Nicola Gelormino (00:00):
Do you want to know how to build lasting relationships and use those to drive revenue growth? If so, join us on this edition of the Inside Bs Show. Hey, now I'm Nicki G. This is the Inside BS Show and we're recording live Today I am here with Dave Lorenzo, the godfather of growth. Good morning Dave, how are you? Hey

Dave Lorenzo (00:24):
Nicki G I'm doing great. How are you

Nicola Gelormino (00:25):
Today? I'm fantastic. Loving these new headsets folks. This is going to be a fun recording today.

Dave Lorenzo (00:31):
Nicki G's got the cans on, folks. You got to see Nicki G's cans. They're amazing. It's absolutely unbelievable. First of all, I can't believe that you wanted to wear these. I told you I was going to wear mine and I said, but I don't want to worry about where the mic is. I want to be able to move around and do whatever I need to do. And you were like, oh, we should both get 'em. And then we could pretend where airline pilots and we could say all kinds of things like we're cruising at 30,000 feet. Exactly. And you were literally doing that while I was setting everything up. Now it's like you're playing with a new toy. It is Christmas

Nicola Gelormino (01:04):
Time. We do have fun on the show. If we give you the inside scoop, we certainly have fun with what we're doing.

Dave Lorenzo (01:09):
So this is the first time we're doing a remote recording and we are in the beautiful offices of global furniture. Actually. It's their showroom. And picture the nicest event space you've been to for a corporate event and then multiply it by 10. That's what this place is like. So we're really fortunate to be here today. Nicole, tell us why we're here and how we got here.

Nicola Gelormino (01:33):
We are here because a friend of mine, Francisco Ramirez, who is joining us as our guest today, invited us to check out this space to host some events here. We had the opportunity to do that, and I'll tell you what, it's an incredible space. There's so many different areas for collaboration. So we wanted to host some of our events here, really get a feel for utilizing the full space with what we were doing. And it turned out fantastic. So we wanted to invite Francisco to join us because Francisco is a master in building relationships. That is what he does for a living. That is how we met. So we wanted to give you the inside scoop on how you build those relationships and use them to drive revenue growth in your business.

Dave Lorenzo (02:14):
Alright, if you're following along at home, the key drivers of enterprise value, this is driver number seven. Building relationships is essential. No matter what business you're in, those of you who are professionals, you may think that you're not in the sales business, you're simply helping the people who you have relationships with and you're getting paid to do it. I want to get into really the details of how Francisco builds relationships, but let's start with your background. First of all, how do you guys know each other? And then we'll get into Francisco's background. So Nicola, how did you meet Francisco? How did Francisco come into our lives?

Nicola Gelormino (02:56):
Francisco came into our lives at the last social event I attended and he attended before the world shut down for the Global Pandemic. So I went to this one-off social event I wouldn't normally go to. I was just looking to go make some new connections and happened to be in a location that was convenient for me. So I went and everyone was very socially awkward because they were trying to figure out do we kiss, hello? Do we use elbows? And it was just a big awkward mess. And the one person in the room who kind of was like, let's just go with this. I looked at him, he looked at me and we walked up to each other and just said, Hey, hi, who are you? Let's get to know each other. That's right. And that was it. We basically talked to each other, the entire event. We felt like the only two normal people there and just carried on as if nothing was happening and forgetting about the world outside and decided we would enjoy the event. And sure enough, we developed a friendship after that. I remember connecting with you throughout the pandemic talking about what are we going to do? Can we still reach out to prospective clients? Can we still have conversations about business? And you were such a great resource for all of that. I remember you were there grinding away and so was I trying to figure this out.

Dave Lorenzo (04:04):
Totally agree. Alright, so Francisco, welcome. Thank you. Thank you for joining us. Tell us a little bit about what you do here because the space here is absolutely beautiful and I'm old enough to remember a show called Fantasy Island. There was a guy named Mr. Rourke who was like, welcome everyone. And that's like whenever we come here, you're like that guy, you're like, come, just use the space. Welcome, have fun. So what is it you actually do?

Francisco Ramirez (04:30):
So I like that intro, but I don't have that accent. Unfortunately, it was a very sixth accident. I'm at what they would consider a regional leader, a sales manager for the team here. So I run the South Florida region and we concentrate on selling to healthcare, the education sector, also workplace meaning professional services, and I lead that team. So however I can lead that team between architects and designers, business development, territory managers, coordinators for our showroom, I really want to spearhead and mentor a lot of them on how they can be the best for our market

Dave Lorenzo (05:05):
When it comes to building the relationships. Who do you target within the organization? Who do you target to build relationships with?

Francisco Ramirez (05:13):
In our organization?

Dave Lorenzo (05:14):
No, in the organizations that you're looking to work with.

Francisco Ramirez (05:16):
Yeah. Yeah, so that's a great question. I think everybody's a client at one point or another. I was at a Miami business club last night and sometimes you start talking to people, what do you do? What do you do? And you're like, people start, and this is how Nicole and I met. We were like, she's a lawyer, I'm in furniture, I'm interiors. Do we have any synergy? But just trying to understand what people do and take an actual interest, I think you automatically, things start popping up and people try to help each other. So I think the targets for me off the cuff are going to be the normal ones would be anything with interior applications and anything that has incentives to how can we build people to promote the way they work, how they can work better. Just anything that has implications on doing better for innovation workplace, we target that.

(06:07):
So those are your usual suspects. Brokerage, anything to do with the commercial interiors or retail industry, anything to do with healthcare facilities, people. We also target probably the high level, those are the ones that are the COOs and CFOs. They're writing the checks. So really anybody. And we can also target the architects and designers. So those are the most common. It'd be like our doctors that we go write scripts with. So it's really a very large playing field at the end of the day, but it seems like it's small, but everybody can be a client at the end

Dave Lorenzo (06:42):
Of the day. When you say anybody can be a client, you guys will sell just that one setup right there to the whole office. Redo, right?

Francisco Ramirez (06:49):
Yeah. So a lot of times people will say to me, what do you do? I'm like, oh, interior commercial interiors or interior architecture. I'm like, oh, I need a sofa from my house. I'm like, that's not what I do. And that's not what we do. What we do is we do have spaces that are going to make you work harder, think harder, promote more connections, and those are the things you're talking about. Yes. It could be something ancillary. It could be the soft seating, it could be collaboration open areas, or it could be heads down work where we have actual cubicles or pods that are going to evoke people to just, Hey, I need to be alone. I need to do my heads down work or conference rooms. So all the different applications, you name it, we'll come up with it. And as Global Furniture group, we are of a large portfolio of furniture that really subscribes to any type of work. I mean we do hospitality, but that's not our forefront, but we do a lot of it. So yeah, I would answer your question. Anything's possible. You ask us if, hey, you want a couch, we have one that's end of the day, maybe not for your home, but probably could work inside there too.

Dave Lorenzo (07:53):
That's great.

Nicola Gelormino (07:54):
Okay, so you're speaking with prospects. What are you looking for for them to say that's a trigger for you?

Francisco Ramirez (08:00):
Yeah,

Nicola Gelormino (08:00):
What tells you, okay, now this might be someone who's really interested in what we do. What are you listening for? That's

Francisco Ramirez (08:05):
A great question. I think three things. I think the first thing is, is there a renovation expansion or maybe even a new build? So those are the things that I probably would look for. Any of those implications are going to mean like, hey, there's a new project that's new construction. Or hey, maybe we're revamping the office, or Hey, I'm busing at the seams. I need to add more people and we need to expand. So those are the things that I'm always keeping in the back of my mind as far as connections, it's the same thing every time. Listening is the biggest thing and asking the questions. People love to talk about themselves and it's just inherent, but we do. So if you can ask those questions and get to know what people do, you start finding out connections along the way and how to weave into their world. And it could be something that's so farfetched. I mean sometimes they're talking to accountants and they think I have nothing to do with furniture. But then they realize, oh my god, my COO actually is looking at new space right now. So we actually are going to be moving or we actually are expanding. And so those conversations are pretty grassroots and start happening like that.

Nicola Gelormino (09:07):
So you don't look for then a specific position when you're speaking with someone like an accountant. You just gave a good example as an accountant, someone that I wouldn't think would be a likely prospect for you. So are you looking for specific positions or not?

Francisco Ramirez (09:19):
Okay, back to the things. I think ideally the ones we love to work with, which is just the easy ones, are the architects and designers that are in commercial space. They're going to be our bread and butter. The next ones would be someone that's working for an end user directly that has those decisions that can make operation decisions or CFO or anything like that. And then the last one would probably be an influencer. Someone that not necessarily is directly tied but is an advocate or someone that says, Hey, you need to use 'em like you guys, I mean you're doing this and this is touching. Who knows how many people that go, I actually need to do something about my space.

Dave Lorenzo (09:55):
Dozens of people, dozens of people will be rushing. No more like tens of people will be rushing in. I'll take the what I don't one's even good.

Nicola Gelormino (10:03):
That's all it takes. I mean you're in sales you need is one real qualified prospect for you?

Francisco Ramirez (10:09):
Absolutely, a hundred percent.

Nicola Gelormino (10:10):
We talk about that often.

Francisco Ramirez (10:12):
So I think it's listening all the time and talking. It's interesting to find all the different facets of people in their backgrounds. And we've worked with our companies, worked with so many different types of end users. We just had so many Latin America here. They were doing something with the Latin Grammys, they used our space. It wouldn't be something you would think off the cuff, but man, they wanted to use our space. We've connecting with them. They want to do something with their spaces now it's just all sorts of different demographics.

Dave Lorenzo (10:39):
So they came here, they had an event here, now they want to do something. They want to take your stuff and designs that you've created, we've

Francisco Ramirez (10:46):
Started some great conversations to tour their space and take a look at it. And they're a mass corporation obviously. So we've started some great conversations with our CEO and some of their leaders and seeing what we can get done. So we'll start moving along with that.

Nicola Gelormino (11:00):
So let me ask you this because a lot of people struggle with this. How do you get into rooms where your ideal clients are?

Francisco Ramirez (11:08):
Where our ideal clients are? I think honestly we have to create that. So we do something very similar to what you guys are doing. We do some very specific round tables and they are leaders in what they do. So it might be a leader of construction company, the other one might be an owner's rep, project management rep. The other one might be an action architect, the other one might be an operations person, an end user. So if you can fill the room and create that environment, that atmosphere to just synergy and just be able to kind of let that go and you're the facilitator, it brings a lot of value. So I think that's the easiest way we've found. The other way is obviously there's a lot of networking associations that just lend themselves to our industry, which could be crew or commercial real estate for women. There's other ones that are the Urban Land Institute. There's the Beacon council that brings people in economic engine. So places where again, we're recruiting as an amazing city here, companies that are growing anywhere that's happening and put yourself in the middle. I think there's tremendous abilities where we can talk about what we do and it's always going to be tied to some implication where work is being done, the worker and then the output. So I think that's the end game at the end of the day.

Dave Lorenzo (12:26):
The furniture you have here and the settings that you've created, the scenes that you've set here for the way the workplace should look, it's very much like the modern WeWork type space.

(12:43):
So let me ask you because, and this is legitimately, this is not a question I know the answer to. It's a chicken and egg question. Was that collaborative workspace trend in existence and you guys just jumped on board with nicer stuff? Or did you guys say, Hey, people are going to want a place to collaborate. You have some great, the table that has a homey kitchen feel to it, even your conference room, the way that you have it designed has a built-in bench up against the wall, very collaborative. So did you guys augment what was already existing or was this something that you guys were out in front of?

Francisco Ramirez (13:28):
That's a great question because we need to be intentional and we do have designers internal in north our organization that do all that kind of planning. And we look at the trends. We obviously study the trends and we understand, hey, maybe the pendulum swing where it's not open office, maybe now people do need private office. So we look at that, look at that open plan and how it needs to be fluid. So what you're mentioning is the ability to change and adapt very quickly. So windscreen, you come in here, you see the space is open, it's inviting, there's little pockets that you can kind of break away at and then you can see as you go more into it, there's more of a cafe setting, more communal, and then there is heads down work area and then you have a conference. So we try to make it so it's very intentional that when we do have a working showroom, it is an office at the end of the day, but it's a showroom that people can work out of here. And then we do invite guests that hey, they can put their laptop come in at any time. And so as you guys know and Nicole, I was like, Hey, why don't you use our space? We take that to a lot of our clients, even potential clients stop on by work out of here and a lot of 'em do take us up on it.

Dave Lorenzo (14:30):
Thank God I don't work in an office basically unemployable. But do offices have stuff that looks like this? I've been to professional service firms offices and most of them they don't look like this. The lobby's really nice and then you open that door and there's boxes in the hallway and the desk is all nicked up from where the guy's been banging with his hands, his rings, right? So do offices actually look like this now?

Francisco Ramirez (14:56):
I mean yes and no. I would say the upper echelon and the very prestigious law firms, they're going to spend some money on their interiors, right?

(15:03):
But even those get weathered, so they have to keep refurbishing. Sometimes they're like, Hey, that's not a priority. Our people might be a priority or maybe not our space right now. They don't understand that that plays a very important part. But no, not all offices are like that. You'd be surprised even when we walk into some architectural firms, we think, hey, they're supposed to be really nice. And we're like, wow, this is not what I envisioned for a design interior firm. So it happens the shoe cobblers kind of story. Hey, they got their worst shoes sometimes, so it does happen. But no, I would say yes and no. We are fortunate to work with some great companies that need this and they realize, hey, it really changes the way you feel as you come into an office. I want to go in the office. And that's the biggest struggle I think a lot of companies are going through today is how do we get everybody back? And it's got to be beyond the pool table on the ping pong table. It's not that you got to make it so you have connections and that's the biggest thing. How can we promote connections?

Nicola Gelormino (16:01):
That's exactly what I wanted pick up on. But before I do that, we should have mentioned the space that we are sitting in is in the heart of the design district in Miami. So we are in prime real estate here. We're surrounded by luxury shops. This area came out of nowhere when it was first developed and now, I mean it's a space where we see Art Basel, where we see tourists come in masks. So we are in really, really a heart of Miami. So wanted to mention that because this space, when you see it, it fits right in and it all makes sense. So let me go now back to picking up on the point where you had mentioned some companies just don't get it. Why do we invest in these cool and collaborative spaces? Talk to us a little bit more about that, especially because you touch different industries where the space really makes a difference. Yeah,

Francisco Ramirez (16:47):
I think off the cuff, I think a lot of CEOs and leaders don't understand that space really develops your culture. It really at the end of the day does start defining your culture and your brand. So they might look at it as an expense that hey, we just need desk and we just need a place for them to sit, whatever. But they don't understand once they start putting the branding and they start making it where the people want to go there instead of going to Starbucks or maybe they do go to the cafe and spend more time there and they see that those connections of mentoring are going to the younger generations, they start understanding, wow, there's a lot of power in space beyond just what I thought furniture. So there is a psychology behind it that I think once the leaders do understand it and it's our job to really lay the land, lay work for them to understand that it's very important they start coming on board. But it is a process to get them to understand that. I don't think most leaders at a high level they're thinking about furniture or anything like that. So it is a process that could develop that.

Dave Lorenzo (17:52):
Let's talk about sales cycle because I mean the furniture obviously is beautiful and hopefully you charge a lot of money and you make a lot of money on it.

Francisco Ramirez (18:03):
We don't actually.

Dave Lorenzo (18:04):
Okay, well that's great. So that's good

Francisco Ramirez (18:06):
To hear though.

Dave Lorenzo (18:07):
But this stuff, it's got to be warehoused somewhere, so you need to get orders placed. What is the sales cycle in selling the furniture? Because you probably have to do a design first and all that. So take us through the sales cycle and then tell us what a typical sales cycle is

Francisco Ramirez (18:26):
Like. There's not one typical one, but I can give you a general one. In theory it's construction at the end of the day of some type of construction. So I think you come up with the idea there's a need and then we start getting involved whether they have a design firm or not. Internally we can start talking about thought starters like well what are you trying to do? Why do you want to do that? Again, back to the are you trying to expand and just get chairs and tables in air and pack 'em in or are you actually thinking about how people work? So once we get past that, then we will design that might take a couple weeks, maybe just the back and forth. And then once that's solidified, then they can place an order through a distributor, a dealer. And that probably the furniture doesn't take that long to make. It's probably maybe four to six weeks

(19:11):
Then it ships and then install probably a week depending how big the project is. So I would say in a perfect world you could be as quick as three months and it could maybe last a little longer than that, maybe five months if you have some hiccups and then you have hold delays, construction building's not ready, didn't pass, fire inspection, whatever that might be. They don't get their CO, I mean their certificate of occupation and that will hold things to six months or a year. Sometimes that doesn't happen very much, but I would say a typical sales cycle is three months On our end, we try to make commercial furniture very quickly, which is four to six weeks is fast. You go to try to get orders, something from a crate barrel, it'll take a couple weeks more. If you actually get something from your home, it's going to be 16 weeks or 12 weeks. That's a long time, especially if you're getting something imported, forget about it.

Nicola Gelormino (20:04):
Yeah, sure. And so you are manufacturing that furniture the company does. We are,

Francisco Ramirez (20:07):
Yeah, we're a source manufacturer. We're out of Toronto and we have all plants here in North America. We do stock some items. So we call it office to go. If somebody needs something right away and they're in a pinch, which happens, we have stock and distribution centers that we can just deliver really quickly within two to three days. And so it's very quick for those small little, Hey, I'm in a pinch, I need a need something right away. Or maybe it is a home office. So we understand and we've understood that there is that need of fast speed to market on some applications.

Dave Lorenzo (20:44):
This is a tactile product. People will get to experience it before they buy it. Is it necessary in your sales process to incorporate an experiential element? What percentage of your clients do you have to get into a showroom before they decide what they want?

Francisco Ramirez (21:00):
That's so key that what you just said because our batting average is in the 90 percentile, if not almost a hundred once they do come into the showroom. Because anything you want to go test drive the car, we have some clients in here now and once they get to see it, it's great to see it on picture, but to see the actual grain or get to see the look and feel or is this going to really work in my space? It looks fantastic. So it is really pay dividends when we have people come through, we were just talking to a client this week and they're like, man, go into your showroom. And actually a seller for us said, man, I have a hundred percent batting average every time I bring a client through your showroom. I'm like, that's fantastic. So there is a lot of power in having that and there's not a lot of competitors that do this.

(21:44):
So dimension about the design district, our CO was kind a pioneer in that because furniture stores of this and commercial in the design district is not what people think they're thinking Gucci or Prada, high-end retail luxury. And so for us to come here on the sixth floor in the heart of was really a bold move. And so it's paid really well for people to go, Hey, I would love to go to the design district and by the way, I'm going to stop in a global or I'm going to stop a global and then go shop whatever. So it it's not what you would typically think. We're a commercial manufacturing via furniture. So it's a great lead. Yep.

Nicola Gelormino (22:24):
I was pleasantly surprised you're located here, but it makes sense when we hear who are your ideal clients who are making those decisions for office spaces. Those people are coming to areas like this and Miami is such an easy place to fly into and enjoy some time there. So we are looking at a very modern space now. What I want to know though, you have other showrooms across the country. I can't imagine they have the same look and feel as the Miami space. So tell us about those. Where are those other showrooms and do they each have their own feel and look that relates to that geographical area?

Francisco Ramirez (22:55):
Percent? Yeah, they're all different. I was just in Philly last week and I was like, wow, I love this. It was more of a city feel a little bit more darker colors, just to kind of like you're not getting the color pop that we get here when you walk in. And it was just a really cool, it fit with what Philadelphia was like. And same thing with New York. They're all very unique and that's all intentional. We can't have this kind of feel in New York. It just wouldn't work. So we have showrooms pretty much across the country. Just opened up a new one in California I think in Irvine. But they're all over and these are our tools. So when someone says to us what's the differentiator in selling or whatever, I'm like, you have an amazing tool here, a showroom that really you can show people around. This is in our industry being kind of walked away. It's an expense where manufacturers like, oh, I don't, don't know if we can do it for us. We double down and it's one of the best things we've ever done.

Dave Lorenzo (23:50):
Yeah, it's smart. It's smart. Talk to me about distribution channels. You mentioned a couple of times about selling through partners or I don't know if it's a reseller model. What percentage of your sales ballpark is direct? So you or somebody from your team connects with the end user and you're off to the races. What percentage is somebody who's I guess would be an interior designer or an architect, they lay out the floor plan and they say, only this furniture will fit here. And I'm sure there are people that you work with who are resellers or what percentage and give us the different channels and what percentage comes from each channel.

Francisco Ramirez (24:34):
Yeah, it's really a main channel that we use a distribution network. So it's kind of like the car industry. If you want to go buy a Mercedes or a Honda, you can't go straight to Honda or Mercedes, you got to buy through the dealership.

(24:47):
It's a similar thing. We don't like to sell direct cause it kind of infringes on our distribution. Our distribution is a model that we actually open up where agnostic to most distributors. And so we have our dealers, we call 'em dealers, they're the ones we sell through our channel. Rarely do we sell direct. The government might have a contract that maybe can buy direct, but that's sell them because you want our distribution to install and handle all those problems as little things that come up. And they also have other products outside of our portfolio, whether it be architectural walls or the lighting or maybe they can sell flooring, things that just kind of make that whole room provider as a dealer. So that is the best model for us that we are actually very agnostic and we are open to everybody. We're not just aligned with one dealer, one installer where a lot of our competition might be that way.

Dave Lorenzo (25:39):
Do you have exclusive areas or are the dealers? Yeah. Okay.

Francisco Ramirez (25:43):
Yeah, so I would say there's a handful of dealers here that are the cream of the crop and they probably handle the Tri-County. There's times that they've handled the Caribbean and we do sell to international, so that might be where we center a freight forwarder and then they handle it from there. Sometimes they might handle something that is connected maybe in New York or outside of their region, but it got specified and it came out of the nucleus of Miami. So that would be the only time that they actually might go something or they're networked with another of their partners that's out of state or something like that.

Dave Lorenzo (26:16):
So when you were a kid playing on the playground, were you thinking, I know

Francisco Ramirez (26:20):
Where this is coming.

Dave Lorenzo (26:21):
Were you thinking to yourself, when I grow up I want to lead the global furniture, distribute, I am going to align my career so that you were in your house. How much for this coffee table? What do you give me for this? That's right. No, seriously, how do you get into, because based on what Nicola has me, this isn't your first gig in furniture.

Francisco Ramirez (26:45):
No.

Dave Lorenzo (26:46):
So how did you become the king of furniture? The king of furniture?

Francisco Ramirez (26:49):
I liked the way that sounds. We have to work on that. No, it's never like that. I actually always liked architecture as a kid. I always liked the creative process and this is wild. There was even a time that I was in women's fashion, not many people know that about me.

Dave Lorenzo (27:07):
Not a bad place to be my friend,

Francisco Ramirez (27:09):
Not a bad place. And I was really serious into fashion institute technology and I just design it didn't pan out that way. That's what actually brought me to Miami. But the next thing, when I was going to school, I was working for an interior design firm and I loved it. I loved, even though I was helping with purchasing, I wasn't doing designing anything like that. I was going to school. I made those connections and friendships and I remember working and I was like, man, I'm just frustrated. I don't feel like I'm doing, she's like, you should come work for a dealership. And I'm like, well what do you do? And she explained it's all contract commercial world. Before you knew it, I got into the business and she said, I will warn you, once you get in this business, you are not getting out.

(27:49):
It is like the mafia you can try. You're never going to get out. And I did try once I don't think, okay, I want to try something different. And it pulled me back in. So I've always had an affinity for design and creative process. The other part was, it was a close part about, hey, maybe I'm not an architecture or an architect, but I'm very closely involved in the design process. I can look at plans, I have an input, my team has an input. I understand how this process works, how I can help. I understand the psychology and working with those futurists and people that are planning, whether it be a city, whether it be just an office. And that whole thing was sexy to me. It's always been sexy to me. Now I get to touch, I get to work with all different types of facets of people. And so it doesn't make it boring. It's always interesting and it's a unique industry. It's not like you're selling a SaaS product or you're selling some widgets that need to be sell and the quotas that yes, we have numbers and all that we need to have, but it's been pretty lucrative.

Nicola Gelormino (28:54):
So when you entered the industry, did you enter into a sales position or were you in a different role?

Francisco Ramirez (28:59):
Yeah, I wasn't like an account executive and I was learning a lot. I mean, I didn't even know what they, I cantilever, which you may not even know,

Nicola Gelormino (29:08):
Dunno what that is.

Francisco Ramirez (29:09):
We used that one word. But people would go, what's a cantilever? It's actually a bracket

Nicola Gelormino (29:13):
That, oh yeah, the cantilevers broken

Francisco Ramirez (29:14):
Deck or a pad threw out my cantilever grabbing that book bag. Holy cow. It was heavy. So that kind of stuff and it was hard. Knocks on understanding a lot more design, putting things together. But yeah, it started out as sales, hardcore sales. I mean, I had been in sales prior. Like I said, I was technology, I was selling for at and t, so I understood the hard knocks of door, door to door sales. I understood phone calling, cold calling wasn't what I enjoyed, but I could do it. And it just, once I knew those nuts and bolts, the rest was easy.

Nicola Gelormino (29:51):
So I mean, did you decide I really want to go into sales? How did that happen? At what point did you say, I really think that this is something that is going to work for me for a profession?

Francisco Ramirez (30:01):
Few people would come up to me and they would say, man, you should be in sales or you should be in real estate, or you should be in something that you have a presence and you have a voice. And they're like, really? The more I thought about it, I'm like, oh, I can do this, but I never thought sales until you realize it's taking the information and just kind of s spewing it back out to somebody that needs to new information, how you trans that out. And so I just realized that came easy to me some way, one way or another. Yeah.

Nicola Gelormino (30:36):
So here's what I want you to talk about. A lot of people think of sales as a dirty word. I guess it's a car salesman is what comes to mind and people just, it's an ick factor for people. So you are not the used car salesman, right? So tell us about what you view sales as, because you don't think of it as sales. So someone in your position who's been doing this a long time, who's very good at this, what do you view what you do?

Francisco Ramirez (31:01):
Wow. And so I would call that social engineering or definitely the way I think you have to have an acumen to help at the end of the day. So if you really want to help somebody, you're taking an interest in them or what they're trying to do. I think the rest falls into place. Obviously that's how we met. We recognized right away there's no thing here. And then boom, we realize how we could help each other and things really fell into place. So I think you have to have that kind of a spirit that you really genuinely do what want to help people. There are people that just, hey, just go for the money. But I think they're going to have a harder knock in life if that's the approach only. But no, I think to answer your question, why or how it's just inherent.

(31:48):
I don't think sales as the word, I've never looked at it like that. Yes, we have to make a sale, but at the end of the day, I think how are we getting to where you want to get point C or dear or X or Y, and how can I help facilitate that along the way? And if I can be a node connector or an influencer or something that helps with the application, that's my job. I don't look at it as like, man, I got to get them the sign on the line. I mean, at the end of the day, yeah, it's part of, it's in the back of my head, but it's not the driver. I think everything else falls into place

Nicola Gelormino (32:21):
And at some point what we do, we have to make revenue out

Francisco Ramirez (32:23):
Of it of course.

Nicola Gelormino (32:24):
So of course that's a component, but for you it's the relationship first. And I don't even want to use the title sales because that's not what you do. You really are a relationship builder and someone who's good at that. And what you're doing is helping other people with something that you have that can fulfill a need that they have

Francisco Ramirez (32:41):
A hundred percent. I think, and you guys know this better than me, you probably could give me some good stories about when you didn't, you just, Hey, I'm going to help this person. I have nothing to gain out of it. Something came out of it. And I think for my career that's always been the case. I'm like, Hey, I'm just going to help them. And something happened where I'm like, it's kind of like that 10% rule of giving back to un tithing or whatever, and you just like, I get so much more just by giving this little bit. So I think that's the way I look at it.

Dave Lorenzo (33:12):
If you can master the art of giving to people selflessly without any expectation of anything in return, but you are prepared for when they say, how can I help you? You're prepared to answer that question.

(33:29):
I think that's the ball game where people fall down and we see this constantly is they say, I've given so much I've given, we see this all the time. I've made 30 introductions and I'm not getting anything back. I'll turn to them and I'll say, right after you make the introductions, do people thank you? Oh, they always thank me. And I say, well, what do you say when they say thank you? I just smile and nod and I say to them, well, here's the answer. When somebody says, thank you so much for introducing me to Francisco, his place was great. We had a great event there. I really appreciate you doing that. Your response is, you're welcome. I know you do the same for

(34:09):
Me.

(34:10):
Because that prompts them to say, of course I would. And then you could say, would you like to hear who I'd like to meet? But you can only say that if you're prepared to ask them for something. The only person who doesn't say, I would love to help you, they're psychopaths. The people who don't say that, the idea is if they don't say that, you need to get away from them as fast as you can because they're never going to want to be generous and be kind to you. So the people who are out there right now, if you're listening and you're thinking, oh, it is really great. Francisco's got this wonderful showroom that he can invite people to and they can have meetings and he can invite a thousand people. And if two of them say, yes, he's making money, here's the deal, he's ready.

(34:53):
When somebody says thank you so much, he's going to say, listen, I know you do the same for me. And I will say, of course. And I'll say, who do you want to meet? Francisco knows who he wants to be introduced to, right? You knuckleheads out there who are listening, you don't know how to answer that question. So you got to have somebody in mind. So your homework is to go through LinkedIn of the people that you're giving to and be prepared, use a notebook, write this stuff down so that when you're sitting in front of them and they go, who can I introduce you to? Here's who you can introduce me to. I saw you're connected on LinkedIn to Nico Delino. I want that introduction. That's right. So Francisco, you're out there, you're going to these events, you meet Nicola, what's your line? That gets you a conversation where you get to introduce what you do. You don't say, Hey, you're sitting on a chair, where'd you get that chair? Office furniture doesn't come up in everyday conversation. No, it doesn't. So how do you get to bring that up?

Francisco Ramirez (35:48):
Wow, that's a great question. I don't know if I don't get asked or if I get asked what I do.

Dave Lorenzo (35:54):
Let's do both. So I see, I'm going to ask because that's what I do, right? The first thing I'm going to say is what do you do for a living? So when I say to you, Francisco, what do you do for a living? What do you say?

Francisco Ramirez (36:03):
So the minute I say that this is complete, like I'll say, listen, I'm in interiors, commercial interiors and commercial interior architecture. And they'll go, what does that mean? So that's enough to go, what does that mean? Because they heard a couple words that they kind of know, but they need more clarification. They don't want to assume. So that gets a conversation going really quickly. And it's true. We are an interior design. We do commercial applications, manufacturing, we have all these products that sit inside the interior architecture. So that is probably the biggest thing when someone asks me, I don't go, Hey, I lead a team or whatever. If we get more into it, of course, but that means no one wants to know about that. Yeah, I have seven people that report to me or whatever.

Dave Lorenzo (36:45):
Deerfield Beach all the way down to the keys. That's my area.

Francisco Ramirez (36:48):
Exactly. To get into a conversation a little bit more. I don't know. I think you have to feel the conversation. So if we're at a biz now or a networking event, again, I always lead with what people do first and then I see how I can inject something of an ad value. Hey, if it's not just my connection, it's what we do. Come by live to host you. And then that hospitality move maybe proves into something that we can talk a bit more about. But

Dave Lorenzo (37:19):
Yeah. Well that's great. I love that. That's what I would do all day long. If somebody said, Hey, what do you do? And I was in your shoes, I would say, well, I do interior design, but honestly, if you really want to experience what I do, next time you have a meeting,

(37:36):
Bring

(37:37):
Your meeting to my place. It's gorgeous. I'll host you. I love it. It's going to

Francisco Ramirez (37:41):
Be some good

Dave Lorenzo (37:41):
Takeaway. No, seriously, because that you have what you have is so powerful when people experience it. And I'll be honest with you, when Nico first said to me, we're going to have a meeting at this furniture place on the Palmetto across from the car dealer. Really? No, no, it's in the design district. And she said, yeah, are you,

Nicola Gelormino (37:58):
And you still wait where?

Dave Lorenzo (38:00):
I'm like, are you sure? And she said, yes, I'm sure I've been there. I'm like, all right, fine. We'll give it a try. It's beautiful. I wish I had something like this for our business where I could just get 'em in and have them experience it.

Nicola Gelormino (38:10):
And this is exactly how we got here. You said to me, you walked up to me at another event and said, Hey, I know you host these events. Are you looking for a space? And I jumped all over it.

Dave Lorenzo (38:20):
I

Nicola Gelormino (38:20):
Didn't appreciate, and having known you for as long as I have, I didn't appreciate that you moved to this location and you were here. And the second you told me where it was, I already knew because I knew that the typical furniture store we're thinking of on us, one is not sitting in the heart of the design district, that retail is far too expensive. So I already knew before looking at it, I still wanted to come watch.

Dave Lorenzo (38:39):
You don't even want to know. I'm thinking El Dorado next to Brand smart and people are leaving their boxes for their TVs in the parking lot. Oh, hey, that's what I was thinking we were going to. That's normal thing. But we come here, it's between Breitling and Gucci and I'm like, this is where we're going. Right? That's

Nicola Gelormino (39:01):
How I tell people how to find it. Do you know where Gucci is? Of course. It's easy to find right across the street.

Dave Lorenzo (39:06):
Yeah, that's right. It's perfect. That's absolutely perfect. All right, Francisco, let's do this. Tell people how they can get in touch with you. And I want to make sure, because I want to highlight this, you don't have to be in Miami to experience the great design and the furniture that Global has to offer. I think I've been to an event in Merchandise Mart in Chicago, I think. Do you have a showroom? We have a great showroom. So I think I've been to an event there. You have a showroom in New York, you have showrooms in

Francisco Ramirez (39:37):
Miami, Atlanta, you name it

Dave Lorenzo (39:39):
Philadelphia.

Francisco Ramirez (39:39):
Yeah.

Dave Lorenzo (39:40):
So how do people get ahold of you to figure out how they can go to the showroom, nearest them and host a meeting or just abuse the people there like we abuse you. How can they abuse people from global in a city near them? Please abuse more.

Francisco Ramirez (39:57):
I think the easiest way is either my cell phone, my direct number, and I have no problem giving it, which is 3 0 5 5 6 3 0 7 8 5.

Dave Lorenzo (40:04):
Do that one more time, a little bit more slowly.

Francisco Ramirez (40:06):
3 0 5 5 6 3 0 7 8 5 or fRamirez@globalfurnituregroup.com. fRamirez@globalfurnituregroup.com.

Dave Lorenzo (40:19):
We're going to put that in the show notes.

Francisco Ramirez (40:21):
And like you said, this is, we invite people to come through and we'd love to host 'em and if they need to use a space and it makes sense, absolutely. So please come by

Nicola Gelormino (40:32):
As long as it's around the events that we're hosting. That's,

Francisco Ramirez (40:34):
You guys get

Nicola Gelormino (40:35):
Success first. That's it. We appreciate you. We appreciate you hosting us. We appreciate you sitting down with us and having this conversation. It's been a wealth of information for people who don't know about what you folks do, what someone in your position does. So very much appreciate your time.

Francisco Ramirez (40:51):
I love it. Appreciate having me today.

Dave Lorenzo (40:52):
Alright folks, that'll do it for another episode of the Inside Bs show. My name is Dave Lorenzo and we are here with an interview show just like this every week, every Wednesday. Also, you can check us out on YouTube. If you're listening to us carrying your little Nicki G in your pocket and you're walking the dog or you're washing the dishes, you can watch us on YouTube. That's right. We have a YouTube channel. Just go to the search bar and type in Inside Bs show into the search bar, all kinds of goodies for you up there, including new for 2025 YouTube shorts. That's right. You don't just get a full length Nicki G, you also get a short Nicki G, which in person is not the case. She's actually taller than I am. But you can see shorts with Nicki G on YouTube starting in 2025. If you like this show, please tell a friend. The show only grows when you share it. Make sure they know they can find us on Spotify, apple, or wherever you get your podcast. My name is Dave Lorenzo. I am the godfather of Growth and she is

Nicola Gelormino (41:55):
Nicki G.

Dave Lorenzo (41:56):
And we'll be back here again next week. Folks, thank you so much for joining us. Until then, we'll see you.