Mark Tina & Verizon | Episode 004

In Episode 004 of Inside the Channel, host Terra Bastolich sits down live at Channel Partners with Verizon Channel Chief Mark Tina for a candid conversation about leadership, relationships, and the future of the channel.

Mark shares his 20+ year journey from carrying a sales bag and knocking on doors to leading Verizon Business indirect distribution, along with the lessons, setbacks, and career-defining moments that shaped his leadership style along the way. The conversation dives into Verizon’s growing investment in the channel, the importance of trusted partnerships, and why “being where your feet are” has become some of the most impactful advice he lives by personally and professionally.

From channel evolution and partner enablement to the human side of business, this episode offers an honest look at what it takes to build lasting relationships and meaningful growth in today’s technology ecosystem. 

Transcript

Introduction

SPEAKER_01 0:00

You're listening to Inside the Channel, presented by Get Wireless, a platform built to showcase the voices, stories, and insights shaping the future of the channel. Through conversations with partners, vendors, carriers, and industry leaders, we aim to bring you meaningful perspectives on the trends, challenges, and opportunities driving our ecosystem forward. And now to your host, the chief marketing officer of Get Wireless, Tara Mastilich.

SPEAKER_00 0:29

Hey guys, welcome back to Inside the Channel. We're

Welcome Mark Tina

SPEAKER_00 0:32

here live at Channel Partners, really excited to have our Verizon friends with us. And one of my, I'll call you a dear friend now, and um, and one of the largest partners that we work with in this community, in the channel community, Mark Tina, as well as Barn Ben Harding, is joining me from our connectivity team. Good to be. So we're really excited to have you. I'm gonna let Mark do a quick introduction of himself and then we're gonna we're gonna dig in a little deeper on you.

SPEAKER_02 0:56

Sounds good. It is awesome to be here. Thank you for having me. My name is Mark Tina. I lead indirect distribution for Verizon Business. Uh, been with the company for over 20 years, but the past few as channel chief have been some of my favorite years.

SPEAKER_00 1:09

Well, we're really excited to have you. I know we've been planning this for a while. It's been on my bucket list, and we're gonna dig in a little bit on you. And I know we we briefed you a little bit, but

Mark's Professional Journey

SPEAKER_00 1:18

um, one of the key core things that we talk about, and you you've said this as well, is this is about the people in this industry. And we really believe in that as well, and we believe a lot, a lot of really good people, and that's why we consider you not only a colleague, but a friend, and we trust you. And I think we want to learn more about you. We want to hear you've got a great story at Verizon. You've got a great story. So tell us about your first job in the industry and how you've where what's been the journey since then?

SPEAKER_02 1:45

All right. So I graduated college on a Thursday and started ATT that following Monday. Uh, worked for ATT as an account executive in the Westchester County area of New York. Loved it, loved knocking on doors, loved prospecting, loved getting to know new people, new ideas, innovation. I genuinely loved working at ATT. I was there for three or four years. Uh, last role was a government account manager in the city of New York. Uh, and then I was recruited to come to Verizon. Um, I've now been at Verizon for the last 23 years of my career. It has been fantastic. And what I love about that is that my role has changed and stretched me and grown me constantly. And so each role I've taken has been something different, something new, something fresh. And the company has afforded me the ability to just take on those new challenges, provided me a lot of tools, a lot of resources, a lot of benefit. I leveraged our tuition assistance program to go back and get my master's degree, uh, which was awesome, which I appreciated. And uh, I can go on and on about my Verizon career. I don't know how long you want me to talk about that.

SPEAKER_00 2:48

So well, we want to hear, you know, what were some of were there, you know, bumps in the journey? I mean, I think it's a great, a great narrative to hear that you, you know, you use that that tuition program. I mean, that that's huge for people that are looking to expand their education and working for a company like Verizon is that's a benefit to them. And it's a part of a journey that that allows people to get to get on the path that maybe they weren't able to do with the means of their family, too.

SPEAKER_03 3:12

Well, and it was literally a journey. You were carrying a bag from the word go, right? Right out of college. You were carrying a bag, knocking on doors, and you kind of saw the business side of things from the word jump. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:21

I mean, let's say from the get, yeah. Get wireless. There you go. I like it. There you go. Uh, but yeah, carrying the bag right right from the get, as we say here. Um, but I will tell you, there were definitely bumps along the journey, right? And that's part of the learning, that's part of the growth. I think that if you don't have any bumps and you don't make any mistakes, you're probably not playing hard enough. Um, so just to walk through, um, when I rejoined Verizon, I want to talk actually about this. What I would say is sometimes you take a step back to take several steps forward, right? So, where I had gotten to ATT was let's call it a senior individual contributor role on the higher end of the earnings for an individual contributor, and then took a step back to sort of the entry level at Verizon, which was account executive knocking on doors again, no account module, starting from scratch, uh, which I loved. And again, what did I gain? It was a whole new company, it was a whole new culture. It was all these, you know, new people, new customers, new clients. Um, but then as I grew in my uh role, I became a leader very quick and early on at Verizon, uh, probably within 12 or 13 months because I had industry experience. But as a role, as a leader, I was a sales manager in Manhattan, which was an awesome place to be at the time. Literally, a territory is sometimes only a block in Manhattan. Forget about a zip code. But straight up. That's it. Let's go. Uh, and so um, I realized managing that team, I need to learn more before I ascend further into leadership. I again took a step back to being an individual contributor to handle, at the time it was major account manager, which was today Global Enterprise Accounts. Okay. So I learned how to manage and lead and sell and network into uh major, major uh accounts. Um, I remember my first one was ADP, which is a massive organization. Um, and I did that. After that, I said, you know what? Government and public sector is very important. And I took another individual contributor job there so that I can learn what it was like to sell to the government and learn more about the government. Probably my favorite job to date at that time. It was the uh owner of the City of New York account. Um, so think FDNY, NYPD, Office of Emergency Management. It was an exciting job. I had a whole team of people around me, still an individual contributor, um, and loved it. I say all that to say again. Remember, sometimes it's the step back for the steps forward. From there, I jumped up a couple of levels into a more senior leadership role, running government and public sector business throughout all of New England and relocated with my family the first time at that point. So bumps like that, where it might feel like a bump, might feel like a bruise, but you learn and you benefit.

SPEAKER_00 6:00

Yeah. I mean, that's quite the journey. I mean, it is, and I think it goes back to being able to adapt and change. And that's one of the things we see as a core competency that we need in channel leadership too, is things are gonna change. And if you're not willing to change, you're not willing to take those journeys and make those moves. It's none of us are gonna be successful. So that's

Advice for the Next Gen

SPEAKER_00 6:21

that's funny. Is there any other advice you would give to young, you know, people coming into this industry, people that are trying to kind of move up, whether that's inside the Verizon community or if it's external in the channel or or anywhere, I guess?

SPEAKER_02 6:34

I love that question. And I will say, believe in yourself, be confident, yeah, be bold, go big. And sometimes it might feel like imposter syndrome. Um, sometimes myself, I'm like, do I belong here? And yes, you belong here. Believe in yourself, do your homework, put your practice in, make sure you show up, make sure you're learning, make sure you're growing. But when you believe in yourself and you you do that for the right reasons, then that's how you're gonna build relationships. You're gonna create outcomes, you're gonna get things done, right? Quite frankly. And so I would say, believe in yourself, put the work in. Um, I will give you, maybe I'm gonna answer a question you're gonna ask me. Are you gonna ask me my best piece of career advice? I have a feeling.

SPEAKER_00 7:16

Yes, we are gonna ask you that.

SPEAKER_02 7:18

I know it.

SPEAKER_00 7:18

But I am gonna, I'm gonna add on to that before you give me that, because one of the, I think one of the things that I appreciate the most is that that belief of just putting it out there. Since the day I met you, and I'm not afraid to put things out there, as you probably have learned as in our relationship, right? But you being honest, being able to put that thing out there, being competent and being willing to have a voice and say, hey, let's get this done. How are we gonna get it done? Let's not, it's there's not this fluffiness that I really appreciate that about you. I have to say that because it's it is what we get what we get and it's genuine. And I think that's what makes the trust in the relationship that we have with you and with Verizon. And sometimes we've had we've had some very hard conversations that have been extremely good for the relationship, even though maybe one felt like somebody won and somebody lost in that decision. But I think that's a big, a big difference of what we see too.

SPEAKER_02 8:14

I feel the same way, Tara. Listen, that's where growth happens. If it's not a difficult conversation, it's probably not a growth conversation. And I will say it, we won't get into the details. There's been things you've asked for that I hated having to say. I don't think we can do that, right? But that's part of the relationship. And to your point, it's about being real about what happens. And I truly value the partnership that we have with you all.

"Be Where Your Feet Are"

SPEAKER_00 8:36

Well, we appreciate that. We appreciate that honesty. So before we dig in a little more on the Verizon portion of the in the channel, which is what we're here to talk about, give us that piece of advice because I think everybody would love to hear it.

SPEAKER_02 8:48

Yeah, so it's be where your feet are. And I know how simple that sounds, but it's real. And there's days to this day that I sometimes forget that and I hear the person's voice in my head, Mark, be where your feet are. Right. So I tell you this, listen, it took me a long time. I have two, uh, I'll call them almost grown children, uh, 18 and 15, right? But early on, I was all about work. I was all about career. And I was, of course, caring for my children and loving them. But this person would say to me, When was the last time you were at Nicholas and Mark and my kids' names, practice? I don't want to hear about the championship game you showed up at or the graduation you showed up at. When was the last time you were at one of their practices? And that really resonated with me. And it was be where your feet are. If you are at the ice hockey rink, which is what my kids love to play, um, they were just in Minnesota, which we talked about for the national championship. They won the state championship, but they got smoked in Minnesota, just to be clear. Um, just saying it happens.

SPEAKER_00 9:50

We're we're we're good at hockey.

SPEAKER_02 9:51

You guys do not mess around, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_00 9:53

You have nothing else to do.

SPEAKER_02 9:55

So but I will say, be at the hockey rink. Right. Watch the game. Don't be on your phone. Understand the game. How is your child listening to the coach? Are they paying attention? Are they in the game? Are they motivated? Are they passionate? Are they having fun? Like you got to pick up the signals. Um, when you are in a meeting, pay attention to who's talking. Don't listen to respond, listen to understand about what is happening in that meeting. So I think it's it sounds so simple, but about being where your feet are. But again, going back to what I said, when you have confidence in yourself and what you do and you're truly engaged in whatever the whatever you're doing, personal, professional, whatever, you're gonna excel. You're gonna win and you're gonna get it done. And if not, you'll learn something.

SPEAKER_00 10:35

And the impact you make at that time with where your feet are is what's gonna get you to the next step. Or I think sometimes people look too far down the road and they don't, you don't concentrate on where you are. Like you said, you're distracted by something else that's out there.

SPEAKER_02 10:47

Yeah. So I would have to look at my phone, which I wouldn't do during this. I took a picture of it. I was in whatever state I was in, it's always a different state. And it was on a on a wall. And ultimately, and I'll look up the exact quote, but what it's basically saying is when you live in the past, you live in regret. When you live in the future, you kind of live in anxiety. But when you live in the now is when you live. And that's not the exact quote, but that's ultimately what it's saying. And I'm like, be where your feet are.

SPEAKER_00 11:13

It does that. It's it's very, I mean, it makes sense. And I think that's good personally and professionally, right? Like you have to, you kind of have to think of it that way. I know I have to talk to my my children about that. And like, you know, hey, think about this, or you know, my son plays hockey as well, right? Like we're talking about like, well, what team is your next path? And it's like be just be focused on this season and what you're doing. And we're not gonna talk about who's calling you later, right? We're gonna deal with today and you're gonna go out and be the best that you can be and you're gonna have fun. And then we're gonna talk about whatever team's calling for next year down the road, right? Kind of set that aside. I think it's good personal advice and professional advice because we also see people that are in this industry. The good people that are in this industry are the people that are that are making a difference where they are today and they're being respected for it. Versus the people that are hopping around in here, they get you get a you get a reputation and you're not present all the time. And you know, it's it's challenging.

SPEAKER_03 12:07

So it's I think it's interesting, interesting that that's career advice, right? Because it so much affects your personal life. But if you can dial in your personal life and be fully focused in your career when you're present in that mode, yeah, you're gonna be successful. So that's great advice. Exactly right.

SPEAKER_00 12:22

Yeah, and I think that's a good advice for the channel in particular. And that's let's dig into that because we're at channel partners. I think everybody's seen we're having a great event. I know we've had a great event. Um, we've seen more partners here than we've ever had. I think there's a true testament, and I said this to every carrier partner that I've met with, is that you guys have really brought a lot to this event. And I do think that it shows the investment and the commitment for the carriers coming in and believing in the channel. And that's both, you know, financially investing in this event and but also just the presence of having the people here and having those meetings and just really taking care of the channel. And I think this is a testament to it. And I think if you guys weren't doing this, it would be this would be a very different event. So we're we're happy with that. And I'll say, in particular to Verizon, I think some of the other players are coming in here with less, like, you know, less runway behind them. I think Verizon's been doing a really great job in the program in general. And I think every time I sit on the pack, and I will, I'll probably I should get this framed someday. This will be the one thing Tara says every time she's involved with the Verizon pack is you guys have a great program. Yeah. Like people ask me all the time, like, what do you want to change? What do you want to change? And I love the fact that you guys ask me because I'm not afraid to give my opinions as everybody knows. But the first opinion is always don't change something that's not

Verizon's Channel Program

SPEAKER_00 13:46

broken. And you guys have done a great job. You've had, I mean, there's been studies and investments made to study your program, right? So be confident in what you're doing. You're doing a great job, but we also are seeing the evolution and an investment. So I want you to tell us, tell us what you, you know, what's changing, what's getting better, because I don't, I think your narrative is different than to say, well, we're now in the channel. No, we've been in the channel. We've been doing this. You know, the joke is I've been doing this since I've been kicking the slats out of your crib. Like this is this is what we've been doing. But what's making it even better?

SPEAKER_02 14:21

You just made me feel so good when you described our channel program. I can't even explain it. Um, and I am so excited to answer you because I am in a place now that I am more confident than I have ever been with our indirect distribution strategy at Verizon. So I come from Queens, New York. I'll quote a little LL Cool J. I'll call it a comeback. We've been here for years, and that is real. We've been here for decades. Um, we've been doing Wireline through the channel, um, and that's really where it started. Um, believe it or not, I actually introduced mobility to the channel in a completely different role. I was not in the channel. TJ Fox, one of our senior leaders at the time, said, Hey, some of our partners that are only selling wireline, I really think that they could, you know, take advantage of mobility. What do you think? I said, let's let's go talk to them, TJ. Uh, and and here we are, right? And so um let me jump in. So I've been in this role. I said 23 years at Verizon, 20, first 20, we're all in direct sales and sales leadership, which I've loved every bit of. Through those years, I leveraged channel partners to win as an individual seller, as a team leader. And frankly, my last role was vice president of the Eastern US. It was rare that I closed a solution deal with my team that did not have a channel partner. That's awesome. So always had a love of the channel. At the time I was rolling into our CRO. Um, and I would say to her, I I kind of want to like lead the channel. What do you think? And she's like, Well, it's kind of spread out, it's in a lot of different places. Uh and I said, Hey, pull it together. I wanna, I wanna really launch the channel for Verizon. And she said, You're gonna step out of your post, the Eastern US, to do that. And I said, Let's go. And you know when that happened, and that was about three years ago, right? And I will tell you over the last three years, the job and I've learned it of being a channel chief is a lot of internal education and helping the corporation to understand this is the value of the partner community. Yeah, this is what the partners can bring, this is how we can differentiate. And I'm somebody that does get pretty impatient. I tell my team all the time, hey, do we believe it? Yeah, do we put points on the board yet? What's going on?

unknown 16:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:26

And so my whole thing is that it took a little bit of time over the last three years to really gain traction. I can go on and on about this, so I'm gonna make it brief here. Just this past uh November, I remember the exact day. Um, our CEO, Kyle Malady, made a major decision to put a stake in the ground and say, you know what? The channel will be a very, very significant contributor to our overall business. And he moved the channel into his direct organization. I report directly into Kyle. We also took all of those uh resources that I mentioned. And it was, it was, everything was great. We just had teams in Global Enterprise and PubSec and Business Market. Um, we had different product teams, marketing teams, et cetera. But to pull everything together into one centralized organization with a seat at that table has been an absolute game changer. And I'm telling you that if you've been excited about Verizon, we are just getting started. We are 90 days into this, and I am fired up about what is to come. Um, I'm not just bragging about Kyle because he's my boss. I am bragging about him because, first of all, he has built our network. He's been here for 37 years since he was in high school, our wireless network, our wireline network, and he understands partner, partner community. Awesome, the value of a trusted partner relationship. And he has made this bet in me. It's personal for me. And so I'm ready to take this thing and drive it harder than we've ever driven it before. And the time is now.

SPEAKER_00 17:59

And I think that's what the commitment that partners always want to see from any carrier, any anybody that you're, you know, investing with your business with, whether that's a a vendor, a carrier partner, an ecosystem partners, they want to see that commitment all the way to the top. Because if you don't have that and they go, yeah, we're in the channel now. And it's like, yeah, but if you go three layers above, they can't spell it. Like we, I think that's the difference. I think the good the good news is that I mean, we're excited as well. I mean, GatWireist could not be more excited about the growth and the potential. And again, we want to be right there with you. We want to be a part of it, but we've seen good legacy. And I think that's also, again, a testament to a strong program. And there's always changes, you know, and that's the thing. You guys rolled really well with changes, things that, you know, there's been you have to make change, I believe, in a channel environment at some point and sometimes quite often to continue to evolve, right? We have the technology changes, we have leak, we have to change our business models, we have to evolve, right? Like there's lots of ways that we have to evolve every day. And that's how any of the partners are. And we see the same thing. Very's just evolving, and we think it's only in a good, in a good way. I mean, that's what you're seeing as

The C-Suite and The Channel

SPEAKER_00 19:10

you work with the team every day.

SPEAKER_03 19:11

Yeah, for sure. And I was gonna say, do you think that's what's changing with a seat at the table that they're they're seeing the benefits of channel up to stack all the way to the C-suite? 100%.

SPEAKER_02 19:21

Yeah, absolutely. I'll give a great example. Uh, our product teams over the years, right? Very smart people. Um, we have best in class product, obviously, for many, many years riding on the best network there is, was, or ever will be, in my opinion. Um, and what happens there is for years and years, it was always a direct sales first thought process of who's going to sell this product and how is it going to work. Having a seat at the table with our chief product officer, um, Scott Lawrence, he's awesome. He understands the channel, as well as our chief marketing officer uh in Iris, understanding the channel as well. We now think about channel partners first and how can our partners help us and what can our partners lead with and lean into, whether it's a different geography, a different vertical, a different product type. And I'm gonna get even more specific. When you think of pots replacement, right? And you think of copper replacement, it is a massive $10 billion addressable market to this day, which frankly, a lot of that market is ours on our copper, and there's plenty of competitive copper out there. Look, our channel partners is how we win in the pots replacement game. Make no mistake about it. So I just wanted to be specific about how having that seat really helps the channel to be a first look versus an afterthought.

SPEAKER_03 20:35

Yeah, they're being considered in the strategy, correct? Right, is what you're saying. That's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 20:39

Well, it's amazing. I mean, there's a lot of little tiny details in a deal that are overlooked sometimes by even in an operator's case where they go, yeah, we can light that up, whatever connected technology that is. But there's this, there's the details in how does that get installed? What is the value of service? How do they handle support? Like sometimes that part is overlooked when they just go, yeah, we can make that work, but how do we keep it working and how do we get it deployed? And that's what channel partners come in. I mean, very strategically in a lot of these deals because if they do the install wrong, nobody makes money, right? You guys don't get the connections, we don't get the hardware sales, none of that happens.

"Pay the Partner"

SPEAKER_02 21:22

So you're gonna hold my hand and come to talk to our finance department. And I mean this in a great way because I've done this and finance even understands at this point. Yeah. I think in the old days it was a, and it's exactly what you just said. It was a, well, how much are we paying that partner to drop ship a router or whatever it is? And I have focused so hard on let me explain something here. Let me tell you what's going on. There is a whiteboarding pre sales process that is very technical, that is very important, that frankly our direct sellers don't have the time to do that takes place. Then there's the truck roll, then there's the institution. Installation. Then there is activation. And then there's this thing called day two support. Yeah. Right. So post-deployment, right? And so whether we're talking about one talk or a router or whatever it may be, who's taking those calls? Um, I will tell you, and I I don't think we should get into names here, but one of your top VARs has analytics on this is how many calls I field for your one talk solutions in year one, in year two, in year three.

Conntected Devices

SPEAKER_02 22:25

And I'm like, pay the partner. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 22:28

One talk is a great example where you the partner needs to be here. Like, you are good at that. You keep doing that. And yeah, I I agree. I mean, I I'd love to have happy to you know accompany you in any of those conversations. It's great. Let's take them into our booth and say, you pick out the router. I'm gonna give you a scenario and you pick out the router off of my table, right? Like that's exactly the level of knowledge that they have. It's it's it's not, you don't just grab that router and everybody knows what technology they need. You know how many times we see like carrier direct programs where they're drop shipping hardware because it's carrier sold and they they will ship a router that doesn't have an antenna on it. I mean, think about that. Like, think about that that can happen in it's a reality a lot of times, and it's like that's you know it doesn't work, right? Even how your network's great, but without an antenna, your network doesn't work at all, right? So, like it's just interesting those conversations that happen with those partners.

SPEAKER_02 23:24

My smile might be getting bigger because I have a story to tell. Working at Verizon, everything I have is connected, my laptop, my tablet, et cetera, et cetera. I do have a MacBook that's not okay. Could probably get a little jetpack, whatever. I now travel with one of your VARS router. It is portable, yeah, it has mini antennas, yes, it is incredible. And at this very event, I cannot tell you how many people either had Wi-Fi issues, somebody in my organization has it right now, and I'm a little annoyed that it's not even my. You gotta get it back. It even looks cool. It's it's so cool. Yeah, and I keep pulling it out of my bag, and people are like, Mark, what are you doing? And I'm like, this is amazing. Like, look at what we have. But to your point, the antennas were in the box, everything was in the box. I had a 30-minute demonstration. I can run the portal myself. I actually feel like I know what I'm building.

SPEAKER_00 24:16

You renamed it Mark Super Hotspot.

SPEAKER_02 24:19

I mean, I'm not giving that thing up. If you want 50 bucks an hour, if you want to use it, whatever you need. You'll rent it out. But it's just so good in all seriousness.

SPEAKER_00 24:27

It's different. I mean, it is different. We look at those deployments. It's funny when you hear those stories. I remember my son came to me one day. I was sitting in the car and I travel with a router as well, sitting in my car doing some work, and he comes right now, he's like, We're supposed to be doing film right now and the internet and the rink is down. I told the whole team that you sell internet, so can I have the internet?

SPEAKER_02 24:46

The ice hockey rank is always down.

SPEAKER_00 24:47

Yeah, it's always down. And he comes in, he's got this router and everything. He's like, I know how it works, and like he gets it in plugged in and he's you know, saved film for their the boys to watch and prep prepare for their game. So it's funny because it's a it's fun when you can save the day with that, right?

SPEAKER_02 25:02

So good.

SPEAKER_00 25:03

Oh man.

Opportunities

SPEAKER_00 25:04

So again, I know we've we've talked a lot about the investments and things that are kind of coming up. What do you see as things that are maybe being overlooked today? Like partners are overlooking or people are missing out on. I mean, I know everybody we can't go through any sort of meeting without talking about AI, but I don't want to talk about AI. I'm talking about more just any opportunity that helps in our channel or things that people are maybe looking past.

SPEAKER_02 25:28

You said it earlier, um, whether you know you said it or not, but it's the people, it's the connection and it's the trust. And when it's a revolving door and you don't know who the partner is or you're onto your 14th, you know, person in however much time, to me, you can't put a price tag on that. You can't overlook that. I will tell you as long as Kyle and Verizon keep having confidence in me in this role, this is where I want to be to keep continuity, to keep this thing going, to drive it, to be here. Um, I'm a member of several different um councils, or whatever you want to call it, around the channel. One of them being the sec, it's the chief executive council. They shared a stat with me recently that blew me away. It was that the average channel chief in the industry, technology industry, let me be clear, uh, lasts 16 months. Um, so I'm happy to say I'm far beyond that. And I'm even more happy to say I hope I keep it going because really I think that that what you said, people like corporations underestimate that. Like, oh yeah, whatever. It'll just be another account manager, everything will be fine. It that matters. The people relationship matters. People that understand the program, the ins and outs, the roadblocks. I I tell you, I feel like a little bit of an OG in the channel now. Just earlier today, um, I was gonna say it. One of our employees came in and said, Let me tell you about this, this, and this about a partner. And I say, Well, let me tell you about what that part happened with that partner five years ago. And it's like, boom, because you've got that continuity, you've got that experience, you've got that knowledge. You can't put a price tag on that. And I think that you cannot overlook the human factor. And I talk about it in my keynotes all the time. And with AI, it's very easy to forget the human factor. AI is gonna replace humans, AI is gonna do this, it's gonna do that. Without that human factor and that connectivity tissue, you're gonna lose. You're gonna lose.

SPEAKER_00 27:20

It is, it's very true. And we actually are doing a segment, um, so an acquisition, right? Because we've seen three acquisitions in six partners of ours, all under our that all work with us, right? So there's, I mean, I'm sure there's more, but three, and I'm sure you know majority of them as Verizon partners as well. And we were talking about that, and I I talked with them and they said it it all comes down to the reason that those acquisitions are happening and they're more like partnerships. They're not even acquisitions, not the right word. One has to kind of eat the other, but at the end of the day, they're they call it a marriage, and that's exactly it. And they go, This is because of the people. It's because of the people that we've met. We've met coming to, they've even, you know, given me some credit in like we've met them at your events where we felt comfortable, even though we're competitors, maybe two of ours sitting next to each other. They go, hey man, like, are you guys dealing with this problem? And like, we are, and like they're having conversations, and then they maybe lead to something more meaningful. Maybe they just help each other solve the problem. But that comes down to those people. And I think that's the true testament we're seeing in the channel as well. And we're we we're gonna we're gonna lean in when we have good relationships, like we have. We have a tremendous Verizon team that we work with, and we'll be, I think that's the same thing that our our partners and we'll see if we have to introduce them to the new person every time, and there's just this like revolving door, it's it's

Connections

SPEAKER_00 28:40

definitely different. And we say the same thing to our bars, like we'll do business with you because of some of those people. You do business, people you like and people you trust, and that is it's never gonna change. And we will also help them figure out how I can make an introduction. So if there's anybody ever listening to this or anybody, if you call me and say, Hey, do you know anybody in this? I will absolutely make a connection for you. Ben will make a connection for you. I'll call you and say, Hey, Mark, I'm looking to try to get in touch with this organization. Do you have a contact? You sit on this board, maybe you have a connection. Like we help each other out. We don't be like, hey, what's that gonna do for you? And how is that gonna benefit only get wireless? Or no, that's not the question.

SPEAKER_03 29:21

And you don't have to dig too deep, right? Even if we don't know who that connection is, we know somebody, two people removed of who's gonna make that introduction.

SPEAKER_00 29:28

We do make that correctly.

SPEAKER_02 29:29

That has been, you asked me if you're best career advice, a little different than career advice. Hey, Mark, like what's some of the reasons you've been so successful? It's exactly what you all just mentioned. Like, if I know how to get it done, I will do it myself. That's always my preference because I truly, genuinely love to help people. I do hold the door for somebody, yes, all the way to let's close a massive deal together. But at the end of the day, if I don't know how to get something done, I know who to call. I'll find it. Right. And I'll just real quick movie reference. I love movies. Um, George Clooney plays Michael Clayton um as a lawyer in a movie, but he's actually not a lawyer of any specific type. Depending on what the client needs, he's got a guy.

SPEAKER_03 30:06

Um I've got a guy.

SPEAKER_02 30:08

He's got a guy. Um or a lady, whatever it may be, right? But at the end of the day, it's listen, it technology's real, it's complex, it's big, the needs are massive. You're not going to be able to do it yourself. It's the genesis of why the channel exists. Right. So at the end of the day, if you can't do it, who can and can you help me get there?

Community

SPEAKER_00 30:26

Yeah, exactly. That's I mean, that is exactly what we see and what we see in our community. And that's what we want as the Get Wireless feel is that you come into our community, you come into our family. Like we want to know you. We want to know you. We want to know your, we want to know your wife, we want to know about your kids, we want to understand you. We wanna, we wanna be friends, like we wanna feel like, and we want you to feel like you can trust us. And we know that not every conversation is gonna always be perfect.

SPEAKER_02 30:51

I've missed the last couple of your events right now.

SPEAKER_00 30:53

Well, you're not gonna miss the next one. There's another one coming up.

SPEAKER_02 30:56

All right.

SPEAKER_00 30:56

I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna sharpie it onto your hand before I leave. We're

Wrap Up

SPEAKER_00 31:01

gonna we're gonna make it work. So as we conclude, the one thing I wanted to say is first of all, thank you for being a we have to conclude.

SPEAKER_02 31:07

I'm having so much fun right now. We'll have you back.

SPEAKER_00 31:09

I think they're gonna cut us off pretty soon, but you can come back whenever you want.

SPEAKER_02 31:12

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_00 31:13

And you got to come to Minneapolis because I love it.

SPEAKER_02 31:15

Let's go.

SPEAKER_00 31:16

Come to Minneapolis, you come, we'll we'll do this whenever you're available. I'd love to have you on. So, but we just want to thank you for the support. We we couldn't not say bad of the year two years in a row. That has to get said. So thank you for that.

SPEAKER_02 31:30

So in closing, I was gonna congratulate everybody.

SPEAKER_00 31:35

I mean, the thing that I always tell people is like we take a lot of pride in it. We we believe that you guys see pride in it as well.

SPEAKER_02 31:42

We do.

SPEAKER_00 31:42

But for a company of our size and a company that is much different than our competitors, it's so meaningful. I mean, it literally touched everybody in our building when that was announced. And like to the people that the shipping team is cheering, like they they really, it really means a lot. We really strive to be there and we know that that comes from the support of your organization to look at us differently, not put us in a in a category that's different, put us in a category that says you guys are meaningful to us, and this is why. So it's really important. So we just want to thank you for that. And thank you for being here with me. And I would love to have you anytime that you'd like to come back.

SPEAKER_02 32:19

Yeah, I want to thank you uh for all of your hard work, for all of your effort. Congratulations on being our VAD of the year. Okay. And I think you will continue to see that success as this relationship grows. I am fully committed to this partnership, but to our relationship, even just seeing your faces makes me happy. And whenever my team will say, Mark, we know you're busy, we know what you're doing, all this other stuff. But whether it's Tara or Ben or Brian, I'm like, whoa, what's going on? What's happening? These are family members of ours. And so I think that means something when somebody says we're family. For sure. Yeah, you can't just throw that around. I really feel like we have a family-like environment. And we may go months without seeing each other or talking, but just know that I am always here for get wireless. I am always here for the things that you need. And I really truly value and appreciate this partnership very much.

SPEAKER_00 33:08

Well, we like that, and we'll see you at the family reunion in October.

SPEAKER_02 33:12

Let's go.

SPEAKER_00 33:14

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 33:14

Thank you.