Seatability - Stretch your imagination » Chair Force One

Techline Studios

Derek Perkins — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 16:35:21 +0000

Techline Studios has been a great partner for Seatability in the Washington DC region, and it was great to finally get a chance to meet them in person. They are all big hockey fans, so as soon as we broke for lunch, they immediately had to check on the status of the Capitals series. A tough game 7 loss in the conference finals must have been tough for them.

Techline works with an extremely flexible framework for building cabinetry and workspaces that can be adapted to home, office or healthcare needs. You can basically use the different building blocks like Legos to create the perfect office space for you. With such a foothold in this market, they constantly have customers asking for chairs that will go along well with their desking systems. Since the vast majority of their clients are repeat customers, Techline wanted to pick a seating partner that had a dependable and unique product. Seatability fit the bill perfectly, and we look forward to a long term relationship.

Priority Office Products & America’s Office Source

Derek Perkins — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 20:30:50 +0000

Jennifer Olson is the furniture specialist and team leader for Priority Office Products, an affiliate of America’s Office Source. Jennifer manages nearly 40 different sales representatives focusing on quality office furniture sales. She had never done much with bungee chairs before, so when Fred Charon of IAI and I arrived with the Solace bungee chair line, she was excited to see something new. She was very interested in the possibilities with the color options, and enthusiastically prepared to bring her sales team up to speed. I wish all the best to her and to Priority Office Products as they push forward in these turbulent times.

Solace Visits Disneyworld!

Derek Perkins — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 01:08:18 +0000

After Fred Charon of IAI and I were done in Tampa, I knew that I had to make a short detour on the way to Orlando to Disneyworld, the most magical place on earth, even braving the tornado warnings that were broadcast through all the radio frequencies. Though Solace & I didn’t have time to actually go on any of the rides, we still were able to snap a couple of photos at the entrance. I’ll bet that this is the first bungee office chair that has made it to an amusement park, though there are certainly a lot of thrilling bungee chair rides across the world. Someday, I’ll take Solace on a ride with me.

Hanging at CWC with Mike Newman

Derek Perkins — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 01:01:43 +0000

An early morning visit to CWC Office Furnishings paid big dividends, as we were able to meet with Mike Newman and his team. CWC has a beautiful dealership, showcasing the latest and greatest Herman Miller products, in addition to other high value office products. They are the largest contract dealer in Atlanta, as published by the Atlanta Business Chronicle. Mike is a seasoned veteran in the industry, with decades of experience in helping customers select the best products for their needs.

After a brush with almost certain doom embodied by a malfunctioning coffeemaker, we were able to introduce the Solace series of bungee chairs, and the group was all very impressed. They particularly liked the 36 different colors available in any conceivable band configuration. We look forward to doing business with them into the future. They already have the Solace bungee chair (S-1159) on their floor, so head over and check it out!

Tiffany, CWC’s Director of First Impressions, would have been far more photogenic than the three of us, however she decided to use her photography skills instead to take the picture on the right. Maybe we can convince her to join in the fun next visit.

Office Furniture Expo

Derek Perkins — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 01:59:32 +0000

Office Furniture Expo has been serving the people of Doraville and the surrounding Atlanta region with great customer service and office furniture selection since 1981. With two buildings housing their extensive in stock inventory, you will be sure to find whatever it is you are looking for, whether top of the line or slightly used. Interest in the Solace bungee chair was high, as was the interest in the sales spiff program we are running. They have a personal touch that not every dealer does these days, always putting their people front and center, whether it is the group photo on the front page of their website or the photo that they put in the yellow pages. It was great to meet the team and I’m confident that they will do a great job.

Aaron Rents

Derek Perkins — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 01:43:15 +0000

There are a bunch of great people working at Aaron Rents, both in their stores and in the corporate offices. Jolene, the category manager at Aaron’s corporate, was very cordial. She may have even felt a kindred spirit to the chair, as it was manufactured in her homeland of Taiwan. Back at the store, we ate some hard candy and discussed some project customization options we can do with our Solace bungee chairs, specifically to do with colors and back heights. There are also a few crack golfers in the mix, so I’ll have to schedule some time on my next visit to go out with them and Pete.

I also wanted to give a shoutout to Moses, one of the warehouse staff. He came outside and grabbed the heaviest chairs as we walked in and was extremely courteous and friendly. As we were leaving, I was curious which radio station that they had playing in the store, and he told me what he thought it was, but then as we were loading the chairs into my van, he came back out to confirm the radio station. It was a small thing, but small things go a long way, and anything that a company can do in a down economy to set themselves apart is a great thing. I’d love to have Moses at Seatability, and I’d like to cast my official ballot for him to win the employee of the month.

Roswell Office Furniture Outlet, Wayne Robinson & Shelterbox

Derek Perkins — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 02:08:49 +0000

This afternoon, our final visit of the day was with a very dynamic business owner, Wayne Robinson of Roswell Office Furniture Outlet. He has been a solid dealer for Seatability in the past, and was impressed with the new Solace line, but that is not what I’d like to focus on. He is one of only 26 members of the non-profit Shelterbox in the USA.

Shelterbox is a service organization established in 2001, in conjunction with the Rotary Club International, with the singular focus of getting immediate shelter needs met for disaster victims. In a 100+ pound green box, they include a ten person tent, water purification tablets, cooking supplies, stove and other items for immediate relief. As soon as they receive word of a disaster, they call up their volunteers, who drop everything that they are doing to go and fly to the disaster zone, taking the Shelterboxes with them and teaching the recipients how to set them up properly.

Wayne has seen more action than most, due to his early involvement in the program. He has been to seven different countries to date, including Zambia and Peru, with each trip lasting at least 2-3 weeks. People are starting to hear about Shelterbox and the great work that they are doing, thanks to the hard work and sacrifice of people like Wayne. Wayne always has his nose to the grindstone, but sitting just behind his computer monitor is all of his Shelterbox equipment, just waiting for the next opportunity to relieve suffering.

Corporate Environments with President Karen Hughes

Derek Perkins — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 23:17:40 +0000

This morning, Pete and I visited Corporate Environments, the Atlanta Knoll dealer and the biggest Knoll dealer in the whole Southeast. As we pulled in, we remarked on the number of cars in the parking lot. I have visited nearly 100 dealers in the past few weeks, and not many had the type of activity that Corporate Environments did. It’s great to see a company doing well in this tough market.

Pete brought in a dozen Dunkin’ Donuts, including a “fat-free” muffin to continue to tempt me to abandon my diet. We set up camp for the morning in their well stocked library, kept up to date by the ever vigilant Summer. We spoke with Karen Hughes, the owner and president of Corporate Environments in length as we lounged in the sample Solace chairs we brought. In the small office furniture realm, she and Pete had many mutual friends to catch up on. Karen had this to say about our new line, “these chairs really are comfortable.” The rest of the staff was also very interested in specifying Solace chairs in future projects, and we look forward to a long and mutually profitable relationship with them.

Chowing Down at the Waffle House

Derek Perkins — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 21:54:05 +0000

Before I made it to the southeast, I had friends telling me that I would miss out on the whole experience if I didn’t go eat at a Waffle House. Since I’m on the Nutrisystem diet, I had pretty much decided against taking their advice, since hash browns, pancakes and sausage tend to destroy any real diet. Our rep in Atlanta, Pete Gebhardt, decided to make it his personal mission however to break me. His incessant pleadings for me to eat something other than Nutrisystem, combined with encouragement from home, were enough for me to break down and try their famous hash browns. I had mine “Scattered, Smothered & Covered”, which means that they added onions and a slice of cheese. They were good, especially with some steak sauce added, but I’ll be saving my scant calories for other delicacies for now.

Our waitress, Autumn, was kind enough to let me get behind the counter and take a picture with her. There is certainly a lot of truth behind old Southern-style hospitality. I’m excited to make it down to southern Georgia on Thursday and Friday, where Pete assures me that I will be treated to some serious language training.

Visit with Gary Glazer at Bizchair.com

Derek Perkins — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 03:32:44 +0000

Pete Gebhardt of IAI, our local sales representative in Georgia, and I had a chance today to visit Bizchair.com’s impressive new facilities in the old Herman Miller building in Canton, GA. Though it hulks like a massive concrete behemoth in the middle of nowhere, large warehousing capabilities have fueled Bizchair’s meteoric rise to over $50 million in sales. Bizchair now boasts over 300,000 square feet of storage space, and they are continuing to grow their sales, even as the office furniture market is projected to drop 20% this year. Since we started doing business with them back in the beginning of 2006, they have consistently been one of our top distributors.

Gary Glazer, the president of Belnick, was very busy when we arrived, surrounded by paper on his desk and a 7-8 lust inspiring monitor configuration. I was glad for the opportunity to speak with him for a few minutes and get his reaction to the Solace chair. He thought that it was very comfortable and that it would follow the success of the Idealchair series on Bizchair.com. I for one hope that we can work with Gary and Bizchair to grow both our businesses in these turbulent economic times.