Hi, and welcome to Power the Network.
I'm your host Tim Locker, Vice President of Broadband for CBM.
Today we're very fortunate to have Heather Sethie Channel, Director of North America for Invent Hoffman, one of our great manufacturers here that we rep at CBM.
We have a great conversation about their distribution, market strategy and also women in leadership.
So thank you for tagging along and let's get into the conversation.
Heather, thank you so much for joining us today.
We know you've got a lot on your plate and we appreciate you committing your schedule to come in and visit with us today.
So thank you very much for being here.
Real quick, just for some folks that don't know, tell us a little bit.
You know who is Invent Hoffman.
So Invent is the global leader in electrical enclosures.
We support our products, connect and support and protect our customer systems in facility where the cost of failure is very high.
Okay, So everything from electrification essentially, that is what Invent is.
Okay, So what are these products play a little bit in the market.
Electrical enclosures, for example, think of anything that is protecting or holding anything electrical or power driven.
Right, So everything from your light signals on the roads to in factories that are powering the lines.
We manufacture those enclosures to protect those electrical components.
Awesome, So really everywhere, yeah, everywhere, literally, So without getting too far into the weeds, you know, on product what sense invent apart from the competition, and you know why do you think quality wins?
Well, we've been around for many, many years, Hoffman specifically, and Invent has just expanded our portfolio to give that complete solution to our customers.
Quality is key because if customers can't rely on our products to protect and power that piece of electrification, they're going to have failures and that comes with high cost when it comes to quality.
You know, personally, and we've talked about this before, but quality to me is very important.
You know, I don't buy cheap things.
I don't buy on price.
I buy because I want something to last, whether that's you know, for your personal life or whether it's you know, the company.
We have the same standards.
You know, it's quality over priced you know typically always wins, but it seems like you know, in today's market, you have, uh, it's always price, price, price, you know, we're always doesn't matter what line we're talking about, what we're trying to trying to sell, it's always price.
But what you're saying is there's a bigger price to pay on the backside if you choose poorly.
Absolutely, you get what you pay for.
Yeah.
I'm a firm believer in that personally and professionally, and we do everything we can to remain competitive in all areas.
But that also comes with a high level of service, right, and relationship is key in that, and negotiating and understanding the project and requirements and what the expectations are.
Quite frankly, Yeah, let's talk a little bit about how you got where you are.
So you've kind of been in all levels of the industry.
You started working as a manufacturer's rep similar to what I'm doing now, You've been in distribution.
Now you're at obviously a high level within the manufacturer.
Tell me a little bit about your manufacturer's rep position starting from the beginning.
So you were a Hoffman specialist, is that correct?
Well, I started inside sales.
I had no experience.
I actually was back in the day before technology, right.
There was a help wanted sign and I walked in little joking, and I filled up an application and he hired me on the spot.
I had no background at all.
I come from an engineering family, so I feel like I naturally gravitated towards the technical piece of it.
And I did inside sales for a little over a year, and then I just gravitated towards the Hoffman side.
So then I moved into AUTOCEAD design on customs specifically for Hoffman.
So I did that the remainder of the time that I was at that REP office, and then from there I moved on to a large independent distributor as the Hoffman product manager.
That's awesome.
So it kind of started in the trenches, started from the ground up, and worked your way clear to the top.
What do you think, how is that position?
You know, you're first, you know, working for a REP.
How has that molded or affected your your perspective of reps today.
I've seen it from the from the different levels where you're at.
Well, that was twenty five years ago, so things have changed a little bit, right.
Obviously the world today is much more diversified with women in industry, which is amazing.
So I think from then until now with the reps really just the way that they approach market.
I feel as different the people that are involved with more women being in industry is different.
It changes the dynamic I feel.
It's it's more exciting I feel like today than then.
No, that's that's great.
I'm glad you.
I'm glad you mentioned that because you know, having the opportunity to represent invent Hoffman for so long, you know, we've really noticed that your company values, you know, women in leadership, and we at CBM share that same value.
You know, you've got Beth Wozniak, she's your chair and CEO, Peggy Baratov EPs sales.
You know, obviously yourself included.
And I'm sure there's more.
I don't want to leave anybody out, but give me a little bit more about your perspective on that and how does that you know you said it's exciting, uh, and it changes the dynamic, you know, women in leadership.
So tell me a little bit more there.
So, I don't know if you know who Gary Brekka is.
I do not.
Okay, Well, he is a human biologist and he's fascinating and he just actually did a podcast on women actually have more brain cells than men.
It's impossible really they have markeery matters.
So with that being said, I think more women in industry has brought more camaraderie, more of a level of understanding between the women, right.
I think men have dominated this industry for so long, which is wonderful, but I think there's different perspectives that have been able to be brought to the table, and our voices are more heard, I would agree, And obviously I was just kidding there, but women are much smarter than men for sure, you know.
And I'll touch on our leader, Marla Sparks.
You know, she's got a way of you know.
For me, I'm a reactor.
I'm a doer, a reactor, so okay, you know, let's get things done.
Boom boom boom.
We're gonna whether it's wrong or right, let's get stuff done right.
And that's how I am.
But you know, Marlon brings a different perspective where she can slow down, take a deep breath, think about things before you know, doing things.
And I think that is certainly a good trade of you know, women over men especially, and it does bring a lot of value to the top of the organization.
Maybe a little less instantly reactive.
We are, yes, that's fair to say.
That's very fair in my case, absolutely so quality and services side.
You know, we we understand here at CBM that relationships truly are the backbone.
And you know, a company such as yours, invent Hoffman, you know, those relationships are clearly important to how you guys go to market, and your market strategy is through distribution.
So tell me a little bit more of how you manage those relationships and you know, where are the key relationships you know, throughout what you do.
That's that's a big question, and we can break it apart, you know, piece it out a little bit.
Yeah, so relationships specific to distribution.
Yeah so so, uh, I guess specific to your reps, specific to distribution, specific to you know, within your own organization.
I guess what I'm asking you know, how how do the dynamics of these relationships change from those various levels?
Which ones are the most important?
To me?
They're all important.
There's not one that's more important than the other.
And I truly mean that.
I also think that trust is the number one piece of a solid relationship and honesty.
You're not always going to like the answer, right, but you have to be truthful and humility is something that I try to live by every day.
Titles don't really mean a whole lot to me, and I've learned that through the years in my career.
When I first started years ago.
Not to get a little emotional, but there were there were things that were said to me and people that treated me certain ways because I didn't have the title.
And it's interesting now that I have a title, right even today in twenty twenty three, the difference of how certain people will treat you, and it's very eye opening and it really makes you take a step back and I never want anyone to feel that way.
I don't care what.
We treat people the same way, whether they're absolute whether yeah, or whether they're a rep or a distributor or an end user whoever that is within those companies or all people at the end of the day.
Yeah, And that's that's one thing I totally agree on.
You know, we are all people.
You know, we all wake up in the morning and go through the same routines, and you know, we're all very similar, and you hit on you know, truth and honesty.
That's always been big for me.
So people have an image of salespeople right typically think well, you know, you're just out to something, You're just out to sell you.
You know, It's really not that way, and it'd be nice to change that message of what salespeople are because really, you know, we're just trying to help you know, it's not about making a dollar and selling a product.
It's about how can we truly help you with your issue, you know, whatever that is.
And that does build trust, So you know, I think that's obviously and I think that ties into the relationship.
Right if you're speaking to and you're trying to solve that problem for knows that you generally want to solve that problem and help them.
I think that they don't take its so much as you're just being a salesperson, right, yeah, and that's when you build that long term absolutely.
Yeah.
So Hofman has been very loyal to their distribution channel.
How is that different than what some of your competitors do?
And where's the value then to the end user?
So our key distributors, which are many, right, we have many throughout the world.
They our first in class, as we like to think of ourselves as being, and we really try to make sure that that is who we're partnering with because they can provide the full solution for the end user.
It's not just the enclosure.
It's not just the heat tracing, it's right, it's not just the ground rods.
They can provide everything is a complete solution, whether it's engineering services, kitting, managed inventory at the end user's crib level.
Right, So we really try to make sure that we partner with first in class distribution.
And that brings up a good point.
I know manufacturers today, the trend is, you know, everybody wants to be everything, and you know, staying in your lane sometimes is good.
But as a manufacturer, I think that perspective of knowing where you fit, knowing that there's other products that are going to work alongside with you know, what you're offering, I think that's important to you know, understand that perspective and not just be you know, closed minded to we're only worried about this.
And I think you'll see that, right and with invent anyway, and the acquisitions that we've made, that is exactly what we're doing.
If you look at the portfolio and we're just completely rounding out that offering to give that full solution.
Yeah, and you got you just came back from the Technology Expo, Automation Fair, Automation Fair.
So you just came back from the automation Fair.
Uh, you know that automation world.
I think you see a lot of that obviously where things obviously have to coordinate together.
What did you see interesting on your trip there?
Well, it was a very short trip for me.
But from an invent perspective, you know, if you look at where the world just with COVID right and the loss that we've had in the trades world right, industry wise, I think you're seeing more customers, end users OEMs wanting more automation so they don't have to rely on or need as many w's for example, right engineers or CAD designers or people who actually know how to wire panels.
There are now automated tools that can walk you know, a younger man without maybe that that schooling background, but does want to get into the trades or into that world.
It will teach them that from an automated perspective, that's awesome.
So you mentioned that workforce and I think this goes to you know, several different markets.
But are you seeing a need for more training in this industry as we are in some of the others a shortage of you know, skilled labor, absolutely, so that crosses all industries.
And as you talk to end users panel shops, they can't find people or at least if they do, will they show up right.
And that's something that we have experienced in the last three to four years, is it's very difficult to find employees that actually will show up and work.
Yeah, we struggle with the same thing.
Yeah, I think every I think is universal.
Yeah, I think COVID has completely shifted that for us moving forward, and I think that's totally changed the dynamic of how companies look for people to add to their teams.
And there's not as many people as knowledgeable these days in this industry.
Many people are retiring and you can't teach that in a week.
You know, these are guys, women, people with years of experience and it's very very hard to just teach that in a short amount of time.
All right, real quick, let me tell you a little bit about what we do here at CBM.
So we're a manufacturers rep located here in the Midwest.
We work in three different vertical markets.
Utility space, we work in communications, and also commercial industrial markets.
We've been in business since nineteen sixty been an employee owned ESOP since nineteen eighty eight.
We really value that employee ownership in our organization and I think it brings a lot to value our manufacturers as well.
So if we can be of any service to you and help you in your next project, or if you're a manufacturer looking for expert representation, feel free to reach out to us here at CBM at cbmrep dot com.
Yeah, I think you're right.
You can't teach years of experience in a week, you know, give me a little bit more there, what your thoughts are.
So, I think that is a huge part of the reason why we are moving in the direction that we are and why we have created some of the tools and acquisitions that we have made.
It is to help support that in those people coming into industry with maybe not all of that experience or you know, the person of the college degree or whatever it may be.
Right, So we have our DTM software, very very powerful software.
You don't have to be an electrical engineer to drop panels anymore.
Right, you look at our mod centers.
You don't have to be a professional welder to be able to make these modifications, to steal or stainless steal enclosures for that matter.
So I think that if you look at our portfolio and how we're rounding it out, it is touching on helping fix that solution in the industry.
Yeah, making things easier, easier to understand, easier to run, easier to produce.
No, that's great.
And not to slight younger folks obviously at all.
I mean, we've got some real good folks you know that work for us, that are young and outgoing, and you know, we don't want to slight those folks at all either.
We need them.
Yeah, who's going to fill our wonderful shoes?
Right, We'll take some big fee.
You mentioned you mentioned traveling a lot for work.
You know, how long have you been on the road your whole career?
No, not my whole career, but lately four weeks as of recently to be specif.
But traveling for me most of the time is at my discretion.
Now, we do have obligations, right, Sure, we are part of NAD, we're part of a d automation fair.
Obviously, we're part of Imark.
So all of those things require meetings and scheduling and that type of thing.
So I try to get an industry with our channel, with our reps as frequently as possible.
But there's a balance, for sure.
Yeah, that balance is tough.
I still need office time, you know, and it's yes, I have my laptop and I work when I'm on the road, but it's different than being at your desk, right, Yeah, for sure.
Yeah.
You know, I've been on the road as long as I've been working, traveling, and you know, you do get used to it.
My wife at home, obviously, she's a saint.
She takes care of things while I'm gone and while I'm there, But you know, it is difficult, you know, just being gone and being away from your family.
You know, people think it's just the party every day you're on the road and you're in hotels and you're going out for dinner.
That's not the case.
Exhausting, No, it's not.
I mean you're on from seven am a lot of times till ten pm at night between meetings during the day, and don't forget you have to be prepared for those meetings and have presentations ready and all of that info right detail.
But my husband is amazing and I couldn't be where I am today if it weren't for him, because he's the one home like your wife, he's the saint in my world, holding down the fort and making sure everything runs and functions.
And we have a three year old, so that's a lot, right and he works as well, So it's definitely a divide and conquer and team effort for sure.
So when you do have some time to spend at home, are you able to kind of back away from work and cut yourself loose or I'm not very good at that now I could do better most of us.
I don't think most of us are.
So yeah, I always want to make sure that I'm connected, so to speak.
And so no, I mean, my work phone stays with me most of the time.
Nico my three year old, being so young, it's been I've been traveling more this last year, so it's been a little bit of a transition.
But he understands now.
When I say I'm going in an airplane, you know, he says, but you're going to come home, right, So it's I don't know.
I just try to talk to him about it and let him know ahead of time when I'm leaving, and but no, when it comes to being home, I try, I try to disconnect.
But listen, at the end of the day, right, You've got obligations.
You've got people to take care and I have people that are expecting things of me, and I will not let them down either, So I do the best I can.
No, it's great, it's I mean, it's a balancing act for sure.
Yeah.
You know, I've been here at CBM for sixteen years and I think I've missed fifteen of my wife's birthdays.
It just happens to be on one of our planning weeks and you know, hopefully she understands, and you know, really you're still my It was clearly twenty five wonderful years.
So it's been good.
But yeah, it's certainly, you know, one of the challenges that people don't think about, you know, you know, being in a sales position.
You know a lot of people think it's just the party every day, you know, and customers sometimes have that perspective in other folks, but it's it's really not the case.
It's it's a lot of work, travels difficult, Balancing everything in your life is not easy for you.
Sure got to be organized.
I think that's the biggest thing for me.
I've got to be organized.
Yep, any specific things that you do there that will help other people be organized.
Well, I'm a little old at school, so I'm not so much everything on my laptop right in notes and my company probably would hate to hear me say that.
But I still love my notebook.
I still love writing.
I have my little planner.
That's just that's how I do it, right.
I set reminders on my phone, so I do use technology perspective.
But yeah, no, I just again not always being able to disconnect, and that's partly why.
Yeah, well, I do a lot of the same.
So notebook to do list.
At the end of the day, what I like to do is sit down, Okay, I like to check things off.
So tomorrow, what's important?
What are the three, four or five things that I have to get done?
Those are priorities.
If that means I got to leave the leave my outlook off for a couple hours in the morning to get those things done.
That that's what I'm focused on.
Try to get up start early.
I think you're better in the morning than in the afternoon.
And you know, at the end of the day when it doesn't get done, you reprioritize again and you just have to do that day after day after day.
And you know, one thing that I sometimes struggle with though, is how do you determine what's a priority.
You know, you get a lot of a lot of things kind of popping in that might be somebody else's priority, But how do you narrow down what's really key to you and what's just noise?
Mmm?
That's a really good question.
I think you just know, right, you know, as those things are coming in, you know what your role is and what your responsibilities are, and you just have to decide.
You can't be everything to everybody all the time, right, so you have to set some boundaries and identify what priorities are most critical to you and your role.
That's how I think of it anyway, I kind of I kind of think if you focus on everything, you'll accomplish nothing.
So you got to you got to dial that And are you good at delegating?
I think that's one way to obviously take some of the noise and filter it off.
I am, you know, I need a little bigger of a team, I think, to completely delegate to be more strategic and have a little bit more time to be more strategic.
So maybe that will come in time.
But yeah, one thing that I started doing that's really helped me is when I do have office time, I set an hour a day, I block my calendar and I call it focus time, and that's my time to just kind of narrow in on whatever is going on or what went on the day before.
I don't like leaving things open.
If things come in and need to be done, I want to get them done.
I don't like things hanging out there for a week or two weeks's not well.
It seems like if something does hang out there, there's always the one one project that something something happens, and then it seems like it just piles on.
You know, it's one thing you can get past.
Well, then something else happens.
It's always like one little individual thing that where it just piles and piles and piles, and if you leave it hang out there, that's kind of tends to where it goes.
Yeah, and I have actually quite a bit of that right now going on, to be honest, But that's for a matter of when I've been traveling.
Yeah, some of the stuff is very detailed, right, granular type of things that take other people pulling together to really dive into it and identify the issues and come up with a solution.
So sometimes you have to plan and be a little more proactive in that to get those things accomplished, and sometimes things do take longer.
Right.
Nothing is just as easy as entering an order.
Right, That's not what we do every day.
That's not what I do.
So we do appreciate the orders.
But well, you mentioned strategic and I think that's something that companies don't do enough of.
You know, you get caught up in the mundane, the day to day, all the minutia of what's going on, but you know, talk about the importance of thinking strategically long term, you know, the direction, the vision, all those parts of where the company's going.
I think the one thing that I've learned since I've been at Invent is it's so important for us before we make big decisions, not acquisition, not stuff like that, but internal process changes or you know, new requirements to something or changing a program, you've got to get the right people involved.
You can't just do it on your own and make that decision and flick the switch.
Because what I have learned and the two times that that's happened since I've been an event it has turned out to be a colossal mess, and it has taken us much longer than it should have if everybody would have just pulled the right people together from the beginning and approached it that way.
So that's more of a leadership mistake that you would say that not having people's buy in or communication, I think is key, right, because there's people that have different areas of expertise.
Right, So I'm not the finance expert obviously, I'm not in finance, right, I'm not the leader of pricing, I'm not quality, I'm not marketing, right.
So I think that with certain things, programs, projects, whatever it is, you really have to look at what is the topic of that project and how that will impact other departments, and then you decide from there who to pull in.
You've got to have that input.
Yeah, So how long have you been in the world Just a couple of years in this current role.
I've been with Hoffman February will be two years, and I've been in my new director role since June, well July beginning of July, so four months.
That's great.
So how do you think you what do you think you do different in your role than the last person in that position.
We're very different, but we're very similar in many ways.
I think I'm good at maybe setting some boundaries and sometimes saying no, okay, right, yeah, that can be difficult.
And I love Steve.
He is Steve Simpson.
He is who I took his role and he moved on, got a promotion.
But he is an amazing human being and everyone who knows him loves him.
Right, Yeah, everyone who knows him wants to be around him.
He's just that guy, right, very dynamic.
I would love to be that person that's not naturally who I am, though, right, I'm okay to not be the person that everyone's crowding around.
Do.
I love interacting with people and that you know, connection, absolutely, but wish you don't need to be the center of attention.
No, I don't, and I've always been that way.
But I also know boundaries, right.
I think that's a really important thing for me.
For example, you know, when we have events and we're out at dinner with customers or whatnot, and everyone wants to go to the bar after, Well, I don't necessarily have to do that, right, And Steve always would just he's just a yes guy, right, He wants to make everybody happy, and not that I don't want to make people happy.
I do, but you have to take care of yourself.
I have to take care of myself.
Yeah, yeah, So what happens if you don't take care of yourself or if you don't set those boundaries?
You know, how does that affect the organization?
Well, I think a couple of things.
That shifts people's expectations of you.
Right.
I also read a lot about women leaders and burnout, right, and I have way too full of a life to potentially open that door to burn out.
And there are moments obviously, right we all ye all going on exactly, but I don't ever want that to be something I can't keep in control, if that makes sense.
I'm a professional woman, but I'm also a wife and I'm also a mother, and those are very you know, important roles to me, and I need to be just as as on and connected with them as I am from a business perspective.
So that comes back to the balance.
You know, It's all about balance, you know, keeping everything in check and easier than others, right, But I sure try, I sure try you And I'll add to that to one thing, you know, going back to you know, maybe what you do different.
One thing I've noticed that I've picked up you know, we just met yesterday, right for the first time.
But one thing I've I've picked up on really quick is your ability to read people.
I think, I think you know where I'm going, but like you certainly have a talent for understanding people really quickly, can you.
I mean, how did you learn that?
Where did that come from?
Well?
I believe and people might not agree with this, but I'm a Pisces, so I'm a fish, right, and we move and adapt very well in different environments.
But we also feel people very strongly.
Not psychic wise.
I'm not like going down that road at all, but I think for me, I try to listen and really connect with that person.
Yeah, I don't want to have the answer while they're still asking me, if that makes sense right.
Yeah, that's hard for a lot of people.
Yeah it's hard for me at times too, But I really try to stay present.
Yeah, in everything you do, it goes back to the balance.
But when you're you know, so when you do check out a work and you do go home and you are being a mother, that's part of it.
You have to be.
You can't be texting on your phone and you have to be present and there.
Well that's great.
Well, we certainly appreciate you coming in and taking the time to be with us.
You know, it is a pleasure to meet you again.
Thank you.
You're welcome back anytime.
Thank you.
So it's been great.
I appreciate it.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
I hope you all enjoyed our conversation with Heather today.
Once again, I want to thank her for taking time to come in and visit with us.
We're so blessed here at CBM to work with invent Hoffman.
We've had a great relationship over the years and we truly do value that.
If we can be of service to you, please reach out to us here at CBM that cbmrep dot com.
Uh, don't forget to give us a review and drop a comment below.
Thanks again for joining us on Power the Network.
