Episode 251: Unveiling Sales Strategies for Success with Spencer Frazier

November 1 , 2023  |  By Brent Williams

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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.

Podcast Episode

Episode Transcript

Spencer Frazier  0:01  
From a competitive perspective, if we don't create value, someone else will. From a competitive perspective, if we're not the most efficient, someone is always trying to beat it. And then we know if we're creating that value, then our opportunity to continue to earn that business from that customer as their business grows.

Brent Williams  0:30  
Welcome to the Be Epic podcast, brought to you by the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas. I'm your host, Brent Williams. Together, we'll explore the dynamic landscape of business, and uncover the strategies, insights and stories that drive business today. Well, today, I have with me, Spencer Frazier. Spencer is Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing at JB Hunt. Spencer, welcome, and thank you for being here today.

Spencer Frazier  0:59  
Hey, Brent, thanks for having me on campus again. Love being here, being here with you. And looking forward to our conversation.

Brent Williams  1:07  
Well, me too. And you've been a wonderful partner of the Walton College for many years, you personally. But even more broadly, JB Hunt, it's really been a special relationship.

Spencer Frazier  1:19  
It has. Yeah. Yeah and it's something I think that has been unique for quite a while, we've got a lot of alumni in our organization, at all levels, and we look forward to continuing that pipeline of talent coming to join our team. But also just, you know, I didn't grow up here. I didn't graduate from the University of Arkansas. But it's really been an honor to be able to participate. And really learn alongside you on how we can help students and really help our organization continue to grow by making that connection stronger. So it's really been a privilege to be a part of it.

Brent Williams  1:19  
Well, I agree. Same, same for me. Well, you know, you mentioned a couple of things that maybe I'll start with, well, first, you've been in this role of Executive Vice President leading Sales and Marketing for I think, right about a year at this point. But But you've been with JB Hunt for basically your entire career

Spencer Frazier  2:23  
Pretty much. 

Brent Williams  2:23  
And maybe just start there with us just a little bit about your career journey. And then we'll kind of get into where you're at today.

Spencer Frazier  2:32  
Yeah, you bet. Well, I started JB Hunt 31 years ago, a little more than that. Prior to that, I did go to Iowa State, grew up in Iowa, and went to the business college there and got my degree in transportation and logistics. And that kind of was interesting how all that came about. But going to the Career Center and looking at opportunities and different things. As I was trying to figure out what to do as a student. It really stood out as opportunities for high placement and also high salary. And so as the as a young student saying, okay, that looks pretty appealing. I don't know everything about it, but I'm going to try to figure it out and finished up at Iowa State in 1992. But I'll say this little did I know, I was destined for Arkansas. And I'd never been to Arkansas. But I had two job offers when I finished. One of them was Walmart. The other was JB Hunt. And they were three days apart. 

Brent Williams  3:38  
Really? 

Spencer Frazier  3:39  
JB Hunt was first. And as a young kid with a few student loans and things like that. I said yes, immediately. And, you know, Walmart called later and I said, well, sorry, I can't I can't do that. I've already accepted a job of JB Hunt. And so I was on my way to Arkansas, and got to start in the management training program. And that was an interesting thing at the time, that we got to rotate through all the departments in the organization, and learn the business because if you were working in billing, you would teach me that job for maybe a few days or a week. And then you'd go on vacation, and then I would do your job and try not to mess it up. By the time you got back. And so we got to go through all different parts of the organization even work in the shop and drive a truck, go through our driver training school, which was great. And then we got our first real job. My first real job was working night planning trucks, matching trucks and loads from 5pm to 6am. And that was Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. 

Brent Williams  4:52  
Wow. 

Spencer Frazier  4:53  
And so needless to say through that program, and I'll even say I'll put a plug in for anyone that works at night or anyone that has an opportunity to especially weekends. That's a fast track to learning. 

Brent Williams  5:05  
Absolutely. 

Spencer Frazier  5:06  
Because your resources are limited. And you have to rely on each other as a team. And you really have to kind of figure things out, but got to be in an operational role after that in both our truck line and then had the opportunity to go into intermodal, intermodal was still in its infancy, so to speak, we started that 1989. About around I think it was 94 ish, is when I got to start in intermodal, doing similar things, making sure that we were coordinating all of our shipments for our customers, meeting their expectations. And so operationally, and then I've had a few people say that maybe I'd be good in sales. I was interested in that. And talked to quite a few folks in the organization about it. And I had my first sales job in 1995. And had a territory and Ford Taurus and a bagged phone and Rand McNally Atlas, and worked on my pipeline and tried closing deals then. So that's kind of how everything started.

Brent Williams  6:13  
How awesome. And so 31 years later, or I guess, 30 years later, you entered into this role leading sales and marketing. And as you said, you've had quite a career in sales. But maybe tell us a little bit. I don't want to assume that, I know JB Hunt so well, that I can forget that, you know, maybe some of our listeners don't fully understand the scope of services, what your mission is. And then, you know, what are you focused on in this role?

Spencer Frazier  6:42  
Yeah, well, the organization today, let's call it around a $14 billion organization, 35,000 people, around 24,000 of those are drivers. And then when you think about the services that we provide, think of supply chain solutions, transportation services, for the first mile of a supply chain could even be international, different things at the port, as well as kind of a middle mile things from production to distribution, intercompany shipments and then the final mile. And that's even from point of distribution all the way to your home, coming in and do an installation of equipment and home appliances, furniture, exercise equipment, big things like that. 

Brent Williams  7:37  
Yeah, 

Spencer Frazier  7:38  
Yeah so our business is set up with five business units.

Brent Williams  7:42  
Okay. 

Spencer Frazier  7:43  
And I've had the privilege of working in four of the five, in operational and or sales and sales support roles. And so our history is of JB Hunt trucking, so our truck line as you would expect picking up shipments from kind of Chicago to Dallas or Atlanta to Philly or things like that, moving truckload shipments. That's one business unit. We also have, the biggest is our intermodal business unit. Very innovative when Mr. Hunt and Mike Haverty from the Santa Fe started that in 1989, a very unique relationship with the BNSF today, also our other railroad partners, the CSX, Norfolk Southern and others. And so that's our biggest business unit, significant opportunities to drive efficiency into the supply chain there. And then another strong and powerful and really fast growing business is our dedicated contract services. And that's more private fleet creation, private fleet management. And that's where the majority of our drivers are really doing hard, complicated work, hauling anything from feed to animals to retail distribution to food, delivery, and construction delivery and different things like that. And then our final mile services, which is the one where we're coming into your house, likely taken out your washer and dryer for maybe a major retailer that you'd purchase that from, integrated retail and point of delivery scheduling, operations, and then providing the installation and making sure that you have a good experience that represents that brand. And then our last one is ICS. And that's our logistics and brokerage business that really complements all of those, but on its own is something that can provide really any type of capacity for any type of shipment. And from a third party perspective, leverages our tech that we've invested into in a big, big way. So when you think of all those five business units and where we're at at, JB Hunt's a big organization, but relatively small related to the market that we play in. So say around 14 billion, we play in a $645 billion market, highly fragmented. But that presents a tremendous opportunity for us to execute our mission. And our mission is to create the most efficient transportation network in North America.

Brent Williams  10:26  
Well, and you know, something you just said, is, is really one of the main things I want to talk about with you, you know, you said, you want to solve problems or, you know, for for your customers, and with all the different services that JB Hunt offers, you've got the ability to take a full suite of services to a customer, and help them solve their transportation, logistics, and supply chain problems. And, you know, but maybe I kind of wanted to narrow in on sales and your thought about sales. When I look at our students, and you know, the Walton College fairly well, you know, we'll have roughly this fall 8,000 undergraduate students and, you know, probably 600 or so, graduates.

Spencer Frazier  11:14  
That's fantastic too. 

Brent Williams  11:15  
It's been wonderful growth. And it's been wonderful to see those students get great jobs and succeed, and that that's really why we're here. Many of them land in some sales oriented role, whether they intended to necessarily or not. And, you know, sometimes I think, I wonder if there's a understanding of what sales really is, you know, and I always see you start with the customer when you talk sales. So just wondering kind of your whole perspective on what sales actually is and how you go about it?

Spencer Frazier  11:53  
Yeah, well, that's a big question. Yeah. But I'll tell you this. I don't think people realize it. But everyone's in sales. Everyone is in sales. And even from a business perspective, or a personal perspective, everyone is in sales. And what I mean by that, whether, from when you're growing up to where you're at, as a student today, or in the professional workspace, all of us are doing things where we have to ask for something where we have to influence others, we have to make recommendations, we have to encourage, we have to solve problems. And to me, that encompasses sales. And so the the influence and the opportunity, and again, whether that's personally or with your family, and it goes up down and sideways to there's no hierarchical aspect to that.

Brent Williams  11:53  
Yeah, that's right. 

Spencer Frazier  11:55  
Yeah. So I just believe in life, everyone's in sales. And so sales, to me is something to where, again, you have the opportunity to think about who you're for, what you're trying to do to help, whether that's an individual or an organization, and then really trying to come up with the best ways to influence and solve. And then with that solution, you know, ask for business. And so I do believe that that's something that, you know, people might think of sales as, yeah, and put it into one functional little area. 

Brent Williams  13:37  
Yeah. 

Spencer Frazier  13:38  
But inside our organization today, I mean, there's people at this very moment, who are in a meeting, who are making a presentation that don't have a sales title, but they're making some recommendation, some suggestion, they're trying to get influence and understanding from the room that they're in and then collaborate to solve an issue or a problem.

Brent Williams  14:06  
Well, I couldn't agree more with you. You are right, each of us no matter what our role is, what no matter what function we sit in, we are influencing on behalf of our organization, and often on behalf of our constituents, in my case, or customers in your case, and you said something that, that I think was very important, I don't remember exactly how you just said it, but it made me think about seek to understand first you know, and so as you you know, build and lead sales teams, you know, how do you as you're going in to help customers solve problems. What how do you go about that and how do you help people understand why it's so important to understand and listen first?

Spencer Frazier  14:54  
Yeah, well, I'll I'll kind of dig into this one a little bit more specific to JB Hunt. And so at JB Hunt, really the way that we talk about going to market, also the way that from a sell side of solution design and an execution, we have a methodology that we call customer value delivery. 

Brent Williams  14:55  
Okay. 

Spencer Frazier  14:56  
And so CVD for short. And there's really five components of that. And you said, seek to understand, well understand is the very first part. And so I'll give you all five real quick. And then we can talk about different things. So the five components of CVD, and you can kind of think of this in a wheel, think of this as a continuous process. But we want to understand what the customer needs. We want to understand and collaborate with them strategically, then to deliver a solution that creates value for them. And then, after delivering that solution, we always want to measure it, what were their expectations? What were ours, what were the assumptions that we had built those expectations on? Are those assumptions true in reality? Are we hitting the performance that we needed to? So we want to understand, we want to deliver, we want to measure all the time. Data is so important. And then we want to have this regular cadence of communication. And that can be in the moment always, but also, regular cadence that just shares whether it's weekly business reviews, monthly, quarterly annual business reviews, and we bring in other stakeholders and decision makers that were a part of that, and share how we're doing together. So did we understand? Do we still understand are we delivering? Are we measuring appropriately, are we communicating in a regular fashion, and then we have this last part that's very, very important, is trying to anticipate what's next, anticipate what the other challenges might be or opportunities. And then you flip back into, okay, now we're in this deep understanding phase again. So you can think of that as a continuous flow of customer value delivery, but the customers in the center. And everything we do, we're trying to create value for that customer, for the individual to hit their objectives for the organization, and go back to our mission, if we're doing that in the most efficient way, then we feel like our value proposition is strong, or relationships can be very strong. And then the opportunity to continue with that client goes on so.

Brent Williams  17:43  
Well, and you know, when we when we teach and talk about sales here, you know, one thing we're very focused on is how do we create value for others? You know, and I think you said, the customers at the center, you're always focused on creating value, just as you're thinking about, let's say, a student here, and you're explaining like, well, why would that be my focus of creating value for someone else rather than myself?

Spencer Frazier  18:10  
Yeah, well, and I will say, okay, we are a business. In business, we do invest. To invest, we have to make money. 

Brent Williams  18:19  
Absolutely. 

Spencer Frazier  18:20  
Yeah. And we invest in really kind of three key areas, our people, our technology, and our capacity. But we do that, again, with the focus of being the most efficient that we can. And with that, we know if we create that value, then we're gonna grow. And so, to me, it's kind of all laced together in the fact that we have to if, from a competitive perspective, if we don't create value, someone else will. From a competitive perspective, if we're not the most efficient, someone is always trying to be.

Brent Williams  18:57  
Yeah. 

Spencer Frazier  18:57  
And then we know, if we're creating that value, then our opportunity to continue to earn that business from that customer as their business grows, to earn more of their share of spend, to be able to solve and add different solutions, because I want to say this too, in that understand phase, I really don't care what a customer buys. Now, I said we've got five distinct business units. 

Brent Williams  18:57  
Yeah.

Spencer Frazier  19:08  
There's multiple services inside each one of those. But we know if we understand the customer appropriately, we get synched up on the strategy that where we can add value. And we provide a great experience through that whole CVD process, then we know okay, our opportunity to continue to create new solutions with other services or other things over time, continues to be there. So that's really why that customer value is so important.

Brent Williams  19:59  
That focus on customer, creating value for the customer ultimately means that that that value is going to accrue to you and the company in the long run.

Spencer Frazier  20:09  
Yeah, yeah. And we know as well, then we can continue to invest in those things and continue to solve for more customers. And again, go back to that mission of the most efficient transportation network in North America, the more that we are able to connect, and really think about this, too. Yes, we're a big organization. But we have customers that might do one or two shipments a month, very small. So micro small businesses, medium, large, other strategic, so we kind of have the whole portfolio you have, and there's lots of opportunity to expand in that. And, and so, in that whole thought process of focusing on the customer, we want to really try to meet them where they are, and know regardless of size.

Brent Williams  21:02  
And so customers are often in a very different place. You know, as, as we've talked before, you know, the supply chain, any customer supply chain, and then the overall web of supply chains, if you want to put it that way, is complicated, complex, and at times delicate, you know, in certain ways. And I feel like we saw that, or, you know, the public really probably saw that and became acutely aware of it during COVID. But, you know, that's still the case in certain ways. When you when you go to a customer, and helping them solve complicated problems, you have to bring a team with a pretty diverse set of background and expertise to the table along with probably that same type of team from the customer. How do you go about assembling the right sets of talent on your team to do that?

Spencer Frazier  21:57  
Yeah, well, that's a, that's a really good question I do also want to talk about from a team perspective. I view every one is in sales. But another thing that we talk about is sales is a team sport. It is and so no one at JB Hunt has a monopoly on the best ideas all the time. No one. But collectively, and this is really where it kind of goes back to our culture. And really our culture of inclusion, our culture of really seeking out and making sure that every person at JB Hunt, you know, has a voice that we hear them. But going right to the customer, we know, on the sell side, we're sitting there, and we've got an opportunity to create a solution. And there are several that are pretty straightforward. And I might be the seller, and you might be in my pricing team. And I might work with you. And we say, okay, hey, we've got something that we think can create value for both organizations, I might bounce that off of our operations team just to get their nod on it. And then we present that back to the customer and see when we can start. But there are there are others that you know, every customer is different. And so we have a lot of opportunities in our organization from our engineering teams. And by the way, they are some of our best sellers. They don't have a sales title. 

Brent Williams  23:37  
Yeah. 

Spencer Frazier  23:38  
But really taking the opportunity to understand the customer's data, work with the customer to not just understand the data, but the realities of the operation. At the dock level, even at the order level. Those engineers do a wonderful job working with our sales team. And then when you think about the complex deals, you also want to bring your operations team along that's going to be executing on the customer's behalf to meet those expectations. And make sure we've got everything correct. And I'll say this. On the sales side, you know, you talk about one of the things you have to ask or do as a seller, you have to ask for the business. 

Brent Williams  24:20  
Yeah. 

Spencer Frazier  24:21  
So you have to close the deal. That's what people talk about. I'll say that our operations teams are our closers.

Brent Williams  24:30  
Interesting. 

Spencer Frazier  24:31  
And so in those complex deals, I might share with you the customer. Hey, Brent, here's how we're going to execute on this business. This is what I heard from you. Here's kind of the data that we looked at, the strategy that we collaborated on, to put the solution on the table. But my operator sitting next to me is not going to say what we're going to do, they're going to say how we're going to do it and the instant credibility comes right there, from the customer that says, Okay, now I trust you, we will help our sellers try to navigate based on each individual opportunity, we are very solution focused. So it's very customized on each, wherever customer, wherever they are, and what they need. And we want to try to meet them where they're at, regardless of size. So we'll rally a big team like that. Or we could have something as simple that maybe in your spot in your business, you might have seen an email or some marketing from our team, and said, Oh, JB Hunt can do that. I need that today. And you might do a self service, sign up on JB Hunt 360, get a quote, and execute your shipment. And you might not talk to anyone.

Brent Williams  25:50  
Yeah. 

Spencer Frazier  25:52  
Might not talk to anybody might not need a salesperson. But down the road, you might need some support, because you have a further question. And we'll meet you there too.

Brent Williams  26:02  
You know, a couple of things that that you said, One, talking about investment technology made me think about the future of sales. You know, and I just wondered from your perspective, sitting in, you know, sitting in your role where you're, you're leading sales and marketing in JB Hunt, but you're seeing so many customers, you know, and what they're trying to accomplish strategically, and you're interacting with them. How do you see sales evolving in the future?

Spencer Frazier  26:36  
Yeah. Yeah, it's going to be a lot of fun. So I do love sales. I love representing our company and our team. And when you think about in the past, say back when I first started, say the decade after that, even the decade after that, sales has always been very relational. Very one-on-one conversations, a lot of in person discussions, and really trying to come up with, again, what's that solution that can meet a customer's needs. But doing that, basically, in a very, kind of high touch way. I still believe that's going to be the case in the future. 

Brent Williams  27:27  
Okay. 

Spencer Frazier  27:29  
But I'm gonna say it this way, I think the future of sales is going to be both digital, and personal. So go back to that people you trust comment I made a minute ago. People buy from people that they trust, relationships are still very important. Now, can you do that sometimes in a very digital way? Absolutely too, you can. And so I think, as we're really looking around the corner into the next few years, we're already looking at our sales tech stack. And you know, today we're using Adobe, from a marketing perspective, content management, we're using Marketo, as part of helping us manage our content and contacts, and really helping us get in touch with new potential customers. All of that, in addition to another part of our tech zoom info, and trying to understand potential buyers and buyer intent. And then connecting all of that to our CRM, which is currently Microsoft Dynamics. And the opportunities inside the Microsoft platform. And in all of that, is to leverage the opportunity of AI generative AI language learning models, to automate and present things to our sellers in a way that makes them more insightful, more impactful, more efficient. So even going back to our mission, 

Brent Williams  29:07  
Yeah. 

Spencer Frazier  29:08  
And so I think the future is really where the automation comes in that digital side, but also, that AI becomes personal to me, the seller. And so the seller that can really embrace that, embrace that change and say, Okay, I want to be a part of making this better. I want to be a part of helping these models become more predictive, automated and efficient to help me focus my time that, okay, I've got all these things to do but based on where I'm at with this sales cycle and this client and this opportunity. This is the recommended task that I should do next. And then not only in that recommendation, serve up to me some of the content, some of the best ways to respond, that can really save me time and make me more efficient. And now I still have to personalize that. So that's where there's eyes on, there's hands on that, and then to personalize it, and then leverage that in my conversation with the customer, either online or in person. So I think the seller of the future is the one who's going to embrace that technology, to help them in their productivity, and also their customer responses, the solutions we create, and I think they'll be very, very successful. So it's really, really exciting about what's coming up.

Brent Williams  30:36  
It is exciting to think about how technology like AI can improve productivity, and allow people, both for the seller and the buyer, to use their skills at a higher level than they ever could before. So I personally think that's maybe the most exciting thing about how technology is going to unlock the future. So I love I love your your point about the future of sales is still personal. And at the same time digital. You know, and as you were saying that it made me think about your customers. So I guess as, as the sales team, you have to help that customer get comfortable, I would assume but you also said contribute, contribute, and maybe maybe didn't use that word. But that's the way I took it was that they've got to be committed to helping make this process better as well.

Spencer Frazier  31:33  
Yeah, I think that both from the way that we work on solutions with the customer. So we want to have data driven, insightful, but collaborative strategies that we work with them on. And so again, there might be a little bit different experience on kind of the maybe the smaller or other self serve type customers, we want to do that through our tech platform. We want to empower them to run their business in a way that maybe they can't today through insights and visibility, and access to information. But if you go back upstream to maybe some of the more complex or strategic relationships that we have, that's a very collaborative process to where we want to create a roadmap jointly with our customers, a mutually agreed to strategy that has goals and very high expectations. But if we achieve those expectations, the opportunity for us to achieve our goals together is pretty significant.

Brent Williams  32:48  
Spencer, maybe kind of double click on data for just for just a moment. You and I have been working together for 10 or 11 years. And I remember in early conversations, how important the sharing of data was a decade ago. And it seems like it's going to become maybe even more important in the future, if we're really going to leverage these technologies. Am I right? Or do you see that differently?

Spencer Frazier  33:15  
No, I, you're 100%. Right. But from really the solution part, when you think about getting data that our customers have? Well, one of the things and you know, in this college, you really talk about the impact of forecasting and planning and, and how all that comes together and really trying to understand demand from a customer perspective. It's still really hard, right, especially over the last few years, and then the impacts of missing that by a little bit whether it's missing sales, or having too much inventory. Our customers have a hard, hard job. But trying to work with them to understand, okay, what can we settle in on from a data perspective that allows us to then look through and optimize for them the best combined solution and give them things to think about that? Maybe they haven't in the past? And one of the biggest ones goes back to leveraging data to see what can convert from the highway to intermodal in our world, and that's the most efficient, most cost effective, most sustainable, executing and really having 60% less of a carbon impact, moving it on the train versus on a truck. And so, a lot of customers we have to kind of talk through okay, well, did you know this opportunity exists? And even try to expand their thinking of maybe they are doing some of that business today. But our network is changing the way that our teams are executing with our railroads is changing. And we think we can expand their view of that market in a big, big way. So that takes a lot of data. And also takes then go from back to the personal, developing a lot of trust in our execution. Because there's been some challenges in that network in the past. But so whether you're talking about that type of conversion, or optimization of a fleet, that allows a customer to see, hey, we think we could run your fleet a little bit more efficiently, covering the same number of shipments with maybe a few less trucks, handling the variability of that challenge of forecasting a little bit differently than they do today. That creates a more efficient answer. So that's kind of how all that comes together on the front end, but data is so important, and then how we present that back, we want to give them the opportunity to visualize that solution. 

Brent Williams  36:02  
Okay. 

Spencer Frazier  36:02  
And then coming down the road is even their opportunity to maybe click the parts of that that makes sense for them today. Go back to the other part of data on execution. One of the best parts about a quarterly business review that we do is our customers continue to ask us today. Okay, well, what do we need to do to be better for JB Hunt? For your drivers? How can we help you become more efficient to help us become more efficient? Great questions. And one of the things that we do, talk about going digital and personal, is we take data that crowdsources the experience of drivers at our customers dock, okay. And we share the comments, we share the reviews. And so there could be all kinds of KPIs and high level service metrics and other things. But when you get down to how does someone feel when they come in and work with my team at my location? Customers are highly interested in that. That makes it personal. And they know again, still a people business. They want to make sure that they're doing the right things. They're rewarding people on their team. They're providing a great experience, and then coaching others that maybe aren't. And then there are economic impacts of both of those that we can share information to.

Brent Williams  37:38  
Because there's certainly cost to serve implications on that I assume?

Spencer Frazier  37:41  
That's exactly right. So again, as a seller, you can talk about the sales enablement part that I shared a little bit ago. But now you can talk about this buyer enablement, part of leveraging data, thinking about in solution creation, and really that design and delivery, and then going into that communication of the personal experience down the road. And again, as a seller, that's all part of our, our world, so.

Brent Williams  38:12  
Well, digitally enabled sales of the future, or the growth of digitally enabled sales is is quite exciting. And isn't it fun to be in, in a role and field that is constantly changing? And where you have to learn and adapt every single day?

Spencer Frazier  38:29  
Yeah, it really is. And I'll tell you, one of the best parts about our business is we can always be a student of business. And we get to work with so many different customers. And we get to see how they do their business, how they take care of their teams, what their focused on is, their mission, their priorities, and get to learn quite a bit of both from strategic all the way strategic planning down to day to day execution. And so it really is a lot of fun. And it's a great opportunity to just to continue to learn.

Brent Williams  39:05  
Absolutely. You know, as, as we conclude, maybe just, you know, I've got 8000ish undergraduate students, and you speak regularly I know maybe even every single semester on our campus, about leadership. And so maybe a little bit about your style of leadership. And then when you're in the classroom, what what's the advice that you give that 21, 22 year old, like really looking at, you know, what's my future gonna look like and how do I make my impact?

Spencer Frazier  39:41  
That's a good question. I'll maybe use two words here, from a leadership perspective, you talk about my style. I don't know you'd have to ask people I work with, but something I've always tried to focus on is really how can I serve? How can I help? Even going all the way back to working nights or those first operational jobs, you know, we are a team, we are a family. How can we help each other? How can I help? Even if I don't know the answer? What can I do to learn it to try to figure that out? So really, how can I serve? And I'm still trying to do that today. It's a big responsibility in this role. We have a wonderful team and I just always want to serve them well. If you were talking about advice from a student perspective, and advice I wish I would have had when I was a student, is to really be present. And what I mean by that, each of us has an opportunity every single day, every single interaction, to be present. And in the classroom to be present. I feel like let's see, I was in the classroom, more focused on finishing the class, not as much focused on being present to get what I could from the class, to learn also to contribute where appropriate, but to really be engaged in the classroom. And I think every student and even me today, in every interaction, I know, if you can focus on being present, not having the phone not having in really engaging, listening, contributing. There's so much to learn. And there's so much to take from the experience and opportunities that they have today. And so my advice would just be present.

Brent Williams  42:02  
Spencer, I see that is such wisdom. And today, it's really hard to do, right. There's so many distractions out there. But you know, whether it's what can you take out of the classroom or learn from whatever experience you're in, you know, I agree with that 100%. But also, I know, when I'm sitting across from you, you know, that you're going to be present and engaged with me. And that means a lot no matter what type of relationship that we have, whether it's a buyer seller relationship, or whether it's a collaborative partnership, like we have.

Spencer Frazier  42:40  
Yeah, yeah, I agree. I think it all comes down to then, as connected to keeping things personal, building those relationships, demonstrating a sense of respect and caring for others. And I think that can just help all of us down the road.

Brent Williams  42:58  
Well, thank you for the way you've partnered with us at the Walton College and the way JB Hunt has really partnered with the Walton College and University of Arkansas. It's certainly been a pleasure for me over the last 10 years or so to work alongside you and I look forward to a lot more.

Spencer Frazier  43:17  
Yeah, same here, Brent. I appreciate that and looking forward to it as well.

Brent Williams  43:21  
Thanks for being here today. On behalf of the Walton College thank you for joining us for this captivating conversation. To stay connected and never miss an episode, simply search for Be Epic on your preferred podcast service.

Brent D. Williams

Dr. Brent D. Williams serves as the Dean of the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas and holder of the Sam M. Walton Leadership Chair.

With a deep commitment to fostering excellence in business education and thought leadership, Dr. Williams brings a wealth of experience to his role, shaping the future of the college and its impact on students and the business community. A native Arkansan, Dr. Williams earned his Ph.D. in Business Administration from the University of Arkansas, specializing in supply chain management.

As the Dean of the Sam M. Walton College of Business, Dr. Williams is focused on advancing the college toward its vision of being a catalyst for transforming the lives of its students and a thought leader in business.