Navigating Trends In Wholesale Distribution With Eric Hoplin of The NAW

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

[00:00:10] Sponsored each week by Lead Smart 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.

[00:00:25] 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.

[00:00:36] Hey, so welcome everybody.

[00:00:38] So happy that we're together this morning.

[00:00:41] Kevin Brown, Tom Burton with Lead Smart Technologies and we have Eric Hoplin with

[00:00:47] us today from NAW National Association of Wholesalers and Distributors.

[00:00:53] First off, Eric, thank you for being with us.

[00:00:55] It took us a while to get you and we've been working on that and we're really appreciative

[00:01:00] of you.

[00:01:01] Am I a hard get?

[00:01:02] I didn't realize that, Kevin, if I had known I would have hopped on the next day.

[00:01:05] So glad to be here to have you on the audience.

[00:01:08] Yeah, for one second I didn't think it was lack of willingness.

[00:01:12] I know you're a really busy man.

[00:01:13] I had an opportunity last month to visit your offices in DC and what a buzz going

[00:01:21] on around that place.

[00:01:23] There was a lot of movement, a lot of people moving.

[00:01:25] I think it was just like the city actually.

[00:01:27] DC is just such a great town.

[00:01:30] It's one of my favorite towns to visit and there was a buzz in the city and your

[00:01:33] offices were moving fast.

[00:01:35] So it wasn't a desire.

[00:01:37] I know it was a scheduling issue so that's good to have you.

[00:01:41] I'm glad I had a chance to come by NAW and meet our incredible team who, you

[00:01:45] know, they work every single day tirelessly on behalf of the wholesale distribution industry.

[00:01:50] So it's really my privilege to work with them and to help lead this industry.

[00:01:55] That's fantastic and we appreciate all the work that you and your team do.

[00:01:58] In fact, I love watching Dan's LinkedIn post.

[00:02:03] I mean, it doesn't seem like a night goes by of the week or the weekend that he's

[00:02:09] not out representing wholesale distribution at some event or whether it's a Saturday

[00:02:14] morning run.

[00:02:16] So I love how he does his LinkedIn post because he's out.

[00:02:22] He's a busy guy.

[00:02:23] In fact, you know, just last night we were at Dan's house on Capitol Hill in Washington

[00:02:27] hosting a fundraiser for a great charity in Washington called So Others Might Eat.

[00:02:32] And so you're right, whether it's serving the community or helping the industry, Dan

[00:02:36] is nonstop and we love that about him.

[00:02:39] No, that's great.

[00:02:41] I had an opportunity to meet with Bart and with Dan and with Adam while I was there.

[00:02:46] Just great folks all the way around.

[00:02:48] So we're looking forward to further conversations with them.

[00:02:52] But before we dive in and kind of talk about the news today, let's welcome those

[00:02:58] who are here.

[00:02:59] We've got Will Quinn is with us.

[00:03:01] I see the lovely Darlene Brown who's with us weekly.

[00:03:06] My wife, who works with a lot of wholesale distributors and manufacturers and marketing

[00:03:10] and printing joins us regularly.

[00:03:13] So it's good to have her.

[00:03:14] But we'll see more folks coming in.

[00:03:16] We'll look forward to folks people commenting today.

[00:03:18] Before we dive in, got a little bit of housekeeping that we do each week.

[00:03:23] And before we kind of get started, we like to just introduce the show.

[00:03:26] So again, Tom Burton, Kevin Brown with Lead Smart Technology, our wonderful guest

[00:03:30] today with us as well.

[00:03:32] But we get together every Friday morning, unless someone's on an airplane.

[00:03:37] We get together on Friday mornings for around the horn and wholesale distribution

[00:03:41] and manufacturing.

[00:03:42] And the goal of what we do each week is to just kind of take a look at the news

[00:03:47] that's going on around the world, mostly in the U.S.

[00:03:49] and North America.

[00:03:51] Look at that news about the economy, about supply chain issues, mergers and

[00:03:56] acquisitions, sales and marketing, A.I., e-commerce, general technology, and bring

[00:04:02] that news all together and then kind of wrap it up in a bow of how does that

[00:04:06] impact wholesale distribution and manufacturing?

[00:04:09] So we do that each week.

[00:04:10] We're here live.

[00:04:11] We are going to be reviewing a newsletter that we send out each week.

[00:04:15] It again is called Around the Horn and Wholesale Distribution.

[00:04:18] It goes out to about 10,000 people every Friday morning.

[00:04:21] If you don't get that and you would like to, it's two simple ways to do it.

[00:04:26] You can just reach out to us at hello at leadsmarttech.com or you can go to the

[00:04:33] website for the podcast, which is www.aroundthehornpod.com and fire us off

[00:04:40] a note there and we'll get you that newsletter.

[00:04:43] Two ways that we come at you each week.

[00:04:45] The first one is when we're live this morning, we're live on YouTube,

[00:04:48] live Facebook, live and LinkedIn live.

[00:04:51] We'll go through our session this morning, answering some questions,

[00:04:54] getting great insights from, from Eric as well.

[00:04:57] But then later in the day, our producers and editors will take all of this data.

[00:05:02] They'll format it.

[00:05:03] It'll go onto all of the popular podcasts format.

[00:05:05] So we'll have Apple podcasts, Spotify, Odyssey, whatever you

[00:05:11] listen to that's available.

[00:05:13] The reason I share that is that if you're listening on the podcast,

[00:05:16] you won't be seeing on the screens what we'll be seeing, which is that

[00:05:19] newsletter.

[00:05:20] So again, if you'd like it, that would be great.

[00:05:22] Finally, in closing, if you like what we do each week, Tom, what are we 93 today?

[00:05:28] 93.

[00:05:28] Yes.

[00:05:29] 93 times we've got together to do this.

[00:05:31] Eric, I don't think I shared it with you about, well, 93 weeks or so ago.

[00:05:37] I mentioned to Tom and some of our marketing group and said, you know,

[00:05:39] why don't, why don't we do a little newsletter?

[00:05:41] We get great information from NAW and from Forbes and Reuters and everybody

[00:05:46] else.

[00:05:47] And let's consolidate that and get that out to our customers and

[00:05:50] prospects and subscribers.

[00:05:52] And let's do that.

[00:05:53] Tom said, well, why don't we give it a try and talk about it on LinkedIn Live?

[00:05:56] And here we are.

[00:05:58] So we're coming up on a hundred soon.

[00:05:59] We got to get that party plan.

[00:06:01] But if you like what you hear each week and you see some value to it, a

[00:06:05] couple of things you could do.

[00:06:06] If you're on YouTube, hit the subscribe button.

[00:06:09] If you're on LinkedIn follow Lead Smart Technologies, you'll get this

[00:06:12] information every week.

[00:06:14] If you're listening on the podcast, share it with friends or leave a

[00:06:16] review, be great.

[00:06:18] So, Tom, before we dive in, Eric, would you give us a little intro to you?

[00:06:23] Maybe your background and a little bit about NAW for those that may not

[00:06:27] know you.

[00:06:29] Sure.

[00:06:29] Yeah.

[00:06:29] If you're not familiar with NAW, we're the trade association that

[00:06:33] represents the entire wholesale distribution industry.

[00:06:35] That's every line of trade from healthcare and MRO and everything

[00:06:41] in between food, you know, you name it.

[00:06:44] We represent all the lines of trade.

[00:06:46] There's about 30,000 companies in the distribution industry and all told

[00:06:51] we account together for about one third of the American economy.

[00:06:54] And so there's a lot of things that NAW does to help support that

[00:06:57] industry.

[00:06:58] First is we are a place where we bring people together to talk about

[00:07:02] technology, talk about innovation, what's around the corner.

[00:07:06] And so that's one.

[00:07:08] Second is this is a really powerful network.

[00:07:10] It's a community of the leading distributors that want to help each

[00:07:14] other to succeed and to be better businesses and build better businesses.

[00:07:18] So we've got a number of programs nested under our networking arm that

[00:07:23] helps to facilitate that.

[00:07:25] Third is we are an educational place where we have incredible partnerships

[00:07:30] with Texas A&M, Ohio State University and some online education where we

[00:07:36] bring that directly to leaders across the wholesale distribution industry so

[00:07:39] they can sharpen their skills and be even better.

[00:07:42] And the final thing is we're the sword and the shield for the industry in

[00:07:46] Washington.

[00:07:46] There are things that come at our industry every single day that make it

[00:07:50] harder to run businesses.

[00:07:51] And so we talk some sense to the politicians in Washington and help let

[00:07:56] our leaders put their head down and run their businesses.

[00:07:58] So in a nutshell, that's what NAW does.

[00:08:01] But I'd also like to add that recently we acquired modern distribution

[00:08:06] management, MDM.

[00:08:07] And so many people start their day with MDM.

[00:08:10] It aggregates and publishes the best news across the industry, things

[00:08:15] impacting the industry and the economy.

[00:08:18] And so we're really excited to be partnering now with the folks at MDM

[00:08:22] as well to better support the industry.

[00:08:25] Tom has done a wonderful job, Tom Gale, over the years in doing that.

[00:08:28] I think I start most days with some of their content.

[00:08:31] Mike Hockett, one of the executive editors, Mike's title, has been

[00:08:35] with us on the show multiple times as a guest.

[00:08:38] So we're big fans there as well.

[00:08:40] One of the things that...

[00:08:41] Both great guys, really smart and glad to have them with us now.

[00:08:45] Yep.

[00:08:46] One of the things that I'm really appreciative about NAW is, and I

[00:08:51] don't know that everybody catches this all the time, but people, if

[00:08:56] you're in a specific vertical, maybe you're an industrial distributor,

[00:09:00] you might belong to ISA or if you're in the HVAC world, you might be

[00:09:04] belonging to Hardy or ASA or one of those other groups.

[00:09:08] But all of those groups are members as well of NAW.

[00:09:12] Correct me if I'm wrong here, but I think tip of the spear, top

[00:09:15] of the pyramid in our wholesale distribution world would be NAW.

[00:09:20] And the members go across other associations, buying

[00:09:25] groups and members as well.

[00:09:26] Yes?

[00:09:27] Yep, that's right.

[00:09:28] And it's a great community as we combine all of the

[00:09:33] target associations together.

[00:09:35] You mentioned Hardy, for example.

[00:09:36] They do incredible job on HVAC and are specific experts in and

[00:09:40] around that HVAC industry.

[00:09:42] So we don't touch HVAC.

[00:09:43] And so what we focus on, so we compliment what Hardy and all the

[00:09:48] other trade associations do is we focus on things that matter to

[00:09:51] every wholesale distributor in the country.

[00:09:54] And so if you're dealing with technology challenges or innovation

[00:09:58] or leadership or economics and financial issues, legal issues,

[00:10:02] workforce issues, anything that cuts across the entire industry,

[00:10:06] that's where people tend to come to NAW for.

[00:10:08] That's great.

[00:10:09] That's great.

[00:10:10] Good.

[00:10:10] Well, that's a great overview.

[00:10:12] Mr.

[00:10:12] Burton, why don't we dive into the news and start that

[00:10:17] chatter away as well?

[00:10:20] Too bad we have news today because Eric, I could sit here

[00:10:23] for another hour asking you some questions about all the

[00:10:25] things about NAW.

[00:10:26] It's pretty amazing, but we will follow the format, Kevin.

[00:10:30] So.

[00:10:32] Ask away.

[00:10:33] You know, that's the beauty of what

[00:10:36] we do each week.

[00:10:37] We don't have to do anything.

[00:10:38] Eric, when Tom and I first got this started, I said, if we

[00:10:42] ever have to be superscripted and organized, and I said,

[00:10:46] I'm out.

[00:10:47] So we just want to get together and chat and bring some

[00:10:50] value to the audience that we have.

[00:10:52] So maybe weave some of those questions in throughout

[00:10:54] the day, Tom.

[00:10:55] Yeah.

[00:10:55] In particular, I'm throwing my script out the door, guys.

[00:10:59] I've been reading the whole morning so I can go and

[00:11:02] script it.

[00:11:02] Great.

[00:11:02] I like that.

[00:11:04] Yeah.

[00:11:04] No, I was really in one of the areas I was really

[00:11:06] intrigued about that you brought up, Eric, was the

[00:11:08] educational aspect of it and the things you're doing

[00:11:11] with the universities.

[00:11:12] I mean, I spend my life working with distributors as

[00:11:17] it relates to technology and our technology.

[00:11:19] And I'm seeing that things are happening so fast.

[00:11:22] It's so hard for a lot of these companies to keep up

[00:11:25] on what's going on and having a source of that education,

[00:11:28] I think would be super, super valuable, which it

[00:11:30] sounds like you're doing with some pretty big industry

[00:11:34] players or educational players.

[00:11:36] Yeah, we've had a partnership with Ohio State for 40

[00:11:39] years.

[00:11:39] It goes way back and it's kind of like an MBA on

[00:11:44] steroids.

[00:11:45] Yeah, that's what it sounds like.

[00:11:46] Comparing the next generation to step into the

[00:11:48] executive roles.

[00:11:49] It's a great program, but it's targeted at

[00:11:52] wholesale distribution.

[00:11:53] You can get an MBA, an executive MBA in lots of

[00:11:56] places, but coming to us, it's how do you apply

[00:11:58] those principles to our business?

[00:12:00] But the other one that we do that our members really

[00:12:02] love, it's called Goalmakers.

[00:12:03] And so this is completely digital, so you can do it

[00:12:06] from the comfort of your office or your home.

[00:12:08] But we have a great faculty that puts together

[00:12:12] training in a variety of different ways.

[00:12:15] And part of what we do is we bring in guest

[00:12:17] speakers from the membership.

[00:12:18] So for example, we'll have CEOs or CFOs or COOs

[00:12:22] from some of the great companies in distribution

[00:12:25] that will take different topics and work with

[00:12:28] the different cohorts.

[00:12:29] And so it's been incredibly well received.

[00:12:32] And that's something we started just this year.

[00:12:35] Fantastic.

[00:12:37] And then you mentioned partnership with Texas

[00:12:40] A&M, which is their huge industrial distribution

[00:12:44] program as well there.

[00:12:46] We have met a number of people at some of the

[00:12:48] trade associate or some of the buying group, I

[00:12:49] should say meetings.

[00:12:50] They'll oftentimes be there as well promoting

[00:12:53] that program.

[00:12:54] So two great programs at Ohio State and Texas

[00:12:57] A&M.

[00:12:57] So good.

[00:12:58] For sure.

[00:12:59] All right, Tom.

[00:13:00] Let's say what are your thoughts here?

[00:13:02] We've got more.

[00:13:03] So we start each week on the economy and supply

[00:13:05] chain.

[00:13:06] Consumer confidence rises.

[00:13:08] We published two articles here, one from AP

[00:13:10] and one from Yahoo Finance.

[00:13:12] Any thoughts to take us away on this?

[00:13:14] But maybe, Tom, you should preface and get

[00:13:16] Eric up to speed on our differences that we

[00:13:20] have on the economy.

[00:13:22] We have a running bet, Eric, that I say

[00:13:24] there'll be one cut this year.

[00:13:25] And Kevin says there'll be two or more rate

[00:13:27] cuts this year.

[00:13:29] And we debate that week in and week out.

[00:13:32] I'm sure everyone's tired of hearing us talk

[00:13:34] about it by now.

[00:13:36] Well, I think your average investor thought

[00:13:38] we would have had cuts already.

[00:13:40] Yes, 6 or 7, right?

[00:13:41] Yeah, exactly.

[00:13:42] So the Fed is watching that inflation

[00:13:45] number and I think continues to be surprised

[00:13:47] at how stubborn it is.

[00:13:49] And so it's not only having an impact on

[00:13:52] markets and the economy, but also continues to

[00:13:55] impact our politics.

[00:13:56] And so inflation, I think we're learning

[00:13:58] once again, is definitely tough to control.

[00:14:02] So Eric, do you have an estimate or a thought

[00:14:08] yourself on the number for this year?

[00:14:11] Look, I think we're going to get a rate cut.

[00:14:13] The question is how soon.

[00:14:15] It's I think if you were President Biden,

[00:14:18] you hope that we're going to throw a bunch in

[00:14:19] between now and November.

[00:14:20] Before November, yeah.

[00:14:22] Yeah, but that's the beauty of the

[00:14:24] separation with the Federal Reserve.

[00:14:26] So I'm not going to settle your dispute, guys.

[00:14:29] Oh, come on.

[00:14:30] I'll see who's right at the end of the day.

[00:14:33] I heard you say a rate cut.

[00:14:35] That means one to me.

[00:14:36] So I'm just going to take it as that.

[00:14:38] I saw that happening when you said A.

[00:14:40] Tom was like his face just started to glow.

[00:14:43] Eric, I don't think one of the things I...

[00:14:46] Go ahead.

[00:14:47] Well, I'm just saying, you know,

[00:14:48] there's nothing to put this in context

[00:14:50] as people are looking at the rates today

[00:14:51] saying, oh, can you believe how terrible

[00:14:54] I talked to my dad who lives in rural Minnesota,

[00:14:58] and he reminds me of our family home

[00:15:00] that he bought in the late 70s

[00:15:03] as he went to the bank.

[00:15:04] The interest rates were 19%.

[00:15:06] So we're nowhere near that territory.

[00:15:09] And so as people are talking about interest rates,

[00:15:11] we could be in a much worse situation.

[00:15:13] So I think it's also always good

[00:15:15] to put that in context of where we are historically.

[00:15:17] No, I think that's right.

[00:15:19] Tom and I banter about this each week.

[00:15:21] We banter about a lot.

[00:15:22] I don't think I shared this with you, Eric,

[00:15:23] but Tom and I not only are the co-founders of our company

[00:15:27] and our sponsor, Lead Smart Technologies,

[00:15:29] but we've been friends since kindergarten.

[00:15:31] So...

[00:15:32] Oh, great.

[00:15:33] Yeah, so we poke at each other a little bit,

[00:15:34] but there will be stakes involved regardless

[00:15:40] of which side wins.

[00:15:42] So I look at it as we're gonna have a nice dinner

[00:15:45] at the come the end of the year, regardless of this,

[00:15:47] but I'm still a little more bullish than Tom.

[00:15:51] What was interesting about this second article,

[00:15:53] the one from Yahoo Finance,

[00:15:55] it was talking a little bit about there's a...

[00:15:58] The title was it US consumers show the feds

[00:16:02] its backward problem with higher rates.

[00:16:04] And I've said this for a long time.

[00:16:07] And in fact, I'm not even gonna fully say it.

[00:16:10] I'm gonna ask you an opinion in just a moment on this.

[00:16:12] But one of the things here was they were talking

[00:16:15] about the fact that someone that's

[00:16:18] not even necessarily high net worth,

[00:16:20] but people that are doing well,

[00:16:22] I think they may be targeted at $100,000

[00:16:24] or more of income a year.

[00:16:26] They can get four and a half percent

[00:16:29] on their money right now.

[00:16:30] They probably have a great mortgage.

[00:16:32] High interest rates are actually looking solid for them.

[00:16:36] And then the higher net worth you get,

[00:16:38] you've got that much more earning

[00:16:39] that you've never been able to.

[00:16:41] And then the stock market's doing what it's doing.

[00:16:44] So this article I thought was kind of interesting

[00:16:46] because it talked about a little bit of a tug

[00:16:49] or a push pull related to things.

[00:16:51] I'd love to ask you,

[00:16:53] and I don't mean to put you on the spot with this,

[00:16:54] but what are your thoughts?

[00:16:57] And maybe you need to be careful

[00:16:58] because you're in DC,

[00:16:59] but what are your thoughts on the tools

[00:17:03] that the fed uses or the metrics that they use?

[00:17:06] I sometimes comment, I think maybe some of those

[00:17:08] are need to be revisited or maybe identify

[00:17:12] and find some metrics that are more

[00:17:14] in line with today's economy.

[00:17:17] Yeah, and I guess,

[00:17:19] I would say that what you outlined, Kevin is accurate.

[00:17:22] Some people are seeing some financial benefit

[00:17:24] because of higher rates,

[00:17:26] but at the same time, you flip that around

[00:17:28] and the cost of food has doubled

[00:17:30] over the last couple of years.

[00:17:32] And so what you might be accumulating

[00:17:35] in your savings account and some other vehicles,

[00:17:37] you're spending it across the economy.

[00:17:40] And so I think taming inflation is really important

[00:17:44] for the fed to get right so we can reset the economy.

[00:17:50] Some of the political leaders are talking a lot about how,

[00:17:53] well, we've slowed the rate of inflation

[00:17:56] and how incredible is this slowing?

[00:17:58] But what I don't think that they're acknowledging is,

[00:18:00] well, we're not having deflation.

[00:18:03] And so we're not ever probably gonna go back

[00:18:05] to those prices that we had pre-pandemic.

[00:18:09] And so I think that's part of the reason

[00:18:10] why we're having such instable, if you were a politics,

[00:18:14] is because people are really feeling the pinch

[00:18:17] around the family table.

[00:18:19] So I think they see that more, Kevin.

[00:18:21] Their costs have gone up so much more

[00:18:23] than maybe what they're seeing the benefits

[00:18:25] on the rate side.

[00:18:27] Yeah, and I think that really hits

[00:18:30] that kind of middle America person in that setting,

[00:18:33] what you're describing.

[00:18:34] I think when you probably get the high net worth individuals,

[00:18:41] that fluctuation at the grocery store

[00:18:43] that hits my household may not matter as much to them

[00:18:48] because they're gonna buy prime beef

[00:18:52] and 95 point wines regardless of the economy.

[00:18:56] But that 4.5% and what the stock market is doing,

[00:19:00] it's interesting.

[00:19:01] This particular article,

[00:19:02] and I don't know if I'm fully in alignment

[00:19:04] with what it's saying, but it made a quote

[00:19:06] and it says,

[00:19:07] "'The fact is that the Fed policy may be accomplishing

[00:19:10] the exact opposite of what it intends.'"

[00:19:13] And this was from a Guardian-Harris poll

[00:19:16] that they talked about.

[00:19:17] And it said, anyways, we could go on and on.

[00:19:21] I just think, go ahead, Tom.

[00:19:23] Well, I wanna bring something up on this

[00:19:24] because, Eric, what you just said,

[00:19:26] I think you have to separate out purchasing power

[00:19:29] from wealth.

[00:19:31] Purchasing power for the average person

[00:19:34] has gone way down over the last three years

[00:19:38] or two years since inflation.

[00:19:39] And it certainly hasn't kept up with wage growth.

[00:19:42] Wage growth and inflation have not kept up.

[00:19:45] So if you don't have a lot of wealth,

[00:19:47] a lot of accumulated wealth,

[00:19:49] then all you really have is reduced purchasing power.

[00:19:53] If you have wealth on the other side,

[00:19:55] whether you're getting that in interest or savings

[00:19:57] or you have money in the stock market

[00:19:58] and the stock market's driven by different dynamics,

[00:20:02] then you're less affected by those things that are there.

[00:20:04] And if you read that article, both those articles,

[00:20:07] the people that had the highest consumer confidence

[00:20:10] were people who had over $100,000 of income

[00:20:13] and were younger on top of things.

[00:20:15] So I think-

[00:20:16] And that would mean purchasing power

[00:20:17] better being younger too.

[00:20:19] Yeah.

[00:20:19] So, yeah, go ahead, keep going.

[00:20:20] Anyway, I just think it's important to separate out

[00:20:23] that yeah, we all have reduced purchasing power.

[00:20:26] For some people, it doesn't matter so much,

[00:20:29] especially if you're on the wealth side of the equation

[00:20:31] because your wealth is growing faster

[00:20:33] than the cost of living

[00:20:35] and your purchasing power is reducing.

[00:20:38] So I think it very much depends on who you're talking to.

[00:20:41] Yep.

[00:20:42] Yep.

[00:20:43] Well, I think it's going to be the second half

[00:20:45] of the year is going to be interesting

[00:20:46] to see what happens with all this.

[00:20:48] Obviously it's very clear

[00:20:49] we're going to have two rate cuts at least.

[00:20:52] That's a given at this point.

[00:20:54] So Tom, I'm getting the ribeye

[00:20:56] and probably a 1984 Jordan cab

[00:21:02] is probably what things are leaning towards.

[00:21:04] So the question will be,

[00:21:05] is that one rate cut,

[00:21:06] is it going to happen in September or December?

[00:21:08] That I don't know yet,

[00:21:09] but we'll see about the politics of it.

[00:21:12] All right.

[00:21:13] Derek, we'll get back to you on this, okay?

[00:21:15] As we'll chat about it.

[00:21:19] If we're talking about wine from 1984,

[00:21:21] this sounds like a pretty solid vintage.

[00:21:23] So maybe I'll have to come over and join you guys.

[00:21:25] Yeah, or maybe we do it in DC and your team joins us.

[00:21:29] Yeah, that'd be great.

[00:21:30] That'd be fun.

[00:21:31] Kevin will be buying dinner for all of us, right?

[00:21:34] Yeah, there you go.

[00:21:35] There's no shortages of wine lists

[00:21:38] and steak houses around the capital, right?

[00:21:41] That's for sure.

[00:21:42] Good.

[00:21:43] Well, as we kind of move through our economy

[00:21:45] and supply chain section,

[00:21:47] we posted an article today

[00:21:49] from supplychainedive.com

[00:21:53] and it talks about East Coast Port Labor Talks

[00:21:55] Spark Shipper Contingency Plans.

[00:21:57] And the reason that we posted this,

[00:22:00] we've been kind of staying for the last year or so

[00:22:03] on the topic of following pretty closely

[00:22:06] what's going on with the ports.

[00:22:08] And we do that for a number of reasons.

[00:22:10] One is that obviously everything coming in on a ship

[00:22:14] and in a container is, typically we know 75%

[00:22:18] at least of that is gonna go through distribution

[00:22:21] to get to the end user of some sort.

[00:22:24] So it impacts distribution,

[00:22:26] but what we watched earlier last year,

[00:22:28] we had the risk of a strike on the West Coast ports

[00:22:31] and there was some movement of things

[00:22:33] to the Gulf Coast into the East.

[00:22:36] Then there we saw Western Canada actually have a strike,

[00:22:39] some impacts there.

[00:22:41] Then just a few months back,

[00:22:43] we already had a threat,

[00:22:45] which is this particular article

[00:22:47] about all across the East Coast,

[00:22:49] the union that covers the East Coast ports

[00:22:53] as well as through the Gulf Coast as well.

[00:22:57] I think the article was saying September

[00:22:59] is their contracts are up

[00:23:01] and there's big risks with those.

[00:23:03] But then we had the Baltimore accident as well.

[00:23:06] So we've been watching these

[00:23:07] and Eric, I wanna kind of throw this out to you

[00:23:09] and maybe get your take from your members.

[00:23:11] And the reason we look at that is what I mentioned before,

[00:23:14] but also it's tied to the fact

[00:23:17] that we're having a lot of a resurgence now

[00:23:20] of on-shoring and near-shoring.

[00:23:22] Some of that's taking place based upon

[00:23:24] some of the Biden administration's programs

[00:23:28] for manufacturing and so forth.

[00:23:30] And, but I'm kind of wanting

[00:23:32] to get a little bit of your take on the ports,

[00:23:34] those issues, what you may or may not be hearing

[00:23:37] from members and then as well as near-shoring or on-shoring.

[00:23:41] Well, look, strikes at ports

[00:23:43] can be catastrophic for the economy

[00:23:45] and for consumers who are watching this.

[00:23:49] I think the union's really been emboldened

[00:23:51] over the course of the last year.

[00:23:53] Kevin, you mentioned the strike in Canada,

[00:23:55] the potential strike on the West Coast,

[00:23:58] but you think about the UAW strike

[00:24:00] that seemed to be successful for them.

[00:24:02] You think about the UPS strike that was successful.

[00:24:05] Even the Hollywood strike.

[00:24:06] I think that the unions are emboldened.

[00:24:08] And so I think that they're gonna bring harder terms

[00:24:11] to the table and make the possibility

[00:24:14] of a strike even more likely.

[00:24:16] Now, we can get into commentary later

[00:24:18] on what we think about the unions

[00:24:20] holding the economy hostage,

[00:24:22] but that's maybe for a later day.

[00:24:24] But it's one of the reasons, one of many,

[00:24:27] why most of the wholesale distributors

[00:24:29] that I'm talking to who source their products

[00:24:31] and materials from around the globe

[00:24:33] are looking to de-risk their supply chains.

[00:24:36] For them, I don't know that it's Biden policies,

[00:24:39] as you mentioned, Kevin,

[00:24:40] I think more they got the experience during the pandemic

[00:24:43] where some of them,

[00:24:44] they just couldn't get the materials

[00:24:46] that they had sourced.

[00:24:48] In some cases, I'm talking to CEOs

[00:24:49] where the materials that they had purchased

[00:24:51] were on ships heading our way

[00:24:53] and the Chinese government turned them around.

[00:24:56] And so as our members have done an analysis

[00:25:00] of the percentage of goods

[00:25:03] that they might source from China in particular,

[00:25:05] they're looking to bring that percentage down.

[00:25:08] I don't think they're going to zero,

[00:25:09] but for example, one distributor

[00:25:11] I talked to a couple of weeks ago,

[00:25:13] they're sourcing 90% of a particular product from China.

[00:25:17] And so they found a new source in Brazil

[00:25:20] and they're hoping to bring that from 90 to 70%

[00:25:24] and build some confidence with that new supplier.

[00:25:28] But things are, well, in that case,

[00:25:30] in Brazil still half going to come through

[00:25:32] probably the port of Houston.

[00:25:34] And so ports are going to continue to be important

[00:25:36] whether you're moving things to Malaysia or Vietnam

[00:25:39] or Brazil or Mexico or Canada.

[00:25:41] And of course, whenever they can source things

[00:25:44] in the USA, that's always best and they want to do that.

[00:25:47] But this is not a high margin business.

[00:25:51] And so they also have to be very mindful of costs

[00:25:54] as they're sourcing.

[00:25:56] But I would say it's a huge trend in the industry.

[00:25:58] Everybody's looking to de-risk that supply chain,

[00:26:01] boards are demanding it from companies.

[00:26:04] And so I think we'll continue to see that trend.

[00:26:07] One challenge that we hear a lot,

[00:26:09] especially in China in particular

[00:26:11] is as companies have moved their supplier

[00:26:14] maybe just somewhere else in Southeast Asia

[00:26:16] like Vietnam or Malaysia is six months later,

[00:26:20] a Chinese company will come in

[00:26:22] and buy that company in Vietnam.

[00:26:24] And so while they have geographic diversity,

[00:26:26] the Chinese as the CCP government

[00:26:29] largely still has that control.

[00:26:31] So it's been hard for them to get away.

[00:26:34] Yeah, they didn't get rid of the geopolitical issues.

[00:26:37] They just moved a little bit further in Asia.

[00:26:40] And I had a couple of conversations this past week

[00:26:43] with some distributors

[00:26:44] and very similar piece of that discussion.

[00:26:47] The other thing that we've been talking about

[00:26:49] quite a bit recently related to this on our show

[00:26:52] is as we look at things near-shoring, so to speak,

[00:26:55] going to Mexico and other parts of Latin America

[00:26:59] is there's a couple of issues with that.

[00:27:00] One is getting that if it's being trucked,

[00:27:04] we only have a certain amount of ports of entry

[00:27:06] into the US by truck.

[00:27:08] Those are, I live about 70 miles north

[00:27:11] of the Mexican border in Southern California

[00:27:14] and I'm down in Baja California pretty regularly.

[00:27:17] And you know what?

[00:27:18] It can take you three hours to get through that.

[00:27:21] And yes, there's a lane for the trucks, but it's a lane.

[00:27:24] It's not a thorough fit.

[00:27:26] And so we have those issues.

[00:27:28] But the other side of it that we published

[00:27:30] in a couple articles recently

[00:27:32] and related to the fact that now we are seeing

[00:27:35] and it's exactly what you described with Vietnam,

[00:27:39] Malaysia, Laos and some of those other countries

[00:27:42] that you've seen manufacturing shift to

[00:27:44] where China has come in.

[00:27:45] Now we're starting to see Chinese investment

[00:27:48] in Latin America.

[00:27:50] Some of it to get around steel tariffs.

[00:27:52] So I've commented in,

[00:27:54] I throw any rocks you want at this,

[00:27:57] whether you think it's right or wrong.

[00:27:59] I've mentioned on this show a number of times recently

[00:28:02] that I think the biggest, I don't wanna say challenge

[00:28:06] but something that needs to be monitored closely

[00:28:09] to the nearshoring concept

[00:28:11] is China and Mexico's relationship.

[00:28:15] If Mexico gives a big hug to China in this setting

[00:28:20] that geopolitical issue

[00:28:22] and it may have an impact based upon

[00:28:26] which administration we see after November

[00:28:28] how this plays out.

[00:28:29] But I think the Chinese implications in Mexico

[00:28:32] have got to be watched very closely.

[00:28:35] Well, and Kevin, one thing I'd add there is

[00:28:37] there's a growing consensus in Washington

[00:28:40] on both the left and the right

[00:28:42] that China seems to be more than a competitor.

[00:28:46] China seems to be more moving along

[00:28:48] the path of an adversary.

[00:28:52] For a while there were just some people on the right

[00:28:54] who were talking about this.

[00:28:56] But if you look, President Biden has upped

[00:29:00] many of the tariffs that President Trump

[00:29:01] had put into place during his term.

[00:29:03] So it's becoming a bipartisan issue.

[00:29:06] And as you read some of that classified information

[00:29:09] that people like Peter Schweitzer and others

[00:29:10] have been uncovering coming from the Chinese sources.

[00:29:14] And where the Chinese said 10, 15 years ago

[00:29:18] that they were going to build a steelmaking capacity,

[00:29:23] the Chinese government was gonna underwrite it

[00:29:25] so that way they can do it at much lower prices.

[00:29:28] And their goal was to bankrupt the American industry.

[00:29:31] At the time America produced

[00:29:33] 60 or 70% of the world's steel.

[00:29:35] Now we're down to 10%.

[00:29:36] And guess where?

[00:29:37] Most of it's produced now, it's in China.

[00:29:39] They're looking at our critical industries

[00:29:41] and using government subsidies and government support.

[00:29:44] They're trying to decide,

[00:29:45] well how can we take those industries

[00:29:47] and have them be global leaders in China?

[00:29:51] And so I think people are waking up to the fact

[00:29:54] that we've got a real competitor

[00:29:56] and perhaps a rival on our hands.

[00:29:59] But yet we source so many materials from them.

[00:30:02] And so finding what that relationship

[00:30:06] with China is moving forward

[00:30:07] I think is really important for the business community

[00:30:10] to start thinking about.

[00:30:11] And I'd say that a lot of the conversations

[00:30:15] in the C-suite around wholesale distribution

[00:30:18] really are centered on that now.

[00:30:20] I think those are fantastic points.

[00:30:22] And what comes to my mind with this is,

[00:30:26] we should all be ready to compete, right?

[00:30:29] I mean, that is great.

[00:30:32] But if the rules are different

[00:30:35] and your competitor is playing by different rules

[00:30:39] and doing different things

[00:30:41] that sway the tables a little bit,

[00:30:42] it becomes challenging in that setting.

[00:30:44] And I think that's a lot of what we're seeing

[00:30:46] is to your point, right?

[00:30:47] Well, if the government just decides

[00:30:49] we wanna take over steelmaking

[00:30:51] and try and squash another economy,

[00:30:54] that's not necessarily just competition.

[00:30:56] That's playing a little bit of a different game

[00:30:59] that goes with that, which that's gotta be a concern.

[00:31:01] So I think if my takeaway

[00:31:03] from what you were describing there,

[00:31:05] because I think a lot of times

[00:31:07] people are thinking the big issue.

[00:31:09] And I think it's just because

[00:31:10] what you're seeing on CNBC or Bloomberg

[00:31:13] or whatever it might be about chip makers in Taiwan

[00:31:17] and the geopolitical threat there.

[00:31:18] But I think what might take away from your comments

[00:31:20] is it's a whole lot bigger

[00:31:21] than just that particular segment.

[00:31:25] Yeah, it sure is.

[00:31:26] And as I think about our politics,

[00:31:29] it's really fascinating as you look,

[00:31:31] particularly on the right,

[00:31:32] wants to be increasingly isolationist it seems.

[00:31:35] Return to a different era.

[00:31:38] And the reality is American engagement

[00:31:40] around the world is vital.

[00:31:42] And so you made the point about,

[00:31:44] Kevin, you made the point about Mexico.

[00:31:46] One of the reasons why the Chinese

[00:31:49] are able to build that infrastructure

[00:31:51] and those relationships there

[00:31:52] is because we haven't been supporting them

[00:31:54] in the same way that we have in the past.

[00:31:56] And so they're looking for investment

[00:31:58] and if the Americans aren't gonna make it,

[00:32:01] they're gonna take it from some other places.

[00:32:03] And as a result, we're seeing many more deaths

[00:32:07] from fentanyl in the United States.

[00:32:09] And a lot of that is coming from China via Mexico.

[00:32:14] And so if America wants to hide behind our borders,

[00:32:17] and I guess that's one approach

[00:32:20] a lot of people are looking at.

[00:32:21] But I continue to think

[00:32:23] and I was really, really proud of Speaker Johnson

[00:32:26] when he passed that legislation recently,

[00:32:29] support our friends in Ukraine and Taiwan

[00:32:31] and Israel and others.

[00:32:32] Because I think American engagement in the world

[00:32:35] continues to be really important.

[00:32:37] Yep, very good.

[00:32:39] Will Quinn from InformA to comment there, Tom,

[00:32:41] I don't know if you saw that

[00:32:43] being at an expo in Mexico City recently

[00:32:45] and there was a lot of Chinese vendors there.

[00:32:47] It makes me think, Eric,

[00:32:48] I don't know if you're,

[00:32:49] I doubt you would know my background.

[00:32:51] I started right out of school.

[00:32:53] My first kind of so-called real job

[00:32:54] was working for a national distributor of safety equipment.

[00:32:58] And then later became a manufacturers rep,

[00:33:01] left that business and got,

[00:33:04] worked for, invested in

[00:33:06] and worked at a manufacturing company

[00:33:07] for a number of years as well.

[00:33:09] And so I came kind of through those ranks

[00:33:10] on both sides of the business.

[00:33:12] And forever when you would go

[00:33:14] to looking at safety equipment

[00:33:16] you start thinking about respiratory protection

[00:33:18] and different types of gloves, everything was offshore.

[00:33:22] And all of a sudden, probably in the early 2000s,

[00:33:26] the factories that were selling,

[00:33:28] the Chinese factories in particular

[00:33:30] that were selling through US manufacturers

[00:33:34] that they were making things for

[00:33:35] and even private labeling for distributors.

[00:33:37] They started popping up themselves

[00:33:40] more than happy to work with distributors directly

[00:33:44] than the private label arrangements they have.

[00:33:46] And so to Will's point,

[00:33:47] we're seeing more and more of this

[00:33:50] of that Chinese influence there.

[00:33:52] So obviously something to keep our eyes on.

[00:33:54] So, Tommy, what do you think?

[00:33:56] One other quick anecdote.

[00:33:57] I had dinner recently with the Uruguayan ambassador

[00:34:02] to the United States and he said,

[00:34:03] look, we are politically aligned with the US.

[00:34:06] We have been for decades.

[00:34:08] We want to be the number one trading partner

[00:34:11] with the United States,

[00:34:13] but we can't get anyone's attention

[00:34:15] for investment in Uruguay.

[00:34:17] But the Chinese are knocking on our door every single day.

[00:34:21] And that really resonated with me

[00:34:23] as we think about a long time ally and partner

[00:34:26] who wants to have more investment, more engagement,

[00:34:28] more trade with the US

[00:34:30] and just is having a hard time making some traction.

[00:34:32] So I think there's an appetite

[00:34:34] as we want to onshore and nearshore,

[00:34:37] but we might just have to explore

[00:34:39] some different vendors, different suppliers

[00:34:41] that we haven't used in the past.

[00:34:43] And I would assume that if you would look at,

[00:34:48] have the same conversation with Mexico, Paraguay, Chile,

[00:34:55] Colombia, Brazil, a lot of other,

[00:34:59] Central and South American countries,

[00:35:01] they'd probably have the same exact conversation.

[00:35:04] Yep, for sure.

[00:35:05] Very good.

[00:35:06] All right, Tommy, you want to take us away?

[00:35:08] What's next?

[00:35:08] Manufacturing.

[00:35:09] I'm wondering in our interest of our schedule here,

[00:35:13] if we should jump ahead,

[00:35:14] or if there's some couple of highlights

[00:35:15] you want to touch on real quick on these.

[00:35:17] Yeah, this next article,

[00:35:20] we can bypass a few of the other ones if we'd like.

[00:35:22] This is probably the most relevant one

[00:35:25] to our discussion today with some of the surveys.

[00:35:28] And, you know, MVM that Eric was mentioning earlier

[00:35:32] that was acquired by NAW does a phenomenal job

[00:35:35] of surveys, there's other groups out there as well.

[00:35:38] But this was the 77th time

[00:35:42] that Industrial Distribution Magazine did a

[00:35:46] survey of distributor operations.

[00:35:48] And I think there was some good points in here.

[00:35:49] There's, you know, there's a lot of discussion

[00:35:52] and this is, I love seeing one of the things,

[00:35:56] the early quotes that they made was that,

[00:35:59] in fact, this is from some additional research

[00:36:01] that Fortune Magazine has done,

[00:36:04] was talking about the amount in the US,

[00:36:06] 87% of American businesses are family owned or controlled.

[00:36:12] I don't know about either of you,

[00:36:13] either if you want, if either of you caught that piece,

[00:36:16] but that really, really stood out to me.

[00:36:19] And then I started thinking about

[00:36:21] some of our largest customers at Lead Smart

[00:36:24] that are using our AI enabled customer intelligence

[00:36:29] and CRM solution are quarter billion,

[00:36:33] half a billion north of that

[00:36:35] and are still family owned and family controlled.

[00:36:37] And that one piece for me triggered,

[00:36:40] it made me feel good

[00:36:42] because I didn't realize the number was that high.

[00:36:45] I don't know if either of you had a take on that.

[00:36:48] Yeah, I would say that most small business,

[00:36:49] I mean, I don't, that wasn't just distribution, right?

[00:36:52] That was all of business.

[00:36:54] Yeah, the Fortune piece was about distribution

[00:36:56] in particular, yep.

[00:36:58] But yeah, I mean, a lot of small business, right?

[00:37:00] I mean, you think of just restaurants or local business

[00:37:02] or all of that are very much family owned.

[00:37:05] But yeah, I think there's probably a predominance

[00:37:07] of it even more so in the distribution industry

[00:37:10] as it relate to some large family owned operations

[00:37:13] that are there.

[00:37:14] Yep, yep.

[00:37:16] We've got, I would say more than half

[00:37:19] of the NAW membership.

[00:37:20] I should look at this, the statistics

[00:37:22] but I would say more than half is family owned.

[00:37:25] And there's one company I think is in your newsletter

[00:37:29] later on in the show, First Supply.

[00:37:32] Katie Seymour-Paling is on our board

[00:37:36] and she's the sixth generation CEO from that family.

[00:37:39] Imagine how many years that went back

[00:37:41] and they bring something in the culture

[00:37:44] and the DNA and their service of customers

[00:37:48] that family businesses bring that I think

[00:37:50] is really special.

[00:37:51] Well, it's great you mentioned First Supply like that

[00:37:53] because I connected with Katie on LinkedIn

[00:37:56] and watching her travel,

[00:37:58] she has her little girls with her.

[00:38:00] The next generation of that whole family,

[00:38:02] she travels with her little girls consistently.

[00:38:05] I think she has three if I'm not mistaken.

[00:38:07] So great example of that as well.

[00:38:11] Hey Eric, quick question related to that.

[00:38:13] I hear a lot in working with our customers

[00:38:16] or with some of our family owned customers

[00:38:18] when they're doing succession planning

[00:38:20] is that technology is really a critical foundation

[00:38:24] for that next generation to be willing

[00:38:26] and excited to come in and take over

[00:38:29] and make it happen.

[00:38:29] Do you see the same thing?

[00:38:30] Do you see that technology is really the carrot

[00:38:33] in a lot of cases that kind of drives

[00:38:36] that younger generation to want to jump in

[00:38:38] that which has historically been

[00:38:39] kind of an old school business?

[00:38:41] Yeah, look I don't want to cast aside

[00:38:43] all of the current generation

[00:38:45] is old school and Luddites.

[00:38:48] But I think the story you often hear

[00:38:50] when you're talking to the next generation

[00:38:52] is they want to advance the technology

[00:38:54] of the business far past what maybe

[00:38:55] their mom or dad or uncle had done,

[00:38:59] uncle Arndt had done.

[00:39:00] And I was meeting with a distributor

[00:39:02] just yesterday up in New York.

[00:39:05] And I was thinking we're going to get into

[00:39:07] a conversation about generative AI

[00:39:09] and other practical applications.

[00:39:11] And he said, well hold on,

[00:39:13] I'm taking over,

[00:39:14] we haven't updated our website in five years.

[00:39:17] So we got to get the basics.

[00:39:19] I don't have one common ERP system

[00:39:22] where we have a good understanding of our inventory.

[00:39:26] So for some people they're looking at

[00:39:28] just upgrading the basics.

[00:39:30] What's worked historically for distributors,

[00:39:34] they've done it well for a long time.

[00:39:35] But I think this next generation is looking at

[00:39:37] how can technology help us to better serve

[00:39:40] our customers better and know our customers.

[00:39:42] And so yeah, the next generation

[00:39:44] is going to bring a whole new wave of ideas.

[00:39:45] They're already doing that.

[00:39:47] And we're seeing that across distribution.

[00:39:49] Totally, totally.

[00:39:50] I'm really appreciative of the comment

[00:39:51] that you made related to that

[00:39:53] because we see that as well.

[00:39:56] And in fact, even later in this article,

[00:39:58] it talks about AI and generative AI

[00:40:01] being on everybody's mind.

[00:40:03] But then we also see more often than not

[00:40:06] what Eric, what you're describing is,

[00:40:08] hey, I got issues with my ERP system

[00:40:10] and the data that's in my ERP system.

[00:40:13] So yeah, I might be going to a conference

[00:40:15] or listening to some webcasts

[00:40:17] or whatever it might be

[00:40:17] about all the things that AI can do.

[00:40:19] But what we feel and see,

[00:40:22] and we're on the phone daily

[00:40:24] with either our customers or prospects

[00:40:27] is they understand they've got to get their arms

[00:40:30] around some other pieces in their business

[00:40:32] to prepare themselves for that.

[00:40:34] But they know what's coming.

[00:40:35] Yep, yep, exactly.

[00:40:37] I had a bit interesting.

[00:40:39] I think in the last 45 days,

[00:40:45] I've talked to two of our customers,

[00:40:49] large companies in the HVAC world

[00:40:52] who are 40 to 50 branch organizations

[00:40:56] who have a very clearly defined path

[00:40:59] to double their size in the next five years.

[00:41:02] And doubling the size of that organization

[00:41:04] of five years to me is astounding accomplishment.

[00:41:10] The roadmap is in place

[00:41:11] of how they're going to go do that.

[00:41:12] So it's impressive.

[00:41:13] So kind of recapping though,

[00:41:16] last thing on this particular article

[00:41:18] is I thought there was some interesting information there

[00:41:21] about the M&A side of things.

[00:41:23] And they were talking about the same audience.

[00:41:27] They asked about mergers and acquisitions,

[00:41:31] how that's impacted their business in the last 12 months.

[00:41:35] It says fewer than half were not involved

[00:41:38] in any related conversations.

[00:41:40] It said 6% merger were acquired,

[00:41:44] 22% were approached but a deal didn't take place.

[00:41:47] I'm sorry, 22%, 26% were a pursuer

[00:41:51] of a merger acquisition.

[00:41:53] They were looking to gobble somebody.

[00:41:55] And 36 said they'd be agreeable to a buyout,

[00:41:57] which is the same percentage of respondents

[00:41:59] as the previous year.

[00:42:01] And they said that 19% cited mergers and acquisitions

[00:42:05] as a top business concern this year.

[00:42:08] So it's interesting how aggressive

[00:42:10] the M&A world is right now as well.

[00:42:13] Obviously the PE folks are chomping at the bit

[00:42:16] on the sidelines with a whole lot of dry powder.

[00:42:19] Yeah, Kevin, I respond to that is,

[00:42:22] I talk to members about this every day.

[00:42:25] And a lot of privately held companies, very valuable.

[00:42:29] And they tell me that they're getting someone

[00:42:32] knocking on their door on a daily basis

[00:42:34] that won't buy them and they've got no intention to sell.

[00:42:36] They're running incredible businesses

[00:42:37] and they're gonna continue to do that.

[00:42:40] And so I think there's great strength there.

[00:42:42] But there's a lot of companies

[00:42:43] that are looking for that buyer.

[00:42:47] And so there's a lot of M&A activity.

[00:42:50] PE rather is very active in the space,

[00:42:53] but more than PE.

[00:42:54] Great distribution companies that are looking to grow

[00:42:57] not just organically, but through acquisition.

[00:42:59] Who've got great cultures, great technologies.

[00:43:02] They know how to integrate companies effectively

[00:43:05] are very active in this space as well.

[00:43:08] And as I talked to CEOs,

[00:43:10] if you're a company out there

[00:43:11] and you're thinking about,

[00:43:12] well, what will acquisition mean for us?

[00:43:16] One of the things that I hear most often

[00:43:19] is they care about the people.

[00:43:20] That's the number one thing

[00:43:21] that they want from these companies.

[00:43:22] They want their people, they want the talent.

[00:43:25] And so you might have a new system to work with.

[00:43:27] You might have some new SKUs that you're pushing out.

[00:43:31] Maybe you've got a culture that you're gonna adjust to.

[00:43:33] But for the most part,

[00:43:35] I think that these companies as they're looking

[00:43:37] to integrate are looking to help those people

[00:43:41] service their customers even better.

[00:43:44] Well, and you look at so many of these companies,

[00:43:46] whether it's a border states or Dakota supply group

[00:43:49] and so forth that are employee owned now as well.

[00:43:52] And I think depending on the reason

[00:43:55] that the original owners went the employee owned

[00:44:01] or the ESOP related program,

[00:44:03] some are just to get their money off the table

[00:44:05] and others are, we don't have the next generation

[00:44:10] to come run this company,

[00:44:11] but we have a wonderful group of people

[00:44:13] that are almost family.

[00:44:14] And so they went down that ESOP route with that as well.

[00:44:17] So it's-

[00:44:19] We've got a lot of members that are ESOPs

[00:44:21] and DSG and the border states are both NAW members.

[00:44:26] And one of the things that I love about ESOPs

[00:44:29] and I'm not here to advocate for one business

[00:44:31] organizing model or another,

[00:44:33] but one thing that I love about ESOPs

[00:44:35] is the number of millionaires that I've met

[00:44:38] when I walk into an ESOP,

[00:44:41] people that are pushing the broom

[00:44:43] and clearing up the warehouse.

[00:44:45] They've been there for 20 or 30 years

[00:44:48] and people who are loading the trucks,

[00:44:50] driving the forklift

[00:44:51] and we're building the American dream.

[00:44:54] And you can do that through any company

[00:44:56] that you work for.

[00:44:57] I know our members are all very generous,

[00:45:00] but those employee owned definitely are making an impact

[00:45:04] for the people who work there.

[00:45:06] I love that comment and that's huge.

[00:45:08] Before we move on from that,

[00:45:10] it also reminds me,

[00:45:12] good friend of our show and personal friend now

[00:45:15] gotten to know well over the last few years,

[00:45:17] Dirk Beveridge just kicked off this week

[00:45:19] his We Supply America Tour.

[00:45:21] So he started off in his RV

[00:45:24] and has traveled in the country

[00:45:26] and most of what he's working with in his interviews

[00:45:29] is family owned companies

[00:45:31] and or employee owned companies.

[00:45:33] And so the work that Dirk does with that,

[00:45:35] I don't know, Erik,

[00:45:36] I know you've had a chance to watch any of his videos

[00:45:38] over the last few years,

[00:45:39] but I think this is your point.

[00:45:41] Yeah, we like Dirk a lot.

[00:45:43] And one of the things he does that's really special

[00:45:46] is celebrating the distribution industry

[00:45:48] and the people within that.

[00:45:50] We at NAW do that as well

[00:45:52] and MDM does it as well.

[00:45:53] And that's something we need to do more of

[00:45:55] because most Americans don't know

[00:45:56] what the distribution industry is.

[00:45:58] I said at the top,

[00:45:59] we account for a third of the economy,

[00:46:01] but people are scratching their head.

[00:46:03] And so whether it's you all or MDM or NAW

[00:46:07] or Dirk Beveridge,

[00:46:08] all being part of the ecosystem

[00:46:09] that tell the story of distribution

[00:46:11] is important for a lot of reasons.

[00:46:12] But I'd say probably the most important reason

[00:46:15] is we want to attract the best talent in America

[00:46:18] to come to the industry.

[00:46:20] We need coders,

[00:46:21] we need technical people.

[00:46:23] So we need the cybersecurity experts

[00:46:26] and we need people to drive those forklifts

[00:46:29] and drive those trucks

[00:46:30] and lead our marketing departments.

[00:46:32] People of all stripes and all kinds

[00:46:34] and to do that and to attract that talent

[00:46:38] so they're not going to Google or Facebook

[00:46:39] or some of these other brands

[00:46:41] that they've heard of,

[00:46:42] that they've grown up knowing about

[00:46:43] is we got to tell the story of distribution.

[00:46:45] And so we're glad that Dirk is going on his fourth tour

[00:46:49] and I'm glad he's telling the story

[00:46:51] and we're gonna continue to do so.

[00:46:52] That's a great point, Eric,

[00:46:54] because I come from the tech background,

[00:46:57] tech industry, right?

[00:46:58] And there's a lot of turmoil

[00:47:01] in a lot of tech companies right now,

[00:47:02] VC funding companies, layoffs, things like that.

[00:47:05] And a lot of people that historically

[00:47:08] would have continued to look for their next job

[00:47:10] in the tech industry are being saying,

[00:47:13] you know, is there other places

[00:47:14] for me to take my talents basically, right?

[00:47:16] And to go into other industries.

[00:47:18] And I think, you know,

[00:47:20] obviously this industry is a much more stable

[00:47:22] and it has different challenges,

[00:47:24] but it's a lot of the challenges that exist

[00:47:27] in the tech industry don't exist in this industry.

[00:47:29] And it would be a great place, I think,

[00:47:31] for a lot of top talent to be thinking

[00:47:33] about where they could go.

[00:47:34] I think that's a really interesting point.

[00:47:36] The noble calling of distribution, right?

[00:47:39] That's right.

[00:47:40] That's it.

[00:47:41] That's what they're hearing.

[00:47:41] And it's interesting, you know,

[00:47:43] when I'm talking to people in social settings

[00:47:46] or whatever it might be and they'll ask me what I do

[00:47:48] and they'll first think, oh,

[00:47:50] you're CEO of a tech company.

[00:47:51] And I'm like, we are,

[00:47:53] but my customer is very different

[00:47:55] than the customer that you think about, right?

[00:47:58] Typically for in the tech world.

[00:48:00] And I had last year,

[00:48:01] I was went from a tech conference in Silicon Valley

[00:48:06] and was home for two days

[00:48:08] and then went to an affiliated distributors

[00:48:10] national meeting for one of their divisions.

[00:48:13] And it was just that it's not that there's anything

[00:48:16] wrong with Silicon Valley or the people are there,

[00:48:18] but going to the other side was just so, so different.

[00:48:22] And I'll describe to people sometimes like,

[00:48:24] well, who's your customer?

[00:48:26] And I said, you know,

[00:48:27] my customer might be a independently owned business

[00:48:31] where you've never heard of their company.

[00:48:34] But if I told you about the name of their company,

[00:48:37] based upon where you live,

[00:48:39] you'll now see their trucks going up and down the street

[00:48:42] or you'll be driving by their facility that's over here.

[00:48:45] You never thought about who they were and what they did.

[00:48:48] And you might think, oh, well, that's, you know,

[00:48:50] pipe valve and fitting whatever.

[00:48:52] And I said, you know what?

[00:48:53] I'll tell people, I said,

[00:48:55] the owner of that company,

[00:48:56] he might be getting up in the morning

[00:48:58] in his $3 million home,

[00:49:00] walking past his $200,000 boat in his garage

[00:49:04] to put on a pair of boots and get in his Ford F-150

[00:49:07] to go to a job site and see a customer.

[00:49:09] So you don't have any idea about what's going on.

[00:49:12] And let me help you understand that

[00:49:14] because it's so valuable and so important.

[00:49:17] So what does Adam say in there, Tom?

[00:49:19] Let's bring that up real quick.

[00:49:22] He says, in distribution,

[00:49:23] you can thrive and create in any aspect,

[00:49:26] finance, sales, operation, basically M&A, HR.

[00:49:30] He's basically building on what we're just saying

[00:49:32] is that you can bring your talents into this industry

[00:49:35] and thrive in any number of areas

[00:49:37] depending upon where your talents are coming from.

[00:49:40] So I think that's really interesting

[00:49:43] because there is a lot of talented people

[00:49:44] that are looking for,

[00:49:46] and I'm just speaking more in the tech space,

[00:49:48] they're looking for something different

[00:49:50] than another tech company and another startup

[00:49:53] and another VC funded alphabet soup type of scenario

[00:49:57] that tends to churn people out over the things.

[00:50:00] I think there's some real opportunity here.

[00:50:02] That's great.

[00:50:03] Well, and if you think Adam's comment was really smart,

[00:50:06] as I did, he's a great member of the NAW team.

[00:50:09] So Adam, thanks for the comment.

[00:50:11] Yeah, I've really enjoyed all the conversations

[00:50:14] I've had with Adam over the last year plus

[00:50:16] that I've known him.

[00:50:17] So I would expect nothing less from that.

[00:50:20] Thank you, Adam for-

[00:50:21] So Kevin, where do we wanna go in our final 10 minutes here?

[00:50:25] You know what?

[00:50:26] Anything of these other articles that we have

[00:50:28] about e-commerce marketing, Amazon's footprint,

[00:50:33] chief AI officer-

[00:50:34] I would love to talk about this one a little bit.

[00:50:36] Eric, do you have a favorite in here

[00:50:38] you'd like to hit on before we're wrapping up?

[00:50:40] No, wherever you guys go,

[00:50:41] I'm happy to provide some comments.

[00:50:43] Let's talk about that, Tom,

[00:50:44] because I think it's interesting

[00:50:45] because I don't know if he made it or not,

[00:50:47] but Stefan Fulop, that's the new,

[00:50:52] he's not the chief AI officer,

[00:50:54] but he's the chief digital officer

[00:50:56] at Dakota Supply Group, I think,

[00:50:58] except that our invite was gonna be here today.

[00:51:00] I don't, I'll have to text him later

[00:51:01] to see if he came,

[00:51:02] but we're really seeing a shift across the board now

[00:51:06] and a lot of organizations looking at AI officers

[00:51:09] and or digital officers.

[00:51:11] And I would assume you're seeing the same thing

[00:51:13] in your travels and discussions there?

[00:51:16] Yeah, absolutely.

[00:51:17] AI has been an important part of the industry for decades.

[00:51:20] You talk to different companies,

[00:51:22] they've implemented this across multiple technologies.

[00:51:26] And so it's now coming to the forefront

[00:51:28] of the lips of most consumers.

[00:51:31] But really in the last six, eight months

[00:51:33] and we've been talking about generative AI,

[00:51:35] what are some of the practical implications,

[00:51:37] practical ways that we can apply this to our business?

[00:51:40] And so whether or not you're gonna have a chief AI officer

[00:51:43] or this is gonna be an important portfolio,

[00:51:47] what we're seeing is from CIOs to COOs, CFOs,

[00:51:52] the people outside of the technical space,

[00:51:54] they want to develop knowledge

[00:51:56] because they know that they're gonna have to lead.

[00:51:58] One example is DG MacPherson.

[00:52:00] He's an NWB member, the CEO of Grainger.

[00:52:03] He went to school and he's a busy guy

[00:52:07] and he went and took a class on generative AI

[00:52:12] and what are its implications for distribution.

[00:52:15] And I said, DG, don't you have people who understand this?

[00:52:18] And he said, look, as a leader of the company,

[00:52:21] if I don't understand it,

[00:52:22] I don't understand how this can best apply

[00:52:24] to help our customers, then I can't rely on others

[00:52:28] and I can't make smart decisions.

[00:52:30] And so whether you're looking

[00:52:31] for a chief AI officer or not,

[00:52:33] I think everybody in the C-suite needs to get smart

[00:52:36] and need these technologies to figure out

[00:52:38] how they can really help us move our businesses forward.

[00:52:44] Tom, you had some thoughts on this.

[00:52:46] Yeah, well, I like the concept for sure.

[00:52:50] I agree that we've talked about this

[00:52:52] over and over over the shows, right?

[00:52:54] There's a lot of dynamics

[00:52:56] that you need to be thinking about

[00:52:57] where it relates to AI

[00:52:58] and in particular the future with generative AI.

[00:53:01] There is the quote unquote regulatory issues,

[00:53:04] there's the security issues,

[00:53:05] there's the use case issues,

[00:53:07] there's how am I gonna get a return.

[00:53:09] One of the things I found interesting in there

[00:53:11] is they were talking a lot about fractional chief AI officers.

[00:53:15] And I was laughing because I feel like

[00:53:17] it's a lot of what I do every day with our customers,

[00:53:20] right, is that even though they buy our technology,

[00:53:23] I would say 70% of what I end up doing

[00:53:26] or we end up doing with them

[00:53:28] is helping them figure out how to best use that

[00:53:31] as the foundation then to come up

[00:53:33] with the right AI strategy, the right way to use AI.

[00:53:36] And so I think as vendors,

[00:53:40] we have a big responsibility, I believe,

[00:53:42] to bring some of that to the table

[00:53:44] and not just drop in product and go,

[00:53:46] here's our product, you guys go figure that out.

[00:53:49] And I think that's gonna be a big differentiator

[00:53:51] for the vendors and the service providers

[00:53:54] in this space is helping

[00:53:56] even if you may not have that title,

[00:53:58] you're actually acting as that fractional person.

[00:54:00] And then I do think that over time,

[00:54:03] it's gonna be imperative

[00:54:04] whether you call it a digital officer

[00:54:07] or whatever, I think it's gonna be pretty imperative.

[00:54:10] And Tom, I think depending on where you are at

[00:54:13] in the audience, I think if you look

[00:54:14] across NAW membership, people are on all ends

[00:54:17] of the spectrum, from DG at Grainger

[00:54:20] leading the charge on AI to the leader

[00:54:24] of the company I talked to yesterday

[00:54:25] in New York that I mentioned,

[00:54:27] who said, look, we're so far

[00:54:28] from figuring out how AI is gonna apply

[00:54:30] because we're back here.

[00:54:31] But I think the point that you made

[00:54:33] that's really important, Tom,

[00:54:34] is so many solution providers today

[00:54:37] have AI built into their products.

[00:54:40] I think about MDM has an analytics tool

[00:54:43] called Market Prospector.

[00:54:44] We just launched a version 4.0,

[00:54:46] which is powered by AI.

[00:54:49] And so whether you know it or not,

[00:54:51] whether you've got an AI strategy or not

[00:54:53] or an AI officer or not,

[00:54:54] if you're working with the right vendors

[00:54:56] and the right solution providers

[00:54:57] who have that technology can help you use it

[00:55:01] in a way that's gonna impact your customers.

[00:55:03] And so I think that's a really good place to start.

[00:55:05] I love that comment and I'm appreciative of it

[00:55:08] as an AI enabled solution

[00:55:11] that our technology is in that setting

[00:55:13] is that I've attended a number of conferences

[00:55:17] related to AI and distribution and so forth

[00:55:19] and many, many, many webcasts and so forth.

[00:55:23] And what we're continually hearing

[00:55:24] is people just saying, well, just get started.

[00:55:26] Just go give it a try.

[00:55:28] And you know what?

[00:55:29] There's some potential negative ramifications

[00:55:32] to that in an organization as well.

[00:55:35] But from a security standpoint, being cautious with that.

[00:55:40] But I don't think there's enough discussion about,

[00:55:45] and there's a difference between leveraging

[00:55:47] service providers as an example,

[00:55:49] MDM's tool that you just described.

[00:55:51] It's great.

[00:55:52] I was talking with your team when we were back there

[00:55:54] about how we might be able to use some of that data

[00:55:57] and bring it into even our platform.

[00:55:59] And yeah.

[00:56:01] Because what we do, one of the things that we do

[00:56:03] with our technology at Lead Smart is

[00:56:05] within the CRM and customer intelligence arena

[00:56:08] is we're able to visualize data from other areas.

[00:56:11] So we bring in ERP and e-commerce and other data.

[00:56:14] So bringing those market statistics data

[00:56:16] would make great sense.

[00:56:17] So it's easily visualized in a tool

[00:56:19] that's being used every day.

[00:56:22] But what I'm seeing is

[00:56:25] what we're trying to do

[00:56:26] and we're seeing distributors embrace it

[00:56:29] is the idea that says, you know what?

[00:56:31] I'm not sure what to do.

[00:56:34] I'm going to all of these events

[00:56:36] and you guys sound like you reasonably understand this.

[00:56:40] Maybe I should lean on you a little bit for that support.

[00:56:44] And I think if you have a product vendor

[00:56:47] and I think MDM is a perfect example of this.

[00:56:50] We'd like to think we're in the same place

[00:56:52] is that we're consultative

[00:56:54] and want to truly see the growth of the distributor

[00:56:58] and our side of it is our success

[00:57:01] is when the distributor that's using our platform

[00:57:03] is successful because they're a long-term customer.

[00:57:06] When we can work with them

[00:57:07] and help them drive their roadmap.

[00:57:09] And a big part of this article

[00:57:11] was about getting a roadmap in place

[00:57:14] and somebody developing that

[00:57:16] and owning it and moving forward with it.

[00:57:17] So I think to your point,

[00:57:18] leaning on vendors is important.

[00:57:21] The ones at least that are there to do more for you

[00:57:23] than just try and sell you something.

[00:57:26] I'd add there Kevin real quick is

[00:57:28] MDM published a survey a couple of weeks ago

[00:57:31] that when comparing AI adoption

[00:57:34] between distribution and manufacturing,

[00:57:36] distribution is significantly behind.

[00:57:39] And so that's a trend that we're concerned about

[00:57:41] because Tom to your question earlier

[00:57:43] about what generations of leaders are at

[00:57:46] there's a number of leaders that I've talked to

[00:57:47] said look, I'm going to wait for this technology to mature

[00:57:50] or I'm not sure how this is going to impact our business.

[00:57:53] I was with one of the founders of AI a couple of weeks ago

[00:57:57] and I kind of posed this to him

[00:57:59] and he said, well, Eric, let me put it this way.

[00:58:03] In the early 90s,

[00:58:05] I told you about this great thing called the internet

[00:58:07] that was going to change your life.

[00:58:08] And if you told me, well, I'm going to kind of

[00:58:10] to wait to see how that all plays out

[00:58:12] and you haven't fully embraced it,

[00:58:14] your company's dead by now.

[00:58:15] He said AI is that on steroids.

[00:58:18] And so you've got to understand it,

[00:58:21] you got to embrace it and you got to start thinking

[00:58:24] about how is it just going to help drive

[00:58:26] our business forward?

[00:58:27] Well, and I think what we're going to see

[00:58:30] and I brought this up Eric a few times on the show,

[00:58:33] we haven't shown or we haven't demonstrated

[00:58:35] to this market yet that killer app

[00:58:39] then from the AI perspective.

[00:58:40] And I don't know if the internet was an e-commerce

[00:58:42] was the killer app or there's these things

[00:58:45] that cause everybody to go, oh my gosh,

[00:58:46] I've got to be part of this.

[00:58:48] But I think we're very close to seeing some killer apps

[00:58:52] in the distribution world that are based around

[00:58:54] or driven entirely by AI that a C-suite person go,

[00:58:58] wait a minute, I can't wait.

[00:58:59] I've got to move faster.

[00:59:01] And what we tell people is it's coming probably faster

[00:59:03] than you think.

[00:59:04] So what you can be doing now is making sure

[00:59:06] you have your data act together,

[00:59:08] you have your frameworks in place

[00:59:09] so that when that killer app happens

[00:59:11] and you need to jump on it,

[00:59:12] you're not light years behind

[00:59:14] and getting ready for the whole thing.

[00:59:15] And I think it's coming every day.

[00:59:18] I think it's coming sooner and sooner.

[00:59:20] We're going to see that killer app here,

[00:59:22] maybe even this year or early next year.

[00:59:25] That'll come, you know what it's going to be here Tom?

[00:59:27] It's going to be right here with the second rate cut.

[00:59:30] That's right.

[00:59:30] That's right.

[00:59:31] That's what I mean.

[00:59:34] You know, as we kind of come to the tail end

[00:59:37] of our discussion today, I think it's powerful.

[00:59:40] You know, Eric, you had made the comment earlier

[00:59:43] about the internet comparison.

[00:59:47] I think that's really valuable.

[00:59:48] Distribution Strategy Group is hosting an event

[00:59:50] next week in Chicago about AI for distribution

[00:59:55] and they're having back again, Zach Cass,

[00:59:57] who was one of the earliest employees at OpenAI

[01:00:00] and the chat GPT folks.

[01:00:02] I was at their event last fall.

[01:00:04] I won't be at this one

[01:00:05] because there's crutches next to me

[01:00:07] and I'm not traveling right now.

[01:00:10] But one of his comments was,

[01:00:13] and he used a few different ones,

[01:00:15] but one of his comments was,

[01:00:18] think about the internet's impact

[01:00:20] on our lives in the world

[01:00:22] and what AI is going to do

[01:00:23] is going to exponentially surpass that.

[01:00:27] And he used the example of,

[01:00:28] he said this might be the most important thing

[01:00:31] to mankind since fire.

[01:00:34] Yeah, well.

[01:00:36] Well, that remains to be seen,

[01:00:38] but I think it's powerful there.

[01:00:39] I did want to, Tom, before we leave today,

[01:00:41] catch that comment from Stefan there

[01:00:44] talking about employees.

[01:00:46] So much of this is what's going on out there.

[01:00:48] There's people worrying about losing their jobs

[01:00:50] and that was just a great quote.

[01:00:52] It's in reality, it's that employees who leverage AI,

[01:00:56] I lost you there for a second time.

[01:00:58] I was trying to read it.

[01:00:59] Leverage AI replace employees

[01:01:00] that choose not to embrace it

[01:01:02] and I think that's the similarity to businesses.

[01:01:05] I always say, listen,

[01:01:07] if you don't have a great tech stack in your company

[01:01:10] with great ERP, great CRM, great e-commerce,

[01:01:14] great marketing automation,

[01:01:15] if you don't have those four pillars

[01:01:17] with the fifth being AI as a distributor,

[01:01:21] I'm not going to suggest you're going to go out of business.

[01:01:23] Your business is not going to be the same

[01:01:25] and people that do those things

[01:01:26] are going to be running circles around you.

[01:01:29] And I want to hit Kelly's comment too

[01:01:30] real quick before we go.

[01:01:31] She was talking about some example here

[01:01:34] of taking pictures and having AI evaluate those pictures,

[01:01:38] find out what the products are.

[01:01:39] I did a little test actually last weekend

[01:01:42] where I took a picture of a job site.

[01:01:45] I just took a picture of a construction job site.

[01:01:47] I put it into AI and I said,

[01:01:49] what safety products are required

[01:01:51] in order to be able to facilitate

[01:01:53] or work on this job site?

[01:01:55] And it came back with a whole discussion

[01:01:57] of the whole safety products that should be required

[01:02:00] or you should be thinking about for that job site.

[01:02:02] I mean, these are the types of things

[01:02:04] that are what I consider to be things

[01:02:06] that will become the foundation of these killer apps

[01:02:08] where people are like,

[01:02:10] holy crap, I never thought that this was possible.

[01:02:12] Yeah.

[01:02:13] So that's a multi-modal.

[01:02:14] I told Eric, if you got me excited about technology,

[01:02:16] we could go on and on and on.

[01:02:18] And that's the multi-modal side of it, right Tom?

[01:02:20] Yeah, yeah.

[01:02:21] The multi-modal capability of taking pictures

[01:02:22] and saying, yeah, absolutely.

[01:02:24] Great stuff.

[01:02:25] Well, I think that's about it on our articles today.

[01:02:28] As we wind things down, quick reminder,

[01:02:31] we do this every week.

[01:02:33] Kevin Brown, Tom Burton get together

[01:02:35] with our wonderful guests like Eric that come and join us.

[01:02:38] People that are changing the marketplace,

[01:02:40] changing the distribution world as we know it.

[01:02:43] We love all of our guests that come

[01:02:45] as well as all of the folks

[01:02:47] that subscribe to the newsletter.

[01:02:49] Last kind of plug for that,

[01:02:50] we couldn't do this show each week

[01:02:52] without the sponsorship of the company

[01:02:55] that Tom and I work for, Elite Smart Technologies.

[01:02:58] They've developed an amazing platform

[01:03:00] of AI enabled customer intelligence and CRM.

[01:03:04] And so we're appreciative of that sponsorship and support.

[01:03:07] But most importantly,

[01:03:08] we ask if you like what you hear each week,

[01:03:10] subscribe to the newsletter,

[01:03:12] follow the Elite Smart Technology page on LinkedIn

[01:03:14] to get alerts and updates,

[01:03:16] YouTube channel and so forth to stay with us each week.

[01:03:19] And we want to be doing this,

[01:03:22] approaching 200 episodes down the road.

[01:03:24] Before we wind down,

[01:03:25] we've gone a little over today, Eric,

[01:03:27] I appreciate you giving us a couple extra minutes.

[01:03:30] Sure.

[01:03:30] First, thank you for being with us.

[01:03:31] Two, maybe share with us if you can briefly,

[01:03:34] what does the rest of the year look like for NAW?

[01:03:38] Well, we've got a busy year.

[01:03:39] We got a calendar that's jam packed.

[01:03:41] We talked about our educational programs.

[01:03:43] We have coming up our innovator summit

[01:03:46] where we bring together some of the founders

[01:03:49] of great startup companies that have technologies

[01:03:52] that are directly applied

[01:03:53] to the wholesale distribution industry.

[01:03:56] And this is a great way for companies

[01:03:58] that are either members that are looking

[01:04:00] to explore new avenues,

[01:04:02] they're looking for the right vendor

[01:04:03] to solve a particular problem to come.

[01:04:05] And in about 48 hours,

[01:04:07] see some of the best technologies

[01:04:09] and solution providers that are new and upcoming

[01:04:12] and to build a relationship with them

[01:04:13] and see if they want to bring them on

[01:04:14] onto their platform.

[01:04:15] So that's a big one coming up.

[01:04:18] And we also have our Shift Conference,

[01:04:20] which is MDM's flagship conference

[01:04:22] that's going to be in Colorado coming up as well.

[01:04:26] So a lot going on.

[01:04:27] But we're really excited,

[01:04:29] Tom and Kevin to be partnering with you.

[01:04:31] And so appreciate you having me on the show today.

[01:04:33] That's great.

[01:04:34] We're looking forward to expanding our relationship

[01:04:36] with NAW.

[01:04:36] You had some great conversations going on

[01:04:38] with your team about some of that

[01:04:39] and some of those upcoming events.

[01:04:41] So as we wind down again,

[01:04:43] Eric, thanks so much, Tom.

[01:04:44] Thank you.

[01:04:45] Thanks for all the comments that we had today

[01:04:47] and the attendance there.

[01:04:49] And we'll look forward to next week.

[01:04:50] And Eric, hopefully my next DC visit,

[01:04:53] we get to shake hands in person versus digitally.

[01:04:57] That'll be great.

[01:04:58] That sounds great.

[01:04:59] Come by NAW anytime.

[01:04:59] Great to see you guys.

[01:05:00] Yep, thanks so much.

[01:05:02] Appreciate it.

[01:05:03] We wish everybody a fine weekend.

[01:05:04] Be kind, do good things and be safe.

[01:05:07] Thanks everyone.

[01:05:08] Thank you.

[01:05:09] We hope you enjoyed today's episode and our guests.

[01:05:17] Each week, we try our best to dig into the topics

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