The Secrets of Success in RTLS – AiRISTA’s BLE, Wi-Fi, and IoT Offerings

Transcript

• Steve Statler 0:00

  Welcome to the Mr. Beacon podcast. This week. I am talking to the Chief Commercial Officer of aristoflow, Wyatt meek, and aristoflow, I think, a really great case study of many things, but there are very successful real time location systems, IoT company, and for any of us who are either entering this industry or have been around for a while, one of the secrets to success is knowing what's going on and learning from the success and maybe even the failure of of other companies. If we're going to be consultative, if we're going to be credible, you need to know who's doing what, and it's fascinating. I think seeing the people behind some of the websites and the brands, so this week's episode definitely fits the bill in terms of arming you to get to know one of the key players that's emerged as a successful operator in this industry that is so fascinating. So enjoy the interview.

  The Mr. Beacon ambient IoT podcast is sponsored by williot, bringing intelligence to every single thing. So Wyatt, welcome to the Mr. Beacon podcast. I have to confess to being a bit of a collector. I find this segment that you work in Arista is extremely well regarded. And I think we're all looking at the possibility of digital, physical convergence, indoor location, asset tracking, and trying to figure out, how is this going to really unfold? And so we look to companies that are successful, and I think Arista is definitely one of those. You're a leader in Gartner's Magic Quadrant for indoor location, and having just got will ya into the same category for the first time this year. You've been there for three years, and you're on the top right hand corner, which is the most coveted location. So thanks for coming on the show. I'm looking forward to picking your brains and figuring out how to be successful in in this weird part of IoT that we operate. So welcome to the show.

  Wyatt Meek 2:20

  Thank you so much. Extremely happy and grateful to be here today.

  Steve Statler 2:24

  Can you introduce those of us that don't know Arista? Can you give us the elevator pitch? Yeah,

  Wyatt Meek 2:30

  so simply put, haristas, like many others in the industry, that can provide tags and devices in order to provide and track where items or people are. We do it with multiple technologies, though. So we support Bluetooth, we support Wi Fi, we support Anglo arrival, we even support passive RFID, and we support GPS outdoors. So it's less around the specific technology, and really around what are you going to be doing with that data that's flowing into the system? So we're really focused on the software side, and how can that software automate workflows for our customers to achieve specific outcomes by industry. So in the case of manufacturing, we're using tags, again, depends on the technology what the problem we're trying to solve, but the tag provides location context. We can then use that information to tie into systems like SAP manufacturing execution systems in order to optimize work in process. In the healthcare industry, we can use that location data on staff and have buttons to be able to reduce risk to staff by immediately responding to duress events, where all clinicians on the floor can receive notification and respond very quickly instead of relying on just a security officer. Similarly, we can track patients, like many others in the industry, but it's less around knowing where exactly that patient is. And can we tie like a health record system and do an automated discharge? You know, perhaps before the patient can actually leave the hospital, we need to coordinate a porter. So can we do send automated messages to a mobile device, to a tag for that that Porter to then optimize and get that patient out as quickly as possible so the next patient can come in. So really focus on the outcomes that location context can provide little longer than your typical elevator. Sorry, I dragged on there. Yeah,

  Steve Statler 4:20

  well, it's a tall building, and it was good stuff. So I appreciate your giving us that rundown. And I think you know one of the things. So this Gartner Magic Quadrant thing is fascinating to me. There aren't a lot of companies in it. The process is really rigorous, and Gartner are the biggest of the industry analysts. So it's, it's, it's quite something to be there. You know, how do you get good ratings in the Magic Quadrant? Well, one of the things is having a really comprehensive kit bag and of lots of different technologies. And we. Which favors companies like yours that have that. How did you end up accruing all of these different technologies to have, you know, the Bluetooth and the Wi Fi angle of arrival as well as you know more conventional approaches. How did, let's start off with the Wi Fi Bluetooth thing. How did you end up with both solutions in your portfolio?

  Wyatt Meek 5:23

  Yeah, so good question. So I mean, if you look at aristoflow and a little bit of our history, the company actually got started by Sy, who's kind of a CIRTL entrepreneur, and he was really looking at the outdoor location market and having solutions with GPS around about eight years ago, seven years ago, he really saw the indoor market taking off. And to get into that market is when he acquired the echo house RTS business out of Finland. And so Ekahau is really a leader in the Wi Fi market. And so that's how aristoflow, really, for indoor market really got started with the Wi Fi a few years ago, you know, looking at how is industry transitioning, or technology transitioning. That's when we really took a hard look around on Bluetooth Low Energy. And so we added that to the portfolio. And nowadays we also support Bluetooth low energy in the newer specs with angle of arriving. So you can get even more accurate than you can give it a Wi Fi or BLE. So the simple story of how we got into us by through acquisition, by seeing the demand, how could we quickly enter a market that's entering VO, Wi Fi, and then looking at the industry and tech transitions is when we looked at BLE and bringing that on board. And I'll be honest, there's a lot of BLE commodity tags out there. We believe in partnerships. So there are some aspects where we maintain IP around be able to do like tag messaging, two way communication. But there's other ones where, if you just want to have a simple tag that reports location, those are tags that we could we would we actually partner with companies and make that part of our portfolio as well. So we look at as both a build versus buy decision quite frequently. I

  Steve Statler 7:01

  think one thing that people will be interested in is, what's the decision process that you make when you're doing your consultative selling in terms of recommending which of those different tools to tackle the job with? How do you how do you approach that? Yeah,

  Wyatt Meek 7:19

  the biggest one, it really comes down to, what does a specific customer have for their existing infrastructure? I came from Cisco, so you know, I know what the Cisco infrastructure can do. I know what a Ruby infrastructure can do. Ruckus, extreme, miss, you name it. And if, if we have the opportunity to leverage someone's existing infrastructure. It'll meet the requirements. That's always my that's always my default preference. I want to make sure it is in the loop. I want to make sure that the line business in the loop, and we're providing what's going to provide the customer with the best total cost of ownership. If a customer doesn't have the necessary infrastructure in place, they would begin to look at what would it cost to put that infrastructure in place, or potentially do overlay networks such as like BLE gateways. So the one is, what do they have? And then the second thing that factors in the decisions, what accuracy do they really need? And this a customer may say, I want, you know, one meter accuracy. But if you ask them, Well, why do you want that one meter accuracy? Well, because I read that one of your competitors can do that. Well, that's not really a valid answer. You know, that's where we like to challenge the customer to understand. Well, how does one meter accuracy really impact the workflows that you need? If you maybe it's room level accuracy that they really care about, or zone accuracy. And so depending on the accuracy they need, that's well, that will also drive what technology we think makes the most sense. So with Wi Fi, you know, you're kind of looking at three to five meters, roughly, ble kind of maybe three to five meters, blee, angle of arrival. You look at sub meter, ultra wide band. You're looking at sub meter, passive RFID, you know, you're looking at choke point. So we really like we really want to see how the customer needs and then recommend what makes the most sense based on the infrastructure and their accuracy requirements. So

  Steve Statler 9:08

  with comparable accuracy for kind of general BLE versus Wi Fi, why would you go for for Bluetooth rather than Wi Fi?

  Wyatt Meek 9:18

  Another good question. So the reason why we invested in VLE battery life size, those are the two predominant ones. So when you're looking at Wi Fi, it is a battery hungry technology. So if it's just location, group, works great. However, the size of the tags, because if you need larger batteries, that means you can take you may have more operational burden to manage the tags if they're not rechargeable. So those are some of the factors as to why we really invested in the BLE technology. But Wi Fi does travel farther, so depending on the customer's infrastructure, you know, Wi Fi may actually work better location wise than you would do with Beeley. So lots of factors that come into play. Well,

  Steve Statler 9:59

  I guess. People are comforted by the fact that sometimes you know you you speak to someone and all they sell is angle of arrival, then you pretty much know what the answer is going to be, whereas, I guess your consulting consultative credentials are boosted by the fact that they can see that it's really you genuinely trying to figure out what the best tool is for the for the job, correct? Yeah, I a couple of more things before we move on to kind of up the stack and talk more about the use cases and the business applications. So I've always been fascinated by angle of arrival, because, you know, when people ask for more accuracy, I kind of want to be able to say yes, but I have definitely learned that that isn't always needed. When is it needed? What are the use cases where you see that the angle of arrival actually has a place to play? Yeah,

  Wyatt Meek 10:51

  I can give you a couple examples. So one would be in manufacturing, if you just want to track where, let's say I'm making an airframe for an aircraft, and you know that airframe needs a specific seat. You know, United has different seats than Delta Airlines, so I need to be able to know where the Delta seat is if I'm building that delta airframe. And you know, massively large manufacturing plants can be difficult to find that to make sure it's at the right station at the right time. So in that case, you don't need some Meteor accuracy. You're gonna be able to walk around. You're gonna be able to be able to see case each are this general area. I can find that one I need and then bring it to my station. However, in manufacturing, say I'm making something smaller automobile, and I want to drive a specific replenishment. When an asset comes into my zone or leaves the zone, the zone might be only two meters by two meters. So in that case, if your accuracy is three meters, that's not going to work. So if you want to trigger replenishment or a specific action by entering that zone, you need some meter accuracy in in that case. So that's an example where if I just want to know something roughly where it is, I don't need an accuracy. But if I want to drive specific workflows in SAP or other systems, then I may need that assurance, 100% reliability, or 100% probability that it's there. In in healthcare, you a common use case is like nurse call clearance. And so there you don't need one meter accuracy. Week matters more as room level accuracy, and so that's where you see companies, including ourselves, we might have infrared on attack. So infrared doesn't travel outside the walls, whereas, like Wi Fi and BLE do. So that's kind of examples where, if you really need that 100% probability that something is where you think it is in a small zone, that's where that sub meter really comes into play.

  Steve Statler 12:42

  So if you're going down the BLE route, why not just have it in your back pocket? It's always going to be more accurate. Why doesn't everyone just go for angle of arrival? Why would you counsel someone to kind of think twice about putting that to the top of their requirements list? Good

  Wyatt Meek 12:59

  question. And it gets back to the infrastructure. So today's Access Point providers, you know, they build BLE, standard BLE into their access points. They don't support angle arrival. So in order to do an angular arrival deployment, that means you need to install extra antenna throughout your facility. Same thing, like with RFID, if you're deploying that extra infrastructure that comes out of cost. Same thing with infrared, that extra, that extra infrastructure has, it has an extra cost. So we don't advocate and including the wiring costs with it, there's lots of costs that add UPS not just the the antenna that you're employing. And so that's where we always kind of counsel our customers, is we have if you need it. But do you really need it? Because it could easily double the price of a deployment.

  Steve Statler 13:46

  You know, this infrastructure overhead is it's really, I think, the thing that has held the beacon market back, the IoT market back. So it makes sense to leverage Wi Fi where it's there. And the nice thing about Wi Fi is it's kind of already paid for. It's not like you're doing this, whatever the project is you're working for the VP of supply chain. He probably doesn't need to justify the cost of the Wi Fi, because they needed it just for ton of other use cases where and it genuinely is infrastructure with so many use cases that the line of business doesn't pay for it. The IT organization pays for it. I'm very interested. What do you think the likelihood is that the IT organization will absorb more of this infrastructure cost over time, because, let's face it, there's many use cases that you can tackle with Bluetooth location. So is it possible, realistic that the CIO is going to say, Yeah, we're not going. Debate whether we need Wi Fi, obviously we need Wi Fi, and obviously we need R, T, L, S, because there's going to be, like, 50 use cases, 10 different departments, what? What's your what's your view on getting that cost off of the books of, you know, the nursing operations or store operations, and into this what seems like a much bigger checkbook that's wielded by the CIO.

  Wyatt Meek 15:26

  Yeah, no, great question. I mean, every opportunity that we engage with, there's a we need to be talking to, typically the CIO, the director of IT, Director of infrastructure and the line of businesses and conversation, if we talk only to the line of business, it's very well that it may have a different strategy in mind, or there can be misalignment, and then you lead to projects potentially not moving forward for a multitude of reasons. So the key thing, though, is engaging early. In some cases, you know, it might not be aware of RTLs, so they're deploying a network for data grade, or they're deploying a network for voice grade. And voice grade sometimes is good enough for RTLs, but oftentimes not. And so for RTLs grade, you know, we kind of want signal levels from three access points at a certain threshold, whereas voice grade really you only need one. And so if it is doing an overall Access Point modernization effort, we need to make sure that they really understand the need for RTLs. And so that's what we're trying to do, is we're trying to bring together that line of business buyer, the person that had that has that outcome they're trying to solve with it. So we have that strategic decision, if it's roadmap is, you know, three years out from modernization, then that means we might need to do a temporary overlay network to support what the business needs. But all along, we know we're always thinking down the road of, how can we leverage that, that the network can help it make the case. They can take it on in the future.

  Steve Statler 17:04

  Why isn't the Cisco sales force selling, you know, more denser deployments to support not just communications, but RTLs. You'd think it would be absolutely in their interest to do that.

  Wyatt Meek 17:18

  They are so it is, they are. When I was at Cisco, that was a that was a big part of the role that I was in, was educating the sellers on what is RTLs. I mean, the Cisco sellers, the Aruba sellers, HP sellers, they have such large portfolios, so sometimes it's finding the seller that truly understands the outcome that the customer wants. So when the sales organization is meeting at the CIO level, meeting with line of business, and talking about those transformational roadmaps, then typically they are talking about RTLs, and they're talking about, look, here's what others in your in your industry are doing. If you want to be on par, you need to make sure you have the right IT infrastructure in place to enable those outcomes. And so the good sellers are doing that at the companies I mentioned, but a lot of people just they have such large portfolios that it's not top of mind to them. So unfortunately,

  Steve Statler 18:12

  yeah, so I think this is a reason to be cheerful about the future. I think as healthcare or retail grocery, they start to see all these applications, then hopefully just the level of education on all sides goes up. Let's move on from the technology and the business drivers for buying it, and let's talk a bit more about the verticals. You've got this incredibly broad portfolio of technology. Where is the what are the areas? What are the industries that are driving the most business for what you have to offer?

  Wyatt Meek 18:50

  Yeah, and I will say, you know, that was also factored in the Gartner Magic Quadrant. Is they look at, are you a niche player with one technology to one industry, or do you have multiple technologies that can apply to multiple verticals? And so I think that's one reason why, really, aristoflow stood out and got into the leaders quadrant. But to answer your question, healthcare is our largest vertical, very large deployments around the world. Australia is a good market for us, North America, UK, Germany, very large markets for us and the the use cases in healthcare are some of the ones I already mentioned. It's around staff duress. How can we provide and help ensure that nurses feel safe in their positions, to improve retention that they have and and truly make making sure that they can make a difference, and that fear isn't just always in the back of their mind, looking at asset tracking, their patient tracking, are some of those other use cases. I'd say this our second largest vertical. Beyond that, is in manufacturing. But manufacturing, as you know, is a huge industry in and of itself. So within manufacturing, I we are really successful more and what I call the lot. Size of one concept, meaning, if you're making that aircraft, example, you're making that aircraft for a specific customer. In mind, when you make a combine, our video is that, have you ever been, or listeners have been doing a John Deere plant? They make those $300,000 combines built order, so it's a specific configuration. I mean, Harley Davidson does a lot of your lot size of one custom orders. And so anytime you're building something, a lot size of one means you need to have a really high level of coordination between your people and your inventory and the assets required to produce that item. So those are those two. Those are the two largest verticals, but we're also an education for those of our listeners in the US. Many states have what's called alyssa's Law. Unfortunately, you got one of the books because we have had so many school shootings. It's how can you provide that emergency response? You know, using RTLs to improve school safety. Many states also have your regulations for hospitality workers room attendants, and so they require room attendants would have a badge that they can wear and press a button if they face duress. So these are some of the other verticals we're in. Mining is another one, but really the two largest are healthcare and manufacturing.

  Steve Statler 21:16

  And are you seeing any traction in defense? Because, you know, I I'm a history buff, and I love, you know, the looking at Grant's memoirs that he wrote when he was dying of cancer and needed to get some money to so his family should continue. And I think he was obviously a celebrated general. He was an amazing president, but one of his key skills was supply chain. He's like, get the get the inventory to keep the the army going. But it's a it's a challenging market as well, with all of the bureaucracy and long time scales. What's your view on defense? So

  Wyatt Meek 21:58

  again, defense is a massive industry in itself. So defense, you have the supply chain, defense industrial base, which we do work with. So that's around the manufacturing and ensuring the right parts are there, available to our to the soldiers, the war fighters. But then to your point, logistics is a whole other area. So we do still have, we are in the outdoor, the outdoor RTS market, as well as the indoor and so that's where we do have GPS based tags. And GPS based tags also have connect with a blee gateway. So if you have BLE tags on assets, and then you put them on a basically a container or a truck that has a GPS tag. Now you can track in real time where your containers are, your trucks are, and what's on those containers and within those on those trucks. So it's an interesting market, one that I think is evolving very quickly, but we just did a white paper on that exact use case I spoke to. I think just this week, you'll find on our website.

  Steve Statler 23:01

  I think this feels a bit like an advertorial, but, but credit where credit's due. You guys just put out an announcement about being in one of the the top 50 fastest growing companies. So congratulations on that. Thank you. So you must be feeling pretty optimistic. What are the give us your crystal ball view of the future for the real time location, IoT marketplace. What makes you optimistic for your company and also, generally for the industry?

  Wyatt Meek 23:36

  Yeah, so I'll probably give a long winded answer out of this. But you know, going back, it was a really hard decision for me to leave Cisco. I was in a great position leading global industry teams, and what led me to finally leave Cisco was looking at the potential of the RTLS market. So whether you subscribe to Forrester, IDC, Gartner, you name it, they're all projecting the RTLS market by 2030, to be 10 plus billion, some $50 billion so seeing that potential and be able to join Aristo flow, who, as you mentioned, has been in the leaders quadrant, Magic Quadrant for three years. Now, that's what really attracted me, away because of the potential. So I'm, I'm really excited by how the technology is evolving. You know, 10 years ago, everyone was around IoT in the hype cycle, you could put a tag or a sensor on on anything and get that data in there. But people were doing it without actually thinking about the value add. It was like, should I put a sensor anything? Because I can, no, you should only put sensors on things that make sense. And so that's what excites me today about the RTLS market, is you could put a sensor on everything, but again, does that make sense? No, it's looking at what, what use cases truly do make sense. And so right now, I see a number of use cases in healthcare, number of use cases in manufacturing. The manufacturing is just right. The market's ripe for companies like ourselves, yourself to come in and help solve those problems. And then regulations are constantly evolving in the US. There was, there's a bill right out there right now where retail workers would in need. The state of New York would require a badge or a button of some type that they could press if there's a if they're in duress. So regulations can further help accelerate market demand. Same thing in healthcare. In Australia, there are regulations around staff must have a dress badge. In the US, there really isn't a regulation. However, there is talk about in the UK, with the Labor Party taking government, you know, we're seeing, you know, they're kind of a lagger with RTLs compared to the US market. But with labor party coming in, and really it's looking at, how can they create efficiencies, we're seeing more and more demand for RTLs. So when you get a central government behind RTLs, then you begin to see action. So that's really what excites me, is the need. The cost of technology coming down is opening up more opportunities for value to be derived. And then, of course, as more countries come aboard and regulations change, it's just going to further accelerate the market. Yeah,

  Steve Statler 26:12

  I totally agree. And I look at the FDA, Food Safety Modernization Act, Rule 204, which, which is like, better, more accurate, more rapid tracking of essentially at the case level, foods on ever expanding food traceability list. I think that's another one. And yep. And then over in Europe, the digital product passport laws, it's going to, you know, get rolled out over time. But where did this product come from? Giving more information to consumers about what they're they're buying and and then I look at climate as well. You know the best way to cut carbon? I think there's huge untapped opportunities to take wholesale supply chains and start to turn the lights on there so that you can see all of the inventory up and down the supply chain. And the reason I'm optimistic about that is not because I think people will get religion on climate change, but because they'll save costs as well as carbon when they when they do that. So this kind of alignment of consumers wanting to know more about what they're buying. More of a driver on efficiency, which we have to do as more and more of the world is aspirational and has the ability to buy things, and we've got to get smart about the way we make and distribute things. So I think it's a good time to be in our industry. Wyatt, thanks so much for sharing some of your your secrets, for for success, for giving us an introduction to aristoflow and how you got in the top right hand corner of the Gartner Magic Quadrant.

  Wyatt Meek 27:54

  Yeah. Thank you again. And a lot of our work, and it definitely have to give a shout out to all the team manager members in engineering, marketing, our leadership. So it is a complete team effort that let that got a risk to flow into that

  Steve Statler 28:08

  quadrant. Wyatt, how I'm always interested in how people got to where they got to. Normally, we are interviewing leaders in the companies that that we engage with. And I think there's people that will be listening to this, and part of the part of what they'll be thinking about is learning about the industry and the technology and who does what. And part of it is, how can I get a job like Wyatt? How? How did you get this role? Yeah, thank

  Wyatt Meek 28:37

  you for the question, Steve. So a lot of hard work and some luck as the simple answer. But to give you some perspective, so I started out as a mechanical engineer in college and really focused. I love the idea of solving problems and developing solutions for customers. Realized that I didn't want to spend my entire career as a mechanical engineer, and that's how I got into the dirty world of sales and product management. But from that aspect, I've always been focused, though, wanting to engage with customers in different industries, understand their problem sets. So early in my career, I worked for services companies where it was hands on, looking at what a customer's problem is and what solutions can we come up with to deliver on the outcomes. Then I spent, after 15 years in that, I spent eight years with Cisco Systems in a similar capacity, where I was really working as an advisor for customers. Again, what were their digital transformation objectives, and how could Cisco, as a tech company, partner with them to achieve those outcomes? And toward the end of my career at Cisco, really got into some leadership opportunities. And that's where I got into the world of really looking at ecosystem partnerships. Few companies can truly deliver everything that a customer needs on their own. To really be successful, you need to have partnerships. And that's where at Cisco, I got to know a risk to flow. We got to know. Other people in RTLs, because Cisco couldn't deliver on outcomes around a patient safety as a tracking but they did have been network that could enable it. And so that's that was my capacity. But again, always focused on what those customers objectives and outcomes that they want to solve. And then I made the jump to aristoflow in a leadership position in the sales organization. Again, my focus is really on those partnerships. What partnerships does Arista flow need in order to help customers, save time, save money, trade those efficiencies reduce risk to staff for many of our customers. And so that's kind of a long story about how I got to where I am today.

  Steve Statler 30:38

  Yeah, it's, it's an interesting one. And Cisco are an amazing company, massive central and I think, you know, have an incredible perspective because of all of the partners they have. It gives you the opportunity to look across those and make your own calculus about who's who's got the opportunity to grow, and kind of almost benchmark the different companies against each other. So it's, I think it's a smart place to to do that, to make that decision about moving from the middle of a massive company to the to the top echelon of a small company with potential to grow. Well, so thanks for that. And now the on the personal side of things, we have our traditional question, what's the first of the three songs that have some meaning for you?

  Wyatt Meek 31:30

  Yeah, that's truly a unique question. And I kind of look at that as different phases of my life. What did what's, what did certain songs mean, and how does it impact me today? So when I was a when I was a teenager in high school, I won't say I was the most mature at that point in time in my life, but the song and that kind of stung out that sticks out was a fight for her, right by the beast, deep boys. So people might be listening this, wondering, how does that really apply? Why is that meaningful? And as I reflect on it, you know, I my sales personality is that as a as a challenger. So I like to kind of challenge customers really understand the needs, dig into what's driving someone's behavior. At the same time, I'm also, I've taken other personality tests. I'm a debater against the wishes of my family at times and others, but it's that aspect of, you know, understanding the city. So it's a fun, upbeat song, but it's also reflects the aspect of, you know, why do I need to do something and a little bit of a challenger side? So that's the first one.

  Steve Statler 32:34

  I think every salesperson needs that motivational, energizing song that they can listen to when they're going into a meeting, and they kind of need a virtual slap on the back to get them going. So you were mentioning some personality types there, and I'm a sucker for anything which has a quadrant in it and tells you what kind of person you are. What was that personality framework. What are the different dimensions of it?

  Wyatt Meek 33:02

  Yeah, there's a So, there's a few. So Myers, Brigg is one standard that many companies use, the sales personality one. There's a book. Again, I'm dating myself. Probably 1020, years ago now, a book was written called the Challenger sale, and it looked at different sales personality specifically so. And I don't think that there's one personality that fits the bill, but there was a category some people might be categorized as a relationship seller, meaning that's really what they focus on, is building those relationships that's kind of their their default. There's others that are kind of like a lone wolf personality, that you know, they're the ones that will just go do everything on their own. They don't necessarily they don't necessarily bring others and share much. And then the Challenger personality, that's one that's really more, I would say, inquisitive. So anyone that's in consultative selling, by default, to be successful has to be a challenger in some form. You're you're asking those questions. You're trying to understand why the customer approach something a certain way, and then if you think that they're making mistakes, you're providing input and guiding them on I, you know, here's what I heard. However, I think this is a better direction for you, and you can really explain why. So that's, that's kind of, there's a book written about it. There's a few other personality traits. But definitely, I think, for for people that are thinking about entering sales, you know, if you're just selling features and benefits off a data sheet, you can do that many different ways. But if you're getting into something more complex and console data selling, definitely, I think you need to make sure you understand how the Challenger type profile would benefit you and your career.

  Steve Statler 34:40

  Yeah, I think that consultative selling technique is what makes sales satisfying and stimulating. For for me, you're if you're doing it properly, you're willing to listen and you're judicious in what you say, but you're also confident enough and assertive enough to maybe. Make your prospect feel feel a little uncomfortable, but also offer them be constructive and respectful and offer them the kind of the way forward that's going to get them to success. I think it's it's a great approach, and my favorite framework is also dating myself. I think it's still around, but versatile salesperson, which is very similar, but you're kind of assessing your own strengths. You know, you can be tele assertive or ask assertive, you can be expressive or analytical. And then then you you basically try and figure out who you're talking to, and decide, are they a driver? Do I need to give them options? You know, are they an amiable do I need to build that relationship? Are they analytical? I need to give them the facts and or are they expressive? Do they need to know what the trends are and the story behind what's going and the reality is, none of us fall neatly into just one. We have tendencies one way or the other, but I think we all have sort of a comfort zone, and knowing where yours is, where the comfort zone of the person you're talking to and moving to meet them is kind of what makes it fun. So that was a long time on one song. We'll go faster on the others. What's number two?

  Wyatt Meek 36:22

  The second one is for my college years. It's not a song that many people would listen to unless you went to Purdue. And that is Hail Purdue. So it is the song for my alma mater for undergraduate studies, and as a big place in my heart I am on the Twin Cities, Purdue Alumni Board, where act as treasurer. I like to give back in scholarships, really bringing alumni together, but also then guiding and advising students who are there currently. But Purdue played a huge part of my life. If you look behind me, you can probably see a few few things on itself behind me, referencing Purdue. But I was grateful to be at the final four this year in the final game, even though Purdue lost. But yeah, huge place in my heart, and I think it always will for the rest of my life. Made some great friendships. And so whenever you heard that song, I just get a smile on my face, and I look back at all the friendships I made there,

  Steve Statler 37:18

  I can understand, I can understand why, yeah, belonging, having, uh, connection and having purpose. It's it touches on all of those things. So what's number three? And

  Wyatt Meek 37:29

  so after college, you know, I was on my own for a while, but I did meet the love of my life, my wife. We have two great boys. And so this song is highly influenced by my wife. Us the luckiest, by Ben Folds. So it really applies to my personal life, where I feel extremely lucky to have the family, the support I've always had. But then also looking at just what the lucky, the song The Lucky is about just how I got to where I am in my career, extremely beneficial for the family and friends that I've had along the way, and the sport given to me.

  Steve Statler 37:58

  Yeah, we just celebrated our 31st anniversary. And the thing that occurred to me was, this was the biggest decision in my life. I don't think you really understand how important it is. I mean, everyone knows it's important people, but many ways the one of the easiest decisions for me. But so I think we're both lucky in that respect. Yeah,

  Wyatt Meek 38:18

  I will say it's the costliest too. So yeah, constantly that's providing the greatest return. That's how I would say. It's very good. He's making the greatest return that I can have.

  Steve Statler 38:28

  Wyatt, thanks so much for coming on the show. I really appreciate everything you've you've shared with us.

  Wyatt Meek 38:33

  It's been my pleasure. Thanks, Steve.

  Steve Statler 38:38

  So that was my conversation with Wyatt from Arista, I really enjoyed hearing his perspective on our market. I hope you did, too. Thank you for staying till the end of the show and listening. Thank you also to Aaron Hammack, who is our longtime editor and the publisher of of these shows, look forward to seeing you, or at least having you engage and seeing or listening to our show. We are really grateful for your support, if it's just listening, or even better, if it's listening and telling other people, thank you very much be safe until next time you.