Like all other successful business operations, the key to success for office furniture dealers is a marriage comprised of two critical elements: First, you need to understand your customers well enough to know what they really need (even if they don’t). Second, you need to be able to deliver unique solutions that distinguish your product and service offerings from the competition. That’s where Formaspace can help, thanks to our fully custom, built-to-your-specifications manufacturing capability.
What Does it Take to be a Successful Office Furniture Dealer?
In our experience, the most successful furniture dealers have an uncanny ability to understand exactly what their customers want. They can also lead them to attractive, unique, and perhaps unexpected furniture solutions — ones that make their customers really happy.
It’s a continuous challenge to do this well.
Why? Customers are more informed than ever — they keep up with the latest workplace and office design trends.
It’s no longer sufficient to only offer standard issue ‘cookie-cutter’ furniture from a catalog; that’s not going to win the customer’s order.
As a business person, you make it your job to keep up with the latest in consumer trends. And no doubt you’ve taken notice of the rise in consumer’s preferences for unique, made-by-hand products — whether it’s food and drink, clothing, or home decorating design.
This ‘artisanal’ trend is now gaining a foothold in custom manufactured furniture for offices.
As a result, today’s successful furniture dealers are increasingly taking advantage of customized solutions to gain a competitive advantage.
Offering Customized Furniture Strengthens Customer Relationships
The benefit of offering unique furniture extends beyond winning the order for the original sale.
You’ll establish a stronger relationship with your customer, which is important for the next time they expand their business or move locations.
And the benefit of providing custom furniture solutions doesn’t stop after the initial sale.
Once you’ve created an impressive installation, the customer’s own customers, employees, visitors, and suppliers will help spread the word, providing significant free advertising for your business for years to come.
How Does this Approach Work in Practice? Start by Identifying the Possibilities.
When you meet with a prospective customer, start by identifying possibilities that will capture their imagination. Here are two ideas to get the conversation started:
- Offer a one-of-a-kind signature furniture pieces with bespoke design elements
- Design customer furniture with functionality that transforms a particular location
The key is to listen carefully to what your customer is saying, and to look closely at their office space to identify clues that will help you zero in on a winning solution.
By the way, this has been our philosophy here at Formaspace for the last 30 years: we always ask the question ‘what is your biggest problem?’ and we try to develop a solution. We’re in the business of providing custom solutions, not just selling products.
Now that you’ve received feedback from your customer, ask yourself these three questions:
- Does the customer’s office space have unique architectural features that could be enhanced with dramatic furniture installations? First impressions matter. Consider how custom-made furniture with signature design elements situated in the customer’s lobby could set them (and you) apart from the competition.
- Is design and branding important to your customer? If the customer has a strong brand identity, consider ways that custom-made furniture could re-enforce their brand. This approach could include incorporating specific bespoke design elements or colors that are taken from their corporate design guidelines. These design elements need not be limited to the front office; they could incorporate a coherent design across all their dedicated office areas — from the front reception area all the way to these areas:
- private offices
- work station areas
- meeting and conference rooms
- storage rooms
- IT facilities
- Kitchen mess areas
- Shipping / receiving zones
- Does the customer need to expand their existing, legacy furniture installation? In this scenario, the customer may want to find a compatible design with an aesthetic look that mimics or retains design elements from their existing system. Custom manufactured furniture by Formaspace could be just the solution they are looking for.
Turn Your Possibilities into Reality with our Custom Manufacturing Solutions
Now that you have created a vision for what your customer wants, how can you make it a reality?
What you need is your own personal furniture factory. Guess what? That’s what Formaspace can be for you: your own personal furniture factory.
All our furniture is made in the USA by true furniture craftsmen — not machines or robots.
Turnaround times are quick too. Because we are centrally located in the US in Austin, Texas we can design, manufacture, and deliver your office furniture products quickly. We have lead times measured in days — not weeks and months like the big, mass-production office furniture suppliers.
We also stand behind our work. Our guarantee is the best in the furniture industry: we guarantee our furniture products for a full 12 years (Even if you use it non-stop with 3 shifts around the clock).
We are also trusted by leading Fortune 500 customers, like Google, Twitter, Capital One and many more.
We Make it Easy to for You to Offer Custom Solutions that will Delight Your Customers
Everything we build, we build to your specifications.
That means we can deliver a unique furniture solution for each of your customers.
By working with Formaspace, you can offer a one-of-a-kind solution for Customer A and a completely different solution for Customer B.
So don’t you think it’s time to start thinking about the possibilities?
Formaspace Wants to be Your Furniture Supply Partner
If you are a furniture dealer who is serious about providing unique solutions for your customers, we want to be your long-term furniture supply partner.
We can provide you with a wide range of personalized / customized office furniture — all built to your exact specifications.
Sound good? Let’s start a conversation. Contact one of our Design Consultants via email today. You and your customers will be glad you did.
