Q1 12

From the
President’s Desk
Greg Nemchick
President/CEO
It’s hard to believe it is time to discuss the 2012
Annual Meeting already but here we are, just over
two short months away. April is around the corner and the agenda has developed nicely around
this year’s theme: Building Blocks for Success.
At the meeting, much of the program will focus
on the three key building blocks of training,
retention and compensation.
Please allow me a moment to explain how we
build our meeting content.
Almost immediately after one annual meeting
ends, we begin planning the next year’s agenda.
inside
From the
President’s Desk
Dealer Profile:
Thomas Interiors
| 1
| 4
Lesro Profile
| 6
Marvel Profile
| 8
Working Walls Profile | 10
Introducing the
WPF Book Club
| 12
Each year at the past several meetings, we have
held a dealer roundtable where our members
exchange ideas and best practices. This brain
storming generates great discussions and we at
WPF take copious notes and often times develop
new programs and services around what we hear
from our members about their key concerns and
priorities. For example:
The WPF Learning Academy. Being
introduced at this year’s conference
(Tuesday 12:30 till 2:00), the Learning
Academy will train new sales executives and
dealer managers via a three-pronged strategy—online, on the Web and in person.
The Academy not only makes it possible for
our dealer members to save T&E dollars
when training new hires. It also helps them
develop these folks in a faster and more
comprehensive way.
The win to our suppliers is that it gives them
the ability to make their product training
available through the Academy for dealer
account executives to utilize.
Combining sales training content with product
training from our manufacturers will result in a
fast and user-friendly-process that should
help salespeople become more informed and
comfortable with their products.
There’s no great secret here: Salespeople
sell what they are comfortable with and
somewhere along the line, price comes into
play. At times it becomes more complex
than the previous statement would have us
believe but pretty much it starts there.
The Academy is special and has been developed from the ground up by the WPF team
in conjunction with industry consultant
Randy Kloostra. It is proprietary to us and
only WPF members have access to it!
The Academy will help to pull a red thread
through WPF, our members and our manufacturing partners, helping each of us to sell
more and take more to the bottom line.
Compensation Practices. An area that
always generates a lot of questions but few
definitive answers is compensation. We are
grabbing the bull by the horns here and
attacking this matter with a veteran, industry-relevant team from Solomon Coyle.
continued on page 2
ISSUE ONE • 2012
WPF • OUT OF THE BOX
PAGE 1
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A comprehensive survey is circulating among our members and its
findings will be the subject of a
great session on effective compensation programs from consultant
David Solomon.
David’s presentation will examine
the different economic models, and
various comp plans for the many
areas of our industry. Expect an indepth of what’s working and what
isn’t for key roles such as new business development, account manager and project manager. Also look
for a detailed evaluation of how we
pay the folks who perform those
roles in our dealerships, i.e.,
Commission, Salary, Salary Plus,
Draw Against and all the variables
that fall in between.
What I really like about this session
is that it will be based on our membership’s numbers from the survey
data. But its effectiveness, of
course, depends on your support
and participation. Please complete
the survey you received by e-mail
recently, and in return, I will have
the completed report sent to your
office upon publication at no
charge. The entire process is anonymous and confidential, and your
participation is critical.
New Supplier Partners. This
year we have added eight (8!) new
manufacturing partners, a positive
result from a membership survey
and an idea that came out of the
2011 roundtable. New suppliers
mean new opportunities for additional dealer sales and profits and
we are focused and committed on
an ongoing basis to provide our
dealer members with the strongest
and most comprehensive line up of
top quality manufacturing partners.
Expanded Dealer Roundtable
Session. We have expanded the
time allotted for the roundtable at
this year’s meeting, as there is always
a considerable number of topics and
lively exchange of best practices
among the dealer participants.
Manufacturer Educational
Session. Consultant Val Atkin will
present a special session this year
for our manufacturers that will be
informative, educational and relative
to today’s marketplace. This session
is our gift to our manufacturing partners and I am sure it will be well
received.
In addition, we will have three authors
presenting during this year’s meeting
and as an attendee you will receive a
copy of each of their books as a gift
from WPF.
First we have Thomas
Klobucher, CEO of Thomas Interior
Systems, author of the recentlypublished book, The Great
Workplace Revolution, and a long
time member of WPF.
As you’ll see from the article on Tom
and his new book elsewhere in this
issue, he provides some fascinating
and very useful perspectives on
some of the critical challenges we all
face in today’s workplace, particularly
as it relates to the need to attract and
retain the very best people from five
different generations.
I have personally visited Tom’s place
of business and can assure you that
he and his son Paul not only talk the
talk, they walk the walk.
His dealership is a two-time winner
of the “Best Places to Work in
Illinois” award and they have helped
over 20,000 organizations throughout the Chicago area and the
Midwest improve their office work
environments.
Next we have Jim Ryerson,
founder and president of Sales
Octane, Inc and author of The First
100 Days of Selling, a Practical Dayby-Day Guide to Excel in the Sales
Profession.
Jim, our Tuesday keynote speaker,
is contract office furniture-relevant.
As the past president of Workplace
Resource, a distributor of office furniture and healthcare products in
Northeast Ohio, Jim brings a wealth
of industry knowledge that he
shares through interactive presentations and seminars.
Jim relies on his own personal sales
experience and training to provide
audiences with valuable resources
and insight that fuel sales and turn
high-quality prospects into repeat
buyers.
His goal: to have all participants
leave his presentations re-energized, motivated, revved up with
high-octane selling fuel and ready to
sell.
In addition Jim will be an important
guest professor at the WPF
Academy, with many of his presentations residing on our electronic
format for ongoing education.
Our third author is Dirk
Beveridge, whose book, Driving
Distributor Sales Beyond: Best
Practices for Outselling Your
Competitors, is must-reading for
today’s dealers.
Dirk believes you’re losing business
if your sales team is selling in the
same way it did 24 months ago and
if you’re managing sales as you did
a year ago.
continued on page 3
ISSUE ONE • 2012
WPF • OUT OF THE BOX
PAGE 2
continued from page 2
The good news is that Dirk’s
approach offers a compelling way to
unify and inspire your sales organization to meet today’s market challenges and produce better top- and
bottom-line results.
Dirk was one of the top-rated
speakers from last year’s meeting
and we’re delighted to welcome him
back for a results-driven, hands-on
experience––with a Tuesday talk
and a Wednesday limited-attendance practical workshop.
Expect additional information on
Dirk and his sessions in the next
few weeks and a guarantee, you will
leave excited and with valuable take
away information after both his talk
and the additional workshop.
"Beveridge’s central concept of systematically training salespeople and measuring sales performance is
something I know works
effectively. His insights
about creating a sustainable culture of excellence
go far beyond the typical
sales training book."
—Dan Blaylock, president,
Adams Burch Inc.
Other special conference features include:
Dealer/Manufacturer One on
Ones. This is always one of the
most important elements of the WPF
Annual Conference. This year, our 23
suppliers—along with eight new
WPF manufacturing partners—will be
in attendance, providing an outstanding opportunity for you to meet
the leadership of each supplier and
discover how to get an even greater
ROI through your membership.
ISSUE ONE • 2012
These sessions are not about the
latest and greatest products available (although we understand the
importance of this as well). They are
about business and how can you do
more, sell better and enhance your
bottom lines. At the conference you
will receive a schedule of times both
Monday and Tuesday when you will
have an appointment to meet with
each vendor. Please attend each
meeting at your assigned time and
you will be entered in a special
drawing to win a free registration to
our 2013 Annual Meeting.
Hire Smart Panel and
Development Team. Hire Smart is
a customizable hiring platform
designed to simplify all phases of
talent acquisition. Within a couple of
weeks of deployment, hiring managers can improve the accuracy,
quality, speed and efficiency of hiring, streamline job postings and
make the hiring process easier to
understand and use. Gary Gang,
Randy Kloostra and a panel of WPF
members who use this software will
be on hand to discuss the features
and benefits of Hire Smart.
Becoming a GSA Schedule
Holder. If you’re looking to grow
your business with the federal government by becoming a GSA
Schedule holder, NCI (Nu Cen-tury
Inc.) can be a powerful resource.
NCI believes the government market
offers the easiest and most effective
way to increase your revenue
stream, but it’s no easy task for a
company to prepare the proper
documentation needed for full certification within the federal market.
NCI brings the experience and
expertise on the application process
to enable you to focus efforts on
WPF • OUT OF THE BOX
what you do best—running your
business. WPF members will receive
a significant discount for this service
should you decide to explore
becoming a schedule holder.
For many of our members and manufacturing partners, the WPF annual conference has become a family destination.
As a token of our appreciation for the
friendship and family atmosphere our
event is developing, we will be hosting
spouses and significant others in attendance at a cooking class/lunch and wine
pairing, to be presented by the head
chef of the Hyatt Coconut Point.
Come join me, the WPF staff, shareholders and board members for what promises to be our best meeting yet! Bring
someone close to you and let’s enjoy
networking, education, companionship
and sunshine.
Here is my promise: You will leave with
significant takeaways to put to work
immediately upon return to the office to
make your business stronger. You will go
home more knowledgeable, better
informed and with at least one new
idea—and probably a whole lot more—
on how to make more money!
Yours in Selling,
Greg Nemchick,
President and CEO
PAGE 3
DEALERPROFILE
Tom Klobucher
of Thomas Interior Systems
Getting Ready
for the Great Workplace
Revolution
When Tom Klobucher started his office planning
and furnishings business back in 1977, the last
thing he thought he’d end up doing was putting together a business book of any kind.
But the true entrepreneur’s journey
rarely follows a straight line and fast
forward 35 years, that’s exactly what
Tom finds himself doing.
Tom’s book, The Great Workplace
Revolution, came off the presses
earlier this year, after 18 months of
research and many long hours at the
keyboard.
“I’m certainly not a professional writer
by training and I never really planned
any of this,” says Tom. “But I
really feel that what’s taking
place in our economy
and in our society as a
whole today is simply
too important to
ignore and publishing a book
about it seemed a
logical way to get
the word out.”
For Tom, The
Great Workplace
Revolution is about
change
on
an
unprecedented scale.
What’s driving that
change, he contends, is generational diversity.
“For most of us, there are no fewer than four different generations operating in our workplace today
and a fifth is getting ready to join them,” he points
out.
The ability of these five different groups to interact
harmoniously and creatively will become increasingly critical for enterprises of any kind, he argues,
and that creates a need for a new kind of leader, a
Great Workplace Revolution Coach who can leverage the strengths of each generation to bring new
levels of productivity and profitability to the
business.
“Too many organizations treat each of the generations that work for them as identical,” Tom
laments. “It’s a kind of demographic bigotry that
costs dearly in terms of employee attraction,
retention, productivity and competitive advantage.”
Tom looks at today’s workforce and sees four
main generational groups:
Traditionalists: Born before 1946, their primary
values are dependability and sacrifice.
Baby boomers: Born between 1946 and 1964,
their primary values are challenging limits and
questioning everything.
Generation X: Born between 1965 and 1976,
their primary value is independence.
Millennials: Born between 1977 and 1997, their
primary values are fun and connection.
continued on page 5
ISSUE ONE •
2012
WPF • OUT OF THE BOX
PAGE 4
continued from page 4
Soon to join them is another generation that Tom identifies as
Generation 2020—born around the year 2000 and whose values are connection, concern, carefulness and collaboration.
7
Director of Fun: Appoint someone as “Director of Fun.”
8
Creative after-work events: Create after-work events
But recognizing generational diversity in the workplace and
implementing programs to take that diversity and transform it
into a resource instead of a liability are two very different things.
The good news for readers of Tom’s book is that he also offers
some very constructive guidelines to help get the Great
Workplace Revolution underway.
His Twelve Essential Strategies for Creating a Great Place to
Work provide a roadmap for successfully meeting what he
believes is the great business challenge of the decade.
Tom offers strategies that are not only clear and concise, but
as a two-time winner of the Best Places to Work in Illinois
award, he also brings to them a level of credibility that commands respect and attention.
1
2
3
4
Creative Work Place: Design and refine a creative work
space. This will attract and retain creative problem solvers
and people who care.
5
Awards and Recognition: Build public recognition for a job
6
Human Resource Right Fit: Put the right person in the
right job. Use the personality tests at Kolbe.com as a
resource to help you accomplish this goal.
Understanding Your Employees: Give constant attention
and understand the needs of the whole employee as well
as being intentional about learning their hopes and future
career aspirations. The result: greater buy-in to the mission, deeper loyalty, and more intense commitment to the
customer. Other needs could include: flex time, shift swapping and extended leave when necessary.
well done into the culture. Thank you cards and e-mails for
colleagues (as well as for customers and vendors) need to
become a part of daily life. These should reflect authentic
gratitude for any and every job well done. “Most Valuable
Player” awards promote an “all crew and no passenger”
workplace philosophy, which ultimately serves the customer.
that involve direct personal contact with customers.
These kinds of events amount to a fun, collaborative
team effort that improves all aspects of customer service.
A few suggestions: local sports events and small group
activities like golf, table games and picnics.
9
Community Service Events: Give something back to the
community. Doing this as a group improves team cohesion, gives you a great PR opportunity, and helps customers understand your values. A few ideas to try: helping out with local homeless support groups, food pantries
and adopting a needy family each holiday season.
10
A Healthy Ergonomics Workplace: Ensure that each
Tom’s Twelve Essential Strategies are as follows:
Core Values: Identify the organization’s core values and
talk about them frequently with customers and employees.
These are the customer-focused values you will hire
employees for...and fire employees for, if they consistently
deviate from those values.
Whether it’s a full-time position or an addition to someone’s current list of responsibilities isn’t as important as
your team members seeing and experiencing first-hand
the positive experience they are supposed to be delivering to the customer. Find new reasons to celebrate and
new ways to enhance enjoyment of the job!
employee’s work space makes good ergonomic sense.
This reduces stress, improves morale and improves the
quality of our interactions with customers (and everyone
else)!
11
12
A Learning Organization: Invest in ongoing education
and personal development for all employees. This pays
off for everyone.
Employee Feedback and Evaluation: Give employees
regular feedback (recommended evaluation/review time:
every six months). Evaluate them
against your organizaAnd Retain
kplace To Attract
tion’s core values first
Tailoring Your Wor
ple
The Very Best Peo
and against performance metrics second.
Want to find out more? Then
make a point of attending
this year’s WPF National
Conference in Ft. Myers, FL,
where you can not only hear
Tom talking about his new
book but also pick up a free
copy as a registered attendee.
Pri nci ple s
Tw elv e Ess en tia l
Pla ce To Wo rk
at
Gre
A
For Cre ati ng
Collaborative Environment: Support a truly collaborative
workplace, both physically and emotionally. This kind of
workplace design and interpersonal support promotes problem solving, quality improvement, brainstorming, think tanks,
and effective post-mortems when a project concludes.
ISSUE ONE • 2012
WPF • OUT OF THE BOX
BUCHER
THOMA S S. KLO
PAGE 5
Lesro Industries:
Where quality and value
have dealers sitting pretty
Don’t look now but 2012 is already
shaping up to be a big year for WPF
supplier partner Lesro Industries.
The Bloomfield, CT-based manufacturer
of reception and conference room furniture
is in the process of moving into a new,
268,000 sq. ft. facility that will more than
double the company’s overall footprint and
bring operations under a single roof.
On the marketing front, this year will see
Lesro continue the overhaul of its
brochures and other collateral to present
its products in a far more designer-oriented fashion and highlight the versatility and flexibility of its offering.
A new line of seating, designed by
Qdesign, is in the works and due to
make its debut at the 2012 NeoCon
Show, adding further to what is already
an impressive array of seating, conference room tables and accessories.
Lesro has clearly come a long way from
the day back in 1968 when its founder
Adam Leshem and his wife Alice arrived
from Israel with just $20 and a burning
desire to build a future for their young
family in their new home.
As with most entrepreneurs, the path
Adam took wasn’t exactly a straight line.
He was an engineer by training and his initial plan was to build a career in that field.
But the drafting table in their cramped
apartment took up too much space and
ISSUE ONE • 2012
prompted by Alice, Adam designed and
hand-built a unique folding, metal-frame
drafting table that, when not in use,
could be stored away in a closet or
under a bed.
By 1973,
business
patented
grew, his
to flow.
Adam had launched a small
to manufacture and sell his
drafting table, and as sales
entrepreneurial juices started
dedicated industry professionals many
of whom, like the Leshems, can point to
long years of service based on a solid
foundation of shared values and beliefs.
“Everyone here understands that the
customer is in charge,” says Jerry. “We
don’t have a lead time—the customer
does. We produce and ship orders
according to our customers’ needs, not
to suit our production schedule.”
The company still makes drafting tables
but these days that side of the business
accounts for less than 5% of sales.
Combine that intense customer-centric
focus with a fierce commitment to innovative, value-driven product development and you get a business model
that’s particularly well suited to today’s
turbulent times.
Lesro today operates as a leader in the
reception and lounge seating markets,
offering a broad array of contemporary,
traditional and transitional styles, valuepriced and all made in the USA.
“Lesro is very clearly positioned as a
contract alternative manufacturer,” said
Dan O’Malley, Lesro’s sales manager
and himself a 22-year veteran with the
company.
But while the company has come a long
way from those early days in Adam and
Alice’s apartment, the business culture
they put in place over forty years ago
remains strong.
“Manufacturers like Steelcase, Herman
Miller and others make fabulous products when it comes to reception seating
and lounge seating, but in these costconscious times—when budgets are
stretched to the limit—you often need
an alternative.” Dan contends.
In the autumn of 1986, Adam and his
oldest son, Jerry, made their first chair.
The rest, as they say, is history.
“My father built a family business and
Lesro is still very much a family business
today,” says Jerry, now Lesro’s president.
Working with him on the management
team are brother Ed, who has served as
the company’s general manager for
many years, and an extended family of
WPF • OUT OF THE BOX
And, he adds, the ability to offer a less
expensive option can sometimes mean
the difference between keeping a sale or
losing it.
continued on page 7
PAGE 6
continued from page 6
It’s an argument that is gaining traction
with a growing number of dealers, Dan
says. “Our dealer business overall,
including WorkPlace Furnishings, was
up approximately 20% last year,” he
reports happily.
Lesro’s ability to deliver the kind of pricing that’s right for today’s tough times is
part of the story, but only part.
“At Lesro,” says Ed, “we truly believe that
the dealer is doing the hard work and our
job is to manufacture the product, make it
easy for our dealers to order and then get
it to them when they want it.”
In practice, that kind of thinking translates into a pre-paid freight program
with no minimums—it works for one
chair or a hundred—that simplifies quoting for the salesperson and gives management confidence that they won’t
have to worry about any hidden charges
ISSUE ONE • 2012
or additional freight costs.
It also leads to the development of a
nationwide network of top quality reps,
free marketing materials, a generous
sample program and the ability to spec
just about any fabric on a mid-market
chair to meet the need of the customer.
One dealer who discovered the power of
the Lesro value proposition several
years ago is WPF member Mike McHale
of BMC Office Furniture in Scranton, PA.
“The style is updated and the quality is
fantastic,” he says. “It’s always a pleasure
doing business with Lesro. There are no
headaches at all. The quality is good, the
price is great, and people are shopping
these days for good quality at attractive
prices. That’s Lesro’s sweet spot.”
At BMC, it’s become almost routine to
draw on Lesro’s resources in order to
offer customers a broader choice.
WPF • OUT OF THE BOX
“Haworth is our leader, but I always show
Lesro,” says Mike. “Lesro is right there in
terms of quality and, increasingly, in terms
of style, whether you’re looking for traditional, contemporary or transitional.”
Dan O’Malley is only half-joking when he
talks about the company’s commitment
to its chosen market.
“We’re probably the only people in the
country who wake up in the morning
thinking about reception and lounge
seating, go to lunch thinking about it
and sit down for dinner thinking about
reception and lounge seating,” he says
with a smile.
That may not always make for the most
fascinating conversations at mealtimes
but for more and more WPF dealers like
Mike McHale and others, it’s been good
news now for quite a while and it promises to be even better news tomorrow!
PAGE 7
®
THE
GROUP
Quality and Value Made in the USA
Made in America. In a fragile economy where every job is
precious, it’s become an increasingly important label for a
growing number of buyers of all types and sizes.
Now, with the addition of Chicago-based The Marvel Group
to the WorkPlace Furnishings’ portfolio of top quality suppliers, WPF dealers have a new partner with an outstanding
track record of providing quality and value that’s been “Made
in America” for over 65 years.
The Marvel story began in 1946, when two World War II veterans came home from the war and pooled their precious
resources to start a manufacturing company.
Back then, the goal was to put a metal breadbox in every
American home but times change and those fledgling entrepreneurs soon found more attractive opportunities in the
office furniture market.
Today, Marvel operates as a value-driven supplier of
American-made, high quality laminate and steel office furniture, with over 200 employees and a facility that encompasses three Chicago city blocks with close to 190,000 sq. ft. of
state of the art manufacturing.
“For anyone looking to support U.S. products, Marvel represents a solid choice but that’s just part of what we bring to
the table,” says key accounts manager Kent Krueger.
Kent‘s list of key benefits includes a diverse product line that
addresses the full spectrum of office needs and applications,
ISO 9001 manufacturing expertise and a comprehensive
dealer support package, but that’s just for starters.
The company also boasts an outstanding record on the environmental front. Its primary product lines are all Greenguardcertified and conducive to earning LEED points and Marvel
itself is a proud past recipient of the Illinois Governor’s
Pollution Prevention Award.
For WPF members, Kent sees Marvel functioning primarily as
an important resource for solutions that may not be available
from their primary manufacturer.
“Many times a customer will just want a desk-credenza-storage type solution rather than a panel system or modular
workstation and in those are situations where Marvel really
excels,” he says proudly.
Products like the Zapf line of panel-based and freestanding
desks and the Pronto desk system give dealers the ability to
provide customers with high quality solutions that are priced
for the most demanding budget. And that “Made in America”
label means the product also quick ships conveniently in just
five days!
Marvel provides similar offerings for storage and mailroom
continued on page 9
ISSUE ONE • 2012
WPF • OUT OF THE BOX
PAGE 8
continued from page 8
applications and—its most recent new product launch—a
growing range of audiovisual carts and other furniture for
training environments.
ous showroom sample programs and expert design and
installation resources and it’s easy to understand Kent’s
excitement about the company’s new alliance with WPF.
Also of value to WPF dealers is Marvel’s custom manufacturing expertise. “About a third of our business comes from
making products like custom machine stands and bases for
several major printer and copier manufacturers and that kind
of manufacturing can also provide dealers with a powerful
differentiator in their market,” Kent points out.
“We view WPF dealers as solid industry citizens with an outstanding reputation for service and value in their individual
marketplaces,” he says.
“If a dealer has a customer looking for a significant quantity
of specially-designed products, we certainly have the capabilities to meet that need, and since it’s all made in the USA,
we can do so a lot quicker than many of our competitors,”
he says.
Combine Marvel’s home grown excellence in manufacturing
with a support package that includes free literature, generISSUE ONE • 2012
“For many of them, our products offer a way to create additional sales with existing customers as well as a way to
expand their overall value proposition to prospects,” he
contends.
That spells opportunity for WPF members on many different
levels. For more information on how your dealership can
make the most of Marvel’s Made in America value proposition, visit the Supplier Information section of the
wpfdealer.com website or www.marvelgroup.com.
WPF • OUT OF THE BOX
PAGE 9
helps dealers
keep sales growth up
by keeping the noise down
If Cullen Roth had his way, just about
every conversation about office furniture with a new prospect would start
out with the same basic question: Do
you have any noise problems where
you work?
As president of Cleveland-based
Working Walls, Inc., it’s a question
he’s been asking for the past 30 years
and, he maintains, it’s one that allows
the dealer to take the dialog beyond
just another routine furniture sales
call and opens the door to significant
new sales and profit opportunities
with just about any customer.
“When you ask someone if they’ve
got noise problems, you can expect
to get a positive answer 95% of the
time,” he maintains.
That’s good news for Cullen and his
team at Working Walls, makers of
custom acoustical wall panels and
hanging baffles to reduce noise in the
workplace since 1982.
“We’re problem solvers with solutions
that are relatively inexpensive, easy to
install and backed by a level of customer service and dealer support that
is second to none,” he says proudly.
continued on page 11
continued on page 2
ISSUE ONE • 2012
WPF • OUT OF THE BOX
PAGE 10
continued from page 10
Someone who knows exactly what Cullen is talking about is Mark
Minnix, a sales consultant at the Columbus, OH branch of WPF member Loth, Inc.
“Working Walls have been my go-to guys for tackboards and sound
dampening solutions for many years,” he says. “They make top quality
products, we always get very positive customer feedback and they’re
very easy to work with.”
At Working Walls, Cullen points with pride to a dedicated team of longtime employees who are driven by a customer-centric business culture
and who bring extensive product knowledge and many years of experience to the dealers they serve.
“We are committed to making selling and installing our products as
easy for our dealers as possible,” he explains. “Give us the workspace
dimensions and details of the materials used on the walls, floor and
ceiling and we can usually develop a recommended solution that will
allow the dealer to reduce noise and create a more productive environment for their customer.”
Potential applications, Cullen points out, run the gamut from standard
commercial offices to hospitals, schools, conference centers and
more. And while he says there’s no such thing as a typical order for
Working Walls, when we talked to him the company was just finishing
up on a school project worth somewhere north of $100,000!
And, he points out, because each order is custom-made to address a
unique set of circumstances, margin opportunities are far more attractive than in the standard, commodity-driven furniture business.
In addition to its acoustical panel business, Working Walls also offers a
broad range of tackable wall panels and bulletin boards.
“Just about everyone needs a place to put things up on a wall,” Cullen
points out. “We take that need and meet it with a unique custom solution that provides flexibility, quality and value that’s vastly superior to
the standard commodity alternative,” he adds.
“We’re excited to be joining the WorkPlace Furnishings program,” says
Cullen. “We see WPF dealers as an ideal distribution resource for our
products and we’re confident that if they make a point of asking that
basic question about noise problems, the answer that will come back
from their customers will lead to new business and stronger customer
relationships.”
For more on Working Walls and its innovative noise reduction solutions
and tackable panel products, visit the Supplier Information section of
the wpfdealer.com website or www.workingwalls.com.
ISSUE ONE • 2012
WPF • OUT OF THE BOX
PAGE 11
NEW
from
WPF
An exciting new way
to improve yourself
and your business!
Are you finding it harder to focus? Is constant multi-tasking and
more and more time spent jumping from link to link or topic to
topic on the Internet leaving you feeling like you’re not really doing
more than just surfing along the surface?
Technology expert Nicholas Carr warns that while the Internet
today is giving us easy access to unprecedented amounts of
information, a growing body of scientific evidence suggests its
constant distractions and interruptions are also turning us into
scattered and superficial thinkers, limiting our comprehension
skills, creativity, and productivity.
It doesn’t have to be that way!
Where the Internet scatters our attention, a book focuses it and
promotes contemplation. Discussing and applying what’s been
learned deepens thinking further.
That’s why WPF is launching an important new initiative designed
to help dealer principals and sales leaders become more effective: The WorkPlace Furnishings Virtual Book Club.
Here’s how it works:
Two separate groups, one for dealer owners and top
executives and one for sales leaders.
Each group votes its choice of book to read.
An initial conference call, moderated by consultant
Val Atkin, offers a quick overview of the book,
reviews the overall Book Club process and schedules future conference call dates.
After group members have read the book selected,
a second conference call offers the opportunity to
discuss the book and its takeaways and brainstorm
ways to apply learnings.
After some time to apply the learnings in actual work
situations, a third call focuses on sharing discoveries
and benefits.
Optional follow up coaching from Val is also available
at a discounted fee.
continued on page 13
ISSUE ONE • 2012
WPF • OUT OF THE BOX
PAGE 12
continued from page 12
Here are the books club members will be voting on for their first sessions.
Principals Group
Creating Competitive Advantage: Give Customers
a Reason to Choose You Over Your Competitors
Author: Jaynie L. Smith and William G. Flanagan
www.jayniesmith.com/Creating-Competitive-Advantage
Energy Leadership: Transforming Your Workplace and Your Life from the Core
Author: Bruce D. Schneider
www.ipeccoaching.com/energy-leadership
The Plugged-In Manager: Get in Tune with Your People,
Technology, and Organization to Thrive
Author: Terri Griffith
http://terrigriffith.com/book
Uncertainty: Turning Fear and Doubt into Fuel for Brilliance
Author: Jonathan Fields
www.theuncertaintybook.com
Solving Tough Problems: An Open Way of Talking, Listening, and Creating New Realities
Author: Adam Kahane
www.amazon.com/Solving-Tough-Problems-ListeningRealities/dp/1576754642/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1326724683&sr=1-1
The Great Workplace Revolution
Author: Tom Klobucher
www.thegreatworkplacerevolution.com
Sales Leaders Group
Dirty Little Secrets: Why buyers can't buy and sellers can't sell and what you can do about it
Author: Sharon Drew Morgan
www.amazon.com/gp/product/0964355396?ie=UTF8&tag=wwwnewsalespa20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=0964355396
What Got You Here Won't Get You There in Sales:
How Successful Salespeople Take it to the Next Level
Authors: Marshall Goldsmith, Don Brown, and Bill Hawkins
www.amazon.com/gp/product/0071773940?ie=UTF8&tag=marshgoldslib20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0071773940
The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation
Authors: Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson
www.executiveboard.com/challenger/pdf/Challenger-Sale-TOC-Foreword-&-Intro-Excerpt.pdf
Mastering the Complex Sale: How to Compete and Win When the Stakes are High!
Author: Jeff Thull
www.masteringthecomplexsale.com
Like to sign up or find out more about the WPF Book Club?
Contact Janet Vaughan at WPF headquarters
PH: 513-563-0048; E-mail: jvaughn@workplacefurn.com.
ISSUE ONE • 2012
WPF • OUT OF THE BOX
PAGE 13