In this episode of Building Great Sales Teams we have Robert Frederich. Robert takes us through what it looks like when special operators transition to civilian work. Enjoy!
Robert Fredrich is a Navy Special Operator who is transitioning to the civilian workforce through the the Honor Foundation. We have two major goals to accomplish with this episode: Number 1; Help our listeners understand how military training transfers to the civilian world, and Number 2; Extract some of the lessons an philosophy’s Roberts gained from his extensive military career.
Robert started with his career path in high school with the thought of becoming a Marine. He was later convinced to join the Navy due to his step dad. Robert was also spurred on by the events of 9/11/2001 which solidified his resolve to join the military.
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Speaker 1
Great experiences, build great leaders. Great leaders, build great teams. This is building great sales teams.
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Speaker 2
All right, guys, I've got a special one today. I got Robert Frederick with me. He's a Navy special operator and he's currently working through the Honor Foundation and transitioning to the civilian workforce. This episode's really special to me because there's a few purposes behind it. You know, we have two goals with it. We're going to help our listeners understand how military training transfers to the civilian world.
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Speaker 2
And then with Robert, we're going to extract some of the lessons and philosophies that Robert's gained from his extensive military great career. Robert, welcome to the show. I appreciate you coming on.
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Speaker 3
Hey, thanks, Doug. Thanks for the opportunity. Much appreciated.
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Speaker 2
Absolutely, brother. So we we met through a mutual friend, Brenda Nextel, and she does work with the Honor Foundation and she mentioned you and she was just singing your praises. And when she heard tell me about your background and everything and what you were looking for, I kind of like realized, Hey, I've got a few people in my network that could use someone like that, you know?
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Speaker 2
I'm saying so she she was like, Do you think you have someone for that? I was like, Yeah, absolutely. So she set up a call between us. We hit it off. I think we talked for like an hour or something like that, and that's kind of how we met. And so, Robert, can you tell me what you currently do in the Navy right now?
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Speaker 3
Oh, yeah. Basically, I'm a staff nerd, you know, a manicure keyboard, and I've elevated up to the organizational leadership level. So I do a lot of like future estate planning, you know, engage with the various theaters globally, finding out how to address the problems they currently have, how to posture for future problems, assess, assess the risk, the logistics behind moving people around.
00:02:32:26 - 00:02:52:22
Speaker 3
And, and I kind of just sanity check what their plans are and see if it makes sense, like what they what they are intending to do. And then we run it through our sims or subject matter experts, take a look at it and say, you know, is this feasible? Could you do it with this many people or boats or do you need more?
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Speaker 3
Do we even have that much in the inventory, if not, when we get it to that? And that's that's kind of what I do now.
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Speaker 2
So you're, you know, taking some of the, I guess, grander out of it. You're an operations manager. It sounds like that's essentially.
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Speaker 3
Yeah, yeah.
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Speaker 2
You deploy the the operation needed for whatever country or whatever embassy. I think you would say that you're you're working with the Department of Defense, correct? Correct. Okay. Very cool. So what got you into special Forces in general? Because what you're doing now is very different than than what you used to do. Right. So, you know, was it like a childhood dream?
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Speaker 2
Did you see a movie and were like, hey, I want to do that. I want to go be a cowboy or what got you in Special Forces.
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Speaker 3
Yeah, it's actually funny you mention that because my brother just brought it up the other day. We went to boot camp together back in 2001, and it was a video it was a recruiting video for Swick, which is special warfare boat operators. And there's five special programs in the Navy. One of them is Swick. And so each of those five programs got up and showed a video and talked about their communities.
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Speaker 3
And what got me into this job was they just had the coolest video. It was boats coming out. I think that was it that my entire decision was based off. The coolest video is boats dropping out of planes, jump in waves, machine guns. It just looked so like high adrenaline, high energy, just exactly what I wanted. And so I yeah, they checked my aptitude scores for the Navy and I was good.
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Speaker 3
I went down to the pool and I did the swim run pushups pull up and passed and then next thing you know, I've finished boot camp and they whisked me off to San Diego for training. I got out, happened and it wasn't like this. Honestly, my whole life I thought I was going to be a marine. I grew up watching full metal jackets and I just.
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Speaker 3
I just love the video. Yeah. And it was my stepdad who was who was in the Navy for a few years. He actually talked me into the Navy my senior year of high school. But I don't come from a military family and just, you know, I just knew that if I stuck around Waco, Texas, too long, I was probably going to end up in jail or something stupid.
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Speaker 3
And I needed to go. And then fortunately for me, you know, 911 happened and being a loud, proud, flag waving Texan that I am, me and 10,000 other people were lined up to go. So a world event kind of stimulated that plan into action.
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Speaker 2
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I guess we're we're at that point now where people's enlistment in the military was triggered by that. You know, and I guess, you know, a lot of the younger guys, that's that's going to be their story, too, I would imagine so. SWICK So the the boats, you know, I didn't really understand what you meant when you said, you know, I think you said like military boats or these like I thought you were talking about like the ships in the Navy.
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Speaker 2
And they were just smaller versions of the big, you know, naval ships, you see, or whatever. And then you said, hey, go watch Act of Valor, right? And I remember that movie, but what I didn't remember about it is that it was actual seals and special operators that acted out the movie. Right. That it wasn't actors, right? Correct.
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Speaker 2
Yeah. And so right away when I'm watching the movie, I'm like, Oh, yeah, because the acting was horrible, right?
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Speaker 3
Yeah. But it was right.
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Speaker 2
It was it was really cool to see the dialect, the real dialect that they used and how they assess the situation. You know, we we do this program in Apex called Apex Evolution. And so that program, you know, not only does it test you physically, but they put you through, you know, some I guess the very fast version of some military training and how they approach operations, you know.
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Speaker 2
And so it was kind of cool to see them actually go through that. When I watched before, I had no idea, you know, so it was just a movie to me before. And then you talked about those boats and when when that boat ran up on the riverbank and just freaking toasted all the enemy. It was just so cool.
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Speaker 2
I was like, Man, that's what it's a robbery used to do. That's pretty freaking awesome. And so you've got some pretty cool stories from that, you and your team. So I can't remember. Did you see you're a consultant for Active Valor or you had your team was actually shot in that movie?
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Speaker 3
Or the reason I bring that up is like we're a very unknown community, even within the Navy, and it's just hard to explain. And since that movie is pretty mainstream, a lot of people have seen it. It's easy. It's just to say, Have you seen Act of Valor? Do you remember the boat scene? That's what I do in the name.
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Speaker 3
And it kind of just like I don't have to draw these analogies and like explain. And it's just yeah, my, my team filmed the coastal scene down in Key West with the yacht take down. And so it just it was very interesting to see the the difference between like Hollywood movie director, like we spent all day just shooting like one scene over and over and over again.
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Speaker 3
HAZY Yeah, but they had to use real operators because, you know, unfortunately for Hollywood, I don't think Charlie Sheen and Tom Hanks should be driving a $10 million boat. You know what I mean? The risk of that is pretty high. So it was a I think the intent of that movie was to boost recruiting. And I'm sure it did that, you know, because it is pretty heart pumping.
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Speaker 3
One of the premises behind that movie is like those individual scenes, you know, the guy diving on the grenade, the guy who got shot 26 times, those are all real stories that have happened. They just are fictionally portrayed in the movie, but they're based off real events. So it's pretty neat.
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Speaker 2
Yeah. When you see those scenes, it's just like, you know, I did I, you know, it brought me to tears again when he jumped on that grenade. It was just like, oh, I can't imagine. Like, you think you know what you're going to do in that moment, but like, yeah, do you really know what you're going to do?
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Speaker 2
You know, and you don't know until it actually happens. And then, you know, you find out. But, you know, I think we'd all like to think we jump on that, that sucker. But.
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Speaker 3
Right.
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Speaker 2
All right. So let's talk about your career a little bit. You know, I got very interested in it when I was looking at your resume. And one of the things you said on there was stimulating foreign military sales. So like when I read that, the first thing I think of is like Iron Man and, you know, Robert Downey Junior, like flying above, you know, military testing facility and showing them basically, you know what I mean?
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Speaker 2
And that's what I'm thinking in my head. Yeah, but it's actually a very finesse thing that you used to do. And can you walk us through that a little bit?
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Speaker 3
Yeah, that that line item in particular, you know, looking more like the sales business world was. It wasn't something that I primarily did at my embassy job, but it was it became part of it and part of that approach I was talking about, you know, the rule of ten and like, what can I do for you? And so, you know, we would come in with all kinds of new equipment, boats and guns and stuff like that.
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Speaker 3
And if the host nation was interested and it was legal to sell them those things, they'd want to buy boats and planes and guns and things like that. And I would just make that connection, you know, like the host nation would say, Yeah, we're really interested and we want to buy these boats for our, our SWAT team. And I'm like, okay, I have I don't do that, but I know the person at the embassy who does, and then I would introduce them and then they would, you know, off they would run with it.
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Speaker 3
But it was just a problem that they wanted to solve. And they came to me to figure out how to do it. And as I'm learning the translate, all this experience, you know, like we had our conversation, you know, like you said, that's very business development type guy who just kind of knows and just makes connections and introduces people and makes things happen.
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Speaker 3
And so I threw that in. There is maybe it would catch somebody I oh you.
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Speaker 2
Know my and then yeah. And then when he told me about it like I'm walking through so, you know, one of the abilities that I have and in my business is training and a lot of training is translated, right? And so when I look at, you know, what you did in that model, you know, there's really two major pieces of it.
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Speaker 2
One is lead generation, right? You're going out and in your normal operation, you have an ability to basically prospect for military sales. You're not doing it on purpose. It just happens naturally. Right. And then the second piece of that is, is the relationship building, you know, and when you look at a business development role in anything, anybody that sells anything to the military or to just corporations, that's it right there.
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Speaker 2
It's lead generation and it's relationship building, you know. And so that skill set absolutely translates to the civilian world and, you know, one of the things I think I told you is just have a lot of confidence in that, you know what I mean? Because who can say they've sold or they have, you know, generated a lead that sold a $10 million boat, you know, saying like that.
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Speaker 2
Right. And then and then that they generated leads that created military sales, you know. And so there really isn't a price point that I think you would be afraid of, you know, saying, whereas like, you know, people that sold home services or something like that, maybe the biggest thing they sold was five grand, you know. And so, yeah, you know, you've basically generated millions of dollars in military sales.
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Speaker 2
And so that's that's what business development is 100%. So I think it translates really well. And so you mentioned the rule of ten earlier, and this is that you've kind of came across in your career. And so can you walk us through the role ten Yeah.
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Speaker 3
And that kind of it all kind of ties together, you know, like that for military sales wasn't my job at all, but my access and placement and the relationships, the trust that I had in that job that I'd built over time is just what made it very turnkey for me that somebody ask about a particular topic and I'm like, Yeah, I know a guy who can do that for you, and I just introduce him that that was one of them.
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Speaker 3
But I developed what I call the Rule of ten. Actually, I've taught this and you know that that tour is still paying me to this day and good relationships and friendships. But I, I would tell, you know, you have to understand for us in the Special Operations Command or even the military community, we are in an organization that is built to support the warfighter, you know, so every if you go to any one of the teams, like all of the departments are there to support whatever that war fighting entity is a tank battalion, a SEAL platoon, a boat detachment fighter squadron, whatever.
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Speaker 3
And so when you get into working in the state Department diplomatic world, it's a whole different ballgame because those people don't owe you anything. Like they can wake up, go through their whole day and not talk to you and be successful. So the only way that you can get things done in that space is to get to build a bond that transcends rank and title and just get to know them is like Doug and Robb, you know?
00:15:02:06 - 00:15:23:06
Speaker 3
And what I approached that was just like, if you always come to somebody with a problem or if you need something, they eventually get tired of you coming around. And I would have to work with the guys that would come in and be like, Look, just go by and say hi. You know, I called them trust deposits. You know, I say only if you talk to somebody ten times on the ten time shows, you ask them for a favor.
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Speaker 3
And it doesn't have to be this grandiose hour long chit chat. It can just be as simple as saying good morning or, you know, bringing a cup of coffee by if, you know, they're having a hectic morning and they like lattes or asking about their daughter's dance recital or just showing a genuine interest in them, you know, ask about their cats or their dogs or the cowboys or whatever.
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Speaker 3
And you in you do that through what I call trust deposits, just, you know, casual conversations and with no agenda. You have to approach people with no agenda in mind. Just go by and just be a nice person. And then eventually they'll come that you need something from that individual and they'll be happy to help you up, you know, versus every time they see you.
00:16:06:17 - 00:16:32:02
Speaker 3
It's because your hair's on fire and you need something and there's some emergency problem. And I'll explain to guys like Imagine everybody comes to work each day with a plate of food and before they go home, they have to eat that whole plate and it's already got more food than they can eat on it. And so when you walk up, you've got you represent like a triple bacon cheeseburger that you're going to slap on that plate that they now they want to help you out.
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Speaker 3
They've going to have to eat all the stuff they have to eat. Plus your triple bacon cheeseburger. And so when I say, like, what can I do for you? My approach is to come around every day and take a few things off that plate for this right? And so that one day I come around to slap that cheeseburger down, they're like, I got you, man.
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Speaker 3
What do you need? Yeah, but it takes it takes time to do that. You know, you can't just drop in and do that kind of stuff overnight.
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Speaker 2
Yeah, I love it. I mean, in probably my favorite part of that concept for that philosophy is the trust deposit piece. You know, it, it makes sense in relationship building that, you know, you you have ten interactions or ten occurrences before you ask for anything because you're building that relationship. But then when you talk about trust deposits, that's what that interaction is.
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Speaker 2
Right. And when you when you talk about sales philosophy in general, you know, one of the best sales philosophies is people buy who they know, like and trust. And so by the time you get to that tent or that ninth trust deposit, they know they can trust you. There's just there's no way around it, especially if you haven't asked for anything for a long, you know.
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Speaker 2
And so I love that role. That's a that's a great rule to live by and to work by 100%.
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Speaker 3
You know, as you had said to me after I explained that a lot of the stuff that you said, you understand business better than a lot of people who've been in business, you know, and and that made me feel good. It kind of brought my anxiety down a little bit because I'm going from a comfortable old military environment that I've had a paycheck on the first and the 15th for 21 years.
00:18:10:14 - 00:18:27:19
Speaker 3
You know, I haven't had to worry about medical, dental, life, insurance, any of that kind of stuff. It's a very comfortable bubble that we live in and trying to figure out like how I'm going to translate that into a civilian sector. And I'm like, Well, I know how to do all these things in a military setting, but what does that mean to you?
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Speaker 3
And so to hear you say, did you understand business? Like you use different words and your experiences are different, but the concepts are like solid. And the fact that you naturally do that is, is good. It made me it brought my stress levels down quite a bit. Yeah. Hearing you say that.
00:18:47:14 - 00:19:09:00
Speaker 2
As you have more conversations with civilian business owners or the civilian business world, I think you're going to find you're you're highly qualified for what you're about to do. You know, and I think that's that's kind of the the big four or the big message I wanted to send to our listeners on this podcast is we have a lot of sales centric listeners, right?
00:19:09:00 - 00:19:36:10
Speaker 2
You know, huge organizations, solar roofing, you know, whatever the case may be. And what they're missing, they're missing in their business is a referral partner generator, is what I like to call them, a relationship builder. Like you're talking about. But also that military operator mindset feeds into an integrated world so well. So when you look at us, which us is a model that a lot of small businesses run on, right?
00:19:36:18 - 00:20:02:22
Speaker 2
Because there's not this big corporate hierarchy already in place from a Fortune 500 company. And so they pick up a book by Gina Whitman called Traction or Rocket Fuel. They're like, okay, this is a good platform for me to operate on. You know, very similar in strategy, but similar, you know, it's just another platform like, you know, special operations operates on, you know, you have your hierarchy of things that you have to attack, right?
00:20:03:10 - 00:20:34:20
Speaker 2
And so in that in that hierarchy is a is a visionary, which is typically the business owner and then the integrator, which is like the number two and the person that is the best coach on the team, you know what I mean? The one that can kind of, you know, the visionary has all these ideas and the integrator is able to implement them or once they are implemented, make sure that they're running smoothly, you know, in a lot of military operators because of their background and their training, are able to transition into that integrator type role.
00:20:34:20 - 00:21:05:27
Speaker 2
And I see it all the time in, in, in my business. And then I'm sure Brenda sees it all the time through the on her foundation and I know Zack Hughes with the elite meet, you know, so he worked for them for the longest time transitioning special forces into the civilian business world. So that's, you know, one of the things I really want to drive home is if you're if you're having trouble finding that person, that can help you out with the operational side of the business.
00:21:06:07 - 00:21:39:01
Speaker 2
You might need to look at prior military, prior military in general, but in particular special operations, because you guys are just trained on how to handle crisis, how to handle expansion, how to handle basically think on your feet, you know, which is a big deal when you're expanding the business, you know, and so it translates so well. And I wanted to make sure we covered that as well as, you know, extracted some of that, some of those philosophies that you have in your experience and everything.
00:21:40:11 - 00:22:01:05
Speaker 2
The last thing that I want to talk about is what you know. So obviously being in Special Forces and prior military, I'm sure most people put you in this box. You know, I'm saying like, oh, he's going to be analytical is to be metrics based, probably not really creative. Right. But you actually have been practicing creative writing for a while now.
00:22:01:05 - 00:22:06:04
Speaker 2
Tell us a little bit about that.
00:22:06:04 - 00:22:29:02
Speaker 3
Yeah, I went to a well, let me let me back up a little bit because I want to like add about what you just said, like what you just described in the The Enforcer. What was that role? You integrate, integrate, integrate. It's so natural for us because that's just how we think, right? We have a command. We have a commander that gives us a vision or an intent, a stated intent and an end state.
00:22:29:12 - 00:22:49:20
Speaker 3
This is my commander's intent and this is my end state where I want to be with a timeline. And then once we have that off in the distance, we're like, okay, in order to get to there, we need and we build a strategy from right now, like, what do I need to do this hour, this day, week, month, year to get to that?
00:22:49:20 - 00:23:10:12
Speaker 3
And then we hold people accountable to those many milestones along the way. And it's just so natural for us, you know, like you could you could I mean, we do it at home, probably drive our families crazy with it, you know, like, oh, I need to go to the Portsmouth Naval Hospital and be there at 1015. And we just go right into what we need to leave by this time to get to the tunnel.
00:23:10:12 - 00:23:18:19
Speaker 3
And you're parking and driving this, you know, so we need to walk out the door no later than boom. And we like we're just so good at it. It's so easy for us to do that.
00:23:18:19 - 00:23:23:16
Speaker 2
And then if we have a traffic accident in front of us, we have alternate routes, planes.
00:23:23:16 - 00:23:41:16
Speaker 3
Right. And that's the other thing is like once we've once we've figured out the plan, which we'll spend 10% of our mental bandwidth on, because that's the easy part is figuring out how to make it go right. Then we dove into the contingencies and start figuring out all the things that could potentially go wrong or hinder us from getting to that objective.
00:23:41:26 - 00:24:02:10
Speaker 3
And then we figure out alternate plans how to posture to like mitigate or prevent some of these things. And so we just dove into this full spectrum like how are we going to get there successfully? And a lot of times when those contingencies start to happen, we just roll. We blow right through it because we've already discussed it.
00:24:02:10 - 00:24:18:28
Speaker 3
We already have an alternate plan in place and we're just like bump and everybody just goes. And so I think you you take that into like your world and you just give a guy a goal and a time. Yeah. And just let him figure it out. You know, he probably will.
00:24:19:16 - 00:24:36:16
Speaker 2
So so many integrators in my world, the way that I see them operate is, okay, here's the plan. And they start executing the plan as if nothing is going to go wrong. So they don't put those contingencies in place and something goes wrong and then they got to come up with a new plan, you know what I mean?
00:24:36:19 - 00:25:03:16
Speaker 2
And that is along the path over a year, they've got six different plans and it is as a as a visionary and an integrator in my business, it gets exhausting because I don't have the bandwidth to create all these contingencies. You know, I'm saying because I'm doing both roles, right? And so that's where the the military style integrator comes in and has those contingencies in place and is ready for that, that type of stuff.
00:25:03:16 - 00:25:26:15
Speaker 3
So awesome. And hopefully that hit home with some listeners out there to be like, why are we good at it? And like, what we do for you is like, Doug, you're like, Hey, Rob, this is where I want to go and and when I want to be there. And I'm going to go do some research and I'm going to come back to you typically with three courses of action and say, hey, here's three ways to get so you have control and buy in in this process.
00:25:26:15 - 00:25:45:18
Speaker 3
And you get to we call it steering. You get to steer it course, correct. And you're like, hey, I really like plan B, let's go with that. And then now we're going to dove into the more details with the the pros, the cons and contingencies. And we're going to keep briefing you along the way. And so you have the ability to kind of adjust the plan, but you're not the one doing all the work, right?
00:25:45:18 - 00:25:54:28
Speaker 3
Like they're doing 98% of it and you're just giving little critiques. And so it's a beautiful system, but we'll move on to the next topic.
00:25:55:17 - 00:26:20:06
Speaker 2
Yeah. So, you know, one of the one of the things that's incredibly important in the world that we live in is, is social media. And I express this to you in detail, but the beautiful thing about that is you're kind of already doing it without knowing, right? So one of the hardest things to do right now, one of the most valuable tools that anybody has is the ability to write, copy or write period.
00:26:20:16 - 00:26:56:18
Speaker 2
Right? And so there's literally like businesses that operate this way. So like, if I want, if I need help, you know, writing solar ads and stuff like that, I can reach out to a copywriting company and they'll write the ads for me. Right. There's also AI technology that will do it as well. And so but beyond that, you know, and kind of going back to your roots in a big strategy in small business right now, and this is how we get past the big companies spending all the ads, whether it's solar or whether it's roofing or home services or security or whatever the case is.
00:26:56:18 - 00:27:22:25
Speaker 2
Right. The way that we get past that is we build social media relationships, right? So when I post on social media, I'm giving value, giving value, giving value. And then when I actually ask for something, it's like a donation to the Movember campaign or it's, you know, market research for solar or it's, hey, I'm taking on three consulting clients in Q1 of 2023.
00:27:22:29 - 00:27:42:10
Speaker 2
You know, if you're interested, you know, set up a call with me, whatever the case is. So those are all as those are as I'm giving after doing three podcasts episodes a week that people can get value from posting twice a day and, you know, letting them in, basically creating familiarity. But it's all right. You know what I mean?
00:27:42:19 - 00:28:03:21
Speaker 2
In all our podcasts is is spoke, spoken, writing. Right. And so it's all writing. Writing is incredibly important right now because it's it is it's a unique art because so many people just want to put the video in front of them and do this. It's become this like where video used to be the rare thing that people would do now, it's like so common.
00:28:04:06 - 00:28:18:27
Speaker 2
Then when people actually write that, take the time to put a good story together. People take more notice and they appreciate that more, you know? So I know that you've dabbled in some creative writing in the past. What what got you into that?
00:28:20:18 - 00:28:51:15
Speaker 3
Well, I went to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for I had suffered a traumatic brain injury back in 2019. And I went up there to their TBI ward, and they do creative art as a form of therapy and I've always just been good with words and poetry, even back in grade school and it's it's funny because in our line of work, like when you leave a command, we'll give you a paddle.
00:28:51:27 - 00:29:14:12
Speaker 3
And on the front it will have like the date of your service and you know, some memorabilia and things. But if the people really liked you, if you flip it around the back, there's a roast, there's like a slam poetry on the back. And I and it it's and it's usually brutal and it's funny and like, we'll, we'll get together, you know, outside of work, a barbecue or a restaurant bar or something.
00:29:14:12 - 00:29:43:24
Speaker 3
And we'll just kind of it's like a roast, you know, to say goodbye. And I've become the unofficial paddle roast guy everywhere I've been. So it was just kind of natural. I But what the first story I wrote was called The Book In the Pen. And I my like message to the, to the leaders of the military today is like these younger servicemen and women like to them, 911 was something they learned about in history class.
00:29:43:26 - 00:30:08:14
Speaker 3
You know what I mean? They're they're 18, 19, 20 years old now. So 911 is before they were born. And they don't have this deep seated conviction to serve and defend their nation like we did when, you know, I would imagine just by the same during Pearl Harbor. Right. Like people. And so that's dwindling away. Right. And at the same time, you've got they're they're smarter and they're more capable than we were when we joined.
00:30:08:14 - 00:30:25:06
Speaker 3
Right. And they're more informed. You know, they can they can fact check you with their iPhone as you're speaking to them, where when I came in the Navy, if I wanted to fact check my chief, I had to go like to a library and pull out of big Navy pub and, you know, like anybody got time for that, right?
00:30:25:06 - 00:31:00:12
Speaker 3
You just you you did what Chief said because that's the way the military worked, right? Like that was it. And nowadays that doesn't work. Like the younger generation wants to ask why. They want to they want to know why they want to be informed. And so it's like, how do you take in, like, old school? It's kind of funny that I would say old school, but what like older wisdom that I learned and like translate it in a way that they can understand and then it's like Jennifer Aniston in the In the breakup with Vince Vaughn when she's like, I want you to want to do the dishes now.
00:31:00:19 - 00:31:17:18
Speaker 3
Yeah, it's like, you know, like for me, when I was a young sailor, I showed up to a meeting. I didn't have a book and a pen, and a old crusty chief shoved one into my chest with some colorful language and told me, Don't ever do that again. And that was it. I've never gone to a meeting without a book and a pen, right?
00:31:17:18 - 00:31:43:02
Speaker 3
Like that's all I needed. But now, now they're going to say, Well, why? You know, why, why? And so the book in the pen was a story about how it it forms a key and that book in that pen is is the key to your future. Right. And the metaphor is that, like the book and the pen are just separately, two items, right?
00:31:43:02 - 00:32:08:03
Speaker 3
But when you put them together and you use them, they form a key to a door that is going to open up the first of many doors on your path to success. But you can't open that door, right? The only thing that you can do is make the key and someone else has to open it for you. And why it why the book in the pen is important is that if you just show up on time in your uniform, shave, have a haircut, you know the basics, right?
00:32:08:03 - 00:32:30:09
Speaker 3
Show up, be a good dude or and you have this book and pen and you write everything down and you check it throughout the day. You know, you'll you won't forget to do anything right before you go home, check it, be like, Oh, I forgot to do that. Do it. And then over time, what happens is your leadership starts to notice that you're dependable, right?
00:32:30:09 - 00:32:55:02
Speaker 3
They see you. You give this presence that you're committed because you're always there with your book and your pen, right? And then you never forget to do anything because the book reminds you and you don't forget, right? So then you become dependable. And once they see you as dependable, that's when the trust starts to form. And once they trust you, that's when you've turned the book in the pen into a key.
00:32:55:15 - 00:33:14:05
Speaker 3
Right? And then what happens is an opportunity is going to come along probably more in the military than in the civilian world. A short notice deployment, a high value school, you know, good orders to Italy or something. Right. And they're going to have to pick somebody to go and and they're going to pick you because they trust you.
00:33:14:14 - 00:33:29:12
Speaker 3
Right. And they're going to take the that key that you've made. Now with the book in the pen, they're going to open up that door and send you through it, and then you're going to show up to the next door. Your reputation is going to arrive before you. They're going to assign you bigger and better things to do.
00:33:29:12 - 00:33:50:17
Speaker 3
You're going to crush them because you you know, every day you still have your book in your pen and then you gain knowledge, you gain experience. But if you if you trace it all the way back, you know, you're competent, you're confident because you're competent. You're competent because of your knowledge and experiences. You have knowledge and experience because of your opportunities.
00:33:50:29 - 00:34:18:21
Speaker 3
You were given opportunities because people trusted you. People trusted you because you were dependable. You were seen as dependable because you always had a book and a pen. So at the very core of why you ended up in this position is because you started off. And so my intent is like to give that to the younger generation, whether it's your first day on the job at McDonald's, right out of college, boot camp, whatever, because people always ask me like, what's the key to success?
00:34:18:21 - 00:34:39:22
Speaker 3
You know, you made it high in the enlisted ranks and in the special operations community. And I'm like, well, there's really no the answer is not as glamorous as you think it is. Right? Just be on time with the right uniform and equipment and have a book and a pen. Like just start with that and everything else will start falling into place, you know, and if you can have a smile that helps to write.
00:34:39:22 - 00:35:01:11
Speaker 3
Yeah. And so there's not this like, magical. And that's, that's an issue, you know, it's like the younger kids, they want everything fast, right? And it's like, I want it now, now, now. It's like, no, this is a lifelong commitment, right? And it's going to take time. But if you just do it, like you said in your last podcast, I listen to it, you're disciplined, right?
00:35:01:13 - 00:35:26:21
Speaker 3
This just becomes part of discipline. And, you know, it'll do wonders for you. And so what I've done is I've actually taken the time to write these personal, heartfelt messages on that stained paper I sent, you know, and I burned it. And made it look old. And I sit down and I go to the to the store and I buy a $2 book and a pen, and I give it to them and I explain what I just explained to you.
00:35:26:21 - 00:35:45:25
Speaker 3
And I give them this heartfelt message. And now they want to want to do the dishes. Right now, they understand the value of using it, and they're going to use the book in the pen for the rest of their life, probably. But if I just say you will have a book and a pen because I said so. Yeah.
00:35:46:10 - 00:36:18:11
Speaker 3
Those days are gone, dude. Yeah. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Old guys, you know, I'm sorry. I'm talking to my own peer group. Yeah, like those days are gone because. Because she said so or because I said so. It doesn't work anymore. But if you just take a little bit of time to sit down and get to know people, figure out how you can craft a message in a way they can understand it, whether it's horse racing or football or something that like they're excited about, you know, you'll get buy in.
00:36:18:11 - 00:36:26:11
Speaker 3
And once you have that buy in, you know, that's where you start to build that trust with the with those people. And, you know, they'll they'll go to the end of the earth for you.
00:36:27:29 - 00:36:38:22
Speaker 2
I love the message and there's so many good points I want to take out of that. The first is, you know, every every Gen Z person on Earth needs to hear that message. You know, I'm saying.
00:36:39:16 - 00:36:40:24
Speaker 3
Because it just it.
00:36:40:25 - 00:36:50:01
Speaker 2
Does it speaks to, you know, because there is a Y behind the order or the request or whatever you want to call it the second.
00:36:50:01 - 00:36:50:19
Speaker 3
There's your what?
00:36:50:24 - 00:37:18:09
Speaker 2
Yeah. Yeah. The second thing is a man, parents need to hear it, you know. And the first thing I thought of when you said, y you know, when the kids say, why is my my middle son? You know what I mean? He's that y y yeah, a d misunderstood, always talking back, you know what I'm saying? But when I take the time to explain things to him and then it clicks finally and he's he's amazing, right?
00:37:18:27 - 00:37:38:03
Speaker 2
And so the book and the pen is just a great story that. I think I need to remind myself as a parent, Hey, I'm going to have to give him that. Why, if I want the best out of him, you know, instead of always just and I was I was raised by a military stepdad. So it was do what I say to do when I say to do it.
00:37:38:03 - 00:37:46:10
Speaker 2
And that's it. There is no y there is no, you know, mean investigation into this. Yeah. And so I think that's.
00:37:47:17 - 00:37:49:04
Speaker 3
Great because you told me to.
00:37:49:19 - 00:38:06:04
Speaker 2
Yeah, exactly. And look, you know, in some people will and we call them good employees and we call them good salespeople or whatever the case is, they will do it just because you said to do it. You know what I'm saying? But imagine what you can get out of them if they understood why, you know. And so because.
00:38:06:04 - 00:38:28:29
Speaker 3
You get the buy in that that once you have the buy in, that's where things really change. That's where you become you. You go from a boss to a leader, right? That's an important step. So like anybody can be a boss, like do what I say, because I said so. But when you when you move up to becoming a leader it's because you get buy in and you get buy in by taking time to talk and invest in people.
00:38:29:11 - 00:38:36:08
Speaker 3
But in this fast paced world, people don't want to take the time. And that's unfortunately that's the world we live in. Right?
00:38:37:19 - 00:39:03:12
Speaker 2
Absolutely. So I've got a few more things to cover before we wrap up. But, you know, the first thing is, is everybody talks about supporting the military and, you know, backing the military and, you know, waving their flag and everything. But, you know, very few chances do civilians like myself or business owners get the chance to actually serve our military and for serving us right.
00:39:03:12 - 00:39:29:00
Speaker 2
And so this is one of the ways I think we can you know, when you have that operator type position or business development, even sales manager or salesperson, you know, really start seeking out those military resumes because I think you'll find there's gold in them. And if you can if you can align their military training with the position that you have available, then it's it's it's going to be deadly for you.
00:39:29:00 - 00:39:47:16
Speaker 2
It's going to be highly profitable for you. And you'll have an opportunity to give back to our military, which has given us so much. So I just want to make sure that drive that last point home and then I'm going to put you on the spot. Robert, I asked all my guests this, and if you've only listened to my solo episode, you don't know about it.
00:39:47:27 - 00:40:00:13
Speaker 2
But at the end of every episode I ask him basically what his legacy means to you and what legacy do you want to leave behind?
00:40:00:13 - 00:40:29:23
Speaker 3
The legacy that I want to leave behind is somebody who who just helped people, help people get to where no matter what your goal was, you know what? Whether it's get your bachelor's degree or join the military or whatever, just like help you get to whatever that next level is. And I think to me the legacy is, are those people like that's those people when your name comes up, you know, in a gym or a coffee shop or whatever, and they're like, Man, that guy was awesome.
00:40:29:23 - 00:40:52:03
Speaker 3
You know, he stopped what he was doing. You know, I have people thank me all the time and like, I wouldn't have got my boat captain was it wasn't for you pushing me and helping me. And, you know, that's that's the legacy I want to leave behind. And to me, legacy is like what people say about you after you're gone, whether that's after you walk out the gate, you know, you leave the job or you pass away or whatever.
00:40:52:03 - 00:40:55:29
Speaker 3
But it's like the stuff that people will say about you after you're gone.
00:40:55:29 - 00:41:15:08
Speaker 2
I love it. And I think a lot of I think a lot of yours will come from that creative writing piece, whether you know it or not. You know, whether it's the rule of ten, the trust deposits or the book in the pen. You know, the book in the pen is just an amazing story that I think needs to be heard everywhere.
00:41:15:08 - 00:41:38:25
Speaker 2
And so I'm incredibly grateful that you came on the podcast today. You know, you're always nervous when you start a podcast as a host, whether or not you're going to be able to actually like exemplify who you're bringing on and the knowledge that they have and do them justice and everything. But I think we have today and you know, part of that is because you're a great communicator.
00:41:39:05 - 00:41:45:25
Speaker 2
So I feel like we were able to accomplish that today. So I appreciate you coming on, brother.
00:41:45:25 - 00:42:07:19
Speaker 3
Yeah, I appreciate you, too, Doug. And you know, you talked about like working. You were the first person that I was introduced to through this Honor Foundation. You know, you start like this and they kind of and you were the first person that like no military background, just, you know, Brenda saw a good link up and so like really kind of coming in cold.
00:42:08:03 - 00:42:27:12
Speaker 3
You took the call, you listened to what I had to say, and he gave me some good advice. And then you opened up your Rolodex and introduced me to Harry. And that's that's going well. Right. And I can tell you that my if I was standing on a ledge with one foot off, nervous about making this leap into the civilian world, I probably took like five steps back that day from the edge.
00:42:27:12 - 00:42:51:11
Speaker 3
You know, my anxiety levels, my worry, my stress. I felt like this overwhelming, like I'm going to be okay. And so, like, what can your what can the people in your line of work do is just take the call like and it may not be in solar panels, right? But it may a light bulb go off. You're like, hey, talk to my friend Christie or Jimmy or whoever, and just help these people find employment.
00:42:52:00 - 00:43:00:28
Speaker 3
It's it's huge, man. And I can't thank you enough for doing this. The call we had before, the connection with Harry, it's all awesome. And so thank you very much. Yeah.
00:43:00:28 - 00:43:04:22
Speaker 2
And well, hopefully we can get that hashtag trending to take the call.
00:43:05:23 - 00:43:06:29
Speaker 3
To take the call. All right.
00:43:07:00 - 00:43:27:26
Speaker 2
I did the post the other day. That's take the call. But whenever we put all this stuff out, we'll be sure to include that hashtag as well. But yeah, I couldn't agree more and it is, it's it's serving me just as much as it's, it's, it's serving you being able to give back to the military like that. And it is, it's just a phone call like it's, it's I do ten of them a day, you know what I mean?
00:43:27:26 - 00:43:37:06
Speaker 2
So if I can have one that makes an impact like this, I mean, honestly, it's almost it's it's almost selfish, you know, saying it really is self-serving at that.
00:43:37:12 - 00:43:48:08
Speaker 3
That's as far as part of your legacy, you know, like your legacy will live on through me. Like I'll talk, I'll say your name for the rest of my life. Like this guy, Doug. You know that that adds to your legacy.
00:43:48:21 - 00:43:56:20
Speaker 2
Absolutely, brother. Well, again, I appreciate you coming on the show. It was an honor having you on the show and look forward to seeing what you do from here.
00:43:57:18 - 00:43:59:03
Speaker 3
All right, man. Thanks, Doug. Have a good one.
00:43:59:04 - 00:44:07:16
Speaker 2
All right. Let's get building.
00:44:07:16 - 00:44:28:21
Speaker 1
Thank you for tuning into this episode of building great sales teams. Be sure to execute on what you just heard. And let's get building as always. Remember to subscribe and leave a review wherever you consume podcast. You can also head on over to building great sales teams dot com and sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date with everything that's going on with the podcast.
00:44:29:07 - 00:44:30:28
Speaker 1
See you next time.