"Is Your Email Address Costing You a Job?"
The Business of Furniture - 1/25/17 Edition
Stephen Says Column
Dear Stephen,
Is it just my imagination or do salespeople in the furniture industry seem to work later into their lives than salespeople in other industries? In some dealers, I see people long past their 60’s and well into their 70’s still working. I visited a Steelcase dealer recently and joked that instead of a bike rack, they should have a walker rack. Even at manufacturers both big and small, it’s not unusual to hear about someone changing jobs in their 60’s, and in the world of independent reps, some of these guys and gals seem to want to work while they are hooked up to life support. The really sad part is that I rarely hear any of these older folks say that they love their jobs so much that they want to work to 80, but instead, I hear things like, “I had more bad years than good. That’s why I’m here,” or, “I’m in my 70’s and still have kids to put through college, what choice do I have?” I mean, I do like my job, I worked in sales at a dealer for years and now I am a manufacturer, but as much as I like it, I definitely would like to retire at some point. My wife is a school teacher and we have some money saved up, but I am nervous that it won’t be enough for the lifestyle we’ve gotten used to. I keep thinking about when I was at a dealer and had an account with a major insurance company, as long as they were buying furniture from me, I had no intention of surrendering the account. I was making a killing, but it never seemed like I had enough money. I was hooked and was spending the money as quickly as it was coming in. Thinking back on this makes me terrified that I won’t be able to slow down and retire! I have friends in insurance sales, pharma sales, and even real estate, who began planning their retirement as soon as they started their careers. Retirement age is now in sight and their plans are working out. In furniture, I feel a little bit like Willy Loman from “Death of a Salesman.” I keep grinding and grinding and I don’t seem to get any farther forward. I am ambitious, good at my job, and generally successful, but at some point enough is enough. What’s the deal with this industry? Why do we have to work so hard for so long?
Dear Give Me a Break,
It’s true, people do seem to work in furniture sales until they get very old. And it is mostly true that we don’t have octogenarians selling womb chairs because they are so passionate about what they sell, but rather because they need (or want) the money. It is like I often say in this column: You are only as good as your last sale. Usually, I mean this as it relates to your utility to your boss, but in this case I mean it in terms of life and career planning. Let’s face it, part of it is greed. We get used to living with a certain amount of money, and then we have to keep working to make sure that we can live up to those standards. Some people choose to keep accounts for years because they aren’t willing to adjust to life without the extra cash. People in sales who sell big, tend to spend big! If this is the issue, then there isn’t much advice I can offer. Maybe pick up some eastern philosophy, but I am certainly not in the business of telling people to discard material possessions. Who am I to talk? I have several jobs and an apartment full of things!
In other cases, salespeople really need to keep working into their old age to make ends meet. It’s part of the new reality in many industries, but it has seemed to hit ours especially hard. I think one reason for this has to do with poor career planning at a young age, which is largely a product of the fact that furniture salespeople are not good at mentoring or training their own replacements. This means that people step into sales jobs with no idea about how to grow in the role or save enough to retire. The lesson for you young salespeople is to talk to the older reps in your office. Learn from them, figure out what mistakes they made, have them help you determine which accounts to hold onto and which to let go, and get a realistic picture of what the life of a furniture rep is like. I also think that this is all twice as hard at a furniture dealer than at a manufacturer. Dealers are small businesses that are often owned by people who do not think about the long-term welfare of their sales teams. This isn’t to say that most dealers have mean-hearted owners--I know a lot of dealer owners who want to do right by their employees desperately--but it is really difficult to survive the downtimes and they want to do everything they can to make it through. These dealers are damaged by every recession, by every little bump in the economy, so often the only benefit they offer is a modest 401(k).
The manufacturers are slightly better at supporting their sales teams, but not by much. I love reading about how all the major manufacturers have figured out the secret of the Fortune Magazine survey that ensures that they will be rated as “one of the best companies to work for.” The results of that Fortune Magazine survey never match what you read about those same companies on glassdoor.com, and it never tells you about the saving plans for employees or profit sharing mechanisms the companies have in place. One could only dream of getting some explanation as to why companies do not pay more medical costs. Even that would help, right? And, let’s face it, few of these “best companies to work for” have unionized factory workers with higher wages, so where are the savings going? They may talk a big game about caring for their sales staff and employees, but a surefire way to see if they live up to their promises is to count the number of geezers who are still part of their team. Trust me, it is not out of some deeply held love for schlepping furniture!
For all these reasons, the contract furniture industry has its own version of the 70-year-old Walmart greeter. Here, it’s the 70-year-old dealer sales rep that still has that bank, law firm, or ad agency account, all of whom are screaming at the rep for discounts. So, if you are young, this is what you are in for unless you make some smart choices--and it will only be worse for you with social security running out. If you’re in your 50’s, 60’s, or 70’s, I am sorry to say that yes, you were screwed, but remember that life could always be worse. Your job could be standing at the front of a megastore with a fake smile saying, “Welcome to Walmart!”
Stephen
You can send your workplace questions to Stephen at: StephenSays@bellow.press
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 recruiters located in New York. Follow Stephen on Twitter @WorkplaceGuru. Like Stephen on Facebook; and follow him on LinkedIn.
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