Hot Takes with Matt Danyliw of Avanto
The workplace is changing faster than the conversations guiding it. We’re stepping up with a sharper plan for Season Seven: weekly episodes designed to spark action, challenge assumptions, and give you practical tools to build spaces and businesses that actually work.
“We've always done it this way” might be the most expensive sentence in the commercial furniture industry. id brings back Avanto CEO Matt Danyliw to spin the Hot Takes wheel and answer unscripted questions about leadership, AI, and what “value” means in today’s contract interiors market. They also touch on what’s new at Avanto, including the announced merge with MRL (My Resource Library), and why tighter front-end and back-end connections matter for the future of workplace design.
They start with leadership advice you can use immediately. Matt argues for leading by example to build credibility, while Sid pushes a counterpoint: lead from the back. If you hired smart people, let them think, debate, and recommend solutions. Your job is to create a safe space where they can be honest. Sid and Matt also dig into why the best ideas often come from the people closest to the customer and closest to the problem, not the most senior person in the room.
Then they chat all about AI. Matt shares why Claude is his favorite AI tool right now and how his team uses AI across roles, while Sid talks about his own hybrid setup with ChatGPT and Claude for brainstorming, podcast workflows, and stress-testing ideas.
From back-office automation and quote-to-cash speed to customer experience and service, they unpack how “value” is shifting beyond price and why expertise and execution now separate leaders from everyone else.
What’s one process you’d stop doing “because we always have”?
In this episode:
[01:02] Avanto Update And MRL Merger
[02:59] Leadership Advice That Actually Works
[08:42] Favorite AI Tools And Real Uses
[13:28] Breaking The “Always Done It” Habit
[21:13] How Value Shifts Beyond Price
[29:13] Closing Thoughts And Listener Resources
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Why doesn't the lowest price win business anymore in contract interiors?
Service and the experience of working with a brand now outweigh price in most buying decisions. A dealer, manufacturer, or design firm doesn't need to be the cheapest option to win; the proposal should clearly show the expertise, service, and long-term partnership you bring to the table. The traditional bidding process actually works against this, since it reduces a relationship to a single number instead of giving a business room to demonstrate its value.
Q: What should sales professionals in our industry know about how AI is changing customer expectations?
Customers are now using AI tools to research and compare options before ever contacting a rep, which means they arrive at conversations more informed than they were even a year ago. This doesn't eliminate the need for expert guidance, but it shifts the role from being the sole source of information to validating and adding judgment to the research the customer has already done. Sales and service teams that assume their customers haven't already done their homework are behind.
Q: Why does specifying only major furniture brands no longer serve the customer?
With over 3,000 manufacturers in the industry, limiting specifications to a handful of major brands ignores products that might genuinely serve a client's needs better. Alignment with major brands matters for certain dealers and design firms, but treating it as the only option closes off better-fit solutions and the relationships that come with exploring them. Customers tend to end up happier, and so do the teams willing to look beyond their usual go-to brands.
Q: Why do back-office processes in this industry resist automation even when better tools exist?
Manual processes like spreadsheets, quoting, and order entry persist largely because they're familiar, not because they're efficient. Doing them by hand can feel productive even when it isn't the best use of time. The phrase "because we've always done it this way" is often the only real justification, and it has outlived its usefulness now that AI and automation tools can handle much of that routine work. Businesses willing to challenge that habit are positioned to redirect their time toward the expertise and judgment customers can't get elsewhere.
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The Trend Report introduction music is provided by Werq by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4616-werq License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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