EP 82 You Don’t Hate Procurement, You Were Just Never Taught How to Run It Properly

If this episode has resonated with you, if you’ve been avoiding procurement, or feeling disconnected from it, then this is your invitation to go deeper.

On 1st May, Lisa-Marie is joining forces with Elizabeth Kelly from The Procurement Studio for a dedicated masterclass designed to help you:

• structure your procurement properly
• implement systems that actually work
• and turn this area of your business into a profitable, supportive process

This is where we take everything you’ve heard in this episode… and show you how to apply it.

SAVE YOUR SEAT

Procurement is one of the most avoided, and misunderstood, areas of an interior design business.Not because you’re not capable of running it…But because no one has ever really shown you how to structure it properly.

In this practical and eye-opening episode, I open up a conversation that many designers quietly struggle with. The disconnect from procurement, the overwhelm, the sense that it feels chaotic, time-consuming, and easier to avoid than to master.

But here’s the truth…Procurement isn’t the problem, it is the lack of structure around it.

Inside this episode, I reframe procurement as one of the most powerful opportunities within your business. When it is supported by the right systems, processes, and decision-making frameworks, it becomes a streamlined, repeatable, and highly profitable part of your service offering.

You’ll be guided through how to move away from reactive ordering and into a more structured, intentional approach, one that allows you to manage suppliers with ease, track multiple items without overwhelm, and create a seamless experience for both you and your clients.

This is not about adding more to your plate. This is about creating a business that runs like a well-oiled machine.

And if procurement has ever felt like ‘too much’… this episode will completely shift the way you see it.

Join Lisa-Marie and the women in the Design Boss Diary family, follow on Instagram HERE and find more about how you can work with Lisa in 2026. 

Other episodes are on our YouTube channel HERE

Ready to be supported inside your business and move forward with clarity, structure, and confidence?

If you’re at a point where you know things need to shift and you’re ready for guidance that actually holds you through that process there are several ways we can work together.

From high-proximity 1:1 mentorship to group spaces designed to build momentum and accountability, each experience is created to support you at different stages of your journey.

To explore what support would look like for you, reach out directly at designbossdiary@gmail.com and start the conversation. 2026 has a limited amount of spaces already. 

And as always, if you have loved this episode, we would love for you to leave a review, and if you screenshot this podcast and share it on your socials, tagging @Design_Boss_Diary in, then we have a special gift waiting just for you. 

See you in the next episode, from your Interior Design business strategist and soulful leadership business mentor x

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 1:11

Good morning and welcome back to another episode of the Design Boss Dialogue podcast. Today we are episode 82, and we're going to be talking all about the most overlooked profit stream in your design business, which is procurement, the world of procurement. Because I know from having so many conversations with so many designers that so many of you either avoid, overthink, or quietly hope that things will just fall into place in your business when it comes to procurement. And I speak to so many designers in their first five years of business where the majority of designers want to avoid procurement just because they don't know the ins and outs, they don't know the setups, they're afraid to get it wrong, they don't know the layer margins, the profit streams, how to price it profitably, the systems that need to go in place. But before I dive into all of that, I just want to take a moment and I want you just to take a deep breath and listen very carefully to what I'm about to say. When I use or say the word procurement, what comes up for you in your body? Where do you feel that word? Okay. And then where you feel it, what comes after it? Do you feel excited? Do you feel like it's an opportunity for the business? Do you feel like it's gross? Or do you feel heavy? Do you feel overwhelmed? Do you feel nervous about it? Or is it something that naturally inside you're like, oh no, I avoid it. It's okay. I'll go through a concept, design direction, I'll get to presentation. That's absolutely fine for me. I'll hand everything over to the client. Because if I'm really, really honest with you, most designers sit in that second phase. So I want us to really talk through the normalization of what you're feeling so that we can take you out of that second feeling phase and into that first feeling phase. Now, at the end of the podcast, I'm going to tell you about a really exciting masterclass that's coming up where Design Boss Diary are collaborating with the procurement studio, and Elizabeth Kelly is going to be delivering a one-hour power-packed masterclass on Friday, the 1st of May, for all of the designers joining. And it's going to be all about systems scalability, profit, and how to work procurement properly in your interior design business. But there'll be more of that at the end of the episode, as well as in your show notes. So procurement sometimes feels like it's a lot of pressure and a lot of things to manage. Certainly, when you go from one room to a whole house, how do you actually really move through something like that? As well as if you're the business owner, which so many of you are, you'll be juggling things like on the business, the marketing, the sales, the visibility, you know, looking at your forecast, making sure your content is in line with that, looking at doing in the business work, which is your current client work. And then you have procurement thrown into the mix. So a lot of you feel like there is so much more to manage. But here's what I want to really offer you today: that procurement, when it's done properly, it's not the thing that creates stress in the business, it's the thing that removes it. And this is why so many designers go into procurement and they try it once, they really get themselves in a muddle and they come out and think, no, that's not for me. I'm not going to offer that or do that again. So I want to normalize this struggle, like I said, because if you've if you've been feeling this and you've been feeling overwhelmed by procurement, that does not mean you're doing something wrong. It means that you haven't been given the structure or the learnings or the teachings that actually support you to do it properly. Okay. Because let's look at what procurement actually involves. Okay. It means the management of multiple suppliers, you're placing multiple orders, you've got different lead times, you're coordinating deliveries, and then you're thinking about the install dates. Okay. Now, all of that is happening across multiple projects at once. Yes, that is going to feel a lot. However, we want to set up procurement in our business that no matter if it's done once and you've just got one project going on, or you've got three or four or five projects going on, it is a well-oiled machine, and you do that simply by putting processes in place which repeat themselves time and time again. And of course, per project, you're going to get small fluctuations in edits of readjusting, such as different lead times, different items, different delivery companies. However, when you put the underpinning of the foundation of the well-oiled machine in place for procurement, that will take a lot of the stress off. So, what I see time and time again is designers start to really pull back because there is so much to coordinate, okay, and they just want to simplify, they just want to reduce their offer and avoid procurement altogether, like I said. But if it feels easier in a way that works for you and your business, you embrace it more, okay? And this is what I want to really look at in this podcast. So let's really reframe this. Procurement is not just about ordering furniture, it's about delivering the vision for the client, and it's about taking everything that you've designed and actually bringing it into reality because when you do that well, the client experience completely elevates in itself, and you are then at the forefront of being recommended for so many other jobs, okay? And I just want to kind of put this into perspective for you. If you've got a client and you can manage their whole experience from the vision right through to the installation, and you have a well-oiled machine that you can do that smoothly, they're not only going to come back to you, but they're also going to recommend you to their friends. So after the experience is done and you've left their home and they have dinner parties, they have friends around, their friends are complimenting on the interiors. Your name is going to be at the forefront of that dinner party, that lunch, that tea, that morning coffee, and they're going to say, Hey, such and such came in. She was amazing, she handled it all so professionally, she did it so well, she orchestrated the whole team. I would highly recommend her. So it's about also the conversations that happen after when you've removed yourself out of the property and you have left a lasting stamp on the home itself after you have delivered the vision. But that all starts in the underpinning of the foundations of where procurement starts, okay? So we don't want your clients to manage multiple suppliers, we don't want them chasing the deliveries, we don't want them coordinating timelines and ordering. And you know, you need to, as an interior design business owner, hold space for them to do that, and that is where your value is going to increase as a designer, and this is where your positioning really, really strengthens, okay, and this is where your profitability grows as well because you're no longer just a designer, then you're leading the whole process. Now, over the years, I have been in business now 16 years, we have delivered over 150 houses, um, show homes that I have completely lost count of, private residential, five, six, seven bedroom houses that we've fully procured. And within those 16 years, yes, we have had blips, we have had things go wrong, we have had mistakes, we've had deliveries not turning up. I could write a book on the amount of things that have happened. And what I really learned fast early on is procurement has to be done right in an organized manner that works for you and your business, and you need to have a team around you in order to be able to deliver that. Okay, procurement without a structure will always feel chaotic in your business. Okay, I've experienced it, I've been there, and like I said, items haven't been delivered, wrong items have been delivered, deliveries go wrong, they go to different addresses, they go back to the warehouses, then they don't come out in time. In store days become really, really reactive rather than planned, and suddenly, instead of feeling completely in control, you're constantly catching up. Okay, and the the biggest issue I see, and where I talk to my clients that are going through procurement, where we're pivoting their businesses, and things that I've had to me in the past is the lack of visibility in the early years. It's not knowing, you know, what's been ordered when, what's arriving, what's delayed, what's missing. And when you don't have clarity on that, everything feels overwhelmed. It feels like a tsunami rather than a little drop in the ocean because everything is kind of coming in on you. And we very quickly put some systems in place with our procurement that really supported our business. One of them was um being able to differentiate how to do ordering. Okay, and this is something that Elizabeth and I are going to touch on in the masterclass, and especially Elizabeth very heavily, but it's the way in items are ordered, and it's the way that the deliveries are done as well. And this is really, really key for your business. It's about setting up a system for a high, a middle, and a low-tier ordering system where you are dealing with certain banded group items first, then you deal with next banded items, and then you deal with the next group. And it's being able to also build the relationships with the career teams because we have nationally, you know, three or four large career teams. And when you can get in and understand how the career teams work, get into head office and you know, via phone and email and make those connections and really speak to people in an organized manner of how your projects are working, what the dates you're doing, letting them know the addresses, letting them know how to coordinate everything, you're going to be at the forefront of having absolutely everything in control. So this then puts you at an advantage because it allows you to be active instead of reactive and plan your procurement installation days. Another little key thing, which I've shared on a couple of podcasts before, is we create a coloured label sticky system. Now we do this mainly with our big show homes, but if we have got projects where we are doing multiple houses for argument's sake, we will look at doing a labelling system where items are coming in, and if we're putting them in a storage facility or they're coming into a personal property and getting put in a spare bedroom, or they're putting in a garage, or they're putting, like I say, in a warehouse, or they're coming here and they're going somewhere else. We have got a really good system in place, and Nikki, who was my project coordinator, she developed this very early on as well because it really helped the teams when they were coming in to handle the items and move them into properties, be able to visually understand the segregation between boxes. And it's just simply all the red stickers go to that address, all the blue stickers go to that address, and it's something so so simple, but it has been game-changing for us. In the beginning, when we didn't have this sticker system, boxes would turn up to show homes or clients' houses that weren't meant for that project, and it meant then double handling work, putting the boxes back in the vans, bringing them back to storage and looking for the right ones. But this way we were able to very quickly see, and the delivery companies that were dealing with them, if English wasn't their first language, we could very easily communicate with them to say there is a coloured coding system and you only lift that colour onto the van. If it's not that colour, it stays in the warehouse. So that's another little tip that I'd really love to share with you for kind of diving deep into when it comes to organization of multi-large projects. So now I want to take you into this from a slightly different angle because it's one thing to understand the challenges, but it's another thing to actually understand what good procurement actually looks like, okay? And how do we start doing this in your business in a way that feels completely manageable? Now, the first thing I want you to understand is that not everything you order behaves the same way, and this is where so many designers get caught out because everything gets treated with the same level of urgency, but in reality, you want to start categorizing your items, okay? And this is where I go back to the high, the mid, and the low system. So you've got long lead time pieces, things like your sofas, your bespoke joinery, your made-to-order items, and these need to really be thought about early on in the project. You've got bespoke items and things that require approval, drawing, sign-off, they need even more attention, more communication, and more time, and they are banded in with the higher bracket items. Okay, so when things are on a longer lead time for a project, such as 16 weeks or 20 weeks, you want to very much look at that and put that all into process first. Then you've got your quicker items, like I say, your accessories, your styling pieces, your smaller furniture, things that can come in later. But you want to separate your items out like giving them a bit of breathing space so that you can call your suppliers, put things on hold, or order the items and ask them to be held in certain places before then they get all delivered at once. And I think this is where designers catch themselves out. They'll focus all on the big items first, but they won't make the phone calls for the mid or smaller items to put things on hold until they can get round to them. When you build up your relationships with your suppliers, we have done over the years, you start building up connections and you know, relationships with the people on the ground that are managing these items, and they are more than happy to put things aside. As long as they've been paid for, it's absolutely fine. Okay, so I know that from experience, and it's about having the time to develop those relationships. So, with procurement, I want you to know that there are a couple of lessons within this. It's about having a well-oiled machine, it's about having the structure, the system, and the processes in place. It's about understanding how items are ordered and how items are managed. But it's also when we are doing procurement, there is a whole underpinning as well in terms of how you make your money. Now, I'm not going to go into that in this podcast, but I'm going to, in the show notes, give you an opportunity and an invitation to show you how to do that in your business. However, this is why I'm so passionate about these conversations. Because when we set up our design fees correctly, we can make money. But profit, true profit, can come from the big procurement stages in our business. And that is why I'm bringing Elizabeth Kelly in to talk to you all on Friday, the 1st of May, because procurement doesn't need to feel overwhelming. It gets to feel structured, it gets to feel supported, and it gets to be profitable, like I said. And that is why so many designers that I start to coach and mentor, I support them through the movement of feeling overwhelmed with that into a place where they can start moving into making money in their business through procurement. Okay. So if what once felt really overwhelming, what once feels confusing, you've got so many questions around it, I would love to invite you to this masterclass to start to experience some of the information you need for your business to look at the systems, the structures, the profitability, so that you can actually start implementing in this in your business. Now, I know when I first started, if I had something like this in my business, where I had an opportunity to join a masterclass like this, speak to someone about procurement, have my hand held through the early years of procurement, it would have meant the world to me. And this is why I am doing this for you. Now, if all of this still feels like it's a lot and you're sitting there going, Lisa, I just don't know if I can do it, I want to give you some words of advice. Just start small. You don't need to do everything at once, you just need to start with one project, one room, one smaller scope, and really build your confidence from there because procurement is a skill, and like anything, any skill that we do, it's an ex a muscle that needs to be exercised at the end of the day. So, what I would say is really understand your system and your process, really understand your underpinning of your foundation of how you want it to work, and then just try it out on one room, okay? Because even if you're just starting out, you have to give yourself a structure. You cannot go in blind, and it really doesn't have to be complex. In the beginning, we didn't use any of the big software packages, even though nowadays these are, you know, the most amazing and valuable pieces of software that you can have in your business. We started out on spreadsheets. Now, if you're just starting out in your business and you don't have the funds to put in place for any of these big pieces of software, then this is the perfect opportunity to get yourself into Excel. Build something that allows you to track what you've ordered, what's coming in, when it's arriving, the delivery companies that you're using, you know, the phone numbers you need attached to it, you know, all of those key crucial details because structure gives clarity and clarity creates calmness in our business. And then there's obviously the storage element. Now, there is always a question of where do I put everything? And the answer is you have to plan for it, you have to build it into your processes, you have to build it into your pricing, again, you're not reacting, you're leading, so that you can either have that storage unit and make sure obviously your insurances are all lined up for it, or you bring it in-house, and again, your insurances are lined up for that. But you need to look at how you're segregating everything, even if it's one little room that you're doing it for. And this is exactly why I'm so passionate about this conversation, because procurement doesn't have to feel overwhelming, and it's something that I've really leaned into and learned to love over the years. It gets to feel structured, it gets to feel supportive, and it gets to be profitable. That's why on Friday, the 1st of May, I'm going to be joining forces with Elizabeth Kelly from the procurement studio, and we are going to be diving into this so much deeper. She is going to talk to you about the systems, the structure, the profitability, and how to really underpin all of that into your business to actually start implementing what we're using. So if procurement is something you've been avoiding and it feels really messy right now, let's really look at this differently this month and next month because with the right systems, with the right structure, with the right support, procurement becomes one of the most powerful parts of your business. And maybe this is the moment when you do stop avoiding it and you start leaning in. So all of the details on how you want to provide the online masterclass on Friday, the 1st of May, is in the show notes. Simply just click the link, you'll be taken to the sales page, you can buy your ticket and you'll get onto the Zoom link. Um, this is going to be on replay as well. So this goes into your toolkit for lifetime access. Whenever you're doing procurement, whenever you need to go back, listen to a piece of information, you've got it all there and then. And also, we're going to be recording this on our AI note taker. So you're going to be able to get the transcript and you're going to be able to get all those key takeaways. You can put them in your folder, you can have them on your desktop. When you go into it blind, when you go into it without knowing, that's where things really, really start to wobble. It has been an absolute pleasure to come back for episode 82 to talk to you all about procurement and thank you so much. And if you've loved this podcast, then please share it on your social media, tag us into it as well, and let us know what you think. And we will be back next week with another gorgeous podcast. Podcast.