More than a decade ago, Leann Conquer decided to take a major leap of faith and move across the country to San Francisco. Just a couple years out of college, she left behind her first design job in New York, intent on making a new start on the West Coast. As she came to find out, another designer, Alexis Tompkins, was embarking on a nearly identical journey at the same time—in fact, Tompkins’s husband worked at the same company as Conquer’s boyfriend. Before long, he insisted on introducing the women.
“We met up at a dive bar and had drinks, and that started our friendship,” Conquer tells host Kaitlin Petersen on the latest episode of the Trade Tales podcast. “Alexis and the way she speaks about her passion for art and furniture and the home is so compelling that from day one, I thought to myself, ‘Sign me up. How can I help you do this?’”
The pair spent a few years working separate design gigs (for Conquer, a job at a local furniture manufacturer) while dreaming of one day launching their own shared venture. In 2014, those big plans came to pass: Together, they officially launched Chroma, an interior design studio and arts consultancy.
They rode out the challenges of early-stage entrepreneurship, brushing off bombed project pitches, cobbling together a trade network with few connections, and striving to bring a fresh aesthetic to a competitive market. A decade later, they’ve celebrated some big wins and major industry recognition—and have allowed each other to follow their own passions within the firm.
“Because we talked about it, it was quite obvious what fulfilled us, and we were able to divide the company and the roles so Alexis could really focus on the creative direction of the firm and our brand, and I could help with the building of the infrastructure and taking this initial brand idea and really harnessing it and getting it out into the world,” says Conquer.
Elsewhere in the episode, Conquer shares why she sees Chroma’s entire discovery phase as a test run—and a sales process—before the job truly commences; why they developed not one but two tried-and-true approaches to building a budget; and the importance of shifting the way they communicate depending on a client’s personality type.
Crucial insight: One of Conquer’s biggest objectives in recent years has been achieving a higher level of communication with clients. When it comes to discussing the costs of design, she has landed on a dual-option method that always seems to streamline an otherwise thorny conversation. She explains, “We have two different ways: If they really don’t have a clue what they want to spend, we ask them, ‘Do you want to sit with a number that you [do not want to] exceed—like, anything more than that feels uncomfortable—and then we can build a scope for that? Or do you want us to hear what you have to say, talk about the spaces you want to do and the ideas that you have, and build a budget blindly, line by line, and just see where it lands?’”
Key quote: “You anticipate the needs before they are needs. This idea of customer service and going above and beyond does not require a seismic shift in what you’re doing day to day. It just requires this mental shift toward thinking ahead or thinking beyond what’s right in front of you.”
This episode was sponsored by Universal Furniture and The Shade Store. Listen to the show below. If you like what you hear, subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
