Knoll Inc's Customers Performance

We generate sales with our direct sales force and a network of independent dealers (primarily in the Office segment), who jointly market and sell our products. We generally rely on these independent dealers to also provide a variety of important specification, installation and after-market services to our clients. Our dealers generally operate under short-term (one to three year), non-exclusive agreements. Our Studio and Coverings segments market and sell products with their own internal sales force that often work closely with our Office sales force. We also sell our Studio products through a network of independent retailers. HOLLY HUNT and Edelman both operate a network of showrooms to market and sell their products.

Our clients are typically Fortune 1000 companies, governmental agencies and other medium-to-large sized organizations in a variety of industries including financial, legal, accounting, education, healthcare and hospitality. Our Coverings segment also markets and sells products to private aviation, marine and luxury coach industries. Our direct sales force and independent dealers in North America work in close partnership with clients and design professionals to specify distinctive work environments. Our direct sales representatives, in conjunction with the independent dealers, sell to and call directly on key clients. Our independent dealers also call on many other medium and small sized clients to provide seamless sales support and client service.

Our strong relationships with architects and design professionals help us stay abreast of key workplace trends and position us to better meet the changing needs of clients. For example, we have invested in training all of our architect and designer specialists as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (“LEED®”) accredited professionals to help clients better address environmental issues that arise in the design of the workplace.
We have aligned our sales force to target strategic areas of opportunity to include global accounts, health care, higher education and others.

In addition to coordinating sales efforts with the sales representatives, our dealers generally handle project management, installation and maintenance for client accounts after the initial product selection and sale. Although many of these dealerships also carry products of other manufacturers, they have agreed not to act as dealers for our principal direct competitors. We have not experienced significant dealer turnover. Our dealers substantial commitment to understanding our product lines, and their strong relationships with us, serve to discourage dealers from changing vendor affiliations.

As part of our commitment to building relationships with our dealers, we introduced the Knoll Essentials program in January 2004. Knoll Essentials is a catalog program developed in response to dealer requests for a consolidated, user-friendly selling tool for day-to-day systems, seating, storage, and accessory products. The Knoll Essentials program includes dealer incentives to sell our products. We also employ a dedicated team of dealer sales representatives to work with our dealerships.

We generate sales with our direct sales force and a network of independent dealers (primarily in the Office segment), who jointly market and sell our products. We generally rely on these independent dealers to also provide a variety of important specification, installation and after-market services to our clients. Our dealers generally operate under short-term (one to three year), non-exclusive agreements. Our Studio and Coverings segments market and sell products with their own internal sales force that often work closely with our Office sales force. We also sell our Studio products through a network of independent retailers. HOLLY HUNT and Edelman both operate a network of showrooms to market and sell their products.

Our clients are typically Fortune 1000 companies, governmental agencies and other medium-to-large sized organizations in a variety of industries including financial, legal, accounting, education, healthcare and hospitality. Our Coverings segment also markets and sells products to private aviation, marine and luxury coach industries. Our direct sales force and independent dealers in North America work in close partnership with clients and design professionals to specify distinctive work environments. Our direct sales representatives, in conjunction with the independent dealers, sell to and call directly on key clients. Our independent dealers also call on many other medium and small sized clients to provide seamless sales support and client service.

Our strong relationships with architects and design professionals help us stay abreast of key workplace trends and position us to better meet the changing needs of clients. For example, we have invested in training all of our architect and designer specialists as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (“LEED®”) accredited professionals to help clients better address environmental issues that arise in the design of the workplace.
We have aligned our sales force to target strategic areas of opportunity to include global accounts, health care, higher education and others.

In addition to coordinating sales efforts with the sales representatives, our dealers generally handle project management, installation and maintenance for client accounts after the initial product selection and sale. Although many of these dealerships also carry products of other manufacturers, they have agreed not to act as dealers for our principal direct competitors. We have not experienced significant dealer turnover. Our dealers substantial commitment to understanding our product lines, and their strong relationships with us, serve to discourage dealers from changing vendor affiliations.

As part of our commitment to building relationships with our dealers, we introduced the Knoll Essentials program in January 2004. Knoll Essentials is a catalog program developed in response to dealer requests for a consolidated, user-friendly selling tool for day-to-day systems, seating, storage, and accessory products. The Knoll Essentials program includes dealer incentives to sell our products. We also employ a dedicated team of dealer sales representatives to work with our dealerships.