Latest / The Elevator Careers Podcast / More Than Fixtures: The Mission Behind PTL Equipment

Transcript

More Than Fixtures: The Mission Behind PTL Equipment · The Elevator Careers Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_03: We try our best to make things as easy as possible.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_03: We understand their time is more valuable than ours in the way that they have multiple things that go on to make that spillbox move up and down safely.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_03: And fixtures is a small part of it.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_03: So anything we can do to make their ordering experience easier, we try our best to do that.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Elevator companies have a lot that they're doing and a lot of jobs that they're working on.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: So project managers and salespeople and these different various companies are expecting you to do what's best for them.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's all about making it easy.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_02: Hello and welcome to Elevator Tools in Tech, a special series from the Elevator Careers podcast, where we spotlight the latest innovations, tools, suppliers, and technology driving the vertical transportation industry.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_02: In each episode, we sit down with the creators, engineers, and solution providers who are helping elevator companies work smarter, safer, and more efficiently.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_02: Today I'm off my typical path at a place called Tacoa, Georgia.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_02: I'm here to visit an elevator industry supplier called PTL Equipment.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_02: I'll be meeting with Jonathan Wright, the owner of the company, who started in drafting, worked his way up, and later bought the company.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_02: I'll also be meeting with the national sales manager Jonathan Latham, a veteran of the elevator industry for over 30 years.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_02: PTL Equipment is a family-owned business that views its mission as one of faith, fundamentals, and food.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_02: Let's step inside and take a closer look.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_02: Jonathan, thank you for having me here today.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_02: It's good to meet you in person.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, definitely.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you for coming to Tacoa.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, thank you.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_02: It's uh seemed like a a nice little town.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, definitely.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_02: Well, um, tell me a little bit about your your journey here at PTL.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_02: How did you get here and get started?
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_03: So I actually started in our drafting department back uh about 22 years ago and uh worked my way up through from drafting.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_03: Uh uh at the time drafting was a part-time job, didn't have enough work to allow me full-time.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_03: And so a full-time position came open in the shop, which was our production assistant.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_03: So I was at the time, I guess I was eager, wanted to work full-time, and applied for that and got it.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_03: And uh that allowed me to learn all the most of the processes in the shop, most of the machinery, the different processes, but also helped the production manager on a daily basis uh make sure the flow of the shop was going good.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_03: I did that for several years and uh a position came available in our customer service department and uh through a lot of prayer and considering and talking with uh Steve Robbins at the time, our customer service manager, uh went through the process of interviewing and got that job.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_03: Didn't think I'd like talking with customers on the phone.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_03: I was never a person that wanted to pick up the phone and talk or do anything like that, but but loved it.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_03: Right and uh thrived in that and uh got to know people over the phone, got to know their voices more than I did their faces for years, and uh stayed in that position for a while.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_03: Steve Robbins retired and uh his position became available as the manager of that area and uh allowed me the opportunity to pursue that and got that and uh stayed in that position not long at all before uh John Heifer at the time was the uh previous owner offered for me to purchase PTL.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_03: Oh wow, and that was in uh May of 22.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_02: How much did you know about the elevator industry before you came aboard PTL?
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_03: I had no clue.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_03: I just thought those things existed in buildings and uh used to ride them, push the buttons, never considered how things were manufactured.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_03: Iron bread and butter or fixtures, but even from cab manufacturing to putting the shaft in buildings and whether it's hydraulic or traction and it's crazy the amount of work that goes into making a steel box move up and down.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_02: And obviously safely and and go to the right place, and you know, there's a lot to consider there.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_02: So tell me a little bit about PTL.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's founding.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_02: What does PTL stand for?
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_03: So PTL stands for praise the Lord.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_03: Bob and Irene Coronado were the founders, uh, started in the 70s in their basement, and uh they they had a house on Long Island City in New York and uh was reached out to by a friend of his that was in the elevator industry at the time, and it just so happened that the recession was hitting and the aerospace industry was laying off people.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_03: Mr.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_03: Cornado was one of them.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_03: And so financial struggles at the time and things just weren't mining up for him with stuff like that.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_03: But this guy reached out and knew his engineering background and asked him to help develop a more vandal-resistant button with his version of the first positive stop, a vandal-resistant button for the New York City Housing Authority.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_03: Um and that started his venture into the elevator industry.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_03: Started had had two facilities in New York before deciding to move down here in 1990.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_02: So what brought him to to Tacoa?
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_02: What's what's the story behind that?
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_03: So I I think some of it was the cost of living in New York, the cost of running a business.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_03: But what the ultimate thing that they were looking for was uh a college town.
• 5:33
  unknown: Okay.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_03: And Tocoa has Tocoa Falls College as a Christian-based college, which was a selling point for them as well.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_03: In New York, they often used students from colleges to help uh fill the fill the gaps when work was needed to be pushed out and they needed a part-time job.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_03: And so that was a lot of it.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_03: And then just the area.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_03: They like the area as well.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, it's a it's a beautiful area, you know, the rolling hills and the lots of trees.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_02: And um uh that's uh that's fascinating.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_02: Any anything remarkable you want to share about that journey to Georgia?
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_03: I think it took them two to three trips to move down the equipment, and it was with two employees.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_03: One had had a CDL license, and the other went and got his CDL license uh from my understanding for this trip.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_03: Wow, had no understanding of balancing and weight distribution, and did the best they could, went to their first weigh station and found out they were perfectly balanced between axles and was 2,000 pounds on their weight with no scales.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_03: And again, a lot of that's tributed to the grace of God just in the provisions of them moving down here and trusting in where God's leading them.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_03: And they they truly give credit to God where credit's due.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, that's cool.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_02: So um, how does your vision differ from that of the owners, the founders?
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_03: Honestly, I don't feel it's different much uh between uh the coronados that founded the company and John Heifer purchased it from them, and then I from John Heifer.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_03: We truly believe that God is the provider of this company.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_03: He is the significant force in providing us work, and uh we we contribute that to his grace and his mercies on us.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_03: When we do well, we give praise to God.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_03: When we're lean, we still praise God.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_03: It's not promise that we're giving everything daily and what we believe we need.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_03: God's been very good to us.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I I love what we do here, I love the people we interact with, people here are like family.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_02: For sure.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_02: For sure.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_02: Tell me, so speaking of family, tell me a little bit about relationships in this business.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_02: How important are relationships to the work that you do?
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, well, I truly believe relationships are key in all aspects of it.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_03: From just even here, our relationships here.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_03: When you spend more time in the waking days here with people that aren't your family or blood related, uh so we do life together.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_03: Uh we laugh, we cry, we uh rejoice together.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_03: But even with customers, we have relationships that have gone on for years.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_03: We've got two in our customer service that have seen kids of customers that we have dealt with for years uh grow up into the industry.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_03: And uh it's one thing I've noticed over time is you see it as a generational business.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_03: And uh a lot of sons and daughters that watch their parents grow up in it and just for whatever reason they love it and want to be in it.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_03: I don't they're not forced to be in it.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_03: But it's it's cool to see.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_03: I think I've shared with you before and and others that this industry seems small but is really big.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_03: And and what I mean by that is I grew up not knowing that this industry existed, but it is a vast industry that is multiple companies everywhere, OEMs and stuff like that in our industry, different aspects of it, but a lot of people know everybody.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_03: And it's it's very small when it comes to that.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_03: Sure.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_02: And it is it like you say, it's very much a family thing, gets in the blood and and definitely in the DNA of uh certain people.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_02: So that's awesome.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um what would you say is the greatest mission?
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_02: What's the the mission of PTL?
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_03: We try our best to make things easy for our customers, but it if it comes between being able to share our faith with someone or getting a job, I would much rather share a faith first and uh provide fixture second.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_03: We're not pushy, we're not gonna try to force anybody to listen to our stories, but uh a lot of times we have the opportunity to have it come up and die first is what I look forward to.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_02: That's cool.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_02: That's cool.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_02: Um what's one message that you want your customers or or the industry to know about PTL?
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_03: I just want to know that we're here for them.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_03: We try our best to make things as easy as possible.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_03: We understand their time is more valuable than ours in the way that they have multiple things that go on to make that steel box move up and down safely.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_03: Sure.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_03: And fixtures is a small part of it.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_03: So anything we can do to make their ordering experience easier, we try our best to do that.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_03: And uh we just want to be there for them when they need us and uh use us as a resource.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_03: We've got uh two seasoned veterans in our customer service area, but we've got a 400 plus years experience here with uh 20 plus employees.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_03: So we might seem small, but we are mighty in the industry when it comes to providing fixtures.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_03: And uh have years of experience.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_03: Awesome.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_03: Well, thank you.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_02: It's been a pleasure and a privilege, and I appreciate your time.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, thank you.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_02: So, Jonathan, you've uh you've been in the elevator industry a little while now, right?
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_02: How long?
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: So I started in the elevator industry around 1994.
• 11:02
  unknown: Okay.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_02: Very cool.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_02: So about 30 years and how long have you known about PTL equipment?
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: So the company that I started working for in 94 was a company called Electronic Microsystems.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: And we made elevator telephones.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I had no idea what an elevator telephone was when I started the job, which was a a part-time job, two weeks at most, is what the owner told me at the time.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: And part of the phones that we made were for pre-tale equipment.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so that was my first introduction to the company.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_02: Awareness of them, right?
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_02: You you told me about a uh an experience where you actually made a sales call along with PTL when you weren't even working for PTL.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_02: Tell me a little bit about how did that come about?
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: So I worked for a company prior to this, and one of the things that that company sold was a two-way visual communication system.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I came to Tacoa and Jonathan Wright and I went to Atlanta and visited TK Elevator, and I was there to support him on the two-way visual communication system.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: Even though at the time I was working for another fixture manufacturer.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so the person at Tisson was very confused because you had one person with a fixture manufacturer and another person with a fixture manufacturer, and he just couldn't quite put together why the two of us were there together on a sales call and actually asked, you know, why why are you both here?
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I don't really understand the Which company am I dealing with?
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: And so I said, Well, I'm here solely just to support PTL with our visual two-way communication system, which PTL is installing into elevator fixtures.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: Very cool.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: So it was it was an interesting dynamic.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_02: How long after that sales call did you actually join PTL?
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: So it probably was approximately a year and a half, maybe two years.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: I had an affinity for PTL because we shared a lot of the same values.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a Christian, and and the people that worked here are Christians.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: John Heifer, who was the owner before Jonathan Wright, and and so we had the same values, the same core understanding of what faith meant and and what a company should be doing as opposed to just a company running, making money without consideration of the employees or really what was best for the the end customer.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: Prior to going to the previous company I worked for, after I left Janice Elevator Products, I reached out to John and asked if there was a position available at the time.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: And the answer at that point was no.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: And so when I decided to leave the last company I was with, I called Jonathan Wright and asked, have you given any more consideration to hire an outside salesperson?
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: And uh in in Jonathan Wright's typical fashion, he said, Well, maybe let me you know let me pray about that.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: And uh and so that started that process.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_01: Gotcha.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: In the journey of of me coming to work for PTL, which seems like coming home.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_02: Cool.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_02: Cool.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_02: That's a good good fit, good cultural fit.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_02: So uh one thing that r really stood out to me in previous conversations is you know, you talk we talked about taking pride in in you know the fundamentals of the business, the day-to-day, the things that actually matter or or would affect or cost uh you know contractors money.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_02: Uh you know, some of the things that stood out to me were customer service, making it easy, quality, craftsmanship, and the experience of the team.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_02: Can you talk about each of those?
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I think that at the end of the day, PTL really goes about a business model slightly different than some companies perhaps.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: And and I I point out the fact that it's more about making payroll, treating your employees right, treating your customers right, and really blessing others.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: I mean so when I got here the first of the week, I'm at a soup kitchen to help serve.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: I I've I've never worked in another company that that was that concerned with the needs of not only the employees but the community, and that tends to relate and play out in how your employees interact with the customers.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_01: For sure.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: You know, today I was interacting with a lady back in the fixture department, the wiring department, and she said, I've never worked for a company like this with a smile on her face.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: And and that's the kind of thing that translates to the care that's given for that product going out the door.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: Because if the employee really cares about the company and and how they're being treated as an individual, then their job matters to them.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: They're taking pride in the work that they're doing.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: Which is a different approach to what really ultimately happens, which is great customer service.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_02: So tell me, yeah, I wanted to talk, you know, what is what does customer service look like at PTL and uh how would you kind of translate exactly what you're saying?
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: So I I think that it starts with a relationship with the individual that you're speaking to.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: I sometimes go on a sales call and talk very little about PTL and and try to really get to know the person and the needs of the person, the needs of the person at that company that they're working for, and then maybe at the very end ask them, is there any way I can help you?
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: Is there a need that you have that you're not getting from someplace else?
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_02: And they may have already described that to you, right?
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: They may have already described it as we conversation.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_02: Well, and one one thing you you talked about before was just about making things easier for customers, and that may mean handling three or thirteen or twenty-seven different vendors for them.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_02: They they may have even told you that as you're getting to know them, oh this is what gives me headaches.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I can help with that.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, everyone that comes to you and everyone that you visit always has some pain point in their job.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: And so if you can help eliminate that pain point and learn what that point is for them, you know, maybe it's the fact that they're having to order this from this company and this from this company and this from this company, and then do work to get it to go together to make something in a fixture.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: We have the ability to do that for them.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: We have the ability to get those parts, put it together.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: We we order from competitors parts and and put it together in a fixture that makes it easy for our end user for our customer.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's all about making it easy.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_02: Making it easy.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_02: And then, you know, that kind of leads to my next question, which was, you know, it was you mentioned uh that sometimes employees may worry that they nitpick too much, right?
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe they're too perfectionistic.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_02: And and um tell me more about that quality mindset.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: So I was I was at a customer visit uh about two weeks ago and uh one of the people said, Tell Rich that I really appreciate him because he he takes the quotes requests that I send him and he looks at it thoroughly and he catches stuff I I miss.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: And they just couldn't stop seeing his praises.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: Now, you know, some people would consider that that's really being too nitpicky and that we're looking at something that they're requesting and making a change.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: What we're really doing, what Rich is really doing is he's looking after the customer's best interest because elevator companies have a lot that they're doing.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: For sure.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of jobs that they're working on.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: So project managers and it and salespeople and these different various companies are expecting you to do what's best for them.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_02: Well, if they know it's right and they know they can trust that it's right, that's one less thing they have to worry about.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_02: You know?
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_02: Because they like you say, there's there's a lot going on, there's a lot of a lot of complexity, a lot of details, and if I just know that these are gonna be right, then I don't have to worry about it.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_02: So um, you know, you talked about obviously the customer service, 26 employees over 400 years of experience is what Jonathan was saying.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um that's incredible.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_02: How how would you say that experience shows up in in the product and the the customer service experience?
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: It it really shows up for me when something needs to get done and a group of people here come together to discuss on spot how to get that thing done.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: So I frequently will tell my kids um the line from Paul 13, you know, work work the problem, right?
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes I'll hear them say, I can't, and they say, Well, it I don't think it's that you can't.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: It just seems like you're having a little trouble getting past this and coming up with a solution.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what I've really seen here, that it's a matter of coming up with a solution to address them.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_02: There's always a solution, and and you're right, sometimes it takes a a committee, a group, a team of experts to to come up with ones that that would work.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, you both talked about how the industry's big and small at the same time.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_02: And obviously, you know, everybody seems to know everybody.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_02: And give me an example of a time that maybe some of that collaboration, you know, maybe you even collaborated.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_02: You you talked about, you know, buying products from competitors and they probably buy your products.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, how how has that worked out?
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I've been in the industry for over 30 years, and sometimes you just never know where a relationship or interaction with a company is going to lead.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I think a perfect example of that is, you know, over thirty years ago when I was making and selling elevator phones out of Dan Gilbert's face map.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Right at electronic microsystems.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: Little did I know that I would be sitting here working for PTL.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_01: True.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: And really fitting in, feeling like I'm at home, feeling I'm where I should be.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: Right in this journey we call life.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_02: So let's let's transition a little bit.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_02: Because when when we were talking before, you know, we talked about uh, you know, you you had mentioned there's kind of a a theme or theme three themes, right?
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_02: Of faith, fundamentals, food.
• 22:32
  unknown: Right.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_02: Uh who doesn't get excited when they hear the word food, right?
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_02: So um I I want to talk a little bit about that.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_02: And and I I I get little hints that there's a there's a story about about banana pudding.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_02: And uh tell me a little bit more about that story and and how that kind of plays into the culture here at PTL.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, um come let us break bread together, right?
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: Who who doesn't like to sit down around a table uh with a good meal?
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, that's why I like to take people out to lunch to eat with them uh because people like to talk around a good meal.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: You think about your family sitting down at the table having a good meal.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: But personally, I I love banana pudding, right?
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm always uh looking for a good banana pudding.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_00: And when I come down here, I get to have my feel of good southern cooking, which I can't get when I where I live.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so in that process, Jonathan Wright and I go out to eat.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_00: Well, there's a woman that has a local restaurant called Shirley's, and she makes a really good banana pudding.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: Well, her sister, Mary, happens to work here at PT.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so Mary and Shirley kind of got this thing going to where they would ask Jonathan Wright, who makes the best banana pudding, Jonathan Wright.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: Or who makes the best fried chicken or whatever, whatever the dish was, right?
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: And so Jonathan was like, well, I I need, you know, I need you need to bring me some banana pudding to test, right?
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, they would bring it in and he would try it.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't I don't know that he ever really told them he made the best.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I think that's a losing situation, right?
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_02: If you if you tell, well, then you're not gonna get the one to participate anymore.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_02: So you you don't want to smart.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of taste testing going on, trust me.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's awesome.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_02: So that and again, that kind of plays into the maybe the not just the town culture, but the the company, the employees.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_02: Um so if you know, as you think about the people, the history, kind of the way you work together, um, is there a I don't know, a particular memory that kind of pulls all those together and then maybe describes PTL?
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, uh tomorrow will be the Christmas party.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we're gonna be uh at another venue, not here on site.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_00: There's gonna be food, there's gonna be games, I'm sure there's gonna be prayer, uh sharing of our stories of fate, but you know, just being here the weeks out of the month or the year that I am, which is not that often, it it really is a testament to see how Jonathan Wright and the other people in the management team really interact with the employees and really take into consideration their feelings, their family, their circumstances, and really show grace and mercy, but also still run into business.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: Because at the end of the day, you still are running a business, but it's a different way of running a business.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's great.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_02: And and you may have actually answered my next question, which is I was just gonna say, you know, for the the listeners who are gonna, you know, here and and watch this um this interview, you know, what is it just in a sentence or two that makes PTL different?
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_00: So I think really um it kind of goes back full circle to what we started talking about.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's our faith, our faith in Galat, our faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_00: And at least for me, how that affects um how I work and my mindset.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so that really pull pours over into sort of the core ethics of the company, right?
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: Treating people right, treating people like you want to be treated, being fair and trustworthy and true.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_00: Sound like the Boy Scout salute almost, but it it's really, really just biblical.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um so it it just makes a difference in the way you treat people.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_00: I think at the end of the day, the way you treat people really does make a difference.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_01: For sure.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_00: And it it never costs you anything to be kind.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_00: Very true, very true.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_02: So for folks who are listening or people who want to connect, what's the best way for them to learn more about PTL or get in touch with you?
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_00: So I would I would say people are they could call our 800 number, 1-800-736-2120.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: And some the website, PTLEquipment.com.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_02: Jonathan, thank you.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_02: It's been a pleasure and pleasure to find.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I wish you the best as you continue to build the business and do your work.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks again for listening to Elevator Tools and Tech from the Elevator Careers Podcast.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_02: Please remember to check out PTLEquipment at www.ptleequipment.com or contact their office at 1 800 736 2120.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_02: The link will be in the description below.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_02: Please like, subscribe, and until next time, stay safe.