my mistakes as I built a coast to coast, multi million dollar interior design firm. I share nearly 20 years of serving as a university professor of undergraduate and graduate business courses with you and best of all, I bring in experts in all things business and interior design. Class starts now. Hey fellow designers, I am going to start out by shooting you straight on this episode. If you are not doing end of project debriefs, you're probably repeating the same mistakes and bleeding profit without even realizing it. In fact, research shows that teams who debrief improve performance by 20 to 25% on their very next project.

Katie Decker-Erickson [00:01:07]:

If you skip this step, you'll be stumbling over the same problems such as miscommunication, vendor delays, approvals gone sideways over and over again. And so today, I'm going to walk you through exactly how to run a debrief that takes 20 minutes, covers more than just did we make money? And actually gives you the playbook for smoother, smarter, more profitable projects in the future. You know how we start? Let's play two truths and a lie. Number one, Debriefs uncover inefficiencies that drain your profit. Number two, debriefs are only about checking your margin. Number three, teams and individuals who debrief regularly improve efficiency and profits. And I hope you already know which one of those is the lie. But if not, you're going to want to for sure stick around until the end.

Katie Decker-Erickson [00:01:55]:

So here's my confession to get us started. I never did debriefs until I had a team when it was just me. I finished a project, sent the final invoice, celebrated with a good glass of wine, and moved on. But once I built a team, I realized we can't afford to keep winging it. I had designers, a project manager, procurement leads, all experiencing pain points I didn't even see because I wasn't doing their job every day anymore. If we didn't capture those lessons, we were doomed to repeat them. That's when I discovered that a debrief isn't optional. It's where you protect your margins, you streamline your processes, and you create sanity and durability for your team.

Katie Decker-Erickson [00:02:40]:

So let me be clear. A debrief is not just did we hit the margin we expected? Yeah. It's a lot more than that. Margins matter, of course, but. But a true debrief is going to dig a whole heck of a lot deeper. Let's talk about it. The questions you should be asking is, did we communicate clearly with the client? Did our vendors deliver on time? Did our design presentations actually speed up decision making or slow it down? And did our system support us or work against us? Now, profit margin is the outcome of all of that. The debrief uncovers the inputs that actually drive that outcome.

Katie Decker-Erickson [00:03:21]:

So how do you do it? I'm going to give you a step by step approach. First of all, you got to schedule it. Put it on the calendar before you close out the project. Yeah. Don't wait till the end. Hold it within five to seven days of completion. Also treat it like sending that final invoice. It is not optional.

Katie Decker-Erickson [00:03:40]:

Oh, I hate to say this, please, but that which gets measured gets done. This is why we or me counts calories and goes to the gym. Because it works. So why does all of this matter? Too late and details get fuzzy too soon and ripple effects aren't visible yet. This is why there's a sweet spot. In fact, here's a pro tip for you. Add hold debrief to your project closeout checklist so it's never forgotten. That's right.

Katie Decker-Erickson [00:04:11]:

I know I'm the queen of systems, but you've got to turn this into a system too. Your second step is make sure you're inviting the right people. And what do we mean by that? Always include your core team, your designers, your project managers, and your procurement lead. Bring in the key contractors or vendors if they also had major involvement. And finally, only involve clients if it was a deeply collaborative project. But I will tell you, historically, I will say I have only done this one or two times because you're basically doing an autopsy on your project and you don't necessarily want the client there. Why does all this matter? You want perspectives across the workflow. So all of these people need to pull up a seat.

Katie Decker-Erickson [00:04:58]:

The person tracking POS will see different issues than the person doing client presentations. But here's your pro tip for this one. Keep it lean. More than six to seven people. It's going to become unproductive and time prohibitive and very costly. Step number three. Let's talk about the nuts and bolts of how to run a debrief. We're going to make it simple.

Katie Decker-Erickson [00:05:21]:

We're going to make it effective. And we're going to basically look at this as four buckets you're looking into every time you sit down to have this meeting. One, process and systems. Where did your workflow break down? Were approvals tracked? Were change orders documented cleanly? Did we use the right tools for software templates and boards? You're looking at the how in this bucket one. In bucket two, we're going to look at people and communication. Did we communicate clearly with the client? Were team rules clear? Did handoffs between designers, project managers and procurement cause friction? And did any part of the client experience feel confusing or slow? That's your bucket number two, people and communication. Moving on to bucket number three, let's look outside at our vendors and partners. Which vendors delivered flawlessly and which ones were train wrecks? Was it a one time incident that caused them to be a train wreck? Are they consistently a train wreck and we need to find a new vendor to replace them? Also, were shipping lead times realistic or do we need new partners in that regard? Either Take a look at who's positioning you for success and who isn't.

Katie Decker-Erickson [00:06:32]:

That's your third bucket, vendors and partners. And then your fourth bucket is really, we're finally getting to that money and time. But we're going to look at where do we lose hours that weren't billable. We're going to look at did we have reorders, rush fees, budget overages, and did we have surprises that could have been caught earlier? So fourth bucket, money and time. And that's really it. Four buckets, Process, people, vendors and money. And if you hit those every time, you'll always uncover at least one action that's going to save you time or money on your next project in a 20 minute meeting, which is what this should take. That's literally five minutes on each of those buckets for someone to chime in if it wasn't working well from their respective branch on your tree.

Katie Decker-Erickson [00:07:21]:

And then finally, I want you to document the debrief. We're going to capture everything in a shared doc or project management tool. If you're not using AI to record your meetings and document this for you, come book a 15 minute strategy session with me free of charge and let's get this dialed in for you. You're going to organize those lessons learned by category. Clients, vendors, processes, communication. The reality is, folks, if it's not written down, it doesn't exist. And that's true not only in my life, but in business in general. Here's your pro tip for this one.

Katie Decker-Erickson [00:07:54]:

Though. Start every project kickoff by reviewing the last debrief for a minute. That's where the learning compounds. And then we're going to close the loop. We're going to end the debrief with at least one action item assigned to a name with a deadline. For example, the PM Project Manager will add the vendor ETA tracking to weekly check ins. That should be going on behind the scenes already. If it's not, we need to talk about that.

Katie Decker-Erickson [00:08:21]:

But it's those little tweaks that are going to allow you to build inertia over time. It's the value of that 1% change that is talked about in the great book Atomic Habits. If you haven't read it yet, please do so. But all those little one percents add up to significant change because without action, a debrief is just a venting session and real change is going to equal real profit for you. Your pro tip on closing that loop is revisit those action items in your next team meeting to make sure they did get integrated and that they're being integrated repeatedly. Now, I hear you out there and you're thinking to yourself, katie, I don't have a pm, Katie, I don't have a procurement officer. It's me out here. Okay, I hear you and I see you.

Katie Decker-Erickson [00:09:09]:

If you're a team of one like I was for years, you may be saying these exact same things. And here's the reality. You still need a debrief. Learn from my mistakes. I should have been doing a debrief when it was just me. You are your own team. You are a team. It's just a team of one.

Katie Decker-Erickson [00:09:28]:

How do you do it? Just block 15 minutes after each project, write down those exact same four buckets we talked about. Process people, in other words, your client, vendors and money, and answer one or two questions under each one and then address how you're going to make one change next time. You don't need a meeting. You need accountability, which is one of my favorite things to coach to. I want to be there to champion you on as you build a bigger and better business for you, whatever that may look like. All right, I'm going to be blunt. I once skipped debriefs and it was a dumpster fire. Like I said, when I finally started implementing them into my business, those one percents really started to add up in effectual change that affected our project every single time and our profit margins, which is exactly what we have talked about in this series, Project to Profit over the last six weeks.

Katie Decker-Erickson [00:10:28]:

And folks, let's Be honest. That's the power of 20, 20 minutes. That's it right there. So here's my actionable step for you. Which of those buckets that we've talked about, process people, vendors and money do you think is costing you the most right now in your business? Whether you're walking or driving, take a beat and think about which one of those am I leaving money on the table on. In fact, I love it if you DM me your answer because I would really enjoy hearing and maybe even featuring your response in a future episode without your name. I want to protect you. So let's talk about profit and let's really draw this direct link between debriefs and profit.

Katie Decker-Erickson [00:11:08]:

The reality is if you save two hours per project, that's hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars back in your pocket, especially if you are a flat fee designer. Also, if you can avoid one reorder or rush shipping, that's pure profit protected for you. If you and if you capture one client process when that's a smoother experience, that's going to lead to more referrals which we talked all about on last week's episode. If you missed it, make sure and go back and take a listen. And we know that that is free marketing. This is why to me, debriefs are non negotiable. They are just as important as your onboarding process. So now it's time for two Truths and a Lie and the big reveal.

Katie Decker-Erickson [00:11:56]:

Let's go back and review. Number one, debriefs uncover inefficiencies that drain your profit. Number two, debriefs are only about checking your margin. Or number three, teams and individuals who debrief regularly improve efficiencies and profits. And I hope you're smiling to yourself right now because you already know the answer and it is. Number two, debriefs are only about checking your margin and that is not true, that is your lie. Margins are the scoreboard. Debriefs are where you figure out how you got there and how to do it better next time.

Katie Decker-Erickson [00:12:32]:

So here's my challenge for you. For your very next project, run a debrief. If you've got a team, it's 20 minutes, hit the four buckets and document one action. If you're a solopreneur, maybe only 15 minutes, but journal it out again. Hit hit the four buckets and commit to one change. I really challenge you to do it once and you'll realize how powerful it is to stop repeating mistakes and start building smarter systems. And if you want to build a repeatable debrief system that plugs leaks and streamlines your workflow and protects your profits repeatedly. I want to talk to you.

Katie Decker-Erickson [00:13:10]:

That's why I offer a 15 minute problem solving strategy at SuccessByDesign. Coach will find one leak in your business for sure and fix it. That is a wrap up of our Project to Profit series, but really, it's the beginning of a smarter, more profitable business for you. And I hope that you've enjoyed these last six episodes that they have inspired you to take action in your business and that you can see the direct correlation between each and every project and how to turn that not only into a profit generator, but but repeat business and building a better business that positions you where you want to be. Until next time, Remember, your business should be working for you, not you working for it. Take care.