00:00
Hi, welcome to Power of the Network. I'm your host, Tim Locker, Vice President of Broadband here at CBM. This week, we're going to continue my conversation with Mr. Brett Cooper. He came in and uh changed it up a little bit. So he interviewed me so you all can get to know a little bit more about me and my background. uh Stay tuned and we'll get right into the rest of our conversation.
00:27
You know, I go back and I made some notes here, but you you're really passionate about selling. You were the one that brought in our action selling training. Part of that, when we go through those nine steps, which I know you know really well, you know, part of that is the customer needs to understand who they want to buy from, right? And I think that's important. Give us a little bit of thought. You know, that step two, why people should trust you.
00:56
Why that's important in the business today? Well, know, as much as uh times are changing and you've got all this AI and automation and all this stuff going on, all these new things, people still buy from people. Right. We both agree and believe it. And you know, we might be the old guys kicked out on the street, you know, still believing that, but I think it's true.
01:25
you have to build the relationship, but it's gotta be deeper than just lunch. So many guys, well, I took so and so to lunch. Great. uh I think you have to develop that trust, and it just takes time. your customer needs to believe that when they call on you with a problem or...
01:54
they need a solution or whatever the issue is, that they need to be able to trust that A, you're going to respond, A, you know what you're doing, and you got their best interest, right? For me, it always starts with integrity. You know, one thing I don't do is I don't lie. And then, and I've said that a lot, but I was, I don't remember who was even, it was a podcast I was listening to, but.
02:23
but they proved me wrong, you know, because I do lie to myself. And I think we all do, you whether it's, you know, I'm going to get up in the morning and work out or I'm not going to have that donut or whatever it is, you know, you do lie to yourself. And so I have realized that, but I don't lie. know, honesty is important. think, ah you know, manufacturers are always coming out with new things. oh Doesn't mean it's right.
02:52
you know, for the customer, ah they can sense if you're desperate and if you just need to sell something ah or if you're truly there to help, right? No, look back at your career. How many of the good customers, or every customer is good. Listen, I don't want to make it sound that way, but how many of those customers knew you had two kids, might have even met Sarah along the way, and vice versa, you knew about them? Because our industry doesn't...
03:22
In this particular industry, let's just talk communication a little bit. The turnover is not great. A lot of those folks become technicians, they become the managers. It's a small industry. providers. And so I think it's important. And longevity is important. You and I have talked about that a little bit. Yeah, and those relationships. Your relationships is what does it long-term. Going back to, I'll name drop one here, Steve Scudder, who's well-known in the industry. So I met Steve when...
03:50
when I was leaving McLeod and I was actually going to work for a local electrical contractor on their splicing side. Well, coincidentally, Steve had actually, I was filling his role. He had left that contractor and went to start a splicing group with another guy. And so that was the role I was filling.
04:17
and they were just starting to do work from a cloud. So he knew of me, didn't know me. And so I'm just on my way home one day and I get a call. And he's like, hey, yeah, you don't know me at all, but just give me five minutes, just listen. I okay, who the hell are you, right? So he's like, I know where you're going, and I've been there. like, let me get in. He tells me the pitch, it's like word for word, like he's reading a script. And it kind of, kind of.
04:46
caught a bug in me, it's like, he definitely knows what he's talking about, because he wouldn't just know this without. And so I went in and met with him, and so he hired me to work. And so this was my last splicing gig. And so I worked with Steve for about a year. And when I left there and started selling equipment, he shortly then left and went to work for American Poly One.
05:17
So unbeknownst to me, a couple of years later, I get a call from Steve and he says, hey, a guy's gonna call you and you need to listen to him. And so he had been down uh to interview CBM about being a rep for Polywater. And during that time, uh Larry Robinson at the time was running the communication group and he had mentioned they were looking for somebody in Iowa and Nebraska. And so...
05:46
Based on that relationship, he drops my name. Of course, Larry calls and here we are. uh But then, so Steve, we worked for him at Polywater. uh He's worked for other manufacturers that we've represented over the years. And these relationships, they keep coming up and they matter. They circle back around. They circle back around. It's a small world. uh
06:15
I not to burn any bridges. uh Sometimes I do on accident. Sometimes I'm a little misunderstood, uh but those relationships matter. We have customers. There's a certain point at which your friendship overshadows that customer. And I think you just have to be aware of that. uh
06:43
not necessarily pick, but understand what side of the coin you're And it domains that relationship. I've got customers all over where if I don't stay with them, if I'm traveling, they'll be offended. And really, they're friends. so we've had Mike Lamb on the show. And why does he keep doing what he's doing? Because that's We're his friends. Yeah, that's what he enjoys. Yeah.
07:12
That becomes part of it at a certain So touch a little bit and share with us. I we talked a little bit this action selling. We just talked about that. But what do you think the importance was that? Have you seen an increase? How's it impacted the team? And if we keep working that, what do you think? It's not impacted the team enough. We need to work on it more. ah It's one of those things I think you have to practice. What it did for me is it really opened my eyes.
07:41
to some of the things we're doing wrong. ah I remember, because we took it, management team took the class first. I mean, it was a big investment. We spent a lot of money to do this for our folks. Which goes back to that ESOP piece, right? We do reinvest in the team, the company.
08:03
We're not buying boats with it. We're islands in the middle of the frivolously. And I think that's one thing people don't understand. As an ESOP, that expense count, I mean, it's on us. If you want to take somebody... you're stealing it, you're stealing it from yourself. If you want to take someone out golfing or for lunch or whatever the deal is, is there a value to that? Right. are we just playing? We're just going through the motions.
08:29
As an ESOP, we think about that a lot differently than other people may, but we spent a lot of money on that. And so as a management team, we took it first just to kind of hedge our bets to see is there a value to then spend that money on 20 some more people, right? um So in that median between us taking it and then getting it all set up for the company, I saw things already.
08:59
ah it was much easier to identify the mistakes that we're making. It's much harder to correct them. But I remember a specific call, and I was out with uh one of our utility guys, and it was an opportunity for some pedestals. PLP had just come out with the new fiberpeds. uh as soon as that opportunity came up, the question was,
09:28
Well, yeah, would you like a squirt that? Like, whoa, kind of ease the train a little bit, right? uh I've been here five minutes, I don't even know this lady yet. I spent another hour talking to her, just trying to get to know her. And you know what? It's interesting because I think that also is good for the customer. Yeah. Because if we race them to that piece, they miss the whole benefit of what's good for their network. Absolutely. And why their product is important.
09:56
I just thought about that, know, I'm sitting here thinking about we're going back through it, and again, many times have we talked about it, but I think there's a benefit to the customer that they don't understand what they're getting. How can they even evaluate a quote, It seems, I don't know if demeaning is the right term, but if I'm in a customer's standpoint, and I hear a sales guy talk about the nine steps of selling, it's not a process.
10:25
But it is, and it's there for a reason because if you get the cart ahead of the horse, it's not about winning the order. That's not what sales is about. And I think that's one of the misconceptions that people have about salespeople. But if the steps are done in the proper order, it's more successful for both parties. It's rewarding for both parties. No doubt about it.
10:54
price is what, step seven? If I remember correctly, it's way down the line. If we're quoting a pedestal and we don't know what size, what they're going to do with it, what organizer, their thought is, right. Any of those, there's so much more we need to know. We don't even, they don't even trust us yet. We just met them, right? So those steps are so important. And that's what it brought to me is just more clarity.
11:23
on how we can get better. But to answer your original question, I think we need to practice it more. I would agree. You do a great job, I know, on your teams of hammering those steps out and talking about that. But we definitely need to put it in practice more. To me, uh one of the things that drew me to CBM was its structure. um Some of those things that, you know,
11:51
Times change and I realized that. Some of that structure I think we've let slip a little bit. But that's what really attracted me. So like if I go, ah if I'm gonna work out, I need structure. I need somebody saying, do these six things and I'll do the heck out of it. But I need that structure. ah And that was one of the things that drew me into the organization. There was certain...
12:19
requirements that you had to do. One of them was the call organizer. Simple sheet of paper, had a bunch of boxes on it. Where are you going? And we talk about it of time. You're a component of call prep, What are you going to do? What's the goal? What's the commitment? How do we help the customer? And we all struggle with that. still, I can sit here and chirp about stuff and I'm not perfect. I'm the first to admit it. And that's one of the things that's probably the quickest to drop.
12:48
when you get busy and you're putting out fires. And I remember you told me when I started, it's going to be two or three years before you really get your feet under and things are really clicking. we still tell people that. We do. It's still true. That's just what takes. And that's the investment we make with these folks oh and our teammates when we bring them on. So for sure, it does take that time. So now, Perfect World, let's go back to your role right now, Vice President of Broadband. Perfect World, I know you're still working
13:17
It's always, uh we're building on where we've been, right? Perfect World, what's success look like in your position with, we don't like to use the word silos, but the different markets. What's the picture look like if Tim Locker says, man, I've reached the success of that position? That's a great question. I haven't really uh thought that in depth on it necessarily. It's still fairly,
13:48
I've been in the role a couple of years now, or going on a couple of years, but it's still kind of fairly fresh. The one thing I would say, it's kind of, it's still developing. I'm still- We just said two to three years, and we're at year two, right? Yeah, yeah. There's still a little time to go down the path, And the good thing about where I'm at now is,
14:16
Like I said, being able to build those relationships with the whole company. What I do necessarily is kind of irrelevant, a little bit, but where I can bring value is on a bigger level. Sure, I can help at a co-op and we make a fiber deal. ah
14:45
Where I feel like I can be a benefit is the next level, bringing on new manufacturers uh or helping with marketing and just overall uh promoting the company. Well, I think you just said that. So bringing on new manufacturers. If you're a manufacturer and you've been uh gracious enough to take the time to listen to this episode, right? Yeah. Of Power of the Network. One of the reasons we did this was one, to give our customers a voice.
15:14
are manufacturers of voice ah in the industry. But what is it about CBN for a manufacturer, particularly with your role and the merging of those markets, because we do represent uh three different markets, right? Commercial, industrial, utility, and commercial. What does the benefit to a manufacturer, potential manufacturer, about how we're organized? Simply from an ESOP standpoint, just structurally,
15:44
There's security in how we're built. If Marla gets hit by the proverbial bus, there's already steps implemented. Our manufacturers, although they'll miss Marla, they won't miss a beat in terms of support. A lot of reps are, you
16:09
Maybe you've got an owner that sits on the top and there's a handful of people under him or it's a family company. The organization of the ESOP creates a lot of protection just inherently of itself for a manufacturer. ah What we do different though, too, and I think it goes back to our strengths, is we've got experts in all of the different markets where...
16:36
You know, a great example is, you know, with Hoffman, you know, on our C &I side, you know, our utility world uses a bunch of boxes, right? Right, using closures. And so we've got great examples from one team to another in whichever mix of how we can help each other succeed. Yeah, and we've done it, and as a great example, we've done a good job of doing that one in particular, for sure. Yeah, yeah, you know, and so...
17:06
As a manufacturer, you get a little bit more than what you bargained for. You are not perfect. Nobody is. The biggest challenge as a rep, uh you're juggling all these relationships. Every manufacturer wants to be your biggest. They want to be your largest portion of mind share. uh that's a challenge. One of the other challenges is just uh staying in your lane.
17:34
You know, lot of manufacturers want to get into everything, kind of a me too. It makes it very challenging to not have competitive lines when everybody wants to do everything. I've kind of been to the mindset, if you try to do everything, you can't do everything well. You've got to kind of...
18:01
stick to your, that doesn't mean don't grow and learn and expand and do those things, but like you can't be everything to everybody. And I think that's true for manufacturers too, but, you know, we, in terms of reps, we're fairly large. mean, medium to large size. We've got 34, 35 employees. We usually kind of float right around in there, but, know, brick and mortar facility, inside sales support.
18:30
I mean, we're heavy on our inside sales support comparatively to other firms. uh We've got two, three, four inside sales folks within each group. I mean, so it's a lot deeper than just two guys in a truck No, and I to admit, we've talked about this, and this was on my list of things to visit with you about.
18:55
that separates us in some of the markets, right? Some of the markets do have inside sales reps. But for us, it's an expense. Sometimes I think it's overlooked, particularly in the communications market, right? So what value are those inside sales people? What do you think they do for us, uh which is different? Well, it's tremendous. ah You know, they also maintain relationships. I think sometimes that's overlooked. I mean, they're...
19:25
You know, the outside folks, they're managing certain relationships, and these are people that are making buying decisions and so on. But at their level, they're dealing with the people that are placing the POs. I mean, they are at the ground level uh managing those relationships, and distributors, they want to deal with A, who they like, and B, who makes it easy. And so with our inside sales folks,
19:55
They're that avenue to making it easy. They're bringing in the orders. We're just pretty faces. And you and I have faced that tough question over the years, right? Well, we never hear from your folks. Well, you don't because we've handed it to the inside salesperson, and they're coordinating with the quote with the factory. A lot of those reps are having to call that we're on to the next customer trying to develop more business, right? Probably one of our...
20:22
toughest things to manage is just that communication. It's so easy to take a relationship for granted. It just really is. gets away from all us. And we develop relationships with our factories and our regionals and those management, and we're friends with a lot of those too. And so it can be easy to take those for granted. That's probably one of our toughest challenges, just that communication.
20:52
And uh communication will bring clarity. know, how many times somebody's got their feathers ruffled, you sit down and you talk about it. Oh, well, I thought that. And it's not that. Most of the time, you're sitting there worried about something, it's not reality.
21:16
What's different about CBM? First and foremost, it's our ESOP. Employee owners have more control and more ability to make decisions that are right for our customers and right for our company and right for our manufacturers. We've got the flexibility to put people where they need to be and use our experts wisely. If you need help with a project or need representation from an excellent sales force here in the Midwest, look no further than CBM. You can reach out to us here at CBM rep.
21:45
dot com.
21:50
So in the rep business, you think communications with the manufacturers is the toughest challenge? I you've been doing this for 17 years. What's that biggest challenge? Is that the biggest challenge? what do you think it is? And maybe what do you think the challenges are going to be as we move forward? I would say that's probably one of the biggest challenges. uh I tend to be too honest and too open sometimes. I get blamed for that as well. can maybe uh bite you sometimes.
22:20
You know, when you develop a relationship, let's just say you develop a relationship with a regional and you feel like we can have an honest conversation. uh If you misread somebody, then it becomes a problem, Right. uh Typically you can have those conversations, but you do, the one thing I'm learning from Marla is not overreact, which is a challenge. You know that for me. I know. um But, you know,
22:50
slow your roll, think about it, let's not overreact. uh But that's probably the biggest challenge. Customer wise, I think uh maybe not necessarily as a rep, but as just an employer, hiring and finding talented people. I think that's a challenge in any industry. leadership,
23:17
is a challenge, you know, that's something newer to me. ah You know, just trying to learn what pushes people, you know, everybody's different. There's not just a rubber stamp that like, oh, we're going to do this and everybody's going to go out and kill it, right? That doesn't work. ah Everybody's at work for a different reason. ah So, I mean. No, and I think, yeah, and I think you and I both grown
23:47
along our careers and we recognize that, right? We continue to talk about that internally. I know you do as well. Communication, gosh, it can be just a phone call, right? To a regional sales manager, kind of keep them up to date on what's going on. So I think you're right. In your role, I know you're a big believer, you talk about leadership a lot. We've had conversations about it. You're a big believer in continuing to learn.
24:14
Right? You continue to believe that learning is part of the evolution of all of us in our positions, right? You can't ever learn. ah But what do you do personally to expand your knowledge? How do you do that? And then the other piece of that is I'd like to ask about mentors, right? You do that a lot. What were those folks out there that you think you've looked at and learned from that have kind of helped you get to where you are today? As far as my own self-growth, ah
24:43
I'm not a big reader. I'll go through phases. You know, I've read a bunch of leadership books and sales books and some of those just get a little redundant. Same thing, different flavor, whatever. You know, the sales training that we did, you know, I enjoy those kinds of things. I recently went through a Dave Ramsey course. I'm a certified financial coach.
25:13
ah not an investor, but just a financial coach. Things like that I like to do on the side. That's something I did just, I kind of drank Kool-Aid years ago, but I believe in the results. uh And so that's something that I'm passionate about talking about as well. And that's another area where we as leaders can help our employees. If somebody's struggling with finances or something like that, that's also...
25:43
uh part of our responsibility that we can help with if they let us in. they choose to. If they let us in. Ask us to. Certainly not going to force that on folks. uh in terms of mentors, really my dad, number one, um just watching what he's done throughout his life and enjoying life and have fun. And I've always been kind of...
26:13
I'm the one that throws in the zinger. Something funny is kind of more important to me. ah But watching him build relationships over the years and what he's done for his customers, what he's done for his friends, just this week I had a guy, was like, how's your dad doing? And I think that's important.
26:41
I've had a lot of different bosses over the years. ah One that stuck out to me, and I'll name him, uh so Scott Havel, who's now the general manager ah at Sharon Telephone in Hills, but he was my last boss when I was at McLeod. ah And Scott's a very level-headed dude. He sings very clearly. ah
27:09
And I learned a lot from him. He's really good at knowing uh individuals' behavior. You you respond different than I. And he's very quick to read people. And he did a very good job with me. And I still learn a lot from him, just as we talk at shows or calls or whatever. So he was one that did a lot for me. uh You you've obviously brought me up along.
27:37
along the way over the years as well. uh Well, think, yeah, and you've done a lot of that on your own, for sure. no, but helping me understand the dynamics of the different relationships between distribution and manufacturers and more of a creative level, going back to that kingdom. You think differently than I do, and how can we...
28:05
get more touches, how can we do things more effectively. Which goes back to that communication piece, whether it's with a regional sales manager or it's with a customer or distributor partner, how do we reach them and talk to them more often, right? If we're in their mind, they're more likely to react. Yeah, I had a great example. I remember one particular customer, and it took me a little while to figure it out, but like every time I went and saw Craig, that next week he ordered something. Right.
28:34
Yeah, you were there again, Yeah, and it's fresh, you know, top of mind. That's really what it is. yeah, I think you just have to, you have to be consistent, you know? we talked about that with a little one of your prior guests, Michael Keene, right? He talked about consistency as well. And I think he's a great example in the industry of that consistency for sure. Yeah, you just, you know...
29:02
Yeah, you have to consistently be there. I think one of the challenges just for a sales guy though is like, okay, I don't have anything new or exciting. Sometimes I think we're too often to just run in and have lunch and catch up or whatever. I think we have to be a little bit more targeted than that. Yeah, you have to stop in, you have to say hi, and you have to maintain the level of contact, but what are we doing?
29:32
I would argue that's step two of what you have uh shared with step three actually, asking questions. Sometimes we don't know what we need to provide to them, but if we know what they're doing, maybe we can help them with the solution. And it's okay to have a meeting to just prospect, to figure out what's going on. Even a customer that we've done business with for 15 years. Things could have changed. Yeah, we still need to understand what's going on. So prospecting is...
30:00
certainly a good reason for a call, but let's have clarity on that. Let's know that that's what we're doing. We're not just going to say hi to Brett and take him to lunch. Let's have some clarity and a plan. What do we need clarity on? What are we going to ask? uh Then we still have lunch. Absolutely. Yeah. I agree. There's more to that conversation than just that for sure. Yeah. And so that goes into that.
30:30
understanding, you know, I think sometimes, ah you know, as a rep, it's a little bit of a confusing business. You my wife still doesn't know really what I do. My wife and my accountant every year, they just joke, what did you even do? Don't worry about it, it's all right. But like, it's important to, ah so that our customers understand. You know, if we make a joint sales,
30:59
call with a distributor. uh And we do that a lot. We support and love our distribution partners. uh But if we do that, does that customer know that you're with a distributor and you're with a rep? Not necessarily. We have to be clear about it. I talk about it all the time to the teams. We have to explain to them why we're here. After several calls one time, and the guy was like, oh, I thought you worked for so-and-so.
31:29
No, so you have to be clear on that position. I think a lot of customers don't necessarily understand. For a manufacturer, let's just cover that so the customers can learn, right? It's a manufacturer to have an outside sales force, a guy or a gal in every state or two, and cover the whole country is not...
31:57
always cost effective. It's expense, uh And it's not cost effective for us either, but that's why a rep has multiple lines. So, uh you know, uh reps are paid commission on what's sold in their, you know, territory and their footprint. that's not enough to support uh a person in a state. Right. But by having multiple lines, that is enough so we can support multiple manufacturers.
32:26
The other piece of that too is then you want to have good continuity in those lines and looking over all of our markets. We've done a really good job over the years of having A, quality lines, but also uh lines that really support one another. And I think sometimes the manufacturers forget how, because they're laser focused on what they make.
32:54
there's a lot of times where maybe even a smaller line, you we opened a door with this little piece and that leads into that conversation that can lead into, you know, bigger things. And I think that, uh you know, manufacturers, uh I think, take that for granted sometimes. I don't think they truly always know how important our other lines are to their line, you know. uh
33:22
Yeah, and if we're in uh a place supporting a distributor, we don't necessarily always make the sale. That's one of the challenges for our sales folks. This product is being bought through a distributor, but we're out here selling it. So we don't always physically have that PO. That's what was different for me. We're creating demand. That's what we try to do, for sure. uh
33:52
I literally wrote the PO and I collected the check. And I didn't get paid until I collected that check. I don't get my commission until I collect that check. And so, yeah, and sometimes, you know, that's one thing that can be difficult, know, financial conversations like, look, dude, you're to pay the bill, you know? And that's one of the things that just the experience, you know, helps. Tough conversations.
34:21
I mean, they're tough for a reason, right? But you you rip the bandaid off and you have it. And if you can do it diplomatically, then I think, you know, it's going to work out. So listen, before I let you roll out of here, and before I let you get your seat back right for the next episode, there's one thing about you I don't know that customers know. Some do, the ones that you know, but you've met a lot of more people, but you're an outdoorsy guy.
34:46
Oh, yeah. made sure to bring in the camouflage today with me because as the host of this episode, right, I you are probably nearest to a major league uh fisherman than I've ever met in my life. I've been on the water with you. Maybe to you, but I'm not as, you know, I'm not. I don't know. There is. But I also understand, right, we've talked a little bit. You're making bait, right? You're making lures. What are we doing here? Like, before we get out, want whether it's whether we're promoting
35:16
You're a lure company. Iowa Boys. Iowa Boys. Tell me a little bit about Iowa Boys fishing. Iowa Boys with a Z. Z-Boys-E. Z-Boys-E.com. Can I you up online? We actually sell through a Squarespace. there's uh an Iowa Boys Squarespace. I did buy, you know, the domain. um But I haven't paid the money. Timlocker.com or what? I can implement it into the site. I just haven't been willing to spend that money yet.
35:44
We stand to make hundreds of dollars. Yeah. So it's really growing, leaps and bounds. No, it is growing a little bit. It's not something that's lucrative. It's just a passion. uh Years ago, uh we had a place down on Thunderhead. Right. a gentleman by the name of Woody Clapham uh got a place down there. And he had a business, uh Woody's Custom Lovers. And uh he was in old school.
36:13
old school fisherman and really good. And I got to know him at the lake and I'd go in and help him build jigs and spinnerades and whatever. And it just kind of kicked off this little interest, if you will. And kind of out of a hobby, I just started making plastic lures. Bought some molds and started kind of pouring some stuff and whatever. And it's just been fun. It's developed.
36:41
Every penny that we've made, we've just, I have a partner that we work together and um every penny we make, we just put it into something else. Another mold. I mean, I'd hate to know how many thousands of dollars we've spent, you know, in it. uh It's not a terrible write-off. You know, this year in the, for the 4th of July in town, we handed off uh like literally $1,500 worth of lures. Wow. That we handed out in the parade instead of candy.
37:12
You know, I had a $30 sale come from that. So it's very lucrative. It was a great investment. But they're actually the write-ups, not a terrible thing. So no, we just, we do it for fun. We do a couple of shows in the spring, some little swap meet type fishing shows and do most of our damage there. Right. You know, and do a little bit online. you know, lot of folks are, you know, it's like anything, it grows. My partner's actually retiring this fall.
37:42
And so he'll have a little bit more time. might go up. Sales will go up. We haven't really put a ton of marketing efforts into it because frankly, it's like, you know, I'm on the road all the time. Like we get an order. like, oh, when are we going to fill this? We got to ship that now, right? Yeah. We keep a little bit of inventory, not a ton. We try to build it up in the winter to get ready for like show season. And then, you know, we can crank them out pretty quick.
38:11
It's been fun. It's been interesting because little things like we do it on the up and up. I mean, we pay our sales taxes. I've got all the businesses set up correctly. so this has been kind of a learning experience for me. This is kind of a micro how to run a company. There's a lot of things I can do better there too, but it's certainly...
38:39
less catastrophic, right? It's not gonna make or break me. That's good. uh So that's something that, we do, growing up, uh one of my uncles was a school teacher and he's the one that kind of got me into fishing. So he would call three, four times a summer and take me fishing. And he's the one that kind of taught me to do all that. And I actually had a neighbor that got me into hunting when I was younger.
39:09
ah So I just had a lot of good influences there. My son, he's got the bug. He started going with me when he was little. think he caught his first bass when he wasn't even three. Like by himself. And so hunting wise, ah he started, I think he started squirrel hunting at five.
39:35
turkey hunting when he was six and deer hunting when he was seven. You've got Allison moving that direction. Allison's moving in that direction. She's not as intuitive as Thomas, but yeah, she likes to go uh deer hunting with me. I think that's mostly to just spend time with dad. That's good. Yeah, that's a big part of my world. Good. I like to. Well, listen, Tim, it's been a pleasure. It's an honor to be able to sit here in this seat, uh at least for one episode.
40:03
I think it's important that people, know, from our customers to our distribution partners, our manufacturers get to know you. ah You're great influence in the company. uh Your position right now has been just vital to what I think we're doing overall and where we're going into the future. And so just wanted to say thank you and enjoyed working with you. Consider yourself, you a friend and uh a partner in what we do at CBM. And I know our teammates appreciate what you do when you come.
40:34
swooping in and helping and kicking them in the tail a little bit. So just wanted to say thank you. Thank you. And appreciate it. And maybe I can come back again sometime. We'll see. Thank you, Brad. Out. uh
40:52
Well, I wanted to thank Mr. Brett Cooper again for coming in and doing that interview with me. That was a lot of fun. uh It was great for me to be on the other side of the table and uh hopefully you enjoyed learning a little bit about what makes me tick. So thank you and that was great. uh If you need help with a project or looking for representation here in the Midwest, check us out here at CBM. You can find us at cbmrep.com.
41:21
Take a minute to like comment subscribe Thanks for taking the time to get to know me a little bit better and you know why I love CBM as much as I do So thank you uh Thanks for joining us on power the network and until next time. We'll see you next time
