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news Let YourManufacturersKnow Where TheyCould Be DoingBetter with OFDA’sDMSI Survey

One of OFDA’s key roles for the dealer community is to

serve as its voice to the industry at large. That’s why if

you haven’t participated before in the association’s an-

nual Dealer Manufacturer Satisfaction Index (DMSI)

survey, now’s the time to do something about it!

The survey represents an outstanding opportunity to

let the manufacturers you work with know what you

think of the job they’re doing.

Its goal: to improve dealer-manufacturer relations by

identifying topics of dealer concern and to recognize

best of class performance.

Answering the survey is easy and takes less than five

minutes. You may evaluate up to four of your primary

suppliers in six key categories: training, product lines,

service and support, sales and marketing, manage-

ment, and technology. All responses are kept totally

confidential.

Want to get started? Just point your web browser to

https://www.iisecure.com/ofdasurvey2011.htm and get

ready to let your voice be heard!

And don’t forget two other important OFDA projects

currently underway: the annual Financial Comparison

& Benchmarking Survey and, new this year, the Deal-

ership Achievement Award, which will honor a special

dealer for their service to the community, commitment

to environmental sustainability and a record of engage-

ment with OFDA and our industry as a whole.

You can find more information about these and other

OFDA programs at www.ofdanet.org. And as always,

the more dealers participate, the more useful the final

results will be.

Fifty Years and Counting for Brigholme Interiors Group, TorontoHaworth DealerCongratulations to Joe Williams and his team at Toronto’s BrigholmeInteriors Group, who this year are celebrating their dealership’s fiftiethanniversary.

Founded in 1961 as Brian G. Holmes Limited, Brigholme today isamong Haworth’s top ten dealers in North America.

Current president Joe Williams joined the company in 2000 and tookover top spot at the dealership in 2008.

“Business has been fairly good for us over the past few years,” Joe re-ports, pointing to major diversification efforts, particularly in healthcare,and the addition of a cabling and wireless division as major growth drivers.

Right now, planning is underway at the dealership for a special anniver-sary celebration sometime in the spring and, if Joe’s current forecastcomes through, he and his team will have plenty to celebrate.

“We feel very positive about 2011,” he says. “Companies in Toronto arestarting to hire again and our data cabling division looks set for somesignificant growth in the coming year.”

Corporate Environments of Atlanta Takes to the Clouds for NewProductivity GainsYou don’t need a Harvard MBA to know how critical it is for dealers ofall types and sizes to seize every opportunity to leverage technology intheir operations.

Knoll dealer Corporate Environments of Atlanta certainly didn’t take toomuch convincing of that, if their own recent efforts offer any indication.In fact, the dealership has become something of a poster child forBox.net, one of the country’s top cloud computing companies.

Corporate Environments IT director Scott Blanck was recently featuredin the marketing campaign rollout of Box.net’s latest version.

The dealership has been using Box.net for about a year and, says Scott,it has generated impressive productivity gains for the dealership on mul-tiple levels.

“We were originally looking for an easier way to exchange files withKnoll and other partners on complex projects and it just snowballedfrom there,” Scott reports.

Today, the dealership uses the system to exchange just about any kind ofworkflow-related information with sub-contractors and, he says, it’s madeit all so much easier.

Simon De Groot

continued on page 4

FEBRUARY 2011 OFDEALER PAGE 3

“There’s no calling or having to deal withattachment size issues on emails,” he ex-plains. “And best of all, it’s taken our in-stallation-to-invoice cycle from six daysdown to less than two!”

These days, the dealership’s project man-agers go out into the field with their iPadsand instead of having to cart around cum-bersome paper drawings and punch lists,they can access all that information onlineand process it through the Box.net system.

Next steps call for deploying the systemout to the sales force and incorporating itinto the dealership’s CRM solution.

Meanwhile, the dealership is not only en-joying the improved cash flow that comesfrom speeding up its billing cycle, but alsoreinforcing its reputation as an innovatorand technology leader.

Contests and Web-Only Specials HelpRaise Social Networking Profile forBBE Office Interiors, MA DealerNew social networking platforms likeFacebook and LinkedIn may still be creat-ing more questions than anything else formany dealers, but in Pittsfield, MA, DanProskin and the rest of the team at BBEOffice Interiors are working hard to find theanswers.

In addition to offering Facebook-only spe-cials, the dealership is currently runningtwo separate contests aimed at buildingtraffic and expanding its e-mail databaseof prospects.

If you’re a consumer, you can visit the BBEwebsite to register for a prize drawing,with the lucky winner receiving a free chair,while on Facebook, if BBE reaches 250“likes” this month, the dealership will giveaway a new LED under cabinet task lightto a randomly-selected Facebook friend.

“Social networking is clearly part of the fu-ture of marketing and a tremendous freemarketing tool for businesses of all kinds,”says Dan. “Our challenge is having thecommitment and persistence to createconstantly changing and compelling con-tent and to keep finding ways to attractcustomers and prospects to our page.”

Ultimately, says Dan, the primary goal is tomake the BBE Facebook page a focal

point for industry information and educa-tion. Right now, though, the focus is onbuilding traffic with contests, frequentlychanging promotions and more.

So far, at least, it seems to be working.“We had a big sales promotion last yearthat we pushed heavily on Facebook andit drew at least a dozen new customers toour showroom,” Dan reports.

That’s not a bad start, he says, but he andhis team are hoping for a whole lot more,particularly as the market overall continuesto show signs of improvement.

Ongoing Education Helps BuildingService, Inc., Milwaukee Dealer,Strengthen Ties with A&D CommunityIt was end user education time in Milwau-kee last month, as Building Service, Inc.hosted a seminar on European healthcarelighting trends and the growing role of Ev-idence-Based Design (EBD) in healthcareapplications.

Co-hosted by Luxo Corporation, the ses-sion focused on Evidence-Based Designand its implications for healthcare lighting.

The session drew over 30 attendees, in-cluding BSI’s healthcare clients and A&Dfirms, as well as the dealership’s ownworkplace strategists and designers.

“Our goal is to offer a variety of lunch andlearn seminars for our clients, prospectsand associates which provide educationon current workplace issues and trends,”explained sales administrator Lori Torri-son.

And the response? “We ask attendees tocomplete a brief survey after each seminarand always receive positive feedback,”Lori reports. “They appreciate that the pur-pose of these seminars is to educate andnot to sell them anything and severalclients mentioned they rely on BSI for ed-ucation on current industry related issuesthroughout the year.”

Other seminars in the planning stages forthe coming year include Generations atWork, Green Construction Methods andWorkplace Ergonomics.

If ongoing education for customers andprospects is not a priority at your dealer-ship, now might be a good time to follow

BSI’s example and start exploring whatyou can do to become more than just aproduct resource.

Fusion Interiors, Twin Cities Dealer,Hosts Local IIDA Chapter Meetings toBuild A&D RelationshipsIf you’re not positioning your dealership asa key resource for local chapters of pro-fessional industry associations, you’remissing out on an opportunity to build re-lationships with an important customersegment.

Just ask Berk Claiborne and his team atFluid Interiors in Minneapolis. In additionto serving as chair of the local IIDA chapterhimself, Berk’s dealership has hosted sev-eral recent IIDA meetings, including newmember orientations and a roundtable dis-cussion on NCIDQ certification.

“We are happy to host IIDA events as away to support the design community andas a networking experience for our ownstaff,” says Fusion marketing coordinatorErica Adams. “It’s also a great way to pres-ent our showroom and capabilities to localdesigners.”

Absolute Office of Oregon Opens NewShowroom in PortlandIn Portland, OR, Absolute Office of Oregonhas opened a new showroom. Just 500sq. ft. but still large enough to present avariety of desks, demo chairs and er-gonomic products, the showroom ishoused in a historic building in Portlandwith architects, productions companies,graphic designers and more for neighbors.

The dealership was founded in 2008 byJohn A. Dean and Merry Mabbett Dean.An industry veteran with over 20 year’s ex-perience, John started out in the serviceside of the business as operations man-ager for a large installation company.

Merry Mabbett Dean, John’s wife andbusiness partner, serves as president ofthe dealership. She is also an interior de-signer who served as national president ofthe International Furnishing and DesignAssociation (IFDA) in 1994.

In addition to the new showroom, Johnand Merry are also celebrating their deal-

dealer news: continued from page 3

continued on page 6

FEBRUARY 2011 OFDEALER PAGE 4

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ership’s selection as servicing dealer forNeutral Posture and the City of PortlandErgonomic Seating contract. Not a badway to start the year, by any measure!

MOI Announces New Hires andProfessional CertificationsBaltimore-based MOI is gearing up to takeadvantage of an improving market with theaddition of three new hires and a new cer-tification.

Joining the company as vice president ofbusiness development is Joanna Hoff-schneider. Joanna has ten years experiencein the commercial real estate industry andis an active member of local industry asso-ciations, including NAIOP and CoreNet.

In MOI’s Richmond, VA office, MichelleGulatto has come on board as an accountmanager, bringing with her over 25 years’experience in design, and project manage-ment with extensive experience in manag-ing large systems jobs, as well as projectsin healthcare, higher education, govern-ment and financial institutions.

And in MOI’s Norfolk/Virginia Beach loca-tion, Angela Whilden has been named di-rector of interior solutions. Angela has over16 years’ experience in the design and fur-niture industries in Southern Virginia. Sheis a certificate holder through the NationalCouncil for Interior Design Qualifications(NCIDQ), and is also a Certified Interior De-signer (CID).

Finally, Lauren Erisman of MOI DC was re-cently awarded the Accredited Office Er-gonomic Evaluator (AOEE) certification bythe Ergonomics Center of North Carolinaat North Carolina State University. AOEEcertification allows her to evaluate an of-fice workstation, identify priorities for er-gonomic improvement, adjust existingequipment and make recommendationsfor equipment needed.

NBS Business Interiors Goes FootWarming for a Good Cause in ToledoWhen it comes to community involvement,few organizations do it better or do more thantoday’s office furniture dealers. Case in point:Troy, MI-based NBS Business Interiors.

NBS can point to a long list of deservingcauses it supports and among the mostrecent is Hannah’s Socks in Toledo, wherethe dealership has a branch operation.

Homeless shelters receive donated cloth-ing on a regular basis, but socks are usu-ally among the items that are given theleast yet needed the most.

That’s where Hannah’s Socks and NBScome in. Last December, Pat Alber, a de-signer in NBS’s Toledo office, organized aspecial campaign in support of Hannah’sSocks, with a call that went out to all fourNBS locations as well as customers andbusiness partners.

By the time the drive was over, Pat and herteam had collected over 2,000 pairs ofsocks for people in need.

“This was the second time we did a sockdrive and the response was fantastic,”says Pat. “Nearly three-quarters of whatwe collected came from customers. Theyrecognize what we’re trying to do here byway of giving back and they are very gen-erous, even in these tough times.”

FEBRUARY 2011 OFDEALER PAGE 6

dealer news: continued from page 4

“ F I N E A R C H I T E C T U R A L H A R D W A R E F O R Y O U R F I N E F U R N I T U R E ” ®

w w w . m o c k e t t . c o m

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/ / ”

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United Stationers Expands Furniture LinesWholesaler United Stationers has announced it is expanding itsfurniture product lines, with the addition of new brands that in-clude Eurotech, La-Z-Boy Contract, HPFI, Martin Home Furnish-

ings, McDowell-Craig, National Office Furniture, KFI Seating,RightAngle Products and Progressive Case.

The new product lines will also be featured on a new furniturewebsite—to be announced soon—that will be accessible by bothdealers and consumers.

Additional enhancements are planned for first quarter 2011 in-cluding new Visual Planner functionality, designed to further tailorspecial order options for customers and quickly close sales thewholesaler said.

AmpliVox Expands Product Line with New AV Presentation Carts

AmpliVox Sound Systems lastmonth unveiled a line of 20 new

products designed to meet thechanging demands of multi-mediapresentations.

The new carts, workstations andpresentation stations offer a vari-

ety of connectivity and mobilityoptions, in a range of prices to suitany budget, the company said. For

more information, visitwww.ampli.com.

Earlier this month, the Business and InstitutionalFurniture Manufacturers Association (BIFMA) re-leased its market statistics for December 2010and for the tenth consecutive month, order growthwas in the positive column. According to BIFMA,December orders grew 24% year-over-year, whileDecember shipments increased 19%.

Full year 2010 orders and shipments increased13% and 6%, respectively, said BIFMA, a sub-stantial improvement over 2009, when orders andshipments both declined 30% year-over-year.

Analyst Budd Bugatch of the Raymond James in-vestment house said January 2011 order growth

should continue the positive trend, since it will bejuxtaposed against the low watermark of the cyclein terms of monthly orders. Suggested full year2011 orders should increase by approximately11%, substantially above the current BIFMA fore-cast of 5.6% order growth.

Providing further cause for optimism, Bugatch re-ported the Architect’s Billing Index improved to54.2 in December (up from 52 in November and45.4 last year). This marks its highest readingsince July 2007 and seems to suggest better daysahead Bugatch said.

BIFMA DECEMBER NUMBERS: Orders Up 24%; Shipments Up 19%

FEBRUARY 2011 OFDEALER PAGE 7

FEBRUARY 2011 OFDEALER PAGE 8

meet

OFDA’s New Board Chairperson

Frank Gutwein

During his 16 years in the office furniture industry, Frank Gutweinhas moved from sales and customer service into management andhas been the president of his family’s business, Widmer Interiors, headquartered in Peoria, since 2006. He brings with himto the OFDA board the perspective of a small well-diversified, multi-location dealership operating in a highly competitive Illinois market.

Frank began attending OFDA’s DealerStrategies Conferences in 2003 and hasbeen an active member of OFDA in recentyears. Serving on a dealer panel in 2007,Frank caught the attention of OFDA with hisinnovative ideas about the industry andgrowing dealer trends. Tapped for the boardof directors in 2009, Frank is very familiarwith OFDA’s programs and heads upOFDA’s Website Task Force, which recentlyredesigned the website to enhance its value,functionality and navigation to ensure userfriendliness.

“OFDA is a great organization and one ourdealers and manufacturers should be proudof,” said Frank. “What gets me excitedabout OFDA are the opportunities to net-work with manufacturers and benchmarkwith dealers of all sizes and with differentaligned manufacturers all across the coun-try. In order for our industry to excel, OFDAmust provide a unified voice for governmentadvocacy and all dealers need to set asidetheir vendor alliances and work together tohelp each other be better at what we areproviding the market. We all can learn fromeach other, no matter the alliance or the sizeof the dealership.”

Frank has become a highly motivated andoutspoken proponent for the associationand its annual conference. Challengingdealers at last year’s conference and in hisOctober 2010 OFDealer editorial to bring atleast one dealer, installer or industry personto this year’s conference, Frank plans tofocus on increasing the number of activedealers in OFDA and increasing attendanceat the annual conference.

“OFDA offers a wide range of dealer educa-tion and networking opportunities,” contin-ued Frank. “Whether through theirbenchmarking study, weekly eNewsletters,OFDealer and in particular through attendingthe Dealer Strategies Conference, OFDA isthe definitive source for office furniture deal-ers. I guarantee that anyone attending thisyear’s conference will find it to be a powerfulnetworking tool and will take away ideas toimprove their businesses.”

“If you aren’t a member of OFDA, you shouldbe and if you are a member of OFDA buthaven’t been attending the annual confer-ence, why not? I want to hear from you—email me at fgutwein@widmerinteriors.com.”

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FEBRUARY 2011 OFDEALER PAGE 10

cover

Creating and Sustaining aProfit Culture in Your BusinessBy Libby Wagner

continued on page 11

Certainly, in the office furniture industry, I

have seen clients reassess their business

models, rejuvenate their sales teams, and

reconsider operations.

That’s the gift of a challenging economy,

actually, because it forces leaders to pay

close attention and let go of those prac-

tices or ideas that haven’t really been

working for them in the past.

In reality, a challenging economy is the

best time to differentiate yourself from the

competition because you are forced to get

really clear about what’s working and

what’s not.

For many, revenues and profits have suf-

fered, some customers have simply gone

away or budgets have been slashed. The

business terrain feels different—where

perhaps you might have had a clear line of

sight to the end goal before, this new ter-

ritory seems more rugged, with suspect

weather conditions.

In business, it’s not just about hunkering

down in the trenches and waiting for the

storm to blow over. Instead, it’s about re-

silience, skill and frankly, having the right

gear.

If we waited for sunny days to get out,

we’d never go out. You cannot wait for the

sun to change or grow your business;

you’ve got to get out there now! You can

create your own organizational weather,

regardless of whether it’s snowing and

blowing outside.

In the December 2010 issue of OFDealer

(“You Can’t Look Forward Until You Look

Back,” pages 17-18), we discussed the

characteristics of a profit culture, one that

supports your business goals, reaches

your revenue targets and generates cus-

tomer delight and employee satisfaction.

This profit culture, which is an internal

measurement of how you are supporting

the results you want, is not just some nice-

to-have pipe-dream. It’s essential if you

want to develop the sort of resilience that

will carry you through any sort of weather.

One of the mistakes I see leaders make

over and over is thinking that if they focus

solely on the bottom line, it will grow just

out of their sheer determination.

In reality, whether you make it to the top of

the mountain this year and reach the im-

portant goals you’ve set will be deter-

mined by how prepared you and your

organization are for the journey ahead.

Your culture (your inside weather!) is in di-

rect correlation to the results you will reap

come December.

FEBRUARY 2011 OFDEALER PAGE 11

cover story: continued from page 10

Profit CulturePyramid

In the Profit Culture Pyramid, you’ll notice

that there are five levels to get you to the

top of the mountain where your Profit Cul-

ture—your results—reside.

The trek up the hill does not have to be

arduous, long or require extra oxygen, but

it does have to be steady and disciplined.

You, as the leader, must be purposeful

and clear and you must lead the way to

the top. You can do this by cultivating an

intentional business culture so that every-

one is suited up and ready to go.

continued on page 12

Level 1: Foundations for SuccessYou consistently deliver high levels of the Core Dimensions: Re-

spect, Empathy, Specificity and Genuineness.

This is about behaviors—everyone, all the time. The biggest risk

to you as a leader is that you’ll blow right by this level and think

it’s a no-brainer. Everyone knows that a workplace should have

respect or some kind of listening (Empathy), right?

It’s so simple it almost seems elementary, but the real question is

this: Are you doing it consistently?

If you’re not getting the results you want in your organization,

whether it’s high performance, customer satisfaction and repeat

business or business innovation, this is the very place you need

to look first.

How people are communicating, interacting, solving problems,

dealing with conflict, responding to customers—all of these small

wins and losses are dependent upon whether these high-trust be-

haviors are consistently delivered, noticed and rewarded. Simple,

but not easy.

Level 2: Influencing with Integrity and Confronting without ConflictYou use language and tools to get what you want, while increas-

ing trust and decreasing defensiveness.

Believe it or not, you are not having conversations about your

business. You are not having conversations about why that install

went totally wrong. You are not having conversations about im-

proving margin erosion or targeting new markets.

The business is the conversation, just as the bad install, margin

erosion or emerging markets are the conversations.

I know it may sound like semantic gymnastics, but the real issue

is this: Your use of language, your team’s ability to get on the

same page, your increasing efficiencies and effectiveness are all

tied directly to how you are engaging in the conversation about

these topics.

The more courageous the conversations, the more successful

your business will be. The less effective your interpersonal skills,

your management skills, your confrontation skills, the less money

FEBRUARY 2011 OFDEALER PAGE 12

cover story: continued from page 11

Let’s examine each level of the Profit

Culture Pyramid so that you can assess

where you are now, identify the

strengths you have and determine what

you might need to get you to the top

more quickly.

continued on page 13

you will make, the less happy your customers will be and the

more your employees will leave or cause problems.

Level 3: All for OneYou are able to gain commitments to shared vision and goals.

You know you have commitment to the results you want if people

are consistently demonstrating behaviors that support those

goals.

If employees are side-tracked, creating work-arounds or even

sabotaging efforts to reach the desired vision, you do not have

commitment.

It’s even tricky when people say they are committed, but their behav-

iors contradict this, which causes confusion and dissention.

You cannot leave this up to chance. Everyone in the organization

needs to know where they are, what their role is and how their

performance will be measured.

They need to know what excellence looks like, they need regular

feedback, both positive and constructive and you need to deliver

the message, consistently and endlessly.

If they’re not mocking you, you haven’t said it enough! Creating

a team agreement and/or clearing the swamp of obstacles to high

levels of performance, productivity and high morale helps every-

one stay roped up on the journey to the top.

Level 4: Cultivate Commitment vs. ComplianceYou have developed strong relationships based on trust and per-

sonal power.

Would you like less stress associated with your leadership role?

Would you like a work-free weekend or a Blackberry-free dinner

out?

Less stress and a more balanced work life can happen if you have

created and cultivated a culture of commitment rather than a cul-

ture of compliance.

The bottom line is this: When you’re not around, when you’re not

looking over someone’s shoulder, how confident are you that they

are doing the right thing or the thing you’d do for your business

success?

We know we have the loyalty and commitment of our employees

because we’ve created the types of relationships where they do

what’s right even when we’re not around, because they feel a

sense of ownership and pride.

When we have a compliance culture, we must incessantly follow-

up, go over, double-check and direct.

Team members wait for us to tell them what to do, and the worst

part is that we enable them to be that way. This is costly and ul-

timately ineffective. Relationships matter. They impact your bot-

tom line.

Level 5: Creativity, Innovation, Results!You are continuing to become a more effective influencer culti-

vating the environment for your Profit Culture.

Your results are here. You’ve clearly articulated your vision, you’ve

gotten others to follow you, you’ve created a path and a method

to climb the mountain, and you’re prepared for any weather.

You’ve got the right gear and the right attitudes, no matter the cli-

mate or conditions. You’ve developed resilience on the way up.

You’ve assessed and learned from your successes and your failures.

You’ve got high levels of trust so that you can reinvent, renew and

stake your claim on the next peak.

Let this year be the year that you cultivate exactly the Profit Cul-

ture you want, no matter the weather outside: resilient, abundant,

sustainable and fun!

Libby Wagner, president of Libby Wagner & Associ-ates, is one of the only poets regularly welcomedinto the boardroom. Often called the The InfluencingCoach™ by her clients, Libby's expertise in leader-ship, strategy, management, and executive teamdevelopment helps organizations create environ-

ments where clarity and increased trust lead to unrivaled results.Have questions about Profit Cultures, defining your Leadership Voiceor creating a stronger team? Contact Libby Wagner at 206-906-9203or libby@libbywagner.com.

FEBRUARY 2011 OFDEALER PAGE 13

cover story: continued from page 12

Apex Facility Resources, a full-service dealer located in Seat-

tle, Washington, really wants a Profit Culture! In fact, recently,

president Marlaine McCauley and VP Matt Watson hosted a

fun-filled Profit Culture Launch Party where employees ate,

drank, practiced rusty bowling skills and toasted to the suc-

cess of 2010—and their company-wide bonuses—at a time

when industry revenues were down 40% in the past two

years.

Not at Apex: Their revenues were up over 90% in 2010 and

profits rose 60%. Sounds too good to be true? Read on!

In 2007, Apex, now celebrating its 14th year in business, was

recognized as one of the Top 100 Fastest Growing Compa-

nies in Washington.

As often happens with entrepreneurial businesses, Apex

could no longer lead and differentiate themselves by gather-

ing everyone in the company around the conference table.

They had become too big, and like many businesses, had not

had a chance to put into place systems and processes that

could help them move to the next level of success.

They were experiencing the pains of growth: expensive

turnover of employees, margin erosion, lack of leadership

skills among managers and supervisors, struggles with

work/life balance, high stress, inconsistent or low perform-

ance, lack of focus, lack of trust among some employees and

team members and inconsistent recognition and reward for

good work.

They were getting the job done and steadily building their

business, but at great cost.

What did Apex do, in a down economy, to create such amaz-

ing results? First, we began work at the top.

A defining characteristic of a Profit Culture leader is that he

or she must be willing to self-assess, redirect, and demon-

strate their own vulnerability. In other words, they must be

willing to change, too.

Marlaine is the epitome of “leading from the front”—she com-

mitted to her own development, made changes in her behav-

ior, was willing to have the courageous conversations and

created the right kind of atmosphere to create change.

At Level 1, Foundations for Success, Apex committed time,

energy and resources to identifying “The Apex Way,” defined

it behaviorally and aligned it with their Management Team

Agreement and The Core Dimensions: Respect, Empathy,

Specificity and Genuineness.

The whole management team was not only expected to be

on board, they were encouraged and recognized for progress

and development.

Marlaine worked consistently and directly with me as her ex-

ecutive coach so she could get honest, high-accountability

feedback to keep herself on track for the promises she made

to her team.

At Level 2, Influencing with Integrity and Confronting without

Conflict, Apex invested in skill building and training for the

whole organization, so that everyone gained the communica-

tion and interpersonal skills, led by their managers, to resolve

issues quickly, be respectful in dealing with conflict and in-

crease specificity to ensure success.

At Level 3, All for One, Apex managers meet regularly to not

only share real-time issues, but also to make sure they are on

track to “keeping their promises” to each other and to their

employees.

They Clear the Swamp regularly to identify obstacles, poten-

tial pitfalls, and keep a laser focus on important initiatives.

At Level 4, Cultivate Commitment versus Compliance, Apex

worked hard to clearly articulate performance expectations,

take time for one-on-ones with employees, offered feedback

and recognition regularly and began improving their delega-

tion skills to even out the workload and improve employee

development.

At Level 5: Creativity, Innovation, Results!, the 2010 numbers

(+90% increase in revenues and 60% increase in profits)

show the results of a team that has transformed itself and is

committed to their long-term investment in a Profit Culture.

The Apex management team is measuring success, getting

clear on their data and investing in their people. They also

commit and re-commit to the practices that will keep them

on top, growing, evolving and reaping the rewards.

FEBRUARY 2011 OFDEALER PAGE 14

PROFIT CULTURE:Does this really work?

cover: case study continued from page 13

When it comes to estate

planning, we are currently

experiencing a “perfect

storm” situation that

represents the best

opportunity on record to

save literally millions of

dollars in ultimate estate

taxes for wealthy families.

Three factors are combining to make the current,

highly favorable environment: Interest rates remain at

all-time lows; asset values remain depressed, espe-

cially in real estate, and the Tax Relief, Unemployment

Insurance Authorization and Job Creation Act of 2010

signed by President Obama in December 2010 allows

for the shifting of assets on a scale never before seen

in the 94 years of the modern estate tax regime.

I will explain below the importance of this “perfect

storm” but first a quick review of the tax relief act is

in order.

The act caps the estate tax rate at 35% and allows

for an exemption from estate taxes of the first $5 mil-

lion of estate value.

These rates and exemptions also apply to the gener-

ation skipping tax. This means that married couples

with estates of less than $10 million will incur no es-

tate taxes whatsoever. This compares to prior law in

2009 (before repeal in 2010), when the top estate tax

rate was 45% and the exemption was $3.5 million.

If the act had not become law, the rate would now be

55%, with an exemption of just $675,000. The new

law will allow many families to escape the estate tax

altogether or lower taxes significantly for those with

estates greater than $5 million (or $10 million for mar-

ried couples).

Another benefit of the new law is “portability” of the

exemption. This allows a surviving spouse to utilize

any unused exemption of the predeceased spouse.

For example, if the husband predeceased his wife

and had only $2 million of assets in his estate at the

time, the surviving spouse will be able to use an $8

million exemption (her $5 million plus his unused $3

million).

Under prior law, the amount would have been limited

to the surviving spouse’s $5 million exemption.

FEBRUARY 2011 OFDEALER PAGE 16

The Perfect StormFor Estate Planning

The Time to Act Is NowBy J. Kyle DeVries

continued on page 17

Perhaps the biggest benefit of the law is

the reunification of estate and gift taxes.

Prior law fixed the lifetime exemption for

gifting at $1 million, even though the death

exemption was larger ($3.5 million in

2009).

The act reunifies the gift exemption with

the death exemption of $5 million. This

means both a husband and wife could

transfer by gift up to $10 million of assets

during their lifetimes as opposed to just $2

million under prior law.

This is a tremendous opportunity to shift

significant assets out of the estate, forever

shielding the growth on the gifted assets

from estate taxes. (You also have an an-

nual exclusion gift of $13,000 per benefi-

ciary per year available in addition to the

gift exemption of $5 million. This is a “use

it or lose it” exclusion so it should be uti-

lized each year, if possible.)

As good as this news is the act will only

last through 2012, after which time the es-

tate taxes will revert to pre-2001 law (55%

rate and $675,000 exemption) unless a

new law is passed before then.

That is why it is so important to implement

a gifting strategy during the next two years

that will maximize the amount of future es-

tate tax savings.

Even though the law will change by 2013,

any gifting done prior to a change in the

law will be grandfathered. Uncle Sam can-

not unwind the gifts made under current

law.

Why would you want to make gifts up to

$10 million if you are a wealthy family and

can afford to do so?

The best way to beat Uncle Sam in the es-

tate tax game is to transfer assets from

yourself to your children or more likely to

trusts for your children’s benefit.

The reason for this is best shown by ex-

ample. Assume you own a portfolio of real

estate that is worth $10 million. Also, as-

sume the portfolio will grow at an average

of 6% per year over a 20-year period when

the death of the second spouse is as-

sumed and the estate tax is due.

If you retain the real estate in the future, it

will ultimately be taxed in your estate at

what we will assume is 35% (the rate

could be more or less when they change

the law by 2013).

The projected value of the real estate

would be $32,071,000 in 20 years with an

estate tax of $11,225,000.

How that estate tax is paid without selling

or refinancing the real estate will be the

subject of a future article; however, the net

FEBRUARY 2011 OFDEALER PAGE 17

estate planning: continued from page 16

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to the heirs would be just under $21 million

in the above example.

If instead, you transfer the real estate to a

special trust benefiting your heirs then all

the appreciation from the date of transfer

would inure to the trust and would not be

included in your estate.

Based on the assumptions above, in 20

years the appreciation on the real estate of

$22,071,000 would be removed from your

estate, saving over $7,700,000 in estate

taxes at a 35% rate and netting the heirs

almost $29 million versus $21 million if you

did not transfer the asset.

There are techniques to leverage the $5

million exemption to enhance the estate

tax savings even further. These include

Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts (GRATs),

sales to defective trusts (IDITs), financed

net gift transactions and other techniques

I will cover in future articles.

These techniques use much less of your

gifting exemption for each dollar of asset

transferred and work best in a lower inter-

est rate environment.

The current low interest rates coupled with

the fact that most assets, including busi-

nesses and real estate, have decreased in

value since 2006 and the opportunity the

act gives to transfer tremendous value

complete the “perfect storm” opportunity.

So NOW is the time to explore whether or

not a gifting program should be executed

and to what extent. The “perfect storm”

will not last forever. The act will last only

for two years if not amended beforehand;

interest rates will start to rise at some

point; and asset values will most likely in-

crease soon from their current lows.

Don’t be behind the eight ball and lose this

fantastic opportunity to beat Uncle Sam at

the estate tax game. Meet with an advisor

who specializes in gifting and estate taxes

as soon as possible to assist you in formu-

lating the best plan for you and your family.

Kyle is an estate andbusiness successionplanner in Westlake Vil-lage, CA. His goal is toassist his clients intransitioning their

legacy to their heirs in accordance withtheir wishes, while minimizing estate andgift taxes and ensuring sufficient liquidityfor a seamless transition. Contact Kyle at805-379-5510, kyle@devriesfinancial.comor www.devriesfinancial.com

FEBRUARY 2011 OFDEALER PAGE 18

estate planning: continued from page 17

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FEBRUARY 2011 OFDEALER PAGE 19

form meets

functionin Montreal

By Alicia Ellis

PROJECT

profilecontinued on page 20

When Haworth dealer Marisa DelBello, president of CIME Business En-vironments in Montreal, was asked to collaborate on office interiors forthe new home of NFOE et associés architectes, one of Montreal’s old-est and largest architectural firms, her ability to help create a modern,functional space in one of Montreal’s oldest buildings was put to thetest.

NFOE’s new home would be located on the ground and first floors ofthe recently renovated New York Life Building in Old Town Montreal.Built in 1888 in the Place d’Armes square, which contains the Notre-Dame Basilica, the building was Montreal’s first high rise.

Eight stories high, the building is known for its red sandstone frontage,wrought-iron entrance and clock tower. Although renovated in 2005,the building maintains much of the original architectural details, includ-ing Corinthian columns, ornate capitals and the original central stair-case.

The client was seeking a minimalist desking solution with pure cleanlines to act as a backdrop for the rich architectural details of the space.They wanted collaborative work environments that supported group in-teraction while also providing the opportunity for individual thought andreflection.

They needed customized work surface sizes and storage solutions tosupport the unique work requirements of architectural firms. Most im-portantly, they needed a desking system that was able to achieve max-imum space efficiency for the 11,400 square feet of open space withvery few semi-closed offices.

Working closely with Masa Fukushima and RafieSossanpour , two of the partners at NFOE, Del-Bello and account manager Francine Grenier col-laborated on a white-on-white color palate thatblended form with function while highlighting theunique architectural features of the building itself.

“One of the most exciting European trends tocome to North America has been the idea of col-laborative environments,” said DelBello. “Thatsaid, many European office furniture manufactur-ers have visually appealing products but cablemanagement and electrical integration oftenbring serious time and adaptability issues.”

Hoping to find a solution, DelBello attended Neo-Con World’s Trade Fair this past June and was in-troduced to Group Lacasse’s new Collaborative& Innovative Teaming Environments (C.I.T.É.)products.

“C.I.T.É had a very European look and was intel-ligent in the way the design and electrical engi-neering was created,” said DelBello, who workedwith Groupe Lacasse to put together a proposaland showcase a mockup of the solution forNFOE in their Montreal showroom.

“The client was thrilled with the proposal, whichincluded 60 desking workstations, lunchroomseating, Haworth Planes solutions for two con-ference/meeting areas and customized book-cases, work surfaces and storage solutions.”

“Groupe Lacasse was very helpful with the cus-tomized solutions that were necessary for storingand laying out architectural plans,” said Grenier.“Oversized work surfaces and storage solutionswere developed to accommodate architecturaldrawings and make the storage conveniently ac-cessible from both sides.”

Installation took less than one week and withcable management made easy by an inter-con-nective trough running through the back of eachworkstation.

“Nothing is more important for CIME than to cre-ate spaces that perform beautifully and adapt tothe needs of our customer,” said DelBello. “Over-all, the aesthetics of the product complement theairiness of the soaring architectural studio anddeliver the functional attributes necessary to sup-port the working environment.”

form meets function:continued from page 19

FEBRUARY 2011 OFDEALER PAGE 20

Why spend all that time and money oncreating a fancy new web site if you can’teven tell if people will visit it, much lessconvert into a customer?

Your web site is not a black hole nor is it astatic environment; the time and money youput into your site are the platform forfinding and targeting and obtaining yourideal customers.Customers rarely mention problems they encounter while onyour web site. The only way to know what kind of online expe-rience you are providing visitors is to review and interpret yourweb site’s data.

Welcome to Google Analytics, a free tool available to all specif-ically designed to:

n Track how many people are coming to your web site andhow they found your web site.

n Track what product or service pages visitors spend theirtime on to eliminate ineffective pages and promote your bestpages (those that result in a customer).

FEBRUARY 2011 OFDEALER PAGE 21

AnalyticsBy Jason Kirby

why you need

continued on page 22

n Instantly review reports on your high-est performing marketing initiatives; overtime, refine your strategy to increase ef-ficiency (save time and money) and vis-itor conversion (when a web site visitorbecomes a customer).

The information Google Analytics gathersfrom your web site can tell you how tospend your time and money moving for-ward.

Understand your potential prospects’ pri-orities which will in turn allow you to prior-itize more effectively. By tracking theperformance of your web site you will armyourself with data which you can harnessto make better business decisions.

Gathering this data is painless. Google An-alytics, a free and robust web site analyticstool, tracks every piece of data you couldever want and more.

Simply sign up at www.google.com/analytics,register for your free account, and then cutand paste the provided JavaScript codeonto every page of your web site (or usethe art of outsourcing—e-mail it to yourweb developer for a quick fix).

Once the code appears on every page ofyour web site you will automatically startcollecting data.

Data collected ranges from number ofunique visitors, number of page views (anda comparison across pages), time visitorsspend on each page, how people foundyour web site, the geographical location ofyour visitors, what search keywords bringvisitors to your web site, the path visitorstake from page-to-page across your website and much more.

Most of the data is not initially statisticallysignificant; wait one to three months ofdata prior to taking action on any onepiece of information.

During the first months you should still mon-itor your analytics weekly to see what trafficsources are sending people to your site.

Although it is a narrow slice of data, this cantell you if any of your current marketing ef-forts are delivering web site visitors and, in

turn, customers, or if recipients of your e-mail campaigns are visiting your site.

This can also be an ideal time to get agrasp of the path visitors take on your site.Begin to formulate questions for use whenyou have a full data set off which to makedecisions.

When you login to Analytics you may beoverwhelmed with the quantity of num-bers, charts, and the terminology. As istrue with most data analytics, pick the“low-hanging fruit.”

What are the key terms and figures for youto know? The top five pieces of data mostimportant to you as a dealer are bouncerate, number of unique visitors, top landingpages, top keywords and top trafficsources.

Bounce RateThis is the percentage of visitors who landon a particular page on your site and leaveimmediately without navigating to otherpages. As you can guess, the lower thenumber the better.

A high bounce rate means visitors arecoming to your site and quickly leaving be-cause they are unable to find the informa-tion they seek.

More broadly, this lets you know whichpages are ineffective in meeting your visi-tors’ needs.

Number of Unique VisitorsThis measures the total number of visitorscoming to your site for the first time. Com-pare this number to the number of uniquevisitors you had last month, two monthsago and so on. The goal is to see thisnumber gradually rise, indicating morepeople are finding your web site.

Top Landing PagesThis lists the pages visitors first land onwhen they enter your site. It is your chanceto make your first impression.

Typically your top landing page is yourhomepage, however you may have peoplelanding on product specific or product cat-egory pages.

This information is important to know be-cause it tells you where you have an op-portunity to optimize your first impressions(or maybe last impressions).

You want to make sure these pages aredesigned to engage your visitors to eitherkeep them on your site or encourage themto pick up their phone to inquire further.

Top KeywordsThis helps you determine what searchterms people are using to find your site(versus what you think they are searchingfor which can often be vastly—and sur-prisingly--different).

Understand what content on your site youneed to move or change to make pagesmore relevant to what your visitors seek.See the case study below to learn how thisfacet of Google Analytics impacted an of-fice furniture dealer’s bottom line.

Top Traffic SourcesThis shows you what web sites refer visi-tors to your web site. Consider referringweb sites a referral from another company;their function is the same, although one isonline and the other offline.

This list of referral sites will tell you whatsearch engines visitors are using to findyour business. It lets you know if othercompanies are sending you traffic or ifother marketing efforts are delivering asyou had hoped.

For example, if you are advertising on Yel-lowpages.com or any other local businessdirectory, you will be able to see if people areclicking on your ad(s) to find your web site.

You will then be able to determine whetheryour money is well spent in this area or if itshould be funneled to higher performingreferral sources or initiatives.

FEBRUARY 2011 OFDEALER PAGE 22

google analytics: continued from page 21

continued on page 23

caseSTUDYAn office furniture dealer found out through reviewingAnalytics’ data that the majority of their web site’straffic was from people typing in the keyword “cubi-cles.” However on the landing page the first thing vis-itors saw was “systems furniture solutions.”

Visitors expected one thing (cubicles) and saw an-other (systems office furniture). This dissonance ledto a high bounce rate of 46.2%.

Translation: Of those who landed on the homepage,almost half left this web site without viewing anyother pages. The simple misalignment of the site’scopy with the vocabulary of its visitors (versus the vo-cabulary of industry insiders) led visitors to have anegative brand and web site experience.

After tweaking the web site’s copy and content to say“cubicles” instead of “systems furniture solutions,”the bounce rate decreased to a mere 5% and overalltraffic increased by 113%.

In turn, conversion rates increased. The rate at whichweb site visitors became customers became 3.5%which led to 9 new leads a month!

Taking into account average close rate and averagesale amount, this web site “tweak” led to an esti-mated $20,000 increase in revenue per month.

Start using Google Analytics and take the time to in-stall it onto your web site and begin interpreting thedata so you can start to make better informed busi-ness decisions.

Jason Kirby is director of the officefurniture marketing programs ateBoost Consulting, a digital market-ing consultancy that has generatedin excess of 20,000 qualified leadsfor its clients in the office furniture

industry over the past five years. Jason will be hosting afollow-up webinar to this article, “Your Quick Start Guideto Leveraging Google Analytics,” when he will walk deal-ers through the Google Analytics platform and explain thekey pieces of information that matter most to dealers. Ittakes place on March 3 at 11:00am PST. Register for thefree webinar at http://budurl.com/OFDealerWebinar

FEBRUARY 2011 OFDEALER PAGE 23

google analytics: continued from page 23

http://www.ofdanet.org/Dealer-Strategies-Conference