This episode was filmed at the Nationwide Marketing Group (NMG) PrimeTime event and expo in Nashville, TN (August 2025).

On this episode, NMG’s Member Development Director (Central Region, Brett Kelley, sits down with Tim Klanke of Big Red Appliance — located in Ohio and Kentucky. In this conversation, you will hear:

• Why attending PrimeTime is a smart ROI decision
• The value of building relationships with vendors, peers, and customers
• Examples of giving back and helping meet community needs
• How Big Red Appliance expanded from one store to two

 

WATCH this episode on YouTube.

 

Read the full transcript below.

 

Brett Kelley (BK): My name is Brett Kelly, I’m here in Nashville at our PrimeTime show and I’m here with one of my favorite people in the world, Mr. Tim Klanke, with Big Red Appliance. Tim, how are we doing today? 

Tim Klanke (TK): Doing great, Brett. Thanks for having me. 

BK: Absolutely. Glad to be here. Yeah. I’ve worked with Tim over the past three years, really enjoy working with him. So Tim, tell us a little bit about your business. 

TK: Well, so we’ve been in business for three and a half years, roughly, and started out in Milford, Ohio with one store. Had great success with what we do in the community and word of mouth and just my network that I’ve known from doing this for so long and now fast forward to where we are now and we now have a store in Florence, Kentucky that’s been open for a year and a half and who knows what’s next. 

BK: Well, we know that you have absolutely exploded over the past few years and you do a lot of different things, a lot of special, unique things at your store. Talk a little bit about, with me, the stuff that I know that you do around your community and different things in your store just to bring in new customers. 

TK: Yeah. So, I mean, the first thing is Big Red. The name Big Red comes from, I’m a baseball guy, I’m a big Reds fan who are in Cincinnati, goes with the theme. The store has memorabilia, baseball bats, bobbleheads. You know, you come in, there’s a popcorn machine with fresh popcorn. We have a refrigerator with bottled water for customers with Big Red soda, of course, you know, and that’s just the experience in the store. We’re going to treat you like family, and we rely on that for word of mouth. 

But where we’re different in the community is, you know, even though we’re small, we have big hearts and we’re always trying to give back. You know, just had a couple of days ago where a local school had one microwave for the entire cafeteria for, you know, 3,000 kids and they needed microwaves. Saw it on the Facebook page. So I chimed in, said Big Red will take care of that for you. They picked them up on this past Saturday, and then they gave a shout out and, you know, and it’s just all about that giving back. It sends more and more business and it helps people in need. 

BK: Yeah, absolutely. You’re all about the customer experience, right? 

TK: Yeah. 

BK: You know, when I think about you, it’s almost what we at Nationwide try to do for our members, right? It’s all about the customer experience, whether it be Nationwide to member or member to customer, right? It’s all about the customer experience. 

TK: Right. A hundred percent is. And, you know, one little good thing that you do is going to turn into two good things that’s going to happen to you or, you know, it’s just good karma and you can’t put a price tag on that and the word of mouth referrals that you get from that. 

BK: A trickle effect, right? 

TK: Yeah. 

BK: It’s all good. 

TK: Yeah. 

BK: So let’s talk a little bit about your relationship with Nationwide and how long you’ve been with Nationwide and what drew you to Nationwide? 

TK: Well, so I was a former HH Gregg employee for, you know, basically 18 years. Thought I would retire from there. So, when that all transpired, I was kind of at a loss, you know, like, what am I going to do? And did some stuff over the next few years. And then I’m like, you know, I think I can do this myself. 

So I met with someone that referred me to Bill Hale and I met with Bill and he kind of laid the groundwork for me… because I didn’t know, basically I knew how to sell stuff, but I didn’t know the groundwork and what Bill provided me was that plan on getting set up with, you know, distributors, getting set up with vendors, getting set up with, you know, financing accounts, you know, everything that you need on a daily basis to operate a business. And, and Bill literally, whether it be on the phone or in person, you know, or getting me in contact with the right person, helped me set all of that up. 

And then you talk about the endless support that they provided after the fact to now be two stores or just continue to grow and evolve. I’m indebted to Nationwide for that. 

BK: We’re very thankful for you, too. Tim actually acts as our Central Region chair and he does a phenomenal job with our members in the region of getting them implemented and different things that we do that Tim has experienced. Because the peer-to-peer interaction is where it’s at. And that’s how you learn. Right? 

So, you know, being here in Nashville, everybody loves Nashville, right? Prime time, great event, great crowd. We’re amongst it right now. So tell everybody kind of for you, why you take the time out of your business to never miss a PrimeTime. 

TK: Well, there’s a lot of reasons. I remember coming to my first one, I had no idea what I was doing. Flew down to Orlando, Florida. It was a last-minute decision to go. Bill had been on me forever. You got to go to PrimeTime. You got to go to… 

BK: So your first PrimeTime was my first PrimeTime. 

TK: I love it. But once I figured out how everything works with, you know, creating the relationships with the manufacturers, with the vendors, with the CashBack promotions, you know, the savings you can get at a Palooza event, seeing new products you may or may not want to bring in. As a dealer, if you don’t know what’s out there, how do you know what to bring in? And why would you not go somewhere where you can get extra money savings just for going on a trip and it pays for itself? Plus some, I mean, you make money coming here. 

BK: How long before you went to your first PrimeTime? How long were you with Nationwide before the first PrimeTime? Was it pretty quick? 

TK: It was probably nine months. 

BK: So think about what you thought Nationwide was before you went to PrimeTime and what you experienced when you got there. Because I don’t think you can fully grasp everything that we offer until you see it under one roof. Kind of talk about that a little bit. 

TK: No, that is 100% true. And that’s a great point because, you know, you get emails, you set up vendor contacts and accounts, and Bill’s available on the phone or you’re available on the phone. But until you truly experience a PrimeTime and come here and see how Nationwide gives back and just everything that they offer, I don’t know, there’s really not a lot of words for it. And I encourage every retailer to attend these shows every six months or whatever they are. 

BK: Yeah. I mean, it’s really becoming a can’t miss event, right? You can’t afford to not come to PrimeTime. The ROI that you get back on your investment is just tremendous, right? 

TK: 100%. It’s not even, not even close. Like I said, a few minutes ago, it pays for itself plus some, like you honestly get paid to come here, and it’s a no brainer. 

BK: Absolutely. Well, let’s get back to Mr. Big Red and Tim Klanke, the man. So let’s talk about when you think about your career, you think about the longevity that you’ve been in this industry. Talk about a tough time that you’ve dealt with, a trial, maybe, you know, a mountain that you had to move just to get where you are today, because obviously experiences are what grows the man. Right? So talk about just one in particular that you can really attest to that streamlined you to success. 

TK: I mean, I would have to take it back to when HH Gregg was closing and just remember sitting out on the back deck and when I found out they were closing and just kind of lost. And I guess what kind of kept me going was I would get text messages, like people concerned about me, like you’re worried about me. I mean, yeah, the company’s closing or whatever, but, and these are just friends or even customers that had my phone number and they’re, are you going to be okay? Like, can we do anything for you? Because I’ve got relationships over 18 years that people have bought from me because I’m not transactional. I’m all about relationships. 

And so while I’m down and out, what am I going to do next? It was things like that that helped, you know, lift me up. And I kind of did something off to the side for nine months and tried something different. It was okay, but my passion was in appliances and mattresses. And I basically just thought of all the people throughout my life that taught me at HH Gregg. I mean, I learned so much there and like I said before, I can do this. 

BK: And you did. 

TK: I did. 

BK: And you get it done. 

TK: Yeah. I get it done and I, I’m blessed. 

BK: You know, you made a great point. Now I want to touch on this a little bit. You talked about people. It’s people that reached out to you when H and H Gregg closed. It’s the people that reach out to you now. 

So to me, one of the biggest benefits of, whether it be a PrimeTime regional meeting, all the connection opportunities that we have, the relationships that you build and the connections you make at these shows, they’re worth their weight in gold, right? 

TK: They are. I mean, whether it be, yes, you sell up more products, you get more door swings. But it’s, you know, maybe that relationship where this person knows someone in need and they reach out to you to help that other person. 

BK: Right. 

TK: And you and I have, I’m blessed to have the opportunity to give back for in a lot of those cases and yeah. 

BK: It’s great when we do these roundtable discussions and all the different things that we do, because, you know, I do believe there, there are million dollar ideas out there, right? There’s ideas that you can change one little aspect of your business and go from struggling to thriving. Right? 

So, you know, talk a little bit about just over the past few years, I know you’ve talked to a lot of great retailers, a lot of great merchants, a lot of great people in Nationwide. Just a couple quick things that you’ve implemented in your business that you learned from other retailers doing what you do. 

TK: Well, you look at the mattress area and it can be very complex, very confusing. So what I did is I brought in some brands when I opened and then I’m like, this is a hard thing to buy. You’re going store to store, you know, what did we lay on? So I decided I was going to go store to store, look at the brands and figure out how can I be the one stop shop. And I took a chance to put over a hundred mattresses on display and have a one stop shop where customers don’t have to go store to store and get confused. 

And you know, that’s one thing, and then in the appliance end, I probably have more brands on display than any dealer in the entire greater Cincinnati, maybe even the Midwest area, because I show brands that maybe aren’t looked for every day. But when people are on a dealer locator, I pop up and they drive from an hour away, two hours away to see an appliance product that a lot of people don’t show. So I have that option and then they can buy something else while they’re in there if they want. 

BK: Yeah, no, absolutely. So just what, about a year ago, opened a new store in Florence, correct? 

TK: About a year and a half. 

BK: So that brought another dynamic into the business with Jacob, right? Which is Tim’s son. 

TK: Yep. 

BK: So talk about that. I know, you know, you’re going on what, about a year and a half with, with the dynamic. 

TK: Yeah. 

BK: Just talk about that a little bit and what you’ve seen, and obviously I know you’re a proud dad, right? Jacob’s a great, great person, learning a ton. Just talk a little bit about that dynamic and how fun it is or what you enjoy about working with your sons. 

TK: Yeah. So I’ll start at the beginning when he actually started at the Milford location, and it was me and Damon, who works for me. He’s worked for me for like 20 years and Jacob was quiet. He was doing some grunt work in the warehouse, but also just, you know, kind of hanging out at the store and not saying much. 

So, I’m telling Jen, my wife, he hates it, like he doesn’t like it. And I just didn’t tell Jacob that. I just kind of let it ride and just again, but he’d always be around me. He would always, like, he was watching. 

And then, once we had those doors open for about six months and business was starting to pick up and I had to do other stuff and I’m turning him loose on the sales floor, it was like watching me at 20 years old. 

BK: Just a sponge, right? Absorbing it all.  

TK: He just stood there and just absorbed it. And like, it’s, it’s crazy how much he took in and how he just ran with it. And now he’s 21 years old and running a store by himself, you know, with another good friend of mine down there. I mean, it’s crazy. So to think of us.  

BK: That’s great. You know, it’s so nice. You know, we have so many family businesses within Nationwide, right? It’s always great to see that younger generation coming up and we obviously promote that with our succession planning and different things that we do, right? 

So, the last thing I’ll ask you here, as a retailer, been around the block, seen a lot of different things over the years. If you could sum up in a couple points, what makes, what made you successful? What makes you click? 

TK: Yeah, not worrying about just chasing the dollar. Just creating that relationship, doing good for people, wanting people to, when they need something, to think of you or, if they’re in distress with an appliance or anything, that they think of you and, and just not be transactional. 

I mean, it means so much to me today, walking down the line and, and all you guys and just high fiving and just walking around here and vendors I don’t even know that they walk up to me like they’ve known me for years, and… just means a lot. 

BK: No, I think you talk a lot to me about that, that first 10 feet in the store, right? And creating that welcoming environment and different things like that. So real quick, just talk about kind of how you create that as soon as a customer walks in the door. 

TK: Yeah. So our desk is right up front to the right when you walk in and my chair is right at the end of that desk, right at the front, first seat. 

I do have an office in the back now when I need to get stuff done, but when a customer walks in that door, I don’t care if you’re in the middle of ringing a customer out, you know, or if you’re on the phone, you know, it only takes a second while you’re typing out to say, hi folks, welcome in. Or hi folks, welcome in… and you’re back to your call. 

Just that as soon as somebody walks in, acknowledge them, say hi to them, make them feel welcome because all these stores you go into now, they don’t do that. There’s people that come here and they talk about that they do it. Or, you know, oh, we should implement that when we get back. Then do it. It’s not hard. 

BK: Well, I think one of the main pieces that we learned today was it’s all about relationships, right? The one thing I want to tell you, I appreciate our relationship and the friendship that we have, that we developed over the past years. Appreciate your loyalty to Nationwide and your willingness to always help those retailers. You’re blessed because you did. 

So Tim. Thanks, man. Appreciate you. 

TK: Appreciate you. 

BK: Thank you.