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Hi, welcome to Power of the Network. I'm your host, Tim Locker, Vice President of Broadband here at CBM. We're coming to you from the Mats Trade Show here in Kansas City, the Mid-American Telecom Seminar and Showcase. Great little trade show here in the Midwest. It's a great place for us to see multiple manufacturers, many of our customers all under one roof. So we're taking advantage of our time here. We're going to have a conversation with Sean Smith from WTC Communications in Wamego, Kansas.
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talk about what they're doing and their fiber of the home builds and Everything else about their company. So follow along and listen to what Sean and I've got to got to say. Thanks
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Sean, thank you so much for joining us here today. You know, we're coming taping this show at the Mets, Mid-American Telecom Seminar and Showcase. That's a mouthful, but. It is. You know, it's obviously one of the better regional trade shows that we have here, you know, in our area, but anything you've seen or learned that sticks out to you here today from the show? I had a really good breakout session. RVW had a, just, it was a fiber, fiber testing.
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seminar that he put on, it was excellent. There is lots of new stuff as we know this industry is changing every second. So, yeah, it's good though. Yeah, it's always good. Awesome. Awesome. You know, I'm very interested in leadership, personal growth, you know, those types of things. And, you know, not everything we get into is going to be, you know, broadband or Baba or whatever. But, you know, what do you, what do you,
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or what have you done recently for your team to ensure that, you know, not only yourself, but they're working on bettering themselves as well. What kind of things do you do? Yeah, so right now we're expanding like crazy. We're moving into Manhattan, which is about 60,000 people and we're doing the whole town. So that's good. The big undertaking, yeah. And I guess to try to keep the morale up is,
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Not easy. We've had it just because the pace everybody's going at. So I guess long story short, I try to take it as kind of like the coach mentality and try to put people in the best place we can for them to succeed. And we do have guys that are specialized in certain things, but they kind of all know how to do everything. So we try to be hands-on, but not...
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We pretty much let the guys do their thing, I guess, as a free, open mentality where we know that they're going to work hard and do what they need to do to get the job done. And we kind of let them do it. Sometimes it's kind of hard to maybe let go of some things. 100%. That's always been a challenge for me, try to do everything. Nobody can do it better, right? So that's obviously something we have to learn as leaders to do. Sure.
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Yeah, no. Let our people learn it and do it, and kind of give up that control, if you will. You bet. Now that's why I say, just putting them in good positions to succeed, like I said, it kind of sounds like a coaching cliche deal, but it's true. I mean, and it's true in the workforce, same way, and in all different jobs, I think that you-
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you put people in a good position to succeed and they amaze you before you know it. Well, obviously it's key to have the right people, but if you don't have the right people in the right seat on the bus, you know, that's just as important. So yeah, understanding what they're good at, what makes them tick. Sure. I think too, you know, understanding your people even at a personal level, you know, we don't all come to work for the same reason.
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So I think it's important to understand why, you know, what's their why. Your why is different than, you know, the next. So. Yeah, I try to try my best to connect with them and at least know their families and our company does an excellent job of trying to get the families together at different events. Yeah. Our company does a great job at, like I said, the pace we're going is,
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Arduous our CEO and president Jeff Wigg. He uses that quite a bit and this is gonna be arduous and it is I mean, it's it's a big big task and and so we do need to try to Sit back a little bit and ask him how their vacation was or yeah and actually care Yeah, so well that goes a long way when they know when they know you actually care. I think yeah, that's that's huge Sure, you know, obviously at the end of the day, there's a job to get done
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60,000 people to serve. Yeah. It's been- What is that doing in terms of the growth of your team? Labor's been a challenge for a lot of people in the industry, finding the right people. What's that look like for you? Yeah, so we kind of had a, well, we do a lot of, try to do a lot of strategic planning. So, and that was part of it when we decided we were going to-
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take on this task, we did lay out, you know, what's our growth going to be with employees? What's it going to take contractor-wise, material-wise, all of it? But we have always been really efficient, we feel like, and we've tried to stay lean, and we're going to try to stay lean through this too. We've been very lucky with our contractors and even luckier with our
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It's a good place to work. People like to like to work there. Not saying it's not all roses and sunshine, but that's just the way it is. But, uh, our guys genuinely care. And I think that makes it us be able to be lean and efficient and, uh, and keep things rolling, we'll have some growth and we know we will, but we are trying to keep it to. So prior to this big project, we were adding so many.
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new customers. How many customers did you serve prior to that? Yeah, so I mean in the last probably I'd have to just think it back. We're up to almost 13,000 subscribers now and I mean 10 years ago we were probably around the 4,000 mark. So it's been a growth model for a while but you're talking about quadrupling the size.
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is has a lot of challenges that come with it, but we feel like we do have the the people in the right spot to be able to take care of and that's it's challenging but it's also fun to try to solve problems I guess and yeah and figure out figure out how we're going to make it work because we're going to make it work so what's been one of the biggest challenges so far um probably just keeping up with the pace so we have a a um
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I feel like we're going to do really well in Manhattan and our sign up rates have been really good. There's a lot of anticipation for us once you tell a town that you're coming. So mainly it's just really trying to keep up with our schedule. And so that's probably been the most challenging, but it's working, man. There's a lot of ways to...
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You could put your head down and pout about it or get it done. So, and that's what. You know, one of the things I think that makes companies like yours, you know, the independent telco space have always been able to out service, you know, the competitors on the growth track that you're on. Do you think you'll be able to maintain that level of service to four times as many customers? We have to. Yeah, we have to. No, that's it will always be our number one thing.
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Uh, we take it very serious. Uh, and I think we do like exactly what you just said. It's always been our mentality. So any other way we don't really know. Not in the DNA. That's not, uh, it's not in the company and, and, uh, our customers hopefully know that and we'll make it work because that's definitely, uh, our biggest responsibility towards our customers. For sure. No, that's great.
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That's great. Well put. What's the broadband market like in your area? So you're in kind of what? North central? North central Kansas. Yep. Obviously you've got some larger population centers, but you've got a lot of rural. You bet. What's the competition landscape? Walk us through some of that. Yeah. In the rural, we kind of have our legacy ILEC area and we don't have too much competition in there.
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areas where they provide service over coax. Um, but it was in one of our legacy areas that we do, we do really well. And those are always have, I guess. Um, the outer rural, we don't have too much competition as far as, uh, uh, wireless edge out type internet. Um, we do have some there's, uh,
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a little bit, but once they have the ability to get our fiber, we have lots of grants. We've gone through, I think we're on our sixth grant that we're working on currently, and they've gone great so far. Again, our contractors and our people. In Manhattan, proper AT&T is in there, and they have some fiber, and then Cox is in there.
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with co-ax, so it kind of goes back to the last thing we talked about, it's just service level, and that's what we know we have to maintain and even exceed and we'll do well. What makes CBM different? First and foremost, I believe it's our ESOP. Employee owners.
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make different decisions. and we're going to do what's right for each of them. in commercial industrial market, utility market, These markets are overlapping more and more every day, actually allows us to be more flexible
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and put our expertise where they need to be. So if you're looking for a manufacturer's rep, high quality sales staff, good relationships, look no further than CBM. You can find us right here at cbmrep.com.
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I want to take a little different turn here. So for me as a sales guy, I think it's important just for myself to learn or even help others to learn. But obviously you're high demand. A lot of people want to stop and show you the next best thing. What's important to you as a customer? What do you expect out of a salesperson? What brings you value in terms of a salesperson? Sure, that's a good question. I think...
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a little bit of knowledge, a little bit of homework from the salesmen to know what type of company we are, what we're like. And I have really good relationships with a lot of salesmen and saleswomen for that matter. But we, I think probably the biggest is to communicate and not over communicate like you were saying kind of, but I think it is big to
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you know, tell me something's gonna be a little bit later. Don't, don't. Don't beat around the bush. Yeah, just honesty, I guess, is a huge key to it. And I think that goes a long ways. And so you're willing to allow somebody to make a mistake, but it's accountability. Absolutely, yeah. No, I build good relationships and friendships with them. So it is important for us to trust one another, I guess. And, and.
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And that's one of the best things about this industry is just those relationships. You do get a lot of friendships over the years. It's more than just a customer. No doubt about it. It's a true friendship. And sometimes that's difficult to kind of walk that tightrope where maybe you go too far in friendship zone and then it's tough to do business. But I think that's better than the opposite. If you have to tell them, no, I got it somewhere else or like.
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Yeah, I mean, we had to do what's best for the company still. But, and again, you go back to honesty and I think that's just the key to it. There's no reason to beat around the bush. Like you said. So what's, what's one thing that you think salespeople do right? Uh, and what's maybe something that you think they could improve on? Yeah, I think, I think, uh, kind of go back to what I said, as far as like doing their homework, know what kind of needs we have instead of coming in with.
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products, there's no way we're gonna use. A day to dump, here you go, I got this new thing. Exactly, yeah. And then also I would say, you know, I like folks are pretty stubborn. We've done something the same way for a lot of years. Yeah. And that's a... Well, we hear that. You know, we got, there's some good and there's some bad. For sure. Right, we've done this the same way. A, it works or we think it works.
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But it also tells me it's a little bit of a red flag where it's like, okay, are we not willing to change? Are we not willing to look at a better way? So sometimes I can see it being a good and a bad. For sure. And I would say, like, we have to have an open mind in this realm of morning right now because everything has changes. You got to save a little money. You got to do what's most efficient. But the idea of...
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changing just to change, you know, make sure it's going to work for you, I guess. Uh, I, I do, I think maybe one thing is when they tell you, Oh, this is, you have to do this this way and you know, there's always, I want ideas from you because that's what we need. We need to have, uh, think outside the box, how are we going to make this work? So, and like I said, we have really good, good people that we work with as far as salesmen.
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and it's worked for us for sure. Yeah. Now, I mean, we see a lot on LinkedIn from WTC communications. And talk about your marketing team. They put out some really good stuff. Give them a little shout out if you would. They, I will, absolutely. They are phenomenal. They work their tails off and it's obviously shows in our penetration rates and just the...
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The knowledge that people already have of us before we step in the door, or we get in their yard to put the plow in the ground or the drill in the ground. They know who we are. They know a lot about us and, and it's, they are phenomenal. Our whole group is phenomenal marketing. They, uh, they do a lot of community events, investing back in, you know, in your small towns and the community. Sure. I think that's, I mean, ultimately what. Yeah.
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what drives business and why people trust you. Thinking outside the box and how many other companies like ours go and have a food truck. I mean, we are doing it for a sign-up event, but it's more them getting to know us and trust us that we're going to do it. They've done so many things thinking outside the box. It's, I love those guys. That's great. So you've been with WTC almost 19 years, anywhere prior to that?
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I did electrical work before and then actually I started on the plow crew. There was just two of us and it was like that. It had been like that. We always had kind of a two man construction crew that did the drops around town and stuff. And then obviously the big stuff we contract out. When did you all start Fiber to the Home? When was the first? It was actually prior to me being there. They had the vision.
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forefathers, they did, well, Mego, I think it was like, Oh, one, Oh, wow. One Oh two. So they really were ahead of the game. And then actually, when I got there, we were already C Lackin, St. Mary's. It was almost done again. Not a, not some, a lot of people were doing. Yeah. That's, that's on the leading edge for sure. Oh, four or five. And yeah, they, they really had good foresight. I'd say
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So in 20 years of offering that fiber of the home service, what is one thing that you thought would change that hasn't? It's a good question. I always thought we'd keep the O&Ts outside, but that changed. I guess just the stability of the network and just how good it is. I mean, it's always been good and.
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I guess it has changed because it just keeps getting better, I'd say. Have your construction practices changed at all or your topology a little bit? I bet. Yeah, no. Some of them have changed as far as everything. There's so much more that gets drilled now as opposed to plowed. Back in the day- You think it's just, what's driving that? Just a risk factor? Speed, risk, more stuff in the ground.
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I think efficiency, I think you can just be more efficient and get through the drops quicker with the drill just because of irrigation or whatever is in the yards. And they're super talented, the contractors and our guys too, at what they do. It amazes me to go out and watch them.
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guide that thing. What's one assumption that people have about your job that you disagree with?
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that I'm not watching everything. No, I don't know. You know, I'm lucky really, honestly. And I'm not just saying that we got the best dudes and like I say, they're not only my coworkers, they're my friends and I know they probably don't agree with everything that I say or how we do something, but.
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at the end of the day, I think there's respect there. And there definitely is for me towards them. And I hope it's fine. When you hit on something there too, I mean, you spend so much of your life at work. Sure. You know, so the people that you work with are so critical and those relationships are so important because that's, I mean, that's, you spend more time there than you do at home. Absolutely. You know, so. Yeah. Now it's very true and.
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We're lucky with the group we got for sure. What's something that nobody knows about you that might surprise them? I don't know, that's a good question. Maybe you're not willing to say. No, not really that. So you're a big Chiefs fan. Big Chiefs fan. What's your favorite Taylor Swift song? I guess it's the only one that I know. You answered, we got an answer, that's great.
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Well, they're off to a good start this year, obviously. Yeah. So hopefully they get. Long as one five's there, we're going to be just fine. I think. Yeah. It's tough, but a dude's amazing for sure. They got great coaches, great defense. Fun to watch. I was just telling Cole, who's our outside plant manager and kind of my next door neighbor in the office and good friend too.
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that it's almost like a movie that just came out every time the Chiefs play that you got to watch. It's fun. I know there's a lot of haters out there, but it is what it is. Not in this town. Yeah, no, not in this town. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Awesome. Once again, we appreciate you being here. We appreciate our relationship and it's been great to watch it grow. And I know you've got one of our best guys in Richard Durfee out there calling on you.
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You know, his heart's always in the right place. Anything else you want to get off your chest while we have you? No, not too much. I appreciate you having me. And I'm not prompted to say this, but you guys do a wonderful job. I've worked with you pretty much for the whole time I've been at WTC. And it's been a great relationship. I've said it. We appreciate that. And we do value that relationship. For sure.
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Thanks again and enjoy the rest of the show. Absolutely. Awesome.
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Thanks again to Sean for joining us here on the show. We really value our relationships with Sean and his company, and it's been great to work with them over the years. Remember, if you've got a project or a product that you need help with representation, look no further than CBM. You can find us here at cbmrep.com. Thanks again for joining us, and until next time, thanks for watching Power of the Network.
