The Answer is Pizza

By Karen L. Edwards, RCS Editor.  

Meet Gibraltar’s Cleve Cobb and find out why he thinks pizza is the reason behind his sales success lately.  

Cleve Cobb has worked in outside sales for the Building Accessories Division for 20 years, but he wouldn’t call it work. He loves what he does and has had the chance to build some lasting friendships in the industry. At RoofersCoffeeShop® (RCS), we love sharing stories of the people who work in this wonderful industry so when the Gibraltar Building Accessories Division partnered with us on their Construction Solutions campaign and told us about their long-time team member, we knew we wanted to share his story.  

When I reached Cleve on the phone, he was in Cary, North Carolina to watch his 16-year-old grandson’s traveling baseball team compete in an elite tournament of the top 15 teams in the U.S. He is based outside of Atlanta and hasn’t been able to travel to see his clients because of the coronavirus pandemic and he told me he was very happy to be there. (And his grandson’s team had been winning!) 

A career that began in hardware 

Cleve shared with me that he started his career in hardware. It was an interest of his that he attributes to growing up on a farm in south Mississippi. “We were always around cattle and building things,” he shared. After graduating from college Cleve followed his interest in hardware and bought a hardware store which he ran for 10 years.  

Cleve shared with me that he transitioned into a hardware sales position after “getting tired of standing behind a counter and seeing the same people all the time.” It was during that time that he met the folks at Gibraltar Industries and Southeastern Metals. When he and his wife made the decision to move to Atlanta, he resigned from hardware sales and began thinking about his next career choice.  

“I always admired the company and knew a few people there so when a sales position opened with Southeastern Metals, I applied,” said Cleve. “They interviewed about 65 people for the position and hired me. 20 years later, I’m still here.”  

A typical day 

Cleve’s sales territory covers Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. When I asked Cleve what a typical day is like for him, he laughed and asked if I wanted to know about before COVID-19 or after. I thought it would be a good study into how things have changed and asked him to start with a pre-COVID typical day.  

“Before COVID I would spend one week a month in Atlanta visiting my local distribution customers and be home each night,” explained Cleve. “The rest of the month I would travel through North and South Carolina, spending about three nights and four days each week on the road.” 

He said he really enjoys visiting with his customers because they have developed deep friendships over the years. “You really gain a lot of information about the industry and the trends that are happening, but we also enjoy talking about hunting, fishing and golf too,” he said. 

When the pandemic had everyone working from home, Cleve said it was a hard transition. “The first three or four weeks I about lost it, because I was never used to being in one place that long,” he said. Now he spends a lot of time on the phone. “Life after COVID-19 is sitting at my desk or in my recliner with my computer, phone, notepad and my Yorkshire Terrier in my lap.” 

Not retiring anytime soon 

Cleve shared that at 64 years of age, he’s being asked when he is thinking about retiring. “Why would I retire?” he asks. “As long as I am having fun at what I am doing I’m not retiring. This is a great job.” 

Before we ended our call, we talked for a few minutes about the industry and how we are seeing it doing so well right now, despite the pandemic. Cleve said his boss asked him why things were booming. “I told him the answer was pizza. I am a master of sending pizzas to the customers that I can’t visit. I send them pizzas and they send me orders!” 

He’s joking about pizza being the answer (though he does send them) and he credits his sales success to being open and honest and bringing value to the customers. He knows just about everything he can about his products from their engineering, their manufacturing all the way through to their warranty information.   

It’s funny that Cleve brought up pizza since his company’s Construction Solutions Campaign is sponsoring the Answer Me This! quiz on RCS and the winner each week has their choice of a prize – either an RCS Box of Love, a box of donuts, or (you guessed it!) a pizza!  

Why not try to win a prize by answering the latest Answer Me This! question here.