Economic Ambiguity and Important Lessons For B2B Marketers.

[00:00:04] Welcome to Around the Horn in Wholesale Distribution with Kevin Brown and Tom Burton.

[00:00:10] Sponsored each week by Leedsmart Technologies, Tom, Kevin and their guests review the news

[00:00:15] of the week and dive deep into the topics impacting manufacturers, wholesale distribution,

[00:00:20] independent sales agents, and the global wholesale supply chain.

[00:00:24] Whether it's M&A, SaaS and cloud computing, B2B e-commerce, or supply chain issues, we

[00:00:31] peel back the onion with our guests into the topics that impact your business the most.

[00:01:25] September is my absolutely favorite month of the year.

[00:01:29] Tourists are gone, kids are back in school, it's parking at the beach even on the weekends,

[00:01:35] it's not as bad as summer.

[00:01:37] But my dirling was down this week with some friends visiting from Europe on the beach

[00:01:41] and drove straight in, parked right down the hill.

[00:01:44] Pardon me, anybody there?

[00:01:46] It's great.

[00:01:47] Yeah, but it was 90 degrees, I don't know.

[00:01:49] Anyway, that's not what anybody came here for today.

[00:01:52] I'm meeting with the beach, right?

[00:01:54] It is nice to see you in your 100th anniversary podcast aloha shirt though.

[00:02:01] Yeah, it's comfortable.

[00:02:02] It's very comfortable.

[00:02:03] Well, it puts you in rare air so to speak with some of the luminaries of the industrial

[00:02:08] distribution world.

[00:02:11] So, it does put you right up there.

[00:02:13] Okay, well, I'll do what I can.

[00:02:15] Very good.

[00:02:15] And I did my USC Trojan aloha shirt today in recognition of the win last Saturday over

[00:02:22] LSU, which not many expected.

[00:02:26] Why would they pick their first game of the season against a ranked SEC team?

[00:02:31] It's like, aren't they supposed to go pick like somebody they can just, I guess it

[00:02:37] wasn't Las Vegas, right?

[00:02:38] So, somebody made money out of it.

[00:02:39] It's interesting, you know, and this is, we might get some comments from some

[00:02:45] SEC people, but historically SEC teams led by Alabama try and get that opening

[00:02:52] game of the season against a Patsy of some sort.

[00:02:56] Pac-12 now, but Pac-12 teams in the Big 10 historically don't do that to the

[00:03:02] same level at least, right?

[00:03:03] They might, maybe USC would play or UCLA might play a Boise stage or

[00:03:08] somebody like that, but those aren't Patsy's, right?

[00:03:11] And so going out, but this one was money, right?

[00:03:15] It was in Vegas.

[00:03:17] You got USC going into the Big 10, big splash about that.

[00:03:21] LSU consistently a powerhouse.

[00:03:23] I'm an LSU fan.

[00:03:24] I mean, LSU is my SEC team, but not last Saturday or Sunday, I should say.

[00:03:31] So good win.

[00:03:32] See what happens.

[00:03:33] We got Utah State this weekend expecting a good result there.

[00:03:37] And let's see what happens when the Big 10 team starts showing up.

[00:03:40] I run a call the other day with the big Penn State fan, right?

[00:03:46] One of our customers.

[00:03:47] So we'll USC plays them in a few weeks.

[00:03:49] We'll see what happens.

[00:03:50] So hey, we got RP with us.

[00:03:52] We're happy to have you with us.

[00:03:54] We're on.

[00:03:54] Let's see who else we have coming in this morning.

[00:03:57] If you're with us, especially if you're outside of the continental

[00:04:01] U.S., we'd really love to hear it.

[00:04:02] I know we've got some people that were said they were coming from

[00:04:05] few different parts of Europe and Canada.

[00:04:07] We're going to talk a little bit about some economic news in Canada today,

[00:04:11] but Tom, why don't we dive in now that we're five minutes into the show

[00:04:15] and I've been talking about a loha shirts college football.

[00:04:18] Yeah.

[00:04:19] Good.

[00:04:19] Because now the show is about.

[00:04:20] Yeah.

[00:04:21] Well, it's you know, depends on what we talk about each week.

[00:04:24] Right.

[00:04:25] So the, oh boy, our piece forgot our pizza fighting a line.

[00:04:31] I so the there we go.

[00:04:35] Well, anyways, I'm Kevin Brown.

[00:04:36] I'm here with Tom Burton.

[00:04:38] Tom Burton is my lifelong friend and co-founder of lead smart technologies.

[00:04:43] We get together every Friday morning unless someone is in the hospital on

[00:04:47] vacation or stuck on an airplane somewhere.

[00:04:51] And we talk about the news related to wholesale distribution and manufacturing.

[00:04:56] We talk about M&A supply chain, the economy mergers, I've said,

[00:05:00] mergers and acquisitions, sales and marketing people.

[00:05:03] What's going on in leadership?

[00:05:04] We talk about a lot of different topics.

[00:05:05] We have that broken down into different segments that we talk about each week

[00:05:09] and how we do that is we're referencing the newsletter that we publish every week.

[00:05:14] It's called around the horn in wholesale distribution that goes out to 10,000 plus

[00:05:19] people if you don't get that and you would like to the fast and easy way

[00:05:23] to do that would be just to send us a note at hello at lead smart tech

[00:05:28] dot com or simply go to the website for the podcast.

[00:05:32] It's www dot around the horn pod dot com.

[00:05:36] You can see past episodes.

[00:05:38] You can subscribe to the podcast formats there if you would like and or you

[00:05:42] can sign up for the newsletter.

[00:05:44] We do this live on Friday mornings at nine o'clock Pacific.

[00:05:47] Tom and I both live here in Southern California and we get together to

[00:05:51] talk about these topics.

[00:05:54] We again publish this newsletter.

[00:05:56] So that's what we're referencing.

[00:05:57] So later in the day while we're live right now on YouTube live LinkedIn

[00:06:01] live and Facebook live later in the day.

[00:06:04] Everything that we're doing here will be on all the popular podcast format.

[00:06:08] So a couple of things one we really want to thank our sponsor the company

[00:06:12] that Tom and I work for lead smart technologies.

[00:06:14] We have an editor and a producer and people working behind the scenes

[00:06:17] to get the podcast done each week.

[00:06:19] We can't pay them without a sponsor and lead smart does that lead

[00:06:23] smart has developed a AI enabled customer intelligence and CRM platform

[00:06:29] developed specifically for wholesale distribution and manufacturing.

[00:06:34] It's as I'd like to describe it's not your father's Buick.

[00:06:36] We've historically known CRM to be a big brother tool and what lead

[00:06:41] smart has been able to do is be an engagement tool to help companies

[00:06:44] learn more about their customers, learn more about their teams

[00:06:48] and learn more about their businesses to accelerate growth

[00:06:51] and serve customers better.

[00:06:52] So we can share any information with you about that.

[00:06:54] We would love to talk with you as well and you can reach out

[00:06:57] to us in any of those same methods.

[00:07:00] So Tom, what did I miss there?

[00:07:02] I think we got it covered.

[00:07:04] Yeah, let's go talk about the news.

[00:07:06] Let's do it.

[00:07:09] So things are things are looking weird in the economy.

[00:07:12] Huh?

[00:07:14] Boy, that's different.

[00:07:15] I guess we're going to talk about something different today.

[00:07:18] Weirdness and ambiguity in the economy.

[00:07:22] Yeah.

[00:07:22] So jobs reports stock market's been up and down all week down

[00:07:27] this morning.

[00:07:28] Struggles with that, but yet we see some rate cuts coming

[00:07:33] pretty quickly here.

[00:07:34] What were your thoughts on this first article that we have

[00:07:37] from head from CNBC?

[00:07:39] It was kind of covered a handful of different items in this

[00:07:43] need to know today article.

[00:07:46] Yeah, well, we've you know, I we've said this or I've

[00:07:49] even said this despite my my perilous situation for my

[00:07:53] stake, if I do believe there will be a rate cut for sure

[00:07:57] this month.

[00:07:58] Now after watching their seeing the job report, I think that

[00:08:01] there's a very high probability that they maybe overreact

[00:08:05] and do a half a point or I wouldn't even be crazy to do

[00:08:08] three quarters of a point.

[00:08:09] They raised three quarters of a point several times before

[00:08:13] during this, you know, run up.

[00:08:15] So that's new discussion.

[00:08:16] We've never talked about that.

[00:08:18] Never talked about what?

[00:08:19] About a three quarter of a point race.

[00:08:21] Yeah, I think it's not highly probable, but I think it's

[00:08:25] possible just because I think there could be a bit of an

[00:08:29] overreaction possibly with the job numbers that came out

[00:08:33] and the stock market and all of that.

[00:08:36] But I think you know, there's no doubt there's going to be

[00:08:38] a cut here in September.

[00:08:40] How many more?

[00:08:43] Just one more just September for this year and then next

[00:08:45] year, this year and then January look out.

[00:08:49] Okay.

[00:08:49] I will tell you if we only have one cut this year, you can

[00:08:54] call yourself an economist and you can go to work for the

[00:08:56] Fed.

[00:08:57] That's right.

[00:08:57] Well, okay.

[00:08:58] There you go.

[00:08:59] You can be you can lead the Ventura County Fed office.

[00:09:03] Yeah, we'll develop that because everything is suggesting

[00:09:07] that that I'm on the right side of this one and you're

[00:09:12] going to buy me a steak.

[00:09:14] So but I that is an interesting thought though about

[00:09:16] the three quarters of a point.

[00:09:18] I hadn't even been thinking about that and you're right

[00:09:20] about the fact that we did have a raise like that.

[00:09:24] Multiple I've got a feeling we're going to I'm sorry.

[00:09:27] Go ahead.

[00:09:27] Multiple seventy seven seventy five basis point raise.

[00:09:30] Yeah, I think we're I think we're going to see three.

[00:09:34] I think we're going to see three quarter point raises

[00:09:38] this year and then watch what January watch what

[00:09:43] January February does before they do anything else.

[00:09:45] But things are just so fickle out there right now.

[00:09:48] That's that's the weird thing.

[00:09:50] I mean this particular article to talk about it.

[00:09:52] You know, they they talked they talked about the job issues.

[00:09:55] They talked about the stock market.

[00:09:57] They talked about Hawks and Dubs but it said the

[00:10:01] bottom line and this was this came from a gentleman

[00:10:04] from the was it from the Atlanta bed and he was

[00:10:10] Atlanta Federal Reserve President Rafael Bostic.

[00:10:13] So the bottom lines markets are confused.

[00:10:16] Investors want rate cuts because they are a tailwind for

[00:10:19] markets but rate cuts tend to be driven by negative

[00:10:22] economic data.

[00:10:24] This leads to a confusing scenario in which bad news is

[00:10:26] good news and maybe the bad news is so bad it could also

[00:10:29] just be bad.

[00:10:32] Which is interesting we've kind of I like the way

[00:10:35] they recap this because we've been talking about this

[00:10:37] for a year probably and I think that recap things

[00:10:41] well right good news is bad news bad news is good news

[00:10:44] and there is a risk switched right it has been bad news

[00:10:48] is good news and the opposite now it seems to be good

[00:10:52] news is good news and bad news is bad news right.

[00:10:55] The job thing you know the job thing today right you

[00:10:58] would say well that would submit.

[00:11:00] The higher potentially higher level rate cut but the

[00:11:04] market is down because everything now it's oh we're

[00:11:07] going to and I think that is a risk as well if they

[00:11:09] do cut a half a point or even three quarters of a point

[00:11:13] it could really spook the market.

[00:11:16] So it'll be interesting to see where that goes well I think

[00:11:18] a lot of that's tied to the fact that the market already

[00:11:20] has the at least the first cut already baked in yes.

[00:11:25] Well they have multiple cuts baked in yeah at this point

[00:11:28] but they don't I didn't want to say that because

[00:11:31] that makes you sad doesn't make me sad it's just

[00:11:34] when they happen.

[00:11:35] All right so could be could be three quarters of a point

[00:11:40] according to Dr Burton.

[00:11:43] Not probable though not probable possible but not probable

[00:11:46] but that does kind of align with your position on cuts

[00:11:51] in general right because if they did three quarters of a

[00:11:54] point maybe they wouldn't need to do a second cut and

[00:11:57] then you know it's my stake right get it over with

[00:12:01] get it over with here we're going to live are we

[00:12:04] going to live broadcast that dinner.

[00:12:06] I don't think anyone wants to see that nobody cares Paul

[00:12:10] Kennedy said your wife there's only but you know that

[00:12:12] yeah my wife's plan on coming the the Paul Kennedy said

[00:12:18] he may just come and join us for that so we'll see what

[00:12:21] happens.

[00:12:22] So next article we talk about we're in our economy

[00:12:24] and supply chain segment of the newsletter Bank of

[00:12:27] Canada is already doing it right so they're down to

[00:12:30] four and a quarter percent they've done a couple of

[00:12:32] cuts they did another one yesterday.

[00:12:34] I don't know that the Fed in this country pays that close

[00:12:37] attention to what's going on in Canada related to that

[00:12:39] somebody knows something about that please share that

[00:12:42] but it is interesting they kind of jumped ahead and got

[00:12:45] ahead of the game on this.

[00:12:47] Yeah and I haven't followed I don't know what their

[00:12:49] markets are doing or what their reactions are anything

[00:12:52] like that but yeah clearly they've outrun us.

[00:12:56] Yep yeah well it's time we're where are we at

[00:12:59] we're today's the 6th so we're 11 days away right.

[00:13:03] Yes I'm more or less yet.

[00:13:04] Yeah so it's too bad that's not on a Friday.

[00:13:07] All right we want to roll ahead here and we're still in

[00:13:11] our supply chain and economy section let's talk about

[00:13:13] supply chain for a minute.

[00:13:15] We spent a lot of time.

[00:13:17] We've probably started to cover this more and more

[00:13:20] in the past year as we look at Suez Canal issues

[00:13:25] look at the freighter accident in Baltimore Harbor

[00:13:30] and the Chesapeake we look at Panama Canal you know

[00:13:34] not getting enough rain and slowing down there that's

[00:13:37] fortunately coming back a little bit the Suez Canal

[00:13:39] issue seems to be getting worse that being backed

[00:13:43] by the Su-Ti rebels apparently being backed by Iran

[00:13:48] some pressure heating up with the US government in

[00:13:51] Iran relating to that some threats against some US

[00:13:54] ships supply chain issues are significant there I can't

[00:14:00] imagine what happens if they throw a drone tries to

[00:14:04] attack a US military ship of the escalation of all of

[00:14:08] that but this is a big deal well now we're facing

[00:14:11] today's article from CNBC the labor union related

[00:14:16] to the East Coast and Gulf Coast ports so if you

[00:14:19] think about that that's kind of Texas ports Galveston

[00:14:24] Houston all the way across in through New Orleans down

[00:14:27] into Florida and all the way up the Eastern seaboard

[00:14:30] so kind of in the US as everything but you know

[00:14:33] Pacific West Coast ports are going to get are going

[00:14:37] to get potentially hit with this and there was some

[00:14:40] big sling in coming out of the one of the union

[00:14:44] leaders there and basically quoting will shut them

[00:14:48] down and was very firm he did a video about it and

[00:14:52] we're end of the month is the end of that contract

[00:14:55] and those ports handle 43% of US imports so could be

[00:14:59] a pretty significant issue even though companies

[00:15:02] have already been moving things to the West Coast

[00:15:05] the way I read this and really think about this

[00:15:07] right and we've talked about this before you we

[00:15:10] you know we met in kindergarten 135 years ago it

[00:15:14] feels like you know 10 minutes away from the

[00:15:17] Port of Long Beach which is neighboring the Port of

[00:15:20] Los Angeles and people as early as June were diverting

[00:15:24] ordering early for holiday merchandise talked about

[00:15:27] and back to school but on those same ships or pipe

[00:15:30] valves and fittings and you know ref desks masks

[00:15:33] and respirators and conveyor belts and all the

[00:15:36] stuff that our audience talks about and now

[00:15:39] we've got this glut hitting West Coast ports in the

[00:15:42] West Coast ports the biggest are the LA Long Beach

[00:15:45] ports to handle that now we're going to have delays

[00:15:47] there maybe maybe I wonder how much cost is going on

[00:15:52] I also don't know if the government could step

[00:15:54] in and basically stop a strike of that magnitude

[00:15:57] well they you know they did they were able to do

[00:16:00] that in Canada a few weeks ago with the rail

[00:16:02] strike there right but what we've seen here

[00:16:05] is we get typically we get a few days of a stoppage

[00:16:10] and the problem is that stoppage then starts backing

[00:16:13] those ships up down the coast towards where I live

[00:16:16] you know 40 miles away from that port and it takes

[00:16:20] it's a it's a hiccup to get things back in line

[00:16:23] so the reason we talked about this is I think

[00:16:26] it's a little bit of a double-edged sword right

[00:16:28] now the big takeaway for me is you know I think

[00:16:32] it was Mike Mortensen with Alaska rubber group

[00:16:35] that was on with us earlier this year and you know

[00:16:37] Mike talked about the gas in the question you asked

[00:16:39] him the question about how often they're you're

[00:16:42] really talking to vendors and managing supply chain

[00:16:44] and you know historically you had you know vendors

[00:16:47] as a distributor had vendors with meetings when they

[00:16:49] are meeting the vendors I should say when they'd

[00:16:51] come in two or three times a year you might

[00:16:53] talk a little bit about you know pressures

[00:16:55] and in Southeast Asia and China and so forth

[00:16:59] about manufacturing but now you know Mike's

[00:17:01] talking about these conversations weekly

[00:17:04] about what is going on with your supply chain

[00:17:07] because your supply chain is my supply chain.

[00:17:10] So something we need to continue to watch people

[00:17:13] need to be paying attention to much more than

[00:17:15] they have in the past so where we headed next

[00:17:18] manufacturing distribution.

[00:17:21] That's where we're headed.

[00:17:22] Yeah.

[00:17:23] So industrial distribution.

[00:17:25] Not a nice article in there is written by a gentleman

[00:17:29] that does some advising for family businesses

[00:17:31] and this was about deciding to sell the family

[00:17:34] business you have any takeaways on that one.

[00:17:37] Yeah I was trying to remember what were some of

[00:17:39] the I reviewed the article but I don't recall

[00:17:42] all the sort of key experiences do you have

[00:17:44] those in front of you.

[00:17:46] Yeah I do.

[00:17:47] This is you saying that you're not prepared

[00:17:49] but you knew I did.

[00:17:50] I didn't prepare on this one though.

[00:17:52] I'm prepared on other ones for whatever reason

[00:17:54] I didn't get to miss this one.

[00:17:57] You know it's pretty it's a pretty straightforward

[00:17:58] I'm appreciative of these types of articles

[00:18:00] that talks about what basically what they did

[00:18:03] is they talked to a handful of family on business

[00:18:06] that have sold in the last five years or so

[00:18:08] and they talked about generational difference

[00:18:12] differences between generational ownership

[00:18:15] and they talked about a few family businesses

[00:18:18] who were in a position where the

[00:18:23] other family members weren't necessarily ready

[00:18:25] to take over and we have a number of customers

[00:18:28] at Leedsmart who are you know third fourth generation

[00:18:31] companies and the kids grew up in the business

[00:18:34] and they're happy to take it over and they enjoy

[00:18:36] the benefits of coming with that.

[00:18:38] Well that always doesn't happen that way

[00:18:40] and so this article is talking about some

[00:18:42] of the different pressures.

[00:18:43] You know all of the points it talks about

[00:18:45] lead it leads to the takeaway and I'll mention

[00:18:47] these other points but the big takeaway

[00:18:50] on this is the idea behind

[00:18:53] and I've got an example I'll share in a moment

[00:18:55] with this is running your business and being

[00:18:58] prepared to be acquired

[00:19:01] and I've always looked at things I was involved

[00:19:03] in a I invested in a family

[00:19:05] owned manufacturing company years ago

[00:19:07] and one of the reasons I only was there

[00:19:11] six or seven years in the day today

[00:19:12] is because the principal owner sometimes

[00:19:15] kind of ran the ran the business

[00:19:17] occasionally like a like a liquor store

[00:19:20] right if there's cash in the till I can

[00:19:22] take it and it wasn't running to the level

[00:19:24] of operational efficiency

[00:19:26] that you could ever go through an M&A

[00:19:28] transaction

[00:19:29] with the diligence that would be needed.

[00:19:32] So my conversation when I joined that company

[00:19:34] was you know we need to run the business

[00:19:36] like we're going to sell the business

[00:19:38] and I think that was my big takeaway

[00:19:40] from this article is you know run your

[00:19:43] whether you're in the manufacturing side

[00:19:45] of the world or distribution side of the

[00:19:46] world

[00:19:48] manage your books manage your teams

[00:19:50] manage your warehouse and distribution models

[00:19:52] manage all of that like today

[00:19:55] like you were preparing to be acquired

[00:19:57] because you become this crazy efficient

[00:20:00] business that now could be acquired

[00:20:02] and if you run into a place where you need

[00:20:04] to be acquired or you choose to be acquired

[00:20:07] your multiple is that much better in the

[00:20:09] numbers work and probably the biggest headache

[00:20:12] it takes away as diligence goes faster

[00:20:14] and easier.

[00:20:15] Well, and even if you aren't going to sell

[00:20:16] it and you end up doing succession

[00:20:18] or you end up you know the someone in the

[00:20:20] family

[00:20:20] it's going to be a better business

[00:20:23] it's going to be easier to hire

[00:20:25] so it's it's it's kind of a win-win

[00:20:27] all the way around.

[00:20:28] So they were a couple of the things

[00:20:30] that to your question right there

[00:20:31] talking about first off was you know

[00:20:35] gap between generational ownership

[00:20:37] sometimes sometimes there's a time and

[00:20:39] it's a need to sell or

[00:20:42] you know offer you can't refuse

[00:20:44] and you don't have the family ready to

[00:20:46] run the business yet.

[00:20:48] The other thing that they talked about

[00:20:49] was somebody nearing retirement

[00:20:52] age and age and sometimes it loses the allure

[00:20:55] and that's what they reference of losing

[00:20:57] the allure I think they were referencing

[00:20:58] a family on business where there was

[00:21:00] a couple of brothers that were running

[00:21:02] the business and they'd

[00:21:03] I'm sorry in this one it was just an

[00:21:04] individual whose father had handed the

[00:21:06] business down and as he was getting older

[00:21:09] is kids weren't ready to join the

[00:21:11] business and they had other interests

[00:21:14] and he realized if something happened

[00:21:16] to him right everybody's in trouble

[00:21:19] and so he prepared well to get ready

[00:21:21] and he sold the business in 2019

[00:21:24] and then this other piece of it ties back

[00:21:27] to the first one with you know lack

[00:21:28] of future management they talk about

[00:21:30] is that maybe you've got aging workforce

[00:21:33] that's looking to retire you don't

[00:21:35] have the right people coming in to run

[00:21:37] the business you know family members

[00:21:39] ready to go and so

[00:21:42] selling the business turns out to be

[00:21:44] the best thing for the the generational

[00:21:46] wealth ongoing of the family in general

[00:21:49] in those settings and those could be

[00:21:50] you know multiple families owning a

[00:21:52] business but the big thing with behind

[00:21:54] it and I the reason I dropped it into

[00:21:56] the into today's newsletter was to get

[00:21:59] people thinking about is my business

[00:22:01] right if I if you know if we had

[00:22:04] one of these factors happen right

[00:22:06] and we have a we have a customer

[00:22:08] that's a different one that I've

[00:22:10] seen about before that's a you

[00:22:12] know two brothers took the family

[00:22:13] over the business over and from

[00:22:15] the father and all of a sudden the

[00:22:17] one of the brothers didn't want to be

[00:22:18] involved anymore

[00:22:19] and what what happens to the other

[00:22:21] brother he had to make arrangements

[00:22:22] in that setting good good arrangements

[00:22:24] so anyways that's the

[00:22:27] that's the I'll add Ron's comment

[00:22:29] here is saying I can also be hesitation

[00:22:31] to make the necessary investments

[00:22:33] right to keep the business current

[00:22:34] yeah so it's like you know what

[00:22:37] I'm not ready to make these sort of

[00:22:38] transformational changes so

[00:22:40] let's let somebody else deal with it

[00:22:43] right it's exactly exactly right

[00:22:44] and you know there's there's the other

[00:22:46] side of that right is sometimes and

[00:22:48] you and I've seen this many many times

[00:22:51] and they didn't they didn't talk about

[00:22:52] this but there are times right

[00:22:57] where you just have an offer you can't

[00:22:59] refuse right it's like how could you not

[00:23:01] right not do that to your family

[00:23:04] when something comes through and I would

[00:23:05] say any any well run wholesale

[00:23:08] distributor in this day and age is

[00:23:11] getting phone calls from private

[00:23:12] equity groups and or you know other

[00:23:15] people in their market that are out

[00:23:17] there that are willing to scoop up

[00:23:19] their businesses you've got a whole

[00:23:20] another group of people there's a

[00:23:21] couple of folks in the in the industrial

[00:23:23] space and one in particular I can

[00:23:25] think of in the industrial safety

[00:23:27] space that part of their business model

[00:23:30] is acquiring I don't want to say

[00:23:33] distressed I'll say stressed smaller

[00:23:37] distributors and that's their business

[00:23:39] model to bring those in bring some

[00:23:41] good people in and bring some market

[00:23:42] share in so that's it I thought it was

[00:23:44] an interesting article is good to have

[00:23:46] okay yep good so next we kind of talked

[00:23:49] about now we're in our manufacturing

[00:23:51] and distribution segment going from

[00:23:52] in from distribution to manufacturing

[00:23:55] ABC news article about the White House

[00:23:57] this is interesting right with the

[00:23:59] news that we're watching and listening

[00:24:01] to every day is that this is kind of

[00:24:03] bipartisan it looks like Biden will

[00:24:07] look to squash this nip on Steels

[00:24:09] acquisition of US Steel that's a little

[00:24:13] it's going to use the word protectionist

[00:24:15] but I'm not sure that I'm qualified to

[00:24:18] say that that that's what it is or not

[00:24:20] but certainly they're looking for the

[00:24:21] unions to bolster them unions are

[00:24:24] concerned about the Japanese company

[00:24:27] acquiring them in the setting but

[00:24:30] Harris has said she would do the same

[00:24:32] thing and Trump has said he would do

[00:24:33] the same thing so any take away from

[00:24:35] you on this well what's interesting

[00:24:37] about this is that US Steel Steel

[00:24:39] has come back and said if you squash

[00:24:42] this deal we're going to close or have

[00:24:44] to close plants well guess where those

[00:24:47] plants are or those steel plants are

[00:24:49] they're in Pennsylvania what's

[00:24:51] Pennsylvania Pennsylvania is a big

[00:24:53] battle for a spring step right so

[00:24:56] it'll be interesting to see if this

[00:25:00] sort of gets I don't know is you know

[00:25:03] Biden in the in the current

[00:25:04] administration willing to hold the

[00:25:07] position on that and risk the potential

[00:25:10] fallout from that and we're

[00:25:12] trying to see how that plays out timing

[00:25:14] wise well there's a whole government

[00:25:18] had effect I learned in reading this

[00:25:19] article I learned about another

[00:25:22] another agency in the government

[00:25:23] that I never heard of that we pay

[00:25:25] for looking at my article what was

[00:25:28] that called

[00:25:31] committee on foreign investment

[00:25:34] and their review it hasn't come in yet

[00:25:37] but you know this is interesting because

[00:25:39] the

[00:25:42] spokesperson for US Steel said you know

[00:25:45] historically when we see these issues

[00:25:47] related to foreign investment it's tied

[00:25:49] to national security

[00:25:52] the relationship US relationship with

[00:25:55] with Japan is phenomenal right I mean

[00:25:57] very very close so there's no issue

[00:26:00] about or shouldn't be any issue

[00:26:02] about the Japanese investing here

[00:26:05] and it ties back a little bit to right

[00:26:07] if you look at this is that the US

[00:26:09] need for steel isn't going to change

[00:26:11] if US Steel slows down

[00:26:14] and in order to shut some plants down

[00:26:16] and we've been talking about the

[00:26:19] Chinese trying to move steel into the

[00:26:21] US avoiding tariffs by going through Mexico

[00:26:24] so big big you know circular reference

[00:26:26] here that is kind of ties into stuff

[00:26:30] that we talk about consistently so

[00:26:31] it's going to impact supply chain stuff

[00:26:33] too have to watch will watch it

[00:26:35] we'll talk about it more

[00:26:37] alright

[00:26:39] why marketing and e-commerce next segment

[00:26:42] why brand purpose is overrated

[00:26:44] and what consumers really want

[00:26:46] you know I threw this in there

[00:26:48] this is talking about consumers

[00:26:50] but Tom I should have mentioned this to

[00:26:52] you when I sent you the articles

[00:26:53] to review yesterday is

[00:26:56] I'm feeling like and I'd like your comment

[00:26:59] or anybody that's listening comments on this

[00:27:01] and you're listening on the podcast

[00:27:02] send us a note if you have thoughts on this is

[00:27:05] I just think we're entering a stage

[00:27:08] and we're in the very

[00:27:11] nason are very early stages of where

[00:27:13] we just there's

[00:27:15] there's a very narrow gray line between

[00:27:17] B2B and B2C

[00:27:20] as far as expectations of consumers go

[00:27:23] and and so that's kind of what interested me in this article

[00:27:28] yeah I think there is a

[00:27:29] I think it's very close as it relates to

[00:27:33] an individual right we're going to talk about

[00:27:35] this next article a little bit about B2B vs B2C

[00:27:39] but I also obviously in business

[00:27:41] which we're going to get into

[00:27:43] it's not always an individual making the decision

[00:27:45] or having the decision to be make right

[00:27:47] in a

[00:27:49] business a consumer you have the authority

[00:27:50] to make your own decision

[00:27:52] generally or there may be a couple people but it's not a

[00:27:55] it's not a group decision but on this first article

[00:27:59] the

[00:28:01] it was an interesting point I thought because

[00:28:04] you know there's been a lot of talk about millennials and Gen Z

[00:28:07] really backing companies that have purpose built

[00:28:10] missions and align with their view and they're only going to buy from

[00:28:15] those companies or they're going to have

[00:28:18] but the article was like well if you really peel an onion back

[00:28:22] yeah that's more or less true unless

[00:28:24] they really want to get a better price or they really need something

[00:28:27] right now at which point they're going to buy one from the place

[00:28:30] that has the ability to deliver on what they need to buy

[00:28:33] so

[00:28:34] in other words they're saying hey purpose matters until it doesn't

[00:28:38] and

[00:28:39] I just found it interesting I don't you know there was probably a lot

[00:28:42] more to understand

[00:28:43] as you peel the onion on that but at the end of the day

[00:28:46] we want what we want when we want it

[00:28:48] yeah

[00:28:49] so I think that ties well this this article is from ad age magazine

[00:28:55] it's a from a survey of 8000 shoppers and 8000 retailers and

[00:28:59] I'm just going to say just plug in

[00:29:02] 8000 B2B buyers and 8000 distributors or 800 distributors into this

[00:29:07] 73% of consumers internationally agreed with the statement I am

[00:29:11] more loyal to brands and retailers who I believe are authentic

[00:29:13] right so that's where they started right and so it's

[00:29:17] you know save the world

[00:29:19] I believe in your mission

[00:29:21] I like your ads I like your spokesperson I like all of those

[00:29:25] things but to your point right a lot of that goes out the

[00:29:28] window when convenience comes in right it says that Jen's

[00:29:33] ears and millennials prefer brands whose missions align

[00:29:36] with their values and are more willing to support and be loyal

[00:29:39] to purpose driven brands

[00:29:40] but that doesn't mean you should keep telling them about

[00:29:43] it as it means making them change their behavior so

[00:29:46] it says contrary to widely held belief about Gen Z and millennials

[00:29:50] 43% of Gen Z or said they preferred ads to be humorous compared

[00:29:54] to 17% resonating with ads they were aligned with on social

[00:29:58] messaging so I'm not suggesting in this that we need to think

[00:30:01] about being funny when we're a wholesale distributor

[00:30:06] but what I do believe with this is

[00:30:10] brand matters and brand is more than we have 99.9 on time

[00:30:15] delivery and we've got 23 locations and a big trucking

[00:30:20] fleet right there are things that go to building brand awareness

[00:30:23] and brand warmth that are migrating over and this particular

[00:30:27] is you know article talking about brand and brand purpose

[00:30:32] and you have to kind of have a little bit of both my take

[00:30:34] away from this as you need both need to have a brand

[00:30:37] that people can become comfortable and have affinity for

[00:30:42] but then you need to give them all the stuff that they

[00:30:44] want where's the struggle now and B2B is people want an

[00:30:48] Amazon experience when they're buying conveyor belts.

[00:30:52] Well, yeah all things being equal as it relates to convenience

[00:30:55] and cost right brand certainly gives you that advantage

[00:30:59] all things being equal but that doesn't mean hey I have

[00:31:03] a great brand but then I don't have a good experience

[00:31:06] as it relates to convenience and to in cost and all

[00:31:11] those other things right so it's it's two sides of the equation.

[00:31:15] I think a great example that I want to unpack this a little

[00:31:19] bit Tom just for the friends that we have that are will

[00:31:22] be listening or with us live and use an example right and

[00:31:26] I'm not going to suggest that a that $100 billion a year

[00:31:31] at $30 million a year wholesale distributor or even

[00:31:34] manufacturer could do what a 18 or $20 billion a year

[00:31:38] a ranger could do but the if you look at Granger right

[00:31:45] if you turn on in Los Angeles or Southern California

[00:31:48] if you turn on the most popular news traffic and weather radio

[00:31:55] station at K and X FM here in Southern California which is

[00:32:01] the dominant spot for traffic and pro I listen to because

[00:32:04] of traffic when I'm out and about right you will hear

[00:32:07] consistently throughout the day adds for Granger and what

[00:32:11] Granger does is that the tagline is for the ones who get it done

[00:32:16] right well I'm I'm one I'm one of those guys that gets it done

[00:32:21] I'm the elevator repair guy I'm the guy that's the plant

[00:32:24] maintenance manager I'm the plumber going down the street

[00:32:28] there's that that is building brand right when we're starting

[00:32:31] to talk about an affinity of people coming to wanting to come

[00:32:36] to my company the other side of that is with Grangers hub

[00:32:39] and spoke model is we can get you anything and we can get

[00:32:43] you anything if not the same day overnight right and so now

[00:32:46] there that's a good example of people blending those things

[00:32:49] together in a nice setting that is now starting to take

[00:32:54] advantage of brand.

[00:32:57] Brand awareness brand development emotional tie to my

[00:33:01] company because I'm part of you and then by the way I've got

[00:33:05] an experience that's pretty phenomenal as well so that's

[00:33:08] just kind of like you know I threw out there from that

[00:33:10] standpoint you know a good example for people to kind of

[00:33:13] think about if you think you're you know ABC pipe and

[00:33:15] supply.

[00:33:17] And you just have done a really good job of getting

[00:33:19] pipes to job sites maybe take a look at what Granger is

[00:33:23] doing or maybe start reading some of the B2B or B2C

[00:33:26] things that are going on out there because as we talk

[00:33:29] about all the time and what we know is that your B2B buyer

[00:33:33] is a millennial soon going to be a Gen Z or I guess you can

[00:33:38] never get these right but that that's a whole different

[00:33:40] world that we're living in.

[00:33:42] A bottom line right you have to do both you have to or

[00:33:46] you should be doing don't have to I guess but you should

[00:33:48] be doing both is thinking about experience on one side of

[00:33:52] the equation and brand on the other and the two of them

[00:33:56] together.

[00:33:57] Should work one plus one equals three right you shouldn't

[00:34:00] end up getting definitely on both sides of that.

[00:34:03] Yeah Kelly in Wisconsin being a nice talk comment here

[00:34:06] about having the right technology right having the right

[00:34:09] tech behind your business that can power.

[00:34:12] This I think Kelly's in Wisconsin I think she moved

[00:34:14] from California recently but the having the right

[00:34:19] tech behind what you're trying to do this is critical

[00:34:21] right because you can't manage these things without

[00:34:24] understanding it also.

[00:34:25] So all right you want to bump ahead what's next.

[00:34:27] Taking so I this next one is very similar or I guess

[00:34:32] it's not similar but it's on the same line like

[00:34:33] clicking with B2B customers for lessons from B2C

[00:34:36] from B2C marketing and you know they're talking

[00:34:41] about obviously is that in the B2B world right we're

[00:34:44] dealing with.

[00:34:46] Generally you know larger longer buy cycles multiple

[00:34:50] decision makers things that are not something that

[00:34:54] we deal with as I was saying a minute ago related to

[00:34:56] consumers right if you look at marketing in the

[00:34:59] consumer world it's considered what is mostly direct

[00:35:02] response the idea being is Kevin I'm going to market

[00:35:06] to you I want you to respond and take action immediately

[00:35:10] based on that marketing than I'm doing whereas

[00:35:13] in the B2B world maybe that's the response is not

[00:35:17] hey I'm going to go buy something the response

[00:35:19] is I'm going to introduce this into my company.

[00:35:22] I'm going to make a recommendation to somebody

[00:35:24] I'm going to forward it to a colleague I'm going to do

[00:35:27] a lot of those things there which is a different

[00:35:29] action than in the B2C world but I think there's

[00:35:32] some good crossover as they were talking about

[00:35:34] here is some things that can cross over and can be

[00:35:37] leveraged on both sides of the fence.

[00:35:39] Well let's talk about that let's not just say

[00:35:41] they make good points there because not everybody's

[00:35:43] going to go read these articles so they talk

[00:35:45] about storytelling right which is pretty common

[00:35:48] if you look at things in the in the B2C world.

[00:35:52] And in really getting a story about that's going

[00:35:56] to resonate with people that's engaging but clear

[00:35:59] messaging it talks about you know how are we going

[00:36:02] to keep their attention how are we going to keep

[00:36:04] their affinity to our company and our brand.

[00:36:08] They talked about hyper personalization right

[00:36:10] we have different personas within different

[00:36:13] companies and different buyers or different

[00:36:15] influencers right my messaging to a chief

[00:36:20] supply officer right or a CFO is going to be

[00:36:23] different to the plant floor buyer right but

[00:36:26] that's actually not what we typically see but

[00:36:29] we need to really think about that hyper

[00:36:32] personalization in the B2B world of really

[00:36:34] understanding our buyer personas that go

[00:36:37] with all of that so we're marketing specifically

[00:36:39] to it's funny right we just were on the phone

[00:36:42] yesterday with an agency that does some of

[00:36:45] that work for us right is identifying personas

[00:36:51] that are key for us to be looking at and using

[00:36:54] they talk about then about data and that being

[00:36:57] disciplined and integrated across your organization

[00:37:00] with your data so some some good good points

[00:37:02] or I think it's always important for us I get

[00:37:04] I get in a habit sometimes here of you know

[00:37:06] I talk about the article but not the generalization

[00:37:10] but not the key points and not not everybody

[00:37:12] that listens in is reading the newsletter

[00:37:13] that are clicking on those links so those

[00:37:15] are the key pieces right storytelling and we

[00:37:18] are seeing I'm seeing this even with our customers

[00:37:20] where there is more of a emphasis now on really

[00:37:25] understanding who my customer is yes right with

[00:37:28] they're not just a name or an ID and the ERP

[00:37:31] right a number in the ERP but it's like who

[00:37:34] are the what is this company what do they do

[00:37:37] why are they buying from us who you know

[00:37:39] that's really having a deeper understanding

[00:37:41] of who your customer is yeah and I have definitely

[00:37:45] seen even the last year more of an emphasis on that

[00:37:47] I believe that'll be a really talk about brand

[00:37:50] and experience right companies that can really

[00:37:53] understand that customer in the distribution

[00:37:55] space is going to have a big advantage well

[00:37:58] and those are going to build the affinity

[00:37:59] and the longer relationship and the opportunity

[00:38:03] to do a you know looking at lifetime value

[00:38:06] of a customer right I mean and closing those

[00:38:10] white space gaps where we're not able to sell

[00:38:12] full line and those things that businesses really

[00:38:14] need to be thinking about trying to do more of

[00:38:16] are going to come from building that brand affinity

[00:38:19] and it's more than sending out you know having

[00:38:21] a flyer on the counter or having an email newsletter

[00:38:25] that goes out about our specials this month

[00:38:28] and then having a barbecue four times a year

[00:38:30] at each branch that's that's marketing but

[00:38:33] it's not the marketing and where we're headed

[00:38:35] that's not deep that's not deep knowledge

[00:38:37] on your customers it's not data driven right

[00:38:39] at all yeah yeah so all right good

[00:38:43] all right where we had a next did you want to talk

[00:38:46] about fraud I don't like to talk about fraud

[00:38:49] but I think you should okay yeah we have kind of

[00:38:53] we have kind of two fraud ones here back to

[00:38:55] me yeah yeah so be the be and be to see fraud

[00:38:58] both on the rise of report shows us digital commerce

[00:39:00] 360 we share a lot of information from there

[00:39:04] and it just it talks about fraud is on the rise

[00:39:07] across the board for both sides of things

[00:39:11] and a big part of that is becoming returns

[00:39:14] and it becomes a big struggle for for folks

[00:39:18] in that setting any any thoughts on your end

[00:39:21] yeah I mean I I would be you know they were

[00:39:24] talking a lot about returns right is being one

[00:39:27] of the primary areas that are

[00:39:30] and I don't know you know you might know

[00:39:32] better than I do is returns and and fraudulent

[00:39:35] return to big issue in the be to be world

[00:39:38] and in the distribution world I could totally

[00:39:40] see it obviously in the Amazon world sure

[00:39:43] consumer and it was funny when I I brought back

[00:39:46] a rake I bought at Lowe's the other day

[00:39:48] would you buy a rake for for for the yard

[00:39:51] you know you don't do that come on yeah

[00:39:54] and people yeah yeah I do I have me

[00:39:58] but the

[00:40:01] when I brought the rake back the guy like practically

[00:40:04] did a forensic analysis of it to try and figure

[00:40:07] out if I had used it before like really like

[00:40:09] picked it up and looked at it and make sure

[00:40:11] it wasn't bent and then asked a bunch of questions

[00:40:14] which I had not experienced before I was actually

[00:40:17] okay with it I didn't feel offended or I didn't

[00:40:20] you know it didn't really affect my my opinion

[00:40:23] of Lowe's by doing that but clearly right

[00:40:26] people are buying stuff using it but they

[00:40:28] they call it rent for free and the thing there

[00:40:31] I just don't know if that's a real problem in

[00:40:34] the wholesale space it's becoming

[00:40:36] it's becoming more of an issue and I think

[00:40:39] we talked about that you know the

[00:40:45] it's becoming a potential larger issue where

[00:40:47] people will get something in a great example

[00:40:50] of it because this happens be to be and be

[00:40:52] to see in effect it just just triggered on my

[00:40:54] head is that

[00:40:58] think about when the storms a hurricane's heading

[00:41:01] in right what happens when everybody runs to

[00:41:04] their local wholesale distributor or retailer

[00:41:06] they want to buy generators right I would

[00:41:09] generators well but think about generators right

[00:41:12] it's good one yeah apply what I'll probably

[00:41:15] take back no big deal but if somebody

[00:41:18] wants to go by three generators that are

[00:41:19] four hundred fifty dollars each just to have

[00:41:22] just in case right and then you go through

[00:41:25] that and you get the unboxing experience you

[00:41:27] get the potential damage so that's why

[00:41:30] people have looked in that setting in the B

[00:41:31] to B world just as well as B to C that some

[00:41:34] of these things is you can't return right

[00:41:36] and we see that I mean are you going

[00:41:38] to have that with a you know with a lumber

[00:41:40] distributor in fact that's a bad example

[00:41:44] maybe a pipe valve and fitting distributor

[00:41:45] maybe not as much the same but you do

[00:41:48] run into that when people have

[00:41:50] overages and so forth and it becomes

[00:41:52] oftentimes a packaging issue as well

[00:41:54] but again the same crossover is the

[00:41:58] tools that people are trying to use to do

[00:42:01] this are electronic and if you're

[00:42:02] offering electronic ordering there can be

[00:42:05] some funny business going on with all

[00:42:06] of that so just good things to kind of

[00:42:08] pay attention to and part of it happens

[00:42:10] sometimes too with people

[00:42:13] worrying less about you know in this

[00:42:15] setting I was just kind of looking at

[00:42:16] some of the charts that went with this

[00:42:17] article you know is a empty box fraud

[00:42:20] they charge talk about charge back fraud

[00:42:22] and so forth of course we return that

[00:42:26] no we didn't know you didn't if guess

[00:42:27] we did you know or this didn't work

[00:42:30] quite right and that happens across the

[00:42:32] board as well and then as we start

[00:42:34] trying to do more digital transactions

[00:42:37] as we're migrating from analog to

[00:42:40] digital transactions I think during

[00:42:42] that crossover time we're going to be

[00:42:44] having to learn about the power that

[00:42:46] comes from managing things digitally

[00:42:49] and so that that's an issue at the moment

[00:42:53] yeah I think I'm going to my generators

[00:42:55] I could see that being a

[00:42:57] you know sort of event driven

[00:43:00] sort of purchases that are you know

[00:43:03] well I want to have it on hand and

[00:43:04] I don't need that anymore and that's

[00:43:06] still a cost yeah or I mean you see

[00:43:09] something similar with people if you

[00:43:11] know wanting to over buy related to

[00:43:14] a project even or a job you know so

[00:43:18] and in most distributors do a

[00:43:21] reasonably good job of having a

[00:43:23] relationship with their customers

[00:43:24] it's like hey you can you know if you

[00:43:27] have 20 boxes of unused

[00:43:30] unopened unused nails from that

[00:43:32] project that you didn't need an X amount

[00:43:34] of sheet supply would bring them back

[00:43:36] we'll take a good look at it credit

[00:43:38] your account is fine but as we start

[00:43:40] moving to the digital age with more

[00:43:41] of this there's some risks that go

[00:43:43] with it until we get those systems

[00:43:44] refined better okay that ties into

[00:43:47] you know what it's going to mention

[00:43:49] to we always like to kind of share

[00:43:52] some plugs for some of the people

[00:43:53] that provided some of the information

[00:43:55] and articles that we talked about

[00:43:56] and distribution strategy group did

[00:43:59] an event that tied in a lot

[00:44:01] about this about returns and

[00:44:04] managing returns RP that was

[00:44:06] with us earlier in the show made

[00:44:09] a couple of comments he was

[00:44:10] actually on that event

[00:44:12] and then

[00:44:15] as one of the panelists they talk

[00:44:16] quite a bit about returns and managing returns

[00:44:18] efficiently so if this is something

[00:44:20] you're thinking about in your wholesale distributor

[00:44:22] it that would be good just it was

[00:44:24] on Wednesday camera the title of it

[00:44:26] but it was on their Wednesday webinar

[00:44:28] and say at Wednesday

[00:44:30] and this is Friday September

[00:44:33] 6th so it would have been

[00:44:34] on the fourth I believe they held that

[00:44:36] and they talked a lot about these types

[00:44:38] of issues in that so

[00:44:40] I want to hit Kelly's comment here I think this is really

[00:44:42] good insight

[00:44:44] you know she said

[00:44:46] I think 200 websites with B2B

[00:44:49] and the getting fraud on our level is a training issue

[00:44:52] we have AI security now

[00:44:54] and apps connected to B2B

[00:44:56] commerce that will flag authorized.net

[00:44:58] which is the credit card

[00:45:00] processing has velocity

[00:45:02] filters there are holds before checkouts

[00:45:04] clarity to find terms and condition

[00:45:06] related to return

[00:45:07] no cash return credit only

[00:45:09] I think this is exactly what they were talking about

[00:45:12] in the article do as much more

[00:45:14] restrictive things that are there sounds like

[00:45:16] that's happening already based on Kelly's

[00:45:18] experience in the B2B world

[00:45:20] yep and she's been in the B2B

[00:45:22] world for a long long time so

[00:45:24] a good source thank you Kelly

[00:45:26] for that that's good that's good all right

[00:45:28] Tom from a time standpoint let's keep bouncing

[00:45:30] here we go into our technology cyber

[00:45:32] security and AI segment

[00:45:34] deepfake scams escalate hitting

[00:45:37] 53% of businesses

[00:45:38] any takeaways on that one

[00:45:40] you know I think this is going to be the

[00:45:43] one of the most biggest

[00:45:44] security related things

[00:45:47] that you've got to get sorted out

[00:45:50] the quality of

[00:45:52] the videos whether they're

[00:45:53] deep fake videos deep face

[00:45:55] deep fake audio even deep fake

[00:45:57] emails yeah

[00:46:00] is just getting

[00:46:01] more and more

[00:46:02] if you want to call it impressive

[00:46:04] yes for lack of better

[00:46:06] so you've really got to have

[00:46:08] the right

[00:46:11] it's going to get worse it's going to get worse

[00:46:14] and

[00:46:15] you talk about we were talking about training issue

[00:46:17] right training and organizational

[00:46:20] issue I think

[00:46:21] any organization has got to basically

[00:46:24] incorporate this into their policies

[00:46:25] and the training that they do with employees

[00:46:28] just like you would do safety

[00:46:30] training or anything else

[00:46:31] you know HR training any of this

[00:46:34] this would be

[00:46:35] almost an essential element of it

[00:46:37] well Tom I think that the challenge

[00:46:39] comes is this is such

[00:46:41] new

[00:46:43] territory right for us

[00:46:45] in these things and to me

[00:46:47] people talk all the time about

[00:46:49] existential threats of AI and things

[00:46:53] this is

[00:46:54] probably

[00:46:55] reading this article and I was thinking about something else

[00:46:58] and kind of my personal life as well

[00:47:01] and I think we're all about the risks of these things

[00:47:03] the other day

[00:47:04] and

[00:47:07] this is probably the first time

[00:47:08] that I've really taken a look at

[00:47:10] the risk

[00:47:12] of some of the things that you can do with AI

[00:47:13] I mean we talked about the big stuff

[00:47:16] and

[00:47:17] but you know the end of the day

[00:47:18] and I think it was and I was going to text him this morning

[00:47:21] and ask him about this but

[00:47:24] when Ian Heller was on

[00:47:25] when we did our we did January show

[00:47:28] we did the year in review with Mike

[00:47:30] and Durkin and

[00:47:32] Mike Marks and Dirk Beverage and Ian

[00:47:34] Heller

[00:47:34] I can't remember if this was an actual

[00:47:38] story or if it was

[00:47:41] traditional that Ian

[00:47:42] developed but if Ian's with us

[00:47:44] or anybody knows just let us know this

[00:47:46] morning but the point was right

[00:47:48] you're an electrical distributor

[00:47:50] you've got a customer

[00:47:52] that you

[00:47:54] work with on a consistent basis right

[00:47:56] it's ABC electrical contractors

[00:47:58] and they're a huge account for you

[00:48:00] and Joe from ABC

[00:48:02] electrical contractors calls

[00:48:04] in his orders from his truck all the time

[00:48:06] and all of a sudden

[00:48:07] customer service gets a call

[00:48:10] from a number that

[00:48:12] says it's Joe's number

[00:48:14] and Joe says we're just starting a new

[00:48:16] job site it's on the corner of main

[00:48:18] and Oak Street and

[00:48:20] I need you to drop off

[00:48:22] you know

[00:48:23] 200 spools of XYZ

[00:48:26] type of wire

[00:48:27] and that wire has to happen to be full of

[00:48:29] copper right

[00:48:31] and because ABC contractors

[00:48:33] and Joe have been doing business with your company

[00:48:35] since your dad started it

[00:48:37] right you don't think twice about a customer

[00:48:39] service knows that's Joe well guess what

[00:48:41] in that setting it's not Joe

[00:48:43] because

[00:48:45] a spoof or deep fake

[00:48:47] type person went and saw oh

[00:48:49] this is a big contractor in the area

[00:48:51] they found Joe on Facebook

[00:48:53] where he's done some videos from

[00:48:55] vacation

[00:48:57] recorded his voice to make a deep fake

[00:48:59] of his voice

[00:49:00] they can easily spoof his number when calling

[00:49:03] in and that order

[00:49:05] is coming from a deep fake

[00:49:07] and that order of

[00:49:09] say $10,000

[00:49:11] worth of copper wire

[00:49:12] is going to an empty lot with maybe

[00:49:15] maybe there is a job site

[00:49:17] but it's getting dropped off and there's somebody

[00:49:19] going by to pick it up that's going to sell that

[00:49:21] wire and get the cash right

[00:49:23] did anybody do anything wrong

[00:49:25] in that setting on the

[00:49:27] distributor side just did their normal

[00:49:29] business practice it's Joe

[00:49:31] Joe calls from his truck

[00:49:33] on Tuesdays and Thursdays or whatever

[00:49:35] it is so that's a

[00:49:37] big deal right so

[00:49:39] I mean they're talking about 53%

[00:49:41] of businesses in the US

[00:49:43] and UK have had some type

[00:49:45] of been some type of a target of a financial

[00:49:47] scam so that we're talking

[00:49:49] what I was just describing is on the

[00:49:51] getting product out the door stuff

[00:49:53] we're not talking about it by the way this article

[00:49:55] is from CFOdive.com

[00:49:58] great publication

[00:49:59] and they're saying that 43%

[00:50:02] 53% of

[00:50:03] businesses in the US and UK had been

[00:50:05] targeted 43%

[00:50:07] of them had fallen victim to something

[00:50:09] mm-hmm

[00:50:11] maybe I'm soap boxing this a little bit I don't know

[00:50:13] but no I mean it's

[00:50:15] you're right I mean we talked about this

[00:50:17] with you know way back in January

[00:50:19] when we did the show with Ian I think

[00:50:21] it's happening now much faster

[00:50:23] mm-hmm because it's so easy to do

[00:50:25] right right there's so many

[00:50:27] tools that so again it's not

[00:50:29] going away the only way you can handle

[00:50:31] it is to incorporate the right policies

[00:50:33] in the organization to

[00:50:35] be away with you know get aware with

[00:50:37] it so whether you have a special code

[00:50:39] or you have other things that

[00:50:40] Joe needs it to provide

[00:50:42] mm-hmm right it's like you can

[00:50:44] still provide that customer experience

[00:50:46] but you don't have to

[00:50:48] you know open yourself up to that

[00:50:50] level of I guess ease

[00:50:52] of fraudulent activities so

[00:50:54] yeah well I think

[00:50:57] maybe we can try

[00:50:59] and be a voice for this about some of the

[00:51:00] tools that you could do right

[00:51:02] because I think this is going to be

[00:51:05] we're going to be talking about this a lot

[00:51:07] more over the next few years I think

[00:51:08] yeah so

[00:51:10] yeah this is

[00:51:11] this one makes me nervous you know

[00:51:13] not a lot of this stuff makes me nervous

[00:51:15] because I think it's reasonable to be

[00:51:17] able to overcome a lot of these things

[00:51:20] but this one's going to be hard

[00:51:23] so

[00:51:23] putting those things in and I think what we're going to see

[00:51:25] is a lot more than

[00:51:27] just you know cyber security software

[00:51:29] for companies and we're going to see

[00:51:31] cyber security consultants

[00:51:33] and best practices

[00:51:36] yeah I have a friend

[00:51:38] who has a security company

[00:51:40] all they do is training

[00:51:42] all they do is security training

[00:51:43] and he's getting close to being a half a billion

[00:51:46] dollar company

[00:51:47] not one piece of software it's all

[00:51:49] training so they might

[00:51:52] he might be big enough to come in and do some work for us

[00:51:54] at Leedsmart yeah

[00:51:56] maybe not quite but

[00:51:58] no that's I mean it's

[00:52:00] something we need to be thinking about in our company too

[00:52:02] alright what do we click on

[00:52:04] alright before we

[00:52:06] go on to any other segments here

[00:52:08] what's your AI persona

[00:52:09] Tom do you know your AI persona

[00:52:13] yes

[00:52:13] where do you fit there's five of them

[00:52:16] I'm all of the above I think

[00:52:17] yeah isn't that great so here's what they are

[00:52:20] this is an article

[00:52:22] from HR Dive magazine

[00:52:23] and talking about getting

[00:52:27] AI within

[00:52:28] your business so they have the

[00:52:30] we go here to the Leedsmart

[00:52:31] we have the maximalist they call it maximalist

[00:52:36] 30% surveyed are all in on AI

[00:52:39] 63%

[00:52:40] of that group use it a couple

[00:52:41] of times a week and 65%

[00:52:43] actively encourage others

[00:52:46] next we go to

[00:52:48] it says 4 out of 5 of those

[00:52:50] people are under 44

[00:52:52] you don't qualify

[00:52:53] we don't qualify then it talked about the

[00:52:56] underground group 20%

[00:52:58] of workers surveyed

[00:53:00] they 7 in 10

[00:53:01] are under 44 and

[00:53:04] this group is using

[00:53:05] AI on the slide their company doesn't

[00:53:07] encourage the use of AI at work

[00:53:09] and they don't have much going on there

[00:53:11] then we talk about the rebel

[00:53:14] 19% of those surveyed

[00:53:17] 66%

[00:53:18] said they never use

[00:53:19] AI at work and almost as many said

[00:53:21] the technology is a threat to society

[00:53:24] so they're

[00:53:25] they're gonna follow a demographic that says

[00:53:27] I'm gonna bury my head in the ground

[00:53:29] and then there is the super fan

[00:53:32] huge AI fans

[00:53:34] but are cheering from the sidelines

[00:53:35] this group is diverse in age

[00:53:38] signaling AI

[00:53:39] curiosity spans all generations

[00:53:42] the key to their engagement

[00:53:44] is set them up with trainings and encourage

[00:53:45] learnings to see the value

[00:53:47] and then the last one is the observer

[00:53:51] the last third is interested in learning

[00:53:53] about the tool and developing appropriate skills

[00:53:56] but don't basically have the time

[00:53:58] or the engagement to do it so

[00:53:59] I'd say I've fallen

[00:54:01] the observer for me is

[00:54:03] I want to do more

[00:54:05] the super fan is part of the same

[00:54:07] as I'm a super fan but

[00:54:09] have limited aspects

[00:54:11] outside of what we do and what I use

[00:54:13] in our business

[00:54:15] nothing rebel for me

[00:54:17] nothing underground for me

[00:54:19] and then that the maximalist is

[00:54:21] I'm trying to maximize my use of it more every day

[00:54:23] so where do you fall

[00:54:25] I would say I'm definitely a maximalist

[00:54:28] but there's

[00:54:30] something before maximalist

[00:54:31] that you are

[00:54:33] there is

[00:54:35] we won't repeat that on the call

[00:54:37] your well known

[00:54:38] is becoming more and more well known as an expert

[00:54:41] in the AI field and the tools that you're developing

[00:54:43] with your team so

[00:54:45] I don't know what you would call that

[00:54:47] I know this isn't in the article

[00:54:49] and I know it's not covering

[00:54:50] I just want to state something that I think

[00:54:53] we'll hear first

[00:54:54] because we have a

[00:54:55] Apple's making a big announcement on Monday

[00:54:57] I think we've even had commenters

[00:55:00] and people on the show that say

[00:55:01] God I'm so sick of AI

[00:55:02] I'm so sick of hearing about AI

[00:55:05] and the hype cycle

[00:55:07] where the hype is wearing out

[00:55:08] I think we're about, I know

[00:55:10] I'll go one step and say I know

[00:55:13] we are about ready to enter into a new chapter

[00:55:15] of AI

[00:55:17] that I don't think anybody

[00:55:19] or very few people have thought a lot about

[00:55:21] about what it can do and what it will do

[00:55:23] for you

[00:55:24] so I think you're going to see very different personas here

[00:55:27] per the article here

[00:55:29] in the next 6 months

[00:55:31] because I think we're going to, what you know is

[00:55:33] AI today

[00:55:34] and what AI is even come the end of the year

[00:55:37] is going to be very different

[00:55:40] well

[00:55:41] I think you're right with that

[00:55:43] and I think what we're going to see very quickly is

[00:55:46] your phone

[00:55:46] is going to take you into a whole new world

[00:55:49] of experience

[00:55:50] of what could be with AI

[00:55:53] and I don't know if that's what they're going to be announcing

[00:55:55] but this one I haven't paid attention to

[00:55:57] but I don't know

[00:55:58] I mean the new phones are coming out

[00:56:00] iOS 18 is coming up it has the Apple

[00:56:02] and Teligence to it you're going to basically have a little mini

[00:56:05] model on your phone

[00:56:06] I mean you really start to look at

[00:56:09] what's possible with that

[00:56:10] and not just consumer wise but in B2B

[00:56:13] it starts to be pretty

[00:56:16] mind boggling

[00:56:16] no I think that's exactly it

[00:56:19] but let's just quickly

[00:56:20] and I want to move ahead but

[00:56:22] I think you're teasing a little bit there that we should

[00:56:24] discuss briefly

[00:56:27] hey thanks Bob

[00:56:30] alright well we're going to wrap

[00:56:31] yeah appreciate you all being with us

[00:56:34] that's funny

[00:56:35] we always love them when Bob's here

[00:56:37] that's great

[00:56:37] those of you listening in on the podcast again

[00:56:40] you're not hearing the

[00:56:42] you shouldn't say that you're not seeing

[00:56:44] the newsletter that we have in front of us

[00:56:45] I usually talk about this much earlier and we have

[00:56:47] comments that are coming in on the live show

[00:56:49] we have somebody that

[00:56:52] just dropped in with us last minute

[00:56:53] as we're just a few articles

[00:56:55] away from winding down that it will be

[00:56:57] Jeff agrees with the critiques would be awesome

[00:56:59] yeah no that's what we're going to come back to

[00:57:01] that so hold on to Jeff there for a minute

[00:57:03] but what I did want to say Tom

[00:57:05] is if you're listening on the podcast

[00:57:08] we're reviewing our newsletter that we publish

[00:57:09] each week it's called around the horn and wholesale

[00:57:11] distribution manufacturing

[00:57:13] if you would like to get that and you don't currently get

[00:57:16] that please let us know

[00:57:17] you can do that by emailing us at hello

[00:57:20] at leedsmarttech.com

[00:57:22] or you can drop in

[00:57:24] on the website for the podcast

[00:57:26] which is

[00:57:26] www.aroundthehornpod.com

[00:57:30] you can sign up

[00:57:31] for alerts you can sign up

[00:57:33] for the RSS feed whatever you want to do there

[00:57:35] as well as the newsletter which is what we're talking about today

[00:57:38] so shifting back

[00:57:39] to this discussion about AI

[00:57:42] I think what we're talking about

[00:57:43] here is having your

[00:57:46] mobile device

[00:57:47] right and I was just noticing because

[00:57:49] I could get a new laptop in the next week

[00:57:51] or two new MacBook and their new chips

[00:57:53] are AI enabled for the stuff

[00:57:55] you're going to be able to do on your

[00:57:57] computer for running models

[00:57:59] that will be local to you so we think about

[00:58:01] an AI right and we need to break this down

[00:58:03] I think a little bit Tom we think about large language models

[00:58:05] right which are

[00:58:07] large

[00:58:09] data lakes

[00:58:11] warehouses full of information

[00:58:14] from whatever

[00:58:15] that model builder

[00:58:17] wants to be included in that

[00:58:19] we think about open AI and chat GPT

[00:58:21] it is basically

[00:58:23] the world around us up to a certain date

[00:58:25] and we can ask that

[00:58:27] questions well now imagine

[00:58:29] what you can ask chat GPT about

[00:58:31] why Napoleon did this

[00:58:33] or did that right and get wonderful

[00:58:35] resources or ask

[00:58:37] perplexity and get the reference points of that

[00:58:39] same question now what happens

[00:58:41] is on your mobile device

[00:58:42] right there is a

[00:58:45] it's a small language model running

[00:58:47] but it is the Tom Burton

[00:58:49] language model about all things

[00:58:51] Tom Burton so how did

[00:58:53] you spend your time what restaurants did you order

[00:58:55] from what did you order

[00:58:57] how many duplicates you have in your contacts

[00:58:59] and why do we have those

[00:59:01] everything about you and your life that

[00:59:03] your phone has that data in there

[00:59:05] I happen to have my phone

[00:59:06] connected to a drop box that has

[00:59:08] my whole personal world in there

[00:59:11] and a share point for our business

[00:59:12] now we start seeing this

[00:59:14] emergence of

[00:59:17] information that's we're not only

[00:59:19] don't need to go look for it we're going to be prompted

[00:59:21] with it and it's all about

[00:59:23] us versus going out

[00:59:25] and searching for things

[00:59:26] about how to make sushi

[00:59:28] it's going to be prompting this

[00:59:31] and saying hey Kevin you ordered

[00:59:32] rainbow rolls and caterpillar rolls

[00:59:34] from this place would you like me to show you how to make

[00:59:37] them exactly right

[00:59:39] and say that again

[00:59:40] I love it when you say that

[00:59:42] I don't know if I can remember what I said

[00:59:44] but

[00:59:47] now take that one step

[00:59:48] further so you're now

[00:59:50] a sales person

[00:59:52] at a distributor and

[00:59:55] I hand you a company

[00:59:56] phone that's preloaded

[00:59:59] if you want to call it that

[01:00:00] everything that it means to be

[01:00:03] an outside salesman

[01:00:04] in this territory with these products

[01:00:07] with these

[01:00:08] things that are here with these customers

[01:00:11] all of those things is

[01:00:14] it's

[01:00:17] going to be and the capabilities

[01:00:19] which is I know we've gotten way off track

[01:00:21] on this but the capabilities

[01:00:23] of even the models

[01:00:25] and what open AI will be releasing this year

[01:00:27] and so forth

[01:00:29] I think we I know like I said

[01:00:30] we are entering into a new chapter

[01:00:32] it's funny I was at a barbecue over

[01:00:35] the weekend and it was just

[01:00:37] interesting talking to people that believe that

[01:00:39] AI as it exists now

[01:00:40] is what it is forever

[01:00:41] and we're about

[01:00:44] right

[01:00:46] and

[01:00:49] and we're going to see a whole other

[01:00:51] major in my opinion

[01:00:53] major major

[01:00:55] increase in just capabilities

[01:00:56] and

[01:00:58] ability of use cases and value

[01:01:01] also comes

[01:01:02] with everything else so we've talked about the goes with it

[01:01:04] but positive value

[01:01:06] is the opportunity

[01:01:08] I want to hit Bob's comment though

[01:01:10] because he brings up an interest

[01:01:12] coming in this late

[01:01:13] we're going to let him come in late

[01:01:17] as he says when it's on our phone nothing will be

[01:01:20] sacred give a time and AI will start

[01:01:22] charging for the personal data

[01:01:23] it gathers firmness

[01:01:25] I don't think that's completely crazy

[01:01:28] right I think as it aggregates data

[01:01:30] and provides you insights or whatever

[01:01:31] you know you'll have Ciri pro

[01:01:34] or something that you'll end up potentially

[01:01:35] paying for I just want Ciri to work

[01:01:38] it will work it'll work a lot better

[01:01:40] with it wait

[01:01:42] I've got a horrible today

[01:01:44] yeah good all right sales

[01:01:46] and M&A two articles we

[01:01:48] have here as we move into our sales and M&A segment

[01:01:50] good article

[01:01:52] here in industry week magazine

[01:01:54] industry week dot com about manufacturers

[01:01:56] prime for mergers but waiting

[01:01:58] for forecast ability so

[01:01:59] this is tying a little bit back to what

[01:02:02] we're talk a lot about as we

[01:02:04] getting into election season there's a lot of

[01:02:06] people waiting on what's going to happen

[01:02:08] with interest rates and then what's going to

[01:02:09] happen what what can we expect

[01:02:12] from the world and the economy

[01:02:13] post election

[01:02:15] and you know it's crazy

[01:02:17] it's like I would

[01:02:19] really like to keep the radio

[01:02:21] and the news off till November

[01:02:24] 20th or so

[01:02:25] get through all the hype and

[01:02:27] figure things out but a good article about

[01:02:30] the manufacturing side

[01:02:32] I don't know if you had any takeaways

[01:02:33] on that one

[01:02:35] I just you know it's

[01:02:37] I was going to mention this earlier right

[01:02:39] I think we're in the maybe economy right now

[01:02:41] maybe I will maybe I won't

[01:02:43] yeah I think this is a good example

[01:02:45] of this and you mentioned elections

[01:02:47] and you know I think even hiring

[01:02:50] right I think one of the reasons we're seeing

[01:02:51] a slow down in jobs is people

[01:02:53] like well I'm not sure if

[01:02:55] I should hire you know should I be

[01:02:58] thinking about AI or you know

[01:03:00] what right who knows what it is it's just

[01:03:02] like a we're in this maybe

[01:03:04] the state of maybe

[01:03:05] and again this is just another example

[01:03:08] of that

[01:03:09] it's good they talked a lot about you know

[01:03:12] the private equity side of things in

[01:03:13] manufacturing it's interesting they also

[01:03:15] talked about deals that would

[01:03:17] be moving some some folks are a little

[01:03:19] these the term paralysis

[01:03:21] right now kind of watching on things but

[01:03:23] they also talked about deals that are getting done

[01:03:25] are oftentimes getting done out

[01:03:27] of private equity funds that

[01:03:29] are ending hitting their end of

[01:03:31] their investment life cycle

[01:03:33] so they got a fund that needs to and I

[01:03:35] always I thought this and

[01:03:36] we know we rarely talk a lot about venture

[01:03:39] capital here but you and I have had involvement

[01:03:41] that many times in the past and been investors

[01:03:43] ourselves and

[01:03:45] is the

[01:03:47] perfect world right is

[01:03:49] and I heard a VC talk

[01:03:51] about this one time at a consumer electronics

[01:03:53] board association board meeting I was invited

[01:03:55] to

[01:03:57] sit in on and listen in on

[01:03:59] and they were talking about you know

[01:04:01] the best best case scenario is

[01:04:02] because we all think about sometimes dumb deals get done

[01:04:05] like why would you why would you have done that

[01:04:07] sometimes there's money needing

[01:04:09] a home and it has a very narrow

[01:04:11] window when it has to be spent

[01:04:12] and so sometimes there's deals I I've

[01:04:15] always thought that the person that can figure

[01:04:17] out and understand looking across private

[01:04:19] equity and venture capital and

[01:04:21] understand somehow know

[01:04:23] what the life cycle on those are

[01:04:25] on those funds when dollars have to be

[01:04:27] deployed

[01:04:29] that's a winning time to go figure out

[01:04:31] where you want to raise

[01:04:33] so difficult to do well

[01:04:35] follow up article to that is from

[01:04:36] the modern distribution management they talk about

[01:04:38] August M&A recap

[01:04:40] second busiest month so far

[01:04:42] of 2024 they put some good

[01:04:44] that can put good data out of that

[01:04:46] when did you time did you grab that

[01:04:48] chart would spend a lot of time

[01:04:51] on it but

[01:04:52] if you grab that or not so carefully

[01:04:54] you know there you go so you can see this is a good

[01:04:56] example of the cycle that we've had

[01:04:58] if you're listening on the podcast

[01:05:00] and not seeing our screen this talks about deals

[01:05:03] published per month

[01:05:05] January

[01:05:05] 37 and we've kind of had

[01:05:07] some 37 36

[01:05:09] and then

[01:05:11] looks like we had may was the top and then

[01:05:14] August

[01:05:15] was at 35 deals so

[01:05:17] pretty steady we had some down

[01:05:19] down months last year in July

[01:05:21] and again in September

[01:05:23] but but some pretty steady growth

[01:05:25] across there so I think we're going to see a

[01:05:27] lot more of that happening after the

[01:05:30] election is a lot of money on the

[01:05:31] sidelines so we'll see where that where that

[01:05:33] pops back in so

[01:05:36] so Tom I'm I'm distressed

[01:05:38] we're moving into our people and leadership

[01:05:40] segment how do you

[01:05:41] support employees

[01:05:43] in distress

[01:05:45] don't you don't have them go talk to other

[01:05:47] distressed employees that's that's the

[01:05:49] answer right there

[01:05:50] so

[01:05:54] but that's what the article is saying

[01:05:55] basically it's a Harvard Business Review

[01:05:57] article saying that generally hey if

[01:05:59] I'm having a hard time or work right I'll

[01:06:01] go find somebody else who's

[01:06:03] having a hard time misery less company basically

[01:06:06] and what they're saying is that generally

[01:06:07] makes it worse so don't go

[01:06:09] you know look for somebody else who's having

[01:06:11] that same problem to

[01:06:12] try and sort it all out with

[01:06:15] commiserate huh commiserate yeah

[01:06:17] yeah so

[01:06:19] some people might ask why are you two

[01:06:21] guys talking about HR stuff right

[01:06:23] it's last

[01:06:25] I guess it was January the show we mentioned

[01:06:27] earlier and we had Dirk beverage on

[01:06:29] and Dirk's with

[01:06:32] doing his tour

[01:06:33] with the we supply America tour I think

[01:06:36] he's got a couple more stops left he was

[01:06:37] home for a week or so if you don't follow

[01:06:39] Dirk on on

[01:06:41] I think Dirk was going to be with us today he said

[01:06:43] if you don't follow Dirk on LinkedIn

[01:06:45] you're missing out some of the stuff that he

[01:06:47] writes he's just a prolific

[01:06:49] contributor and

[01:06:51] he's out touring the countryside

[01:06:53] and so Dirk called us out and I'm

[01:06:55] really appreciative of it is that we

[01:06:57] didn't talk enough about people and

[01:06:59] leadership and the humans

[01:07:01] behind wholesale distribution and

[01:07:03] manufacturing so we added this segment

[01:07:05] literally the next week

[01:07:07] and so this is a great article

[01:07:09] it talks about again you mentioned

[01:07:11] Harvard Business Review it talks about

[01:07:13] sometimes as leaders

[01:07:15] you know we're busy we don't think

[01:07:17] about this we want to send somebody down to HR

[01:07:19] but talks about focusing on the person

[01:07:21] in distress and focusing on

[01:07:23] you know what is going on with them

[01:07:25] as opposed to comparing ourselves

[01:07:27] to them validating what's going

[01:07:29] on with them and understanding the severity

[01:07:31] of it asking questions so they

[01:07:33] can share more about things

[01:07:35] and then consider who in the organization

[01:07:37] is the best person to be of support and help

[01:07:39] to them in that setting so I like

[01:07:41] that article it was good ties well

[01:07:43] as we talk about the next article

[01:07:45] today as we kind of move along

[01:07:47] developing top talent the

[01:07:49] Olympians of the workplace and

[01:07:51] we've had a lot of good

[01:07:53] specifically tied into

[01:07:55] the people and leadership segment that we

[01:07:57] do each week since the Olympics last

[01:07:59] month this was kind of an

[01:08:01] interesting article about developing

[01:08:03] top talent and using

[01:08:04] tools that athletes use right

[01:08:07] anything you see there you liked

[01:08:10] no I mean I think bottom

[01:08:11] line right we hear this all the time is

[01:08:12] people don't leave companies they leave

[01:08:14] managers and

[01:08:16] this was I thought some really good advice

[01:08:18] for a manager about how to potentially

[01:08:21] you know do a better job with

[01:08:22] it and help develop your team

[01:08:25] yeah I mean it talked

[01:08:26] I think what I liked about it is it really related

[01:08:29] to

[01:08:30] the idea of

[01:08:31] a

[01:08:33] what a coach would do with somebody right

[01:08:35] establishing clear expectations give them

[01:08:38] the tools and empower somebody to grow

[01:08:39] and help them unlock their potential

[01:08:42] and that's what coaches do right we want

[01:08:44] to do that in the workplace

[01:08:45] so

[01:08:47] good well we're going to turn into

[01:08:48] great HR people Tom we're going to learn from all

[01:08:51] this yes

[01:08:51] I need all the help I can get yeah

[01:08:54] so a couple of things

[01:08:57] we usually don't spend

[01:08:58] a lot of time talking about our industry Scuttlebutt

[01:09:00] was in our next section but

[01:09:03] couple of these things I wanted to hit big

[01:09:05] acquisition announced earlier this week

[01:09:07] surprised a lot of people

[01:09:09] I actually

[01:09:10] texted somebody that I respect in

[01:09:12] the electrical distribution world

[01:09:14] about this acquisition

[01:09:16] sonapar acquired some of the electric

[01:09:19] some

[01:09:20] some it's a headquarter in albuquerque 23 locations

[01:09:24] they

[01:09:24] looked like they were going to start doing quite a few

[01:09:26] acquisitions and stuff themselves

[01:09:28] at Gerber the former president of the

[01:09:30] national supply association

[01:09:32] it's been close to two years now joined

[01:09:34] sonapar to join the

[01:09:36] summit to help kind of turn around and see what was

[01:09:38] next for them so this was an exciting

[01:09:40] announcement

[01:09:40] I mentioned our friend of the show earlier

[01:09:43] Ian heller from distribution strategy group

[01:09:45] Ian's on the board of directors

[01:09:47] I guess it was on the board of directors

[01:09:49] of summit electric as well so congratulations

[01:09:52] to Ed Gerber and

[01:09:54] everybody at summit and the folks from

[01:09:56] sonapar kind of wondering

[01:09:58] if between sonapar and west go and a

[01:10:00] couple of others if there's going to be too many

[01:10:03] privately held electrical

[01:10:04] distributors in the US soon but we'll watch

[01:10:06] what happens

[01:10:08] our friends at entries international

[01:10:10] fastener and industrial distributor

[01:10:11] in wisconsin

[01:10:12] and I say them call them friends

[01:10:15] because they're friends but they're also

[01:10:16] a smart technologies they use the

[01:10:19] least more channel cloud product from us

[01:10:21] so we're happy about them they

[01:10:23] announced an acquisition this week

[01:10:24] the two great announcements of new

[01:10:27] hires within their organization

[01:10:29] and senior executive level

[01:10:30] in the last few weeks and then an

[01:10:32] announcement of acquiring sort of

[01:10:35] products as well so I'm going there later

[01:10:37] in the month is that where I'm going

[01:10:38] that picture that is the building you're going

[01:10:40] Tom yes okay good I'll know it

[01:10:42] all right good yeah that's right

[01:10:44] we're putting the deal together with them a while

[01:10:46] back yes that is where that is what the

[01:10:48] building looks like and it's huge

[01:10:50] so

[01:10:52] and then our friends at tipco we've got

[01:10:54] Rob and some of his team from tipco

[01:10:57] join us on the show pretty regularly

[01:10:58] and they did another acquisition as well

[01:11:01] so congratulations to everybody

[01:11:03] on the acquisition hunt and

[01:11:05] and so forth so

[01:11:07] we end our week

[01:11:08] with our good reads segment here

[01:11:11] and this one is about the new

[01:11:13] CEO at Starbucks

[01:11:15] did you catch that article

[01:11:17] you know I didn't what was the

[01:11:19] five word phrase that's great I'm going to

[01:11:21] share this with you there's some cool

[01:11:23] stuff coming out of him and it's as

[01:11:25] simple as this

[01:11:27] and this they said this is what got

[01:11:29] him the job and

[01:11:31] the phrase is

[01:11:33] I know what to do

[01:11:35] okay

[01:11:37] well and he had the pedigree to back

[01:11:39] that up too think about

[01:11:40] but then you think about any setting

[01:11:42] right confidence

[01:11:44] the confidence and enthusiasm

[01:11:47] that you'll build from the

[01:11:48] those around you whether they work

[01:11:51] for you or there

[01:11:52] you're looking for a job

[01:11:54] when an issue like that comes up being able

[01:11:57] to say this gentleman's name is Brian

[01:11:58] nickel he's the previous CEO

[01:12:00] of Chipotle

[01:12:02] he lives I don't know

[01:12:04] not even 15 minutes from me

[01:12:05] in the high district of town

[01:12:08] but

[01:12:10] when you're able to instill in people

[01:12:12] the idea that says I know what

[01:12:14] to do now you're going to eventually have

[01:12:16] to back that up right

[01:12:18] but when you can go in and build that

[01:12:20] confidence he did that

[01:12:22] and he said because Starbucks was in a

[01:12:24] world of hurt with some leadership challenges

[01:12:26] they've had and he was

[01:12:28] called by a

[01:12:29] I think it was

[01:12:33] was it

[01:12:33] person that they're referencing I think it was

[01:12:36] an intermediary

[01:12:38] that's I'm sorry it's the chairman

[01:12:40] of the board of Starbucks Melody Hodson

[01:12:42] it says here she reached out to him

[01:12:44] he was happy at Chipotle doing phenomenal

[01:12:46] things at Chipotle the day this was

[01:12:48] announced Starbucks falling stock

[01:12:50] went way up in Chipotle's fell

[01:12:52] he said he took the took

[01:12:54] the call and she says

[01:12:56] Hobson says she clearly remembers

[01:12:58] what he told her he said I know what

[01:13:00] to do this is a speed bump

[01:13:02] in the company's history this is

[01:13:04] not something I fear

[01:13:06] going into because it can be fixed

[01:13:08] and it can be changed and I know what to do

[01:13:11] okay

[01:13:12] all right well guess what

[01:13:14] he's commuting from his house in Laguna beach

[01:13:16] to Seattle on the

[01:13:18] G 50 G 500

[01:13:20] whatever it is Gulfstream jet

[01:13:22] they're opening an office for him

[01:13:24] here in

[01:13:26] over by John Wayne airport

[01:13:27] for him to work out of when he's in town

[01:13:30] and they've given him kind of carte blanche

[01:13:32] to go do things but that

[01:13:33] they use the term emotional intelligence

[01:13:36] which I struggle with you know what that really

[01:13:38] is sometimes

[01:13:40] but I thought it was great so I know

[01:13:42] what to do that's the take away all right

[01:13:44] I think that's a good way for us to end off

[01:13:46] that is a good way for us in

[01:13:47] the day yeah so you're going to

[01:13:50] go build some new AI tools and to lead some more channel

[01:13:52] cloud this weekend is that what you're doing I know

[01:13:54] what to do

[01:13:56] that's awesome

[01:13:58] that's great time

[01:13:59] all right well I'll talk to you Monday and

[01:14:02] let's see what you built

[01:14:04] that'll be good

[01:14:05] all right well thanks to everybody who was with us today

[01:14:08] the folks that commented

[01:14:09] the folks that were the lurkers that just enjoy

[01:14:12] being with us if you're listening again in the

[01:14:14] podcast we appreciate it

[01:14:16] we do this we try and do this every week as I

[01:14:18] said unless somebody's in the hospital

[01:14:20] on vacation or on an airplane

[01:14:22] eventually we're going to be able to do them from

[01:14:24] airplanes but I can't imagine

[01:14:26] sitting next to one of us trying to do the

[01:14:28] podcast but

[01:14:30] we appreciate everybody being with us we

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[01:15:50] that's you on the next call we have 13

[01:15:53] minutes and we'll wish everybody

[01:15:55] a great weekend be kind

[01:15:56] have fun

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[01:16:00] have a good weekend thanks everyone