The SiteVisit
Leadership in construction with perspective from the job site. A podcast dedicated to the Construction industry. Construction professionals, General Contractors, Sub trade Contractors, and Specialty Contractors audiences will be engaged by the discussions between the hosts and their guests on topics and stories. Hosted James Faulkner ( CEO/Founder - SiteMax Systems ).
The SiteVisit
The Critical Role of Vendor Relationships with Jeff Block (Modu-Loc Rentals) & Jeff Franklin (Sunbelt Rentals) | EP99
In this episode, Episode 99 of the Site Visit Podcast, Christian is joined by two industry veterans, Jeff Block from Modu-Loc Fence Rentals and Jeff Franklin from Sunbelt Rentals.
The episode starts with a warm welcome after a summer break, and the Jeffs share stories from their past, including their shared experience with Christian in minor hockey. Jeff Block shares his remarkable journey, from studying business marketing to venturing into professional sports and eventually finding his place within the Modu-Loc family. Jeff Franklin's journey is equally intriguing, transitioning from working at a family business, specializing in the rentals of production equipment in the film industry, a brief stint in car sales and then landing at the rental juggernaut, Sunbelt.
The episode dives deep into the importance of building a consistent career, highlighting the significance of building long-term relationships in the industry. Networking takes center stage as Jeff Block is recognized as a master connector who initiates conversations and nurtures relationships. The discussion touches on merging the two companies (Sunbelt acquisition of Modu-Loc), exploring current trends in construction and selling strategies, and adapting to industry changes, offering valuable insights. The trio also digs into selling techniques on jobsites, emphasizing the importance of account-based and referral sales.
The Jeffs share their perspectives on how people prefer to be sold to, emphasizing the need to respect personal space while strategically engaging potential clients. They stress the value of selling experiences rather than transactions. Sunbelt's exciting plans for expanding its fencing division are discussed, hinting at the potential growth of the Modu-Loc brand in the U.S. market. The episode underscores the significance of teamwork, collaboration, and mental preparation in the construction industry. Overall, Episode 99 offers a rich tapestry of insights into the critical importance of vendor relationships and the significance of establishing strong and lasting connections with suppliers and vendors for successful project execution. Overall, it underscores the crucial role that vendor relationships play in the construction sector's success.
EPISODE LINKS:
Jeff Block LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-block-510ba43b/
Modu-Loc LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/modu-loc-fence-rentals-ltd/
Modu-Loc Website: https://moduloc.ca/
Jeff Franklin LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-franklin-491b58ba/
Sunbelt LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sunbelt-rentals/
Sunbelt Website:
PODCAST INFO:
the Site Visit Website: https://www.sitemaxsystems.com/podcast
the Site Visit on Buzzsprout: https://thesitevisit.buzzsprout.com/269424
the Site Visit on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-site-visit/id1456494446
the Site Visit on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5cp4qJE5ExZmO3EwldN1HH
FOLLOW ALONG:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thesitevisit
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesitevisit
Welcome to the Site Visit podcast, leadership and perspective from construction with your hosts James Faulkner and Christian Hamm
Jesse Unke:Business as usual as it has been for so long now that it goes back to what we were talking about before hitting the reset button
Justin Bontkes:You read all the books you read the E-Myth, you
Sebastian Jacob:We've got to a place where we found the secret
Cam Roy:One time I was on a jobsite for quite a while and read Scaling Up, you read Good to Great, you know, I could go on serum, we found secret potion we can get the workers in, we know where to get them actually we added some extra concrete and I poured like a broom-finished patio out front of the site trailer
John Reid:A guy hit me up on LinkedIn out of the blue and said he was driving from Oklahoma to Dallas to meet with me because he heard the Faber Connect platform on your guys's podcast
Zack Staples:Own it, crush it and love it, we celebrate these values every single day
James Faulkner:Let's get down to it.
Christian Hamm:Are we good? Dave? Are we rusty? We've had a three week break. We're back from a little summer hiatus. Are we good day, but we recording here? Well, and James sends his regards, gentleman. He's not feeling very well. I think everyone's just kind of getting over something a little bit. I don't know the weather turned here slightly. But just getting back from a little European vacation. I think everybody kind of had some nice holidays. Maybe in August. I don't know. But we're back in the saddle for episode number 99.
Jeff Block:Oh, the Great 99.
Jeff Franklin:You timed it for us.
Christian Hamm:Yes.
Jeff Franklin:Love it.
Christian Hamm:Okay, so this is actually really funny, because I'll introduce our guests we got to do Oh, here it says fantastic. Combination of Jeff's joining us. And I was thinking as I was going back down to the office just to grab a notebook. I was like, You know what, these are two guys. They appreciate sports. I bet you they're gonna love the fact that it's 99 versus episode 100 For that very reason. And boom. You guys jumped on it right away.
Jeff Block:I noticed that yesterday.
Christian Hamm:That's awesome. Yeah, well, number 90. No, that's like Total Hockey thing.
Jeff Block:A Canadian would relate to that
Christian Hamm:Canadians can relate? Yeah, for sure. But 99 the great one. We're back for you know the slate is full again with episodes and look forward to getting to it. But today. We have the Jeff's joining us we have Jeff block from module lock. And Jeff Franklin, from Sunbelt Rentals. Joining us, gentlemen. How you guys doing?
Jeff Franklin:I'm doing good. I'd say like slightly nervous doing a podcast. Oh, automate for me. Like it's like, I don't know what to expect. It's pretty cool, though. You got a good setup here.
Christian Hamm:Oh, thanks. And don't be worried. Jeff, Jeff. Kay, I'm gonna say we're gonna say Jeff a lot or I'm gonna say Jeff a lot. But our differentiator was Jeff block is Jeff. And Jeff from Sunbelt is way better, Jeff, and it makes a lot of sense.
Jeff Franklin:Or you can even go block and Franklin block and Franklin how real this is real
Christian Hamm:hockey team. Sports. Alright, blocky, what were DSF sports, Nick, like, we play okay. So fun fact. Jeff probably thinks that we go back when we do a few years here two years. But Jeff Franklin and I way better definitely play minor hockey together.
Jeff Franklin:Yeah, I think we were probably 10, 11, 12 Maybe maybe, maybe a little bit older.
Christian Hamm:It was Yeah. Coming into our teen years. Probably.
Jeff Franklin:We might have been actually this is probably Yeah, maybe like grade eight ish.
Christian Hamm:That sounds it was just coming into high school, I think. And then we would have just played against each other in minor hockey because you were Semi all the way. Right?
Jeff Franklin:Yeah. I grew up in white rock. Yeah. So would have been semi auto.
Christian Hamm:Okay, so playing together playing against each other minor hockey. There you go. But did we have like, would we like what what are the guys on your team who now call you
Jeff Franklin:My hockey team that a player is they're called the big stones. They're called the big stones. But when asked me why I did not create the name.
Jeff Block:What do they call you? nickname?
Jeff Franklin:Yeah, what's your nickname of like Frankie or something? Frankie, very common. Easy name is Frankie.
Christian Hamm:And what's your blocky,
Jeff Block:blocky block blocko?
Christian Hamm:All right, well have some fun with this. But I don't know. But it's a it's a good combination. For a lot of things. These guys are really tied in to the construction scene here in British Columbia. And there's a lot to go through in terms of the joining of the two companies for one module locking Sunbelt, which is a cool story in itself. And both have their own unique stories. And these guys have some great journeys that I think we should dig into really quick. You're in construction. So why don't we start with blocky? bloco Why don't give us a little bit of a Coles notes on your journey through construction. I know you're an Ontario guy.
Jeff Block:Yeah, so I don't know if you remember, but we did do this Site podcast.
Christian Hamm:I do remember. Yeah. And this this was I think you're sitting in your kitchen though it was drink COVID Yeah, it
Jeff Block:was one of those two little seatters I just moved into my new condo. And it was 730 in the morning and I was super nervous. I was like, what's gonna go on here this this setup is way better.
Christian Hamm:Nice. Love it so a little background better than that so so that's good.
Jeff Franklin:Yeah.
Jeff Block:Better than the living room the studio living room, I had to fold the bed up So a little background on me I started my dad was in restoration on the ServiceMaster restoration franchise back in Ontario and never got into it. I then went to college for business marketing. Fanshawe did the whole two year diploma in four years, had a great time spent a lot of money, my parents money, not mine. So stay at school, went into professional sports from there, you know, went into spray foam insulation. And then I just wasn't really feeling that rekindled. In Winnipeg with college sweetheart, started with Module lock in Winnipeg moved to Winnipeg. And I don't know if you guys have been to Winnipeg, but in the winter times minus 40. And then in the summer times, do you have mosquitoes the size of tarantulas, so wasn't too thrilled on living there. Yeah, when pigs sweet. Summertime is actually nice. So then from there, I got transferred back to GTA took, took over a lot of events helped grow the book of business and construction. I had a lot of construction contacts through my family, custom homes, and then I asked him what's the next step and they said, Hey, why don't you go to Vancouver and see what kind of range you can build out there. Fast forward. Seven and a half years. Part of the Sunbelt family now, Jeff Franklin, and here I am.
Christian Hamm:Well, that's pretty well I love how you just very casually skipped over professional sports. Wrestling team, are we talking like badminton? What are we talking about?
Jeff Block:No. So it was Toronto Argonauts. Oh, so yeah, I was in Fayette County Executive sold suites tickets. Packages, CFL and trying to sell the CFL in Toronto is a very difficult, difficult sell. And that's that. Making 100 dials a day. So yeah, the professional sports background I love you know, just meeting people all the time. And sports is in my blood. Like my dad, my brothers played hockey, lacrosse golf our entire way up. So yeah, it was a good fit. And then I just, you know, the money's not too good. And yeah, CFL football, as we all know. Had to make a little switch out to make a little pivot in my 20s
Christian Hamm:No, no, no, I do I do recall that now that the the arguments organization? Yeah, I mean, like Toronto, in there kind of just like full on if they're gonna think anything football, they're just thinking NFL and that's it. Like they think
Jeff Franklin:well it's a massive city and you got the bills, right? Right below. Yeah, right. I remember when the bills came up and played some games in Toronto. They did half a season there.
Jeff Block:So here's here's the funny thing is when I worked there, the Grey Cup was going on that year, and we were selling tickets. Buffalo Bills, were trying to come to Toronto, they were trying to get Toronto to come to Buffalo. Then what sold our great cup festival out is Ricky Williams got suspended from the NFL. That's right. I remember I sold so many season tickets. Because Ricky Williams signed a one year deal with Toronto Argonauts.
Jeff Franklin:I remember that because he was like a like a number two overall pick a few years before that, wasn't it?
Jeff Block:Yeah, it was years before that. I think he had a couple of run ins with just marijuana highs. Yeah, it's just been winter. I believe he's a Heisman
Christian Hamm:Oh yeah, he was a he was a stud like he was a star Alright. And then yeah, he came to CFL I remember that because I remember going to the game in in in Vancouver here BC Place and he was sitting there on the bench I remember these two guys had these massive fake joints that said Williams on them and they're standing behind the bench like this. So I remember that whole fiasco
Jeff Block:Yeah, we we would go to the after parties with all the players and corporate sponsors and there's where he Williams hanging out
Jeff Franklin:well that's that's how you got so big in the the events side of it too. Probably from that right. That's cool.
Jeff Block:Well, it is yeah, the events it definitely is because I do have friends that work for Hamilton Tiger cats golf Canada. New York Rangers saw everybody in the sports industry just kind of went throughout North America even into England soccer.
Christian Hamm:Nice was pretty cool. So but sports is I mean, I feel like sports will be a bit of the conversation peppered in here as we go but it looks force. Okay, okay. Well, that's awesome. And and we've done the pod before. We've been a part of the varca and done other things locally. You're You're definitely a bit of a you're a local legend. I'd say
Jeff Block:well thanks man
Jeff Franklin:he loves that. Two sizes.
Jeff Block:Red right now. Come on guys.
Christian Hamm:No mad people love you. But we'll give you a break. Okay, just take a breather. It's all good. Drink some water.
Jeff Franklin:bottle number three,
Jeff Block:on your 600 grams of sugar with those bumblebees loose sugar free.
Jeff Franklin:What are you talking about?
Christian Hamm:Jeff Franklin, give give us a give us a snapshot of your current construction,
Jeff Franklin:my story is a little different. I kind of grew up in the in the rental industry, like my dad, he worked for a company called like skyreach wave way back in the 90s. And then he started his own company with some partners, a couple of were from down south, and then him and another partner up here locally. And it was called production equipment. That was in Port Coquitlam. And their main focus was the film industry. That's where they rent their equipment to. So when I started, I was probably like, you know, when you're a kid, and you work for summer jobs and stuff like that. So I would go, I was probably 15. And I was you know, pressure washing the equipment and cleaning the floor sweeping. So I started from the very bottom and there was nobody below me. Yeah, well put it that way. Yep. And as time went on it you to kind of like you learn a little bit more. And I would work in the shop and kind of like help fix some of the lifts. Not that I was any mechanically inclined, but like, figuring it out. Yeah, you kind of learn as you go. And you know, lots of guys helped teach you and He ended up selling, or him and his partners, I should say they actually ended up selling. And I want to say like 2007 ish. Now maybe a little bit before that. I don't know the exact date. And company bought them out. I stayed on. And I was probably in my 20s. And I kind of started as a guardian as a dispatcher and inside sales, so you can kind of learn that side of the business. I think there was a writer strike at some point when my dad did have the company and they decided to branch out into the construction as well. Because if you're not rented to the film yet, actually what's happening right now with the film strikes. Interesting. Yeah. So that's where they decided to kind of diversify. And like have a little construction side of it and a film side. So you kind of learn as you're I was an inside sales and dispatch, and you start to get to know the customers and the accounts, and I was in my 20s. And I think it was about 24 hours when I first got into sales, and outside sales rep. That was pretty over whelming when you're young. And it was a little different than its nowadays, like in my role. Now when we hire somebody, I try and stay with them and coach them and train them and go to job sites with them. I still do even with the reps that are 567 year veterans. But I think I had about two ride alongs and then it was like, Alright, here's the keys, go for it. And I don't know how buildings were built. Not that I know everything about them now, but I know a little bit about them. And to go on to his site and and say oh, you know, like, Do you need a boom lift? But maybe, you know, you kind of got you got laughed at a little not laughed at but like, you weren't taken as seriously and rightfully so you don't know who what the right questions are? Yeah, I think you got to ask the right questions. And, you know, time went on and you get a little bit better, a little bit better. And I eventually left that company that I was with and about seven years ago, a gentleman asked me to I was actually working at Ford as a car salesman. Did it for a year. And actually, that helped me a ton. I learned a lot about selling in car sales. And I didn't sell a lot of cars. But I learned a better ways to approach people. Right. You know, I was never the guy that you know, if there was a junky car on the side of the lot, you know, they want to sell that get it off the lot. I didn't like that I liked the relationship side, I grew up in White Rock. I didn't want people you know, like coming back and saying, Hey, this car has sold me a lemon or something like that. Right? So I I built good relationships and in be able to approach somebody that was, you know, an 80 year old woman or a 16 year old kid who's got the money to buy a car you deal with all these different people. Yeah. And that really helped. And then when I got to Sunbelt, I just like kind of immediately gravitated to the culture like they were felt like a it's like a like a small independent type company, like culture type wise, even though it is a big company. You know what I mean? Like they treat you really well. They always want to promote within like that is a first like if there's a position that opens it's like well, who can we get in there first that's already working with somebody right? Which I thought was really cool. And I've kind of found my groove after that urine carsales Sorry, I'm going on pretty long. Yeah.
Christian Hamm:Oh, no. We can for as long as we need to
Jeff Franklin:so found the groove after that year. Have carsales just kind of like that different approach I found and it kind of grew and I started to do better. And I understood how to organize my time better. And then I kind of got offered this role that I'm in now. It's, it's called a market sales, but it's very similar to like, like a sales manager, you know, like, coaching a team and helping out. And so and that's where I'm at today. So I think I've been in this role for about two and a half years now.
Christian Hamm:Oh, that's awesome. Well, what's good about it, there's nothing wrong with like, unpacking it in depth is good, because, you know, it's like listening to people's conversations and stuff like that, when they unpack more detail. You soak a lot more of it in and there's a lot in your, your journeys that weren't just like, haphazard, or like, oh, I stumbled into this over time. It's like, there's a lot of like intentionality about our curiosity. Like, I'm learning about sales events, I'm learning about sporting, oh, it's leading to this interesting that I'll go here or, you know, work for the family business, and then it leads to this, and I'll stick with it. Like, a lot of that is really good for people to hear, in terms of building their careers, so that they're actually doing things that are compounding on one on one after the other
Jeff Franklin:advantage, too, is like, you know, when I have a yard guy, or a mechanic or a driver, and they're like, they're having a problem or something like that, I can kind of relate to it a little, but they're going through because I've been in that position before. Yeah, you know, and, you know, I picked up cigarette butts on the ground and I cleaned the shops and stuff like that blocky cigarettes. And the driver, you know, if you're not giving them, you know, if the sales rep doesn't give the driver a proper address, and he's trying to drive a tractor trailer, yeah. And downtown Vancouver, that's very stressful. Like, not that I drove a tractor. I drove like a pickup truck, but even not have, you know, I had to go back. We didn't have Google when I was driving. Yeah. And we had to go off the old map book. Yeah. Yeah. And then if you don't know what streets coming up next, you know, you're trying to drive and look at the map at the same time. And so I think that helps a little bit that I can relate to other people in my company that I work for,
Christian Hamm:you know, it's a really good point to make. Because, you know, the whole thing we see a lot of people, they'll do a two year stint here to your stint there, they're just not satisfied or not happy or whatever it is they're doing. But you're right, in the sense of, you're building a career consistently. Again, to us that it's compounding one, one set of experience at the same company or another. You are in someone else's shoes at some point in time that you're now helping, like you said with the mechanic or whatever it happens to be. And I think that like if you're just jumping around, from job to job or career to career you miss out on that vital set of experiences. It helps you relate to people.
Jeff Franklin:Right, and when you can relate and be empathetic. Yeah, with what they're going through. You know, just you build that relationship for you just just with your own people, too, right. I think helps for sure.
Christian Hamm:Well, this is what he wants to do. Well, I was just gonna take
Jeff Franklin:a deep breath
Jeff Block:Franklin's track record of mine speaks for itself. How long? How long have you been with Sunbelt for now? Eight years? Nine years?
Jeff Franklin:No, no, no. I think some boats been in Canada for nine. And I've been here for seven,
Jeff Block:seven. And I'm going on 14 with Modula Sunbelt now so it's a long? Yeah,
Christian Hamm:I think anything over three years is a pretty significant tenure anywhere. So when you're getting the seven shouldn't be though. It shouldn't be three years. It goes quick. It doesn't go quick. Right? But seven years and 14 That's you guys aren't this is you are a well, your leaders in your respective spaces. Okay,
Jeff Franklin:feels weird hearing that. But you know, I don't think I'll ever accept that. I feel like a leader. I feel like you know, like, I'm still learning.
Christian Hamm:Yeah, of course, we always are. But but you are. It's just the nature of you put the time in and and you're with a company that is looking at your career growth and progression as Modula can Sunbelt both you? And yeah, there's a reason why you can keep doing the things that you're doing. And you're there for that long. So it's a testament to you guys. One thing that is cool about that, and that you're saying is the whole relational aspect. I really, when you're saying the whole car salesman thing, like it can be very transactional, right? Even like you were even event sales, like you'd be very transactional. And it's, you said, there's something even like a little off putting about it.
Jeff Franklin:Well, there's just that vibe of a car salesperson, it shouldn't be there, because it's going back 4050 years, I always had that kind of like, I don't know how to explain it. That CD, you know, like, try to take advantage of the consumer type mentality you see sleazy. Yeah, and it's not, it shouldn't be that way. It's not like it's 1978 and, you know, yeah, behind the books type deals or whatever that type of stuff. It's, it's, they're all corporate companies most you know, every single one of them. So they get that bad rap, but get some really good people that come out of sales from the car industry. I find Yeah, for sure. Hungry. Yeah, no, no doubt.
Jeff Block:Now I've got a guy that I know He, he works in Mississauga. And he was always trying to get me to recruit me to sell cars. I said, I know nothing about cars. And he said, You're the exactly the kind of people that we want. Because we can teach you the product, but you can't teach the gift.
Jeff Franklin:It's true. You know, you got to be able to talk to people. And sometimes it's hard to relate to every single person, you just got to find some commonalities. And then you can kind of go off that a little bit.
Christian Hamm:Jeff, come up nice and close to the mic. Okay. No other Jeff.
Jeff Franklin:Oh, I gotta get deeper.
Christian Hamm:No, I just I know that if James was here, he would definitely be like, Alright, okay, guys up nice and nice and close into the mic there. Want to make sure. It's all good. So the aspect of relation and I want to talk about a little the module lock in Sunbelt coming together, but coming from myself, general contracting world, we talked a bit about this before, project manager, you know, outgoing, you build up the vendor relationships, or, you know, some people just get whoever's on the, whoever can give them the cheapest equipment or whoever can get them whatever it happens to be. But building relationships, especially with vendors, is really important. And you guys are doing really well. And while you guys speak to a bit about that, in terms of the focus on relationships, and that focus on that long term engagement with customers,
Jeff Franklin:you want me to go or you go. I'll just go ahead. I went.
Jeff Block:Trump, okay. So
Jeff Franklin:you know what, it's funny. I've heard once before that, you know, like relationships with customers don't mean anything you want to go out and just get everything you can. And I remember hearing that. And I was like, in shock. And I looked at the other reps. This isn't, this wasn't at some Pelton. And I remember we were looking at each other and like, was the serious like, I couldn't believe this is like 10 something years ago, stop for my other company, or my dad's company. And relationships are so critical, because it's you need to build that trust with, with the person that you're working with. If you if you can trust the person you work with, you're going to get the repeat business, and they're like, what we're trying to do is, you have something that you need, and it's, it's a problem, and we're trying to fix and solve that problem for you. So we need you need somebody to trust and that's what we've kind of strive for, you know, that's how I do my business. Call me anytime type deal. You know, if you call me at two in the morning might be hard might be sleeping, but I'll call you as quick. Yeah. And always been available helps. I know when I struggle with, like, I like to buy things. And if I call a company, and I don't hear back from the salesperson after three or four hours, for me, that's very agitating. Yeah, right? If they don't say, Hey, I'm in a meeting, you know, can I call you right back? That's totally fair. Yeah. But if you don't hear anything, and you've called twice or texted or left a voicemail, and you did, that's tough. Like, I don't blame the person for shopping around or going into another vendor? Yeah, no, you gotta be on your phone, you gotta be ready to help. That's, that's my my take.
Jeff Block:I'm a relationship guy. You are. I'm the kind of guy that has four tickets to the Canucks game, I'm not going to give them to Christian so he can take his family, I'm going to say you take two other people in yourself. And I'm going to sit there and I don't know any of you guys. And I'm going to build that relationship from there. I'm going to sit there and I'm going to ask a site super out for lunch so we can discuss his, you know, his problems. I'm going to give them the best service possible. I just love getting out there and meeting new people. I love going to these 1000 person events not knowing one person. Yeah,
Jeff Franklin:he's really good at that, like Jeff block is. He's does a way better job than I can get a little sometimes a little uncomfortable with that. But he's really good.
Jeff Block:If you're not comfortable, you're not moving. And that's the way I feel, you know, what I like to feel as uncomfortable in life as possible.
Christian Hamm:What's good, right? I mean, it puts you in scenarios where you have to grow. And you have to do something that you're not comfortable with. But but definitely to that point. Like I just I know and going to and again, we always bring there's a bit of a the local references here, given that, you know, we're obviously in Vancouver, and we go to Association events here, but it's the same anywhere, anywhere you're going to a construction Association event. You're schmoozing, you're mingling with people. But Jeff is always the guy like you just you just look around the room. And there's always a few people around him. He's getting the conversations going. He's connecting people. He's walking people across the room, like you can just watch it happen. It's pretty cool. I think that was the ICBA one. I think that we were that was fun. That was a good one. Yeah, it was a good one.
Jeff Franklin:Well, you've actually yeah, you've introduced me to like when I first met you at some of the events, and you were more than happy to like, hey, talk to this guy, or meet this guy and you would like bring me right up and it was like, you know, super helpful, right? You know what it is? This allows you to do that. Yeah.
Jeff Block:The people that we hang around the people that we associate with these associations, they're cool people. They're good. Yeah, you know, so I have no pro Problem introducing good people and good people. Surround yourself with people that are better than you.
Christian Hamm:Yeah, no doubt, you know, it's funny. You're surrounded by good people I'm reading. I'm reading a book right now. It's just about teams. It's a Patrick Lencioni book. But the references that he has, I don't even know the author. But he writes, like, he'll tell his is a leadership book, but he'll tell it in a story like a made up story, as opposed to your five principles of leadership. So he'll go through and tell a story. And he uses the example of a construction company, which I thought was really interesting that he picked a construction company. But there's just something so dynamic and like, the people in construction, the men and women in construction are just like, pretty genuine. Not that other industries aren't. And I know we were basically talking within the context of construction. There's something very real about people and especially when it comes to vendor relationships or association relationships, that people end up doing a lot of their lives together, playing hockey together. You're all your construction friends, right? Other vendors, PMS, Supers, owners of other contracting businesses, whatever it happens to be, but there's something so deeply relational, it's full of great people that think is unique to our industry.
Jeff Block:Yeah. Yeah, I've got a perfect example. Very Hartman 505, very, very heartless visible. I didn't know them before I came out here. We ended up meeting through the varca. And in February, I was in Surfers Paradise and Byron Bay with their entire crew. And the construction guys so you know, just
Christian Hamm:you did a traveling trip with these guys with them. Yeah. Yeah, that's why I do remember that. So whatever. You guys on there, too. There was like other like Ryan Lang and
Jeff Block:Ryan Lang was there. Mahone, so yeah, a lot of their BTA guys.
Christian Hamm:Yeah.
Jeff Block:Yeah. You never know where these relationships are gonna take you. I tell you where they didn't take me they didn't take me to Jeff Franklin's wedding in May. Where'd Jeff Franklin get married in May?
Jeff Franklin:We got married in Vegas.
Jeff Block:We banter a little bit.
Jeff Franklin:There's some there's some phone calls back and forth. It's easy to get along with though. Yeah.
Christian Hamm:Well, let's, let's talk a little about that. Okay, so obviously, the two of you guys are working together. You're separate companies, but you are working together. And that's just the very nature of the fact that you guys, the two companies are not one I guess in brand, but
Jeff Block:we're one company but in brand right now. It's still separated. And I think we're gonna just let marketing deal with that. We I've got no idea. I don't think Franklin has any idea when that's gonna happen. But yeah, we're one company. We're Sunbelt Rentals of Canada. So invoices from module lock will say Sunbelt rent. Oh, interesting. Yeah,
Christian Hamm:there's modu-loc stay a separate brand new company, or is that the question you're doing the thing you're alluding to?
Jeff Block:That's we don't know that interesting. Yeah, that's over our pace.
Jeff Franklin:Well, it's it Yeah. Like, it's, I can't speak to that, because I just don't, ya know, I don't know who's making the final decision, I assume, at some point, you know, so that they can if the billing is kind of the same right now. Yeah. But I don't.
Christian Hamm:Well, let's talk about the joining of the two. So two cultures coming together. Obviously, when you go and you get into a merger acquisition scenario, you do some due diligence, but there's always going to be some differences, right? How has it been with two company cultures and two great company cultures coming together?
Jeff Block:It's, I don't, I don't know if you can ever ask somebody if an acquisition went very well, but I can tell you this. I've met nothing but really good people at Sunbelt. And they're allowing us to continue to do modular walk. And that's what I really enjoy. They're not stepping in, stepping in and saying, Hey, do it this way. Do it that way. You know, we've been doing it for 26 years, and we were doing something really, really well. Right. So
Jeff Franklin:from the sales side, it's for for our team, like the Sunbelt team, it's, it's been great having a company that's the first people on site, like we talked about this before. And, you know, having the fence on a jobsite first kind of helps a little bit of like, hey, you know, like, well, if you need anything else, you know, I can bring into so Jeff would kind of like lead us in a little bit. Which which is great. Kind of being the first guys on site with that.
Christian Hamm:Nice. Oh, you guys, I know. There's lots to say just yeah, there. It's,
Jeff Franklin:I guess going back to like, the modular. I think it's, it's for me on my side, it's been a very seamless transition. I think, on the operation side, probably having to you know, there's an invoicing system. There's computers and stuff like that. I don't deal with that as much right? But for having like, hey, I'll bring my how many times we were we asked about fencing before and we didn't have it and now we know you have it to rent. It's just another it's another weapon in the arsenal to work with like we have these specialty divisions. We have like a generator division, so they just do power all There's big generators. And then we have a climate control division, just like heat and cooling and everything. We have a floor and division and our module lock is a specialty division being the fencing, right? It's just, it's more ammo to work with to help serve customers better. Really?
Christian Hamm:No, it totally makes sense. I mean, that's, that's that's the nature of strategic acquisition is that it does make your arsenal rounds it out. And when it comes to construction, there's so many little nuanced pieces that it's a pain for somebody to have to go to three different places just to get you know, the basic things to set up your job site.
Jeff Franklin:One, yeah, one invoice type. Yeah, one company one invoice helps. You're not dealing with this one, or there's a problem, you know, like, it's, it's all there. And that's what's that's, that's what I appreciate about the people that, well, they're higher up than me. They're already looking at these strategic ways of helping the Sunbelt brand and the company. Right. Right. That's what I like about that is they're, they're forward thinking company.
Christian Hamm:Have you guys done like any DOD, like joint events or anything like that? And I know you said that there's I went to their Christmas party.
Jeff Block:We tried to include them in everything. Absolutely. That was, you don't let no no, no, no, no.
Christian Hamm:You don't let him play on the hockey team?
Jeff Block:No, no, he they invited us to the Sunbelt golf tournament. We have barbecues, they lent us the barbecue Christmas party. They had the sales meetings in May, which I was. Well, that's
Jeff Franklin:our Yeah, we have like a town hall every year like to discuss how the groups did and yeah, of course, like, we did our golf turn. I mean, in a group team, where you had a tournament and made sure Jeff and the modular group felt felt the love and I hope they did. Absolutely. Put them on the air cannon Hall. Give them the best tool. They're the party tool. But I'm showing
Jeff Block:the Fitbit that that I won. Yeah.
Christian Hamm:That a Fitbit? Yeah.
Jeff Franklin:But yeah, like, I've been on the other side of it, too. I've been my work when I worked for my dad's company, and they got, you know, bought out, right. And there's different ways of doing things. And, you know, it can be difficult for to to adjust to something right. You know, it's like, oh, well, we've done it this way. Or we've done it that way. And totally, you know, let's figure out a way together and go forward with that. That's the main thing.
Christian Hamm:And what about like sharing, because you guys to successful companies coming together? You know, you build strategies to build sales strategies, business developments, that in you guys being sales leaders, sales, market leaders, what have you been able to like glean from each other in terms of like, hey, not just introduce me to this guy, which is obviously amazing, right? When you go to some crossover,
Jeff Franklin:there were companies that we dealt with that he dealt with a module locked like Jeff would deal with certain customers that I probably maybe I didn't know or didn't have a relationship with and he would kind of, Hey, give this guy a call or let's go meet this. This gentleman or, or whoever. That helps me a lot. I know it's gone both ways.
Jeff Block:Definitely. It's you try to get them out as much as possible if we've got some customers going to the Canadiens game or lacrosse game. Hey, bring one of your reps out. YCL golf tournament, we've got, you know, one of their reps working with one of ours on the whole. So just kind of doing a little bit more cross LM for for each other.
Christian Hamm:What would you guys say are like if you were to unpack like the nuggets of BD and construction right now, because there's always like the schmoozing stuff. That's like the go to right, like, let's all go golfing or let's all go to the game. What what do you what would you guys say are kind of like, what are the top the go to things right now, if you're going to sell in construction? What do you hammer in on? Like, event wise? I don't know anything. You just it's just strat strategy tactic. Whatever it happens to be.
Jeff Block:I'm a little biased here. Okay, well, no, and I'm gonna say the YCL events, just because I've had such good success with that. So explain for our audience, not not everyone's so the YCL is the young construction leaders of Vancouver, and that is the former youth 35 former U 40. varca you know, young construction leaders.
Christian Hamm:It was 35 and then 40. And now it's just young construction, young construction leaders.
Jeff Franklin:It just follows Jeff's age.
Jeff Block:So yeah. Next year, it'll be you 44. No, no. So I'm very biased just because I am the past chair of that. And I have met some very, very great connections, friends, business, contacts, mentors, and business professionals. And I just I find, you know, every event, you know, very satisfying and rewarding. So, you know, ICBA that last meet the GCS was a very, very good.
Jeff Franklin:I like that. That was a good one they
Christian Hamm:put on, you know, and we've got lots of great associations and they're all across Canada and all across North America. That setup I thought was pretty fantastic. And I know it's not like it's anything that's probably mind blowing. In terms of I'm sure other people have done it. But it basically, and I have no beef with trade shows, because we do even this podcast that trade shows. And it's actually kind of fun. It gets us a different delivery method. But going to that event in a way where you had representation from what was it like 30, General contract no 20 General Contractors
Jeff Franklin:around that. The big one was, it's forgetting people's time to get in front of them to introduce yourself. It's not the easiest, we know, the project managers and VPs and sites, Supers, everybody's really busy, they got a lot going on. So just being able to get a couple hours to get these big contractors in this one room to at least get a chance to meet them face to face was was very helpful. For me,
Jeff Block:the good thing about that was to is Sanjeev made sure that there was, you know, decision makers there, you know, the exam Roy's showed, okay, you know, the Sandeep things from prison, there's just so many people there that were on a procurement or a construction manager, you know, level where they're going to make that decision. Whereas, you know, some trade shows that I go to it's in, I don't even want to say, like a title or anything, just because it's just not the right person. And that card, just, you know, it goes into their database, their CRM,
Christian Hamm:totally. Okay, what I think is interesting, and we talked about a little bit in terms of your guys's journey through construction, and through sales. And I don't know if like, times have changed. And this is just across industries. But there was a time when you said, you know, getting onto a construction site, you don't know the jargon, you don't know the lingo. And you're like, oh, man, this is this is really difficult. I look like a, like a total newbie, this is, you know, brutal. But people also weren't as receptive to, they're just kind of, let me do my thing, I'll get you on, I need to get to you or whatever. And I don't know if it's our day and age now, where people are just more receptive to, you know, I should know, people, I should know, the vendors, I need to work with good people, because it makes my projects go smoother. But there is something about, again, the framework of that event in general, that was one, making the time to be KV, you know, we're opening up our doors here. So you don't have to come cold call and knock and hit our trailers or do whatever, and come in and introduce yourselves. And if we meet the great people will be working with you. And I thought that being intentional like that, and setting it up like that was incredible. I just think that I don't know if that's, again, that is sales. Are people more open to that, you know, in making it less intimidating for people to come and knock on the door? Is it just the Wi Fi has
Jeff Franklin:shifted a little bit? So where are you said like? Maybe also because I'm older? Yeah. Then when I first started, maybe that's a little bit of a difference. And it's an experience thing. I was on job sites this morning. You know, I was out with a rep. And we were making calls today. Yeah. And I think if you if you know, you got to know they're busy, which we understand, you don't want to take up a lot of their time, but they are definitely open to see maybe seems a little bit more so now than it was 15 years ago. But you know, get your introduction, meet them offer what we offer and try not to clog their time. Yeah. And time is valuable on a job site. There's there's things that they might not know that we have, which we try and explain a little bit real quick. And then with Sunbelt, we deal a lot with the sub trades as well, that's a big market for us is the sub trades. So kind of getting a cup, a quick list of who's working on the site. And then we'll you know, we'll get out of your way. You don't want to times available.
Jeff Block:Our process is a lot different than theirs, because the fence is already sitting on site. So we're trying to get on site sitting
Unknown:on site for a year. Yeah, before the site really gets going sometimes,
Jeff Block:or even. We're looking at, you know, farm fields that are going to be putting up, you know, 20 storey buildings, so we want to get on that. Yes. So we've got a totally different sales process than them but you know, getting back to being receptive or not these days, and I find that each different province is different, because I've done some prospecting and, you know, six different cities in the last, you know, six months. But I remember back in the day when I was working in Ontario, and I would, it would be minus 40 out. And I was knocking on doors and this was pre cell phones. While there were cell phones, I just didn't know. I was in my 20s Three pagers. Yeah, it was about Yeah, so I remember just trying to find
Jeff Franklin:Zach Morris phone totally too big. weigh him down.
Jeff Block:Go swimming with it as an anchor for me. And I would just look for like three buildings. I was this was like I sold mailing machines for Pitney Bowes or a hot minute and I would start on the 40th floor and just work my way down and get like 200 business cards because there was three towers towers there. And some days I would be so defeated back in the day and it's just like then you got to go back to the Office and then you got to call that business card, you know, no emails either. So it depends what city you're in. And I find that BC is most people are very welcoming. In BC
Jeff Franklin:there's a time to, if there's a concrete pour, you know, yep, that's, that's a time where it's like, I should probably come back. Yep. And it's not like you don't want to go. But there's a lot going on there. And then there's, you know, there's a first thing in the morning, when they're trying to kind of organize the day and get the trades go on and everything like, you know, maybe that's not the best time to be popping in. It's nice to kind of maybe call ahead or maybe the day before and say, Hey, is there a time when I can come in? You know, that might help make it a little easier when you're making a sales call to it just to like, Hey, are you there around 10 modify pop by pop in real quick, you know, that's generally a warmer call.
Christian Hamm:So I haven't obviously having the awareness around it. But I do think and immediately, you know, even with our organization within sight, Max, you know, selling is changing. Right? Like it's more the account based sale, the relationship sale, the referral sale, as opposed to the dialing for dollar sale. Because I just think people don't have time. You coming in here. You pick up the phone, you're like TELUS Jeff block is like, hang up. And you're like, Guys, the third time, you know,
Jeff Franklin:I was cold calling this morning. But it's literally it's still there.
Christian Hamm:It's still there. It's like a It's part of every process that you still require, because you will get to that person eventually. But in terms of there's there's a shift towards, that's more just like a supplementary.
Jeff Franklin:I know where you're going with it. Because it's when you're doing a cold call. And if I'm calling you and you don't know who I am, your first reaction is Who is this? Why, why are they calling me? Yeah, right. And it's already kind of like that. A slight negative in your mind, like your back is against the wall real quick, right? And then, once you you gotta be, your approach has to be really good. You have to be kind of upbeat, like, Hey, it's Jeff with Sunbelt Rentals, I just wanted to ask you, you know, then they can kind of oh, okay, no, I see you're working at that job site, and then it kind of eases a little bit. But it's that first phone call, they don't know, like, when I get a phone call, and they don't know who the number is. That's what I mean. I get that I totally understand what you're saying.
Christian Hamm:And that's like anything though, right? So in terms of the cold calling, like talking to somebody for the first time is necessary, right? But the going through a Rolodex of 100 is different now because you know, how you feel when you get hit with a number you don't know you don't answer it, or you're skeptical of what it's going to be and so that initial first touch might be Hey, guide introduced from Jeff you might fire them a text find out what time is a good time to be talking to them. And then you have that bit of a time awareness and respectful of their
Jeff Franklin:but you heard of a comedian called Sebastian Maniscalco. I have heard that flex is super funny. He does this bit on when would people used to knock on your door member? Like you're born in the 80s? Or in the 80s? Just born in the 60s? Yeah. And do you remember when like your neighbors would come by and and you know, they would just knock on the door and they would have your your mom or dad or whatever would have cookies and coffee laid out? Like oh, the neighbors are over or your friends. Your family friends would come over? Totally. It was the pop in the pop by Yes, that was super common. And now like I had somebody knock on my door the other day and I looked at my wife. I'm like, who's here? Like, what would like the guy? What's gonna be required of us? Yeah, yeah. And it's he did this whole bid on it. It was super funny, but it had like, he was telling a real truth there. It's like that's shifted like, people don't just pop by anymore. No, and it's kind of similar to a cold call. It is right. So I found that kind of irrelevant. Totally.
Jeff Block:I don't do the Popeye at people's houses so I'll never show up on your front door. unannounced. Frank never
Jeff Franklin:tell you where I live.
Jeff Block:Clearly, we're friends. But I really liked the Popeye. Offices. I still do.
Jeff Franklin:Yeah. Oh, yeah. No, I still do that. For sure. Yeah,
Jeff Block:just pop in somewhere. Somebody says, hey, yeah, try to get a hold of me in the next month or so. And I'll just be like, I'll show up with a brochure and be like, Hey, can I talk to Amy Smith?
Christian Hamm:Well, I think what's cool, and I think this all comes back down to like, how do you like to be sold to? Right? And I know we're really deep diving on like this whole sales notion or whatever. But I mean, it's kind of what we all are doing, you know, for a lot of our days. But you know how you want to be sold to you don't want to be nagged. You don't want someone to catch you because your people like their space and they like to have their you know, run their day the way they want to run it and not be interrupted. But at the same time, like the pot buyer, then the knock on the door. There is something a little bit refreshing if it's done the right way. Because you remember the neighbor that would come by, and I remember as a kid, I would have these neighbors come by, and it was obnoxious. Because they would come by so often at the wrong time. Like during dinner, oh, you're eating well, then I'll eat with you. So that was not how it works necessarily. Okay? Sometimes, but it's the same thing. If you're, you know, if Jeff were to come by and be like, you know, mid afternoon pop by strapping up a coffee, man, gotta head out, no, stay for chat. But you didn't come in, like, Hey, show me around, or I'm gonna just sit on your couch for a bit. And I work here for like, you kind of the pop in has some nostalgia to it. And it really works and has to still be done strategically, though.
Jeff Franklin:The Popeye on an office. It's also the time of the day. Yeah, you know, if it's a Monday morning, eight o'clock, you pop it into somebody's office might not be best. Exactly. People are getting back from the weekend. They've got a plateful of emails and phone calls they got to make and to do the Popeyes, I wouldn't recommend it. I think you're nodding like Yeah, I agree. Yeah. And so it's, it's finding that fine line, when to when to go to I, you know, sometimes I would pop in, I would find out who the decision makers that I need to talk to. And hopefully the person that I met at the front would help me. And if they could give me a card, and then I would, if the person wasn't there didn't have time, I would go back and then I would call or email them, Hey, can I get 10 minutes of your time or 15 minutes of your time? What day works for you? And that's how I would get my introduction or like the face to face.
Christian Hamm:Now, it seems like we're just going on little rabbit trails here, whatever. But, I mean, I sit down with people all the time, different vendors or contractors or whatever. And they're always talking about, you know, what is what is sales looking like right now. It's constantly in I feel like across all industries, it's an interesting time that we're in the economy wise, whatever it happens to be not just construction, how are sales going? You know, are there certain trends that we're all noticing? But I think it's, it's helpful when you hear people like you guys who are hitting the hitting the, the, the pavement quite often, to just, you know, unpacking these tactics in these kinds of things seem really basic, but there definitely is, we're in a time right now, where certain strategies are required.
Jeff Franklin:Yeah, like how do you how do you go with this? I don't even necessarily call it a tactic. I think it's more of like, it's an experience, you know, it's finding what works for you as if you're talking about the salesperson, right? I know, there's probably different things that he does differently than me doesn't make him a better salesperson than me. It just makes it would try to get to the same path just different
Christian Hamm:route will tell me this who does more site barbecues Mordialloc Jeff?
Jeff Franklin:I guarantee we do. I have been talking about that's, that's something that's been around for a long time is you know, a rental company. Just showing an appreciation to a general contractor or whoever's working on on a job site like hey, we, it's there's a lot of rental companies out there, right? You chose us at this point of time, or whichever and you want to kind of thank them for that you could drop off doughnuts. Yes. But to go on and fully cooked and prep and go buy the food and sit down and your barbecue and for everybody on the site, whether it's a trade or the general contractor, I think I hope it goes a long way. I know they seem really appreciative when we do it.
Christian Hamm:That's an interesting thing. Okay, and again, I know these things all sound so stupid, please we talk about these often on the job site like we joke around about how dropping off doughnuts is kind of a thing of the past but people still drop off boxes of donuts. What what what goes further with your customer dropping off consistently like doughnuts or coffees or doing a hard hitting barbecue?
Jeff Block:I don't do donuts and I haven't done donuts in a long time.
Jeff Franklin:Donuts are their playdough unless unless you do it's think outside the box a little bit. I'd only give it out all the secrets. Like how about I don't know spending the time and finding like a kind of a you're not sponsored by Tim Hortons. Sorry. No, no. Okay, so like going out and getting a mobile either but they're always going out and getting like a like a specialty home homemade donut shop. Right? Like there was a one of our sales reps in North and Jesse. He has a this lady who does. She's a one person shop and she makes these homemade doughnuts and they are amazing. And he's like kind of like that guy in the north end territory. You know, he goes out of his way pre orders them so that she has time to make them and I think that goes a long way for sure if we're talking about donuts but to like, you know, some guys do like hey, throws throw my guys a box A Timmies or whatever. Yeah, Absolutely, I will bring them over and we'll bring coffee but I like kind of going a little bit of tried to go a little bit above and beyond and figure out cool different things to bring. One of our reps was bringing little she made cinnamon buns and put them in bags and stuff like that and was given them up. I thought it was a really cool, thoughtful idea when she was doing that.
Jeff Block:I'm a big advocate for sporting events. Yeah,
Christian Hamm:we know. Oh, yeah.
Jeff Block:So yeah, the get the handouts. You know, I've got different strategies of all that, that the tournaments and the associations, I feel, you know, brochures sometimes just gets chucked in the garbage. So you got to think outside the box.
Christian Hamm:And that's what I mean, though, it's like you talked about like experience, because we're talking about experiences, right, like selling an experience. It's an ongoing thing, working with Module often Sunbelt, it's not just a transactional thing dropping off, like, you know, nice doughnuts or taking them to a Canadiens game or whatever it happens to be. But the that whole dropping off the pamphlets thing kind of falls into the just that transactional sale thing that people just, they don't want calls, they don't want pamphlets, they don't want whatever, like they want to get to know the Jeff's, they want to get to know you guys, but that
Jeff Block:brochure is a tangible item that gets you in that door that makes that salesperson or the business development person feel that much more comfortable walking onto that site with some tangible item. True.
Jeff Franklin:It does help when you bring something like, you know, we have calendars or we have, you know, like stuff like that, because every job site usually, you know, there's companies have calendars on them. Yeah, you know, if if it's December, and you're going to drop off at 2023 is one month left on it. You know, it's nice to have something with Jeff's a tangible to drop off, you might not know everything that we rent, you know, maybe if something, you know, pops out, or something like that, I guess would probably be the best way.
Christian Hamm:It's funny, it's funny, unpacking all the all these things. Again, this sounds so trivial, but there's the stereotypical things that vendors do on job sites. And obviously, it gets shaken up a little bit. And just given the fact that it's, you know, we are older, we're more experienced in the industry and and now we're getting into handmade craft doughnuts. Instead of in Bucks, cinnamon buns. Yeah, I'll think outside the box a little. I
Jeff Franklin:thought they were great ideas.
Christian Hamm:That's awesome. Okay, well, what are you guys excited about in the industry, in general, or with the two companies coming together? And, you know, the next couple of years ahead.
Jeff Block:I'm excited to see how big we can grow the fencing division of it. You know, obviously, my heart's been in it for 14 years over a decade. It's what I've known, you know, expanding into the states, opening up more locations on the island and Edmonton. I'm just excited to see how big we can actually grow with a company the size of Sunbelt behind us
Christian Hamm:is module like in the US. We have been opening up in the US we have oh, how reason is this?
Jeff Block:We had DFW. Prior to the acquisition, the acquisition took Mordialloc in the US and they turned it into Sunbelt fence rentals. And they have modular expect fence but where the modular sticker is, it is now Sunbelt, okay, so it's all Sunbelt in the States. It's not modular, right? But in terms of DFW is the one location I don't know how many other locations they have right now.
Christian Hamm:We're talking to Dallas, Dallas. Yeah, yeah. Sure. Yeah.
Jeff Block:I think there's a few already on the East Coast. I want to say, South Carolina. I don't 100% know that answer.
Christian Hamm:But if one day, Jeff was more holistically running, you could be potentially having stuff in the US. Potentially, potentially, potentially. Cool. Cool. Let's get I mean, like, that's what the whole joining of the or, you know, being a part of the Sunbelt ecosystem can do, right. You've got a well oiled machine up here with fence rentals. I mean, why can the same thing not apply to who's the big who's the big fence player in the US?
Jeff Block:National
Christian Hamm:National? Yeah, yeah. What about you? Jeff Franklin,
Jeff Franklin:repeat the question.
Christian Hamm:That was what do you say to your
Jeff Block:love staring you down
Christian Hamm:is amazing. Not just like, What do you say about you two guys working together just the industry in general or what Sunbelt has on the horizon year next year?
Jeff Franklin:I love the growth. That's some belts been going on in the last couple of years. And the when I said earlier, forward thinking just like okay, how can we help? You know, there's this there's not like they're going to stop purchasing other companies or acquisition and stuff like that are growing. You know, we call it a greenfield where you opening up a new store like so, you know, there's another store in Prince George and then you know, we opened up Kamloops recently, there, they're always looking at better ways to grow the business, which is really exciting for me because it's just, you know, it's more to work with more people to work with. And, and it's kind of cool because I've been here for seven years, I've not that I was here at ground zero in Canada, but to you know, two years in I was when I started. So it's like the growth and the people that I've worked with, there's a lot of people that still work from when I started here that are still with the company and, and, you know, when having these specialty divisions of like having a specialized guy like Jeff and the modular team, who knows fencing through and through, you know, I could, if I get somebody who's looking for fencing notifications, let's get Jeff on this, because he knows what he's talking about. And I hope vice versa, that he can trust me, when it comes to the equipment side, that he can trust me with that. And it's kind of like the, the experience of you know, Jeff's 14 years and I'm with somebody for seven, but I've been doing rentals. Since I was a kid, it could help each other quite a bit and then help the customer.
Christian Hamm:Well, I think there'd be some serious trouble if you weren't recommending Jeff, there's vice versa and vice versa.
Jeff Franklin:Yeah, and having having somebody to lean on with questions. Yeah. You know, goes a long way. Like I don't know everything about the module oxide. Yep. But that's what you know, I can call him at eight o'clock at night or seven in the morning and be like, hey, well, I got a I got a question. You know, happy to help. His is always his reply.
Jeff Block:Sometimes teamwork and collaboration.
Christian Hamm:There you go. Is that the nugget? We're leaving with everybody? teamwork, collaboration.
Jeff Block:teamwork and collaboration was one of our our old core values with within the module lock, but it's still something that is instilled with us. Gonna be forever, you know, so. Yeah, teamwork and collaboration.
Jeff Franklin:What he said.
Christian Hamm:what he said, Well, hey, we love you know, we've kind of covered a few different things in this conversation. And we love tidying up just getting more our audience and our listeners to know a little bit more about each of the Jeff's Jeff's done the rapid fire round. He probably has no idea what the questions are from before unless you've read the notes last night. Which he may have 5050 chance. Yeah, yep. Like, I looked at him. He's got he's got his notebook out. Jeff Franklin has his notebooks out here. This is good. This is good. But we always end with a rapid fire round. We've got three questions. We'll do through each of you guys and gives everybody a little bit more about each of you. Sound good? Sounds good. Blocky, start with blocky blackouts go. All right. And then I always do this and then I go, Oh, yeah. What were the questions?
Jeff Block:I don't have my notes. 99 podcast and you can't remember the three questions.
Christian Hamm:I've done this. I've done this the last couple times. But
Jeff Franklin:somebody thought you were or what just something you do that is makes you insane. Or people would think you're insane. How am I doing this for you? Chris?
Christian Hamm:I don't know if I'm going to answer the question. No. What is is Jeff Franklin just said what is something that you do that others would think is insane?
Jeff Block:Can I skip this for now? You guys go
Jeff Franklin:it's kind of like rapid fire, think of something top of your head. Make it PG.
Jeff Block:Every maybe. Sometimes I trail run Christian, you know, I trail run and so I knew you were gonna say that. And it's it's not insane. But it's sometimes when it's, you know, nine kilometers of six 700 meters of elevation that gets your, your heart pumping and like we talked about before, you know, like, sometimes I do have the, you know, cigarette, you know, here and there, so, I just don't see. It is pretty crazy.
Christian Hamm:I was gonna say when you say trail running No, not crazy. If you're a trail runner to people that don't trail run. Kind of be kind of crazy. But when you have the odd cigarette that is insane. That is insane. Man, I always I remember that again. Back to the hockey thing. I did smoke and play hockey. i It was weird. I never felt that it significantly impacted my cardio. No,
Jeff Franklin:I'm the other way around. I always had like back when I was a kid. I never ran good long distance. Yeah, it was always like falling way behind sprinting or quick like quick sprint. I was fast. Yeah.
Christian Hamm:Long. No,
Jeff Franklin:no way.
Christian Hamm:This is the slow fire round. Second, second question for Jeff. Every go top of your mind, okay. If you weren't doing what you're doing right now and it can't be construction related. Okay, what would you be doing?
Jeff Block:I would be working in professional sports.
Jeff Franklin:He knew that Well,
Christian Hamm:I just know that Yeah. What What sport would you focus on hockey? Oh, nice. Okay.
Jeff Block:All right. And I'm thinking more like, East Coast, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Boston, Toronto. So if you're listening,
Christian Hamm:I love it. I love it. You know what? I'm totally. We're doing this totally. We got to go through both of you guys at the same time. I'm realizing now. Yeah, I'm totally botching on my own rapid fire round. Dave. Where are you, man? Come on. I gotta get Jeff. Jeff Franklin answer the questions at the same time. What do you do? That other people would think is insane.
Jeff Franklin:I'm super, like very superstitious. Okay. So I don't know how far I want to get into this.
Christian Hamm:Go deep. Let's see.
Jeff Franklin:When I have a good day, I make sure like when I'm at the end of the day, like I gotta kind of like put my phone in the same spot at the end of like, when I'm going to bed or whatever. Phones got to be the same way where the keys were and like, maybe that shirt I wore was a good shirt. I want to like, like, I got the next day. Sometimes. Yeah, it wasn't really. Yeah, I want to it's, it's like when you play hockey? Yeah. And you got to put your gear on. If you scored a couple goals, the game before you got to put your gear on the same way. Yeah, I've kinda like that coffee mug that I used that day for took I took to work, I'll watch that. And they'll bring it to work the next day because it was a good luck. I don't know, that could get pretty crazy, but superstitious.
Christian Hamm:You know, there's something to all the superstitious stuff in the way that especially like athletes who will put their stuff together tape or sticks or whatever it does, but it's mental preparation. Well, yeah, and if you're mentally prepared, you probably will perform better on aggregate,
Jeff Franklin:Look at every baseball player, you know, they do a certain thing after they get a home run or before they get to the plate, they got to knock the cleat or the dirt off their cleats even though there is no dirt there right at that time, but it's just, it's staying in kind of organized. Or maybe it's a little OCD, I guess to
Jeff Block:absolutely OCD
Christian Hamm:Jeff was just waiting to throw that in there. Yeah, I was absolutely OCD. Yes. 1,000%. I can relate sometimes to this kind of stuff, though. So don't worry. What is if you weren't doing what you're doing right now, non construction related? What would you be doing?
Jeff Franklin:That was a that was a tougher one for me. I do in the doing this industry for so long, right? Kind of like, she's kinda like the only thing I really know. I always, like, showed interest in sports as well, because I love hockey and I like NFL and baseball. And I always thought like an agent would be a cool job. Like, uh, you know, like, work on negotiated deals and stuff like that for Jerry Maguire.
Christian Hamm:It's funny, like we had a sales guy too. Who did a did you do a business degree or some sort of sports management degree? Two of them actually. Same thing. They want to take that sales experience and bring it into sports agent being a sports agent. So I think a lot of them though are
Jeff Franklin:I can be wrong, but it seems like they like are almost like lawyers because of the contracts and stuff. But yeah,
Christian Hamm:yeah, you'd have to do some secondary training or, or really have a good knack for legal jargon and absolutely contracts better but not not that it couldn't be something that can be learned. And we'll continue the molasses fire around with there's a little rusty or after not doing this for a month. But last one for you guys. This is a construction podcast called the site visit. What is your favorite or most memorable story from the job site? blocky.
Jeff Block:So this is probably 2017 summer and the kids volleyball open was going on and as you guys are aware with some of these events, you have to be off site that night, if not, Vancouver Parks Board always says that they're gonna throw fines out there. So I get a call from Adrian good Murphy from volleyball BC at probably two in the morning, Saturday into Sunday morning. And he said, Hey, Jeff, this fence has got to get off the beach because tomorrow is a busy day. Saturday night late to in the morning. I showed up there with one of our other guys intoxicated and lifting eight foot fence panels carrying them one at a time off Kitts beach. So that we could so that they didn't get fined and I still remember that to this day. I don't want to ban all the link. I think it was about 450 45 panels. So between two of us. That's pretty good. Yeah. We got the job done. No injuries. I wouldn't do in this in this day and age though.
Christian Hamm:That's pretty that's pretty good. That's a good one. I feel like There's the show up and do whatever it takes kind of stories that are the classics. Oh, yeah. And that was one of them. And that was one of them for sure.
Jeff Franklin:Hey, you know what? That guy? I'm sure he's called you for other jobs after that, because you were he got a hold of you at two in the morning to get his problem solved.
Jeff Block:We've we've done their event every year, every year. Yeah. Sunbelt jumped onto it this year as well.
Christian Hamm:Perfect. Right on. All right, Jeff Franklin, take us home.
Jeff Franklin:I think when I first started in sales, remember I kind of explained how I kind of jumped into things, I guess. 24 And this isn't as funny as Jeff's, but I had to meet a customer on a job site. It wasn't the general contractor but it was somebody who needed like a job specked out like what type of lift they'd need. So I called the guy and he was on site. So instead of checking in, at the job site trailer, I went to straight ahead to go meet the customer I was supposed to meet. And I found out really quick that that was a big nono. Yeah. Because they need you know, the general, they need to know who's on their jobs. Right. And it's a safety thing. And safety is huge. Even for something like Sunbelt safety is number one. Yes. The biggest thing we talked about, and this was before some Oh, so I was 2425. And I got my buttercream dough. Like, swore that. And I think it was like the second or third job site I've ever been to in my life. Well, that'll give you a good scare. Yeah. I think my tail was between my legs for a good week. Oh, yeah. You're kind of like a puppy dog. Right? You just got barked at and it kind of scared the heck out of me. A little bit. But good learning experience. Because when I'm used to, you know, training a new rapper, or you know, like, you go to the trailer first. So now it's, it's a good lesson, right? But at the time, I think
Christian Hamm:everyone that's green and construction remembers, or whatever career the first time or the one time that they got completely reamed out for doing something that was amateur or you just had a mental lapse of whatever you needed to do. I think everyone's got a story like that. People can relate.
Jeff Franklin:Oh, yeah. And it's just good. Definitely a good learning experience. Probably the best learning experiences get barked up.
Christian Hamm:Well, gentlemen, it is always great catching up with you. And to have you both on here talking about your respective companies and how the two have come together, talking about the industry that we love and advocacy within it. And, you know, talking about joining next week at the VRC golf tournament. You know, it's fantastic, you know, and looking forward to it, and looking forward to more conversation in the future. But thank you both for jumping in and joining me today.
Jeff Block:Thanks for having me.
Jeff Franklin:Yeah, that was fun. Thank you. Appreciate it
Christian Hamm:right on. We'll do it again.
James Faulkner:Well, that does it for another episode of the Site Visit. Thank you for listening. Be sure to stay connected with us by following our social accounts on Instagram and YouTube. You can also sign up for a monthly newsletter at sitemaxsystems.com/thesitevisit where you'll get Industry Insights, pro tips and everything you need to know about the Site Visit podcast and SiteMax the jobsite and construction management tool of choice for 1000's of contractors in North America and beyond. SiteMax is also the engine that powers this podcast. All right, let's get back to building!