Episode 251

full
Published on:

1st Nov 2023

Unveiling Sales Strategies for Success with Spencer Frazier

This week on the podcast, Brent sits down with Spencer Frazier, Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing at JB Hunt. They discuss Spencer’s career journey from starting at JB Hunt 31 years ago to now leading sales and marketing. Spencer outlines JB Hunt's diverse suite of transportation and logistics services and the customer-centric methodology the company uses. He shares his vision for the future of digitally-enabled sales and how technologies like AI can enhance productivity. Listeners gain insight into how JB Hunt partners with customers to solve complex supply chain problems through data-driven solutions and a collaborative approach focused on efficiency and value creation.

Transcript
Spencer Frazier:

From a competitive perspective, if we

Spencer Frazier:

don't create value, someone else will. From a competitive

Spencer Frazier:

perspective, if we're not the most efficient, someone is

Spencer Frazier:

always trying to beat it. And then we know if we're creating

Spencer Frazier:

that value, then our opportunity to continue to earn that

Spencer Frazier:

business from that customer as their business grows.

Brent Williams:

Welcome to the Be Epic podcast, brought to you

Brent Williams:

by the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of

Brent Williams:

Arkansas. I'm your host, Brent Williams. Together, we'll

Brent Williams:

explore the dynamic landscape of business, and uncover the

Brent Williams:

strategies, insights and stories that drive business today. Well,

Brent Williams:

today, I have with me, Spencer Frazier. Spencer is Executive

Brent Williams:

Vice President of Sales and Marketing at JB Hunt. Spencer,

Brent Williams:

welcome, and thank you for being here today.

Spencer Frazier:

Hey, Brent, thanks for having me on campus

Spencer Frazier:

again. Love being here, being here with you. And looking

Spencer Frazier:

forward to our conversation.

Brent Williams:

Well, me too. And you've been a wonderful

Brent Williams:

partner of the Walton College for many years, you personally.

Brent Williams:

But even more broadly, JB Hunt, it's really been a special

Brent Williams:

relationship.

Brent Williams:

Well, I agree. Same, same for me. Well, you

Spencer Frazier:

It has. Yeah. Yeah and it's something I think

Spencer Frazier:

that has been unique for quite a while, we've got a lot of alumni

Spencer Frazier:

know, you mentioned a couple of things that maybe I'll start

Spencer Frazier:

in our organization, at all levels, and we look forward to

Spencer Frazier:

continuing that pipeline of talent coming to join our team.

Spencer Frazier:

But also just, you know, I didn't grow up here. I didn't

Spencer Frazier:

graduate from the University of Arkansas. But it's really been

Spencer Frazier:

an honor to be able to participate. And really learn

Spencer Frazier:

alongside you on how we can help students and really help our

Spencer Frazier:

organization continue to grow by making that connection stronger.

Spencer Frazier:

So it's really been a privilege to be a part of it.

Spencer Frazier:

with, well, first, you've been in this role of Executive Vice

Spencer Frazier:

President leading Sales and Marketing for I think, right

Spencer Frazier:

about a year at this point. But But you've been with JB Hunt for

Spencer Frazier:

basically your entire career

Spencer Frazier:

Pretty much.

Brent Williams:

And maybe just start there with us just a

Brent Williams:

little bit about your career journey. And then we'll kind of

Brent Williams:

get into where you're at today.

Spencer Frazier:

Yeah, you bet. Well, I started JB Hunt 31 years

Spencer Frazier:

ago, a little more than that. Prior to that, I did go to Iowa

Spencer Frazier:

State, grew up in Iowa, and went to the business college there

Spencer Frazier:

and got my degree in transportation and logistics.

Spencer Frazier:

And that kind of was interesting how all that came about. But

Spencer Frazier:

going to the Career Center and looking at opportunities and

Spencer Frazier:

different things. As I was trying to figure out what to do

Spencer Frazier:

as a student. It really stood out as opportunities for high

Spencer Frazier:

placement and also high salary. And so as the as a young student

Spencer Frazier:

saying, okay, that looks pretty appealing. I don't know

Spencer Frazier:

everything about it, but I'm going to try to figure it out

Spencer Frazier:

and finished up at Iowa State in 1992. But I'll say this little

Spencer Frazier:

did I know, I was destined for Arkansas. And I'd never been to

Spencer Frazier:

Arkansas. But I had two job offers when I finished. One of

Spencer Frazier:

them was Walmart. The other was JB Hunt. And they were three

Spencer Frazier:

days apart.

Brent Williams:

Really?

Spencer Frazier:

JB Hunt was first. And as a young kid with a

Spencer Frazier:

few student loans and things like that. I said yes,

Spencer Frazier:

immediately. And, you know, Walmart called later and I said,

Spencer Frazier:

well, sorry, I can't I can't do that. I've already accepted a

Spencer Frazier:

job of JB Hunt. And so I was on my way to Arkansas, and got to

Spencer Frazier:

start in the management training program. And that was an

Spencer Frazier:

interesting thing at the time, that we got to rotate through

Spencer Frazier:

all the departments in the organization, and learn the

Spencer Frazier:

business because if you were working in billing, you would

Spencer Frazier:

teach me that job for maybe a few days or a week. And then

Spencer Frazier:

you'd go on vacation, and then I would do your job and try not to

Spencer Frazier:

mess it up. By the time you got back. And so we got to go

Spencer Frazier:

through all different parts of the organization even work in

Spencer Frazier:

the shop and drive a truck, go through our driver training

Spencer Frazier:

school, which was great. And then we got our first real job.

Spencer Frazier:

My first real job was working night planning trucks, matching

Spencer Frazier:

trucks and loads from 5pm to 6am. And that was Thursday,

Spencer Frazier:

Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Brent Williams:

Wow.

Spencer Frazier:

And so needless to say through that program, and

Spencer Frazier:

I'll even say I'll put a plug in for anyone that works at night

Spencer Frazier:

or anyone that has an opportunity to especially

Spencer Frazier:

weekends. That's a fast track to learning.

Brent Williams:

Absolutely.

Spencer Frazier:

Because your resources are limited. And you

Spencer Frazier:

have to rely on each other as a team. And you really have to

Spencer Frazier:

kind of figure things out, but got to be in an operational role

Spencer Frazier:

after that in both our truck line and then had the

Spencer Frazier:

opportunity to go into intermodal, intermodal was still

Spencer Frazier:

in its infancy, so to speak, we started that 1989. About around

Spencer Frazier:

I think it was 94 ish, is when I got to start in intermodal,

Spencer Frazier:

doing similar things, making sure that we were coordinating

Spencer Frazier:

all of our shipments for our customers, meeting their

Spencer Frazier:

expectations. And so operationally, and then I've had

Spencer Frazier:

a few people say that maybe I'd be good in sales. I was

Spencer Frazier:

interested in that. And talked to quite a few folks in the

Spencer Frazier:

organization about it. And I had my first sales job in 1995. And

Spencer Frazier:

had a territory and Ford Taurus and a bagged phone and Rand

Spencer Frazier:

McNally Atlas, and worked on my pipeline and tried closing deals

Spencer Frazier:

then. So that's kind of how everything started.

Brent Williams:

How awesome. And so 31 years later, or I guess,

Brent Williams:

30 years later, you entered into this role leading sales and

Brent Williams:

marketing. And as you said, you've had quite a career in

Brent Williams:

sales. But maybe tell us a little bit. I don't want to

Brent Williams:

assume that, I know JB Hunt so well, that I can forget that,

Brent Williams:

you know, maybe some of our listeners don't fully understand

Brent Williams:

the scope of services, what your mission is. And then, you know,

Brent Williams:

what are you focused on in this role?

Spencer Frazier:

Yeah, well, the organization today, let's call

Spencer Frazier:

it around a $14 billion organization, 35,000 people,

Spencer Frazier:

around 24,000 of those are drivers. And then when you think

Spencer Frazier:

about the services that we provide, think of supply chain

Spencer Frazier:

solutions, transportation services, for the first mile of

Spencer Frazier:

a supply chain could even be international, different things

Spencer Frazier:

at the port, as well as kind of a middle mile things from

Spencer Frazier:

production to distribution, intercompany shipments and then

Spencer Frazier:

the final mile. And that's even from point of distribution all

Spencer Frazier:

the way to your home, coming in and do an installation of

Spencer Frazier:

equipment and home appliances, furniture, exercise equipment,

Spencer Frazier:

big things like that.

Brent Williams:

Yeah,

Spencer Frazier:

Yeah so our business is set up with five

Spencer Frazier:

business units.

Brent Williams:

Okay.

Spencer Frazier:

And I've had the privilege of working in four

Spencer Frazier:

of the five, in operational and or sales and sales support

Spencer Frazier:

roles. And so our history is of JB Hunt trucking, so our truck

Spencer Frazier:

line as you would expect picking up shipments from kind of

Spencer Frazier:

Chicago to Dallas or Atlanta to Philly or things like that,

Spencer Frazier:

moving truckload shipments. That's one business unit. We

Spencer Frazier:

also have, the biggest is our intermodal business unit. Very

Spencer Frazier:

innovative when Mr. Hunt and Mike Haverty from the Santa Fe

Spencer Frazier:

started that in 1989, a very unique relationship with the

Spencer Frazier:

BNSF today, also our other railroad partners, the CSX,

Spencer Frazier:

Norfolk Southern and others. And so that's our biggest business

Spencer Frazier:

unit, significant opportunities to drive efficiency into the

Spencer Frazier:

supply chain there. And then another strong and powerful and

Spencer Frazier:

really fast growing business is our dedicated contract services.

Spencer Frazier:

And that's more private fleet creation, private fleet

Spencer Frazier:

management. And that's where the majority of our drivers are

Spencer Frazier:

really doing hard, complicated work, hauling anything from feed

Spencer Frazier:

to animals to retail distribution to food, delivery,

Spencer Frazier:

and construction delivery and different things like that. And

Spencer Frazier:

then our final mile services, which is the one where we're

Spencer Frazier:

coming into your house, likely taken out your washer and dryer

Spencer Frazier:

for maybe a major retailer that you'd purchase that from,

Spencer Frazier:

integrated retail and point of delivery scheduling, operations,

Spencer Frazier:

and then providing the installation and making sure

Spencer Frazier:

that you have a good experience that represents that brand. And

Spencer Frazier:

then our last one is ICS. And that's our logistics and

Spencer Frazier:

brokerage business that really complements all of those, but on

Spencer Frazier:

its own is something that can provide really any type of

Spencer Frazier:

capacity for any type of shipment. And from a third party

Spencer Frazier:

perspective, leverages our tech that we've invested into in a

Spencer Frazier:

big, big way. So when you think of all those five business units

Spencer Frazier:

and where we're at at, JB Hunt's a big organization, but

Spencer Frazier:

relatively small related to the market that we play in. So say

Spencer Frazier:

around 14 billion, we play in a $645 billion market, highly

Spencer Frazier:

fragmented. But that presents a tremendous opportunity for us to

Spencer Frazier:

execute our mission. And our mission is to create the most

Spencer Frazier:

efficient transportation network in North America.

Brent Williams:

Well, and you know, something you just said,

Brent Williams:

is, is really one of the main things I want to talk about with

Brent Williams:

you, you know, you said, you want to solve problems or, you

Brent Williams:

know, for for your customers, and with all the different

Brent Williams:

services that JB Hunt offers, you've got the ability to take a

Brent Williams:

full suite of services to a customer, and help them solve

Brent Williams:

their transportation, logistics, and supply chain problems. And,

Brent Williams:

you know, but maybe I kind of wanted to narrow in on sales and

Brent Williams:

your thought about sales. When I look at our students, and you

Brent Williams:

know, the Walton College fairly well, you know, we'll have

Brent Williams:

roughly this fall 8,000 undergraduate students and, you

Brent Williams:

know, probably 600 or so, graduates.

Spencer Frazier:

That's fantastic too.

Brent Williams:

It's been wonderful growth. And it's been

Brent Williams:

wonderful to see those students get great jobs and succeed, and

Brent Williams:

that that's really why we're here. Many of them land in some

Brent Williams:

sales oriented role, whether they intended to necessarily or

Brent Williams:

not. And, you know, sometimes I think, I wonder if there's a

Brent Williams:

understanding of what sales really is, you know, and I

Brent Williams:

always see you start with the customer when you talk sales. So

Brent Williams:

just wondering kind of your whole perspective on what sales

Brent Williams:

actually is and how you go about it?

Spencer Frazier:

Yeah, well, that's a big question. Yeah. But

Brent Williams:

Yeah, that's right.

Spencer Frazier:

Yeah. So I just believe in life, everyone's in

Spencer Frazier:

I'll tell you this. I don't think people realize it. But

Spencer Frazier:

everyone's in sales. Everyone is in sales. And even from a

Spencer Frazier:

sales. And so sales, to me is something to where, again, you

Spencer Frazier:

business perspective, or a personal perspective, everyone

Spencer Frazier:

is in sales. And what I mean by that, whether, from when you're

Spencer Frazier:

growing up to where you're at, as a student today, or in the

Spencer Frazier:

professional workspace, all of us are doing things where we

Spencer Frazier:

have to ask for something where we have to influence others, we

Spencer Frazier:

have to make recommendations, we have to encourage, we have to

Spencer Frazier:

solve problems. And to me, that encompasses sales. And so the

Spencer Frazier:

the influence and the opportunity, and again, whether

Spencer Frazier:

that's personally or with your family, and it goes up down and

Spencer Frazier:

sideways to there's no hierarchical aspect to that.

Spencer Frazier:

have the opportunity to think about who you're for, what

Spencer Frazier:

you're trying to do to help, whether that's an individual or

Spencer Frazier:

an organization, and then really trying to come up with the best

Spencer Frazier:

ways to influence and solve. And then with that solution, you

Spencer Frazier:

know, ask for business. And so I do believe that that's something

Spencer Frazier:

that, you know, people might think of sales as, yeah, and put

Spencer Frazier:

it into one functional little area.

Brent Williams:

Yeah.

Spencer Frazier:

But inside our organization today, I mean,

Spencer Frazier:

there's people at this very moment, who are in a meeting,

Spencer Frazier:

who are making a presentation that don't have a sales title,

Spencer Frazier:

but they're making some recommendation, some suggestion,

Spencer Frazier:

they're trying to get influence and understanding from the room

Spencer Frazier:

that they're in and then collaborate to solve an issue or

Spencer Frazier:

a problem.

Brent Williams:

Well, I couldn't agree more with you. You are

Brent Williams:

right, each of us no matter what our role is, what no matter what

Brent Williams:

function we sit in, we are influencing on behalf of our

Brent Williams:

organization, and often on behalf of our constituents, in

Brent Williams:

my case, or customers in your case, and you said something

Brent Williams:

that, that I think was very important, I don't remember

Brent Williams:

exactly how you just said it, but it made me think about seek

Brent Williams:

to understand first you know, and so as you you know, build

Brent Williams:

and lead sales teams, you know, how do you as you're going in to

Brent Williams:

help customers solve problems. What how do you go about that

Brent Williams:

and how do you help people understand why it's so important

Brent Williams:

to understand and listen first?

Spencer Frazier:

Yeah, well, I'll I'll kind of dig into this

Brent Williams:

Okay.

Spencer Frazier:

And so CVD for short. And there's really five

Spencer Frazier:

one a little bit more specific to JB Hunt. And so at JB Hunt,

Spencer Frazier:

really the way that we talk about going to market, also the

Spencer Frazier:

components of that. And you said, seek to understand, well

Spencer Frazier:

way that from a sell side of solution design and an

Spencer Frazier:

execution, we have a methodology that we call customer value delivery.

Spencer Frazier:

understand is the very first part. And so I'll give you all

Spencer Frazier:

five real quick. And then we can talk about different things. So

Spencer Frazier:

the five components of CVD, and you can kind of think of this in

Spencer Frazier:

a wheel, think of this as a continuous process. But we want

Spencer Frazier:

to understand what the customer needs. We want to understand and

Spencer Frazier:

collaborate with them strategically, then to deliver a

Spencer Frazier:

solution that creates value for them. And then, after delivering

Spencer Frazier:

that solution, we always want to measure it, what were their

Spencer Frazier:

expectations? What were ours, what were the assumptions that

Spencer Frazier:

we had built those expectations on? Are those assumptions true

Spencer Frazier:

in reality? Are we hitting the performance that we needed to?

Spencer Frazier:

So we want to understand, we want to deliver, we want to

Spencer Frazier:

measure all the time. Data is so important. And then we want to

Spencer Frazier:

have this regular cadence of communication. And that can be

Spencer Frazier:

in the moment always, but also, regular cadence that just shares

Spencer Frazier:

whether it's weekly business reviews, monthly, quarterly

Spencer Frazier:

annual business reviews, and we bring in other stakeholders and

Spencer Frazier:

decision makers that were a part of that, and share how we're

Spencer Frazier:

doing together. So did we understand? Do we still

Spencer Frazier:

understand are we delivering? Are we measuring appropriately,

Spencer Frazier:

are we communicating in a regular fashion, and then we

Spencer Frazier:

have this last part that's very, very important, is trying to

Spencer Frazier:

anticipate what's next, anticipate what the other

Spencer Frazier:

challenges might be or opportunities. And then you flip

Spencer Frazier:

back into, okay, now we're in this deep understanding phase

Spencer Frazier:

again. So you can think of that as a continuous flow of customer

Spencer Frazier:

value delivery, but the customers in the center. And

Spencer Frazier:

everything we do, we're trying to create value for that

Spencer Frazier:

customer, for the individual to hit their objectives for the

Spencer Frazier:

organization, and go back to our mission, if we're doing that in

Spencer Frazier:

the most efficient way, then we feel like our value proposition

Spencer Frazier:

is strong, or relationships can be very strong. And then the

Spencer Frazier:

opportunity to continue with that client goes on so.

Brent Williams:

Well, and you know, when we when we teach and

Brent Williams:

talk about sales here, you know, one thing we're very focused on

Brent Williams:

is how do we create value for others? You know, and I think

Brent Williams:

you said, the customers at the center, you're always focused on

Brent Williams:

creating value, just as you're thinking about, let's say, a

Brent Williams:

student here, and you're explaining like, well, why would

Brent Williams:

that be my focus of creating value for someone else rather

Brent Williams:

than myself?

Spencer Frazier:

Yeah, well, and I will say, okay, we are a

Spencer Frazier:

business. In business, we do invest. To invest, we have to

Spencer Frazier:

make money.

Brent Williams:

Absolutely.

Spencer Frazier:

Yeah. And we invest in really kind of three

Spencer Frazier:

key areas, our people, our technology, and our capacity.

Spencer Frazier:

But we do that, again, with the focus of being the most

Spencer Frazier:

efficient that we can. And with that, we know if we create that

Spencer Frazier:

value, then we're gonna grow. And so, to me, it's kind of all

Spencer Frazier:

laced together in the fact that we have to if, from a

Spencer Frazier:

competitive perspective, if we don't create value, someone else

Spencer Frazier:

will. From a competitive perspective, if we're not the

Spencer Frazier:

most efficient, someone is always trying to be.

Brent Williams:

Yeah.

Spencer Frazier:

And then we know, if we're creating that

Brent Williams:

Yeah.

Brent Williams:

value, then our opportunity to continue to earn that business

Brent Williams:

from that customer as their business grows, to earn more of

Spencer Frazier:

There's multiple services inside each

Spencer Frazier:

their share of spend, to be able to solve and add different

Spencer Frazier:

solutions, because I want to say this too, in that understand

Spencer Frazier:

phase, I really don't care what a customer buys. Now, I said

Spencer Frazier:

we've got five distinct business units.

Spencer Frazier:

one of those. But we know if we understand the customer

Spencer Frazier:

appropriately, we get synched up on the strategy that where we

Spencer Frazier:

can add value. And we provide a great experience through that

Spencer Frazier:

whole CVD process, then we know okay, our opportunity to

Spencer Frazier:

continue to create new solutions with other services or other

Spencer Frazier:

things over time, continues to be there. So that's really why

Spencer Frazier:

that customer value is so important.

Brent Williams:

That focus on customer, creating value for the

Brent Williams:

customer ultimately means that that that value is going to

Brent Williams:

accrue to you and the company in the long run.

Spencer Frazier:

Yeah, yeah. And we know as well, then we can

Spencer Frazier:

continue to invest in those things and continue to solve for

Spencer Frazier:

more customers. And again, go back to that mission of the most

Spencer Frazier:

efficient transportation network in North America, the more that

Spencer Frazier:

we are able to connect, and really think about this, too.

Spencer Frazier:

Yes, we're a big organization. But we have customers that might

Spencer Frazier:

do one or two shipments a month, very small. So micro small

Spencer Frazier:

businesses, medium, large, other strategic, so we kind of have

Spencer Frazier:

the whole portfolio you have, and there's lots of opportunity

Spencer Frazier:

to expand in that. And, and so, in that whole thought process of

Spencer Frazier:

focusing on the customer, we want to really try to meet them

Spencer Frazier:

where they are, and know regardless of size.

Brent Williams:

And so customers are often in a very different

Brent Williams:

place. You know, as, as we've talked before, you know, the

Brent Williams:

supply chain, any customer supply chain, and then the

Brent Williams:

overall web of supply chains, if you want to put it that way, is

Brent Williams:

complicated, complex, and at times delicate, you know, in

Brent Williams:

certain ways. And I feel like we saw that, or, you know, the

Brent Williams:

public really probably saw that and became acutely aware of it

Brent Williams:

during COVID. But, you know, that's still the case in certain

Brent Williams:

ways. When you when you go to a customer, and helping them solve

Brent Williams:

complicated problems, you have to bring a team with a pretty

Brent Williams:

diverse set of background and expertise to the table along

Brent Williams:

with probably that same type of team from the customer. How do

Brent Williams:

you go about assembling the right sets of talent on your

Brent Williams:

team to do that?

Spencer Frazier:

Yeah, well, that's a, that's a really good

Spencer Frazier:

question I do also want to talk about from a team perspective. I

Spencer Frazier:

view every one is in sales. But another thing that we talk about

Spencer Frazier:

is sales is a team sport. It is and so no one at JB Hunt has a

Spencer Frazier:

monopoly on the best ideas all the time. No one. But

Spencer Frazier:

collectively, and this is really where it kind of goes back to

Spencer Frazier:

our culture. And really our culture of inclusion, our

Spencer Frazier:

culture of really seeking out and making sure that every

Spencer Frazier:

person at JB Hunt, you know, has a voice that we hear them. But

Spencer Frazier:

going right to the customer, we know, on the sell side, we're

Spencer Frazier:

sitting there, and we've got an opportunity to create a

Spencer Frazier:

solution. And there are several that are pretty straightforward.

Spencer Frazier:

And I might be the seller, and you might be in my pricing team.

Spencer Frazier:

And I might work with you. And we say, okay, hey, we've got

Spencer Frazier:

something that we think can create value for both

Spencer Frazier:

organizations, I might bounce that off of our operations team

Spencer Frazier:

just to get their nod on it. And then we present that back to the

Spencer Frazier:

customer and see when we can start. But there are there are

Spencer Frazier:

others that you know, every customer is different. And so we

Spencer Frazier:

have a lot of opportunities in our organization from our

Spencer Frazier:

engineering teams. And by the way, they are some of our best

Spencer Frazier:

sellers. They don't have a sales title.

Brent Williams:

Yeah.

Spencer Frazier:

But really taking the opportunity to

Spencer Frazier:

understand the customer's data, work with the customer to not

Spencer Frazier:

just understand the data, but the realities of the operation.

Spencer Frazier:

At the dock level, even at the order level. Those engineers do

Spencer Frazier:

a wonderful job working with our sales team. And then when you

Spencer Frazier:

think about the complex deals, you also want to bring your

Spencer Frazier:

operations team along that's going to be executing on the

Spencer Frazier:

customer's behalf to meet those expectations. And make sure

Spencer Frazier:

we've got everything correct. And I'll say this. On the sales

Spencer Frazier:

side, you know, you talk about one of the things you have to

Spencer Frazier:

ask or do as a seller, you have to ask for the business.

Brent Williams:

Yeah.

Spencer Frazier:

So you have to close the deal. That's what

Spencer Frazier:

people talk about. I'll say that our operations teams are our

Spencer Frazier:

closers.

Brent Williams:

Interesting.

Spencer Frazier:

And so in those complex deals, I might share

Spencer Frazier:

with you the customer. Hey, Brent, here's how we're going to

Spencer Frazier:

execute on this business. This is what I heard from you. Here's

Spencer Frazier:

kind of the data that we looked at, the strategy that we

Spencer Frazier:

collaborated on, to put the solution on the table. But my

Spencer Frazier:

operator sitting next to me is not going to say what we're

Spencer Frazier:

going to do, they're going to say how we're going to do it and

Spencer Frazier:

the instant credibility comes right there, from the customer

Spencer Frazier:

that says, Okay, now I trust you, we will help our sellers

Spencer Frazier:

try to navigate based on each individual opportunity, we are

Spencer Frazier:

very solution focused. So it's very customized on each,

Spencer Frazier:

wherever customer, wherever they are, and what they need. And we

Spencer Frazier:

want to try to meet them where they're at, regardless of size.

Spencer Frazier:

So we'll rally a big team like that. Or we could have something

Spencer Frazier:

as simple that maybe in your spot in your business, you might

Spencer Frazier:

have seen an email or some marketing from our team, and

Spencer Frazier:

said, Oh, JB Hunt can do that. I need that today. And you might

Spencer Frazier:

do a self service, sign up on JB Hunt 360, get a quote, and

Spencer Frazier:

execute your shipment. And you might not talk to anyone.

Brent Williams:

Yeah.

Spencer Frazier:

Might not talk to anybody might not need a

Spencer Frazier:

salesperson. But down the road, you might need some support,

Spencer Frazier:

because you have a further question. And we'll meet you

Spencer Frazier:

there too.

Brent Williams:

You know, a couple of things that that you

Brent Williams:

said, One, talking about investment technology made me

Brent Williams:

think about the future of sales. You know, and I just wondered

Brent Williams:

from your perspective, sitting in, you know, sitting in your

Brent Williams:

role where you're, you're leading sales and marketing in

Brent Williams:

JB Hunt, but you're seeing so many customers, you know, and

Brent Williams:

what they're trying to accomplish strategically, and

Brent Williams:

you're interacting with them. How do you see sales evolving in

Spencer Frazier:

Yeah. Yeah, it's going to be a lot of fun.

Spencer Frazier:

the future?

Spencer Frazier:

So I do love sales. I love representing our company and our

Spencer Frazier:

team. And when you think about in the past, say back when I

Spencer Frazier:

first started, say the decade after that, even the decade

Spencer Frazier:

after that, sales has always been very relational. Very

Spencer Frazier:

one-on-one conversations, a lot of in person discussions, and

Spencer Frazier:

really trying to come up with, again, what's that solution that

Spencer Frazier:

can meet a customer's needs. But doing that, basically, in a

Spencer Frazier:

very, kind of high touch way. I still believe that's going to be

Spencer Frazier:

the case in the future.

Brent Williams:

Okay.

Spencer Frazier:

But I'm gonna say it this way, I think the

Spencer Frazier:

future of sales is going to be both digital, and personal. So

Spencer Frazier:

go back to that people you trust comment I made a minute ago.

Spencer Frazier:

People buy from people that they trust, relationships are still

Spencer Frazier:

very important. Now, can you do that sometimes in a very digital

Spencer Frazier:

way? Absolutely too, you can. And so I think, as we're really

Spencer Frazier:

looking around the corner into the next few years, we're

Spencer Frazier:

already looking at our sales tech stack. And you know, today

Spencer Frazier:

we're using Adobe, from a marketing perspective, content

Spencer Frazier:

management, we're using Marketo, as part of helping us manage our

Spencer Frazier:

content and contacts, and really helping us get in touch with new

Spencer Frazier:

potential customers. All of that, in addition to another

Spencer Frazier:

part of our tech zoom info, and trying to understand potential

Spencer Frazier:

buyers and buyer intent. And then connecting all of that to

Spencer Frazier:

our CRM, which is currently Microsoft Dynamics. And the

Spencer Frazier:

opportunities inside the Microsoft platform. And in all

Spencer Frazier:

of that, is to leverage the opportunity of AI generative AI

Spencer Frazier:

language learning models, to automate and present things to

Spencer Frazier:

our sellers in a way that makes them more insightful, more

Spencer Frazier:

impactful, more efficient. So even going back to our mission,

Brent Williams:

Yeah.

Spencer Frazier:

And so I think the future is really where the

Spencer Frazier:

automation comes in that digital side, but also, that AI becomes

Spencer Frazier:

personal to me, the seller. And so the seller that can really

Spencer Frazier:

embrace that, embrace that change and say, Okay, I want to

Spencer Frazier:

be a part of making this better. I want to be a part of helping

Spencer Frazier:

these models become more predictive, automated and

Spencer Frazier:

efficient to help me focus my time that, okay, I've got all

Spencer Frazier:

these things to do but based on where I'm at with this sales

Spencer Frazier:

cycle and this client and this opportunity. This is the

Spencer Frazier:

recommended task that I should do next. And then not only in

Spencer Frazier:

that recommendation, serve up to me some of the content, some of

Spencer Frazier:

the best ways to respond, that can really save me time and make

Spencer Frazier:

me more efficient. And now I still have to personalize that.

Spencer Frazier:

So that's where there's eyes on, there's hands on that, and then

Spencer Frazier:

to personalize it, and then leverage that in my conversation

Spencer Frazier:

with the customer, either online or in person. So I think the

Spencer Frazier:

seller of the future is the one who's going to embrace that

Spencer Frazier:

technology, to help them in their productivity, and also

Spencer Frazier:

their customer responses, the solutions we create, and I think

Spencer Frazier:

they'll be very, very successful. So it's really,

Spencer Frazier:

really exciting about what's coming up.

Brent Williams:

It is exciting to think about how technology

Brent Williams:

like AI can improve productivity, and allow people,

Brent Williams:

both for the seller and the buyer, to use their skills at a

Brent Williams:

higher level than they ever could before. So I personally

Brent Williams:

think that's maybe the most exciting thing about how

Brent Williams:

technology is going to unlock the future. So I love I love

Brent Williams:

your your point about the future of sales is still personal. And

Brent Williams:

at the same time digital. You know, and as you were saying

Brent Williams:

that it made me think about your customers. So I guess as, as the

Brent Williams:

sales team, you have to help that customer get comfortable, I

Brent Williams:

would assume but you also said contribute, contribute, and

Brent Williams:

maybe maybe didn't use that word. But that's the way I took

Brent Williams:

it was that they've got to be committed to helping make this

Brent Williams:

process better as well.

Spencer Frazier:

Yeah, I think that both from the way that we

Spencer Frazier:

work on solutions with the customer. So we want to have

Spencer Frazier:

data driven, insightful, but collaborative strategies that we

Spencer Frazier:

work with them on. And so again, there might be a little bit

Spencer Frazier:

different experience on kind of the maybe the smaller or other

Spencer Frazier:

self serve type customers, we want to do that through our tech

Spencer Frazier:

platform. We want to empower them to run their business in a

Spencer Frazier:

way that maybe they can't today through insights and visibility,

Spencer Frazier:

and access to information. But if you go back upstream to maybe

Spencer Frazier:

some of the more complex or strategic relationships that we

Spencer Frazier:

have, that's a very collaborative process to where

Spencer Frazier:

we want to create a roadmap jointly with our customers, a

Spencer Frazier:

mutually agreed to strategy that has goals and very high

Spencer Frazier:

expectations. But if we achieve those expectations, the

Spencer Frazier:

opportunity for us to achieve our goals together is pretty

Spencer Frazier:

significant.

Brent Williams:

Spencer, maybe kind of double click on data for

Brent Williams:

just for just a moment. You and I have been working together for

Brent Williams:

10 or 11 years. And I remember in early conversations, how

Brent Williams:

important the sharing of data was a decade ago. And it seems

Brent Williams:

like it's going to become maybe even more important in the

Brent Williams:

future, if we're really going to leverage these technologies. Am

Brent Williams:

I right? Or do you see that differently?

Spencer Frazier:

No, I, you're 100%. Right. But from really the

Spencer Frazier:

solution part, when you think about getting data that our

Spencer Frazier:

customers have? Well, one of the things and you know, in this

Spencer Frazier:

college, you really talk about the impact of forecasting and

Spencer Frazier:

planning and, and how all that comes together and really trying

Spencer Frazier:

to understand demand from a customer perspective. It's still

Spencer Frazier:

really hard, right, especially over the last few years, and

Spencer Frazier:

then the impacts of missing that by a little bit whether it's

Spencer Frazier:

missing sales, or having too much inventory. Our customers

Spencer Frazier:

have a hard, hard job. But trying to work with them to

Spencer Frazier:

understand, okay, what can we settle in on from a data

Spencer Frazier:

perspective that allows us to then look through and optimize

Spencer Frazier:

for them the best combined solution and give them things to

Spencer Frazier:

think about that? Maybe they haven't in the past? And one of

Spencer Frazier:

the biggest ones goes back to leveraging data to see what can

Spencer Frazier:

convert from the highway to intermodal in our world, and

Spencer Frazier:

that's the most efficient, most cost effective, most

Spencer Frazier:

sustainable, executing and really having 60% less of a

Spencer Frazier:

carbon impact, moving it on the train versus on a truck. And so,

Spencer Frazier:

a lot of customers we have to kind of talk through okay, well,

Spencer Frazier:

did you know this opportunity exists? And even try to expand

Spencer Frazier:

their thinking of maybe they are doing some of that business

Spencer Frazier:

today. But our network is changing the way that our teams

Spencer Frazier:

are executing with our railroads is changing. And we think we can

Spencer Frazier:

expand their view of that market in a big, big way. So that takes

Spencer Frazier:

a lot of data. And also takes then go from back to the

Spencer Frazier:

personal, developing a lot of trust in our execution. Because

Spencer Frazier:

there's been some challenges in that network in the past. But so

Spencer Frazier:

whether you're talking about that type of conversion, or

Spencer Frazier:

optimization of a fleet, that allows a customer to see, hey,

Spencer Frazier:

we think we could run your fleet a little bit more efficiently,

Spencer Frazier:

covering the same number of shipments with maybe a few less

Spencer Frazier:

trucks, handling the variability of that challenge of forecasting

Spencer Frazier:

a little bit differently than they do today. That creates a

Spencer Frazier:

more efficient answer. So that's kind of how all that comes

Spencer Frazier:

together on the front end, but data is so important, and then

Spencer Frazier:

how we present that back, we want to give them the

Spencer Frazier:

opportunity to visualize that solution.

Spencer Frazier:

And then coming down the road is even their

Brent Williams:

Okay.

Brent Williams:

opportunity to maybe click the parts of that that makes sense

Brent Williams:

for them today. Go back to the other part of data on execution.

Brent Williams:

One of the best parts about a quarterly business review that

Brent Williams:

we do is our customers continue to ask us today. Okay, well,

Brent Williams:

what do we need to do to be better for JB Hunt? For your

Brent Williams:

drivers? How can we help you become more efficient to help us

Brent Williams:

become more efficient? Great questions. And one of the things

Brent Williams:

that we do, talk about going digital and personal, is we take

Brent Williams:

data that crowdsources the experience of drivers at our

Brent Williams:

customers dock, okay. And we share the comments, we share the

Brent Williams:

reviews. And so there could be all kinds of KPIs and high level

Brent Williams:

service metrics and other things. But when you get down to

Brent Williams:

how does someone feel when they come in and work with my team at

Brent Williams:

my location? Customers are highly interested in that. That

Brent Williams:

makes it personal. And they know again, still a people business.

Brent Williams:

They want to make sure that they're doing the right things.

Brent Williams:

They're rewarding people on their team. They're providing a

Brent Williams:

great experience, and then coaching others that maybe

Brent Williams:

aren't. And then there are economic impacts of both of

Brent Williams:

those that we can share information to.

Brent Williams:

Because there's certainly cost to serve

Brent Williams:

implications on that I assume?

Spencer Frazier:

That's exactly right. So again, as a seller,

Spencer Frazier:

you can talk about the sales enablement part that I shared a

Spencer Frazier:

little bit ago. But now you can talk about this buyer

Spencer Frazier:

enablement, part of leveraging data, thinking about in solution

Spencer Frazier:

creation, and really that design and delivery, and then going

Spencer Frazier:

into that communication of the personal experience down the

Spencer Frazier:

road. And again, as a seller, that's all part of our, our

Spencer Frazier:

world, so.

Brent Williams:

Well, digitally enabled sales of the future, or

Brent Williams:

the growth of digitally enabled sales is is quite exciting. And

Brent Williams:

isn't it fun to be in, in a role and field that is constantly

Brent Williams:

changing? And where you have to learn and adapt every single

Brent Williams:

day?

Spencer Frazier:

Yeah, it really is. And I'll tell you, one of

Spencer Frazier:

the best parts about our business is we can always be a

Spencer Frazier:

student of business. And we get to work with so many different

Spencer Frazier:

customers. And we get to see how they do their business, how they

Spencer Frazier:

take care of their teams, what their focused on is, their

Spencer Frazier:

mission, their priorities, and get to learn quite a bit of both

Spencer Frazier:

from strategic all the way strategic planning down to day

Spencer Frazier:

to day execution. And so it really is a lot of fun. And it's

Spencer Frazier:

a great opportunity to just to continue to learn.

Brent Williams:

Absolutely. You know, as, as we conclude, maybe

Brent Williams:

just, you know, I've got 8000ish undergraduate students, and you

Brent Williams:

speak regularly I know maybe even every single semester on

Brent Williams:

our campus, about leadership. And so maybe a little bit about

Brent Williams:

your style of leadership. And then when you're in the

Brent Williams:

classroom, what what's the advice that you give that 21, 22

Brent Williams:

year old, like really looking at, you know, what's my future

Brent Williams:

gonna look like and how do I make my impact?

Spencer Frazier:

That's a good question. I'll maybe use two

Spencer Frazier:

words here, from a leadership perspective, you talk about my

Spencer Frazier:

style. I don't know you'd have to ask people I work with, but

Spencer Frazier:

something I've always tried to focus on is really how can I

Spencer Frazier:

serve? How can I help? Even going all the way back to

Spencer Frazier:

working nights or those first operational jobs, you know, we

Spencer Frazier:

are a team, we are a family. How can we help each other? How can

Spencer Frazier:

I help? Even if I don't know the answer? What can I do to learn

Spencer Frazier:

it to try to figure that out? So really, how can I serve? And I'm

Spencer Frazier:

still trying to do that today. It's a big responsibility in

Spencer Frazier:

this role. We have a wonderful team and I just always want to

Spencer Frazier:

serve them well. If you were talking about advice from a

Spencer Frazier:

student perspective, and advice I wish I would have had when I

Spencer Frazier:

was a student, is to really be present. And what I mean by

Spencer Frazier:

that, each of us has an opportunity every single day,

Spencer Frazier:

every single interaction, to be present. And in the classroom to

Spencer Frazier:

be present. I feel like let's see, I was in the classroom,

Spencer Frazier:

more focused on finishing the class, not as much focused on

Spencer Frazier:

being present to get what I could from the class, to learn

Spencer Frazier:

also to contribute where appropriate, but to really be

Spencer Frazier:

engaged in the classroom. And I think every student and even me

Spencer Frazier:

today, in every interaction, I know, if you can focus on being

Spencer Frazier:

present, not having the phone not having in really engaging,

Spencer Frazier:

listening, contributing. There's so much to learn. And there's so

Spencer Frazier:

much to take from the experience and opportunities that they have

Spencer Frazier:

today. And so my advice would just be present.

Brent Williams:

Spencer, I see that is such wisdom. And today,

Brent Williams:

it's really hard to do, right. There's so many distractions out

Brent Williams:

there. But you know, whether it's what can you take out of

Brent Williams:

the classroom or learn from whatever experience you're in,

Brent Williams:

you know, I agree with that 100%. But also, I know, when I'm

Brent Williams:

sitting across from you, you know, that you're going to be

Brent Williams:

present and engaged with me. And that means a lot no matter what

Brent Williams:

type of relationship that we have, whether it's a buyer

Brent Williams:

seller relationship, or whether it's a collaborative

Brent Williams:

partnership, like we have.

Spencer Frazier:

Yeah, yeah, I agree. I think it all comes down

Spencer Frazier:

to then, as connected to keeping things personal, building those

Spencer Frazier:

relationships, demonstrating a sense of respect and caring for

Spencer Frazier:

others. And I think that can just help all of us down the

Spencer Frazier:

road.

Brent Williams:

Well, thank you for the way you've partnered

Brent Williams:

with us at the Walton College and the way JB Hunt has really

Brent Williams:

partnered with the Walton College and University of

Brent Williams:

Arkansas. It's certainly been a pleasure for me over the last 10

Brent Williams:

years or so to work alongside you and I look forward to a lot

Brent Williams:

more.

Spencer Frazier:

Yeah, same here, Brent. I appreciate that

Spencer Frazier:

and looking forward to it as well.

Brent Williams:

Thanks for being here today. On behalf of the

Brent Williams:

Walton College thank you for joining us for this captivating

Brent Williams:

conversation. To stay connected and never miss an episode.,

Brent Williams:

imply search for Be Epic on your preferred podcast service.

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About the Podcast

Be EPIC Podcast
Welcome to the Be Epic Podcast featuring Brent Williams, interim dean of the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas. In each episode, you will hear from guests that will inspire you to be epic. As experts in their field, they will emphasize strategy, leadership, and entrepreneurship. This programming will highlight innovation and cutting-edge information that will leave you wanting more. Be sure to connect with Brent Williams on LinkedIn to join the conversation, access show notes and discover fantastic bonus content.