PPB April 2021

back the event even further. We decided that September 2021 would be a better time to have a sales conference and meet with our people. We are going to do that in Scottsdale, Arizona, and we are bringing in about 100 salespeople and close to 50 vendor partners. We are going to do it in a format that is somewhat socially distant and safe, mentally and physically. I am a firm advocate in that we, as an industry, need to get back to what we do best, and that is showing our clients that it’s okay to travel and it’s okay to start having events. We are not going to go around hugging each other like we used to. I think those things have changed and we are ready for that now. PPB What’s Reciprocity Road’s primary focus for 2021? Wehrle It’s going to be our Road Rally with it being our largest event to curate. We’ll be taking care of all the participants for three days, providing education, fun activities and food. We’ll also be focusing on what we call our “roadie crew calls.” And every two weeks, we get all the partners together for an hour to discuss concerns, opportunities and issues. This year, what we’ve started doing is at every other meeting we air out a topic that is critical for discussion. It could be, for example, how COVID is affecting our business. We get on these calls and we bring the collective minds together to start hammering out some great processes and great thoughts. A lot of other independent distributors do not have access to that brain trust in a safe space. Every day, business is so difficult, and owners face these challenges without the ability to talk to a peer in the industry. This Reciprocity group allows for owners to share their awful day or ask for advice in a safe space. We learn from each other and this happens organically. PPB What are you most optimistic about for the organization moving forward? Wehrle As an industry and as an organization, sales were great, profits were wonderful and nobody had a care in the world [before COVID]. Life was great, but all of a sudden, COVID hits. Everybody pulls the breaks, shuts their doors and begins reinventing themselves. Now, there’s light at the end of the tunnel. I like to think of it as not a full 100-watt light, but as a 60-watt light. We are pushing for 100, and I see that energy in our salespeople when I talk to them. The objective this year is to get in front of clients, physically, and reestablish those relationships. Part of my goal is to support those efforts and help our salespeople and owners to bring that forward. I am optimistic, hopefully by Q2, that we will see a massive shift in the direction of our industry and organization. After that, we are just focusing on keeping our industry strong and healthy. Kristina Valdez is associate editor of PPB. Reciproci ty Road Above: Rod and Barbara Brown clean up beaches in the Pacific Northwest. Above Right: Staff from distributor ROBYN team with the OKC RIVERSPORT “River Protectors” to pick up trash in and around Oklahoma City’s Lake Overholser. Right: At the PPAI Expo 2020 are (lower row from left) Todd Pottebaum, MAS+; Rod Brown; Robert Fiveash; Danny Rosin, CAS; (top row) Tom Goos, MAS; Sandy Gonzalez; Toby Zacks; Donnie Brown; Eric Granta, CAS; Cory Benton; Bethany Benton and Perry Wehrle, MAS. 78 | APRIL 2021 | CONNECT