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 is the Dean of the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas.
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.
