Hi, and welcome back to power the network on your host Tim Locker Vice President of Broadband here at CBM. We've got part two here with John Gaggy, Vice President of Business Development, Network Infrastructure Solutions for Enersis. If you haven't seen part one, please go back and and look at that latest episode. But we'll get into the second part of our conversation with John today. Thanks for joining us again. Let's take a little shift here. Core values fundamental beliefs that really drive decisions, really kind of define who you are as a person, who you are as a company. What are some of your key beliefs and how do they tie in to Enersis? Yeah, so I think for me, I bounced around a lot. So I was in the sales role about seven, eight years ago, and then there was an opportunity that I couldn't resist in operations. I'll just be honest. I didn't want to do it. I didn't want to be there. I probably would say I fought it for six months, and it was probably close to a year. You know what? If you're going to do something, be good at it. It was really doubling down on that and understanding where I want to go. And I won't worry with all of them, but I took some time and said, what's most important to me? What's happening? So I wrote down five things in life. One of the first ones for me is, I love to laugh, right? If you can't find humor and stuff, then it's just a drag. So that's a really, really important thing for me is the laughter and the levity of what's going on. That doesn't mean that, you know, I struggle with that sometimes. I'm the same way, but sometimes I don't know into, like, keep it to myself. So jokes at a funeral sometimes are not appreciated, but it can happen. But the other is, I want to do better or learn something new every day, and that sounds very exotic, like flying an airplane or doing, but sometimes it's just something different. I'm like, oh, it didn't know I can use AI for that or didn't know that I don't have to use my key to open my car, that side of things. The other is make a difference, right? And whatever that is. And I'm going to use yesterday at Chicago as the example. It was, it was Bedlam. I mean, people were just running all over, but something as small as like holding the door for the lady, so she can get out with her kid that went to the bathroom or, hey, let me help you with that stroll or you know what? You can use your overhead bin. I'll do this. And it just, it's little stuff, but I don't know. It makes me feel better that that's okay. And you know, one of the last ones that's buried in there is just the people side of it. Everybody's a person. And whether you know, you're a Christian or a church person with the, you know, the footprints on the sand, two feet or four footprints, and it's only two. I, you know, why won't you there? I was carrying you. All that, it's just somebody's having a bad day, and that's a bad day for them. It shouldn't be you don't have the right to judge somebody for it. And it may be important that their plant died, or you know, somebody very dear to them died. It's just the bad day. I don't, at the same point in time, your bad day doesn't need to be everybody else's, but I think just that human aspect of it, everybody's got to leave their job and go home and do something else. And I, to me, when I worked in the factory in Kentucky, you know, people are wearing respirators and everything else. And it's a small town. So I'd be out after work. They come up like, hey, Mr. G, how you doing? I'm like, you know, yeah, I don't know who you are, Tim, but, you know, let's figure it out. But it's just, they were proud. Good to see you, pal. Yeah, exactly. I can't look at your badge. Yeah, I can't look at your name and see who you are, but it's, it's, it's important that you're important to somebody or somebody might know you. And as a father of a bunch of girls, they're, you know, women in the industry in any industry are typically smaller. So it's easier to remember that one person than it is to remember everybody else that's there. So I think with the higher in the organization, you get and somebody will recognize a Tim Locker walk in the room and you got to be like, oh, man, is it good? And I remember you are like, what happened there? But it's, people are important. And everybody's got their own, you know, stuff they're carrying around, everything that makes them feel smart. And sometimes, you know, buying that cup of coffee or that extra beer for, for four or five bucks out of your pocket makes somebody's day. And I think that's really cool. And that's, let's you sleep at night, at least so let's me sleep at night to say, you know what? I did not everything I could do, but it's, I'm on the right track of this thing here. Yeah. Now that makes a lot of sense. I think we have a lot in common based on, based on those answers. You know, entersists, we've seen a bunch of different leaders over over the years at entersists. But one thing that I find in common and you included is, I mean, there's some very, very good speakers. What's, I mean, what's obviously is a bunch of practice, a bunch of effort going into that. But how did you get to be so good, you know, up on stage and, you know, Sean O'Connell, I've heard him talk to and he's incredible. What's the secret to be in so good on stage? So I love Sean, we'll start with that, right? He's a linguist. Okay. So he knows more words and you can imagine, right? And so he cheated. He studied for that stuff. How did I get this? We went to, we did a family trip. We went to Ireland and we went to the Blarneystone and we get up there. My wife is like, I think you should skip because she didn't even learn how to talk anymore or otherwise. But I, I think it's just the comfortableness of it. And, and if you have to try hard, you're probably talking about something you shouldn't. And, you know, my mom was one, we're, it was simple stuff, which is two years one mouth. Listen twice as much as you talk. And I, I learned it many, many years ago, you know, you might be sitting around with a bunch of friends or family and somebody starts telling jokes. And instead of listening to the joke, you're thinking of the joke you're going to tell. You're not actively engaged. It's just kind of like settle down. Your time will come around for it. So I think it's really listening to what's happening and just being comfortable with what you're talking about. And sometimes I don't know is a, is a great, great answer. Just go, you know, I don't know, tell me more about that stuff. So a little bit of humility, which coming from my voices or my mind is people turn over and they hear that. But it's really just, you know, I've always got a story to tell. Let them tell it. And then explaining it back is I think it's got to be relatable. It shouldn't really be condescending or otherwise. It's just, you know, somebody's asking you a question should help them figure it out. Yeah. We, we just got my son married off and my daughter who was 14, you know, she was in the wedding party. And so she had to get up and give a speech about her brother. And she's always been super, super nervous, you know, talking in front of a crowd. I was real proud of her. She did, she did incredible. I think, you know, just taking that breath and understanding like these people aren't here to hurt you, you know, and I think that's that's a big part. So you know, when you stand on stage in front of however many people had a salesman or otherwise, it's, it's number one to cap the audience. Number two, it's, it's not like roadhouse or they're start throwing beers and meatballs or anything else at you. And I think honesty and being genuine is an important part of it is, you know, you've probably got something to impart. Hopefully it's good. And as long as you're not killing them with 58 PowerPoint slides and there's something that's actionable out of it, I think it, it makes a difference. But so I don't know, my wife would tell me shut up. You talk to me. She's got many car rides to listen to me babble on about things. For me, this podcast has obviously helped a little bit. You know, I don't feel like I'm a great speaker by any means. But, you know, what I like about it is, you know, I'm not a data center expert. So I get to prepare and try to learn what I can about it, you know, for a conversation like this. So it does kind of push me in some different or uncomfortable directions. But I get to meet so many different people. Sure. So that's what that's what I really enjoy about doing this. It's really helped just having a conversation. You know, nobody likes it. But the reality of it is you're better at what you practice. Okay. And nobody likes practicing, because practice is a pain. But the more you do it, the easier it gets. And I go back. I love people. So reading a room and understanding what's happening. And, you know, there'll be time. But I'm like, ooh, I'm on to something. And I get a hand of my name. She's like, just, just, just stop. Let it go. This is going to go good. I've got just the perfect off color comment that is either going to crack this open. And we're going to be best friends. Or, you know, it's going to go the wrong way. And sometimes it goes the wrong way. But it's, it's that, that comfort in throwing, you know, I'm not going to assault, insult, attack, or otherwise, you just just have a conversation. It works. Yeah. You know, there used to be, you know, you used to hear the advice of, you know, imagine everybody in their underwear or whatever. But so we had a little event. Maybe I shouldn't say this off color is probably true. But so I had to get up. You know, we had a bunch of customers come in this little, it was kind of like in a hotel conference room. So not a great big room. Probably 25, 30 customers in there. And it was a training slash kind of product demo. And so the room's just quiet. And I got all these faces just staring up at me like, you know, what are you going to do for me? And so I just, my icebreaker was, I said, so I guess this is the part where everybody just imagines me naked, right? You know, a couple, you can hear like the, you know, the whole tone in the room changes. But you know, I think just breaking that ice, you know, and for me, like even going back to my son's wedding, you know, I had to get up and give a little speech. And it's like, okay, just take a breath. And then what I wanted to do is come across strong and proud. I, you know, so I had a loud voice, you know, very direct, not, you know, I didn't want to be meek and timid. Just come across and own it, you know, is what what I tried to do. But what's some of the best sales advice you've ever received? So I think, ask for the order. That's a big one. There are so many times, why is that so hard to do for people? It is uncomfortable. There's a new one that we have, and I'm sharing with my team, and you get it, but it doesn't, which is share of wallet, okay? I don't need to know how much business you're doing. I don't want to count your money. I just want to know where am I in the list of stuff that you do, right? And we ask that now. And literally, some of my top sales leaders are like, oh, you can tell how uncomfortable it is. But it's, I think it's a very valid question, okay? So let's say you're a manufacturer's rep, and you get 10 things on your line card, right? We are 10%. Okay, that's good. Now of that 10%, which is batteries, how much of the spend am I? Oh, it's acceptable. I'm 10% of that, or I'm 90% of that. If you tell me zero or 100, you're probably lying, because we wouldn't be sitting here right now if it was. But that's okay. And then I had some customers say, you're 80, 85%, I go, okay, and we're done. And then afterward, he grabs me by the shirt tails and goes, okay, is that okay? Is that a right answer? I go, it doesn't matter the answer, right? How do I become 100, right? That's where I want to want to get to, but I'll use my McDonald's example. Again, sometimes Taco Bell or Burger King is okay. I don't need 100% and you're almost foolish for that because then you're not telling me where I could do better or anything else. So that's a tough one. Ask for the order. What's your share of wallet? And listen, listen, listen, listen. I've been in some coming back into this role. I said, okay, give me the slide deck. We're going out to see customer racks and there's 140 slides. You're like, oh, hold on. Nobody cares, right? We've got to get to what is their need and how can we help solve that problem for them? Because you probably have 90 seconds to maybe five minutes to say what's going on. And you've got to get that quickly to go, that's where it is. And yeah, and for me, I think one would be questions. And you kind of touched on that, you know, a couple of questions there, but like that's what I'm trying to get our folks to do too is just ask so many questions. Figuring out the need. You can't figure out the need if you're not asking the question. Yeah. And the thing that doesn't make sense is you've got to solve a problem that people don't know that they have. Nobody needed satellite radio, but once you get it, you're like, that's pretty cool, right? Nobody needed an iPhone. Once you have it, it got rid of your roll of decks, your flashlight, your count, like all that other stuff went away. So at what point do you listen and solve a problem? And what point do you push something to go? This is what you actually need on that side. You're absolutely right. We had one years ago, we went in, it was a big UPS OEM, and we were talking all kinds of crazy things. And we finished the meeting and take off our jacket. We go in the back and literally sit at the guys desk and they pull out a sandwich and you know, they're kind of just real casual sitting around. I said, what else can we do for you? And I was an engineer at the time. And he said, you know, we really need a battery that can, I need you to change rates on a flooded product to do bubble-bubble. It birthed the whole new Thinplay PureLED UPS battery, right? And he was like, you're kidding me. I'm like, yeah, we have, we have engine start batteries here. If we put those together in a higher voltage string, it can do, and he was like, oh my God, you just save me from football fields of batteries to cabinetize. And it was just listening on a casual conversation that he didn't know he needed it and we didn't know that we had it. So it does make a difference of listening and asking questions. One of the guys I used to work for too, one of his one of his advices was, you know, make that extra effort. You know, it's Friday afternoon and you're wanting to get home. And his, he had one story in particular where he's like, well, I'm going to stop off at, you know, this phone company and see Bob, you know, and four o'clock on the Friday, you know, he sold another machine because of that one extra little bit of effort. Yeah, there's one. So you go back to the, you know, work at home's a big thing, right? How many days you have to be in the office or what do you need to do? You, I hope it comes around because you don't know what you're missing if you're not in front of people, right? So I, when I'm not traveling, I'm in the office three or four days a week and it's talking to our new VP of finance. It's talking to the customer service people. It's, it's just having that interaction when they go, oh, Jack, he's a jerk, but he's okay for this. Like, you know, they might not see the full picture of who you are or what's going on. And you get to have interactions and opportunities with people that is a competitive advantage both in the workplace and also in just career advancement, right? I get to sit with Keith Fisher on way too many one-on-one meetings, which are we're walking to the bathroom or we're walking to the coffee station or we're doing something else. And it's just you have that, that, and I say the word intimacy, but you have that intimacy and just know that everybody's a person, nobody's really out to be mean evil or otherwise, but they're, they've got a job to do. And if you could help them do that job, it works. And it makes it, it makes it a lot better. So it's, that's really an important part of it is, is understanding how to, how to piece that together and, and show up and not sell yourself short. Okay? So there's, look, Fridays, my team knows there's no bad news on a Friday. Okay? And I would prefer to see everybody get your 40 hours of work done by 10 a.m. on a Friday. And then you do what you want. Be available for a cell phone if I need you, be available for the customer that calls you. But that really leads in the other part, which is don't cut, don't sell yourself short. Right? So if you're working three days a week in the office, and you're really not working on Monday and Friday, because those are your doctor appointments or those are your running your kids around and doing otherwise, you're not putting in the right time. Right? You do that to what we said or couple that with what we said earlier, which is making it look easy. Those old timers, they can probably get 40 hours of work done in 10 hours a week. Okay? But the new guy, you might need 70 because you got to work much harder to understand where it comes from and how it works and what buttons to push. So I think that's very hard because even, even, even our kids will sit back and go, yeah, it's not fair, Mr. G. You know, I haven't seen you work past three on a Friday and months. Like, yeah, did you see me up at six? Distalking Chicago yesterday on a Saturday morning. Well, you guys are running around and playing with the dog and I'm trying to hack out and get something else done. So it's, it work has got a flow. You know, the next thing I would say is work life balance. What is a work life balance? There's no balance. Work is life and life is work. And it, it, all our kids, the five kids, what we do, it affords the lifestyle that they leave, whether it be the universities, they attend, the cars they drive and everything else. And it's really embedded into that. And you know, my kids, they all know they'll be on the phone and I'm like, Hey, I'm in the car. They'll be like, Oh, well, isn't it true, shouldn't so and so do I go, thank you, the experts, right? Just doing this a while. So I don't know. Yeah. So it is interesting to bridge that gap of you can't look at me and judge the hours I work or the work that I get done on where you're at. You can't come in and expect a multimillion dollar territory. You need to do the work and you need to know what works and what doesn't work. That's the other part of it too. It's not, not everything works for every customer. I've got to build your own experiences and absolutely and work your way there. There's nothing more back to the, you know, whether it be talking or otherwise, that training, that, that repetition, that experience is critically important because it's a toolbox. You carry around a toolbox, you go, Oh, I have that tool and I can fix that for you. Why would you have a PEX A crimper? Well, I had to do this before. I know how to make it work and I'm successful. So it's that in life too. I had, I had a good week this week. I got to be around two pretty important people for me. Monday, I left town and I kind of took a different route, not relevant. I had a fish and pole that a rod job that put a couple eyes on. So I stopped and picked it up and went and so I'm kind of coming out of town, stop and get some coffee. I'm just kind of in my zone and I'm walking into the store and this guy starts honking. And after like three honks, you know, I'm just like, all right, head down, just trying to, trying to get through. And the guy yells at me and I turn and I look and it's, it's Chris Bar from a commentivators and he's, he's actually been on the podcast before but he's yelling. He's like, how many times am I going to honk? You're just going to walk past, you know, so I go over and I talk to him and Chris is one of those people that like you just can't help but feel good being around him. And it's just interesting how the time I needed that, he happens to pop in and pump me up and get my head right, you know, and there he was. So so that was pretty cool. And then we played, we had a golf outing this week for a distributor and I, I played with another customer who was 20 years ago an old boss of mine. And he knows me, and you know, I'm, I'm not really hard to read, you know, and he knows me. And so I'm kind of one of his, one of his missions in life, I would say to, you know, to make Tim better. And so I got to spend a day with him and, and let him mentor me a little bit too. So that was, it's just neat. But I look at those two guys and it makes me want to be better, you know, and have that, if I can have an impact on somebody's life like Chris Bar does, you know, that would be, that would be a win for me. It's, you know, people are people. That's, that's, go back to some of the other stuff you asked earlier. People are people and it's very rare. You'll find somebody who you go, boy, that's, I didn't expect that. And, and I've had the pleasure in my personal professional career. And I could go on hours and hours about these stories where I'll give you this one. So I'm with a friend of mine, another mentor in the industry is like, come on down and we go down to his place and two guys, you know, he's got a big boat. We're sleeping on the boat and he goes, hey, tomorrow you want to go, we're going to meet somebody. Yeah, okay. So we're out on this other guy's boat and these people hadn't been out. It's in Florida. So I'm tying lines and, you know, fixing birds and eston things. They never, never been on a boat, let alone deep sea fish. So we're fixing it all and we're done. And it was good. I didn't fish in this guy. The owner of the boat's like, hey, thanks so much and et cetera, et cetera. We'll go back next morning. We have breakfast at this greasy spoon. And we're hanging out like it was with your neighbor otherwise. Yeah. We get done and it turns out, you know, these guys are multi, multi millionaires and you'd never know. They're just normal people that are there. And through my Odyssey experience, we've got race guys, you know, whether it be Tanner Faust or Rutledge Wood or Brian Deegan. And these are people that people line up in line to get autographs for. And my wife and I were at a seamish show, the car show in Vegas and Rutledge Wood, it was a really good family friend of ours. And he's standing in line at the Magnaflow. And we walk up and there's a line that's all the way around the show. And I'm like, we're not going to bother him. Meanwhile, the guy's second in line is like, hey, buddy, the line's over here. You know, he can't button. I'm like, no, no, no, no, I'm okay. I'm okay. And Rutledge around looks like this. He's like, oh my god, gagging Maria, come over here. So he come out and gives us hugs and everything. And this guy in the line is just pissed because it's like his turn to come up there. And I'm like, oh my god, it's so good to see it and everything else. So, you know, I got to do the off-color fuel. So I grabbed his poster and I signed my autograph on it. It goes, oh, thank you so much. This guy has no idea who I am. But it's just, you know, people are people. They got a job to do, whether you're a sports broadcaster or an NFL quarterback, it's, you know, don't be a jerk, be nice to people and it'll probably come back to you. The high roads are a good place to be. And sometimes it's real frustrating. There's been times I want to stab a tire or two, but you know that the high road gets you through it. Yeah. No, I think I think you showed that very well too. You know, for me, when we first started this podcast a couple of years ago, you know, there's, I mean, I'm interviewing people that are, you know, leaps and bounds ahead of me. And so that could be intimidating. But I mean, you're, you make it easy. Yeah, it's, it's all on paper. You know, they all go home and they do the same stuff we do. Yeah, someone's getting yelled at because you didn't take the trash out or he cooked the steak too much or otherwise it's, it's all the same people. Yeah, that's awesome. Powering the network starts with strong partnerships. At CBM, we connect broadband, utility, and commercial industrial customers across the Midwest with best-in-class manufacturers and solutions. As a hundred percent employee owned company, we're invested in every connection and every success. If you need help with a project or looking for a quality rep firm in the Midwest, reach out to us here at CBMREP.com. Talk a little bit about, we touched on it a little bit, but you talk about your strategy to market. You know, CBM, we've been a rep. We went back and looked at it. I heard this. It was chloride power electronics in 1988 when, when we started working for, for rentersists. That's great. Talk about your strategy and the value of reps, the value of the bars and how we cover the market so well and actually get to the product to the end user. So, I think it's a great question. The timing is perfect on it because I won't say that we, we were doing things the same way for a while and it was begging for a refresh. And I'll, for brevity, it's everything we spoke about so far. So, when you look at that, we can't have sales people in every corner, right? It's just impossible. You can't. So, you need to work with, with other people who are out there, whether it be reps, manufacturers, I'm sorry, manufacturers reps, bars or otherwise. The second part of it is, nobody's taking meetings anymore, right? The doors lock, like getting in here this morning. The doors lock. So, if you're in there and I can help fill out your line card and you're selling them, I don't care if it's a safety cone and then you're going to sell them in a solution, that's great. But if you have the FaceTime and you've asked the right questions and you understand what your customer needs are and you can put that together, that's silly for me to try and have somebody else make a brand new meeting and come in and do it. So, if I back out of that and then say, what's our route to market and how does this work? From my mind and what I'm pushing our team for is it's a three-legged stool. Okay, so three-legged stools don't wobble and I like a bar, so that's a good place to be, right? But those three legs are one of direct salespeople, right? Sometimes you got to deal with the manufacturer, you want to know what's going on. The other is the OEMs. Okay, the OEMs, we need to be in front of the OEMs and say that they want to purchase from us and OEMs and end users, big customers. So, Verizon's Facebook, whomever that may be. And then the last part is just what you mentioned. Those manufacturers reps, the bars, anybody that's in there. So, you know what, if I've got two or three people saying, I like Enersis, the third probably comes along. And sometimes it's much different way. So, I might go out to a data center guy and say, hey, my lithium is the best solution in the world. And then I've got a consulting engineer who's also in the middle of that and they go, you know what, I really like the solution that's there. But the OEM doesn't have it approved. Guess what? It's pretty hard for them to go, no. And it just puts you up higher in the list to make it all happen. So, I think it's balanced. And again, I use the word arrogance, but you've got to have the right solution for that. And then you get to have people that are working with you. And I really feel it's direct sales people. It's our reps, partners, bars that are out there. And then it's those end users that say, you know what, I want Enersis in here and make it work. So, how does it work as an ex-stage of it? You guys now have a hunting license at a utility because I've already approved it with them, right? And I've already worked with a general contractor that, you know, XYZ general contractor says, yeah, I've got Enersis on my book. Okay, cool. Put those together and now we're often running on it. So, that's really how we try and deploy our assets to make sure that we cover the big rocks, we get you the hunting license, we tell you which field has got the grouse in it, which field has a deer in it, and then you guys decide, you know, where you're going to go out there and do it. And oh, by the way, we're going to make the products that you're going to use for this and make sure that they're effective and they work. And, you know, it's not a me two thing anymore. I think it's got to be differentiation. And you mentioned the word var, value added reseller. The value added is really important. Yeah. I had a discussion yesterday while I was sitting in the airport with our team. And we've got somebody who wants us to do, customer wants us to do something, which I don't think we provide a lot of value in. And that therapy of going through it with our team, I'm like, there's no reason for this person to buy it from us. Why would they do it? And we had to go through that think of, okay, well, it's going to be this and it could turn into this and it could turn into that and I go, that's what you put it together. Make sure the customer knows that that's what we want to do because there's no value for us to just take one thing and make it go the other way. We've got to say there's a bigger value to this and we're here to help you win this. Yeah, I think customers really notice when, because there's a difference in how you come across, but if you're there to just make a sale versus look, we're here for a long time. We want to be the solutions provider, help you win. I think they definitely receive that message. I listen in the world of e-commerce, okay. It's easy to just go on there and go click, click, click, send it to me and I'm good. But there's a hardware store down my street that I know if I need something to think about it and I walk it in and an old guy comes out and goes, what do you need? I go, here's what I'm looking to do. You know, that's not that smart. I go, let's ignore the smarts. Can we do that? And then before you know, we've got some Rube Goldberg machine that solves the problem I have at the house. So it's important to have that relationship and understanding because it is more than just, I go buy a quarter of 20 nuts and bolts anywhere. I need something more to this help me solve it. Yeah. Now, that's a great example. You know, for us too, you know, we have multiple manufacturers that we work for. It's interesting just kind of getting inside and understanding the mentality of each manufacturer. And so many of them, sometimes can be narrow-minded. And that like this, like I want you only thinking about EnterSys, like we want all of your minds here. And I understand that thought process, but it surprises me how many times, you know, manufacturer A benefits from manufacturer B from our customer relationships where, you know, our goal is to get in and sell the package and having that dynamic line card with all the different options is really a benefit for, you know, you guys in all of our manufacturers. Do you guys see it that way? Or are you still, we want 100% of your mindset? No, so I think you're absolutely right because no one does anything 100% anymore, right? I mean, you go to a pizza shop, you still want a hamburger, right? You got to round that all out. And it's important and some of the bars and the reps that we deal with, that's what they have. They've got, they are the person for that utility or for that, you know, installation or otherwise. And we need to leverage that. You need to understand it, you need to respect it and you need to feed it because nobody wants to buy just that one thing. And it's funny. You said, what are some of the things that drive the organization? Where we run on a fiscal year, so our fiscal started April 1st and we're doing goals and objectives and everything else. And there's a world, I'll be a little dramatic now, right? That you go in and you say, ooh, I need a solution for this. We'll, okay, here's your battery rack, here's your spill containment, here's your, you know, blah, and there's 25 things that put that all together. Yep. Guess what Tim, they're all the same 25. And that engineer you're sitting in front of probably doesn't want to listen to it. He's not going to look at it. He just wants solution A. So the long story longer on that is I think we should have packaged solutions. That arc, here he art, it's done. And maybe you get something that's a little bigger than what you need, right? But it's going to be easy. Now you don't have to worry about what faster somebody forgot the connector, somebody forgot to, but just say, this is your standardized solution and you're good to go. And, you know, again, I want to, I want to pepperoni pizza and I show up and it's not there. All right, I'll take a slice of plain because it's available and I'm good. And that that's the difference. So you're absolutely right. We have to respect that nobody wants to buy just a breaker from nobody wants to buy just an enclosure for him. But if you put all that stuff together, now it's something to do. So it'd be foolish, in my opinion, and boldly stated, it's foolish for any manufacturer to go, I need 100% of your mind share because nobody else has it. They just don't care. So what wrapped us up here, but a couple things, two things. What are you excited about, you know, over the next three to five years? And what does the wind look like? So let me go excited for us. I'll hit that one. So excited is I think we're going to see a resurgence, I'm going to talk industry for us and I'll come back to industry. I think we're going to see a resurgence in the energy infrastructure inside of the the US, right? I just think that it's aging. And again, whether you're green or not green, whether you're coal, clean natural gas or nuclear, I just think that has to get more robust and reliable on that side. So I think that's going to drive a bunch of new thinking and etc. So could it be solar, could it be renewables? I don't know, but you still need all the interconnections that are there. What we've seen a couple of years ago down in Texas, where the grid collapsed, right? That's real. What you're seeing in the Northeast, and it's just those people are like, uh-oh, what do we do? So that I think that's going to be great. And when you drive around, at least where I'm at, you've got new high voltage lines that are going in. They're putting them taller, they're putting higher voltage on it, thicker wires and etc. etc. So I think that's one that is going to be a resurgence on that side. So all that stuff in there, that's growth area. I think the industrial side of things is there too. Again, non-political, but I think you're going to see more manufacturing come back to the states. And I think that's going to drive the need for the stuff that we do every day. How to make it smarter, how to make it better and etc. And it's not the stuff from the 70s, right? The efficiencies are much higher. The equipment is much more sensitive. What we talked about on power quality, that's going to come into that. And I think that's really where we're going to see the growth from. The internet of tomorrow and connected activities. When you drive down, you know, the turnpike, and it's got road crash ahead, you know, turn over there. That's all connected, right? So the coverage of everything that's happening and the expectation is there. So I think that that demand for energy is going to keep going back to what we said earlier. Let's not dead. They're going to have nichy markets for where lithium or flow or nickel or salt or all that stuff will go together. For us, we've not really paid a for entersist. We've not paid deep attention to those markets, right? We've been attached to data center because our customers have pulled us into it. So my three-legged stool, there were two legs that were much longer than the other one. We were telling you. Yeah. So now we're trying to balance that out. That's underway. No ours is a key portion of that as well as some of the new products we're launching in template, pure led and et cetera for data centers. But now we're back to that industrial and utility side. All right. It's no secret that oil and gas, you know, is under current regime and presidency is back. So we haven't played a big role in it. I think we can get back into it and there's a need. People are like, holy cow, you woke up. Let's go. That's one. And then on the utility side of things, there's been a lot of aggregation, a lot of consolidation, and they're looking at what's next to. So whether that be, you know, whatever your utility is in a given area, an evergie or that get back in there and go, hey, we're here. We're not just your old battery person anymore. We can provide solutions both as entersists and then through our partners out in the rep and in the VAR network to go, look, this is what else can happen. So what our plan is is to understand those markets, see where they're driving. What solutions can we help develop from that? And then be proactive to say, hey, Tim, look, we think this is what's going on in your industry, or your area. Don't you think we should go call on these? Or do you think this is valid? And be very proactive in the word that my team here's ad nauseam for me is sales enablement, right? How do we enable the sales process? So it's not thanks for your order. What's next? And here's your target. Hey, here's where we think this stuff can go and what we can solve in the industry. And you can show up at that customer and go, hey, thanks for the meeting. Are you guys having problems with this? Let me show you how I can solve that problem for you. And then you know, it's a big tip at the end of the night. You ring the bell and then we're better. So what does a win look like? A win looks like, I don't want to arm wrestle and and be sore and win a deal. I want to have somebody who says, boy, that's a good idea. I didn't know that we could do this. You've helped me do something that I didn't know you could do. And in certain cases, even in social responsibility or green, okay? Yeah. Put a piece of paper on the back of it that says, by the way, our products are the most recycled and done and done. We did this to somebody. He goes, really? I hold on. He goes, I need to have, you know, 10% of my products to be green, certified, whatever it may this. Thank you. Help me check off my golf. He doesn't even know because he's buying dirty, lead acid batteries. So just really getting the picture out there. And again, I say solving a problem that somebody no or doesn't know that they have is critical and then having those people that they're going to call you when the need comes up again because we'll figure out what to do. So it drives revenue. We're a public company drives earnings, okay? But it also gives you that intimacy and that visibility of what's next. And we're in a very growth oriented industry right now and our board of directors has told us, you know, we'll fund you. What do you guys want to go chase? If you're only looking at the same person in the mirror, you don't know what good is, right? You've got to get outside of that and to capture that together. So partnerships, communication, transparency, visibility, and really listening and asking questions. That turns into a win. And it's a long game because sometimes they're not buying today. Like, well, next year, I'm going to be doing this. Okay. It doesn't mean you're target for today, but you're really planting seeds for those wins that come later. Yeah. No, that's a great perspective. That's awesome. Yeah, John, I can't thank you enough for putting in all the effort yesterday, fighting the airport, fighting the storms, and your determination to get in and see us. This has been a great conversation. I appreciate you being here. No, I've promised it to the team for a while, at least to visit. And then you guys started doing the podcast. So I'm happy to be here and share whatever insights I can. So there are probably a couple of lafters and some groans, but at least, oh, it's been good. It's been great. And we're proud to be part of your organization for as long as we have and look forward to continued success. Yeah, I would say that it's good to hear. It's reassuring to hear. We don't want to rest on our laurels. We know that there's work to be done. As you strip off your clothes in a locker room, it gets more and more bear with everything. But one of the questions I asked when I came back about a year ago was, why would anybody want to be rep,var, partner? Why do you want to be part of entersists? Like, what does that do for you? And that's really what we've taken through the team and what we've done with the new hires and with Andy Appell, Kathleen Stott, even the old guys, Joe Miranda on service, John Kim and Ryan Shadok is just understanding what value do we provide? Everybody's got a choice, right? And while they may like you today, it's got to be grounded and based in something. And that's, so what's next for entersists? I think it's that. We're going to double down with the people who like to do business with us, double down to try and help people grow. And when Sean O'Connell took over the organization, I love this one, right? So I was talking to him and I said, what we thought we could do and accept her and he looked at me, he goes, we could be $12 billion. And I was like, oh, I didn't think that, right? And then he shows the plan and you're like, you know, hot damn, we can do this, right? This isn't, this isn't, it's like, how do you want to be a millionaire? Well, 3% raises a year, I'm going to get you there. There's got to be something that's a step change inflection point to make it happen. And that's what we're ready for. So everything that I've said about listening and talking to customers and understanding that, that's what we're looking for from, from our customers, our, our vars, our network, our OEMs to say, you know what? I've got a big problem. I need you guys to do this. And maybe it's lithium and data safe. Maybe it's battery energy storage. Maybe it's, it's, who knows what that is, but that's what we're trying to put together so that it's, it's our success is really tied to your success. Well for us is that communication. So, you know, if there's ever a challenge or an issue with, you know, a manufacturer and a rep, it's always down to communication. You know, perception is reality. You know, if we're not communicating, you don't think we're working. And so for us, it's making sure that we're out there in the streets every day and getting that information back up to you. Messaging is so important because you, you could, years ago was, was it the blue dress, gray dress or something that went out there and everybody was passionate about where it is. You go, yeah, but look, if you do, oh, I see that. Yeah, you're right. So I think it is. It's arming everybody with the stories that we want to tell and the why we want to have it and make sure that it's consistent. And then when you talk to two or three different people, you get the same message, you go, oh, yeah, they're stuff together. This works. So that's the challenge that I have from my team. And I say it's rebuilding, but it's really, it's finessing. It's, it's, it's fixing the table before Thanksgiving dinner. Make sure everything's perfect. Yeah. And then really, you know, double and down to make it happen. Yeah. Well, that's awesome. We look forward to many more years of working with you guys and and we're excited about the future too. I love it. So are we? Thank you for everything you guys have done. Yeah. Thank you. Appreciate it. Sure. Great deal. Just wanted to say thanks again to John for joining us. Thank you for coming back and watching part two of this. It was a great conversation with John. We were really proud of our, our relationship with Enteresys and look forward to being part of the mission going forward. Remember, if you need help with the project or looking for representation here in the Midwest, look no further than CBM. You can find us right here at CBMREP.com. Please like, comment, subscribe. Give us a comment. Let us know what you'd like to see in future episodes. Thanks again for joining us on Power the Network. And as always, until next time, we'll see you next time.
