Stay in touch, stay in front

RCS Influencer Trent Cotney says communicating with all stakeholders is key to ensuring you have the latest and greatest.

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with Trent Cotney, partner of Adams and Reese. You can read the interview below, listen to the podcast or watch the recording.

Alex Tolle: Hello, I'm Alex Tolle with RoofersCoffeeShop.com and I am back for another influencer response. So our August question is, how can project stakeholders collaborate effectively with all parties, including manufacturing, distribution and other trades, to reduce miscommunication and ensure a seamless project execution?

Trent Cotney: So, I guess there's a couple of different ways to approach this. One is, there's a lot of collaborative technology out there that allows you to engage in real-time communications. You know, I can name a bunch, everything from Slack to Google Workspace to other places like that, where you can get a running list of what's going on and be able to track the communications as they go.

The other thing I'd recommend is, you know, just old school talking to people. If I ever want to know something, I just go to reception of any distributor and I asked the person at the front desk, what have you heard? And I guarantee you they've heard everything that's going on. So, communicating with your suppliers, your manufacturers, anybody in the industry, attending association meetings — that's big deal. You get a lot of information, a lot of stuff that helps me do my job, by traveling and talking to contractors and others that I meet at expos or associations.

So my recommendation is: reach out. Email, phone, in-person contact; stay in touch. Stay in front of not just your salespeople, but work up the chain, talk to your credit managers, talk to others so that you can make sure that you've got the latest and greatest.

Alex Tolle: Yeah, with all the technology we have now, there's no reason not to be communicating and getting all the information.

Trent Cotney: Right, absolutely.

Alex Tolle: All right, well, thank you so much for your time today, Trent, and we'll see you next month.

Trent Cotney: Thank you.