When Tyler Yelland, vice president of sales and marketing at Primco, approached the company’s president, Cam Overacker, about starting a podcast, the pair quickly realized the show’s potential beyond sales. Jason chats with the Canada-based duo about telegraphing Primco’s comp any culture via Know Where You Stand (KWYS), their trendsetting podcast in the ordinarily conservative floor covering industry. From honest talk about podcasting’s ROI to its power as a vehicle for inspiring the next generation of distribution professionals, Cam, Tyler, and Jason share their experiences and insights with the pod-curious.
There’s a simple explanation for how a Primco podcast came about: a marketing consultant proposed a blog. I just wanted to do something more unique and something different [in] the market, says Tyler. Ten episodes into recording KWYS, his instincts have proven sound. The show comes across exactly as intended–an informative chat among colleagues who just happen to be friends. It doesn’t feel like work. It’s just like Cam and I having another meeting except, instead of talking KPIs, we’re just talking about what we would normally talk about.
I had no idea what I was getting in for, Cam jokes. All kidding aside, he quickly embraced a bigger picture mentality. The transparency that the podcast gives us is, ‘trust us, this is really who we are, and this is what we’re going to say.’ Cam and Tyler aren’t product reviewers; they’re industry advocates inviting manufacturers, retail partners, and, yes, even consumers behind the scenes. For me, it’s more about that one person that you turn to, maybe, being open to hearing more about the Primco story and our products… To me, that’s more important than any stat you can get, Cam says.
Still, KWYS has an impressive reach thus far, and it’s easy to understand why. With episode topics running the gamut from technology to shipping (a top-of-mind consideration given COVID import delays across every vertical),KWYS is a data-driven listen as well as an engaging access point for future business leaders. Tyler agrees. There were so many times when I was younger and just thought I knew everything, he says. It would have been nice to be able to flip something like this on and just listen to it and get ideas and get those juices flowing.
When asked to share their number one podcasting tip, the Primco guys echo one of Jason’s own: Call Andrea, Cam says, a shoutout to Andrea Klunder, producer of both KWYS and DT. The response is also a nod to Cam’s overall business investment strategy. When we look back on [Primco’s] failures over 74 years of business, it’s the times when you can see that [we] didn’t go all in.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
The Q and A Sales Podcast w/ Paul Reilly
V Strategies – Calgary Video & Production
Surfaces: The International Surfaces Event
NAFCD
CONNECT WITH CAM
LinkedIn
CONNECT WITH TYLER
LinkedIn
CONNECT WITH JASON
LinkedIn
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Distribution Talk is produced by The Distribution Team, a consulting services firm dedicated to helping wholesale distribution clients remove barriers to profitability, generate wealth and achieve personal goals.
This episode was edited & mixed by The Creative Impostor Studios.
https://www.distributionteam.com
Special thanks to our sponsor for this episode: HMI Performance Incentives, providing innovative, data-driven B2B incentive solutions.
QUOTES
I felt like a blog could be written by anybody. And my name could be on the bottom or Cam’s name or any of our names could be on the bottom. And I just wanted to do something — I’ll say, more unique and something different to the market. – Tyler
It’s kind of like the audio way to just look in the mirror, I guess. – Cam
It’s more about education and spreading the word than trying to say, ‘Hey, let’s talk about this so we can increase sales.’ – Cam
Understand the value of what it brings and, hey, it may not be right for every organization either. Like, I think this is only going to be right for those people that do place value on culture and things like that. – Cam
Trust Andrea or whoever your consultant is. Trust their direction they’re giving you on the hardware to purchase and all that kind of stuff because it just makes it so much more professional. – Cam
Don’t do it for the ROI. – Tyler
