Q: What changes have you made to your facility and why?
A: We completely renovated our show room. It's all new furniture. It's a working show room, so in its application at the dealership, we show almost every line Haworth carries. We thought it was important to give Lansing an opportunity to see the range of product in a working atmosphere. They can see it, touch it and see how it performs. ... We were held back when it was owned by U.S. Office Products because it was a publicly traded company, and it's hard to secure capital expenditures to make that kind of investment.
Q: How did the transition of ownership occur?
A: U.S. Office Products owned the company until January 17, 2001, when Haworth bought us. Haworth never intended to own a dealership, but U.S. Office Products became financially unsound, so [Haworth] got us out from under that so our business wouldn't deteriorate. They wanted to protect their distribution. They always had the intent that they would sell it back into private ownership. They bought eight U.S. Office Products dealers that were Haworth dealers at the same time, so they're in the process of transitioning all of them back into private ownership.
Q: What are businesses looking for in used office furniture?
A: Businesses are looking for productivity from their employees. A lot of times there are open areas that have 15 to 20 employees working together. The old bullpen with the desks backed up to each other wasn't conducive to privacy and good business. Now, they have privacy at a sit-down level. The panel systems have become lower and have a more open atmosphere, which really helps with ventilation and cooling. Plus, employees don't feel like they are getting their own little cubicle and that's it. Companies are a lot more cost conscious and there's a lot more teaming going on in the workplace. The Haworth furniture is especially receptive to a team environment. It's all on wheels and mobile peds. Tables can be pushed together for a meeting at any time and then back to a productive work area. The buyers are a lot different than they used to be. That's another reason for the investment in a show room. Buyers are a lot more savvy. They want more for their dollar. Before, it was like, "Go ahead; build the offices. Brown is fine." Now, it's quite a bit different.
Q: Do you find that there's more of a design element to it as well?
A: It's a big, big part of our business. Anyone can sell Grade A office furniture. You have to have the dealership elements that make it good for the customer to buy from DBI and to buy Haworth furniture. People that do that are our design staff with their creativity and cost-consciousness for the customer. They don't oversell or put too much furniture in. They make it productive and look good-giving the customer a value. We feel very good about our people. We have 15 fulltime designers and 24 full-time installers that do nothing but the systems furniture installation and design on a daily basis. That's how we set ourselves up to respond to the customers' needs.
Q: What percentage of your business is furniture vs. supplies?
A: Seventy percent contract furniture, 30 percent office products. ... There are not a lot of dealers around that do both, but we always considered them as a complement. Our office products business has brought us furniture opportunities and vice versa. ...
Q: What has been DBI's greatest challenge?
A: ... A lot of times you are dealing with new construction. There are delays. Everyone has a timeline for an open house or a move in. Let's face it. The company needs to be up and running to make its revenue, and they're spending money with us. Our challenge is to get the company's furniture installed so they could be a lot more productive with their new furniture and get them back up and running. To do that, our people have to work a lot of nights and weekends because furniture needs to be installed when their business is down. ... the biggest challenge is pulling off those kinds of undertakings and coming out on top more than coming out on the bottom.
Q: What has been key to your success?
A: The basics-honesty and integrity. I teach our people 0 the time that we don't want to overpromise and underperform. We want to be able to stand behind what we do, so I would think those are the most important things, your honesty and integrity. Whenever you're working on a project, ... there's going to be bumps in the road. There's going to be trucks not arriving on time, missing product or whatever. I always think it's how you handle that opportunity that determines whether you come out ahead or not. Once we sign on a job, we're going to be there until you're happy. ...
By: Galecka, Heather
Publication: Greater Lansing Business Monthly
Date: Dec 01, 2001
Subject: Chief executive officers, Office furniture
