The Power of Partnering (POP) is a half-day event where women entrepreneurs, business leaders, corporations and procurement professionals come together to train, network and create matchmaker opportunities to help create and reach procurement and business goals.
Each agenda includes educational resources from thought leadership and subject matter experts and the opportunity to showcase your capabilities statements in a meet the buyer setting or matchmaker sessions.
Shannon Bright is President and Founder of Bright Interiors Group. Bright Interiors Group is a full service contract office furniture dealership located in Atlanta, Ga.
With over 2 decades of experience in the office furniture industry, we take pride in what we do to provide exceptional customer care while creating an effective and efficient way for our customers to fulfill their office furniture needs.
This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.
TRANSCRIPT
Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, it’s time for GWBC Radio’s Open For Business. Now, here’s your host.
Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here, broadcasting live from GWBC Power of Partnering event at the Georgia Power Headquarters. I’m so excited to be talking to my guest, Shannon Bright with Bright Interiors Group. Welcome.
Shannon Bright: Thank you.
Lee Kantor: Well, Shannon, for folks who aren’t familiar with your firm, can you tell us about Bright Interiors Group? How are you serving folks?
Shannon Bright: Absolutely, I would love to. Bright Interiors Group is a small dealership, minority-owned, woman-owned by myself, Shannon Bright. We do office furniture. We specialize in government as well as commercial. No residential, just commercial and government entities.
Lee Kantor: So, have you always been involved in this kind of business?
Shannon Bright: I have. My business began two years ago, but I have been doing furniture for over 25 years. It’s my love. It’s my passion. And as Oprah says, do what you love and the money will come, so I’m just waiting on the rest of the money.
Lee Kantor: Well, if Oprah said it, it’s true.
Shannon Bright: Right.
Lee Kantor: So, now, any advice for people who are in business? You know, these are things you take for granted, like having the office furniture. And we’re in a beautiful facility right now, and we talked to the people who actually were the construction company for this space, how did they do when it comes to office furniture in this space?
Shannon Bright: This would be a dream job for me. Everything that they did in here, as I look around, it’s beautiful. And this is the type of environment, this is what I do. Being a furniture dealership is no easy task. It’s a lot of hard work and it’s a lot of product knowledge, but it’s also about relationships and just product knowledge. Because once the client tells me what they want, then I envision it, and then I also do space planning, CAD design.
Shannon Bright: So, the client tells me what they want, then I put it into a CAD, do a design, color renderings, and we’ll do the collaboration. And then, that’s the beginning of a project going beautifully well and turning out like this beautiful environment that we’re in.
Lee Kantor: So, now, what are some do’s and don’ts when it comes to an office environment in your opinion?
Shannon Bright: Being in business as long as I’ve been, I know the do’s and the don’ts. One of the do’s is do make a site visit and don’t take the client’s word saying I love this and I know that it will fit and just order it, and I trust your judgment and the colors you pick are fine. No.
Shannon Bright: So, the do is show up, do your presentation properly. And the don’t is don’t take the client’s word for it because I know better than them, even though I won’t say that. The saying the customer is always right, that is not so. They’re right after we have a collaborative meeting and get to a place to make sure that the client is happy and I’m happy as well.
Lee Kantor: Right. It’s because the client doesn’t know what they don’t know. And you know a lot of the things that they don’t know.
Shannon Bright: Right. Right. Absolutely. For example, if you’re doing a cubicle office setting, you could be off by one foot and that could destroy your entire plan. So, yes, yes, the clients rely on me to be the expert.
Lee Kantor: And measuring is important it sounds like.
Shannon Bright: Yes. It’s crucial. It’s crucial. As you look at that glass wall right there, that had to be measured precisely to make sure that that fit.
Lee Kantor: Right. It’s not something you can eyeball.
Shannon Bright: No. No.
Lee Kantor: And a lot of this stuff isn’t off the shelf, right? A lot of this stuff is custom?
Shannon Bright: Right. Everything is custom to order, which means you can’t get it and say “Oh. I don’t want that,” because everything is custom designed. If you ordered it, you own it. Yes, that’s right. Just like if you broke it, you bought it.
Lee Kantor: So, why was it important for you to become part of the GWBC community, and what did you hope to get out of it?
Shannon Bright: I wanted to just be in the room with all of these wonderful business owners, all of these wonderful women, and just do a collaboration, and just hear other people’s stories. So, it’s about networking. It’s about getting to know other people, and you never know who may be your next teaming partner. I feel like it’s enough money to go around and we can team with even our competition, because each of us has a need. One vendor may not be able to give you what I may be able to give you, and I may not be able to get what that vendor can get. So, it’s so many nuggets that were dropped today. I was glad to be in the building.
Lee Kantor: Right. And like you said, relationships are important and that’s how you’re going to build your business is through the people you probably meet in this room today.
Shannon Bright: Absolutely.
Lee Kantor: So, what do you need more of? How can we help you?
Shannon Bright: Basically, I just wanted to put the word out. And you have my business card in front of you, so read my tagline.
Lee Kantor: The tagline is, Turning empty spaces into beautiful places.
Shannon Bright: And I came up with that tagline in the shower, so nobody can tell me that you can’t come up with creative ideas in the shower. And that is my passion. I just want to know that Bright Interiors is here for your needs. Like I said, we do space planning, and we’re a one-stop-shop, so basically what I sell, which is office furniture, and like they said, so many of the people, like for City of Atlanta and other government entities, they order everything, so it takes a collaborative effort for us to get everything that the client needs.
Shannon Bright: So, basically, I would love to turn your empty space into a beautiful place. Just reach out to me, and my email is shannon@brightinteriorsgroup.com. And if you want to check out my website, it’s www.brightinteriorsgroup.com.
Lee Kantor: Well, Shannon, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.
Shannon Bright: Thank you so much. My pleasure.
Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor, back in a few with GWBC Power of Partnering.
