What is it you do again?

Unless you are in the field of architecture and interior design (A&D), it's very hard to wrap your mind around what I actually do for a living. My parents don't even really understand. Hopefully this helps.

Architects and designers work together to create beautiful spaces. Whether it's a church, school, shopping mall or house, someone had to design it. They had to draw up the plans with dimensions and details showing how all the parts and pieces fit together. They had to choose the flooring, paint, wall paper, tile, doors, windows, roofing material, plumbing fixtures, electrical components, etc. Every little detail is put into the plans and specifications. The specifications are all in a book or set of books that describe every last detail of what needs to be in the space. It goes over all the characteristics and testing that needs to be done to the products that will be in the space.

Most of these spaces need furniture. There are hundreds (probably thousands) of furniture manufactures. The way these furniture manufacturers let designers know about their product is to have sales reps. The sales reps make appointments with the designers and come in and show them the latest and greatest from that manufacturer and they also remind them of the older products still currently in the line. This gets designers thinking about that manufacturer's products and if they are working on a project that can use those products, they consider showing them to their client. The client might then consider buying that product. If they do, that sales rep gets a commission for it. 

Some of my products displayed at a local trade show.

Here's a real life example. Architecture Firm A is working on drawings for a common eating area on a college campus. The designer from the architecture firm calls me and says, "I need sturdy seating for this college campus common eating area." I create a visual document with pictures of this seating and budgetary pricing for the designer to look at. Other sales reps are doing this same thing with their seating products. So the designer now has several options to choose from. The designer picks out a few of these products that will best suit the school's needs. Then the designer shows these options to the decision makers at the school. A decision is made and the designer writes the product into the specifications. Most of the time, the decision is set and no substitutions are allowed, other times only guidelines are written into the specs, so anyone's products that fit those guidelines might be the product chosen in the end. 

When all the drawings and specifications are done, they go out to bid. General contractors, sub contractors, and furniture dealerships bid on their portions of the spec. The furniture dealerships call me for pricing on my portion of this bid. One of them will be awarded the contract. The project moves forward, and when it's time to purchase the furniture, I work with the furniture dealership who won the bid and help them get their order into my manufacturer with the correct products from the specification. If there are any problems with the products once they are delivered, I help take care of those problems. If there are any problems with the furniture within the warranty period, I take care of those as well.

From the first time a designer contacts me about a product, it could be 3 months, 6 months, or well over a year before the product is purchased. This is not a sales gig where the commissions are immediate. It takes a long time. A VERY long time. It's also not direct sales gig like selling printers and copiers or DirectTV.

I sometimes work with the furniture dealerships directly, because they have their own projects as well as projects they bid on. But for the most part, I am showing something to a designer, who then has to "sell" my products to their client, and then someone else does the purchasing. So I have to have the information and special details for the designer to understand my product well enough to do that.

I am an independent sales rep. There are also manufacturer's sales reps. The latter work directly for the manufacturer and usually receive benefits and have expenses paid. This is ideal for bigger companies with high sales volumes. For the smaller companies, it is easier to employ independent reps, like myself. Independent reps represent multiple manufacturers. We sometimes cover larger territories. We are straight commission, no benefits, no expenses paid. So it is in our best interest to push all of our products to try to make the most sales.

The company I work for has gone through a few changes this past year. The owner retired and sold the company to another person. We went from 4 sales reps covering 4 states, to 2 of us covering 4 states. I have different products that I represent in Nebraska but not Iowa because those manufacturers divide the territory out differently and they grouped Minnesota and Iowa together. I represent furniture, fabrics, and architectural products so I have a nice range of manufacturers to access to find the right product for the need.

A display wall at NeoCon (huge design tradeshow in Chicago every June) for one of the companies I represent.

Several bar chairs from Aceray, one of my furniture manufacturers.

Not having benefits or expenses paid really sucks. Having to find space in my house for all the literature and samples for multiple manufacturers sucks. I feel like I work harder and put in more hours than someone at a typical 8 to 5 job because I am ALWAYS AT WORK. There is always something to catch up on or emails to send or product to organize or expenses and mileage to figure or appointments to schedule. But since I make my own schedule, it allows me to schedule work time in Des Moines coinciding with the boys' events like concerts and parent teacher conferences. It allowed me to schedule time around Eric's deviated septum surgery in November. It allows me to say, "NOPE, the weather is too bad today. I'm rescheduling my appointments and I'm staying home."

I love my job. I have been here longer than any other job in the past. I get to live vicariously through the designers I work with. I get to help them find the perfect products for their projects. I get to travel around Iowa and now Nebraska and see friends and family that are spread out all over these 2 states. 

So there. Hopefully that helps you figure out what I do. Send me good vibes for a successful 2016 so I can continue doing what I do!