00:00
Pat, it's great to have you on the show today. Thank you so much for joining us. We're here at Matt's in Kansas City, great regional trade show for us, Mid-American Telecom Seminar and Showcase. I feel like I have to say that every time, but it's a mouthful, but it's a great regional show. We got folks from Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas. Not sure if I've left anybody out, but it's a great place for us to get together with many of our...
00:27
many of our customers and also have all of our great manufacturers here in one lineup. So thank you for joining us. What's your, what's your take been of the day? We're getting late in the day. Yeah. Well, so that's actually the question I have because this is my first time here. So I'm just kind of curious as to what your feeling is in terms of the, how busy it is, how many people are here. Yeah. I would say probably average. Over the years, maybe there's been a little decline in, in
00:56
folks, but you know, it's been a pretty strong show for us, you know, over the years. Certainly one of the better ones in our territory. One of those things like, I mean, you have to be here. We've got a lot of customers here that we serve in and we love being here for them. So, you know, I feel like it's been a good day. A lot of opportunities coming. I've kind of been in this seat most of the day, but you know, from what I get from the rest of the team, I think it's been a pretty good day. So.
01:24
Yeah, I mean, we've had traffic in the booth. You know, to be honest, we've got a lot of penetration in the market. So in terms of being people who've never heard of us, there's not much of that. But there are still there's competitors out there and people that are using competitive products. So it's nice to get to talk to some of those customers and find out what we could do that might help them look our way a little more. So tell me about your background. You've been with Polywater a long time, but more on the utility side.
01:51
Yeah, well the electrical side in general. So at Polywater we have in the US basically two big divisions. One's going to be electrical, which includes both power utility as well as a contractor industrial market. So both of those markets. Those are together and then there's the communications division. Yeah. So I've been on the electrical side covering the western US for nine years basically. And...
02:18
Then this role, my predecessor here, moved to a newly created senior role in the company. And so this opened up and I was asked to jump over to the communication side. Yeah, were you hesitant? Did you? No, not really. I mean, because Jake, the predecessor, did such a great job. He's helped build the division, put together a lot of things, fixed a lot of things that needed to be fixing, and kind of set it up for success. So now it's my role to really help grow it from there.
02:48
I'm feeling pretty good about it. Yeah, that's great. And when did this transition take place? August 1st was my start day. Cheated a little bit and started a little bit earlier because there was the Fiber Connect show that made sense to attend. So yeah, right in there. That was a good show? That was a good show. I mean, for me, it's like, it's still a little bit like drinking from a fire hose where there's a lot of new information. In terms of the products that we represent and what they do and how they perform and where their fit is,
03:18
That's pretty easy for me because not a lot is different However, the people are different. That they go to business. is how in the communication side, see a lot of that on the electrical side because
03:47
PG&E. They're still way more regional. They're just in Northern California. Yeah. So you don't have reps covering some here and some there. And some of those little. That has been a challenge, you know, recently, you know, a lot of our telcos, as they either buy up properties, you know, we see people buying up properties in other states or just frantically growing across the country. It, you know, as a rep and as a manufacturer, it does create challenges in terms of
04:18
you know, who's responsible for what, who's getting credit for what, you know, and it just changes the dynamic a little bit. Yeah, it creates a lot of, sometimes it smooths things out. Sometimes it works to your favor, but a lot of times if there are little pain points come about because you're right, who gets credit for what and who's gonna represent this. And we...
04:42
We try to rely on some distribution partners to help us out with point of sale reports and some information about the sales they're making so we can make intelligent decisions as to who gets credit for what and so on. Which is easier said than done. Yeah, absolutely. And from our perspective, we try to do what's right for the company. The details of work out on the watch, right? I think so, I mean.
05:08
Like I said, we work pretty hard to make sure the right credit's going to the right place and so on. And sometimes we get it right and sometimes we might get it wrong. I think it goes though, it comes around, goes around. And in the end, most of our rep agencies, I think are part of the team and understand that. So, I'm glad you touched on that. So even though you were kind of covering the other markets, if you will, you've still got a long history of working with reps. Right? So.
05:38
just to kind of help us all out. What really brings value to you as a manufacturer from a rep? Well, I mean, so here's one thing that's hard is when we're in a market making sales calls, that rep is 100% for the most part focused on polywater, right, so we're getting that mind share at that time.
06:00
What we don't always know is what kind of mind share we're getting when we're not present. Of a person. Yeah. And so how well is that agency honing their pitch so that they're pitching polywater while they're talking about some other complementary products. And it's interesting because I can look at different agencies and sometimes when there's common manufacturers that they represent. So for instance, with the PLP that we're sitting next to their booth there.
06:29
Maybe if we're with a rep that has PLP that that might be how we always find success for some reason so But what I think that is is that's where a rep agency has these you know pretty reputable big lines That that's gonna be a good agency. Yeah, you know I try to see it from different perspectives You know one of the things that I that I feel like a rep can bring value and just like you mentioned So it's that breadth of the line card
06:57
you know, maybe what we're doing isn't, maybe you're not the first guy to get your foot in the door, but because we're able to get in there with X, now we can talk about Y and Z. And that's why I think it's so important for us as a rep that all of our folks understand that, you know, Dan Lavac with PLP kind of coined the phrase, you know, STP, sell the package, you know, and we have to be able to do that on every sales call, you know, as deep down the line card as we can.
07:27
Yeah, and in the line card, I think it's not always how many lines are on the card. It's the diversification of it. Because our product line is really unique in that you can use this in all different parts of the company, in lots of different parts of the company. And we need, we thrive when we have a rep whose line card gets them into different areas of a service provider. Yeah. You know, and as a rep, it's obviously tougher and tougher every day to, you know,
07:57
we obviously don't look to have competitive products. And that's something we pride ourselves on not doing, but as manufacturers try to get into the next best thing, you know, maybe a me too, we want to do this too, we want to do that too, you know, it becomes a challenge and we have to make some tough choices in terms of what can we do, you know? Sometimes we get in a tough position. Yeah, I mean, we do have some competitors, not a lot of them.
08:22
So it's not a really common thing that we have an agency that has a conflict that we have to work out. But when it does, it seems like the agency kind of realizes, well, the strong part of this line is this part, and so that's the part we really represent, and the strong part of this line is this part, and that's the part we're pushing. And hopefully, you're getting more guidance on that strong part. So we can provide more tools, more leads, more...
08:52
expertise in the part of the line that makes sense for you. Yeah. Where the most opportunity is. Yeah, and at the end of the day, I think conversation, relationships, I mean, that goes a long way in sorting out things. What's one thing that you'd like to see reps do better? Well, I guess let me put it this way. I have some reps that do some things really great that I wish other reps would emulate. For example.
09:21
For example, just follow up and proactive communication with me. I think a lot of agencies have this perception that it's incumbent on me to reach out to them to keep that relationship going. And I feel like, you know, when you never call me or have any questions for me, I have a hard time believing you're spending a lot of time representing me. So that's something that I notice when people are communicating and have questions.
09:51
that at least then know they're out selling the line. You want to know that you're paying for their mind share. Right. Yeah. And I think that's, I'm glad you said that, because that's something that all reps can do better. And I think that's something that certainly we can improve on. But we've kind of had a setup where we'll have one of our team members be a product champion, if you will, for each one of the lines that we represent. And
10:19
And hopefully through that product champion, we do have better communication flow. Sometimes what I worry about though with that is now you've got, you know, we've got what, seven, eight folks in our communication group, and you've got one guy that you hear from all the time. Does that help or does that hurt your impression of the other guys that you don't hear from? So just trying to learn and see how can we better communicate with our factories and keep those lines of communications.
10:49
Well, if you look at a positive and a pro and a con, let's say, the pro side of having that one point of contact is I then know that I've got a subject matter expert on their team. I know who I need to get in touch with when I, because your customers don't just call you. Yeah. They call us. Yeah. So I know I have a point of contact when a...
11:13
an issue or an opportunity presents itself, I know who to go to as a point of contact. And I generally, there's a better relationship with that person so you can trust it. On the other hand, then you don't have that relationship with the rest of the team. And so that's the- That's something I'd like to see our folks get better at. I think we do, you know, I'm not going to sit here and say we're perfect. We're not, nobody is. But I think, you know, if we can improve, do one thing better, it's improving that-
11:41
communication back to our factories. I think everybody's got to take ownership of their own territory and reach out to all of our manufacturers and do a better job. So that's really ultimately at the end of the day, you want to know that we're working for you, got your interests in mind. Yeah, and I think our job as manufacturers as we work with the reps is, well, is to make it as easy as possible. So when I say that, what I mean is,
12:11
Line A that you represent, manufacturer A, might bring in a whole lot of commission dollars. And it might take a whole lot of time and be very difficult. Line B might not bring in near as much money. I would say a line like ours is not going to be your anchor line. However, then it's important for us to make it as easy as possible for you to work with us in terms of we don't want you to have customer service issues because we shipped something wrong.
12:40
We don't want there to be billing issues with a customer. We want to make sure we're paying your commissions properly. We want to be the subject matter expert and the people you know you can call when you need an answer so that we're easy to work with. And that's how we try to get more money. I think you guys have done a great job of that. Understanding your position. Everybody wants to be the big dog on the line card. There's room for one on top. But understanding your position in terms of that order.
13:10
And you guys have done a great job of that, but your support has been incredible. I don't think I've ever been denied, you know, a request for samples or any product information or any support in the field or anything like that. So, you know, I commend you guys for understanding that and also, you know, applying that. It's done a great job with that. Awesome. Well, thanks again, Pat, for joining us. You know, your relationship to us is very important. And just wanted to...
13:39
kind of give you a shout out and highlight you guys a little bit today. Well, I appreciate that. And CBM has been important to us as well. I mean, that's a great relationship we have and you guys are some of our favorites. So we appreciate it. Awesome. Thanks again. All right. Thanks.
