Gordon International is a boutique luxury furniture manufacturer.
Background
Gordon International is a boutique luxury furniture manufacturer, inspired by notable Italian designers, made in America. They work with 6 or 8 key partners in Italy, continuously developing new ideas that distinguish them from the competition.
Challenge
Gordon is a national company with representation by 23 teams across the United States. They distinguish themselves by bringing more ideas to market than most of their competitors. Sales Manager, Candis Burns, is responsible for keeping these teams up to date and encouraging them to get Gordon specified by architects and designers. She had been traveling with each group at least two times or three times per year, but this was no longer possible. It has become more and more difficult. .Candis says, “It is challenging for anyone to have a sales manager come to their territory and dedicate 3 or 4 days traveling and doing presentations. She had to reduce travel, increase time on the phone, send .pdf’s. Not a satisfactory substitute.
Process
Phi Services scheduled time with Candis to simulate a typical training interaction. Together we identified three main challenges she faced. Candis was clearly energized by real time meetings and missed these occasions.Furnishings are about shape, color, size and configuration. Effective training begs for visualization. She required effortless, comfortable, reliable audio to replace awkwardness of holding a phone, alleviate the cramp in her arm. We assessed her comfort level with technology and agreed that an intuitive, easy to use solution would be preferable.
Phi Services recommended an interactive workspace technology and an audio conferencing system that provided a natural sense of communication. We developed a strategy to layer requisite new skills, one step at a time, We used the release of two new lines as an occasion to demonstrate and practice, hands-on, how to create digital content that incorporates text and images. We then modeled sharing it with reps and ways to collaborate in real time, including brainstorming and ideation. Last,we scheduled a web conferencing session to role play using a pervasive audio tool to replicate chatting in the same room. We provide lots of follow up,reinforce processes, respond to questions, and share new features
You work like us. We try to be extremely responsive. It helps us to stand out. You are extremely responsive. We can rely on you. We can trust you.
— candis burns, sales manager at gordon international
Results
Upon Phi Services’ recommendation, Gordon chose and adopted the Nureva Span System to visualize and collaborate, and the HDL300 to audio conference. Span saves her time, saves reps’ time, saves money spent on travel. It enables more spontaneous and frequent interaction. It is flexible and easy to use. “I can work from my laptop. I like that. I can use our online interactive catalog. I can create digital content. It is easier to educate on the features of our products when I can make it visual. I put everything together in advance and share it with them. Using Skype and the HDL300 as my microphone, it feels as though we are in the same room. It is a very comfortable way to work.
Though Span cannot replace the unique energy of in-person interaction, it positively affected Candis' remote workflows and travel budget.