Smarter Interior Design Sourcing – How Great Reps Save You Time, Money & Project Headaches

Designers tell me sourcing a single room took them 12 hours, sometimes 24. That number is not a badge. It is a signal that you are working alone when you don’t have to. Your reps carry deep product knowledge, best pricing, logistics muscle, and a national network of receivers and problem solvers, and most designers use maybe a tenth of it. 

In this post I interview Roger Miles of Roger Miles LLC, a home furnishings rep with 30 years in the industry, to unpack what reps really do, the sourcing mistakes costing you time and money, and how to build the kind of rep relationship that rescues your project at 7:00 at night.

Highlights

➜ Why the first call on a new project should go to your reps, not your search bar

➜ The 2 mistakes that create nearly every sourcing crisis, and both are avoidable

➜ Why designers do not ask for wholesale pricing, and why they should demand it

➜ What a rep does behind the scenes that your client never sees

➜ Buying groups: who they serve well, who they do not, and the layer they add

➜ What to do when your rep does not serve you

➜ Color, availability, and the eclectic mix coming out of High Point Market

➜ Roger’s 3 rules for working with any rep, including the one about your dog

Episode Timestamps

00:00 Introduction and why sourcing alone is costing you

02:00 From picture framing to custom home builds to repping

04:30 The lines Roger carries and how he chooses them

06:15 What a rep does all day, and why your lines get forgotten

07:15 How designers should be briefing their reps on a new project

09:30 Logistics, the overlooked rep superpower

12:45 Buying groups and where reps fit

17:00 The biggest sourcing mistake designers make

19:00 Rescue stories from the trenches

22:40 The silvering of the rep industry

23:20 What to do when your rep does not serve you

25:10 How I turned projects in 90 days

28:10 High Point Market trends

29:50 AI and the future of reps

40:30 Roger’s 3 rules for working with reps

Why Interior Designers Should Stop Sourcing Alone

Sourcing has always been one of my superpowers, and it is where I watch talented designers lose the most time.

The reason I could turn projects in 90 days, including down to the studs and back up, is that I launched every project with my reps. Not at the panic stage. At the start.

The message was simple. I landed a new project this week. Here are the rooms and the floor plans. Here is where I think your lines fit, our budget range, the style, and my lead time for decisions. Can you deliver?

My reps came back with options. I would say I like this and this, now show me something different here. And they would. That is 12 hours of solo searching compressed into one conversation.

Roger has been a rep for the better part of 2 decades, after 17 years owning a wall decor manufacturing company and a stretch building custom homes in Bethesda, Maryland with his brother. He has sat on every side of this business. When I asked whether designers brief him at project launch, his answer was one word.

Rarely.

What he gets instead: What do you have that I can get today, and I need it because I forgot about the bar stool.

What a Home Furnishings Rep Does Beyond Product Knowledge

Roger calls himself a brand ambassador, and the product knowledge is only the starting point. He carries Woodbridge, Chelsea House, Wildwood, TCS Custom Upholstery, Maxwell Fabrics, Spectra Home Furniture, Franco Ferri Leather, Delos Custom Wool Rugs, and Bassett Mirror in his West Virginia territory. As he put it, he can sell you anything from the ceiling to the floor and the walls in between, and the back porch too.

He also chooses his lines the way you should choose your vendors: medium-high to high end, strong reputation, real customer service, consistent new introductions, and product availability, so that what he presents is what ships.

The rest of what he brings is invisible until you need it. Best pricing. Logistics. A national network. And a willingness to be your first call when a project goes sideways.

Logistics, the Rep Superpower Designers Overlook

Roger started calling himself a logistics expert during the pandemic, half joking, and it stuck because it is true.

He keeps a vetted resource list on his website covering white-glove delivery and receivers. When a designer in Lancaster, Pennsylvania told me there were no receivers in her area, Roger knew of 2 without looking. And his reach goes far past his own territory.

Need a receiver in Miami or Paducah? That is one phone call for him. He rings a friend in Tennessee, asks who to ship to in Nashville, and has an answer in 2 seconds, sometimes by text while he is on another call.

That network took 30 years to build. You get to borrow it by asking.

His advice on service is the part I want you to underline. You are the customer. Demand great service, from the jump all the way through delivery. You give your clients that standard. Demand it of every vendor you work with. You are paying for it, and your client is paying for it ultimately.

The Sourcing Mistake Costing Interior Designers Time and Money

Roger named 2, and they compound.

The first is not starting soon enough. The second is not using your resources properly.

Underneath both sits something I see constantly in coaching. Designers believe they are bothering the rep, or that they are not big enough to ask for wholesale pricing.

Roger’s response: Demand it. When he walks in for 5 gallons of paint for his house, he is not paying the highest number on the shelf. He has a business, so he asks for the contractor rate. You get what you demand.

Designers tend toward the people-pleaser side and they struggle with worth. You wield far more power in these relationships than you realize. The rep gets paid on the back end of the work you place. That is a partnership, not a favor.

One caution, and Roger and I agree on it completely. Do not abuse the relationship. Pulling options out of a rep repeatedly and never placing the order is not a partnership either.

Interior Design Buying Groups Versus Working Direct

A designer with nearly 30 years in business told me she wanted a buying group but did not want to lose her reps. She loved her reps, and she did not have the volume to match the buying group’s number.

Roger’s view was direct. After 30 years there is no reason you need a buying group. He sees them as strong for the startup designer and less ideal for an established practice. When your business is established, go direct and demand the service and the rates you are entitled to.

He once drew the channel out on a paper tablecloth at High Point, in bubbles. Overseas manufacturer. Domestic importer. Rep. Designer. And at the end, the end user. By the time a piece that began as 30 dollars in raw materials reaches a client at 1,000 dollars, that spread went somewhere.

A buying group can benefit your pricing. It also adds one more layer to a chain that already has plenty.

What a Great Rep Does When Your Project Goes Sideways

Roger’s rescue stories are the heart of this episode.

A client called at 7:00 pm with an assisted living project in Charlotte and a factory that had burned down. Her artwork was gone. He had a warehouse and a crew still working, so he made the pieces that night. She still purchases from him 30 years later.

A headboard was picked up by the wrong carrier with a 3-week delay attached. Two phone calls later, it rode up on a different truck, and the client had a headboard for their Friday night party instead of a bed without a headboard. 

A Poconos resort came up one coffee counter short after a blip in order entry. Roger called a maker in Lancaster from the break room at High Point, and a temporary counter was in the room by the deadline. A $600 fix, thrown away 6 weeks later. It kept the client, and the client kept ordering.

On a 30- to 40-piece order, a designer asked the old what can you do for me. He said get me the confirmed order and I will go to bat for you. She got a savings, expedited container timing, and a placeholder piece he collected later.

None of that shows up in front of your client. All of it protects your reputation.

There is always an issue in this business. Think about healthcare, Roger said. Walk into any hospital and there is a crisis somewhere. It is a matter of how you handle it. Work the problem with the people who can solve it, and you become the hero of a bad situation.

Designers get embarrassed and stressed instead. I am wired to go straight to who can I call, who can I text. It takes a village, and your reps are an integral part of yours.

What to Do When Your Rep Does Not Serve You

Not every rep is a good rep, and Roger is the first to say he is not everybody’s cup of tea.

When a rep is not serving you, go to the source. Call customer service. Call the sales manager, the vice president, the owner. Ask for someone inside who will take care of you, and call it a personality conflict when that is easier.

You are driving the train. You are buying the product. That is how they make money.

Worth knowing: there is a silvering of the rep industry underway. A significant number are retiring at the top and few are coming in at the bottom. Some manufacturers are training their own, and they are training product knowledge only, not relationship building or service. When you find a rep who has all 3, hold onto that person.

High Point Market Trends and the AI Question

Roger’s read on the current market: color is back, everywhere. Availability is still a strong selling point, particularly for accessories that land at the end of a project. More woods, and brown is back. The direction of travel is an eclectic mix, where vintage, new, and estate sale finds live together in one room. On sustainability, he is seeing less conversation than a few years ago.

On AI, his answer was immediate. You cannot have a relationship with AI.

He has heard this before. In the early 90s, when his company added a website, his salespeople told him it would replace the reps. It did not. It was another sales tool, like a catalog. The relationship is what builds and sustains the business, not the newest technology.

My own view: as AI takes hold, human and handcrafted become more desired, not less. The tools will shorten the design process and give you more room for creativity. They will not source the piece nobody has seen yet, and they will not call a maker in Lancaster at 9:00 at night.

Roger’s 3 Rules for Working with Reps

1. Communicate clearly. When you text, say what you are asking about. Not where is my order. Give your rep something to work with, and remember they are mobile, not at a desk with a screen full of your account. Roger services 2,500 to 3,000 accounts. He cannot recall your lamp from memory.

2. Shop early and shop often. Custom bar stools from TCS run 8 to 10 weeks depending on fabric. In-stock options from the Woodbridge warehouse could ship today and land next Tuesday. Which one you get depends entirely on when you ask.

3. Have a relationship. Reps are human. Their families eat off this business. Value the relationship, and tell them your dog’s name. As Roger says, when he knows your pet’s name, he knows how you work, when you work, and that the text is coming at 6:30 a.m. because that’s when you start sourcing.

Your Next Step

Pick your next project. Before you open a single vendor site, send your reps the brief. Rooms, floor plans, budget range, style, quantities, and your deadline for decisions.

Then ask the question most designers never ask. What can you do for me?

You’re not bothering anyone. You’re doing your job.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does a home furnishings rep do for an interior designer?

Far more than showing product. A strong rep brings deep line knowledge, best pricing, logistics support, receiver and delivery referrals, order expediting, and problem-solving when a project goes sideways.

When should I contact my rep on a new project?

At project launch, not at the deadline. Send rooms, floor plans, budget range, style direction, quantities, and your decision timeline, then ask for top fits by a specific date.

Should interior designers use a buying group or work directly with reps?

Buying groups can serve a startup designer well. For an established practice, going direct and demanding the service and pricing you are entitled to is usually stronger. A buying group adds another layer to a supply chain that already has several.

How do I get wholesale pricing as an interior designer?

Ask for it. Bring volume and specifics, such as a whole house needing 15 pieces from one line, then ask what the rep can do. Most designers never ask because they assume they are not big enough.

What should I do when my rep is unresponsive?

Go to the source. Call customer service, the sales manager, or the owner, and ask for someone inside who will take care of your account. You are buying the product, so you are driving the train.

Connect with Roger Miles of Roger Miles LLC on Instagram, or find him at High Point Market.

Listen to this episode on Design Business Freedom™ Podcast – Episode 205

Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audacy, Deezer, Podchaser, and Everand.

About Melissa Galt

Melissa Galt is a sought-after business coach, marketing consultant, and keynote speaker who empowers designers to build highly profitable businesses without the burnout. Drawing on three decades as principal of her own successful residential design firm, she helps creative professionals earn more in less time, with less stress.

She is the author of four bestselling books, including Marketing Luxury Design, The Language of Success, Design Discovery, and Proximity to Profits. She also hosts the weekly Design Business Freedom™ podcast, sharing unfiltered advice on mindset, money, and marketing for interior design pros ready to elevate their game. When you’re ready to take your practice to the next level, book a complimentary Design Business Assessment with Melissa.