Print
In a recent episode of Inside the Firm: Monday Monday Morning Coffee, Solomon Coyle Principal Shelley Rosetta joined host Alex Gore to discuss some of the most pressing challenges in the commercial interiors industry. With over 30 years of experience across design, sales, manufacturing, and distribution, Shelley shared hard-earned insights on manufacturing complexity, strategic dealer collaboration, and why understanding your true costs is critical to long-term sustainability.
Manufacturing & Distribution: More Custom, More Complexity
Unlike industries with standardized outputs, commercial furniture manufacturers operate on a just-in-time model because no two orders are the same.
“There is no order that is the same from order to order to order… it’s not like it’s just sitting there waiting for you.”
She explained how large manufacturers like MillerKnoll, Steelcase, and Haworth have aligned distribution channels:
“That is their go-to market manufacturer. So there’s a very close partnership there with the aligned manufacturers.”
Today, projects often include dozens of vendors:
“You can have up to 60, 70 manufacturers on just one project.”
Why Dealers Ask to Be Involved Earlier
One major friction point Shelley highlighted is timing. Dealers are often brought in very late, leaving little room to influence product selection, lead times, or logistics:
“We’re coming in at the tail end and we’re providing the product that has been specified for that project.”
“We always ask, can we get involved earlier? Can we be at the table to collaborate earlier? And that is really just more so [about how] we’re going to be soaking in that knowledge and we’re also going to be helping you plan.”
That early involvement isn’t about control. It’s about risk mitigation:
“We can help with the risk mitigation or either products that maybe we’ve had bad experiences over or they don’t have great warranties or they don’t support here locally.”
Profitability Leaks and the Cost of Not Knowing Your Costs
When it comes to profitability, many businesses don’t realize how thin their margins are until it’s too late.
“We often provide resources or services that we may not truly know what our true cost is.”
“When you dig in and you ask, okay, well, what is your cost per hour? You would be surprised at how many people cannot really truly answer that question.”
The takeaway? Know your real costs, down to the hour, and use them to set pricing that supports reinvestment and sustainability.
Incentive Pay Should Reflect More Than Sales
Shelley is a strong advocate for thoughtful variable compensation, based on individual, team, and company performance:
“What you’ll find a lot of times across industries, not just our industry, is that there are like sales targets or business development targets and you get rewarded… But I think if you look at other areas, we really encourage people to look at not just the individual, but look at the individual, the team, and then the company.”
She offered a practical approach:
“Let’s say 15%… and that’s the total variable package. So we make $100,000. I’m going to set 15% of that aside… and then I’m going to divide that into team, individual, and company.”
This structure helps reward not just outcomes but good behavior, planning, and collaboration.
Carving Out Time to Lead
Shelley closed with a reminder that great leadership requires time and intentionality:
“You have to put time on your calendar for you to work on the business… That’s not just a once-a-year thing… you’re doing that on a weekly, monthly basis.”
And to get there, leaders have to delegate:
“We have this thing that most of us are in leading roles because we were good at what we did before… So now our mind has to shift to, okay, now I have to keep the company health in my sight.”
Listen to the full episode
“We’re also very interested in working with A&D firms because we think that there are some real similarities to how we measure operating profit and how A&D folks might measure that as well.”
Solomon Coyle continues to expand its education and consulting programs, from dealer management to sales leadership, supporting commercial interiors professionals as they grow into more strategic, resilient businesses.
Listen to the full podcast interview episode, Monday Morning Coffee with Shelley Rosetta, here:
Contact us at support@solomoncoyle.com to learn more or browse through solomoncoyle.com.