The Trend Report - Insights on Office Furniture, Contract Interiors & Workplace Design

Send us Fan Mail Alexandra Tseffos has spent the majority of her career focused on design. After experiencing life on the other side of the table, she realized that in order to succeed in today’s market, companies need to bring design and sales together. Listen as we chat about this dynamic and more.  She first spent several years with various companies as a designer. Then CBRE created a new role...

Send us Fan Mail Joining me this week on the podcast is Thomas Jonsson with Scandinavian Spaces. The Jonsson family has been the last decade helping Swedish manufacturers market their products in the U.S. and he’s here to share more about the journey and their business. The sustainable mentality and the beautiful and functional designs is what Thomas’s family is so passionate about bringing to the...

Send us Fan Mail When your clients and customers are bidding new projects, how would they feel to know that your business was among a select group already vetted by a leader in the industry. It’d make them feel as if they were making a safe decision. Listen as Lisa Merder explains exactly how this works at OMNIA Partners.  OMNIA Partners is a purchasing organization who is reshaping the future of...

Send us Fan Mail Something new is coming to our industry and I cannot wait to share it with you. To help me do that Stefanie Ince joins me to reveal a massive project we’ve undertaken to help revitalize our industry workforce. Listen in to hear all about this amazing initiative.  Stefanie Ince is an Executive Director at INDEAL Cares. A charitable organization dedicated to bettering the lives of p...

Send us Fan Mail Diversification is the key to business growth per Dean McIntyre. He has spent his career finding ways to intermingle his interests and his ventures in such a way that they fuel each other as well as his creative and professional needs. Listen as he shares his background and how he’s found creative ways to diversify his businesses.  Dean has been at the forefront of commercial acou...

Send us Fan Mail Longevity in a company’s workforce is a key indicator of the health, values, and strength of a company. My next guest has been working with 3form for many years and has climbed the ranks to become the VP of Sales. Jennifer Ruckel joins me to share her journey and why she wholeheartedly believes in her company and what they’re doing to create radical transformation. It’s been said...

Send us Fan Mail Product design is not simply an art. When it comes down to it, design informs manufacturing and as such, product design is truly a science. Listen as Jeff Theesfeld of Union Design shares his background and why he’s so passionate about the industry as a whole and design in particular.  Jeff originally wanted to be an architect. He loved creating the design of buildings but his mat...

Send us Fan Mail The world of the workforce is changing and has been for decades. No longer is your job title the sum of your entire professional identity. Listen as Dr. Sarabeth Berk shares her story and why we have moved into the realm of the hybrid professional. Listen as she shares her view of the workforce and how it has changed overall. She also provides a visual representation of the differ...

Send us Fan Mail There’s nothing like starting a new role with a company weeks before the entire world shuts down due to a pandemic. Rich Oliver started with 9 to 5 Seating just before everything was cancelled but now as things open up, he’s sharing their relevance in our industry.  Listen as he shares more about 9 to 5 Seating, his role there, and why he thinks they are truly the best seating sol...

Send us Fan Mail Customer experience is not the same thing as customer service. While you need to have great customer service, customer experience goes even deeper. Here to share her thoughts on creating an outstanding customer experience is Stacy Sherman with Doing CX Right.  Listen as she shares more about her processes, why she’s so passionate about this topic, and how you can get in touch to u...

Send us Fan Mail Color is extremely important in our perception and understanding of the world. It changes our moods, it evokes emotion, and it helps solidify memory. Listen as Laura Guido-Clark chats about the power of color in the world and in the furniture industry.  Laura is a designer by trade, but she fell in love with the study of color. She now designs her own textiles and helps her custom...

Send us Fan Mail We’re doing something different! Throughout our 2021 interviews, I’ve been asking all of our guests a few questions behind the scenes. We’ve put together their responses to the first of those questions which is, how is work changing?  Listen as all of our guests that have been featured on the show so far, give their thoughts on how work has changed overall in their experience. Man...

Send us Fan Mail It’s time for all aspects of the furniture industry to move into the technological future. Making that easier is Matthew Danyliw of Avanto. He joins me to chat about his backend business solutions that help support front end management and growth. Listen in to learn all about Avanto and why they may be just the change your business needs to move forward in the industry.  Believe i...

Send us Fan Mail Ever feel like your creativity has been zapped out of you? You know that you have some great ideas brewing but you can’t get them out of your head and out into the world. Megan Mazzocco is the A+D Yogini and she helps overworked, overtired architects and designers to tap back into their creativity using proper rest and yoga techniques. Listen in to learn more.  Listen as she share...

Send us Fan Mail Sometimes it’s nice to simply have a conversation. Jeff Carlson of My Resource Library and I sat down to do a super informal Q and A session and it was a ton of fun. Listen as we chat about the role of ecologically friendly design, trends in the industry, and how our industry has been irrevocably changed due to Covid.  This really was a fun conversation touching on a bunch of diff...

Send us Fan Mail For the first time ever, we have a true designer on the show. Brian Graham is an interior designer turned furniture designer who uses his unique view of space to create truly customizable pieces. Listen as he shares more about the design process and his thoughts on the future of commercial furniture. Inspiration can strike anywhere, at any time. Which is why Brian keeps a sketchbo...

Send us Fan Mail It’s time to break out of our cocoons and start getting back together. Rob Kirkbride and John Strassner have gotten together to organize the Spring Breakout Roadshow 2021 and they’re joining me on this special bonus episode to share all about it.  What is Spring Breakout?  Essentially this is a roadshow designed to help you and your clients actually see products in real life. We’r...

Send us Fan Mail The government is always buying, they’re always building, and they pay! So if you haven’t already considered adding a vertical dedicated to government sales, then you’ll definitely want to hear this episode. Pat Morrison of Price Modern is sharing all of his knowledge regarding the federal government market and what you can do to put a foot in it today. Aside from always buying an...

Send us Fan Mail The Trend Report Podcast has reached episode 50! This is actually a HUGE accomplishment but it wouldn’t be possible with you. I’m sharing why this is such a milestone in the life of a podcast as well as what I’ve learned in this process. But first, thank you so much for being here and making this possible.  To start I want to thank my team. Along with our listeners without these l...

Send us Fan Mail When someone purchases a product from you, how long does it take for them to purchase another one? If you’re selling furniture products, then it’s likely several years. What if you partnered with a wholesaler and started selling office supplies, janitorial, and sanitation products too?  That’s exactly what Eddie Baird is here to chat about. He works with SP Richards to partner wit...

Send us Fan Mail Quick question, would you consider yourself an introvert or an extrovert? Did you know that the typical office space was specifically designed for the extroverted mind? For David O’Coimin this was always an issue and he designed the Nook Pod specifically for those neuro-diverse individuals who need time away from the hustle of the office.  David comes from a long line of engineers...

Send us Fan Mail What does the future of the workspace look like? Per Jonathan Webb, KI customers are preparing to go back to business as normal once the COVID scare is over. What does that mean for everyone getting back to work? Listen in to hear all about return to work strategies you’ll want to implement as we make our way back to normal life.  Jonathan’s role at KI is to study workplace trends...

Send us Fan Mail Why don’t we as an industry offer more financing options for our furniture? Per Jim Wall, there is a certain element of risk, but in times like these offering financing options could be a game changer for your business. Listen as we talk about all things financing and contract interiors.  Jim is a strategic account manager at Marlin Capital Solutions and has been working to help o...

Send us Fan Mail Your customers are online. Period. The shift was happening before Covid hit, but since Covid the rapid expansion of online shopping and buying has been exponential. Abby Murray, CEO and founder of Mortarr, joins me to chat about how consumer habits are changing and our sustainability responsibility.  Mortarr is an online platform designed to bring the commercial construction and d...

Send us Fan Mail All industries need regulation and compliance standards. For the office furniture industry, that organization is BIFMA. BIFMA stands for the Business + Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Association and they are a non-profit membership community designed to help standardize processes throughout the industry.    Jennifer Wammack and David Panning from BIFMA join me today to chat...