Buy Like a Pro: Exploring the Ins and Outs of Vendor Solutions From Start to Finish.

Episode 85 Vendor Management
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Cristina: [00:00:00] Welcome to Morning Coffee and Mimosas. I'm Christina. And I'm Joe. We are a father-daughter duo. We come here Sunday mornings, but you can come here anytime you please. We banter about life, about business, and we do it over coffee and mimosas.

Joe: Good morning. Good 

Cristina: morning, FAJ. 

Joe: How are you today? See, I got it in you at, 

Cristina: oh God.

I'm doing well. How are you, 

Joe: dad? I'm good. I'm good. I'm very good. I 

Cristina: see the competition with yourself continues. Yes, it does. Congrat, congratulations. 

Joe: and hey, by the way, what you, 

Cristina: what do you nurse? I bet none of you are sick. None of you are sick of, I bet none of you are sick of him, uh, in competition with himself to get the podcast started first, 

Joe: no.

Well, you know, nobody wants to [00:01:00] be on a one hour podcast with 55 minutes of it being good morning. So 

Cristina: and this will not be an hour podcast today, listeners. 

Joe: Don't worry. What do you call a parade of rabbits Hopping backwards. dad a receding hairline. That's what I have. . 

Cristina: No, you have no hairline. Oh, that's true.

your hairline has left the building. Yeah, I just, I think it's a little bit soon to start with Dad jokes 

Joe: that you No, I wanted to get one in right away, just in case you know. 

Cristina: in case everyone decided to turn the podcast 

Joe: off. Yeah. I wanna watch the statistics where we're going next. Yeah, I wanna watch the, the, I can't even talk the statistics of the drop off after 38 seconds into the podcast.

Cristina: Oh, man. Well, listeners, we have, uh, an exciting topic today and we're virtual because we just can't seem to get it together as far as someone. Sick all the time it feels like. So we're, we are recording virtual. We ate our breakfast virtually [00:02:00] together. I'm not 

Joe: the one who's sick. 

Cristina: I was actually just getting scolded,

I was just getting scolded for eating my eggs. on camera with him, he said, you can't be eating on camera. I was like, isn't that on brand with our show? That's true. Yeah. It's morning coffee mimosas. And I was eating my breakfast. Yeah. Can't argue with that. If you hear chewing or anything, I apologize.

I'll do my best to be quiet. Very rude. Very rude. But we have an exciting episode, I think today because we got a, we ask every week, you know, if there are topics that you think might be interesting to, uh, reach out and let us know. And we got a, uh, a recommendation from our listener, Jim, for dad. Why don't.

Tee up what this topic is. 

Joe: Sure. Jim had a great, great recommendation and it had to do with, um, and he's in business. He owns a, a building, uh, real. He is in real estate and uh, it's an apartment building.[00:03:00] and he had the, uh, uh, suggestion because he just had a, uh, kind of a difficult situation with a vendor.

Uh, it was a software vendor. And, you know, so what he said was, why don't you talk about the difficult or the how to handle, not the difficulties, but how to handle the situation where you are sold a product or a service, but the actual product or service. Performs somewhat differently than what you were sold, and it doesn't mean the old bait and switch.

Well, it's not a bad, in other words, it's not an illegal situation and it's not a lying situation. It's more of a situation of systems. Are complex. You know, if you buy a shirt and, and you go to the store and you look at it, and then you open it up and a sleeve is missing, you know, so it's broken. You bring it back.

That's relatively sim That's a simple [00:04:00] situation. But in many things that we purchase, being in business, the service is very complex. You might say, so the salesperson and the presentation may come across, it does A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and it does, but maybe parts of it are not the way you either perceived it to be.

Maybe there was a misunderstanding or maybe it's actually the de the, even though they said it does a certain. , but the way it actually executes, the way it does, it is different than what you thought. Does that make sense? You know, so there is a difference, a delta as we, as we say, a delta is a difference between what you expect it to have and what you actually get.

And being in corporate, if any of you are in corporate and are responsible for purchasing services and products, , these [00:05:00] can be dangerous for your, I mean, can have an effect on your job. If someone said you were supposed to get. You know, set us up with, uh, a voicemail system and the voicemail system isn't performing the way it should.

Or we were supposed to be set up with an accounting system or a, uh, you know, anything go, go name the system. So from a standpoint of being an employee in a company, that can be dangerous if you own a business and you're paying out good money and you expected a service to perform a certain way, and then it's not, or it's slightly.

So how do you handle this? And this falls under like vendor management, and also the expectations and contractual things. So, 

Cristina: um, so I think. The, the angle we're taking with this mm-hmm. , is how do we, what are the things that we should be thinking about and looking out for when we're going about looking for a service or trying [00:06:00] to find a, a partner or vendor or, you know, some kind of a product to fit a need that we have?

What are the ways that we can approach that so that we. , we limit the risk of, you know, not getting what we ultimately need and what are, uh, safeguards that we can put in place. As you are onboarding new partners and products and services and things like that, what are some safeguards you can put in place so that if something happens, because sometimes things do right where.

didn't know the questions to ask upfront to, to figure out that, you know, maybe there was a delta, as you said, between the need and what you signed up for. Um, what are things that you can do to put yourself into a position that you can mitigate that risk and you can, you know, address the problem and make it better.

Joe: Right, right. And, and he liked the idea of us talking about it because you are a salesperson, you're in, you're in [00:07:00] sales and, and I'm one who purchases things that are sold and services and, uh, so, so let's dive in. 

Cristina: And I think it's a good topic because, you have to realize with anything that we're, with, anything that you're doing, everybody has their motives, right, and you give people the benefit of the doubt that they're looking out for your best interest. But I think a big, a big piece of, you know, making a decision is making sure that you're comfortable with the person. If it, if it's a salesperson, if it's a product, if it's a brand that you're comfortable with, the culture you're comfortable with, what they stand for, what they represent.

because you do need to trust these people because there are people out there that are just trying to, to, you know, make a sale or push something through. And, you do need to make sure that, you know, you're looking out for your best interest because you know, not everybody is right. So I think step one is making sure that you, um, you know, [00:08:00] you, you trust and.

you know, feel comfortable with the person that you're buying from and recognize that, what do things look like if something does go wrong? Ha. You know, is this person somebody that's gonna have my back and somebody that's gonna stand behind what they, you know, what, what they're selling 

Joe: Right, right now, so let's, let's start there.

The person. You should be trustworthy that you're buying from, but they represent a company. And so you don't, in my opinion, I wanna like the person who's selling it to me or you know, whatever. But I don't, I don't need to, if you know what I'm saying. What I need to, to know, what I need to know is that are they, are they being honest with me?

Cristina: Well, and, and do they have a track record of delivering what they say they're going to deliver? And with. Um, with other customers that, you know, what do other customers say about working with them? You know, are they a representative at their company that is able to [00:09:00] affect change and get things done for them?

Mm-hmm. , 

Joe: right? So, uh, one thing, here's some, here's some steps and some things that I do. Um, and to, to help mitigate any kind of problems and also to, be able to deal with something that. May have happened down the road and one of, so number one is I try not to do the vetting myself, , you know, I'm not perfect and I don't know everything.

Cristina: So that's your way of sharing when something goes wrong. I see what you do there, . No, that's your way of saying, well, you liked them too. You vetted this. Too. 

Joe: We all, we all like this whole situation. 

Cristina: That's right. You're like, this wasn't my decision. Yeah. This was our decision. Exactly. We all effed up together,

Correct. 

Joe: Correct. So I see what you're doing there of, of course. No, but it's, it's, it is . That's funny. But it's true. Uh, but, but the thing is, I, I want to have a few people involved from. The stakeholders and [00:10:00] experts in the area that, um, will, will ask the tough questions and, and be critical, uh, in, in, in the vetting, you know, and not, not just saying, oh, that's great, that's great.

And part of that process is asking questions and asking, how does that happen? Show me how this process works. You know? So if someone says this software. Y, um, you know, reduce your. , your whatever. You 

Cristina: know, let's go with accounting. This, this software is gonna reduce your time for receivables or 

Joe: correct.

And, and it'll correct. And then so instead of saying, yeah, that's good, the world of accounting. So, so instead of saying, okay, great, that's wonderful, that's what we want. You know, we want to cut 20% of the time it takes to process invoices. Well, show me how that pr, what is the procedure? For that let them walk you through this.[00:11:00] 

And a lot of times I have people who then say, I need to let me get the technical people on here and you know, and then we need multiple meetings to make this happen. 

Cristina: I think one step before that, dad, that would be important cuz I think that's good. But I think something before that and something that we miss sometimes when we're looking for things, we have blinders on sometimes for once we feel like we know what we need.

blinders for how we communicate that to other people, right? Like sometimes I think once you've evaluated your situation, you may think I know exactly what I need. Mm-hmm. . And when you talk to potential, um, vendors, partners, you're probably explaining exactly what you need. However, sometimes I think really good if you can explain what you're trying to accomplish.

Big picture. and get your vendors and partners involved a little bit earlier on in that [00:12:00] or at least explain a lot of the context, so that you may not necessarily know what you need or, or you may not necessarily know all that's out there. And, you can end up with a solution that may not ultimately be the, the best, outcome.

you were asking for, just part C, but part A and B may have, you know, addressed a bigger picture challenge. That's very true. That you may not, you may not have been aware of upfront. Very true. So I don't know if that makes sense. Mm-hmm. . But I think sometimes the more context we can provide sometimes, like we, we hoard and share and, and, you know, protect information rather than, uh, being really open and transparent about the whole process and, and really.

At the, you know, at at the heart of the challenge so that the partners have the opportunity to do what they do best and bring you the best. Ideas and solutions you may not have thought of. Yeah, 

Joe: that's a very, [00:13:00] that's a very good point. And I've seen that, uh, a lot because there are, uh, you know, what you are selling your, your services.

You are very intimately involved in that and completely know what's coming down the road, what and what things can happen. I may be just calling you up and saying, Christina, we need a new accounting system and. You know, one of the things we want to do is, is cut down our, you know, accounts payable processing right now.

Now you might be smiling saying, oh, heck, not only do we do that, but because of the total cloud orientation. You, you know, you are, you wanna know what our process is and you might be able to change our process and save us 50% of our time. You know? Well, 

Cristina: well, because if we break down why you're really looking at doing that, you may be looking at doing that because you're having a hard time [00:14:00] resourcing your, you know, uh, accounts payables or accounts receivables.

Mm-hmm. accounting department. Mm-hmm. . So, um, If you are having a hard time resourcing your accounting department well Oh, okay. Well, we actually have, you know, an, uh, we have a business process outsourcing service that can, you know, act as an extension of your team. Mm-hmm. , like there may be things that you didn't think of, and you may think I'm looking for an accounting software to make things easier, where there may be something that could address the bigger picture.

Right, So, 

Joe: That's very good. 

Cristina: I thought it was, I mean, I thought it was good. That's why I said it. Dad, , 

Joe: we, we tend to do that. We tend to put good things in here. . Well, I don't know 

Cristina: if it's, and we leave out the bad things. Honestly, I thought it was good . I, I may have ave a very misled opinion about what good is, but I thought it was good enough 

Joe: to say no.

It's good. So, so, uh, so I put together a group to, you know, and I'm gonna use you because you're the salesperson and I'm gonna be the vendor, right? [00:15:00] So I put together a team, you know, a after a while maybe we have some initial meetings and you know, you, uh, you ask me a whole bunch of questions and then, and all that.

And if you're doing your job well, You wanna first know what it is that, what problems am I trying to solve? What, why am I doing this? And so on. But now we put together the team. And so one of the things again that I've said is, which I just said before, but is asking specifically, how is this accomplished?

Show me the procedures run through, run, run through this, run through that. secondarily, The other piece that we have to do is also begin to look at the terms, you know, of the, of the contract. And you might be saying, well, this is. Getting towards the end? 

Cristina: No, ? I would 

Joe: not say that. Okay. Because, you know, I've run into things where [00:16:00] you want a 10 year contract.

You know, we, when, well, we're not gonna do 10 years, you know, we're not gonna do more than three years generally, unless there is something in it for us for a five year, and so on. And the reason I bring that up is if you are looking for a longer term contract, that could be a deal breaker right off, right off the bat.

Cristina: Uh, and wouldn't you rather figure that out? I think so. We, a lot of people avoid contracting, but it's like, I would rather know that there were things that we cannot come to terms on before we go all down the line. Mm-hmm. of doing all the other things. . 

Joe: Exactly. Exactly. In in, um, in my case, we also have certain due diligence things that have to be accomplished.

Your firm has to have certain. , you know, security protocols validated by a third party and, and, and, and things like that. And if you aren't in the able to do that, then we can't do business with you because [00:17:00] you're, you're not solid enough. You know what I mean? Mm-hmm. . Um, so these are some things we like to get out out of the way.

Um, and I've seen so many things in the. Uh, even, even for remedies for, you know, service level agreements, you'll see SLA, it's called, or service level agreements. Meaning what are our, what are our remedies if your software or systems or product are not performing? And what does not performing mean?

Because I might be just ticked off because the implementation took too long, or this is taking too. But when we go to your contract, that was stipulated in a specific way that you're performing perfectly and there's nothing I can do about it. Mm-hmm. , if you know what I'm saying. So all of this has to be looked at.

Cristina: Well, and I think it, it's a good indication, the first step you talked about. , [00:18:00] how does something perform versus just somebody saying, yes, we do that. Um, this is another way though. Nobody likes to negotiate, uh, you know, penalties. It's something that I think does give you a good indication if a, if a, a vendor or a partner is willing to agree to penalties, if something doesn't perform, it's a good indication that they plan to do what they say they're gonna do.

Right. if they have a huge, huge, huge problem with there being penalties. Yes, sometimes a penalty may be, you know, it, it may be extreme for the, you know, for the liability tied to something not happening, but, The willingness to sign up for some, have some kind of skin in the game. If something doesn't happen the way it's supposed to, is a good indication that this is a company that plans to stand behind and, and make sure that they get something to the point where it's 

Joe: performing.

Right. Very good. Now, the other piece [00:19:00] that I have seen be a comp complexity and very often an annoyance is the implementation team. So again, uh, I, I'm, I'm going to, , you know, so, and, and that, yeah. And listeners, if you don't have a, if you're not in a, involved in this and you might be thinking, you know what?

This episode might not be for me. Well, I just want to say something to you. Have you ever had win a window installation in your house? Have you ever had an H V A C system put in or electrician that's gonna do some work? You, you, have you 

Cristina: ever been in a relationship where somebody doesn't, is different than me.

Joe: just like mine mom. Like 

Cristina: my dad was . He was like, loves, he said he loves the beach and would always take me. And now he complains every time they have. Ma massive penalties in their contract. That, that's correct. My 

Joe: forced to go. My, my poor wife. Uh, you know, I don't, I don't, I'm not good doing stuff around the house.

I mean, the maintenance is fine, vacuuming and all that, but you know, the [00:20:00] banister broke. Yeah. That's a shame. Uh, what are we gonna do about it, ? I'm 

Cristina: not, but that's the, I think that's the funny thing about anything in. All, most of these things can translate to other areas of life and they do capacity.

That's, you know, where's Right. If you're evaluating relationships, . 

Joe: Exactly. Actually, you should use this process for everything . 

Cristina: Yeah. Next time you're on a first date and somebody tells you all the things that they love, you're like, tell me about an experience where you exhibited love for those things

Joe: Well, and the other thing is I'd like to see your credit report and I'd like to see . Yeah. Anyway, the implementation teams, and, and this is what it, what I mean by that is most things that are fairly complex, you know, to, to put in, you're gonna deal with the, business development team, the sales team, but they're not, they're not with you.

When this comes to implement and they hand it off to an implementation group. And that group [00:21:00] is what is really where the rubber meets the road, literally, because they are going to help you implement the systems. And this is critically important. I, I've had very good implementation teams where they're just gems, absolutely fantastic, bend over backwards and are with you the entire time.

and then I've had not so good implementation teams. And that's what I have found is when you have the not so good situation, you gotta get back to that business development group, A S A P. if you wait too long sometimes, you know they can help you and, and you're in this boat, Christina, so hundred percent.

But, but if you don't know about it and it's nine months later or a year later, and then you have. All of a sudden we've pulled the legal action, or we're, or we call you and we're super angry, and you're like, I had no idea. Because you're onto your next, you're doing what you're supposed to be [00:22:00] doing and getting new clients.

Cristina: Right. Well, and you can't, as you can't assume that, you know, these teams are connected and one is made aware if there's something that's not going, , to plan, you know, you can't assume that one hand is always coordinated.

Mm-hmm. with the other. Mm-hmm. , because in a lot of companies that, you're right, that implementation, once it moves into that motion, it, it's kind of handled separately in a lot of cases. and your, the team that ultimately, developed the solution and kind of was your, your guide to what we were going to deliver isn't always, in tune with, you know, what ultimately is being, um, you know, being implemented.

And the other point of that, I think, yes, you took it all the way to legal action, but it could also just. sometimes, the spirit of the problem that you were trying to solve could get missed. And if, if you don't raise your hand and say something's um, upfront and get the people that were involved from the start reengaged, if you feel like something is.

Is, you know, [00:23:00] out of alignment or off sides. Sometimes the implementation team is gonna be going down a path and there's gonna be development work done or technology built out and different things like that, that then have to be unwound. That's a good point. Point. Rather than it being done right upfront.

So, you know, cuz there's a lot of dependencies depending on the complexity of whatever it is you're trying to buy or put into place. There's a lot of complexities and in some cases you. It's, it's a build, right? So things build on another, and if something at the very foundation is done wrong, then you have to kind of go back to square one in order to rebuild that in a lot of cases.

So that's a good point. You'll save yourself a lot of pain and I think a lot of time, um, if you, you know, if you see something that just doesn't feel right, if you, um, get, you know, approach it up front rather than waiting. 

Joe: Yeah. And that's the coordination between, so you and. I'm buying the product from you.

You're the business development side. I'm the [00:24:00] executive. Let's say that buys it, got all the buy-in and everything, but now the implementation team takes over. There's a responsibility you have. To communicate to them what, what the goals were, what the client wants to accomplish. By the same token, my team, and if I'm not part of it, has an obligation to express to the implementation team what it is that they really want to accomplish.

So that communication, again, it can't just be, okay, let's get started. And then like you said, the implementation team is doing exactly what they think they're supposed to be doing. And then you have a frustrated client saying, well, why aren't we further along? And unless that's explained, you know, oh, but well, we have to take care of A, B, C before we can do D, e, and F.

You know? So, 

Cristina: yeah. I mean, I think your, your business development team, your sales people, they should really be your, your biggest internal advocate. Mm-hmm. [00:25:00] at their company. Mm-hmm. . Right. Lean on them. And if, if they aren't, then you. Not a salesperson that you can depend on, you know, if they're not able to represent your interests and, and advocate for you.

Right. 

Joe: And I found that the best, um, situations for us is when the business development team, our account executive or whatever, stays with either, whether it's monthly, quarterly, or something stays and has, even if it's a 10 minute meeting. You know, how, how is everything going? But you know, so where you check back in independently, you know mm-hmm.

Yeah, it's a good point. And, and check back because, I've had situations where they don't necessarily check back. There's a problem. We are in the weeds. And by the way, here's the other problem, whatever I just purchased from. And whatever is happening on the implementation, we also have about 800 million [00:26:00] other projects going on and a whole bunch of other stuff day to day.

So am I thinking of lovely Christina and her company every day? No, I'm not. I'm not at all. Right. And then if the team is having frustrations, it could be months before those frustrations boil up. and then it's, oh my God, really? It's not happening. And then I reach out to you and you didn't know anything about it.

I, you know, you what I'm saying, 

Cristina: right. When it becomes the priority, because it's such 

Joe: a problem, and it be right, and it can get ugly. And then, and then you have to marshal your team. I have to pull things together, you know, and all that. And again, it comes down to communications. But we all have to remember that everything that happens, is happening amongst 800 other things that are also happening and have varied priorities.

Great point. So, so sometimes you [00:27:00] get, well, why didn't you tell me? Or, or you should've let me know earlier. . Yeah. Right on top of everything else that that's happening. . Right. You know, so that, that's why I'm saying a consistent, even putting something on the calendar every month or two months or three months, something consistent where we touch base, where I, I, it percolates to the top my relationship with you.

You know what I'm saying? 

Cristina: Totally. I think, um, something that's really good to make sure as you're looking at people do, do. Encourage those check-ins. So there's, there's the three phases. There's the evaluation phase as you're deciding who you're gonna go with, there's the implementation phase, once you've decided, right?

Mm-hmm. , and you're moving towards implementing the solution. And then there's the ongoing support. And I think that's another really big, big piece of this. , sometimes things get implemented, but then when they're actually, the implementation team steps out. And then things are just working day to day. You start learning things [00:28:00] about how people are actually using things or limitations of a software.

That's right. Technology, um, or a new, new need comes about that you didn't know as you were building the solution that needs to be addressed. So making sure that, um, that, you know, the ongoing support. And staff is strong and also, they, uh, are committed to performance reviews on a regular basis.

And you can dictate whatever that cadence should look like. But I would, I always say at least quarterly that you should be getting together to say is, our solution, doing what we said it's gonna do, how are things working? Are your priorities changing? Are our priorities changing? What's on our roadmap?

What's on yours? So that, that's. A solution, a partnership that can last and, um, and grow together versus you having to look for something new because things change. You know, a year to 18 months from now and, you know, you, there's just no fit anymore. [00:29:00] That's 

Joe: a very good point. very good. Um, and, and you're, and you're right, because that third phase, which is the day-to-day your, your product better just function, you know?

we've had situations where, It functions and everything is fine. And then when there's a question or a problem, there's, there might be a convoluted way to enter tickets or to request help or you know, you know, and then we're finding out that. Yeah, Christina was, and and I'm not picking, when I say you, Christina, not your company, this is just a fake accounting system that we're buying and you don't do accounting system.

You're really looking at me. Yeah, 

Cristina: yeah. I'm looking at you. But you look at me. If I sold you an accounting system, then there's probably lot problem would be problems. Yeah.

So you could keep picking on me , 

Joe: but No, but I mean it, it's the business development team. We have a great relationship. The implementation went fine and in even the daily functioning is okay, but then. Every time there is, let's say something doesn't [00:30:00] happen, there was an a mistake on either party or something happens, the resolution is so drawn out and painful that, that, that escalates now to, you know, wow, we're just scared to death if anything ever happens cuz your company can't resolve things fast.

You know, things like that. Um, so, uh, again, that. That final piece is something to ask upfront, what is the day-today after we're implemented? What is the day-to-day, process and turnaround time for questions or problem resolutions, solutions. 

Cristina: Yeah, and I mean, all that should be in your contract that you're negotiating, 

Joe: right?

Right.

So our listener has 

Cristina: your, what has your, resolution to grievances with Momin? What's your sla? Do you turn things around and address issues? Uh, I've disappointed her [00:31:00] for four hours. Yeah. Two hours, never. What's your, your track record? I feel like. Not too good. I'm talking to her. It's more like never , 

Joe: not too good.

Why she stayed with me all these years. I have no idea. , it's 

Cristina: cause you didn't, you guys didn't negotiate. Didn't negotiate well up front. No, she has, she has no recourse. , 

Joe: she has the exit clause. Wasn't good. 

Cristina: Well, anyway, um, either we put a whole bunch of listeners to sleep or somebody learned something from this, but Jim, we appreciate your idea.

Um, anybody, if you didn't like this episode today, please, um, you know, let our listener Jim know that the idea was, uh, was not as inspiring as. Uh, my dad and I thought it was, um, but I enjoyed 

Joe: this. So no, I, and I think this is very important. No, and literally, literally, you know, as I was thinking about this, and we're keeping it corporate, right?

You know, in the corporate realm or business realm, but, um, [00:32:00] my, you know, like you get a, anything done, you know, a garage door put in or a, you know, a, a air conditioning system put in, And everything is fine, and then it's a couple years later and something happens and, and, and then the company is not there to support you or to help you.

And then now what do you do? You know, it's, you're calling somebody else and then they're like, well, we didn't put this in, or this was, you know, it's, 

Cristina: it's, well, you're a hundred percent right because like, I, I mean, I've talked to people that have had like massive home renovations and, um, some of them. , the contract that they had that they insisted on because the company didn't operate that way.

Mm-hmm. , you know, they, the company was used to operating on handshakes and like, you know, see you laters, and they insisted on having, Pricing and things like that in a contract that everybody signed, and that was their saving grace at the end of the day to say, this isn't what we discussed. But otherwise, it's a lot [00:33:00] of, you know, what I remember and what you remember and you know, not for anybody intentionally, uh, remembering differently, but I think, you know, people forget things and mm-hmm.

and it, it opens, you know, everybody up to risk. So yeah, you're right. If you're gonna be spending money and if you're gonna, you know, get, get into something that's significant, get some, uh, you know, have some kind of parameters in place that you can hold each other accountable to. That's very 

Joe: true. And here's comes another dad joke.

Oh gosh. Here we go. Are you ready? . It's a shame that nothing is built in the USA anymore. I bought a tv, the label said built in antenna. I don't even know where that is. 

Cristina: Oh God, these are bad. . These are bad. Anyway, listeners, if you liked what you, if you like what you hear, please, uh, like, subscribe, share with a friend.

Let us know if you have a topic idea. Uh, let us know what kind of topics you're [00:34:00] interested in. If there's, you know, just kind of an overall general, um, you know, theme that you're interested in, us doing some kind of a series on, it isn't easy coming up with all these, so if, if you can't tell we're running out of.

So 

Joe: we're not running outta ideas. I have plenty of ideas. You don't 

Cristina: like 'em? We have plenty of ice . We're we're, I'm just joking. We are not running out of ideas. We're also clearly not running out of dad jokes, . So, um, we appreciate all of you being with us, and, uh, we look forward to seeing you in two weeks.

Joe: All right? Wherever you are, whatever your story. Thanks for spending time with us this morning. Now go and make a difference in your.

Cristina: Ed, you should start sending these episodes to perspective vendors and then see if they still wanna work with you. No, I don't think 

Joe: so. , 

Cristina: these, these are my parameters. How I buy, 

Joe: you know, the Marks brothers seldom spoke of their embarrassing co [00:35:00] cousin. Another one, skid Marks. Have a great week. . 

Cristina: I, I don't even know what that was.