Holiday Lighting Question

[OrganicsMaine]

Hey guys,

I've been reading a lot in here, but am not yet in the lighting business yet. That will be next year's expansion.

One question I have is do you all do your own designs? I have a friend that is an interior designer that has also done holiday lighting displays while working at the local mall. I'm thinking that she could be a fantastic resource and someone I could send out to do the design of these displays with customers and I can focus on the logistics.

What are your thoughts on this?

[David Gretzmier]

I would say that "design" is something that is subjective. we have over 200 clients now, and I would say that the vast majority of my clients already had an idea what they wanted before they called me. probably less than 5% of them were truly open to my opinions of design ideas. I can always lead folks to add a wreath here and there, maybe add mini-lights to some shrubs and even introduce some color here and there. but for my client base, Christmas lights are intensely personal, and they tend to know what they want, and they want someone to do it well and not change it too much.

Since I have a desire to have a growing and fairly large install/rehang business, rather than invest my energy in creating design ideas for folks, I tend to listen and suggest, making the most of the design they already had thier heart set on before they met me.