00:00
Hi, and welcome to Power the Network. I'm your host, Tim Locker, Vice President of Broadband here at CBM. You know, I always enjoy when we get to highlight one of our own CBM folks on the show, and today we've got just that for you. One of my mentors, Mr. Brett Cooper, he's the Vice President of both our communications and our commercial industrial group. Worked with Brett for so many years now, learned so much from him, and looking forward to...
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highlighting this one on today's episode.
00:34
Brett, thank you so much for joining us today. You know, I think you and I both know you might not have had a lot of choice in this one, but. No, it didn't tend to be. We got you here, so. We still appreciate you taking the time, so I always enjoy having one of our own on and highlighting our folks. It's good to be here and to follow your lead. Certainly the notoriety you've gotten and obtained from this is huge. It's been extraordinary. So I feel honored to be here. Yeah, well, that's great. So.
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Let's just dive into it here today. So what is it that makes Brett Cooper tick? Well, that's a great question. You're going to probably come up with several of those this afternoon, but I think responsibility to family and taking care of people. That comes down to winning, right? In our organization, if we don't win, then we're not taking care of the customer. But I think that really, my purpose is to take care of my family. I do that as the vehicle is CBM and what we do here.
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but I have to make sure that we maintain what's right for the customer. And I think that's part of what drives me and what I do every day when I get up. Yeah, well, and you know, I've been here 18 years now and you're pushing 20, right? Well, I think just over 18, maybe 18, 19. Who's counting at this point, right? Yeah, depends when this airs, doesn't matter. But you know, the message when I started here and I think it's been similar today, it's always been,
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take care of the customers and please the principals. And at the end of the day, I think that still rings pretty true. That pretty well rings true. I think the business has changed a little bit, but I think the core principles are the same. And I think you and I both along the way have had so many discussions about taking care of the customer. We don't sell things to the customer we don't think they need. That would be a benefit to them. And I think that holds true today, for sure. Yeah, and I think that's, you know, that's something you touched on there that
02:32
I think salespeople sometimes get a bad rap. You get people that think the typical used car salesman kind of mentality and sometimes in our industry, customers will avoid salespeople, especially if they don't know them yet. But I don't think they always understand what we're there for. No, I totally agree with that. We're still educating customers today. I think it's important.
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that we probably on the outset cover that a little bit, right? Customers are those are the people that are using our products. We have distribution partners, and I think it's really important to make sure that those are different. Our distribution partners are partners, and we go to business together to help the customer. And I think that's really important, and sometimes people lose focus to that, but it's a mighty challenge as a rep to do that as well. It's not, you mentioned sales. Yeah, we're in sales.
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but there's so much more to managing the relationships of our partners, our manufacturers, and the customers. And I think it's tougher. I'll be honest, it's tougher. And a lot of times that end user, the customer doesn't necessarily understand that channel. So it can be challenging as a rep, as a middleman, especially if you're, for example, you're making a call with the distribution partner. And I don't think we necessarily always do a great job that the customer knows.
04:00
You know, those. No, and we encourage particularly our folks that are going out to see customers for the first time to really try to help them understand that we're pre and post sale support. We're really there to provide technical support, sales support per se, delivery support in partnership with our distribution partners. So it can get confusing. Training. Training. Training is a big thing that we obviously strive to do and we try to do more of that. But certainly that's a big part of it. Yeah, we got to be the.
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product experts. When we go, when we talk about those distribution relationships, you know, they've got 10 other options of products to sell that are just like, you know, what we represent. So we've got to be that product expert on our, our manufacturing. And we have an obligation to be.
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with the partners and the customers to know what they need. We need to take care of them and be with them. Certainly it's a people business today. I don't think anything changes that. Certainly technology has changed, the ability to have the same relationships at times with people, but it's still a people business. And I think people do appreciate it. There is still a change to discount the people business part of it, but I really truly believe it's still there.
05:16
You're not going to win them all. That was one thing I wanted to ask today too. Relationships are a huge part of what we do. And I know you've always been a relationship guy and so have I. But I do feel like just everything trying to be commoditized, pricing, the way it used to be your handshake was as good as gold with the customer and now you've got...
05:44
purchasing teams in place and they're trying to squeeze every nickel and penny out of everything, you know How much of a role do you think that relationship has changed? Well, I think Of course and we'll talk about it the different markets, right? The commercial industrial market is different than the communications market that we serve today But I think we're still reeling over kovat right we do humanized people
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through COVID and I think we're still struggling with that. And a great example of that is I'm trying to reach a manufacturing facility engineer. A lot of those folks have not even come back to the office. So how do we get in front of them to talk to them? We're trying to touch them with email, we're trying to touch them with phone calls, we're trying to touch them with mail pieces, right? Physically in their mail through the postal service just to try to get an opportunity to talk to them.
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and they have the ability to say no easily. And I think that is changed a great piece of- And even the same with like a team's call. I know that's one of our rules and something you stand by too is like on a team's call, have your darn video on. But I'm still struggling today with internal and even with some of the folks we represent, we don't see their faces on the call. So I always wonder, why aren't we just doing a phone bridge if that's what we're going to do, right? So I think people business seeing people
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face-to-face is important. I think it tells people we're human, that what we're saying is important and that we mean it. And I think that's important. Yeah. So what do you tell your folks in terms of relationships? Is that their priority? Well, certainly it's part of it, right? Understanding what they're doing, whether it's at a commercial industrial facility, whether it's at a communications location, understanding what the customers.
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wants and needs are. I say the comment a lot about knowing what's behind the customer's eyes. And I think it's important that we recognize what's important to them, right? What is the thing that is important to that customer that we can help them solve? And I think solving problems is what we do best and when we've been most successful. I think that comes back to, you know, part of the training that you were involved with setting up for CBM with Action Selling really talked about that through those nine steps.
08:04
In Act 3, asking the right questions, and then Act 4, agreeing on a need was extremely important. If we're not doing that consistently with the customers, then I think it's... I think those questions are so oftentimes avoided just out of the fear of maybe not knowing. But that's key. You have to know what they're asking. Right. And I tell the team often. I mean, in my years of...
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you know, from distribution to what we do today as a manufacturer's rep, um, in my 28 years, I've never had somebody hit me. I've never had them spit on me. I've never had them slap me. I may have had somebody say, well, I'd prefer not to answer that. And I respect that, right? But we need to know what they're doing today to be able to help them solve that problem. I think you're right. We're timid at times and not all the time. We have a great team, right? We have a great team.
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A lot of good young people that I think is good for us long term, it's good for our manufacturers because we can continue to span and continue to do good things for them long term. And I think we're positioned to do that. So we talked a little bit about what drives you, doing well for your family, doing well for your team. I know you've done a lot for me over the years too. Well I think that goes both ways. So don't discount yourself. No, no. I certainly appreciate it.
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here with CBM, what's the biggest change you've seen in the markets? You've got two markets now that you're responsible, the CI and the communications, and 20 years is a pretty long span in industry terms. Well, I think it's a lesson probably, and I'd hate to give our boss credit, but Marla's probably taught me over the years.
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that the markets are different. CVM represents a utility market, commercial industrial communications, but they operate differently. The sales cycle per se is different. One's much quicker, one's smaller items, one's long term sales cycle. But the one thing that comes back to all of those is people, right? And that's where I think we talk a little bit about relationships. I think it still holds true.
10:24
that there is a big part of that for sure. Yeah. You know, several years ago, you know, one of our VPs, a VP of CNI had retired and, you know, you stepped up to that challenge of taking on that responsibility as well as a communication group. And, you know, from all of us here at CBM, you know, we're grateful. I know you've...
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worked your tail off ever since and it's been a challenge but you've you know not only accepted the challenge but you know you've elevated that team as well. Well I think yeah and I think you know you deserve a fair amount of credit because in all I want to at least you know push back to that. I couldn't have done that without your help and you stepping up into your role with that broadband.
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role as our vice president. So I think between the two of those, that's what made it work. I don't think I'm doing it alone. You may think that, but I can assure you that your involvement is important to what the team does and what everybody does overall. So I think you and I have done a good job working together. It's enabled me to do that. You know, my past life at Graybar in distribution sales was important to kind of understanding distribution. Understanding distribution needs to be made
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make money. But I also understand the reasonable partnership that I think is important for us. And so I think that's allowed me to do that. Certainly a lot of learning. Got a great team. It's been really supportive of that. And that's certainly what's made it work today. And I guess to answer my own question, too, one of the things that I've noticed, I guess one of the biggest changes, I think, that I've noticed here at CBM is the markets are just merging.
12:12
All three of our markets are overlapping so much. And I think we've done a good job of recognizing that and taking more the silo approach down and working across our different teams. I've seen a lot of examples with C&I working in the utility and the comms team and utility working together and so on. And I think that's probably the biggest change I've seen from my perspective of.
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trying to knock those silos down and really collectively work together, you know, for CBM and not just a market. No, and I think that challenge, you've been a big part of that. And certainly Marla's driven those conversations, but I think what may be a challenge is a good thing for CBM, right? We're one of the few rep firms that covers the markets that we do today. If you look at the other rep firms in Kansas City, a lot of them will have an electrical line, but they aren't utility and...
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commercial industrial and they aren't communications. So I think it makes sense for us to continue to work on those, you know, talking across all those markets to be able to take advantage of that. And I think that's what our manufacturers, you know, need to at least understand or know what we're working on doing. I think some of them are still probably don't realize our capability. I think we still have some, you know, that we still haven't tapped yet that we still continue to work on. Yeah. But I don't think it's a weakness. I think it's a positive that
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we have the ability to do that where others don't. But one of the things that came up even in a meeting today with the manufacturer, but I think where can we improve? I think it's sharing our story with the manufacturers and sharing what we do more often. Well, and I think, gosh, you and I have been around, we've talked so much about this. It's just like having another meeting that we've had before. But know what we do here today at Power of the Network.
14:08
And what you've done is giving that voice to those manufacturers. If you look at Dave Gordon, who put together the Rep of the Future, talking about the marketing efforts from reps, and talking, we're doing that, right? I think sometimes we don't get the recognition for what we're doing. I'm working with a marketing company, and we're doing some targeted, through Facebook, and we're targeting with Google ads around zip codes and customers trying to bring awareness to our products. They probably don't know that.
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And we're investing, we're reinvesting, not in our boats, in our lake houses, we're reinvesting in the manufacturers that we represent. And I think sometimes you're right. I think we don't talk about that loud enough. You know, there's some, you know, be loud sometimes and be proud of what you do. Right. I think sometimes we take for granted the good things we're doing as a company and we don't talk about them enough. So I think this podcast is just one example, just one.
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Probably I could come up with five that we've done that probably go unnoticed. But we're certainly trying to go after the market as hard as we can, representing those manufacturers we do. Is it perfect? Are we perfect? No. And the market can be challenging, right? I like what you said earlier about humanizing it, or the fact that since COVID, it has been kind of dehumanized, but that's part of our role. We need to have that same.
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human to human relationship with the manufacturers as well as our customers. Well, and you ask a little bit what makes difference is the commercial industrial market for CBM. Really, we have some lines in Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and southern Illinois. But let me draw back down just to Kansas and western Missouri. There's probably 60 distributor or more brick and mortar locations that we're trying to touch. Each one of those places has salespeople, right? The markets, there's just a lot to do.
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And we're trying to reach those folks often. And relationship is what we do, right? So who else could come in and physically go do that without our assistance? And we don't take that for granted, right? It's a privilege to represent some of the folks that we do. They're good to us. And in return, we're trying to work our tails off for them. And certainly that's what we do every morning we get up. And I'm certainly, as you well know, extremely passionate about it. And we want to do a good job. And that's our goal.
16:30
Yeah. Yeah. You know, one topic we usually cover on the show here is mentors. And you've, you're on the top of my list is one of mine. So, you know, thank you for... Well, I appreciate that. Certainly it comes with some checks and balances and you've provided those checks for me along the way. So it's been good. It's been a good relationship. So who's on the list of your mentors and you know, in 10 we...
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Gosh, you know, I look back at my background and some of the things, and we haven't talked a little bit about it. You know, I retired with just under 32 years of service in the Army National Guard, the Army Reserves. I had people there that helped me. I started working when I was 15. I thought about that the other day when you had mentioned that you'd asked me to come on to the show. Gosh, carrying out groceries at a grocery store. Came back and worked for a family there at the grocery store, the Snitchler family. And Harold...
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uh... i learned from herald he would come up and ask you to do something and if you didn't get on it right away you'd look over by gosh you'd see herald doing yeah so but those folks are really good to me i had a batang commander uh... carl beckley it through my career who said you know i brought a problem to him i needed help with and he says said let's just let it sit when you let it sit he said if i acted on every
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I'd never do anything else. I do that today. I do that a little bit. Tell you a little patience. A little patience. I want the team to try to solve the problem themselves, right? What we do in our positions, and you included, is mentor. We want to give people the authority and empower them to make those decisions. If they always come to me, I cripple their growth, and they won't be better. It's hard at times. I want to reach in and solve the problem.
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I mean, it's there, I can see it, I see the answer, but I have to let them do that. And so that's probably been one of the things he taught me the most. I have a, Steve Boshard at Graybar, when he managed me, he wanted to be honest with the people that had worked for him. And if you didn't feel comfortable doing what he was asking you to do, he wanted to know that so that he could help you. And I think just that, we go back to human, I mean, he was just real, right? He was real. And...
18:53
And I try to do that as well. I get that glassy look in the eye from some of our team after I've said something like, I can tell that, hey, they just need a little encouragement. Maybe they need me to go with them. Certainly, I want to do more of that. That's the struggle in leadership, is trying to get out and spend more time with your folks. I think there's lots of things we can do yourself. You do a lot of that, I think, which is really what brings value to what you're doing for CBM.
19:20
I think what you touched on there too though, that's probably my biggest challenge as a leader is not doing and showing and leading versus just taking over and doing stuff. And so that's probably where I need to grow. Well, and people need to fail. It's hard as a parent, you know that, right? Sometimes failure brings success long term when we figured out that, man, I was able to get up and do that. We just had that instance, you and I talked last week.
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of one of our own teammates who, I pushed him and pushed him and he drug his feet and his drug his feet and he came through at the end, he got the order and they took care of the business. And it was a great example of what that is. But our team, empowerment's important I think at CBM. We talk about what makes CBM different and empowerment's important. So I get folks that say, hey Brett, why weren't you there? Why didn't you come to that meeting?
20:14
Well, let's talk about that, right? As a leader, I want those people to feel empowered. And if I'm always going and answering the questions for them, one, I'm taking their authority away from them. And I tell people, if you have one of our account managers in a meeting with you, it's as good as having me, because they have the authority. We've given them the authority to make, to say things that we can stand behind, and they know what those limits are. So I think it's important what we do. And they're not 10-9-9-8.
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1099 employees, right? Yeah. They're owners. And so if we're going to talk about ownership and what you do on this podcast, well, we got to believe in our people and we have to believe in that ownership principle. Let's do talk about, that's a good segue there. Let's do talk about the ownership. CBM is proud to be an ESOP. We've been in business since 1960. The ESOP was created in 1988. I don't...
21:12
I don't think we necessarily do as much education on ESOPs as we could. What does that ESOP mean to you? Well, I guess, let me back up a minute if I can, since we have the time. So I think what's important that why I came to CBM. It was relationships that brought me to CBM. I was working with my boss at the time when I was a distribution sales rep on a project.
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I came to Marla and said, hey, this is what I need to get this job. And there was a question she told me later right on the backside, well, can you trust him? Can you trust him? She said, yeah, if he came to me and he said, we can do the business, I think we can trust him. And I got what I needed and we brought the order in, right? And I think that started why I'm here. But I had the entrepreneurial spirit. In 2005, I got back after a year in Afghanistan.
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And I can tell you for those who deployed combat theaters, sitting on a forward operating base with you and your buddy and 125 Afghan soldiers in the middle of nowhere, you have a lot of time to think. So. How did I get here? That's right. How did I get here and how do I get out of here, right? So, and do it safely and those type of things. But one of the things I kept feeling was that entrepreneurial spirit, right? And so when I got back in 2005, I bought a franchise.
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A lot of people don't know that, but I became the lawn doctor franchise in my area, competing against the other large lawn service companies. Did that for three years answering two phones and thought, and I was at a point where I was either going to have to give up what I was doing full time, right?
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to move to that, but it wasn't going to quite pay the bills. That wasn't quite enough. Wasn't quite enough. Didn't get the boat close enough to the dock. I didn't get the boat close enough. That's right. So the engine was starting to sputter, right? Business was really good, but I couldn't do it. I couldn't make the transition. So Marla Sparks came to me and said, hey, you're interested in joining us. And one of the things CBM does for people, as owners, employee owners, is it gives us the opportunity to be an entrepreneur, right? Entrepreneur. It's great. It's the closest thing to doing it. But yet it's you and me together.
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If you go back to my background from the military side, team is everything. That's how you survive. And so for me, it was really easy for me to switch and say, Tim and I, Tim Locker and I, whether it was Mike Haley today, Richard Durf, we're going to go do this together. And we're going to solve it together. But yet we're still responsible individually for the success of the company. And so that was really important to me. And so that's why I ended up where I am today. I think that's what makes CBM special.
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And I think that's what makes us different in the industry. It truly does. I mean, if one of our account managers is on site with a customer, it's important for them, right? It's really important to them. It's not me, because I own it all. We all have a stake in the game. So I think that resonates with that ESOP culture that you prominently talk about all the time, right? Here on the power of the network. So I think it's really important. That's why I'm here, and I think it's why it's important.
24:19
Yep. And you hit on a good point there too. You know, we used to use the term the kingdom. Brett's kingdom. But the reason behind that kingdom was exactly that. You were given free run to make decisions and do what you needed to do that made sense for you and your customers. And we've all got that same opportunity. And we don't get 100% buy-in, right? It's a different thought process.
24:49
Most people that go in and punch the clock, whether you're in our business, a 1099 employee, contract employee for a rep firm, or whether you go to work for a big company, you're shoveling what they put in front of you. At CBM, you can put out what you think is right. I talk to our team a lot about how do we need to touch this person? I'm a big guerrilla marketing type of person. We need to be on email. We need to be on phone calls. We need to be there physically.
25:18
We need to send them a note in the mail, right? Just simple note that says thank you. How many times have you set my meetings from what I've had you, you know, back in the day, right? Twice a year since I've been here. That's right. We all sat down and wrote thank you notes. Nobody else does handwritten thank you notes. If I care enough to take the time enough about you to write a thank you note, I care enough about the business, right? And so it's easy to type an email, right? In my mind, that's easy. Sure, could we do that? And we should, yes.
25:46
But at the end of the day, just a phone call once in a while to thank somebody for their partnership, thank somebody for their business is really important. So I continue to promote that. Again, I have 100% success. No, I'd be joking myself, right? Oh yeah. But I think it's different. If you want to send 10 things out to 10 prospective customers today, put a note in it, have our staff internally do that, we do that. Yeah.
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it's not done for you corporately. You have to want to do that. So when you talk about the kingdom, you're right. I took a great pride in knowing what was going on in the territory that I served, right? Yep. And it was important to us for sure. And one of the biggest things that I miss these days is the hot tub board meetings. Well, I don't know how much of that. Not necessarily board meetings, but you know, we would have our planning sessions and...
26:38
You know, we'd sit in there as a team and make decisions and so on. But then every night we would put the trunks on and we'd go down to the hot tub. I'm glad you mentioned that because that was an important part of it. Yeah, I wanted to, I didn't want to leave that piece out, but we'd go down to the hot tub and there was just a lot of discussions that happened that, you know, uh, whether it was personal stuff or whether it was business related.
27:05
I think there was a lot of value that came from those conversations. And that's one of the things that I always appreciated, but now I seem to miss them. Yeah. Well, we haven't had the trunks on in a while. Well, the trunks again, COVID kind of ruined the trunks for a while. So now I think, you know, a team has to, you know, you did it mid year, you know, asking the team, understanding the value of what everybody wants, right? In life, I think is important. Um, those opportunities that we had in the quote, the hot tub board meetings.
27:34
or an opportunity just for people to know each other. It's a struggle today. Not everybody wants to open up all the time. I think it's important to teams. That goes back, it goes back to you, that military camaraderie and building those, it's a little different when it's life and death, right? And you depend on each other's lives. It tends to force you to grow together. Even if you don't like the person next to you, you become really fond of them in the right time, right? When they're behind you, protecting you, and you're in the front. So I think,
28:03
That's different, but trying to bring that same passion to the group to understand we're all important. It doesn't matter whether you're our inside sales team, whether you're an account manager at CBM, or whether you're our accounts payable, our CFO, everybody has a key component to our success. And I think people forget that, because they're not used to it. It's so weird in the normal business, right? There are people that clock in every day. It doesn't matter whether they showed up today or not, the business continues. It matters to us.
28:33
It matters when you don't take that call. So I think that's important. Yeah. Everybody impacts the call. Everybody's, yeah, everybody's impactful, for sure. Yep.
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What is it like working for CBM? You know, our culture is built around our ESOP. Employee ownership is something that we talk about every day. We empower our employees to make decisions, do what's right for their customers, do what's right for our manufacturers, and really truly have an impact in our company. We've currently got some openings. If you're interested in working for a top quality rep firm here in the Midwest, we do have some openings. Go to our website.
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and click on the careers tab and you can see what we have available. Reach out to us here at cbmrep.com.
29:22
One of the things that comes to mind is, we've not always agreed on certain topics. We've got different ideas of how to get things done. But one thing I've learned from you particularly is sometimes how to look at the other side. There's two sides of the equation. I hate to admit it, but sometimes I get a little bullheaded and stubborn and I can see a certain direction. I think we all do.
29:51
But you have taught me that, you know, how to look at things from another perspective. And I think that's been an important part of my growth, trying to step back, kind of analyze things a little bit, a little bit more and not rush right to a conclusion. The, you know, the other thing, you know, we've, I mean,
30:17
for as long as we've known each other, we've gotten along so well. I think we've maybe had two maybe blow ups over all the years, which is, you know, that's going to happen when you're dealing with- My brother put me through the drywall, the wall itself one day, you know? And so I would think it's okay. So when you're dealing with family, there's going to be those things. But I got to thinking about it. And at both of those times were a situation where you had a plan.
30:45
but I didn't know the why. And so I think just looking at those, talk about the importance of sharing that why and that vision, because I would go to battle with you any day, especially knowing the why, but on the two occasions where we had an issue, I didn't know the why.
31:07
Well, and I probably hold the responsibility of not telling you the why beforehand, or you wouldn't have been upset, right? So I probably am responsible for those discussions and those questions that you had. So I probably ought to apologize to the public. No, no, no. But I guess my point is the importance of that why from a leadership standpoint. How do we deliver those messages to the team? Well, and sometimes it's a struggle, right? Timing.
31:33
The form to get it in particularly on the communications side. We're covering, you know from Iowa, Nebraska down to Texas So sometimes information doesn't flow as fast as you would like it to but I think it's important for people to understand why we're asking Me to do that. Yeah, I think it does give purpose to what we're asking them to do You know, we try to do that. Well, obviously we're not always you know, 100% successful Yeah, I think it's important that people understand why
32:00
And we talk about it again, we go back to what makes CBM different. I think part of our podcast is we talked about it's important, but we do share this information with our people. Yeah. I always think it's interesting when we go to Nimra, which is the big meeting we have annually with our manufacturers. And they always stop me. Some of them will stop me at the door and say, Hey, just want you to know, we're going to be talking about this. So maybe you don't want all your people in the meeting.
32:24
Nope, I brought them all. We're good. I brought them all for a reason, right? So we're going to let them in the door because we want them to understand what the main, and I want them to hear it from them. I want the manufacturer to be able to look at them and say, this is what our expectations are and this is what we want, right? Because they're part of the ownership. Could we exclude them? Absolutely, we could. Could we save lots of money doing it? Absolutely. But again, it's back to that mentorship and that longevity that CBM's trying to avail to the manufacturers we represent. I think it's important. Yeah.
32:52
So when I think Tim, we talk about Nimra a little bit, I just mentioned part of that where the manufacturers are sometimes surprised that we're bringing everybody, but we share the numbers. You know, we talk about numbers all the time. Sometimes I don't think the manufacturers understand that we do share the numbers. The numbers are darn important. I have examples in my mind right now, right? Not good to go into, but we understand it.
33:17
Right. Yeah. And the last thing that they need to realize is we don't. Well we're a sales organization. Yeah. That's numbers are everything. Yeah, numbers are everything, right? So the last thing I can assure you that people know, our sales team representing a manufacturer, know what the numbers are. They know what the, they can look at them. They see the, you know, the commission statements that we work off of. Yep. They see it. So I think that's what separates us from a lot of manufacturer rep firms. And understand, it just is what it is, right? I'm not here to judge, but I am here to
33:45
There's a difference in how we're set up. There's a difference of how we're set up and what I believe makes us successful. Yeah. And that's sharing those numbers. You're right. I mean, how do I motivate people if they don't know what the numbers are, right? Yeah. So. You know, we've got some... We've got a long history of longevity here at CBM, but we've also got, you know, a lot of new folks within the company. And it's nice to be able to take...
34:14
you know, a seasoned veteran and be able to move them a couple states away and, and help mentor some of the new folks too, where in a, if your business is set up differently, they're not going to do that. Right. So we're able to share our, our assets, you know, across our territory. Well, and I think, yeah, I mean, obviously through the last, you know, supply chain and the growth of the economy that was unexpected after COVID the way it happened, right. Uh, people were hard to f-
34:44
fine, right? But I think, in retrospect, it was a good thing. We've got some good young people. Absolutely. And you and I have talked about it. And somebody says, what do you look for when you're hiring somebody? I just want good people. Good people. Good people that care enough about you that when you fall down, they're there to pick you back up. Good people. The core values. Regional salesmen, you can't come in. We're going to pick them up, too. We're going to carry the manufacturer's water, because that's what we do.
35:14
And if you don't hire good people, we can train technical, we can train some of the other things, but people who care says a lot. And so I'm really satisfied with where we are today. Oh, absolutely. We have some young people, but gosh, they care. And that's important in today's workplace, as far as I'm concerned. And I think that's what we have. And then again, what it does for us five years, 10 years down the line, is continue to enable us
35:43
to be successful with those manufacturers we represent. And I think that's truly important. So part of that too, going back to the ESOP a little bit, is there's a value in our corporate setup in that ESOP to manufacturers, because we've got a legacy plan already built in place. Right, versus two guys in a truck, a small rep firm, and it's a family-owned deal, and you know.
36:12
Paul kicks the bucket, you know, what happens? You know, we've got that built in. So there is some security for our manufacturers just in that scene. Well, and it comes back, we talk a lot about leadership. You and I have talked about books. I brought in a book, you know, we've talked about, I brought in the book, Leaders Eat Last, right? And we-
36:30
I had the team read part of that. Hopefully they read some of it, right? As a manager. And I think about that every time there's a big group and they're reading. That's right. I think about it. And so it's important for the team to be successful. If the team is successful, I'll be successful, right? So I truly believe in that. But it's just, I think, go back to the ESOP, you're right. I'm mentoring, my goal is to mentor everybody so that.
36:58
heaven forbid tomorrow I'm not here, right, which can happen. Somebody's there to pick it up. Marla could reach out to the phone, call somebody on this team today. I guarantee you there's in both teams we have it. You're part of that obviously with what your role is, but outside of that we're mentoring people that can pick up that ball and run with it. That's my job. It's my job to ensure that the manufacturers know that if something happens to Brett Cooper there's somebody standing behind and I don't know that we've done a great job of that before.
37:27
But I can tell you that I am working that today, and there are people, good young people in our organization that can come in and backfill me at any time. Pick up the ball and run. Absolutely. Yep, for sure. Is there anything you do differently in terms of leadership between your two groups? Tim, it's a great question to talk about the differences. The market, we talked a little bit about the market, and I think it's important to the manufacturer to understand that the vision is a little different, right?
37:52
We've really worked hard and invested over the last three years in the commercial industrial market to call on end users, right? That was that piece we did, but we wanted to do it better, right? And so we invested in an individual who just literally concentrates on calling on end user customers. In addition to our distributors, when you look at the communications market, we have less distributors, right? Yep. And we have more customers. So it's important in both markets to call on the end user.
38:21
but it's even more important, I think, in the commercial industrial market to have a relationship at the customer level. In addition to our partners, we are there to work with them to win at the customer, right, to help the customer. So I think it's important. And you mentioned, so in that market, you've got 60 distribution partners. I mean, I'm going to assume they're all calling on the same accounts, all trying to fight for the same business. Yeah, there's some differences in those markets of different types, whether it's commercial or industrial, but yeah, for the most part.
38:49
They're all circulating in that same market space for sure. Yeah. So having your internal folks have a pulse on what's going on at the end user, then it's a huge advantage. Yeah, I mean, understanding so that we can provide the technical source and recommendations to the end user is important. Then they go back to our partners. We work with our partner to make sure that they get.
39:13
you know, the right price and the right, you know, that it's the right product and those things that make everybody happy for sure. Yeah. What's the favorite, what's your favorite part of the job? Oh, I'd have to say, which I don't.
39:30
I strive to do more of is mentoring, right? Probably through my military career, I've received notes from people who have been promoted who thank me for being honest and candid with them, supportive of them along the way. That's probably the best part I like about it. I certainly like to win. I don't run around.
39:54
with that on my shoulder, but deep inside, I played sports as a young kid too. So I'm extremely competitive. Even when I'm sitting and watching my daughters play sports, I'm still a competitive person in the stands. Sometimes I get blamed. You're that dad gets teed up. I'm that dad that gets teed up. So I think that carries over to work too. That's who I am. I'm extremely passionate. I care.
40:21
you know, I give a darn. Yeah. Right. That's, I mean, those are just characteristics of a good salesperson. You know, if you're not competitive. Well, you had to be committed, you got to care, right? I think I care about people's success. I want our partners to be successful. I want our manufacturers to be successful. This is no game to me, right? Sometimes I think I don't maybe, you know, expand or expound the gamesmanship as much, right?
40:50
What you get from me is the realistic, hey, we're going to war type guy. This is what we're going to do. And I'm less about flowers and windows and music and all the other things that shadow that, right? Who may make you feel good, but really it's all smoke and mirrors, right? So sometimes that's a struggle. Tactical approach. More of a tactical approach, right? A lot of comments, you know, blocking and tackling, doing the basics.
41:17
And I agree, we need to sometimes go back to that. We got to remind ourselves, which is what your training, you know, that you were involved with providing to the companies as a whole, that was a huge investment. I think we don't realize that either, but we brought in all of our people and spent a lot of money working on training. And some would say, well, shouldn't I already know that? Really? I don't think you're going to pull every organization and find that. We've got senior folks that have been here 25 plus years that have, you know, even been through that same.
41:46
training long time ago and have gained a lot of value from it. I think looking back at that, I think it's been great what we did. I think we're starting to see some improvements. I think people are thinking about how they make their calls and what's the purpose behind it. So I'm looking forward to implementing it more, but I've noticed a change in myself, just thinking.
42:13
differently, you know, a different approach to a sales call altogether. And I've seen, I've seen success with it already. Well, and you're right, there's a cost to every sales call, right? Every time you go somewhere, there's a cost. Getting people to understand that and understand that's their money they're spending, right? We have to try to at least have a plan. What's the plan, right? What's the objective?
42:39
I think that training really provided a good segue into understanding what those are, and I think it's important. And that's, but we, you know, you and I, we're looking at each other, have to reinforce that and continue to promote that to make sure it becomes a habit. But habits don't happen overnight, right? Change doesn't happen overnight. Got to practice. Sometimes I think the industry as a whole, well, we sent you that email, it happened tomorrow, right? And it doesn't happen that quick, right? I think there's some reasonable expectations to.
43:07
the process to where it's going to take to be implemented as well. Yeah. And I'm glad you brought up the cost of, you know, every call has a cost. And from a different perspective, that same thought, but on a different perspective, you know, we work from within the organization, I mean, we work for a lot of different manufacturers. And each manufacturer is a little bit different in terms of how they...
43:34
perceive reps, work with reps, et cetera. There's some that are just full on, here's what we expect, this is your territory and you're gonna have credit if you will for everything. And then there's others that are a little tighter where, well, why should you get credit for this if you didn't work on it? And I guess, to that point, that cost.
44:03
of doing business. There's things that we spend a lot of time on for a manufacturer where we don't win, and there's a cost to that. There's other times where we maybe didn't earn that money. We didn't spend a ton of time on that, but we got the sale. I think there's some give and take there in terms of how that balances out.
44:27
I mean, what's your thoughts on that? Maybe I didn't forge out of it. No, I think that takes us down a different path, right? That sometimes I wonder whether we should, you know, have that conversation as openly as we... But I think you're right. I think, certainly we have some manufacturers that are there with us, right? We have been in on the design. We've been in up front. They share information with us all the time, right? Nobody's perfect. No. And then we do represent and have.
44:55
I'm going to put that right, so I don't want a single bit. Yeah. You know, the question is, well, you're responsible, but we don't necessarily want to give you all the information, right? So we find after the fact. But to me, yeah, it's more of a, how do we not necessarily train the manufacturers, but how do we train those manufacturers and show our value better, I guess. Well, and I think it's doing what we're doing today.
45:25
This is the value. We've given several of our manufacturers the ability to be heard. Be heard. Regardless of how small the market was that heard it, somebody heard it. And we paid for it. We paid for it. So what we can't put a number to is who we impacted that we never knew was impacted, that placed an order.
45:48
because they saw it here or they heard of something that we did out at a trade show or something else, right? No, there's no doubt as a rep, you want a manufacturer to be all in, right? I'm all in with you, draw the square around this area, geographical area, and it's yours, right? Unfortunately, not all of them see that. I don't think that's great value for them in the end. Trying to figure out what they can cut out of our world and what they'll give us is a different... Yeah.
46:17
I think a true partnership where you're sharing the information and you can rely on each side of the equation to work together. I think you just get so much further that worrying about it on the front end, I think you're kind of wasting an opportunity.
46:36
Yeah, and it goes back to what we talked about a little bit. People understanding what we do, right? A lot of times, depending on what it is, and there's some exceptions to this statement, right? But for the most time, the manufacturer is setting the pricing. We're not making any more or less. The price is the same. Doesn't matter whether you got it from the manufacturer, you got it from us. You and I've had regional sales managers come in, traveled with us, handed out their business card to every.
47:01
distributor that we went to see, every customer they saw, and a month later are questioning why they're getting all the phone calls. Because they came in and presented themselves as the person that now, customer, distributor, partner's now calling them. They took the ability or our ability to represent them away from us, and then questioned why that was happening, right? And so which is the exact same reason that when I go in to see somebody with my account managers, I don't hand out, because I want the account manager
47:31
that point of contact to be responsible and have the responsibility to do that. If they want to, sure. And I tell them, you're more than welcome to call me, but I'm going to call my account manager and we're going to have a conversation. So hopefully the account manager's doing their due diligence, they're working hard on behalf of the partner, on behalf of the customer, and then at the end we're in good shape. But yeah, that's certainly- And that's a great point. I do the same too. I do a lot of traveling with the folks in all the different groups.
48:00
you know, on our team and we were at a trade show recently and a customer asked for a business card and I just, I said, well, he's got a card. And after about the third one, I was like, well, apparently Tim doesn't have cards. And I explained that same thing. It was, no, it's not that I don't have cards. I mean, you're the guy that's going to take care of it. Yeah, the account manager for us is in the field. Yeah. He or she is the point person.
48:26
and they need to be, right? We have to give them the authority. And again, it goes back to what makes us different. I think that's important, for sure. Yeah, for sure. So you've got the opportunity here. You've got the platform. What would be something you'd say to our internal folks at CBM, not just your groups, but everybody in the company? What would your message to them be? Oh, that's a great question. And one, I think longevity at CBM has its rewards, right?
48:54
I go back to just talking the other day a little bit with Mike Haley, who I worked with for years and shout out to Mike right on this. He'll hear the show. But Mike was just a pivotal part of what we did. He cared, he worked hard, but he thanked me again just last week for letting him know that the opportunity was at CBM. For him long term after he left, retirement was good and it was good because of CBM. I think sometimes...
49:22
human nature makes us all short-sighted. And so we're always looking for, and I think it's changed again, I'm part of this, my whole COVID blame, but instant gratification is what we're looking for today. And I think longevity- That's just cultural. It's cultural, but I've really worked hard, like with my own daughters, to understand that, the difference in that, and that it's not always instant, right? And I think you can be really successful at CBN. We're a pretty flat organization, right? There aren't a lot of leadership positions, right?
49:52
They're just aren't. That's kind of the way the business is in the rep firm model, right? We probably offer more than some others, because in some of the others, you got to be a family member tied to the organization. So I think for us it does, but you can be really successful and have a great career doing what you're doing. Be rewarded based on what you've done for customers, rewarded for the partnerships you've created with our distribution partners, and in valued from the manufacturer for what you've done for them.
50:22
what other organization can you truly control your destiny than you can with CBM? And I think that's what people talk about they want. And something will happen along the way and they'll say, oh, they'll give us a little bit of feedback that's negative. But at the end of the day, what organization gives you the ability to have the same impact for yourself on what you do than what CBM does? And so I think that's important.
50:50
We talked a little bit, you and I have had some conversations, I think it's important to note, you know, promotions are good, promotions are fun. At one point in my career, when I was promoted, General Robinson stood up one day and he said, you know, it's great breath that you're here today, it's great that we're promoting you today, but we're not promoting you for what you did yesterday. What? What do you mean? No, we're promoting you for what we think you can do tomorrow. What you did yesterday is great.
51:20
But we think there's more capability over here. And so, you know, for me, it was working harder, smarter. The hours were longer. Leadership roles don't mean you go to bed earlier. They don't mean that it's easier. Certainly in my career, leadership roles have come with more challenge, more struggle.
51:43
more test of your character and just your inner inner working and it can be tough. Yeah. Is it good? It's good. But certainly it's about what you can do tomorrow. So I think, you know, those are, you know, some of those messages I think that are important for people to understand. But you know, we circle back to we have a great team at CBM and I say that a lot. I say team members, teammates, because I truly believe that you and I've worked well together over the years. I worked well with Marla.
52:12
And she was my manager. And I think it's just important that we continue that. And it's really important that people understand they are a valued part of our company. And they important. They mean something. And it's just harder to say it any clearer than that. Yeah. No, I think you hit the nail right on the head. We appreciate every one of our employees at CBM, employee owners. We appreciate all of our manufacturers that we...
52:42
you know, have the privilege to work for every day. And, you know, we certainly appreciate all the hard work and we see the hours and the one light on in the office every night. But, you know, we thank you for your dedication and years and your leadership. Well, and I appreciate that. Listen, I think you said a lot there. And I think a little bit, I think just to highlight, but we are grateful. We're grateful for the manufacturers we represent. And, you know, if they...
53:10
If we're blessed with them watching this and taking the time to watch you and I ramble a bit about some of the things we've learned over the years, I'd want them to lay down at night and say, hey, they do appreciate that we're partnered with them. That goes with our distribution partners and our customers. You and I both have had some absolute phenomenal customers, just people that we just really thought a lot of and blessed. I think we're blessed with the manufacturers.
53:40
It's like a little brotherly relationship. If we push back a little, at the end of the day we're pushing. That's especially for me. One of my issues is, I mean, I just, I don't lie. Sometimes I let a little bit of my mother comes out of me and I talk too much, maybe share a little too much, whatever, but it's all in passion. And to all of our manufacturers.
54:06
That's why we do what we do. We're passionate about what we sell. We're passionate about our customers, the relationships, the company. Well, and you and I've talked about emotions is what drives decisions. Yeah. We've looked at facts, right? We've looked at what we do. We understand there's pressure from organizations to make change because maybe the numbers aren't where they need to be.
54:31
But I can tell you the one thing I promise our manufacturers, and I know you and I are both the same way, that we're going to work our tails off. And you won't find anybody else that's going to get in that ditch and slug it out any better than we will. And that's the expectation of the team. And I know the team takes that with an honor, really. And we're going to fight and try to do what's right to be the best rep they could hire. Well, perfect. That sums it up. Appreciate it so much.
54:58
Thanks to him, it's always good. Thank you, Brad. Congratulations on your continued success. Hey, you know, who would have ever thought, right? I know there's movie roles coming. I mean, I know they're there and they're coming. They just haven't reached out yet. So I'm confident you're going to be famous. A friend of mine bought me a little sign for my desk. It says, I'm a pretty big deal. So. I believe that from the first day I met you. Yeah, who would have thought? But you know, this is such a fun thing for me to do. I get to learn so much about, you know, the manufacturers we work for and all the different groups.
55:28
meet new people and I mean it's just it's great so I'm lucky to do it. All I can say is nice job. Thank you. All right thanks.
55:39
Thanks again for joining us on Power of the Network and a special thanks to Brett Cooper for joining us as well. I think it's pretty obvious the passion, the work ethic, and everything that Brett puts into what he does at CBM and both of the teams that he leads. And thanks again, Brett, for everything you do for us. If you're needing help on a project, you need expert advice, or if you have a line that you need some representation for,
56:09
Look no further than CBM. You can reach out to us here at cbmrep.com. If you would like comment, subscribe, let us know what you'd like to see on future episodes. As always, thanks for joining us on Power the Network. And until next time, we'll see you next time.
