Dan Tinker - Big News! SRS Announces HUGE 2022 IRE Concert - PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of an live interview with Dan Tinker with SRS. You can read the interview below or listen to the podcast.

Megan Ellsworth:
Welcome to Roofing Road Trips with Heidi. Explore the roofing industry through the eyes of a long-term professional within the trade. Listen for insights, interviews, and exciting news in the roofing industry today.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Hello and welcome to another Roofing Road Trips from RoofersCoffeeShop. My name is Heidi Ellsworth and I am here today with one of the, I don't know, probably one of my favorite podcasts every year. So last year, I was so lucky to spend some time with Dan Tinker and talk about the 2021 IRE and all the SRS initiatives. This year, Mr. Dan Tinker, the CEO of SRS is here again and we're going to be talking about 2022. So Dan, welcome to the podcast.

Dan Tinker:
Thanks, Heidi. Thanks for having me again this year.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Oh, I have to tell you, I've been pretty excited about this because you do some extraordinary things every year through the IRE and all year long through Raise the Roof, your foundation. And it's just to be able to announce it through this podcast is always just such an honor. So I don't want to wait till the end of the podcast so I think we should go first thing right into what's happening in New Orleans in 2022 with SRS and Raise the Roof?

Dan Tinker:
Yeah, no. Well, as you guys know, we're kind of known for throwing the biggest party at IRE every year at least we try. This year will be no different. It's a little strange that we're doing it only six months after the last one in Vegas, but we had a blast there. We're excited that we think attendance will be obviously a little bit better in New Orleans just knowing what we had to go through at the last minute in Vegas. Well, I'm happy to announce that we are bringing a Texas country flair to the IRE or to the show. We will have of a larger venue than we've ever had before I believe so we'll have room for everybody which will be great. And everybody to stretch out and have space, but we've got a phenomenal lineup of bands started with Parker McCollum who I don't know if you've heard of him, but a great up-and-coming country singer and then Randy-

Heidi Ellsworth:
I have.

Dan Tinker:
Yeah. And then the Randy Rogers Band will also be one of our openers. And then of course capping the night off with a legend Willie Nelson who we're really excited to have Willie coming and participate and finish off the kind concert. And then in the middle of the concert, as you know, we raise money for our foundation and we have a special guest which is the CEO of One Tribe Foundation Jake Schick who's come many years, will be coming with his good friend, Bradley Cooper who a lot of people know starred in the movie American Sniper. And Bradley and Jake are very passionate about not only veterans, but mental wellness in our country. So mental wellness will be the big focus for what we're raising money this concert.

Dan Tinker:
As you know, COVID has taken a very big toll all across the country, not just veterans, but everybody has been impacted. We see it in our workforce. We see it in our workforce's families. Certainly the stress level of dealing with COVID over the last two years has amplified a lot of other mental issues that are out there. So we just feel like the message will be it's okay to not be okay. It's okay to admit you need help and seek help and get help. And we're doing it internally at SRS Distribution as well.

Dan Tinker:
We have a big initiative next year to launch resources for our own employees and their families to help them cope with anything they're dealing with on this front. So it's a big thing and it's out there and it's real. And we've seen just the stress level of our employees and their families and having to balance so many different new things in the last couple years that we feel as a good corporate partner and employer, we need to do everything we can for our employees. But look, it's not that we don't want to help out our supplier partners that are going through challenges, our customers and the whole industry as a whole.

Dan Tinker:
So excited to be pushing this initiative. And you'll hear from Bradley Cooper speak about his One Family Foundation, which is all about the family unit and protecting that. And then certainly Jake talking about mental health challenges and that it is okay to admit you're not okay and seek help. And there's lots of resources out there, but I think the biggest message is just don't stay silent till it's overwhelming and you reach a severe depression state, or anything like that. We've had certain employees that have really gotten to a point that they can't function because they're so overwhelmed. So speaking up, asking for help is okay and acceptable. And we up people to be encouraged to do that and have confidential ways to do that.

Heidi Ellsworth:
I am so impressed every year that as you look at this and make these decisions on first who you're going to benefit and how you bring it about. Through not just the IRE concert, but activities all yearlong. I know you just finished a huge golf tournament that also benefits the foundation Raise the Roof. But this year, especially with mental health and just exactly what you just said. There is so much going on there. I'm just curious as a team and as a leadership team working with Michael with Raise the Roof, how do you make these decisions on who you're going to benefit and how that's going to work?

Dan Tinker:
Yeah. No, we have a board of directors at the foundation and it's a very broad and diverse group of the directors. A lot of former company executives and current executives. And then also a mix of people that, again, represent every constituency of who we deal with. But yeah, they give us feedback and we talk a lot because we get presented as a foundation for many wonderful causes throughout the year. And we can't support them all because one of our principles of the foundation is to make donations only to other foundations that we really feel like we make a big impact. So you aren't going to see us donate to the Red Cross or donate to Wounded Warriors because those are massive national organizations where even if we gave them a million dollars it wouldn't move the needle for those organizations.

Dan Tinker:
We like the smaller tier that we know almost all of the money they consume or get donated, they give back to the constituents that they support, whether that's veterans, whether that's Minuteman Disaster Relief, where we know the money's going to benefit people that are impacted by hurricanes or tornadoes or other weather-related events. We know where that money goes. We know who runs these smaller foundations and we know great things are happening on the ground with these organizations. And that our money that we donate each year to these pillar partner foundations, we know it matters. We really move the needle for these groups and they depend on us to be a key corporate sponsor.

Dan Tinker:
So the bottom line is we really look back and just think, "What is the pressing need?" Like last year, it tied perfectly with our company's focus on diversity inclusion and respect. This year our focus, big focus for our frontline employees is helping them with reduced stress, with depression, with mental health. And so we just felt it tied perfectly to make that a focal point for the industry. Because again, we have as you know a very male-dominated industry and men with machismo and everything else seem to have a hard time admitting that they're not perfect and they're not always 100%.

Dan Tinker:
And you know, I even told my team last week I've had a hard time keeping up with managing the stress of going through COVID and everything and you suck it up and you power through it, but it takes a toll on you sometimes that you don't realize until you step it out and really admit to people that, "Hey, yeah, I am stressed out beyond belief or beyond to a level I never had in my career before."

Dan Tinker:
And it's amazing when you start being honest about it, everyone else starts telling you about all their issues and you feel very normal about it and you feel good to talk about it as opposed to just trying to hide it and cover it up and pretend everything's fine when it isn't. Because there's a lot of things you can do to recharge your batteries, de-stress, spend more time with your family, invest in other areas and invest in people to make sure how much you appreciate them and care about them and that goes a long way for everybody.

Heidi Ellsworth:
It really does. COVID has created so many other stress points beyond the terribleness of COVID. But when you look at what we're dealing with right now with material shortages and price increases ongoing even before COVID, labor shortages. There is a lot of stress, not just in construction, but everywhere. But we have seen it in the roofing industry. They keep talking about that people are leaving, leaving the jobs because of this. So to get in front of it and to really talk about it and to share what you've just, I think it's so important for the industry.

Dan Tinker:
Yeah, for sure. I mean, look, it's not uncommon for our workers now to do the job of two people because we lost people during COVID. They didn't want to come back to the workforce, to your point. Certain people, we have a lot of single moms in the company that they didn't even have a chance to keep coming in because their children were home from school and they had to be there to be with them. So it forced a lot of decisions on people and on the company to make good decisions to support all of our employees to be creative, but it put a lot of workload on everyone and you're right. Supply chain challenges, price increases, all of that has driven more work for all of us because I joke our sales force has become an apology force.

Dan Tinker:
All we do is apologize for the price going up and that we don't have any product to sell you as much as we want. So it's just unending and that takes a mental toll. People are working longer hours, they're covering for other people. Now the great thing in our company is we have that culture where it's a consider it done attitude and everyone is all in and fully engaged, but you also can't run at that pace that's unsustainable forever. You can do an adrenaline sprint, but it's not fair to ask your team to put 52 weeks back to back to back of like an accelerated pace. At some point you have to tell them to take a breather, stagger, creative vacation policies, time off policies, give them extra bonus time off. So we're doing all of those things giving people a chance and a pathway to, again, attack not just the physical wellness, but the mental side as well.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Right. Wow. That is so important. So just real quick, I know you mentioned a little bit right upfront about these two foundations that are going to be benefiting the One Tribe Foundation and the One Family Foundation. Can you just talk just a little bit more? As we're looking at this as an industry, I think people in our industry are going to want to look at these two foundations either possibly if they're in need or to continue to give because it's such an important issue.

Dan Tinker:
Yeah. So the One Tribe Foundation, I am on the board of directors of and Jake is the CEO who you'll hear from him that night in New Orleans, but it is absolutely a veterans organization and it was aimed and started to end veteran suicide in this country. So as you can can imagine, that's near and dear to their heart. And they have full-time counselors that treat thousands of veterans and first responders nationwide with professional counseling to help people that are facing, again, severe depression and even contemplating suicide to try to build networks and therapy for them to get past it and get over that. And they save thousands of lives. And so it's a big, important cause to us. We've supported it. It used to be called 22Kill and they changed their name. A little aggressive for some corporations in today's world. So they changed it to One Tribe Foundation. So it's one and the same of the former 22Kill, but that's their mission.

Dan Tinker:
And again, through Jake and Bradley's friendship because they've been in two or three movies together, Jake served in the ... Or he was in the American Sniper movie along with Bradley. They were also a Star Is Born and a few others together. But I think The Mule, they were involved with Clint Eastwood as well. But the One Family Foundation is Bradley's foundation and it's all about, again, everything about the family unit and preserving that and protecting that. And again, it goes back to wellness is not just for the employee or in our industry. It's for entire family. Their children are having more depression. They've said teenage suicide is up 50% in this country. I mean, look, those things are devastating events, right?

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yes.

Dan Tinker:
And no one wants to ever see anyone in their life, no matter what age they are. But that is a traumatic effect that obviously can last, does last forever for that family. So anything again, if we save one life, it's worth it. In our entire industry, it's worth the fight. So that's kind of our philosophy and we have to do everything we can to recognize that humans can bottle up a lot of depression, a lot of stress and not admit they're having issues until it's too late and we just can't.

Dan Tinker:
We want to have support networks out there. We want to have education. We want to have people owning their own issues so they don't feel broken, they feel normal that those are normal issues that almost everybody else is having just no one's talking about it, and no one's admitting it. But if you get past that, you can get help and get better. And I think that's the big message.

Heidi Ellsworth:
And talking about it. Talking about it is so important. I think about what you did last year with National Women in Roofing and with The Roofing Alliance and really bringing up the conversation talking about diversity, putting it in the spotlight, that says as much as the money a lot of times. Both are amazing, but that is so important to spotlight it. And I think this year spotlighting mental health is huge because you're right. In this industry, we have a lot of people who don't want to talk about it and this will put the spotlight on it and make it okay to talk about it which is tremendous, tremendous.

Heidi Ellsworth:
So along that line, you're doing a lot of different great things all year-round, but definitely at the IRE. I know in working with Julissa and working with your team there, there's a lot going on on the Para Latino movement and also just some great things. So maybe kind of share some of the highlights that you see coming up beyond the concert for the 2022 IRE.

Dan Tinker:
Yeah, sure, happy to. So we'll have our extreme tailgate out right on-site at the event like we normally do as well. So that's become a favorite part of the show. Also, during the day people have a watering hole and a place to go congregate and socialize and get a little downtime speaking of that, listen to some, enjoy a libation of their choice and really build relationships with their suppliers, their customers, or their co-workers at the show. Look, nobody wants to just sit in meetings or walk the show for eight hours. You need breaks and you need time to decompress again. That's what the tailgates for and we'll continue to do that. We've got some great live music each day.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yes.

Dan Tinker:
And amazing bands as you're aware of. We certainly are going to continue to host events for Latino contractors and honestly not restricted to Latino, but any minority contractor. Our goal there is pretty simple. It's just to help make them better contractors, help them become better business people and grow their businesses. And again, as you know, our role in this industry is way more than a wholesale distributor and supplier partner. We look at our role as a business partner to our manufacturers and to our contractors. And our goal is to make both our manufacturers and our contractors more successful because of their connectivity through our ecosystem.

Dan Tinker:
So technology will be another big push. You're going to see a lot of new things we're trying to do to lead the industry forward on the innovation front. And then as you know, we also participate in some of the educational seminars too with John DeRosa and Julissa and others as well. So all of those will be there. And then a new thing we're rolling out, we've got a brand new homeowner financing captive business that we are launching called PROFUND. And we see this as after COVID demand starts to curtail back to what we'll call post-COVID normalized demand, we feel contractors are going to go back to needing not only leads needing more labor, but also homeowners are going to need at the new level of pricing we're at, they're going to need financing more now than ever in the future.

Dan Tinker:
Because again, after four rounds of price increases, a roof is 20% more expensive than it was just a year ago. So we want to be very seamless and very creative in how we can help our contractors close more sales and finance more sales for their homeowners over a longer period of time. And we really feel like we're building a state-of-the-art captive on that financing set. So we'll be launching that at IRE as well.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Wow, that's cool. That's proactive too. I agree. What we're seeing, everything's going to keep going through this constant change until we normalize a little bit and so having those right tools. I really want to encourage everybody who's listening to this to really look at going to the IRE in New Orleans. I think this is where you're going to find a lot of this information you're going to need for 2022 to understand some of the changes that are coming about.

Heidi Ellsworth:
And Dan, you are offering and SRS is offering so many solutions out there for the contractors. And I love the part where you said too about building your business, putting in business together really understanding that. And all of those pieces are going to be available between your booth, the tailgater, online, all the different areas and obviously on RoofersCoffeeShop.

Dan Tinker:
Yeah, absolutely. And look, you know I'm pretty vocal on this issue, but I found it shameful that so many people that have profited from the last two years in our industry blew off the show in Vegas and didn't show up. And as you know, we showed up in full force. And we felt it's our obligation to the industry. Again, our mission statement's make money, have fun and give back, but a big part of giving back is is showing up especially when the industry needs you there the most. So we're trying to give everybody more reasons to come to the show, not less versus staying home.

Dan Tinker:
And again, I think what we've found is our own employees and everyone that we've talked to that went to Vegas had a great time, they were safe. And again, it goes back to mental wellness. Humans need interaction and what makes our industry awesome is all of the friendships. You know this more than anyone, Heidi, that we all have amongst even with competitors that we enjoy seeing at least once a year to say congrats on getting through another year. But to me, what makes this industry amazing is the relationships formed over decades with your customers, with your suppliers, and even with others in the industry that might not be directly your customer or supplier.

Dan Tinker:
So to me, I urge people for the health benefit alone go to New Orleans and have fun. And you'll enjoy putting a smile on your face, saying hi to folks you haven't seen if you didn't go to Vegas for 18 months or two years ago since the previous one in Dallas. So please, if everybody listening. And then look, I'll just plead to you. The industry needs our support and you not showing up doesn't help anyone. Showing up sends a really strong message that this industry's thriving, which it is.

Dan Tinker:
And also you've been working hard. Everybody in this industry's been working really hard. They deserve to go and enjoy and take a little break and enjoy what this in industry has to offer and see all the new things that are coming because the industry's changing faster than it ever has too. And how do you keep up? This is the one place you go every year to keep up with everything new in the industry that's coming.

Heidi Ellsworth:
I agree. RoofersCoffeeShop will be coming live from the show again, we have a full sound stage. And Dan, I can't agree with you more. I feel it is so important that we support the industry now more than ever, that we are there, that we are helping to bring education and fun and networking and communication to everyone. I think that's so well said. It's the time that needs to happen.

Dan Tinker:
Yeah. Look, the NRCA in our industry does a great job putting this on, having great programming, having great venues, having fun events throughout the half week or the two-thirds of a week. And look, you don't have to come for five days. You can come for three days or two days even, but just come and enjoy what the industry has as to offer and know you are helping by just showing up and being there. And then we'll set the stage for an even a bigger and better one in 2023.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah. Well, you keep doing that every single year. While I have you, I want to talk about a couple different things too that you have going on that I think everyone's going to be excited to hear about. And so one of them is and this is so unique. I mean, such a great event and promotion, but it's the Las Vegas Bowl. You have that coming up and you're going to have a couple 100 contractors at the Las Vegas Bowl at the end of December. What's that all about?

Dan Tinker:
Well, I can't pick where the IRE is every year so I had to pick a place that roofers would always want to come and hang out with us and Vegas definitely checks the box on that front. But no, we were looking to get our national brand out there in a unique, new way. We were looking at lots of different things and we felt like car racing and golf and some of those things isn't one of the key things that our contractors enjoy. One of them is college football. So we felt that getting, sponsoring a bowl game made a lot of sense to get out our national name. As you know because we operate under our unique independent brand names like Suncoast or Superior or B&L Wholesale or Willoughby Supply or Roof Line out west.

Dan Tinker:
A lot of people don't know us nationally as SRS. Obviously, people in the industry most do. But if you do business like the Builder Channel and other larger accounts, some of them don't realize who all SRS is. So we're really pushing a new, fresh brand image, brand logo. And this is all part of that branding key and pain. Because some of the things we're going to be rolling out, everything from homeowner financing and Roof Hub, the technology is going to have to be branded universally as SRS because it wouldn't make sense to have 40 different brands on a technology app for contractors.

Dan Tinker:
So, so we want to build awareness and it allows us to do that. It allows us to have a fun, exciting event that we can bring hundreds of contractors to Vegas on New Year's Eve, which is-

Heidi Ellsworth:
Fun.

Dan Tinker:
Yeah, fun time to be there. And look, we'll get a lot of publicity out of it because it's an ESPN nationally televised night game night, the day before New Year's Eve. We've got great conference affiliations with the Pac-12 and the Big Ten this year. Next year it'll be the Pac-12 and SEC and rotate each year between the Big Ten and the SEC, but always a Pac-12 opponent. So it's always going to be an East Coast-West Coast matchup. We have a lot of customers that are ends of those three conferences in college football and have a favorite team.

Dan Tinker:
We even have a promotion that if you buy a certain amount and you root for a certain team and they make the Bowl game, you get automatic tickets to the game and we'll bring you out to Vegas for it and have a lot of fun. So there'll be a charity component to this. We'll have a concert the night before like we normally do at IRE similarly out there. I think we're going to have 600 people out there for the Bowl game ourselves, meaning our customers and our team. And look, we want to do it over the top. Like we do everything, but it really is all about celebrating the strength of the company, the growth of the company and the new evolution forward to be, again, a national company that everyone has heard of as opposed to, "Oh yeah."

Dan Tinker:
A lot of people, your neighbors down the street, if they're not in our industry, say "Yeah, no, I've never heard of SRS." We're one of the 100 largest private of companies in the United States. And again, the reason most people don't know us because we trade under so many different local brands, which is still our strategy and will continue to be so. But at the same time, we want to have a national brand strategy that our employees are super proud of. They are already, but this allows them to be even more proud of what we're doing nationally and get recognized for it.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah. I think it's great. And I know people are so excited about this. And I kind of want to take that one step further when you're talking about the brand and that national brand. One of the things that I've seen and that we talked about at IRE this last year when we came to your booth and did some video was your new ... I'm going to call the tagline and I'm sorry if that's not right. But SRS delivers.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Talk about putting something together that really goes to your core values. I have just been so impressed. With my marketing background, this kind of stuff I eat it up, but I've been so impressed about it. Maybe you can share a little bit about this SRS delivers messaging.

Dan Tinker:
Yeah. I got to give credit to our marketing team. They came up with us on their own. I can't even steal it and lie and tell you I came up with this one, but yeah, it's a double entendre. Obviously, the term delivers inherently you think, "Yes, we do deliver roofing materials to the job site for our customers." Of course, we do, but it's more than that. We deliver lots of other things. We deliver career growth for our employees. We deliver wealth creation for our supplier partners, our contractors and our employees. We deliver growth. By being associated with us, we feel our customers grow their business faster than if they were not. We deliver innovation. We deliver leading edge tools for the contractor on the innovation front.

Dan Tinker:
So the name can be used or the branding campaign can be used in so many different ways. We deliver impact for our industry. By the way we give back and hopefully show a good example. But I think that's kind of the whole theme of it. We're very excited about, and you'll see a brand new refresh of our website that'll be launched in the next couple weeks. And this SRS delivers campaign will be running throughout. And anything with the Vegas Bowl, we actually get four commercial spots, TV spots. We've never done a TV spot in our history, of course, but we're working on the script right now. But I'm really excited for you to get an advanced look of that when it's ready.

Dan Tinker:
It's going to be a moving TV spot that I think are going to get a lot of people scratching their head watching the Bowl game like, "I didn't know much about this industry and I'm pretty interested in what this company's doing and what they stand for and how this industry works." And maybe that helps us recruit more people and more talent to our industry.

Heidi Ellsworth:
I know you mentioned this at the very beginning, Dan, and I didn't really get to get this chance to say, "Oh my gosh" because there was so much good stuff to talk about, but I have to tell you. I have listened to Willie Nelson since I was born. My parents, it's like so ingrained in so much of our culture and for SRS to bring Willie to the roofing industry, kudos. This is going to be great.

Dan Tinker:
Absolutely. We are so excited he accepted and could make it. And he's going to put on an awesome show where everybody in the crowd will be singing along to every one of his songs. And maybe if we guilt Bradley Cooper enough, we might even be able to get him on stage and along with Willie on one of the tracks. A lot of people don't know, but Willie's son was the person that taught Bradley how to sing for the movie A Star Is Born. So there's a connection there as well from the family and to Bradley.

Dan Tinker:
So fingers crossed if we raise enough money and we can get Bradley feeling courageous, we might be able to get him to help Willie do one of the songs, which would be a really special thing to see. And I'm hoping with having Bradley Cooper there at our tailgate and the concert that that'll help more women show up to the event. I know it's going to get my wife there so, but come. Hopefully get a picture with Bradley Cooper. It should be another draw for the ladies to come see Bradley. I know he's a fan favorite.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Oh my goodness. This is great. I can't wait. This is so good. Yeah, I kind of like Bradley too. So we can't wait until this all happens and it comes to New Orleans. Dan, thank you. Thank you so much for everything you do. Thank you for, first of all, being on this podcast. Thank you for everything you do and thank you for including so many people. Liked we talked about, there's going to be some music at the tailgater. I think Megan who's with the Coffee Shop is going to be involved in some of that and other folks from the industry. So it's not just the big names, but it's the industry as a whole you continue to bring together. And I just want to say thank you.

Dan Tinker:
Well, you're welcome. And as you know, your daughter's going to be playing one day for us and Brian Kimber's son, Brian of GAF has a band and his band's going to play the other day at the tailgate. So again, it's kind of fun to bring bands that are associated with industry veterans like yourself and Brian through families and children. And again, it's all about who we are. Get together, have fun, great friendships that we have and extend those in fun ways that everybody can celebrate the industry.

Heidi Ellsworth:
And you know what? It all comes back to creating great mental health. So thank you. This is exciting. I am honored to have you announcing all of this on our Roofing Road Trip podcast and I'll be seeing you in New Orleans. It's not that far away.

Dan Tinker:
Nope. It'll be here before you know it. Thanks for having me, Heidi. I appreciate it.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Thank you and have a great day. And everyone who's listening, thank you so much for being a part of the Roofing Road Trip podcast. Be sure to listen to all the podcasts on RoofersCoffeeShop under the Read Listen Watch initiative. And also on your favorite podcast channel, be sure to subscribe and get notifications so you don't miss a single podcast. From the roofing road, have a great day.

Megan Ellsworth:
Make sure to subscribe to our channel and leave a review. Thanks for listening. This has been Roofing Road Trips with Heidi from the rooferscoffeeshop.com.