Creativity crucial to office furniture biz success Commercial Real Estate | Premium content from Atlanta Business Chronicle by Janet Jones Kendall, Contributing Writer Date: Friday, November 5, 2010, 6:00am EDT There are many reasons for the success of TurnerBoone Contract, a six-year-old commercial real estate furniture dealership in Atlanta. Experience, creativity and hard work are chief among them, say co-founders Ellen Turner and Laura Boone. And, when none of that works, there is Tallulah. Tallulah, TurnerBoone’s office dog, is the “secret weapon,” Turner said. “She works some sort of magic on our customers.” Tallulah has been doing a heck of a job. Joann Vitelli Boutique service: Laura Boone, left, and Ellen Turner are co-founders of an office furniture dealership. TurnerBoone has at least doubled its gross revenue every year since Turner and Boone founded it in 2004. “We are best friends, and we each have the talents that the other one does not have,” Boone said. “I have marketing, design and branding skills. Ellen has financial and operations skills. We both have an extensive history in the commercial furniture and interiors industry. We had ideas about how we could do it better. Many of our competitors are large, well-established dealerships that do not give the attention or customer service because of their business size and structure. We compete by delivering a boutique, service-intense experience.” When the pair started the company, which now has more than 100 employees, they knew it wouldn’t be easy, Turner said. “The challenge is that it is a very competitive market and even though we have repeat business, the bulk of our revenue comes from new projects,” she said. “Therefore, we are always looking for more business and trying to be better than our last win.” TurnerBoone has done that successfully, at least two of its clients say. Bill Nussey, president and CEO of Atlanta-based e-mail marketing firm Silverpop, was most impressed with TurnerBoone’s design sense. “They were great at understanding our company and our culture,” he said. “It’s very easy to go into a software company like ours and put in dark woods and nice furniture, but they did more than that. They helped us find the right colors and design to fit what we’re about — an innovative, active and motivated environment. We didn’t know when we started what we were going to get, but we definitely got a style that fits our company. ” Just as importantly, the price was right, Nussey said. “They took an incredibly complex set of requirements and were able to produce something perfect for us. We have hundreds of 1 employees all with different office needs and they were able to set up our offices in a way that met all of those varying needs.” Mike Menyhart, senior vice president for strategic planning and director of customer engagement for TurnerBoone client Fifth Third Bank, said the company won his business from the start. “We were first impressed with TurnerBoone during the [request for proposals] process when they demonstrated a true understanding of our vision of how to improve the customer experience in our banking centers,” Menyhart said. Along with SilverPop and Fifth Third, TurnerBoone has worked with Georgia Perimeter College, NCR Corp. and Northwestern Mutual. “We have clients of all sizes, from a two-person office who is on a budget to a four-floor class A law firm,” Boone said. “We sell over 200 manufacturers’ lines, so we have something in every style, price point or for any ergonomic use. We also have a strong educational client base.” TurnerBoone’s growth strategy is to stick faithfully to its core values — integrity, accountability and a passion to create a successful client relationship that exceeds customer expectations, Boone said. The company expects those values to help it double in size again in the next three to five years, Turner said. “And also by our new alliance with our first ‘major’ manufacturing partner, Haworth,” Turner said. “Haworth is a $1.5 billion privately held company that has the discounting power and infrastructure to back us as an exclusive distributor in the Atlanta market.” TurnerBoone has already proven itself adept at dealing with difficult circumstances simply by flourishing in this down economy. “Because of downsizing, we heavily marketed some of our other services besides new furniture sales, such as used furniture, reconfigurations, furniture refurbishments, warehousing and inventories,” Boone said. A company has to be flexible and creative when it comes to finding profit and cash flow in a down economy, she said. “We have weathered the storm the old-fashioned way,” Turner said. With that strategy — and, of course, Tallulah — TurnerBoone’s growth is bound to continue. TurnerBoone Contract • • • • Year founded: 2004 Number of employees: 14 Number of clients: More than 100 Revenue growth: 88 percent growth in 2009; have at least doubled in size every year Business philosophy: “Work harder than your competitors and always put the customer first. Most of all, love what you do.” 2