Todd Miller:

I'm Todd Miller of Isaiah Industries, manufacturer

Todd Miller:

of specialty metal roofing and other building materials.

Todd Miller:

Today my cohost is Seth Heckman.

Todd Miller:

And hi Seth.

Todd Miller:

Welcome to the show.

Seth Heckaman:

Hey, thank you.

Seth Heckaman:

Looking forward to it.

Todd Miller:

Hey, I got a question for you.

Todd Miller:

Um, you have a dog at home, don't you?

Seth Heckaman:

I do

Todd Miller:

I know you got Roscoe.

Todd Miller:

Roscoe the dog.

Todd Miller:

So I have to tell you something.

Todd Miller:

Your vet, your veterinarian will probably never tell you this, but if your dog,

Todd Miller:

if Roscoe is ever running a fever, you need to get some mustard because

Todd Miller:

it's the best thing for a hot dog.

Todd Miller:

Okay?

Seth Heckaman:

that.

Seth Heckaman:

That wasn't one of your finest though.

Seth Heckaman:

I agree.

Seth Heckaman:

Only mustard.

Seth Heckaman:

It should be put on a

Todd Miller:

Well, I, I agree with that.

Todd Miller:

Yeah.

Todd Miller:

It's the spicier mustard the better too.

Todd Miller:

So, Hey, are you good to go?

Todd Miller:

Oh, let's let our audience know we are doing challenge words.

Todd Miller:

Um, so each Seth and I and our guest soon to be revealed, uh, has

Todd Miller:

been, have been given a challenge word that we are challenged to

Todd Miller:

work into the conversation somehow.

Todd Miller:

So you, the listening audience can be listening for any unusual

Todd Miller:

words or phrases we might use.

Todd Miller:

And you might think, aha, I wonder if that was the challenge word,

Todd Miller:

but maybe we'll trick you and we'll just say something really stupid.

Todd Miller:

Anyway, so, um, anyway, you good to go, Seth?

Seth Heckaman:

Yep.

Seth Heckaman:

Let's get going.

Todd Miller:

Well, our feature guest today is no stranger to pretty much anyone in

Todd Miller:

the home improvement and construction industry, it seems through his business

Todd Miller:

efforts as well as his podcasting and social media, which have absolutely

Todd Miller:

been voluminous in recent years.

Todd Miller:

And now his new book, this gentleman is, like I said, just everywhere recently.

Todd Miller:

Um, our guest today is none other than Randy Chaffee of Source One Marketing,

Todd Miller:

and ibuyfromrandy.com, a manufacturer's representative known for the care help and

Todd Miller:

attention he provides to his customers.

Todd Miller:

Randy is well loved and respected in the construction field.

Todd Miller:

Randy, welcome to Construction Disruption.

Randy Chaffee:

Todd, Seth, that was great.

Randy Chaffee:

You almost, it's almost like I wrote that or something.

Randy Chaffee:

That was brilliant.

Todd Miller:

Yeah, you might have No,

Todd Miller:

No,

Todd Miller:

I, I, I always pick on everyone and write it myself,

Randy Chaffee:

I know you though.

Randy Chaffee:

I appreciate that.

Randy Chaffee:

The fine kind words and I appreciate it and it's, it's great to be on.

Randy Chaffee:

I've known you guys for a number of years now

Todd Miller:

We certainly have myriad of years

Randy Chaffee:

be the word?

Todd Miller:

now.

Todd Miller:

You never know.

Todd Miller:

You never know.

Todd Miller:

We'll reveal at the end of the

Randy Chaffee:

We will.

Randy Chaffee:

But a myriad of years and, uh, and, and, and I, those are kind words

Randy Chaffee:

because it's exactly the way I feel about you guys, so I appreciate it.

Todd Miller:

Well, we appreciate you greatly and have enjoyed our

Todd Miller:

relationship, that's for sure.

Todd Miller:

So, um, let's go ahead and dig into it.

Todd Miller:

So you've been around the industry quite a number of years and your

Todd Miller:

first book is hitting the stores here very shortly, probably about

Todd Miller:

the time this episode is released.

Todd Miller:

Um, titled Asphalt and Algorithms, A Road Warriors Playbook for Winning

Todd Miller:

Results in the Hybrid Sales Arena.

Todd Miller:

Your book tells a bit about your life story and gives great advice to

Todd Miller:

those looking for success in sales.

Todd Miller:

Um, maybe I'm getting the cart before the horse here, but tell us what inspired

Todd Miller:

and prompted you to write a book.

Randy Chaffee:

Well, I appreciate it.

Randy Chaffee:

You know, it, it's, uh, it's funny, my, uh, editor and my marketing

Randy Chaffee:

team asked me that question well, after I was into the book.

Randy Chaffee:

Uh, and, uh.

Randy Chaffee:

It was real quick, a simple answer.

Randy Chaffee:

The very most important reason, uh, guys, was to honor my dad.

Randy Chaffee:

Um, I talk a lot about my dad in the book.

Randy Chaffee:

The first two or three chapters are very focused on growing up on the farm.

Randy Chaffee:

I was an only child adopted, and I was three days old.

Randy Chaffee:

I, I, I refer through that as bought at the baby store, and it must've

Randy Chaffee:

been a sale day, but you know, it's what it is, what it is, right?

Randy Chaffee:

But, uh, and so we lived three and a half miles out of a small town of 1,201 people.

Randy Chaffee:

And so my dad was everything as most dads are.

Randy Chaffee:

But I mean, in my world, everything, everything I, I just, who I

Randy Chaffee:

hung with every day and a hero.

Randy Chaffee:

And so we, we spent a lot of time, I spent a lot of time getting lessons

Randy Chaffee:

that I didn't really want at the time, and probably, no, not probably

Randy Chaffee:

did not appreciate at the time, unfortunately, I. Probably didn't

Randy Chaffee:

appreciate him until after he was gone.

Randy Chaffee:

He's been gone 30 years now, and someday I try to be a really, really good boy

Randy Chaffee:

so that I can go hang with him again.

Randy Chaffee:

Right.

Randy Chaffee:

But until then, the uh, the, the, the, the best option I have right now to

Randy Chaffee:

pay him back a little bit is to do a book that I can dedicate to him.

Randy Chaffee:

So that is the, the first reason, and, and I say this and I mean it, but if

Randy Chaffee:

I print one book and it sets on my coffee table and that's it, that's okay.

Randy Chaffee:

You right.

Randy Chaffee:

That's a success because I did it for him.

Randy Chaffee:

But beyond that, the secondary thing is, and probably close

Randy Chaffee:

to as important, not near.

Randy Chaffee:

Well, okay.

Randy Chaffee:

That's not fair.

Randy Chaffee:

Not nearly as important to that.

Randy Chaffee:

'cause that's pretty important to me.

Randy Chaffee:

But is, as you'd mentioned, I've been in this industry for, uh, I,

Randy Chaffee:

I, I spilled the beans with our mutual friend, Heidi Ellsworth.

Randy Chaffee:

I, I don't wanna her podcast a while back, uh, that I've been

Randy Chaffee:

fibbing the, the world a little bit.

Randy Chaffee:

'cause I still use the hashtag of four plus decades, which is accurate.

Randy Chaffee:

But it's technically five.

Randy Chaffee:

Uh, I've been doing this thing forever.

Randy Chaffee:

And so you didn't need the Wow.

Randy Chaffee:

Wasn't necessary, Todd.

Randy Chaffee:

That was,

Todd Miller:

the problem is my number is just about the same

Todd Miller:

as yours, Randy, so you're quite okay.

Randy Chaffee:

But, but, you know, through that time, uh, had a lot of help.

Randy Chaffee:

A lot of mentors, people that never intended to be mentors,

Randy Chaffee:

didn't set out to be mentors.

Randy Chaffee:

Probably wouldn't even consider themselves, uh, having been mentors.

Randy Chaffee:

And I just felt like I hit a point in my life where I learned some things for

Randy Chaffee:

the first 45 years of my sales world, of the old school way of doing things.

Randy Chaffee:

And, and I loved it.

Randy Chaffee:

I got juiced over it.

Randy Chaffee:

I, I, I feel like I've become pretty good at it.

Randy Chaffee:

But then I learned something new in the last five or six years, uh, in, in, in

Randy Chaffee:

the whole virtual, digital way that, that, that what we're doing right now and.

Randy Chaffee:

I thought, you know what?

Randy Chaffee:

I, I need to start giving back to an industry that's been very good to me.

Randy Chaffee:

Uh, I've been blessed to be in, that's why I get involved with some of the boards

Randy Chaffee:

that I'm on, like the NFBA and the BFBA.

Randy Chaffee:

Some of those things, not for any reason other than I truly,

Randy Chaffee:

truly wanna just give back 'cause it's, it's the right thing to do.

Randy Chaffee:

And so I felt like writing this book would help me, maybe help a guy

Randy Chaffee:

or gal or two out there somewhere wandering around, whether it's in

Randy Chaffee:

our industry or out of the industry.

Randy Chaffee:

Sales is still sales.

Randy Chaffee:

It's still, at the end of the day, there's a person, whatever their sales title is,

Randy Chaffee:

and a person, whatever their buying title is, but it's still two people that that's

Randy Chaffee:

gotta build a relationship and, and, and, and have confidence with each other.

Randy Chaffee:

And so I decided I'd write this book to be able to try to give back and help.

Randy Chaffee:

Um.

Randy Chaffee:

Thirdly, I just wanna be an author.

Randy Chaffee:

I mean, and, and, and, and fourthly, uh, I've been doing, and lastly, I

Randy Chaffee:

know you're saying lucky, hopeful hope.

Randy Chaffee:

So, hope he's done.

Randy Chaffee:

Uh, I wanted to, uh, I, I wanna do more, uh, writing, but I wanna do more speaking.

Randy Chaffee:

I wanna do more events, and I love doing that kind of stuff.

Randy Chaffee:

And, uh, the book is that final credibility builder.

Randy Chaffee:

Right.

Randy Chaffee:

And, you know, and I'm so silly with this whole goofy thing

Randy Chaffee:

that, uh, I'm glad it's ready.

Randy Chaffee:

It's, I'm glad it's in, in, in the formatting stage.

Randy Chaffee:

I mean, like you said, by the time this drops, it'll be out, or very

Randy Chaffee:

shortly thereafter, I'm already a few chapters into another book.

Randy Chaffee:

I, I, I probably can see myself in the process of writing or publishing a

Randy Chaffee:

book, maybe the rest of my life, maybe.

Todd Miller:

Very cool.

Randy Chaffee:

So that's, that was the very long version of that.

Todd Miller:

Well, and, and that's a great answer.

Todd Miller:

And I have to tell you, um, you know, you gave me a little bit of a sneak

Todd Miller:

peek at the book and I appreciated that.

Todd Miller:

And, uh, I agree you did a great job of honoring your father,

Todd Miller:

um, that came out real strong.

Todd Miller:

And yet there's a lot of good, helpful information in there.

Todd Miller:

So I, I think it's cool we.

Seth Heckaman:

Oh, sorry Todd.

Seth Heckaman:

I was just curious before we dive, uh, not to give the whole book away and

Seth Heckaman:

I we're gonna get into some more of your career in sales here, but I just

Seth Heckaman:

curious, can you share a lesson or two from your dad that have had the greatest

Seth Heckaman:

impact on the 50 years thereafter

Randy Chaffee:

Oh, absolutely.

Seth Heckaman:

specifically?

Randy Chaffee:

Sure.

Randy Chaffee:

And probably I'll, I'll jump to chapter two because, and I'll try to make

Randy Chaffee:

this short and and succinct as I can.

Randy Chaffee:

Um, we were, I was probably eight, nine years old and, uh, no, I

Randy Chaffee:

was 12 years old, excuse me.

Randy Chaffee:

And we was planting seed, planting corn on the farm.

Randy Chaffee:

Dinner bell rang.

Randy Chaffee:

Dinner bell meant we needed to run up to the house.

Randy Chaffee:

You know there's no cell phones back in that day.

Randy Chaffee:

Uh, I mean, we was planting the seed by horse and bug.

Randy Chaffee:

No, I'm just kidding.

Randy Chaffee:

But, uh, Todd always established, I'm old, so, but we, uh, so we jumped

Randy Chaffee:

in the pickup, drove up the house.

Randy Chaffee:

My dad at the time was farming and selling a pioneer brand seed corn.

Randy Chaffee:

Um, he had a customer call, rain's coming in, everybody's trying to get planted.

Randy Chaffee:

And Walt about 12 miles away, needed some corn and wondered if,

Randy Chaffee:

if we could bring some over 'cause he is trying to get finished.

Randy Chaffee:

Dad says, we'll drive the pickup son out to the shed.

Randy Chaffee:

And we went to the Butler shed and we always called it the Butler

Randy Chaffee:

shed because it was a Butler shed, it was made by Butler.

Randy Chaffee:

We weren't real smart back in the day.

Randy Chaffee:

And, uh, anyway, we loaded up the seeds, he got his little order pad, wrote it

Randy Chaffee:

out, and we jumped in and he, I remember he let me drive down to gravel roads.

Randy Chaffee:

Until we hit the Tar V. That's what we used to call it was Tar v. I don't know

Randy Chaffee:

if Todd, did you call it Tar V in Ohio,

Todd Miller:

we did not,

Randy Chaffee:

we had in Michigan, we call it the Tar V roads.

Randy Chaffee:

No idea where that came from.

Randy Chaffee:

So, um, and I didn't care enough to research that, to put it in the book.

Randy Chaffee:

So if, if you're looking in the book to find out Tar V, don't

Randy Chaffee:

bother, go go chat with Chad GTP.

Randy Chaffee:

'cause I did not.

Randy Chaffee:

But so we, we get there.

Randy Chaffee:

Long story short, fine walk down the back lane, delivery seeds,

Randy Chaffee:

rain's still kind of coming.

Randy Chaffee:

We get in the truck and I'm driving again, again, 12.

Randy Chaffee:

But back in the day, and I said to my dad, I said, why, why did we, we

Randy Chaffee:

had to get our seed planted and the rain's coming, and why did we do this?

Randy Chaffee:

He goes, son, he says, when Walt gave us the honor of doing business

Randy Chaffee:

with us, we promised him that we'd do everything we could to make

Randy Chaffee:

sure that was the right decision.

Randy Chaffee:

When Walt called, we just respond Whether that hurts us or not, in the long

Randy Chaffee:

run, it's the better route to go and.

Randy Chaffee:

And he went on a few more.

Randy Chaffee:

And I always got with my dad, he was a quiet guy, but he would always do the look

Randy Chaffee:

over at you and go, you understand son?

Randy Chaffee:

Yes.

Randy Chaffee:

Really there's more lessons coming because there's always one more.

Randy Chaffee:

But, so that whole ride home was talking about doing that right thing for your

Randy Chaffee:

customer, regardless of whether it causes you a little pain point right now or not.

Randy Chaffee:

And, and so that's probably, that's just one of many lessons that I,

Randy Chaffee:

that I, that I learned from dad.

Randy Chaffee:

And uh, and that's in, uh, in, in chapter two.

Randy Chaffee:

The, the first, the first, first, first one.

Randy Chaffee:

And I want get into as much 'cause somebody's gotta read the book.

Randy Chaffee:

I gotta sell one of 'em at least.

Randy Chaffee:

Um, talk about being out in bean field and, and pulling milkweed

Randy Chaffee:

after we just got done cultivating.

Randy Chaffee:

And my not understanding why we would be doing that when we just cultivated.

Randy Chaffee:

And there's a story behind that too, but, you know, uh, but yeah, so it

Randy Chaffee:

was, uh, yeah, that was the, probably one of the, my more memorable stories.

Randy Chaffee:

And obviously it's been.

Randy Chaffee:

Pushing high fifties in years since that date.

Randy Chaffee:

And it's still fresh in my memory.

Randy Chaffee:

I mean, I can still, I can still smell the, the smell of the seeds

Randy Chaffee:

and the, and the, and the fertilizer when I tell the story to be honest.

Randy Chaffee:

So,

Todd Miller:

Oh, cool stuff.

Todd Miller:

Yeah, those things stick with you a long time.

Todd Miller:

That's for sure.

Todd Miller:

Well, I know you've alluded to it and you talk about in

Todd Miller:

your book about being hybrid.

Todd Miller:

Randy, um, has te tell us a little bit about that pivotal point.

Todd Miller:

Um, has that been one of the most pivotal points in your career?

Todd Miller:

And and what does that mean?

Randy Chaffee:

okay.

Randy Chaffee:

Yes.

Randy Chaffee:

To answer your question, incredibly pivotable,

Randy Chaffee:

pivotable, pivotable, pivotable.

Todd Miller:

Hey, that works.

Todd Miller:

Either

Randy Chaffee:

you'd almost think I did podcasts now and then myself,

Randy Chaffee:

but apparently not, not very good.

Randy Chaffee:

Um, so, so I was the, I was the atypical, uh, road warrior, pounding the roads.

Randy Chaffee:

The airport customer after customer, bro.

Randy Chaffee:

Hugs and brewski and, and, and, and burgers in the evening with

Randy Chaffee:

customers and pizza pie lunches and building relationships.

Randy Chaffee:

One step at a time, one customer time for years.

Randy Chaffee:

Juiced loved it beyond compare and still do.

Randy Chaffee:

Uh, but when COVID hit, uh, we, uh, we hit that lockdown stage, right?

Randy Chaffee:

Couldn't travel.

Randy Chaffee:

And in my mind, when we first heard the two weeks to flatten the curve thing,

Randy Chaffee:

I believed that like everybody did.

Randy Chaffee:

But two weeks still seemed like forever when you're traveling.

Randy Chaffee:

I, I, when we hit that lockdown, I was on 11th out of 12 weeks of five

Randy Chaffee:

to six days on the road, there's a moment of, eh, a little downtime.

Randy Chaffee:

What the heck?

Randy Chaffee:

Nobody else will travel either.

Randy Chaffee:

I'll, I'll enjoy this.

Randy Chaffee:

But I also started going, what if it's longer?

Randy Chaffee:

And I had started developing in my head this idea, guys that.

Randy Chaffee:

Maybe there's a, a better way.

Randy Chaffee:

Not, not, not, not a different, well, different but better way to do this.

Randy Chaffee:

And I didn't know what it was and I would've fallen prey.

Randy Chaffee:

I'm gonna guarantee you probably to the old adage, if

Randy Chaffee:

it's not broke, don't fix it.

Randy Chaffee:

Without COVI probably would've continued to do what I always did.

Randy Chaffee:

Um, but COVID forced me to start reevaluating how I did things.

Randy Chaffee:

So I dove all in.

Randy Chaffee:

I had no, I had nothing else to do.

Randy Chaffee:

I don't, I'm not traveling and I, I, me being at home is an

Randy Chaffee:

oddity at that point, right?

Randy Chaffee:

I don't know what to do at this time.

Randy Chaffee:

So I, I started doing some webinars.

Randy Chaffee:

I've died on a bunch of other podcasts.

Randy Chaffee:

Joined a mastermind group where we literally had to do two or three

Randy Chaffee:

videos a day to each other, to everybody in the group, get used

Randy Chaffee:

to a new way of doing things.

Randy Chaffee:

Fast forward through all some of the stuff, and we can always go

Randy Chaffee:

back to any, anything if you want in particular, but 30,000 foot view.

Randy Chaffee:

I really started digging this new virtual way of doing things.

Randy Chaffee:

And at some point there was appeared like we may doing this for a long time, which

Randy Chaffee:

we were, I mean, a year and a half, right?

Randy Chaffee:

At least of, you know, once in a while you could travel for a little bit.

Randy Chaffee:

And then, then we got yanked back again and all those things.

Randy Chaffee:

So I started figuring out virtual, I started figuring out doing a

Randy Chaffee:

podcast, guesting on podcasts, um, social media, and you can, you can

Randy Chaffee:

be in front of and see thousands of people today as opposed to three or

Randy Chaffee:

four if you're on the road, right?

Randy Chaffee:

And so that made a lot of sense to me.

Randy Chaffee:

But then where the hybrid came from, Todd, uh, and Seth, was that, um, there's

Randy Chaffee:

two schools of thought that developed.

Randy Chaffee:

There was the old school guys that everything I did, they thought I was nuts.

Randy Chaffee:

And some of 'em probably still do.

Randy Chaffee:

Uh, and they may, they may be right, but still, um, that we're

Randy Chaffee:

just gonna wait till this is over.

Randy Chaffee:

Whatever time it takes, and we're gonna go back a hundred percent to the old school.

Randy Chaffee:

We're not gonna do any of this.

Randy Chaffee:

Sending videos and social media garbage and getting on podcasts, that's just dumb.

Randy Chaffee:

We're not doing any of that stuff.

Randy Chaffee:

But then there was the other side that literally their theory was, nobody's

Randy Chaffee:

ever gonna get an airplane in New York City and fly to Dallas and do a meeting

Randy Chaffee:

today and fly back this evening in time for dinner with the wife and kids.

Randy Chaffee:

Never again.

Randy Chaffee:

Everybody's gonna be sitting with their, their, their, their pajamas or

Randy Chaffee:

their shorts on, throw a polo shirt or a sport coat on, jump in front of

Randy Chaffee:

the camera and that's gonna be it.

Randy Chaffee:

And I called BS on that too.

Randy Chaffee:

I I didn't buy that for a minute because again, what we said earlier,

Randy Chaffee:

right, Seth was people to people still, you still gotta be with them.

Randy Chaffee:

So.

Randy Chaffee:

That's where the hybrid 'cause, and it comes from back to my dad again.

Randy Chaffee:

Pioneer seeds was called pioneer hybrid seed corn because they took

Randy Chaffee:

seed corn and, and depending on what part of the country and the, the

Randy Chaffee:

time, how, how much timeframe you had, what length of season, was it dry?

Randy Chaffee:

Was it wet climate?

Randy Chaffee:

And you hybrided right?

Randy Chaffee:

Different, different seed.

Randy Chaffee:

So I'm thinking hybrid makes sense to me.

Randy Chaffee:

How do we take old, how do we take new and not do one or the other, but do

Randy Chaffee:

'em both augment each other and do 'em, uh, in, in synchrony with each other?

Randy Chaffee:

You, you in and out.

Randy Chaffee:

You in and out.

Randy Chaffee:

You're in and out all day long.

Randy Chaffee:

And, and some days it'll be more old school, some days it'll be more virtual.

Randy Chaffee:

Some days it'll be combinations thereof.

Randy Chaffee:

So that's where the, that's for me where hybrid came from is trying to

Randy Chaffee:

take both of those worlds and bring 'em together in a way that makes some sense.

Randy Chaffee:

And, and the key to that is doing it.

Randy Chaffee:

And I am speaking to the choir with you guys.

Randy Chaffee:

But doing that in a way that is still a genuine and authentic to your

Randy Chaffee:

customer or your potential customer.

Randy Chaffee:

So in other words, the three of us are here talking.

Randy Chaffee:

People are gonna watch this if they never met us, they met better.

Randy Chaffee:

See the exact same person three weeks after they watch this program, this

Randy Chaffee:

podcast, if we walk in their door, right, they better see the same person as far as

Randy Chaffee:

how we act, how we speak, how we think.

Randy Chaffee:

Because if you get disingenuous with you're this podcast personality, or you're

Randy Chaffee:

this social media personality that's totally different either way that you just

Randy Chaffee:

look disingenuous, you look like a liar.

Randy Chaffee:

I mean, to be brutally honest, right?

Randy Chaffee:

Which, which one is you?

Randy Chaffee:

So now do I, which one do I trust or do I trust you at all?

Randy Chaffee:

I think I'll opt for not trusting you at all.

Randy Chaffee:

Right?

Randy Chaffee:

So that's the, again, relatively long story of how I got to the

Randy Chaffee:

hybrid thing and what it means to me.

Todd Miller:

Very good stuff.

Todd Miller:

Well, you have certainly captured and done it extremely well.

Todd Miller:

Um, you know, we've touched on a couple times already about the

Todd Miller:

importance of building relationships and sales and what that means.

Todd Miller:

Um, do you think that is what really separates, let's say, the

Todd Miller:

ho hum reps from the really good superior reps in our industry?

Todd Miller:

Or is there something else also that makes that difference?

Randy Chaffee:

Well, I think that's a big part of it.

Randy Chaffee:

I, I think that, um, I, I, I've talked about this before with people, and I

Randy Chaffee:

think if you're honest in sales and you do good in sales, that the, one of the

Randy Chaffee:

turning points was when you stop selling and start serving, you know, and then

Randy Chaffee:

there's a million books wrote about that.

Randy Chaffee:

There's a million podcast speakers and, and speakers.

Randy Chaffee:

So it's not like that's a new, you know, I can't claim any of that.

Randy Chaffee:

The, when you stop selling and you start serving, you start finding solutions.

Randy Chaffee:

You start interviewing with the, and listening with a purpose.

Randy Chaffee:

So I'm gonna, I'm gonna, uh, develop a relationship with you

Randy Chaffee:

to see if this even makes sense for us to do business together.

Randy Chaffee:

Can I help you?

Randy Chaffee:

Are you the right customer for me?

Randy Chaffee:

Is this gonna work or not?

Randy Chaffee:

And what's the, what's the issues and the problems that you

Randy Chaffee:

have that we can help you with?

Randy Chaffee:

And because we all know that one nasty, naughty word in, in sales

Randy Chaffee:

for a rep is when you get dragged into that, that awful, awful t

Randy Chaffee:

word called transactional, right?

Randy Chaffee:

We always lose in transactions.

Randy Chaffee:

Trans, and, and, and I, I've, I've said it before.

Randy Chaffee:

Well, well, how do you get paid if you don't have a transaction?

Randy Chaffee:

I say, okay, step it up a level here and listen to me.

Randy Chaffee:

I'm not saying yes, the cash register has to ring someday, right?

Randy Chaffee:

But.

Randy Chaffee:

If it's all transactional, it, what that really means.

Randy Chaffee:

My book is the deep dive down the rabbit hole of Price, right?

Randy Chaffee:

Forget about service, forget about quality, forget about relationship.

Randy Chaffee:

We just want price.

Randy Chaffee:

None of us in the world of sales win that game.

Randy Chaffee:

And, and I think equally I would say to people on the buying side is don't let

Randy Chaffee:

your rep take you down that road either because you're a transaction to them.

Randy Chaffee:

Don't get, don't allow 'em to get commission breath, right?

Randy Chaffee:

And, and not care about what you want or need just to get

Randy Chaffee:

the sale and get out the door.

Randy Chaffee:

And, and I think as what you guys teach a lot, and I've been blessed to

Randy Chaffee:

set in on some of your, your seminars in the, even in, in, in home sales

Randy Chaffee:

and, and, and one day close, if you will, uh, sometimes gets a bad rap.

Randy Chaffee:

'cause I don't think that means I'm gonna sell you regardless

Randy Chaffee:

of whether you need it or not.

Randy Chaffee:

And I'm gonna hammer you into the ground with a gun to your head until you buy.

Randy Chaffee:

And like the old encyclopedia salesman that years ago, I, I

Randy Chaffee:

bought from just so he'd leave.

Randy Chaffee:

And then canceled it the next day because I just couldn't

Randy Chaffee:

figure out how to get rid of him.

Randy Chaffee:

Right.

Randy Chaffee:

That does us no good.

Randy Chaffee:

Right.

Randy Chaffee:

So I, I think that if, if we, if we understand, if we sell people,

Randy Chaffee:

like we want to be sold, and if you listen to people and ask

Randy Chaffee:

enough questions, um, almost every customer, almost every customer will

Randy Chaffee:

tell you how to sell 'em, right?

Randy Chaffee:

If you listen and he ask the questions.

Randy Chaffee:

And, uh, I, I, so I, I think it's not so much of, I, I think, and I

Randy Chaffee:

think that's changed today, maybe you guys agree or disagree, but I

Randy Chaffee:

feel like it's changed today to where people wanna be treated with respect.

Randy Chaffee:

They wanna be, they wanna be counseled, they want to be

Randy Chaffee:

taught, they want to be educated.

Randy Chaffee:

And you can't dazzle 'em with BS either, because in, in, with the

Randy Chaffee:

internet, uh, I'm sorry, they probably know almost as much as you do if

Randy Chaffee:

they're a smart consumer, right?

Randy Chaffee:

So don't start down that road of, uh, there's, there, there's, there's

Randy Chaffee:

this thing that I'm pretty good at, luckily, because I'm not that smart.

Randy Chaffee:

Is, I don't know.

Randy Chaffee:

I'll find out.

Randy Chaffee:

But when I was a younger sales guy, I didn't think you could do that.

Randy Chaffee:

Oh, I

Randy Chaffee:

had to be the guy that knew it all.

Randy Chaffee:

And I, I don't, I would like to think, I don't believe that I ever knowingly knew

Randy Chaffee:

it wasn't true and just lied about it.

Randy Chaffee:

But I took a lot of freedom with that, right?

Randy Chaffee:

Because as a young guy, you didn't know any better, and that's the way you was

Randy Chaffee:

trained and that's the way you was taught.

Randy Chaffee:

And, and boy, if I, if they, if I, if they think I don't know everything,

Randy Chaffee:

well, they're not gonna have confidence in me and buy, they'll

Randy Chaffee:

have a lot more confidence in you if you just say, you know what?

Randy Chaffee:

That one stumped me, Todd, I think I know the answer, but let, let me

Randy Chaffee:

make a quick phone call or lemme call you back in the morning, or,

Randy Chaffee:

or whatever that has to look like.

Randy Chaffee:

You just gain a massive amount of credibility, in my opinion.

Randy Chaffee:

Seth, do you agree with that?

Randy Chaffee:

I mean, I, I.

Seth Heckaman:

Oh, absolutely.

Seth Heckaman:

And, and even, uh, you know, we've had some experience with reps that even if

Seth Heckaman:

they're not gonna give you the incorrect answer, outright lie with some about

Seth Heckaman:

something, they'll just talk without saying anything, hoping that you, you

Seth Heckaman:

forget what you asked in the first place.

Seth Heckaman:

There's all sorts of strategies around it, but it just being transparent and

Seth Heckaman:

upfront with people and, and then it proves to 'em, like you said, that

Seth Heckaman:

you can be that problem solver in their corner, uh, no matter what.

Seth Heckaman:

Someone they can trust, someone that knows how to get something done.

Seth Heckaman:

Um, absolutely love it.

Seth Heckaman:

And it goes way beyond that transactional sort of trap that, that you mentioned,

Seth Heckaman:

uh, which you do an incredible job of.

Seth Heckaman:

And especially in we're talking about this hybrid world that we're

Seth Heckaman:

in, these virtual and digital tools.

Seth Heckaman:

I think there that trap is even bigger for some than what it ever was

Seth Heckaman:

before, of just hiding behind email or hiding behind, you know, trading

Seth Heckaman:

voicemails back and forth or texts.

Seth Heckaman:

And so finding that sweet spot to really rise above and, and be that serving

Seth Heckaman:

partner, trusted advisor, whatever your language is gonna be for it's powerful.

Randy Chaffee:

It is powerful.

Randy Chaffee:

It is powerful.

Randy Chaffee:

And, and the beautiful thing with, if you do it right, in my opinion,

Randy Chaffee:

using the, the, uh, the new school side of things, it'll put you.

Randy Chaffee:

Front of more people they get because you know the old saying,

Randy Chaffee:

people buy who, if all things being equal buy from no, like, and trust.

Randy Chaffee:

Right?

Randy Chaffee:

Good friend of mine, Ben Gay III also adds and feel safe with.

Randy Chaffee:

And I think that's a incredible thing because I may know you and like you

Randy Chaffee:

and trust you, but what happens if something goes awry in this thing?

Randy Chaffee:

Do I feel safe that Randy or Todd or Seth is gonna swoop in here like Superman

Randy Chaffee:

and, and, and help me, may not leave me out out here on an island by myself.

Randy Chaffee:

Right?

Randy Chaffee:

And the beautiful thing with, with with technology that we can

Randy Chaffee:

use is if it's a new customer, they get to know who you are.

Randy Chaffee:

They get to, they get to understand that you like to go watch your grandkids

Randy Chaffee:

play baseball or you, they, they know you as a person, not just some

Randy Chaffee:

person that they can buy stuff from.

Randy Chaffee:

'cause there's a lot of people you can buy stuff from.

Randy Chaffee:

Um, but they want to get to know you and trust you.

Randy Chaffee:

And so that's for a, a, a potential customer.

Randy Chaffee:

I think it's equally important for a customer that has already purchased.

Randy Chaffee:

Because all that does is augment that decision or that

Randy Chaffee:

that decision was good, right?

Randy Chaffee:

Because they've already just spent $42,000 with you.

Randy Chaffee:

They're still waiting for the job to be completed.

Randy Chaffee:

But boy am I glad I bought from Todd because man, I just saw him

Randy Chaffee:

doing this and saw him doing that.

Randy Chaffee:

I saw Seth doing this, and these guys are good dudes.

Randy Chaffee:

I feel good about this.

Randy Chaffee:

Right?

Randy Chaffee:

So I think it, it goes further to cement that buyer decision after

Randy Chaffee:

the fact, not just before the fact.

Seth Heckaman:

Absolutely.

Seth Heckaman:

It's when they see you running the, uh, the additional seed down

Seth Heckaman:

the road before the rain comes, that's when it gets cemented.

Seth Heckaman:

All the further.

Randy Chaffee:

Yeah.

Todd Miller:

Good stuff.

Seth Heckaman:

I'm curious, Randy, you, you know, we're

Seth Heckaman:

talking about your transition from the salesperson perspective.

Seth Heckaman:

What, uh, what was your experience with your customers having to

Seth Heckaman:

transition to this sort of new way?

Seth Heckaman:

Also, you know, were, uh, was everyone readily, uh, you know, accepting?

Seth Heckaman:

Did were, was any more difficult than others?

Seth Heckaman:

Or what was that experience like?

Randy Chaffee:

Oh, it was a, it was across the board.

Randy Chaffee:

It, it, it was a, uh, it, it was, uh, I had at the time when nobody traveled.

Randy Chaffee:

It was, there was no other option.

Randy Chaffee:

The, the work came into play, Seth, when you, you were back out traveling

Randy Chaffee:

and that became the norm again.

Randy Chaffee:

So many people that they're used to calling on and went back to normal.

Randy Chaffee:

Um, I didn't stop doing what I did.

Randy Chaffee:

I went back to calling a customer.

Randy Chaffee:

I travel all the time.

Randy Chaffee:

But I augment in between.

Randy Chaffee:

Or I'm doing a quick video from the hotel parking lot, uh, with coffee on the hood

Randy Chaffee:

of my car, be heading out for the day.

Randy Chaffee:

You know, my, my what, what cool socks am I wearing for the day?

Randy Chaffee:

Right?

Randy Chaffee:

I'm, I'm still doing those things, but I'm doing it while I'm on the road.

Randy Chaffee:

And so, but to answer your question, some customers, um, uh, didn't

Randy Chaffee:

respond, no, I'll say negatively, but just not at all for a while.

Randy Chaffee:

But more and more of them started seeing and started doing it in their own

Randy Chaffee:

businesses and started understanding that.

Randy Chaffee:

And I'm not saying I take credit for that.

Randy Chaffee:

I'm just saying that they started seeing these things happen and understand

Randy Chaffee:

that, uh, you know, a statement that I like to make, 'cause I think it's it's

Randy Chaffee:

very accurate, is you go back probably longer years now that I'm thinking,

Randy Chaffee:

but 10, 15 years, let's just use, if you didn't have inter or if you didn't

Randy Chaffee:

have a website, you didn't exist.

Randy Chaffee:

You just didn't exist to, A lot of people still need a website today,

Randy Chaffee:

but in today's world, if they can't find you on, on social media, if

Randy Chaffee:

they can't find you virtually to a lot of people, you don't exist.

Randy Chaffee:

And, and the problem that comes into play there is people my age,

Randy Chaffee:

I, I'm on social all the time.

Randy Chaffee:

I'm probably a bit of an, an anomaly to that standpoint maybe, but I

Randy Chaffee:

don't think as much as, as you think.

Randy Chaffee:

But that, that's my first go-to is I, is, I wanna see, if you're on LinkedIn, I

Randy Chaffee:

wanna see if you got a Facebook presence.

Randy Chaffee:

I wanna see if you did a, a reel or whatever and, and, and get to know you.

Randy Chaffee:

And so I, I, I think we we're, we, we've, we've really come full circle

Randy Chaffee:

with, with businesses across the board understanding that the value there is,

Randy Chaffee:

again, I've said it a million times, it's not instead of, but in addition

Randy Chaffee:

to, uh, I would never say that anything falling under the new school, the virtual,

Randy Chaffee:

the digital, the new age, what are.

Randy Chaffee:

Phrase you want to give.

Randy Chaffee:

It has nothing to do with not doing the other.

Randy Chaffee:

And it has to do with, but also to give you an example of where it comes into

Randy Chaffee:

play with people that travel big distances like I do, if I've got a guy in calls in,

Randy Chaffee:

kind of has an interest in Maine, that's a long ways from either Michigan when I'm

Randy Chaffee:

there or from Florida where I'm at still right now, in my old school days, Mr.

Randy Chaffee:

Energetic and aggressive and probably not real smart, I'd just drive or jump

Randy Chaffee:

on a plane and go spend $2,000 on a, on a trip to go see a guy that you find out

Randy Chaffee:

can't really buy from you anyway, or has no interest in, or maybe you can't sell.

Randy Chaffee:

So using technology, the Zoom and the teams or the Google beats or

Randy Chaffee:

whatever to, to uh, to discover.

Randy Chaffee:

To do the discovery call sometimes setting here like this,

Randy Chaffee:

finding out in 15, 20 minutes.

Randy Chaffee:

Get to know each other a little bit.

Randy Chaffee:

What are you looking at?

Randy Chaffee:

Here's a couple of things we, we probably should talk about.

Randy Chaffee:

Um, it goes a, goes a long ways of you not wasting your time.

Randy Chaffee:

My coming all the way to Maine and mind not wasting time and money

Randy Chaffee:

coming all the way to Maine to find out that this is never gonna work.

Randy Chaffee:

And secondarily with that, as I kind of hit on earlier, if I do come

Randy Chaffee:

to Maine, 'cause it makes sense.

Randy Chaffee:

You already know me and I already know you.

Randy Chaffee:

We've, we, we've got that initial uncomfortable for some, I mean,

Randy Chaffee:

for us guys, it's done a long time.

Randy Chaffee:

I, I find no discomfort in meeting new people.

Randy Chaffee:

But some people that's an uncomfortable thing.

Randy Chaffee:

And for customers it may be, but they already know you.

Randy Chaffee:

They've talked to you, they've, they've probably in the interim before the

Randy Chaffee:

two weeks before you flew to Maine in that little example, may have followed

Randy Chaffee:

a couple a. Post that I did, they may have caught a video or caught

Randy Chaffee:

a podcast I did or was guesting on.

Randy Chaffee:

So all of a sudden it's like, geez, I know this Randy Guy.

Randy Chaffee:

Right?

Randy Chaffee:

You're light years ahead of where you were starting the old way, but the key

Randy Chaffee:

there still did it the old way though.

Randy Chaffee:

At the end of the day, I'm still shaking hands.

Randy Chaffee:

Good to see you.

Randy Chaffee:

You had a good meeting.

Randy Chaffee:

You go grab a burger and you give him a bro hug at the end of the day.

Randy Chaffee:

Hey, thanks for the time.

Randy Chaffee:

I appreciate it.

Randy Chaffee:

I'll get back.

Randy Chaffee:

Right.

Randy Chaffee:

It's, it's still that you, you never get rid of that.

Todd Miller:

Good stuff.

Todd Miller:

Well, we've talked a lot about how you do it.

Todd Miller:

Um, maybe for an audience member out there who isn't real familiar with you.

Todd Miller:

Um, tell you, tell us a little bit about your core business today, the

Todd Miller:

lines that you rep and sell, who your typical customer is, that type of

Randy Chaffee:

Sure.

Randy Chaffee:

So, so I, yeah, you know, I'm a rep agency source one marketing

Randy Chaffee:

is my rep agency, and, uh, we rep predominantly in the, uh, the metal

Randy Chaffee:

roofing and post train building world.

Randy Chaffee:

I am doing a few things in the steep slope world for one of my manufacturers.

Randy Chaffee:

But, um, so I rep products.

Randy Chaffee:

My target customer would be the roll former, the, the metal roll formers,

Randy Chaffee:

that, that roll metal, uh, whether they're standing seam guys or the ag panel,

Randy Chaffee:

our panel, whatever that case may be.

Randy Chaffee:

Uh, that would be my target panel or, uh, audience, if you

Randy Chaffee:

will, customer fasteners and.

Randy Chaffee:

And, and, and, and underlayments, which I'm blessed to sell some

Randy Chaffee:

underlayment for you folks.

Randy Chaffee:

Uh, vents, uh, a barn door components and stuff for the ag world.

Randy Chaffee:

Some equestrian products, you know, bubble fo installations,

Randy Chaffee:

a lot of those kind of things.

Randy Chaffee:

So that's really my, my, my core business.

Randy Chaffee:

Um, I cover, uh, uh, for the bulk of my world is, is the

Randy Chaffee:

Great Lakes in the Northeast.

Randy Chaffee:

Uh, I do a little bit in Florida with a couple lines.

Randy Chaffee:

I have a couple of renegade lines, which are sort of non territorial,

Randy Chaffee:

where I just kind of, if I know somebody, the manufacturer's

Randy Chaffee:

renting my Rolodex, if you will.

Randy Chaffee:

If I know somebody and there's nobody selling 'em, my and I got a relationship,

Randy Chaffee:

I'll, you know, I'll, I'll, I'll work with 'em, but, but my core group is,

Randy Chaffee:

is real, some Florida, but really, uh, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, New York

Randy Chaffee:

State, and up in the New England state.

Randy Chaffee:

So, um, and yeah, it's, it's, uh, I've been with some of

Randy Chaffee:

these manufacturers 25 years.

Todd Miller:

That's impressive.

Randy Chaffee:

or, or, or, or, I just, they just haven't got tired of me yet.

Randy Chaffee:

I'm not sure

Seth Heckaman:

Well, as a manufacturer that's worked with

Seth Heckaman:

you for almost 25 years, we can definitely say it's the, the former.

Seth Heckaman:

So you've done a great job for us.

Seth Heckaman:

And if you're looking for some, uh, the premium underlayments on the market, you

Seth Heckaman:

can call Randy and talk to him about, uh, roof, aqua guard, underlayments.

Randy Chaffee:

it's, I'll tell you what, it's it's world class stuff.

Randy Chaffee:

I, and I'm glad, I mean, I love the way you snuck that little, little promo in

Seth Heckaman:

a little promo.

Randy Chaffee:

almost think you'd done this before.

Randy Chaffee:

That's, that's amazing.

Seth Heckaman:

yeah.

Seth Heckaman:

You know, as a manufacturer who's always trying to, you know,

Seth Heckaman:

improve our strategy and respond to the changing world around us.

Seth Heckaman:

And, you know, you are working with, you know, 20 plus manufacturers probably

Seth Heckaman:

at this point and know many others.

Seth Heckaman:

I'm curious what, uh, what are some things that you've seen man

Seth Heckaman:

manufacturers do really well?

Seth Heckaman:

You know, we don't need to name any names necessarily, but you know, as

Seth Heckaman:

you're working with all those folks, what, who, um, yeah, what are some things

Seth Heckaman:

that, the ones who are really responding well to this new world around them?

Seth Heckaman:

And, uh, what opportunities do you see for manufacturers to keep improving on

Seth Heckaman:

what they're doing in their go to market?

Randy Chaffee:

Well, yeah, that's a great question.

Randy Chaffee:

And this one's probably, it's probably used a lot, but it's never adhered

Randy Chaffee:

to, is becoming customer centric.

Randy Chaffee:

There's, there's so many manufacturers that still believe that we make

Randy Chaffee:

widgets, whatever that widget is.

Randy Chaffee:

Yes, of course you make a widget, but that's not really what you do.

Randy Chaffee:

What you really do is, is perform a service and, and supply a solution

Randy Chaffee:

for whoever your customer base is.

Randy Chaffee:

And if we have to get away from, I just make stuff and, and I'm

Randy Chaffee:

gonna supply you whatever stuff I make under my rules all the time.

Randy Chaffee:

And either you live with it or, or don't.

Randy Chaffee:

Because, uh, you, you guy, I'm sure familiar with Jeffrey Gitr and, uh,

Randy Chaffee:

great writer, uh, uh, I've followed everything he's done for years.

Randy Chaffee:

And I love one of his statements he said once about, you know, when

Randy Chaffee:

people say, well, but it's our policy.

Randy Chaffee:

Okay?

Randy Chaffee:

We all have to have policy.

Randy Chaffee:

So before anybody gets nuts, I'm not saying it's, it's, it's free.

Randy Chaffee:

It's it's free being to being here.

Randy Chaffee:

Right.

Randy Chaffee:

And we can just do what we want.

Randy Chaffee:

There has to be some procedures.

Randy Chaffee:

I'm not saying that, but I. Shouldn't the policy be?

Randy Chaffee:

What is your issue Mr. Customer, Mrs. Customer, if you have an issue

Randy Chaffee:

or a problem or something that we is not within our policy, can we make,

Randy Chaffee:

can we find a way to make this good for you, to make this work for you?

Randy Chaffee:

And because like Jeffrey said, once I listen to me, he

Randy Chaffee:

says, because here's the deal.

Randy Chaffee:

Your policy is this.

Randy Chaffee:

My policy is to not pull out my credit card by product from you

Randy Chaffee:

and my pro and my policy wins.

Randy Chaffee:

Right?

Randy Chaffee:

I mean, it's, it's as simple as that.

Randy Chaffee:

Again, not saying you don't ha you gotta ha you can't be a company that

Randy Chaffee:

has no policies, no procedures there.

Randy Chaffee:

There's gotta be base.

Randy Chaffee:

But I think we, we we, we lose sight sometimes as manufacturers of being

Randy Chaffee:

customer centric, of, of, of realizing that customers always have choices,

Randy Chaffee:

uh, regardless of how good we think we are, regardless of how good our product

Randy Chaffee:

is, how great a dog and pony and, and.

Randy Chaffee:

I know all three of us on here do as good a dog, a pony show with the

Randy Chaffee:

customers, anybody in the country.

Randy Chaffee:

I can talk all day about all the thousand and 15 different reasons why my fastener

Randy Chaffee:

better than everybody else's in the world.

Randy Chaffee:

And after the first one, you don't care.

Randy Chaffee:

I mean, it's the end of the day, right?

Randy Chaffee:

It goes deeper than that because guess what?

Randy Chaffee:

Every fastener in America, if it installed properly, will hold the

Randy Chaffee:

roof on and it won't fail, right?

Randy Chaffee:

So I don't have a monopoly on that, right?

Randy Chaffee:

So let's not stop pretending we do.

Randy Chaffee:

And, and the the, the thing, if you and I tell anybody that'll listen to our

Randy Chaffee:

reps or sales guys is always operate under, uh, you incorporated, right?

Randy Chaffee:

Because even if you're a company guy myself, it's easier as a rep because

Randy Chaffee:

I kind of run my own gig, uh, under rules and regulations that people

Randy Chaffee:

like yourselves put out there, right?

Randy Chaffee:

I don't get to do what I wanna do.

Randy Chaffee:

Uh, but my point is, even if you're a company guy, an employee, you gotta

Randy Chaffee:

operate like this is your business.

Randy Chaffee:

If, uh, if you, if you go to your customers at the standpoint that this

Randy Chaffee:

is a repeat customer and I'm gonna get repeat business, I'm gonna get referrals,

Randy Chaffee:

but I'm only gonna get any of that.

Randy Chaffee:

If I actually do what I say, I'll do, take care of them and treat

Randy Chaffee:

them like with the respect and, and that they deserve and desire.

Randy Chaffee:

And, and be honest, it should have, because guess what?

Randy Chaffee:

They have choices all day long.

Randy Chaffee:

They have choices.

Randy Chaffee:

And again, back circling back real quick, if we think, well, they'll never leave

Randy Chaffee:

us because we make the best widget.

Randy Chaffee:

Oh yeah.

Randy Chaffee:

They'll leave you real fast if, if you don't take care of 'em.

Randy Chaffee:

Because you know what?

Randy Chaffee:

Here, the breaking news, right?

Randy Chaffee:

And we need the CNN or Fox News banner here, breaking news.

Randy Chaffee:

There are some less than quality products in any industry, right?

Randy Chaffee:

But for most anybody in our industries that are been around

Randy Chaffee:

and, and, and, and have established themselves, it's gonna work.

Randy Chaffee:

It's not junk.

Randy Chaffee:

Okay?

Randy Chaffee:

So they, the customer does have choices, and the key is, as a manufacturer

Randy Chaffee:

or as the rep for that manufacturer, salesperson, whatever your title

Randy Chaffee:

is, if this is a, a key thing that I try to follow is if you buy Randy,

Randy Chaffee:

there's this one thing in the world of eight and a half billion people

Randy Chaffee:

that I'm better than everybody.

Randy Chaffee:

Number one is being me.

Randy Chaffee:

You can't beat me at that one.

Randy Chaffee:

I guarantee you can't beat me at that one.

Randy Chaffee:

Right?

Randy Chaffee:

So if you can get to a point where I'm your guy, you trust me, you believe

Randy Chaffee:

in me, um, you know, now I can do a lot of things that mess that up.

Randy Chaffee:

But if I don't mess that up, uh, that gives you a lot of, it.

Randy Chaffee:

It, it, it buys you a lot of leeway on, on, on when things go awry a little bit.

Randy Chaffee:

You know, I, I know this messed up is not your fault, but can you fix it, please?

Randy Chaffee:

I know you will.

Randy Chaffee:

You know, so I, I think that's the thing is.

Randy Chaffee:

We circling back to your original que, I think we've lost in a lot of

Randy Chaffee:

cases remembering the why and if, and if we don't have a customer.

Randy Chaffee:

'cause they're not a nuisance to us.

Randy Chaffee:

I mean, we open the door every day for one reason and one reason only.

Randy Chaffee:

If you get right down to it, it's to service that customer the best product

Randy Chaffee:

and the best service at the most fair price And fair is a, an operative word.

Randy Chaffee:

Right?

Randy Chaffee:

Fair.

Randy Chaffee:

'cause we both have to make profit and guess what?

Randy Chaffee:

That's not a bad word.

Randy Chaffee:

So, uh, I think if we do that, uh, we'll be successful.

Randy Chaffee:

If we don't, you're gonna struggle.

Seth Heckaman:

Absolutely it.

Seth Heckaman:

At no time in history did customers have more alternatives, viable alternatives

Seth Heckaman:

than they have today, at least for most

Randy Chaffee:

Exactly.

Randy Chaffee:

And, and you know, you, I think about that alternative because I

Randy Chaffee:

remember one time traveling with a guy and he kept wanting to.

Randy Chaffee:

Get a Dairy Queen blizzard about every four and a half, five miles,

Randy Chaffee:

and we got off one exit because we figured out of the 412 fast food

Randy Chaffee:

places, there had to be a Dairy Queen.

Randy Chaffee:

Right.

Randy Chaffee:

We didn't find one, but we did find a frosty blizzard or a, a Wendy's frosty.

Seth Heckaman:

There you go.

Randy Chaffee:

you know, so, but again, we had choices.

Randy Chaffee:

Right?

Randy Chaffee:

And the fact that Wendy's did such a good job of promoting the fact

Randy Chaffee:

that they're pretty tasty too.

Randy Chaffee:

We didn't get back on the turnpike and drive on another 80 miles to find a,

Randy Chaffee:

and, and, and checking Google, trying to figure out where a dairy queen was.

Randy Chaffee:

We just made a choice to have a Wendy's frosty.

Randy Chaffee:

So,

Seth Heckaman:

The alternative, uh, most readily available to

Seth Heckaman:

solve your problem at that moment.

Seth Heckaman:

So we've gotta position ourselves to be that Wendy's frosty, no

Seth Heckaman:

question.

Seth Heckaman:

You know, taking, sort of going, looking at it from the other end of the

Seth Heckaman:

equation on that customer perspective.

Seth Heckaman:

Curious for those customers who are out there, you know, whatever customer

Seth Heckaman:

may be, contractor, supplier role, former, you know, uh, any customer

Seth Heckaman:

trying to take a more proactive approach to finding suppliers or

Seth Heckaman:

vetting suppliers rather than, you know, relying on, uh, serendipitous

Seth Heckaman:

sort of engagements or opportunities.

Seth Heckaman:

What's, what's your advice for them?

Randy Chaffee:

Uh, 10 shows.

Randy Chaffee:

And when I say attend shows, I mean really engage in attending shows, not just,

Randy Chaffee:

uh, show up and go, oh, show's open.

Randy Chaffee:

They just cut the ribbon.

Randy Chaffee:

And I guess I'll go wander around, you know, have a plan, set up some

Randy Chaffee:

plans ahead of time with people you wanna meet, uh, make, make,

Randy Chaffee:

make, make the best outta shows.

Randy Chaffee:

'cause that's some of the best times to.

Randy Chaffee:

Easily meet not only your rep who may be there, but he can introduce you to

Randy Chaffee:

the customer service manager, the CEO, the director of sales, whomever that

Randy Chaffee:

may be, and, and, and really be able to, to do a little bit of a deep dive

Randy Chaffee:

into, into the services and the products and what they can, can do for you.

Randy Chaffee:

And the beautiful thing beside with that, uh, Seth, is you could find

Randy Chaffee:

that information in today's world on the internet someplace, right?

Randy Chaffee:

All of us do a great job.

Randy Chaffee:

I mean, you, I, I can find everything I wanna find about most things from a

Randy Chaffee:

product standpoint, but a, I get to touch it, feel it if you're the contractor.

Randy Chaffee:

But more importantly, I get to meet the people behind the scenes.

Randy Chaffee:

'cause the person I only person I may ever see is, is my rep. Now I

Randy Chaffee:

get to meet some of the other people.

Randy Chaffee:

But more important than that, I think.

Randy Chaffee:

Is if you build a relationship with this manufacturer as a builder,

Randy Chaffee:

um, it's important that the Todd or Seth of the world know you as well.

Randy Chaffee:

Because if, if, if you need something, there's a special deal, an issue, a large

Randy Chaffee:

project, a a, an emergency that went, something that went awry, it, it's, it's

Randy Chaffee:

way better if they call in or, or, or Randy in my case calls this, says, Seth,

Randy Chaffee:

you, you know, I got this customer and man, we just dropped the ball on this.

Randy Chaffee:

It's, it's, it's, it's a bad deal right now.

Randy Chaffee:

And, and who is it?

Randy Chaffee:

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Randy Chaffee:

I remember meeting him last year.

Randy Chaffee:

The IRE, right?

Randy Chaffee:

I don't, we'd all like to say that that doesn't matter, but it does matter, right?

Randy Chaffee:

Because you've built that relationship.

Randy Chaffee:

So I think the, there's a, for the attendees, and I love that

Randy Chaffee:

subject, um, it's easy for us all to think about trade shows and it's

Randy Chaffee:

all on the rep's responsibility.

Randy Chaffee:

I. There's a lot of that.

Randy Chaffee:

That's what we're there for as exhibitor.

Randy Chaffee:

But you have an equal responsibility in my mind as an attendee.

Randy Chaffee:

If you want, you get outta the show what you put into it.

Randy Chaffee:

So meet the right people, uh, have a plan and uh, uh, make it worthwhile.

Randy Chaffee:

'cause there, there, there's plenty of time to, you know, go get Wendy

Randy Chaffee:

Frosty's or plenty of time to go get a burger and a beer with the boys.

Randy Chaffee:

You can do it at the show, but don't do it.

Randy Chaffee:

Instead of spending that time making those communications because you, you

Randy Chaffee:

spent 2000, $3,000 to go to Vegas, you probably ought to do something

Randy Chaffee:

besides gambling and, and, and hitting the hotel lobby bar at two o'clock.

Randy Chaffee:

That's all I'm saying.

Randy Chaffee:

Not that I'm against that.

Randy Chaffee:

I'm just saying there probably should be some other things you might

Randy Chaffee:

wanna do, uh, while you're there.

Randy Chaffee:

And, and again, you'll get out of what you give.

Todd Miller:

I think that's great advice and, and I agree with you.

Todd Miller:

I think, you know, I see people attend these shows and, um.

Todd Miller:

Know, they just don't really put into it to get out of it what they can.

Todd Miller:

So that's fantastic advice.

Todd Miller:

Well, I'm, I'm curious, Randy, and I know you're a guy who's always

Todd Miller:

reading and you're talking and, um, you've got a lot of connections.

Todd Miller:

Who do you find inspiration from these days?

Todd Miller:

Who are you, who are you paying attention to and learning from?

Randy Chaffee:

Well, you, I love that question.

Randy Chaffee:

Um, of course you guys, and I gotta say that, not just 'cause you're on

Randy Chaffee:

here, but you guys are doing it right.

Randy Chaffee:

And for anybody that watches you guys and deal with you

Randy Chaffee:

guys, uh, Isaiah's top notch.

Randy Chaffee:

And, and, and I enjoy being around people that do things the right way.

Randy Chaffee:

But, uh, I mentioned one name earlier, a guy that's become very

Randy Chaffee:

important to me, uh, Ben Gay.

Randy Chaffee:

Uh, I've become a good friend.

Randy Chaffee:

Um, he actually wrote the forward for my book, which is kind of cool.

Randy Chaffee:

Um, and, and Todd, you were so kind to write some kind words, uh, uh,

Randy Chaffee:

of endorsement or praise for the book, which I, I assume you didn't

Randy Chaffee:

read it 'cause if you'd read it, you wouldn't have said anything Nice.

Todd Miller:

Oh, I absolutely read it.

Randy Chaffee:

but I appreciate that.

Randy Chaffee:

But, um, you, the one thing that I found, and, and I'm gonna come at this

Randy Chaffee:

a slight different angle since I love networking, as you well know, we do,

Randy Chaffee:

we, all three of us are networkers.

Randy Chaffee:

I love networking.

Randy Chaffee:

I love networking within the industry that we all live and, and breathe

Randy Chaffee:

and work and, and hugely important.

Randy Chaffee:

And, and we do that if we're, if you have any involvement in the industry,

Randy Chaffee:

you probably got a bit of common sense that tells you I probably should

Randy Chaffee:

network within the industry, but.

Randy Chaffee:

I also find within any industry, there's group speak, right?

Randy Chaffee:

We all think a little bit alike on subjects.

Randy Chaffee:

There's, there's, there's outer parameters, but there's

Randy Chaffee:

that certain group thing.

Randy Chaffee:

The, the one of the great blessings that I've had in the last several

Randy Chaffee:

years doing what I've been doing, more social media stuff, podcasting,

Randy Chaffee:

hosting, guesting, is I've got to meet so many people out of the industry.

Randy Chaffee:

They have nothing to do with my industry at all.

Randy Chaffee:

Uh, I can name a, a, a couple, uh, uh, Lieutenant Colonel Oak, McCullough

Randy Chaffee:

Oaks out out of Daytona, Florida.

Randy Chaffee:

He's a, uh, he was, uh, a lieutenant colonel, the Army, first cal led

Randy Chaffee:

troops into battle, uh, trained troops, leadership, you know what I mean?

Randy Chaffee:

Leadership, like he talks about, he makes mistakes now he's out

Randy Chaffee:

now, but when he people died.

Randy Chaffee:

18, 19-year-old kids died.

Randy Chaffee:

Leadership in our world, we, we forgot to ship a role of underlayment.

Randy Chaffee:

I mean, it's, it sucked, but nobody's dying over it.

Randy Chaffee:

Right?

Randy Chaffee:

So, you know, he, he brings a great perspective on leadership.

Randy Chaffee:

And, and, and he, he made a statement once that, uh, when lieutenants graduate,

Randy Chaffee:

uh, from the, from the academy, the first thing they do is they throw their

Randy Chaffee:

hat in the air and he goes, celebrate.

Randy Chaffee:

Go have a couple beers.

Randy Chaffee:

Do what you wanna do.

Randy Chaffee:

It's all about you today.

Randy Chaffee:

'cause it's the last day of your life that it's about you.

Randy Chaffee:

It's always about your people after today, but today go, you enjoy, you earned it.

Randy Chaffee:

But after today, it's never about you again, ever in your life.

Randy Chaffee:

He says, I have responsibility to you.

Randy Chaffee:

You may report to me eight ranks below me, but I work for you.

Randy Chaffee:

I have a responsibility to teach you, to train you, to guide you, to protect you.

Randy Chaffee:

Right?

Randy Chaffee:

So he's, he's a guy that's.

Randy Chaffee:

And another guy, uh, Dave Sanderson.

Randy Chaffee:

I'll just give you two.

Randy Chaffee:

Dave's another guy out the industry.

Randy Chaffee:

Uh, Dave is an international speaker, swims with the seals, not the, not

Randy Chaffee:

the, the, that kind of seal the, you know, I was gonna do the seal noise,

Randy Chaffee:

but that might've been too much.

Randy Chaffee:

Um, it sounded like a walrus anyway, so, um, but, uh, but he, and with the Navy

Randy Chaffee:

Seals, he became most well known, uh, when Sully had to put the, uh, the, that uh,

Randy Chaffee:

the flight into the east, the east river.

Randy Chaffee:

He was the last guy off the plane after, with Sully in the

Randy Chaffee:

first, uh, the first officer.

Randy Chaffee:

And he talks about, um, that whole event and what happened.

Randy Chaffee:

And he wrote several books.

Randy Chaffee:

But one of the books that I love and Dave's become a good friend,

Randy Chaffee:

um, moments in Time says, nobody ever knows when that moment in time

Randy Chaffee:

will come, but your whole life is preparing you for that moment in time.

Randy Chaffee:

His moment in time.

Randy Chaffee:

There was guys, you don't live through that.

Randy Chaffee:

When, when that's going into the river, we, the river, we're dead.

Randy Chaffee:

I mean, you don't, that's a unsurvivable, basically.

Randy Chaffee:

But they did.

Randy Chaffee:

And his comment was, and, and he would say way better 'cause he lived it,

Randy Chaffee:

is that I couldn't just get off this plane and rush out the exit to safety.

Randy Chaffee:

I need to make sure everybody else got out too ahead of me

Randy Chaffee:

because I was here for a reason.

Randy Chaffee:

I mean, I should have been dead.

Randy Chaffee:

I, I just, I just gotta, I got a, I got a, I got a new day here, right?

Randy Chaffee:

And that was his moment in time.

Randy Chaffee:

And so now he spends, he, he travels the world speaking about

Randy Chaffee:

that and talking about that.

Randy Chaffee:

So that's just two people that, that I follow a lot that are

Randy Chaffee:

really, really, really good people.

Randy Chaffee:

But like I said, I, uh, I'm meeting a guy next week in, uh, uh, in, um, Pennsylvania

Randy Chaffee:

that, uh, I've got to know Rob an spa.

Randy Chaffee:

He's an spa.

Randy Chaffee:

Media.

Randy Chaffee:

He writes a lot of books.

Randy Chaffee:

He does a lot of marketing.

Randy Chaffee:

Become a friend.

Randy Chaffee:

Never been him personally.

Randy Chaffee:

Going to next week, I really, really try to.

Randy Chaffee:

Since some of the things that I've been doing in the last five or six years that

Randy Chaffee:

we've talked about here that I talk about in the book, um, I go out of my way to

Randy Chaffee:

try to meet up with people that I've met virtually that I've never known before.

Randy Chaffee:

And I'll tell you one of the things I talk about in the book about how if you,

Randy Chaffee:

if you do this right, when, when you walk in, you meet him, it's like his old buddy.

Randy Chaffee:

It's like you knew him forever, right?

Randy Chaffee:

And that's been so true.

Randy Chaffee:

I've met so many of these people.

Randy Chaffee:

Um, when, when I, my, uh, Wes, my producer director buddy in

Randy Chaffee:

Powell, will you guys know?

Randy Chaffee:

'cause you've been on my, my podcast met Ben Gay and his wife Gigi out

Randy Chaffee:

in, in Sacramento a couple years ago.

Randy Chaffee:

Uh, he walks in the door and it was not like, I wonder where Randy

Randy Chaffee:

is, or I wonder where Ben is.

Randy Chaffee:

The second he walked in the door, we knew each other be right, because

Randy Chaffee:

we've talked 10 times virtually, or 50 times virtually, and talked

Randy Chaffee:

on the phone and, and communicated.

Randy Chaffee:

So I, I think that's the one of the.

Randy Chaffee:

Winding back to, uh, I dunno if it's a starting point, but the beauty of virtual

Randy Chaffee:

and the beauty of, of, of taking advantage of these opportunities we have, whether

Randy Chaffee:

you like it or not, virtual's here, whether you like social media, it's here.

Randy Chaffee:

Is there bad things?

Randy Chaffee:

Absolutely.

Randy Chaffee:

There's bad things in everything.

Randy Chaffee:

If you do use it for the right reasons.

Randy Chaffee:

It's like with ai, I use AI all the time for stuff because you can hate it.

Randy Chaffee:

You can be scared of it.

Randy Chaffee:

It may end up, we're all don't exist someday.

Randy Chaffee:

And it's just, I don't know what it is.

Randy Chaffee:

We're a bunch of little things wandering around like a pop

Randy Chaffee:

can, I don't know what we'll be.

Randy Chaffee:

I can't change that.

Randy Chaffee:

So all I can do is use what I have to my benefit.

Randy Chaffee:

And so when I get an opportunity to meet people either or out of the industry,

Randy Chaffee:

I, I go outta my way to do that.

Randy Chaffee:

And, uh, I I would challenge anybody to do that.

Randy Chaffee:

You, you don't work in a or you shouldn't work or, or, or live in a vacuum.

Randy Chaffee:

You know, where, where people, and in today's world, uh, it's a tiny,

Randy Chaffee:

tiny, tiny little world now, right.

Randy Chaffee:

Uh, it's, it's, I I, we had on a great guest a couple weeks ago for the return

Randy Chaffee:

guest, um, David Rogers from, from the uk, two-time author, speaker, TEDx guy.

Randy Chaffee:

Um, you know, and, and now I've never met Dave yet 'cause I don't, I really

Randy Chaffee:

get to UK for any reason, but if I do, I guarantee you I'll, we'll meet up somehow.

Randy Chaffee:

Um, it's just, so anyways, that's, that, that's the key to that

Randy Chaffee:

is just man, just meet people.

Randy Chaffee:

Go out and see 'em, get to know 'em.

Randy Chaffee:

Learn their life.

Randy Chaffee:

Have a new friend.

Todd Miller:

Great advice, Randy, and uh, it's been a great talk

Todd Miller:

and rambunctious time together.

Todd Miller:

I've enjoyed it.

Todd Miller:

Um, I'm curious though, um, is there anything you haven't shared and

Todd Miller:

give a shout out to your own podcast and some of your, uh, social media

Todd Miller:

you're doing out

Randy Chaffee:

you.

Randy Chaffee:

Um, but we've covered everything.

Randy Chaffee:

I mean, it was, it was, it was a great, great time.

Randy Chaffee:

Um, my, my website is I buy from ad.com.

Randy Chaffee:

Uh, my book will be available on there.

Randy Chaffee:

Uh, if somebody was silly enough to want a sign copy, um, uh, it'll be

Randy Chaffee:

on Amazon, it'll be on, it'll be a Kindle, a soft cover and a hard copy.

Randy Chaffee:

Uh, we'll do an audio book at some point.

Randy Chaffee:

That's probably down the road.

Randy Chaffee:

'cause I've decided I'm gonna read it myself whenever I find time to do that.

Randy Chaffee:

Um, that won't be till fall though.

Randy Chaffee:

So.

Randy Chaffee:

Um, so you can find me on Amazon under just Randy Chaffee

Randy Chaffee:

or Asphalt and Algorithms.

Randy Chaffee:

Um, I buy from randy.com.

Randy Chaffee:

Find a book, find anything to do with my agency.

Randy Chaffee:

I'm all over social media.

Randy Chaffee:

In some shape or form of either building wins Live, which is my podcast, uh, you

Randy Chaffee:

can find me on YouTube in places for Let's chat with Randy Chaffee, which is

Randy Chaffee:

an industry based, uh, YouTube channel.

Randy Chaffee:

We're just kind of getting off it, off, off the ground right now.

Randy Chaffee:

Um, and on social media, it's either it's, it's either Randy Chaffee or

Randy Chaffee:

the Randy Chaffee or Randy Chaffe, the rep one, some, any of those things.

Randy Chaffee:

But I've kind of played with it.

Randy Chaffee:

And if you, I guess I'm messing with it enough if you type my name

Randy Chaffee:

and it comes up, so I dunno if that's good or bad, but I'm there.

Randy Chaffee:

Communicate with me though.

Randy Chaffee:

I love it.

Randy Chaffee:

Don't just, don't just like stuff, well, I want you to

Randy Chaffee:

like stuff, like lots of stuff.

Randy Chaffee:

But, but, but communicate.

Randy Chaffee:

Say, Hey, I mean, I, like, I, I enjoy talking to people and I'll do my best

Randy Chaffee:

to respond to anybody that reaches out.

Todd Miller:

Well, cool.

Todd Miller:

Well, you're a huge asset to our industry, Randy, and we thank you for

Todd Miller:

not only your friendship, but your service to our industry over the years.

Todd Miller:

So thank you.

Todd Miller:

Well, before we close out, I have to ask you if you're willing

Todd Miller:

to participate in something we call our rapid fire questions.

Todd Miller:

So these are seven questions.

Todd Miller:

Randy has no idea what we're going to ask.

Todd Miller:

Uh, some are serious, some are silly.

Todd Miller:

Are you up to the challenge of rapid fire?

Randy Chaffee:

let's give it a shot.

Randy Chaffee:

I mean, hey, what's the worst I'll do is, I mean, I've looked stupid before,

Randy Chaffee:

so, and I'm pretty good at that.

Todd Miller:

Not at all.

Todd Miller:

Let's do it.

Todd Miller:

Um, Seth, why don't you ask the first question?

Seth Heckaman:

All right.

Seth Heckaman:

Rapid fire question number one, uh, to make sure we include

Seth Heckaman:

another of your favorite passions.

Seth Heckaman:

Can you recommend one or two of your favorite Michigan Reds for all of us?

Randy Chaffee:

Ooh, there you go.

Randy Chaffee:

Yes.

Randy Chaffee:

Black Star Farms.

Randy Chaffee:

Black Star Farms, uh, Cabernet.

Randy Chaffee:

It's uh, it's a pure cab wine.

Randy Chaffee:

It's not a blend.

Randy Chaffee:

Uh, black Star Farms has a location on, uh, on the Leal Peninsula and on

Randy Chaffee:

Old Mission Peninsula and Top Notch.

Seth Heckaman:

Fantastic.

Randy Chaffee:

Now you made me thirsty.

Randy Chaffee:

Can we hurry this thing up?

Seth Heckaman:

There.

Todd Miller:

Okay.

Todd Miller:

Question two.

Todd Miller:

What are your favorite and least favorite things about being a road warrior?

Randy Chaffee:

Favorite thing by far is I just love people.

Randy Chaffee:

I, I, I just love people that, that by far, I, I enjoy

Randy Chaffee:

cementing the relationship.

Randy Chaffee:

I enjoy bro hug and, and, and, and rubbing little, little Johnny's head

Randy Chaffee:

when you see him, when he comes running up and you haven't seen him in a year.

Randy Chaffee:

Uh, those kind of things on the road.

Randy Chaffee:

That's my favorite by far.

Randy Chaffee:

Uh, least favorite.

Randy Chaffee:

I don't have a lot of least favorites 'cause I love it so much.

Randy Chaffee:

Uh, I, I, I, I probably would say that over doing this for so many years, it,

Randy Chaffee:

it, it gets a little less exciting to be gone as much as what it used to.

Randy Chaffee:

And I, and I, and I, and I'll couch that with, I don't mind being gone.

Randy Chaffee:

I don't look forward to it as much as I used to.

Randy Chaffee:

But I get into Uber to the airport and I'm back in road mode.

Randy Chaffee:

I'm back in hybrid road warrior mode, somewhere between the house

Randy Chaffee:

and the airport, which is 40 minutes.

Randy Chaffee:

You know, and once I hit airport, once I hit that, I mean, I mean, I'm all in.

Randy Chaffee:

Let's go rock and roll, baby.

Todd Miller:

It all kicks in.

Todd Miller:

Good stuff.

Seth Heckaman:

All right.

Seth Heckaman:

Question number three.

Seth Heckaman:

What is a product or service you have bought that was a

Seth Heckaman:

real game changer for you?

Randy Chaffee:

Probably.

Randy Chaffee:

Probably chat, chat.

Randy Chaffee:

DTP.

Randy Chaffee:

We, we touched on that.

Randy Chaffee:

I, I, I'm a big lover of ai.

Randy Chaffee:

I'm not afraid of it.

Randy Chaffee:

I don't know, I, I, I'm a novice still.

Randy Chaffee:

Uh, but the, the speed that allows me to do things, uh, it,

Randy Chaffee:

I never use it to write articles.

Randy Chaffee:

Let me back off.

Randy Chaffee:

I would use it to fix stupid, right?

Randy Chaffee:

Uh, which is a lot.

Randy Chaffee:

But, but you know, I, I, I would never sit and just write an article using, you know,

Randy Chaffee:

for a trade magazine or a book chapter.

Randy Chaffee:

Uh, but, but it, but, or, or, or like for blogging, if I wanna write a blog.

Randy Chaffee:

Can't think of what do I wanna write about?

Randy Chaffee:

I, I, I'll say, give, give me 20 things and I'll go, no, no, no.

Randy Chaffee:

Maybe.

Randy Chaffee:

No, no.

Randy Chaffee:

Ah, that's the one.

Randy Chaffee:

So I, I, that's probably, there's a lot.

Randy Chaffee:

But that's the first one that comes to mind, Seth.

Seth Heckaman:

Very cool.

Todd Miller:

Good stuff.

Todd Miller:

I think it's a great tool Also.

Todd Miller:

Next question, what is your personal theme song at this point in your life?

Randy Chaffee:

Wow.

Randy Chaffee:

Um,

Todd Miller:

hard one if you've never thought of it.

Randy Chaffee:

I've never thought of it.

Randy Chaffee:

Um, okay.

Randy Chaffee:

I'm gonna, how about this one?

Randy Chaffee:

I'll, I'll go with this one.

Randy Chaffee:

Um, I'm a believer by either Neil Diamond or the Monkeys.

Randy Chaffee:

Not even, not even so much the words, because I'll be

Randy Chaffee:

honest with you about music.

Randy Chaffee:

I would be the worst.

Randy Chaffee:

I know no worst to any song,

Todd Miller:

I, I'm right there with you.

Randy Chaffee:

but, but I like the, the theme of, I'm a believer.

Randy Chaffee:

I think you gotta be a believer if you're not a believer, uh, and you

Randy Chaffee:

don't have dreams that wanna chase your dreams, I'm not sure what you got,

Randy Chaffee:

but you, you're missing out on a lot.

Randy Chaffee:

So I like, and I like Neil version, Neil Diamond's version.

Randy Chaffee:

Better just.

Seth Heckaman:

Awesome.

Seth Heckaman:

Good stuff.

Seth Heckaman:

What is one thing that you wish everyone in our industry was better at?

Randy Chaffee:

Oh yeah, that's easy.

Randy Chaffee:

We, we, we've touched on that is, is being an adapter.

Randy Chaffee:

We kind of touched on, but, but not as much as I, as I probably do in

Randy Chaffee:

the book, but I've adapted a lot and that's a lot of the nature of the book.

Randy Chaffee:

But adapting is one thing, but developing an adapter mindset

Randy Chaffee:

is a whole different thing.

Randy Chaffee:

And once you develop the mindset that I'm just an adapter and, and, and

Randy Chaffee:

forget about this, it is not easy.

Randy Chaffee:

None of us like change on certain things, but if you anticipate it,

Randy Chaffee:

you realize it's gonna happen.

Randy Chaffee:

And you look at it with, there's three words that, that, depending on

Randy Chaffee:

how you say 'em changes everything.

Randy Chaffee:

It's, why can't I or why I can't Too many people instantly why I can't do that?

Randy Chaffee:

Why I can't do this, why this product won't work.

Randy Chaffee:

Instead of, well, why can't it with, you know, with a question mark, why can't it?

Randy Chaffee:

Maybe you can, let's find out.

Randy Chaffee:

So I think being an adapter is by far the most important thing I.

Todd Miller:

Okay.

Todd Miller:

Next to last question, if you had a time machine, what time and

Todd Miller:

place would you like to visit?

Randy Chaffee:

I can assume I can go either direction.

Todd Miller:

Absolutely.

Randy Chaffee:

I think the future's still there, so I'll just let that play out.

Randy Chaffee:

I probably would go back to, and I'm thinking about again,

Randy Chaffee:

what we talked about earlier.

Randy Chaffee:

I'd probably go back to my, oh, maybe 50, about 1960, uh, interesting

Randy Chaffee:

music time in the sixties, right?

Randy Chaffee:

All from the war, music and, and all that.

Randy Chaffee:

And, but it was good music.

Randy Chaffee:

Uh, good old rock and roll music back in the day.

Randy Chaffee:

But more than that, seriously, touching on what I talked about earlier is

Randy Chaffee:

if I could go back, that means I've already been here, which means I know

Randy Chaffee:

what I know now, and I'd go back and, and, and try to be a, a, a bit of a

Randy Chaffee:

better son and let my dad know that what he was talking about was, yeah.

Randy Chaffee:

That's pretty, that's pretty good stuff, dude.

Randy Chaffee:

You know, as opposed to having to wait till I go see him again someday.

Randy Chaffee:

Right.

Seth Heckaman:

Beautiful.

Seth Heckaman:

And last one, what do you wish to be remembered for at the end of your days?

Randy Chaffee:

Probably just as a guy that cared, just cared about people, they

Randy Chaffee:

wanted to do what's right for everybody.

Randy Chaffee:

Whether it's family, whether it's customers, whether it's, uh,

Randy Chaffee:

manufacturer friends, whether it's just friends in general, or even

Randy Chaffee:

people that aren't necessarily friends.

Randy Chaffee:

But, you know, IIII, I really try to practice and I've always been

Randy Chaffee:

good at this, and I'm still not always you, you get in your own mind

Randy Chaffee:

sometimes and you gotta get out of it.

Randy Chaffee:

But, um, what reminds me is I walk into Publix, which is our local supermarket

Randy Chaffee:

chain that we all go to here in Florida.

Randy Chaffee:

And so many times you walk in and, and everybody's walking their head down.

Randy Chaffee:

You're living in Florida, it's sunny and hot all the time, and

Randy Chaffee:

what do you got to be so down about?

Randy Chaffee:

Right?

Randy Chaffee:

But it's amazing when you just say.

Randy Chaffee:

Hey, how are you today, ma'am?

Randy Chaffee:

Oh, I'm really good.

Randy Chaffee:

How are you?

Randy Chaffee:

Thank you.

Randy Chaffee:

It's like changes their whole atmosphere, even if it's only for another 45

Randy Chaffee:

seconds while they get to their car.

Randy Chaffee:

And maybe I'd like to think they get in their car for a minute and

Randy Chaffee:

they go, wow, that was a nice man.

Randy Chaffee:

You know?

Randy Chaffee:

He, he, uh, that made me feel good.

Randy Chaffee:

So I think I, I, I, I, I try to leave people with a good feeling.

Randy Chaffee:

I, I, I, 'cause we're, we're all in this, you know, big world together, right?

Randy Chaffee:

So,

Todd Miller:

You do a great job at that.

Todd Miller:

You really do.

Todd Miller:

Thank you.

Randy Chaffee:

I like people unless I don't,

Randy Chaffee:

there's a couple.

Randy Chaffee:

I mean, let's be fair, I'm not perfect, right?

Randy Chaffee:

We all, we all know there's, we all know there's only one

Randy Chaffee:

perfect dude, and that ain't me.

Randy Chaffee:

So I'm, I'm not even close to trying.

Randy Chaffee:

But, but, uh, uh, uh, you know, I, I think that, uh, e even, even those

Randy Chaffee:

people, I try to do better understanding that some of that's not maybe, who

Randy Chaffee:

knows what they're going through.

Randy Chaffee:

What's, what's their, what's their story, you know?

Randy Chaffee:

And so anyways, that's it.

Randy Chaffee:

We'll see.

Randy Chaffee:

Doing the best, doing the best we can.

Randy Chaffee:

Right?

Todd Miller:

Yep.

Todd Miller:

Absolutely.

Todd Miller:

Well, thank you again for your time to get day.

Todd Miller:

Um, we'll put this in the show notes, but again, shout off a

Todd Miller:

couple of your, uh, websites and places where people can find you.

Randy Chaffee:

I'll buy from randy.com because why wouldn't you?

Randy Chaffee:

Right?

Todd Miller:

Absolutely love

Randy Chaffee:

uh, the home, if we ain't got it, you don't need it.

Randy Chaffee:

it's a funny story how that was one day, but, um, and uh, basically anywhere on

Randy Chaffee:

social media, uh, just find me under Randy Chaffee or some derivative thereof.

Randy Chaffee:

And remember the name of the book, asphalt and Algorithms, which by the

Randy Chaffee:

way, you, you know, I think originally that title, we had a title change at the

Todd Miller:

Yes, you

Randy Chaffee:

and, and real important, but that was going to be my journey to

Randy Chaffee:

hybrid, which we kind of put in the, the subtitle, but a important key to that.

Randy Chaffee:

Probably a great, great place to end.

Randy Chaffee:

It's your show.

Randy Chaffee:

But, um, I was sold on that.

Randy Chaffee:

I was married to my title, but a key thing is I hired an editor.

Randy Chaffee:

And I hired a marketing and, and, and formatting and book

Randy Chaffee:

cover people to work with me.

Randy Chaffee:

And they sat me down one day, said, we know you're married to it and you know

Randy Chaffee:

you're not gonna like this conversation.

Randy Chaffee:

But basically I said, you think my title sucks?

Randy Chaffee:

Right?

Randy Chaffee:

I said, well, not really sucks, but we don't like it.

Randy Chaffee:

And they gave me, which we don't even go, they gave me reasons why from a

Randy Chaffee:

marketing standpoint they didn't like it.

Randy Chaffee:

I said, so, well, what do you want?

Randy Chaffee:

What do you think?

Randy Chaffee:

And they told to me and I go, you're nuts, asphalt.

Randy Chaffee:

Now what does that mean?

Randy Chaffee:

That's dumb.

Randy Chaffee:

I said, think about it and we'll, we'll do this in two days.

Randy Chaffee:

I called 'em up that evening.

Randy Chaffee:

He said, we don't need to do it in two days.

Randy Chaffee:

He says, well, we gotta go back the drawing board.

Randy Chaffee:

I said, no, I'm in.

Randy Chaffee:

I'm in.

Randy Chaffee:

So my point of all that is when you hire good people that you trust, it's

Randy Chaffee:

something you gotta listen to 'em.

Todd Miller:

Yep, yep.

Randy Chaffee:

they know more about marketing books than I do.

Randy Chaffee:

Right.

Todd Miller:

experts in their field for a reason.

Randy Chaffee:

Exactly.

Randy Chaffee:

So anyway, but I appreciate you guys having me on.

Randy Chaffee:

I appreciate your friendship and all that you guys do together, just as people

Randy Chaffee:

and, and, and as Isaiah Industries.

Randy Chaffee:

And, uh, it's just, it's been a blast being on, I appreciate you giving me

Randy Chaffee:

this opportunity to chat my, my book and, uh, I'd love to have anybody

Randy Chaffee:

who wants to come out to, to get it.

Randy Chaffee:

Not because I just wanna sell a whole bunch of books, even

Randy Chaffee:

though I do, I'm not a liar.

Randy Chaffee:

But with that said, I, I, I feel like there's something there that maybe a

Randy Chaffee:

little bit of help to somebody here and there, so, or I wouldn't have

Randy Chaffee:

wrote it 'cause I had a lot to do.

Randy Chaffee:

I didn't, I didn't have the year and a half spent to do this, but

Randy Chaffee:

I took it because I just felt like the right thing I wanted to do.

Randy Chaffee:

So,

Todd Miller:

Well, absolutely.

Todd Miller:

We encourage everyone.

Todd Miller:

Check out asphalt and a algorithms soon available.

Todd Miller:

Um, well, Randy, well thank you very much.

Todd Miller:

It's been a great, uh, great time together.

Todd Miller:

We appreciate it.

Todd Miller:

Great deal.

Randy Chaffee:

no, thank you.

Randy Chaffee:

I appreciate it guys.

Randy Chaffee:

Thank you so much.

Todd Miller:

And I have to ask, I know I got my challenge word

Todd Miller:

in, Randy, you, you got yours in your challenge word, Randy was.

Randy Chaffee:

Hey, Wendy's Frosty.

Todd Miller:

You did it a couple

Todd Miller:

times.

Todd Miller:

I got, I got mine in, which was rambunctious.

Todd Miller:

Seth, did you get yours in?

Seth Heckaman:

I did Serendipitous.

Todd Miller:

You did it so well.

Todd Miller:

I didn't even catch it, which is the goal.

Todd Miller:

That's

Randy Chaffee:

He snuck it right in there.

Randy Chaffee:

That was, that was well done.

Todd Miller:

Serendipitously, you got it in there.

Todd Miller:

Thank you.

Seth Heckaman:

you go.

Randy Chaffee:

I'm just amazed at when I gave you that word pre-show that I

Randy Chaffee:

said it right, because that's one of those words that's hard for me to say,

Seth Heckaman:

I, I was worried about it too.

Randy Chaffee:

well, what?

Randy Chaffee:

And it's really, and it's not.

Randy Chaffee:

It's really hard to say, after a couple of Black star Cabernets,

Seth Heckaman:

No, no doubt.

Randy Chaffee:

you know that S word?

Randy Chaffee:

Oh, you know that one?

Randy Chaffee:

Oh, good stuff.

Todd Miller:

Good stuff.

Todd Miller:

Well, thank you to our audience for tuning into this episode of

Todd Miller:

Construction Disruption with Randy Chaffee of Source One Marketing.

Todd Miller:

Please watch for future episodes.

Todd Miller:

We always have great guests.

Todd Miller:

Don't forget to leave us a nice thumbs up or good review.

Todd Miller:

And until the next time, uh, we're together.

Todd Miller:

Keep on disrupting, keep on challenging, looking for better ways of doing things.

Todd Miller:

And don't forget, Randy touched on this earlier to have a positive

Todd Miller:

impact on everyone you encounter.

Todd Miller:

So God bless and take care.

Todd Miller:

This is Isaiah Industries signing off until the next episode

Todd Miller:

of Construction Destruction.