0404: Innovation, Trends, and Strategic Curation with Tammy Noel of TableMade

This episode features a conversation with Tammy Noel, the founder and lead curator of TableMade, a specialty tabletop rental company located right outside of Atlanta. Tammy discusses how her background in corporate product development influences her creative process, the calculated risks she takes with new collections, and the importance of using data to navigate business plateaus.

Highlights:

The Transition from Corporate to Creative: Leveraging product development experience to curate a unique collection.

Data-Driven Decision Making: Using dollar and time utilization metrics to dictate inventory growth and pricing strategies.

Leading vs. Following Trends: Recognizing the "bell curve" of client adoption and the patience required for fashion-forward items.

Operational Innovation: The seven-month journey of creating custom, sustainable packaging to ship flatware nationwide.

Maintaining Brand Standards: The bravery of walking away from "good enough" prototypes to protect brand identity.

The Power of Community: Overcoming growth plateaus through styled shoots, networking, and industry collaboration.

Quotes:

• "In the beginning... I just took a lot of trust in my own tastes because... I had no historical data to rely back on, but luckily it worked out." — Tammy Noel
• "I'd much rather be setting the trend versus following it." — Tammy Noel
• “When they want something unique, unexpected, unusual, those are the kind of validating words. I’m like, okay, we’re doing it the right way.” — Tammy Noel
• "If you have a piece that has really high time utilization, it's going out all the time, but it's not making you very much money, then you can say, oh, my rates are too low." — Allison Howell
• "There's honestly no amount of money that I can spend to put out a product we're not proud of." — Tammy Noel
• "If I had ego, TableMade would not be the business it is today." — Tammy Noel
• "It has to be more than a product. People have to enjoy working with us." — Tammy Noel
• "People first, style always... that is our mantra." — Tammy Noel
• "I realized we are only going to get out of our community what we pour into it." — Tammy Noel
• "It’s not so much just about the pictures or where is this getting published. It’s really about that opportunity for people... to see what it’s like to place an order with you, see what it's like to collaborate, see what it's like for you to deliver. It’s like a kind of a rehearsal." — Allison Howell
• "You can always find out, okay, how much did I pay for it? How much has it brought me in the last 12 months? How much is it going out in the future? So you can do that math on your own, but having that information can be so powerful in making those strategic decisions moving forward." — Allison Howell

RESOURCES:

The RW Elephant mailing list features more event industry resources and happenings—including announcements about new Trunk Show episodes!

Rental Utilization Explained + Two Goals

How to Use the Collection Activity Metric 

RW’s Rental Inventory Utilization & Liquidation Worksheet

Essential Pricing Strategies for Event Rental Businesses Webinar

Getting More Out of What You’ve Already Got

Five Ways to Squeeze More Money Outta That Piece

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AND OUR GUEST:

Tammy Noel of TableMade.

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