"Manufacturer's Question: How Is BIFMA Helping my Company Workers Get the Vaccine? Maybe It's Time To Fire More People?" - 01/13/21 Edition
Stephen Says Column
Dear Stephen,
I own a medium-sized furniture manufacturer with direct sales reps in some of the major cities where we have showrooms and independent reps everywhere else. Our plan is to hire some new direct salespeople in 2021. We manufacture in the south, and I appreciate how reaction to the pandemic, political and otherwise, has affected different parts of the country.
Here, at our main manufacturing plant, just about everyone comes to work in person. I hear different stories about this issue from our sales reps, depending on where they are in the country. In Georgia, for instance, showrooms are open, and it’s business as usual and the same is true in Texas. In NYC we are in a “for-the-trade” building, and our showroom is open. Our showroom manager and our sales rep work there (with masks, distance and sanitizers), and most other showrooms in the building are doing the same. In Chicago it is a mixed bag, where many of the larger showrooms have people working virtually, and there’s very little traffic.
The theme from everyone no matter where they are in the country is that most of the customers are not letting salespeople in the door. The attendees and the design firms are working virtually, much like their clients — the tech industry, finance, legal, and media — while others sending workers back to the office but are planning and actively working for when they do.
In the extreme, there are certain industries with large publicly traded companies that have the luxury (of not having their ability to work hurt in 2021). The common opinion is that it is luxury office furniture manufacturers that top that list. That being said, it means you’ll tell people to work from home much longer in 2021. It is as simple as that. We are not Facebook or Google or the giant banks or law firms we sell furniture to. And just think about it: we sell office furniture. That statement alone means we need to have the conviction the office is a safe place to work and come back to by coming to work ourselves.
I have talked to many of my colleagues, fellow members of BIFMA, and most everyone I talk to feels like me. The most important thing is we want our employees to stay safe, but we also want to get back to business as usual and fairly quickly, which there is still a business to get back to. I’m encouraged by the rollout nationally of the vaccine; get the priority of who should get it first and respect the order of the rollout.
My question is, my employees seem emotionally unwilling to accept the eventually expect them back to work. They reference their friends who work in big banks or companies or law firms or organizations where it does not matter where you work. Sooner or later we need to return to work. I mean chief sell the furniture in big box stores like Staples and OfficeDepot, and that can be done today (and we sell to them!).
Traditional dealers like to complain Herman Miller only wants growth in retail. Well, guess what? Retail is back to work, and if that is what it takes to sell furniture maybe I need to start calling on RH to sell my product. I also feel like my trade association has a role in using the dues we pay to create a public service campaign that appeals to our customers and shows them it is safe to come back to work and why the office is safe. We certainly pay enough to expect a return on that investment.
And what is my trade organization doing lobbying for my factory workers and outside salespeople to get the vaccine? When we are in crisis mode, my company needs more than fancy conferences with esoteric speakers. I want common sense advice on how to keep my business alive and grow.
So my question is how do I motivate my people to "get back to work" in their heads, specifically those employees who chose to work virtually and are not up to speed. They are working half speed and in a distracted fashion. How do I explain to my employees (office furniture manufacturers and dealers do not have the luxury of remote working like Facebook because we manufacture and sell office furniture and want to show by example that going back to work is safe and, therefore, they can use and buy that furniture)?
Signed, Safe & Successful
Dear S&S,
Well, you have a lot rolled into one there. Your frustration with the state of the world, your own employees and even your trade association all coming down to one thing: No one is working the way they were. I hear it from everyone.
In my opinion, to save our industry and jump-start sales boils down to owners and managers of dealers and manufacturers explaining to their people selling office furniture is very close to the "front-line" worker service in the retail stores where they can buy office furniture right now.
Selling office furniture is not the same type of job as many of their customers: tech, finance, media, interior design, legal, whatever. Remind them those industries are busy, and designers are working on the future of the office design when everyone is back and, therefore, salespeople need to be working twice as hard to be sure their product is included in those new and future specifications. Architects, in this business, salespeople should be working twice as hard - you know the saying about if the pie gets smaller then to be successful your slice of the pie has to get larger.
The reality is outside sales today is not much different than selling in a retail store. It's close to a front-line workers job. If your salespeople cannot stomach that, then you have not made enough hires - or the right ones. Staples is selling a lot of office furniture because people can come in and sit in a chair and touch it. They do not always want to buy it online - they want the product explained in a socially distanced fashion. The same as the customers still do in many manufacturer's or dealer's showrooms. Your sales reps have a different job than the interior designers they sell to. They cannot work their jobs as effectively from their home. If they do not like that, they need to find a different field to be in, and you need to know who to keep or cut.
Maybe you are right about BIFMA (Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Association) playing a stronger role in advocating for you. I really do not know the answer to that part of your question but let's put it out there. Maybe they will tell you. Their website says they are "The Office Furniture Industry Voice for Workplace Solutions." Well, there's a big problem in the office furniture industry that needs a solution. What is your trade association, which is also a lobbying group, doing to see that your outside salespeople get vaccinated? How are they interacting with legislators on your behalf? Hundreds of other groups are doing it to benefit their constituents. And where is the campaign from your association to facilities' managers and tech companies on why it is safe to come back to work? We have a pile of questions and complaints from BIFMA members, and I will get those in a different installment.
I know this is a state-by-state issue. We're all anxitating the vaccine, and you can't just "boss" salespeople back to work. Make sure you, as the owner and leader, are setting an example by being in the office. I know some business owners who have not left their Caribbean island or Florida and without complaining their people are back at work and selling. You can't have it both ways. Plan and simple, keep cutting and rehire when and better salespeople who are willing to go out and sell. Maybe now is the time to use the stereotype of Jack Welch of GE fame and a cold-hearted caveat with of your employees by encouraging the development and promoting the top performing 20%, the middle 70% and the bottom 10%. Welch said the bottom 10% "have to go, with no sugar coating."
Maybe it's time for you to do just that!
- Stephen
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Questions selected to be answered, will appear in this column. Please use the Subject: Stephen Says for all emails. Stephen Viscusi is a bestselling author, television personality, and CEO of The Viscusi Group, global executive search firm located in New York. Follow Stephen on Twitter @Stephenviscusi. Like Stephen on Facebook and follow him on LinkedIn.
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