I spent two days at the end of last week in Denver. I was invited by BellaLu Home & Design to give trend seminars in their store. What a blast! I spoke to consumers in a special invitation-only evening event on Thursday. I spoke about trends for 2009 and 2010. On Friday morning I gave a different talk for interior designers, both on-staff and from the surrounding region. In this case, I began with 2010 and reached into my forecast for 2011.
The consumer group was wonderful, attentive and excited, but the interior design group was amazing. As my presentation to the designers began, it was snowing and cloudy outside. But true to Denver’s ever-changing weather scene, the sun came out 20 minutes later. Reflecting on the newly fallen snow, the sunshine made the store so bright that it became impossible to see the images I had on the screen. Was that a problem? Not for a group of interior designers — people who love to rearrange furniture! These people picked up the screen, moved the fabric rack that was holding the projector, reorganized the chairs and shifted the podium all without skipping a beat!
Everyone working together produced a positive energy that I wanted to bottle and take home. It was the same sort of energy that I felt from BellaLu Home & Design’s staff the minute I walked in the door on Thursday. I loved how they greeted their customers as old friends, even when they had just met. It was good to see how intently their in-store interior designers listened as customers explained what they live with today and what they wanted to do within their home. And I was so impressed by their policy to not EVER say ANYTHING negative about a customer at any time and for any reason. That tone was set by the owner and she hired a team that believes in her customer service values. That makes being in BellaLu feel great. I selfishly hope I will be asked to come back again at some time, just so I can feel that great energy!