Today we’d like to introduce you to Conner Gildenblatt.
Conner, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
When y’all first asked me to do this interview, I had a feeling one of the questions might be like this, but I never thought once I actually read the question it would bring back this awesome memory…
I was barely 5 years old when my father decided it was time to put my ass to work. He’d take me up to our family’s print shop, hand me over to The Janitor and have me walk around his sales floor emptying the little trash cans underneath each of the closer’s desks. If you weren’t a closer… you cleaned out your own trash can.
And that was my first lesson in sales.
Every summer, ’til I graduated and left for the University of Arkansas, I worked at the family company… whether it was proof reading advertisements on the production floor, running sales sheets to our verification reps, taping up boxes in the shipping yard, folding and organizing inventory… I did it all and I absolutely loved it!
So much so that when I graduated college in August of 2014, I remember it was on a Monday evening and that next Tuesday I was already on a plane and on my way to our northern offices in Iowa.
I didn’t come back until 2017 and during those 3 years… That’s when the real fun happened.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There’s nothing more embarrassing than earning the opportunity to run your own sales office then having your own father take the keys from you and shutting your operation down 11 months later.
Working in a family business always has its difficulties, but what’s even more trying is being the kid and having to shatter the “kid table” perception your family members innately have.
See, it didn’t matter that my office sold over 1 million units within those 11 months or that we were able to hit those numbers with a new product that no other branch would really touch.., because when it comes down to it, I can truly admit that I simply wasn’t ready.
Bouncing back from that loss and realizing how much I still needed to learn is what helped me finally break free from the predetermined and limited expectations every son, daughter or younger family member has placed on them in this kind of work setting.
And honestly, I can’t stand being known as the owner’s kid. I hate it, and I think that’s why my father sent me up north when I was first starting out at the professional level; to grow and learn the business on my own with none of that distraction.
I couldn’t wait to prove to everybody at the corporate office how ready I was and how much I could contribute. So, I tucked in my pockets, pulled up my socks, rolled my shoulders back and out hustled every preconceived notion that they may or may not have had of me. I didn’t care whether they had any or not about me though, it’s what I use to fuel my hunger for success.
I love the feeling of being the underdog, because who cares if I failed with my first office… I’ve been crushing every opportunity since… whether I succeeded or failed… that doesn’t matter, what matters is the look on everyone’s faces when I come back from behind and win the upset.
Since leaving the corporate office in 2014 and joining the northern ranks, as a region, we were able to launch 3 new companies under the UAC4U umbrella and bring each to profitability within those 3 years.
UAC4U – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We have a ton of fun, we print promotional products, we grill out twice a month and we come to work every single day because we love what we…hang on, let’s be real, we come to work every single day because we need to make money, but more importantly, we freaking love the people we get to work with.
Our more than 90,000 yearly customers mean the world to us… without them we wouldn’t even be a company and… Maybe it’s because we’re in the ad industry ourselves, but we truly understand how important our client’s brands are to them and that’s why we continuously work our asses off; to absolutely crush their expectations.
Same thing goes for our employees, maybe even more so, because without our employees… without the team… there wouldn’t be a game to play. I believe it was Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, who said, “…Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients.” That’s probably what we are most proud of; our employees and the relationships we have with them… especially when you consider the fact that all of us are spread across 3 states and 5 different buildings.
But, specifically about the business itself…
With Over 7,500 distributing partners set up across the country and throughout 2,765 U.S. counties (America only has a total of 3,007), we provide a plethora of different advertising avenues and proven marketing strategies for our clients to grow their brands with.
Our distributing partners include some of the most important and longest standing community staples you’ll find, such as high schools, middle schools, radio stations, pizzerias, city and county offices, chamber of commerce’s, etc…
We print the most beautiful custom t-shirts, magnets, bags, cups, sports bottles, rally towels, and kan-koolers while also providing unmatched distribution plans with every single campaign our clients run with us, which really eases the process for them.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Well, like I said… we’re a family business and this past summer, my little brother, Cale, came up to the office to work and the plan was pretty much for him to do what I did… work in the warehouse, maybe some proofreading, etc…
That’s when I told my dad, “Let me teach him how to sell.”
We put him through the week long sales training class that all new hires must complete and graduate from. When I tell you that this 16 year old kid was hanging with sales professionals that were twice his age, I’m most likely not emphasizing enough how awesome it was.
The kid was a natural.
Watching him learn and apply every little sales technique and rebuttal that I and my sales team taught him was really cool to see then when his eyes lit up the first time he closed a brand new customer… that is the moment I am most proud of.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.uac4u.com
- Phone: 817.617.2750
- Email: connerg@uac4u.com
Image Credit:
Kennedy Johnson, Ron Jones
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