`outreach/WIA_PARTNERSHIP.md`

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# WIA Partnership Outreach — National Paper Hangers

**To:** Wallcovering Installers Association leadership (Executive Director + Board)
**From:** Steve Abrams — Founder, National Paper Hangers / Owner, Designer Wallcoverings
**Subject:** Booking infrastructure for WIA members — partnership proposal
**Channel:** Email (steve@designerwallcoverings.com), reply-friendly

---

## What this is

A short proposal to make National Paper Hangers (NPH) a WIA-recommended directory and booking platform — at zero cost to WIA, with concrete benefits we'd extend to your members on day one.

## Who I am, briefly

I run Designer Wallcoverings — a luxury wallcovering retailer that's been routing trade installs (designers, hotels, hospitality groups) to qualified installers for years. NPH is the booking-and-discovery infrastructure I built to make that referral flow scale beyond the names I personally know in Los Angeles.

## The problem we're solving

Trade buyers — interior designers, hospitality operators, architects — don't have a single place to (a) find a vetted luxury wallcovering installer outside their immediate market, and (b) actually schedule a consultation or site visit. WIA's member directory at wallcoveringinstallers.org is the trusted *list*, and wallpaperinstaller.com is a useful directory, but neither has a live booking calendar. The buyer ends up emailing six studios and waiting.

NPH closes that loop: searchable profiles with portfolio + materials + brands handled, plus a real availability calendar so a designer in Atlanta can book a consult with a New York studio at 2pm Tuesday without a phone tag chain.

## What's in it for WIA members

If we move forward, every active WIA member in good standing gets:

1. **Free Pro-tier trial (90 days, no credit card).** Pro is normally $39/mo and includes the live booking calendar, multi-image portfolio, and Verified badge. After 90 days the member can downgrade to the free Basic tier with no service interruption — their listing stays live either way.
2. **"Verified-WIA" badge** on their NPH listing — a visible trust mark we'd cross-link to their WIA member page so search traffic that lands on NPH flows back to your association.
3. **Dedicated WIA tab on /find.** Our public discovery page (nationalpaperhangers.com/find) would gain a "WIA Members" filter so buyers actively looking for accredited installers can scope to your roster in one click.
4. **No data scraping.** We do not store member emails or phone numbers without explicit member consent. Members claim their own listing via a domain-restricted email-verify flow (DATA_POLICY.md v1.0). WIA's member list never leaves WIA's hands.

## What I'd ask in return

One of the following — whichever WIA leadership prefers:

- **Mention NPH in one upcoming member newsletter** as a free booking-platform option for members. We provide the copy (draft below). Friction: 5 minutes.
- **Co-host a 30-minute member webinar.** I demo the platform, members ask questions, anyone interested gets onboarded in real time. Friction: one calendar invite.
- **Formal partnership agreement.** Logo placement on NPH ("WIA-recommended"), reciprocal link to WIA from our footer, and a handshake review at 6 months. Friction: a short MOU.

I'm equally happy with any of the three. The newsletter mention is the lightest lift and the one most likely to get us off the ground; the formal partnership is the highest leverage if WIA wants to commit further.

## What I won't do

To pre-empt the obvious concerns:

- I won't represent NPH as WIA-endorsed without your written sign-off.
- I won't email or DM your members from any list WIA shares with me — outreach to non-LA studios goes through public channels (their own websites, public IG profiles) on a one-by-one basis.
- I won't charge members anything during the trial window, and the Basic tier stays free indefinitely.

## Draft member-facing announcement (WIA-co-signable, copy/paste)

> **A new free tool for WIA members: National Paper Hangers**
>
> WIA has partnered with National Paper Hangers (nationalpaperhangers.com), a directory and booking platform built specifically for luxury wallcovering installers. WIA members in good standing get a 90-day free trial of the Pro tier — including a live booking calendar, portfolio gallery, and a Verified-WIA badge — at no cost. After the trial, the basic listing stays free indefinitely.
>
> Designer Wallcoverings, a long-time supporter of WIA's members, routes trade buyer leads through NPH, so claiming your listing now puts you in front of designers and hospitality operators actively sourcing installers outside their home market.
>
> Claim your listing in two minutes at nationalpaperhangers.com/find — search for your studio, click "Claim this listing", and verify with an email at your studio's domain.
>
> Questions: steve@designerwallcoverings.com.

You're welcome to edit this freely; the goal is to make saying "yes" cost as little of your team's time as possible.

## Next step

If any of this is interesting, a 20-minute call works for me any weekday this month. Reply with two or three slots and I'll send the calendar invite.

Either way — thank you for the work WIA has done for this trade. NPH was built to amplify it, not compete with it.

— Steve Abrams
National Paper Hangers · Designer Wallcoverings
steve@designerwallcoverings.com