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Fifty Years and Counting for Henricksen & Company, Chicagoland-based DealerCongratulations to Mike Assell and his team at Itasca, IL-basedHenricksen & Company, which earlier this year celebrated its 50thyear of service to the Chicago area business community.

The dealership started out in 1962 when founder Shirley Henricksenwas looking to furnish office space for a friend of her husband.

It continued as a family business when in 1979, shortly after marry-ing their daughter Lois, Stephen McPartlin purchased the companyfrom the Henricksens. At the time of that purchase, the dealershipboasted just nine employees, working from a single location andgenerating annual sales of around $1 million.

Today, the headcount at the dealership stands at close to 200 em-ployees with seven locations (four in Illinois, two in Wisconsin andone in Minnesota) and annual sales in excess of $140 million!

McPartlin retired last year and sold the company to seven membersof his executive team and so far, at least, they look well set to main-tain his proud tradition of growth.

“We had our largest sales month ever in March—$18 million—and2012 is looking very good,” says EVP Rick Failla.

Clearly, the Henricksen team has plenty to celebrate and they didso in style last December, as over 400 friends, family and colleaguesgathered to honor Steve McPartlin on his retirement and mark atruly special landmark for the business.

Our congratulations to the Henricksen team and here’s to the nextfifty years!

How Does Your Dealership Stack Up?OFDA’s 2012 Dealer Financial Comparison & Benchmarking Guidesurvey is now open. Dealer participation in this, the industry'smost detailed financial and productivity benchmarking resource,will allow you to compare your financials to the industry’s bestplayers, determine operational strengths and weaknesses, and setgoals for improvement.

As a thanks for completing the survey, all respondents receive aFREE comprehensive Survey Report. And, if you’re a member ofOFDA, you’ll also receive a FREE Company Performance Report.

For more information, click here or call 800.542.6672.

continued on page 4

news Are You Ready for Tomorrow’sCustomers and Their Offices?It’s one of hockey legend Wayne Gretzy’smost famous quotes: “A good hockeyplayer plays where the puck is. A greathockey player plays where the puck isgoing to be.”

Anticipating the future may have been important for Gret-zky but it’s just as critical for anyone who’s serious aboutearning a living in the office furniture business.

Design concepts and work styles may have undergonesome dramatic changes in recent years, but all signs indi-cate the pace of change going forward is likely to acceler-ate even more.

As reported in our Industry News section this month, re-searchers at the CoreNet Global real estate firm have foundcorporate America is in the middle of a major downsizing ef-fort on office space, with nearly half of respondents to a re-cent survey indicating their average allocation of office spaceper person will fall to 100 sq. ft. or below by 2017.

Also this month, the Marriott hotel chain is predicting that by2013, almost 35% of the global workforce will work without anoffice of any kind.

What do trends like those mean for your dealership and theproducts and services your customers will be looking forin the future? How can you begin to tailor your own valueproposition to meet what promises to be a dramatic waveof new customer demands and expectations?

Some implications come to mind right away:

� There will be even more demand for furniture that adaptsquickly and easily to different users and applications.

� There will be a premium on product designs that maxi-mize the value of every cubic inch of workspace.

� Expert guidance and advice on how best to respond tothis rapidly changing environment will become evenmore valued, along with services tied in to balancing theneed for a smaller footprint with the desire for a productivity-enhancing, morale-boosting workspace.

The more important question, though, is what are we doingabout it? When Marriott talks about a third of the globalworkforce with no office, they’re not offering some futuris-tic, Star Wars type prediction. They’re talking about 2013.That’s next year …less than 9 months away!

The puck that’s being pushed around in the office furniturebusiness these days is moving awfully fast. We need to becommitted to moving our dealerships just as fast to wherethat puck is going to be.

MARCH/APRIL 2012 OFDEALER PAGE 3

Omaha Dealer All Makes VotedBest Place to Buy Office Furniturefor Seventh Consecutive YearCongratulations are also very much in orderto Omaha’s All Makes Office Equipment,selected by readers of B2B Omaha, thecity’s business publication, as the BestPlace to Buy Office Furniture for 2012. It isthe seventh-year in a row that All Makeshas been so honored.

“We’re honored that All Makes has beenrecognized as the leading office furnituredealership in Omaha for the seventh con-secutive year,” said president and CEO JeffKavich. “Every award we earn is a direct re-sult of the hard work and dedication ofeach and every team member at AllMakes––and we thank them for their con-tinued efforts.”

Marathon Building Environments,MO Dealer, Partners withCustomer on Autism AwarenessFundraiserIn Columbia, MO, the Thompson Center,one of the country’s leading centers for re-search on autism, got a welcome gift re-cently, when Steelcase dealer MarathonBuilding Environments partnered with alocal food services management companyto offer a special fundraiser to help kick offAutism Awareness Month.

Working together, the two companiesraised some $850 from the sale of blue,gourmet cake pops, baked by the foodservices company, that tied in with “Light ItUp Blue,” a national campaign to raise pub-lic awareness about autism.

In just 48 hours, Marathon and its partnernot only sold more than 44-dozen cakepops, but also generated a small avalancheof media coverage, with stories running onlocal TV and radio and in several localnewspapers.

“The fundraiser was a terrific way to dogood for the community and let peopleknow about Marathon at the same time,”

commented Marathon’s director of specialprojects Sean Spence.

And it didn’t hurt either that both the Centerand the caterers who partnered withMarathon on the effort are both currentcustomers.

CA Dealer SideMark Expandswith New Sacramento Location

Teknion dealer SideMark Corporate Fur-nishings recently expanded its Californiamarket coverage with the grand opening ofa new location in Sacramento.

The new Sacramento facility joins Side-mark’s Santa Clara headquarters andbranch locations in San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego. According tobranch manager Catherine Brannan, Sacramento offers some outstanding opportunities for Sidemark, not just in thegovernment market as home to the statecapital, but also among its corporate andheathcare prospects and financial institutions.

SideMark held a Grand Opening Party inMarch to officially cut the ribbon on the newfacility which drew some 150 representa-tives of the local A&D community.

The building housing SideMark’s newSacramento showroom is also headquar-ters for the local AIA chapter, and show-room plans call for plenty of lunch andlearns and similar events targeted to mem-bers of AIA and other professional industryorganizations.

New Showroom for Crest OfficeFurniture, CA Dealer

Bob Schad and his team at Crest OfficeFurniture have plenty to celebrate thesedays after cutting the ribbon on a sparklingnew showroom at their Burbank, CA head-quarters.

Five months in the making, the showroom,which was designed by Steven Heisler ofBeckson Design Associates, totals about5,000 sq. ft. and features eye-catchinggraphics and plenty of open space to high-light new work style solutions from TheHON Company, Inscape and others.

It also provides an ideal environment for in-dustry events, says Crest’s David Wolf. Thedealership has already hosted its localIFMA chapter for a special presentation onthe "New Office."

Timing on the new showroom couldn’t bebetter, says Wolf. “Business is great,” he re-ports happily. “Last year was our best yearever and this year has started out verywell.”

Even more good news may be comingCrest’s way before too long. The dealershipwas recently nominated for a 2012 IIDACalibre Award for its work with the Genslerdesign firm. The award recognizes outstanding project teamwork and collab-oration.

Dealer News continued from page 3

MARCH/APRIL 2012 OFDEALER PAGE 4

New Research Shows PerEmployee Office Space Set forContinued DownsizingA new survey by the CoreNet Global cor-porate real estate organization shows peremployee office space in North America willcontinue to shrink over the next five years.

For the first time, says CoreNet Global re-searchers, the average allocation of officespace per person will fall to 100 square feetor less for many companies.

By 2017, at least 40% of companies re-sponding to the survey indicated they willreach what will be an all-time low bench-mark of individual space utilization in NorthAmerica.

Currently, just 24% of the respondents re-ported that the average space per officeworker is 100 square feet or less.

The average space per worker in 2017 willbe 151 square feet per worker, comparedto 176 square feet today, and 225 squarefeet in 2010, the survey predicts.

“The main reason for the declines,” saidRichard Kadzis, CoreNet Global’s vicepresident of strategic communications, “isthe huge increase in collaborative and

team-oriented space inside a growing num-ber of companies that are stressing 'smallerbut smarter' workplaces against the back-drop of continuing economic uncertaintyand cost containment.”

“There are number of additional factors con-tributing to the decline in the amount of spaceper worker,” said Kadzis. “More companiesare adopting open floor plans in which em-ployees do not have any permanently desig-nated space at all; rather they use unassignedspace when they are in the office, settings thatoften change daily. This trend is enabled bytechnology and by cost measures, as they require smaller footprints.”

ECi Launches ECiCloud for DDMSDealer technology provider ECi SoftwareSolutions has announced the launch ofECiCloud for DDMS.

The biggest advantage of a cloud applica-tion, ECi said, is its ease of use—just opena web browser, log in and start using it.

ECiCloud can be up and running muchquicker than traditional systems and totalcost of ownership is less than an onsite so-lution, ECi said. In addition, the user doesnot have to worry about server mainte-

nance or software uploads, as that is han-dled by DDMS.

“The cloud is where ERP technology isheaded, and we are committed to keepingour customers on the cutting edge of thistechnology to help them improve efficiencyand increase profitability,” commented TomGerrity, senior vice president of operationsfor ECi. “Cloud computing opens up a rangeof possibilities in regards to information shar-ing and mobile use and we are very excitedto introduce this to our customers.”

20-20 Visual ImpressionUpgrades Support for ‘Specials’20-20 Visual Impression now supportsgraphic “specials” making it easier toshowcase creativity. The uprade makes itpossible to present every project to cus-tomers in Visual Impression, allowing themto visualize the project and specify actualfabrics and finishes from a large number ofmanufacturers’ catalogs.

In addition, CAP Studio and Giza Studiohave also introduced enhancements forcreating and managing 2D and 3D graphicspecials.

MARCH/APRIL 2012 OFDEALER PAGE 5

The Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Association (BIFMA) recently released its market statisticsfor February with orders posting a 3% year-over-year increase and shipments coming in flat compared to thesame month last year.

Results represented a loss of momentum from January’s+11% order gain and 7% shipments increase.

Analyst Budd Bugatch described the February numbers as“in line with our pre-report expectations.”

“The recent slowdown in order growth rates is indicative ofa transient slow patch (due to declining government de-mand and tough prior-year growth comparisons) rather than

the end of the cyclical recovery that began in early 2010,”Bugatch contended.

He noted February marked the second consecutive monthof positive order growth and said the sequential growth ratewas consistent with normal seasonality.

“We remain confident that improving corporate demand andthe cycling of initial government declines will drive betterorder growth in 212, though we continue to anticipatechoppy order rates (some positive, some negative) for thenext few months,” said Bugatch, who predicted the industrywould experience “modest positive order growth” in 2012.

BIFMA February Numbers: Orders Up 3%; Shipments Flat

continued on page 6

Industry News continued from page 5

Configura announces 2012 CET Designer NorthAmerican Training Tour Configura has announced dates and locations for its 2012 North American Training Tour. The company is partnering with Steelcase andHaworth to offer CET Designer classes in cities across North America.

CET Designer Beginner and Advanced classes are IDCEC-approved courses with CEUs accepted by ASID, IDC and IIDA.

Because of the partnership, the two-day sessions are being offeredat a discounted rate of $100 per attendee, Configura said. Datesand locations are as follows:

Steelcase Dealers

Minneapolis: May 1-2 Beginner; May 3-4 Advanced

Santa Monica: Aug. 7-8 Beginner; Aug. 9-10 Advanced

Haworth Dealers

San Francisco: April 24-25 Beginner; April 26-27 Advanced

Houston: May 8-9 Beginner; May 10-11 Advanced

Denver: July 24-25 Beginner; July 26-27 Advanced

Toronto: July 31-Aug. 1 Beginner; Aug. 2-3 Advanced

Washington, DC: Sept. 11-12 Beginner; Sept. 13-14 Advanced

For more information, contact training@configura.com.

The HON Company Introduces Mobile Furniture Sales App

In an effort to ensure total connectivity with its nationwide networkof furniture dealers, The HON Company is launching The HONGallery Mobile App, a newly developed resource for the Apple iPadthat provides easy access to the company’s latest product imagery,literature and videos.

While The HON Gallery Mobile App is currently compatible with theApple iPad, versions for other mobile devices are coming soon.

continued on page 7

“ 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 8 0 0 - 5 2 3 - 12 6 9

Our venerable DP3 drawer pull line continues to maintain its sophisticated appeal; it is subtle yet bold, sleek yet substantial. And now comes in a total of seven sizes!First offered in just one width, 1¼”, then 3” and 4”, a few years ago 6”, and now new sizes of 8”, 10”, and 12” wide.All seven sizes are in stock in seven finishes. Plus, we can do any width and any finish you may require. Please contact us and we’ll take care of it.

DP3 Drawer Pull Family Grows Again!

MARCH/APRIL 2012 OFDEALER PAGE 6

To download the App or for information onupcoming versions, visit the HON ReadyPortal at www.honready.hon.com and clickon the “HON Mobile” quicklink at the bot-tom of the page.

Steelcase Partners With Marriott,IDEO on ‘Future of WorkInnovation’ Research ProjectSteelcase is partnering with Marriott Hotels& Resorts, and the IDEO design firm on aresearch project that will explore conceptsand solutions for the future of work andmeetings in hotels.

“By 2013, almost 35 percent of the globalworkforce will work without an office. Weare designing hotels for a new generationthat is used to working how, where andoften times whenever they want,” said PaulCahill, senior vice president, brand man-agement, Marriott Hotels & Resorts.

The research team showcased its “Futureof Work Innovation Co-Labs” at a recentMarriott conference. Ten prototypes wereon display that created new technology,space, and service experiences for meet-ings and work.

“People need environments that help theminnovate and inspire them to do greatwork,” said Mark Greiner, chief experienceofficer, Steelcase. “With business execu-tives working remotely more frequently,work has to go where they go.”

United Stationers Introduces NewAlera WebsiteWholesaler United Stationers has launcheda new website for its Alera private label of-fice furniture brand.

MyAlera.com is intended to provide officefurniture buyers and customers with real-time product information and to connectfurniture buyers with local Alera office furniture dealers.

The website contains complete informationon all Alera products and will also providefurniture news on a regular basis to United’soffice furniture dealers and buyers.

In addition, Alera has also begun utilizing anew Internet marketing technology anddealer network tool known as Local LeadEngine.

Using the Alera website and Local Lead En-gine technology, each Alera office furnituredealer becomes part of a virtual dealer net-work that major search engines, such asGoogle, Yahoo! and Bing, can crawl, indexand rank as part of one unified organization.

Gunlocke's Attract SeatingBrightens Up with 33 New MeshHues

Bold color is back and in a big way thanksto a lively selection of special mesh colorofferings for Gunlocke’s Attract seatingline.A new palette of 33 colors, in additionto original black, expands choices for de-signers and facility managers specifying At-tract’s full mesh back seating. Designed foruse with Gunlocke’s Converge conferenc-ing collection, as well as private offices, theline now features such mesh colors as HotPink, Lime, the rich sea-blue Lagoon, or-ange-inspired Light Fire, among many oth-ers. Attract Seating features three armoptions – self-skinning urethane cantilever,polished aluminum with a urethane insert ora highly-adjustable task arm with pivot andforward/back movement mechanisms. Itsergonomic seat depth adjustment featuredelivers a 2 ½” range with six evenlyspaced lockable positions. Other er-gonomic attributes include tension control,pneumatic height adjustment, knee-tilt andfive-position lockout for personal comfort.

Contact Gunocke by phone (800.828.6300)or visit online at www.gunlocke.com.

Industry News continued from page 6

MARCH/APRIL 2012 OFDEALER PAGE 7

In Memoriam:Harry Samet of High Point Furniture

Harry Samet, owner

and chairman of the

board of HPFI (High

Point Furniture Indus-

tries), died March 24

after a lengthy battle

against cancer. He was

80 years old.

Harry co-founded High Point Furniture In-

dustries with Larry Robinson in 1958 and

after starting out as a maker of record cab-

inets, the company entered the office fur-

niture market in 1964.

Harry and his wife, Joan were the sole

shareholders following the passing of Mr.

Robinson in 1990 and he had remained ac-

tive with the company even through his

battles with cancer.

He was a board member of many philan-

thropic groups including City of Hope and

Industries for the Blind, as well as various

business organizations. In 1997 Harry was

honored by the Anti-Defamation League

for his charitable services.

Harry is survived by his wife Joan, whom

he married in 1953; his children and their

spouses, Leslie and Carl Samet, Marian

Stein and Jerry Samet, Deborah Kintzing

and Marc Samet and Suzan and Daniel

Rosen, six grandchildren, very close per-

sonal friend Risa Hanau and siblings Mollie

and David Lafferman, Norman and Sylvia

Samet, Leonard and Ellen Samet.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions

may be made to Beth David Synagogue,

Greensboro Jewish Federation, B'nai Israel

Synagogue (High Point, NC) or Palliative

Care of Greensboro.

Condolences may be posted online at

www.haneslineberryfuneralhomes.com.

OFDA’s 2012 Dealer Strategies Conference will take place October 28-30 at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas and will offer the perfect setting to meet, network and build per-sonal relationships with the most progressive dealer principalsin the industry and their top sales and operations executives.

Building upon last year’s conference, where 96% of attendeessurveyed rated the program either good or excellent, OFDAcontinues to enhance the value of its education with a com-pelling dealer program offering motivating speakers, generalsession presentations, panel discussions and a series of 90-minute breakout sessions covering industry and business bestpractices in key management areas.

Among the topics: Strategic Planning and Leadership;Sales/New Business Development and Marketing; Finance,Operations and Technology Implementation; HR/OrganizationDevelopment and Strategy and Leadership.

This year's conference theme, “Going All In to Win,” reflectsthe dramatic changes in our economic environment and thecritical need for clear strategic thinking and strong executionamong dealers and their industry partners to reshape their organizations for future success.

Once again, the Dealer Strategies Conference will offer threeintensive half-day workshops on Sunday focused on educatingand training dealers on strategies to grow business.

In addition to a full schedule of breakout sessions and network-ing events on Monday and Tuesday, both mornings will featurehighly sought-after general session speakers whose advice willboth motivate and inspire dealers.

Emmy award winner and leading speaker on business suc-cess, Ross Shafer, CEO of Ross Shafer Consultants, Inc., and

MARCH/APRIL 2012 OFDEALER PAGE 8

A Sneak Peak at This Year's OFDA Dealer Strategies Conference

continued on page 9

“The conference delivered the opportunity notonly to receive an abundance of relevant informa-tion in a condensed amount of time but also tonetwork with peer dealers from around the country.”Julie McCarble, General Manager,

KV Workspace, 2011 Conference Attendee

“The networking opportunities were excellent,the featured speakers and topics were timely andvery informative and the individual breakout ses-sions had enough variety and interest to give usplenty of options.”Jim Lykins, Sales Manager, Target Commercial Interiors, Conference Attendee

“The conference is great for meeting great peo-ple, rekindling relationships from past meetingsand knowing that every time I attend an OFDAconference, I will walk away with something new Ican apply in my business.”Daniel Fusco, Principal,

Cubicle Solutions Inc., Conference Attendee

“I have never attended prior to this year but feltthere was just too much going on in our industrythat needed to be discussed to stay away. TheOFDA conference was the perfect venue to hearfrom many regions in North America.”George Coulter, President, Innerspaces, Conference Attendee

Matthew Kelly, an internationally acclaimed motivationalspeaker, author and president of Floyd Consulting, will eachspeak at this year’s conference and serve as kickoff speakersfor two days of the conference.

One of the most sought-after speakers and seminar leaderson the subjects of customer empathy, personal motivation,and business relevance, Shafer has produced fourteen HRtraining films and written five books on customer service,leadership and motivation.

With the world's top economists predicting dismal 1-2% av-erage growth through 2015, the only way to grow an organi-zation is to take market share away from lazy competitors.“Grab More Market Share” will kick off the conference on Oc-tober 28 and show dealers how progressive companies aregetting 15-25% growth, even when their available market isstagnant or declining.

Based on the belief that a dealership can only become the-best-version-of itself if the people in the dealership are strivingto become the-best-version-of themselves, Matthew Kelly'sTuesday morning presentation entitled, "Talent Fantastic," willencourage participants to become talent fanatics obsessedwith searching for the talent necessary to achieve a bigger fu-ture for their company.

Kelly will also teach the audience how to spot talent, developtalent and when and why to discard talent.

Kelly’s books have sold more than four million copies andhave appeared on the New York Times, Wall Street Journal,USA Today, Publisher’s Weekly and numerous other bestsellerlists. His titles include The Dream Manager, The Rhythm ofLife and Off Balance.

“Over the past several years, the industry has struggled amiddifficult economic times,” said Steve Lang, OFDA’s 2012chairman and CEO of Dancker, Sellew & Douglas inSomerville, NJ. “Our past three conferences have focused onrecognizing and addressing tough industry challenges by cre-ating new strategies and transforming your business for futuresuccess. Dealers must be more creative and work smarter togenerate more value, better profitability and take their busi-nesses to the next level. Both Shafer and Kelly are idealspeakers to highlight this ‘Going All-In to Win’ message andthe commitment required to succeed in today’s volatile anduncertain economic environment.”

Again this year, OFDA’s intimate display setting keeps productand service introductions within a central meeting area andpromotes interaction throughout the conference.

Informal networking breaks permit more one-on-one interaction with industry business partners, presenters anddealer peers between educational sessions—one of the keybenefits of attending our industry-wide conference.

More than 100 dealerships have already placed their bets onthe quality of this year's conference by pre-registering to at-tend. If you haven’t yet joined them, there’s no better timethan today!

For more information about speakers, sessions, conferenceregistration and hotel reservations, visitwww.ofdanet.org/Dealer-Strategies-Conference.

OFDA News continued from page 8

MARCH/APRIL 2012 OFDEALER PAGE 9

“Normally, I have looked for at least one or twoaction items I can take away from any summit orworkshop I attend. I took sixteen action itemsfrom this conference!”Jacqui Montano, Sales Manager, Goodman’s Interior Structures, Conference Attendee

“We all have to do things differently and to hearit come from industry experts at the conferencewas refreshing. We’ve already started the changeand, thanks to the conference, we now have thecheck in the box that we are doing the rightthing.”Mike Luna, President and CEO, Texas Wilson, Conference Attendee

“At the conclusion of the conference, I foundmyself re-energized about my business and wasable to outline a revised strategy for our companyfor the next eighteen months.”Duncan Rowley, Principal,

Office Outfitters & Planners, Inc., Conference Attendee

Ross Shafer (left), CEO of Ross Shafter Consultants and Mathew Kelly,president of Floyd Consulting, will be speaking at this year’s Conference.

By Alicia Ellis

In 1946, David Einstein started COFCO Of-fice Furnishings (then known as CommercialTrading Company) with a dream and atrailer-load of government surplus office fur-niture from World War II. With a firm beliefin developing relationships while maintain-ing corporate financial stability, David setthe foundation for growth that would allowCOFCO to become the oldest family-ownedoffice furniture dealership in the Philadel-phia/Delaware Valley/Southern New Jerseyarea.

Keen to business development productsand furnishings, David became an Allsteeldealer in 1952 and continued to grow thebusiness until turning it over to son and em-ployee Alan in 1976. And under his father’scontinued tutelage and engrained philoso-phies about smart business and buildingpartnerships, during the next twenty years,through a series of strategic acquisitions,hires and facilities expansions, Alan trans-formed and grew COFCO Office Furnishings.

With the addition of Vice President of SalesJoan Waters in 1988 and Will Quinn, VicePresident of Operations in 1994, COFCOexpanded its reach for hundreds of milesbeyond Philadelphia and expanded its serv-ice offerings far beyond the typical scope ofmost dealerships.

“I have learned so much about businessand the importance of building partnershipsfrom both Alan and David,” said Waters,who remarked that even at the age of 92David continues to come to the office everyday. “We have companies like LockheedMartin who have been our clients for morethan 30 years. Our philosophy is based on

our integrity and financial stability, and wecarry that philosophy out by being honestand thorough in our processes. It is ourcommitment to building these relationshipsand answering the call for products andservices that has developed COFCO intothe company we are today.”

A more than $20-million dealership, COFCOhas 42 employees that service 70 percentcontract and 27 percent mid-market cus-tomers with a smattering of retail sales ofused/refurbished furnishings on the side. Inaddition to corporate furnishings, COFCOalso offers healthcare, institutional and itsown private label branded panel systems.With warehouse space in excess of 100,000sq. ft., COFCO is able to offer services be-yond the typical scope of most dealerships.

In addition to core services like account andproject management, design, logistics andinstallation utilizing their own crews and de-livery vehicles, COFCO is able to offer assetmanagement and storage, cleaning and refurbishing, rental/leasing programs andfield maintenance programs to new and po-tential customers.

“We are a full-service dealership, meaningwe can carry out a full job from the designstage to punch list,” said Waters. “And thevariety of value-added services we providepromotes brand awareness as a partner toour existing customers as well as a goodselling point for prospective clients.”

While many dealers offer asset manage-ment services, COFCO’s ability to storelarge quantities of furnishings for customerstruly gives them an advantage; especially inan urban environment where many compa-nies are utilizing small footprints.

MARCH/APRIL 2012 OFDEALER PAGE 11

continued on page 12

Cofco Office FurnishingsA Business Model that Defies the Ages

(Above) Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter (second fromthe right) was happy to attend COFCO's Resource CenterOpening. Shown above with Mayor Nutter are from left toright: Vice President of Sales Joan Waters, President AlanEinstein and Vice President of Operations Will Quinn.

Dealer Profile continued from page 11

MARCH/APRIL 2012 OFDEALER PAGE 12

“As an example, one of our long-time clientsrelocated to a smaller space and we wereable to inventory and store a lot of their excessfurniture for them,” Waters explained. “Asneeded, we will incorporate their existing prod-ucts with new products to create new workareas for them and even more importantly, it so-lidifies COFCO as their dealer of choice.”

In addition, while many dealers offer paneland chair cleaning to their clients, COFCOtakes the service a step further with fieldmaintenance programs that can be cus-tomized to the clients’ liking.

In addition to handling all cleaning and repairneeds free for the first year, COFCO’s main-tenance team will pick up, clean and returnitems, make scheduled calls on a monthlybasis, or are prepared to help on an as-needed basis.

“We have clients with service agreements thatprovide for visits twice a month,” said Waters.“Our team is given a list of things that need tobe done and they will spend up to an entireday, repairing and maintaining their existingfurniture.”

COFCO’s sales force of eight dedicates hours

to networking and prospecting new clients.Opened in 2009, COFCO’s 6,500 sq. ft.,LEED-designed Resource Center acts as athink tank or inspiration center and network-ing location for employees, designers, sales-people and clients with a variety offurnishings from major manufacturers includ-ing Allsteel, HON, Gunlocke and, most re-cently, a selection of products from NationalOffice Furniture.

“In addition, in keeping with our commitmentto environmental responsibility, our ResourceCenter features low-flow toilets, automaticsinks and automatic lights throughout as amodel and reminder to our partners, employ-ees and customers,” said Waters.

“Our manufacturers are as much partners tous as we try to be to our clients,” said Waters.“COFCO’s philosophy as passed down is thatwe would rather be important to a few keymanufacturers and have those relationshipsmean something.”

This relationship development between bothCOFCO’s manufacturers and its clients alsoextends into the office.

“The average tenure of our staff is 12 years.

People come to work for us and they stay,”boasted Waters who herself has been withCOFCO for 24 years. “We even have onehigh-producing salesperson that has beenwith the company for 30 years. Long-term re-lationships based on mutual respect and trustwill never let you down.”

It is for this reason that Waters and partnerQuinn feel secure in their decision to acquiretotal ownership of COFCO. With a plan inplace for Einstein’s retirement from the com-pany in approximately five years, COFCO Of-fice Furnishings will move on to the nextphase of their great history with solid leader-ship. Waters and Quinn are committed to re-taining COFCO’s traditional core values whileimplementing new and innovative changesthat will take the company forward..

“We’ve recently been notified by Allsteel thatCOFCO is the oldest Allsteel dealer in thecountry,” touts Waters. “So when Alan Ein-stein retires and the transition of ownership iscomplete, we may not be the oldest family-owned company in the area anymore but ourlong-standing reputation, values and credibil-ity will remain for many years to come.”

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If there’s one key element that just about all dealers and manufacturers who enjoy a positive relationship togethershare, it’s solid communications. As long as information andopinions are flowing smoothly both ways, then it’s a good betthe relationship is going to flourish, or at the least, work to-wards mutual goals in a productive manner.

Monica Stinson with Premier Office Solutions, a Philadelphia-based Herman Miller dealer, has been selling office furniturefor ten years and in the office furniture business longer thanthat. She contends the quality of the relationship with hermanufacturer is determined in large part by the relationshipwith the manufacturer’s dealer rep, whether that individual isemployed directly by the manufacturer or by an independentrep firm.

Her expectations are completely realistic especially when itcomes to mutual goals. “The biggest thing we expect fromthem is a grand showroom tour,” says Stinson. “Herman Millerhas a really great one and the reps really know what they havethere.”

On the other hand, the manufacturer’s expectation is for Pre-mier to get clients into that showroom. Once a client hits theshowroom Stinson expects her manufacturer to wow them.

“If you can get somebody in love with the product that helpsget them past a lot of other hurdles,” says Stinson.

Working with multiple dealers in a given market can be a bal-ancing act for the manufacturer. There are two Herman Millerdealers in Philadelphia, for example, and reps are expectedto share leads between the two.

“And they expect us to turn every client into a Herman Millerclient,” says Stinson. “The expectation is bigger on their part.They expect us to bring them more [business] than we expectthem to [bring to us].”

Premier has been a Herman Miller dealer for two years but heryears of experience before that have taught her to recognizethe signs of a relationship in trouble.

“When you’re doing all the work and bringing in 90% [of theleads], and not getting any in return,” opines Stinson.

That she says is one of the biggest red flags that somethingis rotten in the relationship. Another red flag is not getting areturn call when she calls requesting information, especiallyin a competitive situation.

Meanwhile at Office Images, an Allsteel dealer in Rockville,MD, Rick Hammett, principal, offers his take on the dynamicsof a solid dealer-manufacturer relationship.

From a major manufacturer he’s looking for two-way commu-nications and honesty, particularly on where their strategy istaking them in the future, their product offerings, and whatmarket segments they’re targeting.

Plus, he expects them to connect with Office Images on aregular basis for feedback on what Office Images see intheir market.

MARCH/APRIL 2012 OFDEALER PAGE 13

continued on page 14

The BondsthatTieMaking the Most of theManufacturer-DealerRelationship

By Scott Cullen

Cover continued from page 13

MARCH/APRIL 2012 OFDEALER PAGE 14

“The communication lines have to go both ways,” Hammettstresses.

He appreciates the ‘Big Picture’ view that a company like Allsteelprovides, especially when it comes to product development. Alsoimportant to Hammett are pricing and presentation strategies aswell as access to marketing materials and sales tools, particularlythose that incorporate new technology such as the iPad.

“We look for all that support on a regular basis from our major man-ufacturers,” says Hammett. “If we get that information, we can beself sufficient.”

Hammett says his expectations are not quite on the same scale forhis dealership’s second-tier manufacturers.

“From them, I expect communication, but not to the level of amajor,” says Hammett.

He’s noticed changes in the market largely because of the econ-omy and the advent of technology which has reduced the need forcertain roles in an organization.

“Going back 20 years I worked for a manufacturer and the way wecommunicated marketing, new products, and new programs wasthrough a market manager who would meet one on one or presenta sales meeting,” he recalls. “Now, manufacturers have cut back[on those positions] and rely more on the dealer to pull that infor-mation out of them or do it on their own.”

Hammett has found that regular webinars help fill some of thosegaps that have resulted from fewer manufacturer feet on the street.Overall he’s pleased with the efforts of his manufacturer, especiallyin competitive situations.

“If I’m up against another major manufacturer on a big job I wantto understand what other dealers are doing, what the factory isdoing and what specials I can modify to help me win the deal. All-steel puts a lot of resources into all that.”

All Makes Office Equipment Co. in Omaha, NE, is aligned with ahalf dozen vendors. The dealership has certain expectations whenit comes to their vendors’ reps. “It boils down to trust more thananything else,” says Bill Encell, vice president of vendor relationsfor All Makes.

He understands the situation the reps are in, trying to satisfy theneeds of multiple dealers.

“They’re calling on all their dealers, including my competition, andthat’s a tightrope they have to walk,” acknowledges Encell.

He still has certain expectations that must be met.

“We expect them to call on us on a regular basis and to keep uscataloged even though that’s going away with the Internet,” saysEncell. “If they’re coming to town and they’re making calls on endusers we’d like to have an opportunity to join them on those calls.”

Encell has been doing this for 30 years and doesn’t think the basicdynamics of the dealer-manufacturer relationship have changed allthat much over the years.

“What’s changed is technology,” he says. “Everything is quickerand faster, and there’s more access to information. But in terms ofthe relationship it still comes down to trust. Some reps you trustand some you don’t.”

He characterizes his relationship with his current crop of vendorsas positive, whether they’re factory-direct reps or belong to repgroups. He doesn’t see a lot of turnover, which is better for buildinglong-term relationships and establishing that trust.

Of course there’s the whole different strokes component and somemanufacturers are better than others at establishing trust and com-munications. He also feels the size of the manufacturer is not anissue.

“I don’t think there’s a lot of differences—they all have a similarbusiness model and that all has to do with sales and performancefrom the dealers,” states Encell. “The only thing different is that

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some reps just do a better job thanothers. They’re there when you needthem and their response time is imme-diate. Those are the good ones. Somedon’t seem to care as much as others.The furniture industry is built on rela-tionships and it’s still people to people.”

Furniture manufacturers have an opin-ion as to what makes for a good rela-tionship too and much of that isaligned with their dealers.

“It’s mutual trust and respect betweenboth parties, genuine concern for thewell being of each and understandinghow each party operates and what’sneeded to make each one successful,”says Dave Nelson, vice presidentdealer development for Allsteel.

He echoes dealers’ comments re-garding expectations.

“We want an honest and open dialog.We work better together that way. Weexpect them to say what they’regoing to do and put forward theirbest effort, foster transparency, andcontinue pull through where we bothcommunicate our goals and work to-wards them,” he explains.

Nelson has been working closely withdealers in one way or another since1999. No matter how open and honest the communication there arealways going to be challenges.

“Our need for growth and their needfor profitability,” notes Nelson citing

one challenge.” It’s expensive fordealers to grow and is not always intheir best interest in the short term. Ithink we do a good job of setting ex-pectations in that area and we planwith our dealers so we both havesimilar growth expectations.”

Balancing multiple dealers in a mar-ket can also raise the complexitylevel on both sides and that’s wherethe aforementioned honesty andwhat Nelson describes as “earlycommunications in this area” be-come important.

“We team well with our dealers, es-pecially when we get involved early inthe process,” states Nelson. “Our fieldsales people add value and when weadd value the dealers appreciate it. Ofcourse there could be challenges.We’ve been able to meet them headon by thoroughly communicating andsetting up distribution that’s comple-mentary in most major markets.”

Adding value encompasses bringingin leads, sharing leads and helpingthe dealer close business, thingsmost dealers can testify to.

“Our dealers want our field sales peo-ple involved early on,” adds Nelson.“If they’re not adding value thenthere’s not as much incentive to getthem involved early.”

Most dealers and manufacturers agree

Cover continued from page 14

MARCH/APRIL 2012 OFDEALER PAGE 15

continued on page 16

OFDA Takes New Approach to Improving Dealer-ManufacturerCommunications Through Annual Dealers’ Choice Survey

The office furniture industry has changed dramati-cally over the past few years and during this time oflow margins and commoditization among products,the level of service and support that you receive,whether through your primary or secondary suppli-ers, is key to maintaining good relations.

While OFDA’s Dealer Manufacturer Satisfaction Sur-vey-DMSI focused primarily on evaluating the serv-ice and support that larger aligned and unalignedsystem/workstation manufacturers provided to theirdealers, OFDA believes that it can add the mostvalue in our industry through a new, more compre-hensive survey. The new Dealers’ Choice Survey isspecifically aimed at providing broad dealer feed-back on the product and service support they re-ceive from non-aligned suppliers, including morespecialized furniture manufacturers.

Beginning June 1, contract furniture dealers—whether aligned or non-aligned—will be asked torate their top-volume unaligned suppliers in any orall of the following categories:

� Systems/Workstations

� Casegoods

� Seating

� Filing

� Tables

� Storage

Your anonymous opinions will help manufacturers tobetter understand dealers’ common service andsupport expectations and needs. For dealers, the sur-vey offers a high-level perspective of the comparativeperformance of industry manufacturers in areas thatdealers typically consider to be most important andallows dealers to consider the potential benefits offorming new relationships or strengthening them withthe industry’s highest performing manufacturers as ameans to further elevate their marketplace success.

Top manufacturers will be recognized with Dealers’Choice Awards at this year’s OFDA Dealer StrategiesConference, being held on October 28-30 at theCosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas.

For more information, visithttp://www.ofdanet.org/Dealer-Choice-Award-Survey

that even in this era of electronic communication, face-to-face contactstill carries a lot of weight.

“Anytime we get a chance to meet with one of our dealers we takeit,” states Nelson. “We want to let them know we care about theirsuccess and are continually learning from them so we can betterunderstand their business and the challenges they face. We workwith them to develop win-win solutions. The more time we canspend listening to those smart business operators, the smarter weget. Their local knowledge makes us better.”

Having worked with dealers for 10 years, what does Nelson knownow that he wishes he knew when he started out in this position?“Pretty much everything,” he says. “The most important thing is forour organization to get a better understanding of their businessmodel because what’s good for them is ultimately good for us.”

“It has to start with trust,” adds Paul Iles, vice president, distribu-tion, for Herman Miller. “Trust means three things: We have to be-lieve in the competence of each other, we have to believe in theintegrity of each other and we have to believe we’re right for eachother. If we start with that then we’re able to have the truthful con-versations to work through challenges and move forward together.”

Fostering that trust comes down to what Iles says is hard work andconsistency of purpose. And for Herman Miller, it’s also recognizingthe importance of the dealer channel.

“The president of our North American business is absolutely clearthat our dealer network is one of the key assets that we have thatsets us apart from others,” adds Iles.

Iles understands what dealers expect from Herman Miller.

“We pride ourselves on our reliability and on-time shipments out ofour factories. Every time I’ve looked at any research about what deal-ers want from their manufacturers, that’s Number One on the list.”

The company’s expectations for its dealers center around customersatisfaction, something most everyone knows the dealer channelexcels at. “We have a very clear measure of customer satisfactionthat we track over a long period of time and we know when we’regetting the job done and when we’re not,” says Iles.

There’s also an expectation of sales and growth. “We work veryhard to figure out what it takes to win in the marketplace and what

we have to do together to accomplish that,” states Iles.

Working with multiple relationships in a given market poses an on-going challenge.

“We have to be consistent in terms of the relationship and confi-dential with the information that’s been shared and give everybodyan equal opportunity to move forward,” says Iles.

What can a dealer do to enhance the relationship with Herman Miller?

“The same things we do,” responds Iles. “Look at this as a part-nership, recognizing we’re in this together. Most of the time it’s mu-tual success, but as in a marriage, it’s not always perfect. As longas we approach each other with the right attitudes and respect foreach other, we can work through the challenges and be consistentin what we’re trying to get done.”

“Our best dealers and the ones we have a great relationship withare those where there’s strong communication,” says John Finken,senior vice president, sales and distribution, for Knoll.

The best situation, he contends, is when the dealer and the Knollregional manager are on the same page and can go to market to-gether as one seamless team.

“I ran Boston for 13 years and we would go into a presentation withabsolute coordination—any one person could fill in for the otherperson, Knoll or dealer personnel—with respect to the client,”states Finken.

He concurs with the others about how communication helps fostera successful relationship, noting that the dealer is an extension ofthe manufacturer. His expectations are consistent with virtually anymanufacturer in the business.

“I want my dealers to be healthy, profitable and grow, but we needto grow together and at least at a similar pace,” states Finken.

And what do dealers expect of Knoll? “They want to be able to orderfrom us and have it delivered on time, correct, and complete 100%of the time,” says Finken. “They want to make money and we wantthem to make money. Dealers who are profitable have the ability tohave better showrooms, more feet on the street and quality people.”

What can a dealer do to enhance their relationship with Knoll?

“Be up front about their business strategies, their growth strategiesand the lines they carry. If they’re thinking about adding anotherline, there should be an upfront conversation about it so it doesn’tcome as a surprise or is viewed as a threat or potential cannibal-ization of what could be Knoll business.”

Ultimately, the best relationships are when both sides understandeach other.

“I encourage my team to put themselves in the shoes of the dealerand see what their world is like and vice versa,” says Finken. “Agreat relationship is a two-way street.”

Scott Cullen has been writing about office technology and the officefurniture industry since 1986.

Cover continued from page 15

MARCH/APRIL 2012 OFDEALER PAGE 16

Studies show that in most selling organizations, 20% of the sales-people produce 90% of the sales volume. What is the percentagein your dealership? As owners and sales managers are you in-cluded in that percentage?

It is not uncommon to find that only a limited number of salespeo-ple or just owners and managers generate the majority of new busi-ness development efforts.

Short term, this may be a good strategy but over time it may welllimit growth or options for retirement and exiting the business.

With the economy in recovery mode, there is no better time thannow to invest in hiring the top level sales talent you will need todrive growth and sustain stability going forward.

Two Distinct Positions When it comes to sales, there has been a tendency in our industry totake a “one size fits all” attitude and make sellers responsible bothfor business development and for account management activities.

This has been a typical business model for most startups and smalldealerships out of necessity due to limited resources.

Consider taking the plunge at the right time to separate those rolesand responsibilities and aim to put inplace a well-balanced sales team thatconsists of people in two distinct anddifferent positions: business develop-ment managers and account managers.

While both positions contribute to thebottom line, the focus of each role iscompletely different.

The account manager has the capabilities to manage and growbusiness in assigned target accounts and some self-driven busi-ness, whereas the business development manager is constantlynetworking and they have strong referral partners and a consistentnumber of leads and referrals to pursue.

A business development manager should be supported by an ac-count manager and/or team that they can engage to assist withthe work involved in securing, closing and managing the projects.

This will give the business development manager more time toprospect and qualify more new business opportunities.

Where Should You Look? Finding an account manager is typically easier. While our industryhas an abundance of excellent AMs that can be recruited, youshould try, whenever possible, to promote from within.

Develop mentoring programs to nurture and train current designersor project managers who have potential for an expanded accountmanagement role.

If you are looking for a business development manager, your mosteffective first step is to get out of your box!

You might be fortunate to find anexperienced BDM through an in-dustry recruiter or by word ofmouth. However, they are oftendifficult to come by.

There might possibly be an ac-count manager in your company

MARCH/APRIL 2012 OFDEALER PAGE 17

continued on page 18

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGERS (BDM)+ ACCOUNT MANAGERS (AM)

BALANCED SALES TEAM

HIRINGa winning sales teamBy Debbie Junge

with the right skill set to become a full-fledged BDM. If so, provide the training andcoaching to elevate them to the next level.

If not, consider looking outside of the in-dustry for sales talent with strong network-ing capabilities, local contacts and thecompetencies for the job.

With the right industry training these indi-viduals can bring a fresh and enthusiasticapproach to new business development.

Hiring Top Performance DNABad hires are expensive. When you takeinto consideration the time, money and re-sources spent training and ramping up anew salesperson, the cost of turnover is aminimum of two to three times the cost oftheir salary, taxes and benefits.

What is difficult to calculate is the true costthat comes in the form of revenues andprofits from potential new business oppor-tunities that were lost or never uncoveredbecause of bad hiring decisions.

Whether you are hiring an experienced con-tract furniture seller or a new hire to the in-dustry, finding the right DNA for eachposition is critical.

Not only are skill sets and competenciesdifferent for a BDM than they are for an AM,the new paradigms of selling in today’sbusiness climate has raised the bar when itcomes to finding viable candidates.

A comprehensive hiring program for eachsales position should include the followingsteps:

� Define the job description and ex-pectations

� Identify skill sets and competencies

� Develop incentive packages thatmotivate

� Recruit from inside/outside of the in-dustry

� Screen the candidates with behaviorbased interviews with key stakeholders

� Validate with profile assessmenttools

� Conduct detailed reference andbackground checks

� Close the deal…make the offer andhire

Guidelines for On-Boarding New Hires The recruitment process does not end afterthe deal has been closed. Talented newhires should not be given the freedom tosink or swim. Integrating them into yourcompany’s culture requires a well thoughtout on-boarding program.

On-boarding or ‘Organizational Socializa-tion’ is the process by which new salespeo-ple acquire the necessary knowledge, skillsand behaviors to become effective. Theprocess should consist of:

� Overview of HR paperwork andbenefits

� Handbook policies and proceduresreview

� Introduction to employees

� Technology set-up and training

� Review of processes and forms

� Day(s) in each department and inthe field

� Review of their new role and expec-tations

� Review of sales reports and CRMtool

� Development of personal ‘plan ofaction’

� Realistic ramp-up time

Training and Coaching forHigh PerformanceHiring them can be tough, but keepingthem can be tougher!

A great recruiting and integration processwill minimize turnover. To improve your “hiring batting average” it’s important tohave an effective training and coachingprogram.

Elements of a successful training andcoaching program include:

� Product & service training

� Industry training

� Sales training

� Reinforcement & coaching

Tap into your manufacturers’ reps and ven-dors for their professional product trainingprograms. Provide a thorough review ofyour menu of services, the value you bringto clients and how to sell the services.

For new hires from outside of the industry,training on the industry itself will help newand recently promoted hires to gain knowl-edge and insights about the industry, acquire more confidence and professional-ism, and accelerate ramp-up time.

Every company should have a formal salestraining program for all sellers so that thereis a common language and process toqualify and close opportunities. Newcomershould be exposed to the training programsearly on so that they are fully integrated intoyour sales process.

The sales manager or leader should meetwith the new hire on a regular basis to pro-vide training reinforcement and coachingfor high performance.

Involvement in daily sales activities, pre-briefing and debriefing of sales calls, posi-tive and negative feedback, and regularreview of expectations and goals are all keyelements of developing top performers.

Reach out to professional organizationsthat can help you with establishing your hir-ing program, recruiting and training if youdo not have the internal expertise in-house.

And keep in mind management guru TomPeters’ advice: “The greatest motivator fora professional salesperson is winning.”

Hiring the right people with the right skillsand providing them with the right tools andtraining will insure that your new hires willsucceed and be winners!

Debbie Junge has over 30 years of sales,management and consulting experience inthe contract furniture industry working withdealers and manufacturers. Her consultingservices include personalized coaching,training and implementation of bestpractices with a focus on hiring, sales,leadership, operations, and financialperformance. For more information, visitwww.jungeassociates.com.

Winning Sales Team continued from page 17

MARCH/APRIL 2012 OFDEALER PAGE 18

By Wayne Breitbarth

Building a strong personal brand takes time, but destroying it takesonly a moment—just ask Joe Paterno. Interactions on social mediaplatforms can negatively affect your personal brand and ultimatelyyour company's brand. Protect yourself and your brand by avoidingthese common LinkedIn mistakes.

1. Punctuation and grammatical errors in profile. I learned thisthe hard way. When people made comments about grammaticalerrors in my profile, I thought to myself: What is the big deal?

But the more I thought about it (and the more my wife badgeredme about it), I came to realize I didn't want anyone to think I didn’tcare or wasn’t smart enough to do it correctly.

After all, this is my online reputation, and I want it to be as stellaras it can be. I am not always perfect, but I am being much morediligent when it comes to grammar and punctuation.

2. No photo or unprofessional photo. This is your professionalidentity. Why in the world wouldn't you want your photo to be thebest, most recent, close-up head shot that’s been taken of you?This may be the only image of you a person ever sees.

For those of you who have no photo, let me ask you two questions:

� Do you want to be the little blue nubby head? I doubt it. I amquite certain you are more good looking than that.

� If you are going through a LinkedIn search listing and you getto a person who does not have a photo, what do you do?Chances are you skip over him or her. I don't really think youwant people doing that to you.

3. Conversations that should be taken offline. Some conversa-tions are not appropriate to conduct online. Don't forget—we stillhave the telephone, email, and, yes, even snail mail for those crit-ical personal conversations or confidential business exchanges.

4. Not using the magic words "thank you" or "you're welcome."Our mothers taught us this. Enough said.

5. Making unprofessional or "inside" comments in an introduc-tion chain. Remember—everyone in the chain can see your comments, including the person in between your first-degree connection and the third-degree connection you are trying to get introduced to. In addition to giving a very poor first impression, inappropriate comments to your close friend may derail the introduction.

6. Asking for a recommendation or introduction from a very ca-sual acquaintance. LinkedIn is your way to show your high levelof credibility and expertise in the marketplace.

If you include in your profile recommendations that lack substancebecause the writer barely knows you or is not well acquainted withyour work, the reader may assume you don't know anyone whocan write a first-class recommendation for you.

Before asking a casual acquaintance to make an introduction foryou, spend some time getting to know him. Then he will be betterable to make some positive comments about you to his friendwhom you would like to meet.

7. Using your Status Update to tweet. Whoever thought it was agood idea to have a Twitter/LinkedIn interface? Twitter is a com-pletely different social media platform, and it has its own set ofrules and acceptable etiquette. LinkedIn has a very different set ofrules and acceptable practices.

It is really not appropriate to have twenty status updates each dayon LinkedIn, especially when most of them are about what you atefor lunch or the color of your new shirt or tie. This is a business site,and we all need to do our part to keep it that way.

MARCH/APRIL 2012 OFDEALER PAGE 19

continued on page 20

Mistakes may beHAZARDOUSto your brand

8. Using the Summary section in your profile as just a laundrylist of keywords. That is not to say your important keywordsshouldn't be in your summary; they most definitely should be partof your summary. But your summary is meant to be that all-impor-tant cover letter to your viewers, and they need to hear you andsee you as a dynamic person. Simply putting a list of wordsscreams out, “I am boring!”

9. Posting only one job. Unless you have only had one job, it surelooks like you are trying to hide something from someone.

10. Not taking criticism professionally. Criticism is most likely tooccur as part of a discussion in either Groups or Answers. Take adeep breath and come back to the entry an hour later, and then re-spond to the criticism in a way the rest of the readers will respect.Remember—the whole world may be watching and even if it isn’t,chances are your audience does include important connectionswho may be influenced in a negative manner by a harsh response.

11. Not having your most important jobs in your headline. Yourheadline is a very important part of your profile because it travels withyou wherever you go on LinkedIn. Do you really want your headline tosay you volunteer part time at an animal shelter instead of saying you

are the president of your own company? Probably not.

You can decide what goes in your headline. However, if you don'tgenerate your own entry, LinkedIn will use the most recent item inthe Experience section of your profile.

Don't let this happen to you. Be creative, and craft a headline thatincludes your most important position along with some additionalmarketing punch.

12. Not having a company profile. This is like not having a com-pany website. If I search for your company and it is not there, I as-sume you are not open for business.

LinkedIn offers unlimited opportunities for promoting yourself andyour business. Put your best foot forward when using it, and pro-tect yourself and your brand by avoiding these common mistakes.

Wayne Breitbarth is an owner of M&M Office Interiors in Pewaukee,Wisconsin. Wayne began moonlighting as an unofficial LinkedIn trainer inearly 2009 and has now led seminars for over 10,000 businessprofessionals across the country. He was a featured speaker at last year'sOFDA Dealer Strategies Conference and has recently released a bookentitled The Power Formula for LinkedIn Success.

LinkedIn continued from page 19

MARCH/APRIL 2012 OFDEALER PAGE 20

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