March 24, 2025 • 37 mins
What separates good leaders from great ones? Data. In this episode, Brady and Benji break down why tracking the right numbers leads to smarter decisions in business and life.
From coaching softball to leading a restoration business, they share real examples of how data transformed their results—like turning a 31% win rate into a championship team. They also explore how industry leaders like Chick-fil-A use metrics to optimize customer experience and how tracking response times and communication efficiency has improved their own success.
Beyond business, they dive into why Google reviews matter more than you think, how employee feedback strengthens culture, and how their “Coffee with the CEO” program gathers game-changing insights. The key? Start small, track 1-3 meaningful metrics, apply what you learn, and watch the impact.
If you’re ready to level up your leadership and make decisions based on facts instead of feelings, this episode is your blueprint. The numbers don’t lie—are you paying attention?
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
all right.
Well, benji brady, welcome intoanother episode, episode 23.
Uh, today we're talking datadrives decisions data, data
drives decisions.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
All right, when you think of the number 23,.
What do you guys think of?
What comes to mind first?
Michael Jordan 100% yes, yes,yes, yes.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
The GOAT, michael Jordan the only person that
doesn't you know yell at thejournalist on court during the
game about his son.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Well, true, but I will tell you, as the topic is
today, today, I'll let youmention it here in a second
number 23 had the best stats inthe history of the game.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
plug there's a plug for you yeah, I do need to go
back and watch this documentary.
I never did and I heard it wasa.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
It was really good really good, yeah, I did too,
that's.
That's actually a good note,adam, I need to do the same
thing I need to check it,especially as a filmmaker.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
I should check that, but I heard, and aren't you?
Speaker 2 (01:06):
aren't you, adam, aren't you impressed with
brady's setup?
Speaker 1 (01:09):
we, actually I am for those that are that are
watching the uh, I was jokinglycalled a vidcast so you know,
those are watching on youtube.
Brady looks quite professional.
This is it's nice.
It's a nice change.
It's nice change.
It's nice to have you where thesun isn't coming in behind you.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
I'm kind of partial to my office.
I mean, I'm very cozy in there,you know.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
But this is good, I think a lot of people would say
that they are just glad hedoesn't have the stack of books.
That was probably one of ourmost engaged episodes, like all
the stack of books and documentshe had.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
I still used it.
I still used it up until lastweek.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
What we didn't account for was for the changing
of the seasons.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
That's true, and the sun coming in, yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
So when you saw that you're like guys, the time's
changing and the sun's justbeaming through my window Yep,
yep it.
And the sun's just beamingthrough my window Yep, yep it
was very angelic, though Veryangelic it was it was, it was
Well, yeah.
So, like I said, today we'retalking data drives decisions.
This is a great topic for ourlisteners because this has been
(02:18):
a key emphasis on any and everydecision that you guys have made
in your business.
Data, I mean, you can't fightit.
You know, brady, you've said itbefore but hope is not a good
strategy, and the counter tothat is data drives decisions.
Data lets you know is somethingworking?
Is it not working?
Do we need to pivot?
Do we need to find anothermethod?
(02:39):
So I know this is a big thingfor both of you that y'all have
really pushed, with anyoneassociated that works for you,
serves with you.
Whatever, that is Data and it'snot just business, right,
that's like your family, that'schurch.
That's everything that lets youknow is what I'm doing working
(03:01):
or am I wasting my time?
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Yeah, it's data does drive decisions, everything you
do.
And just just to give you alittle history, I guess we might
tell a little story, um, aspart of the history, but I was a
travel softball coach forprobably close to I don't know
10 years and actually cause Iknow it was not 10 years seven
years.
The first three years we playedpark ball For those of you who
(03:27):
don't know, that's like the parkin your local community or
whatever and I'll never forgetthe first year we were looking
to.
As a matter of fact, Adam, Iwas talking to your wife.
Both the girls were at abirthday party this past weekend
and we were talking about thegirl that we were there for
McKenzie and Addie to have thebirthday party.
Her aunt, me and that lady'shusband actually coached
(03:51):
softball together.
We were talking about softballstuff and Emily was standing
there and I'll never forget,because Emily was talking about
y'all were about to start Addiewith the whole.
You know, park season wasstarting up again.
A couple of the girls thereplayed together and I was
reflecting back to those daysthinking, man, I remember when
Sammy was playing park ball, wehad to make the decision about
12U softball that's the age of12 and under is what they call
12U.
Are we going to continue?
(04:13):
Because they didn't really havea park, you know, park girls
playing park softball after 10U.
It really didn't exist.
So the only way we were going tocontinue to get better was to
go play travel softball.
So I called this guy up andsaid, hey, I want to be able to
be a coach.
What does this entail?
He said, tag, you're it Like?
You're going to be the 2005girls softball coach for travel
(04:33):
for this specific organization?
I said, fine, that works.
So our first year OK, datadrives decisions.
Our first year fall of 2016,.
We won five games out of 16games, that's a 31% win
percentage Not very good.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Not very good?
Speaker 2 (04:50):
No.
So I had to make a decision,like I've got to recruit some
additional girls.
There were some girls thatdidn't want to play anymore.
The next spring, we went 17 and17 and we won one championship.
So that was a 50% win ratio.
One championship the next fall,the following fall, we won 20
games, only lost six and wefinished first place twice, so
(05:16):
we have a 77% win percentage.
One, two championships and thenthe next spring 2018, we won 26
games, lost 16, and won fivechampionships.
So data drives decisions.
We had to make a few changes toour team, to.
Maybe it's your organizationwhich we're going to talk about
(05:36):
here in a second, but thosethings matter, especially in
parents.
Adam, I'm sure you could havetested this now.
Parents get really uptightabout their, their daughters,
playing softballs to the pointof, you know, walking up to the
fence and shaking the fence.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
I know you've seen it I know you've seen it, man I'll
even vicariously, through theirkids.
I just take pictures.
That's all I do.
I just enjoy watching her playand take pictures of them I
would love to see some of themoments you capture.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
That's a story for another day.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
I told somebody the other day I think one of my next
series should be is capturingangry parents of these games and
like, oh, that'd be good, I'dwatch that series you could get
posted hey, you could start aninstagram, I mean, and, and
you'd probably get some peopleto dial in angry parents, so
we'll call it but.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
But that brought that back.
So another thing I wanted totalk about.
Okay, me myself.
So about a year ago I weighed228 pounds.
All right, today I'm 238 pounds.
Now, by the way, just for youlisteners, that's not muscle
weight.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
You're also tall though I'll give you that.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Yeah, but it don't matter.
I need to get back down to my228 pounds.
How do I change this?
How?
What would you guys say?
Speaker 3 (06:54):
well, I mean, it's gonna start with making some
different decisions in a mindsetyou know first yep, but then
you gotta decide yeah, go ahead,adam.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
No, it starts.
It starts with what you'reeating.
Like Brady's saying, makedecisions, it starts with what
you're eating.
What are you putting into?
Speaker 2 (07:11):
your body Yep, and you have to exercise.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
You have to do a little more.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Less intake of calories, more outtake, we'll
say, of calories throughexercise.
I know you guys know I loveChick-fil-A.
What I'll never forget therewas one day that Sammy and I
were going to a softballtournament several years ago and
we walk in and we're sitting towhere we can see behind the
(07:37):
counter.
Okay Now, first thing I did.
She said what are you lookingat?
And I said I'm actually lookingat their screen above the
drive-thru window.
You know, back then they didn'thave 100% where you can look
right into the kitchen.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
I knew exactly where you were.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
That's sad, I know that back then, if you guys
remember.
They've changed the way they dodrive-thrus.
Now a lot of people are doingthis, not just in Chick-fil-A,
but in other restaurant fastfood as well.
They now have the doors open upwhere people walk out.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Yeah, I actually like that a lot better.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Yeah Well, why?
Because service is faster,right, I mean, you get faster
service.
So back then they had thewindows.
They had to hand the bagthrough to you.
I looked up on this TV up thereand there was several key.
I'm going to call them KPMs keyperformance metrics.
(08:30):
Don't know if that's what theycall them, but we'll just call
them that to make it good forthis, for this podcast today,
and up there on the screen theyhad order time, customer service
time, food delivery time andthe.
I forget what the other one was, and I know you guys are going
to agree with this, but how manytimes have you got to a
drive-thru with you and yourwife and kids or whatever?
And when you actually pull upto the window and your food's
not ready, what do they tell youto do?
(08:51):
Pull forward, pull forward.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
Pull forward to the stop sign that's at the end of
the building that blocks therest of the traffic.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
That's right.
So here's a question Do youguys think that they stop their
metric when they have you pullforward?
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Oh, 100%.
Yes, Do they 100%.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
I have to agree with Adam.
I don't know about that, butthink about this.
They've stopped their clock.
Their clock has stopped becauseyou've moved out of the way.
It's time for the next.
You're out of the cycle.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Other than the end of the cycle is delivering the
food.
But technically you're out ofcycle, I would assume.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
I would think so.
Now, if you're a Chick-fil-Aemployee or manager or owner or
whatever, listening to this.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Please reach out to us and let us know what the
actual thing is, we would alsolike a sponsorship, if there's
any of those for someChick-fil-A.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
But the thing is, the key is, even in the restaurant
industry they're tracking somekind of metrics because they
know the faster they can get youthe food it's hot, right off
the kitchen line that you'regoing to be the most satisfied
customer and you're probablygoing to come back, especially
if your order is right.
So here's what we're going totalk about today.
(10:05):
In your business Maybe it'syour church, maybe it's your uh,
you're a manager of a company,maybe you're an employee what
are some key metrics?
Brady and I are going to talkabout just a few um that we do
in our organization.
Just a few.
Okay, how quickly do we have asindustry standard, brady, that
when a customer calls our office?
(10:25):
How quickly do we have asindustry standard, brady, that
when a customer calls our office, how long should we respond
back to that customer?
That we're on the way?
Speaker 3 (10:34):
Well, I mean, in our industry it's always been an
hour.
We've got a one Now listen,nowadays if you wait an hour to
call somebody back, that's goingto be a long time.
So it's actually shorter thanthat, but the industry standard
has always been about an hour.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Yeah.
And then the next metric is howlong would we be on site to
that customer's house industrystandard Four hours.
Four hours Now.
Obviously we're going to beatthat time because we want to get
there fast.
And then what's the next metricis how long should we have some
kind of now again, just soeverybody knows Adam's mentioned
this a couple of times we arein the restoration business
(11:10):
water, fire, cleanup,construction.
How long should it take us toget some kind of debriefing back
to the insurance company ifthey choose to file a claim or
whatever?
What's that typical timeframe?
Eight business hours.
Eight business hours Again.
We try to beat that as well.
There is actually a company inBirmingham Adam we'll see if you
know who they are that inBirmingham Alabama they're
(11:34):
called On Time 59.
Do you know what their sloganis?
It's On Time Electric.
It is On Time Electric.
Do you know what their promise?
Speaker 1 (11:44):
is.
I'm not a branding guy, Ishould.
It's like if we don't beat 59,it's on our dime, or something
like that.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
You are so close.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
That was really good, because we watch the news every
morning and they are a sponsorand we hear it Welcome to
on-time electric Wait.
Do they have a jingle?
Adam, can you sing that for us?
They do.
I can't.
That's why I missed it On.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
Time 59?
Speaker 1 (12:10):
I have no shame.
I don't know if they have ajingle.
Actually We'll be there in 59or it's on our dime, something
like that you are so close OnTime 59 or we pay you 59.
I knew it was something likethat.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Yeah.
So basically what they say isif we have an appointment with
you, we are going to be on time,or there is no $59 charge.
I've never used them so Iwouldn't know how they charge,
but that is their motto.
That's good, yeah, how longdoes it take you to get on site?
It's all about service.
Think about speed of service.
So, no matter what industryyou're in, it's about speed of
(12:49):
service.
Today's world.
Brady is exactly right.
If we were to wait an hour tocall a customer back in our
industry, they've probablycalled two or three other
companies at this point, right,especially the way Google works
and all those other things.
So again, going back to theChick-fil-A model, if you guys
had to pull forward out of thatdrive-thru line and you had to
(13:12):
wait at the stop sign Brady wastalking about and you sat there
and sat there and sat there andsat there, wouldn't you get
upset?
Absolutely, yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
What's the point of fast food if I could have gone
and sat down for this?
Speaker 2 (13:27):
See, we could drop the mic right there I could have
gone to a sit-down restaurant.
That is not fast food and ithappens at other restaurants all
the time Taco Bell, McDonald'syou could go on down the list
that if you don't get your foodon time, people are going to get
upset.
So again, key metrics.
So you know you could go ondown the list that if you don't
get your food on time, peopleare going to get upset.
(13:48):
So again, key metrics.
So, Brady, I got a couple ofthings for you, for our team.
So, basically, anytime we havea meeting, we're pretty much
talking about metrics.
Yeah, how often should thesemetrics be talked about with
your team?
Speaker 3 (14:04):
for those listening out there, how often should you
bring them up, I mean, I wouldsay, as often as you can.
Now, in an ideal world, a lotof us, we have technology that's
available to us today, and sodashboards and apps and things
like that should be Now againgranted.
If you're putting in the rightinformation into the system,
(14:27):
then it should report back toyou, just like Chick-fil-A, I
mean.
There's somebody probablysitting there pressing the
button Okay, we got the order,and then now they're pulling up
and we've started gathering thestuff.
So, as long as you're puttingin the right information, you
know, garbage in, garbage out,but as long as you're putting
the right information, we canget that information out.
So, typically, what we do isevery time that we meet, we're
(14:51):
looking at some type of metric,and here's the analogy that I
use all the time.
Okay, let's say that you go toyour favorite sports game.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
Okay, besides upward sports, okay, where everybody
wins, everybody wins, that'sright, everybody wins.
But let's say you go to yourfavorite sports game and you
show up and nobody's keepingscore.
Is that a?
Is that a?
Is that a fun game?
Probably not, because you.
I mean, what's the point?
Right, you want to know who'swinning.
So the only way for us to knowwho is winning in our
(15:25):
organization is through the dataand what the data is showing us
.
And are we meeting thedeadlines or are we not meeting
the deadlines?
Are we meeting the metrics?
Are we not meeting the metrics?
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Love it.
So think about this there are alot of business owners, not
even in our what we would callour industry, that call Brady
and I for questions and things,all that.
Maybe they pass us in church,you know, maybe it's at this
local store, supermarket,whatever.
And I've been asked thisquestion a lot, Brady, I'm sure
you have as well.
Should I share my financialswith my team, what would?
Speaker 3 (16:03):
you say, I mean, for a long time we, we didn't Um,
but I think as much, as much asyou can, I mean, are you going
to?
Are you going to share the fullthing?
No, but I mean, being abusiness owner is a, is a um.
It's a big blessing in, in in alot of ways and sometimes it
can be burdensome depending on.
(16:25):
You know just the amount ofinformation that's out there and
if you're the only one that isholding on to that information
and you're not sharing it atleast with your leadership team,
then you've got to be able toshare that burden across,
because you may have certainmetrics of revenue and profit
and you know just certain thingslike that that are on your
(16:45):
profit and loss statement, yourbalance sheet, whatever that
looks like.
If you're the only one thatknows that information and
you're not sharing it withothers, then they don't know if
the company's winning or not.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Yeah, that's a great point, because and I agree with
you that I think there'ssometimes where you don't need
to share everything, but atleast with your key managers
that's the key here at leastwith your key managers.
And look, let's be honest,because people say why would I
want to share that with mymanagement team?
Listen, if you can't share someof this information again to
(17:17):
Brady's point, not everythingwith your management team you
probably have the wrong personin the wrong seat.
Okay, so just take that intoconsideration.
We pride ourselves in puttingpeople around us that they are
better than us as far as maybethey get great ideas.
I'm not talking about as far asbetter, but maybe they get
great ideas.
They do a fantastic job.
We need to be able to bewilling to share with them the
(17:39):
key points.
Here's one, adam, this comeshome for you Google reviews Do
they hurt you or do they helpyou?
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Oh, 100%, they help you.
It's one of the key metricsthat Google looks at, because
then also it's consistency.
Google wants to see that youhave an active profile.
They're not going to pushbusinesses that people use their
platform to find if they're notactive or if they're unanswered
(18:08):
.
That's why for us it'simportant to gain those.
We have metrics right now.
We break it down for how manyreviews we want each of our
franchises to get per year.
We break it down to let themsee what they're doing quarterly
so they can understand.
So they have quarter goalsbecause those quarter goals
allow them to realize all right,well, we're supposed to hit
(18:28):
this many in a month, but forthe quarter we're behind, so
maybe they had a slow month orsomething like that, so they
need to look at those.
So we break those down yearly,quarterly and monthly, and then
even further, we celebrate thosewith our team weekly Like, hey,
these are the reviews that wepulled.
So we're really hitting thoseall, from the top to the bottom
(18:51):
with them.
But it also makes a big impact.
I mean that's huge to get anyof those type of things because
Google sees it.
And then also you're talkingabout metrics.
Google measures how quickly yourespond.
I mean our goal is 24 to 48hours for something we we hit
that way less Typically it's wetry to do day of, obviously over
(19:15):
a weekend.
It might be tough if we getjobs with the weekend or evening
.
But you know our goal.
Our goal is 24 hours, our, our,we don't try to extend past 48.
Like, we know that we need torespond within a day or so and
(19:35):
google again.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
They measure that data, that you're measuring
yourself to say, hey, this is abusiness we would recommend.
Yeah, so so, adam, on the flipside, metrics, keep, keep
performing metrics.
Can they hurt you?
Speaker 1 (19:45):
I mean, yes, I would say so as well.
What when you're talking abouthurting?
What way are you looking intothat?
Speaker 2 (19:51):
so great, great question.
I was actually hoping you'd askit.
So let's say that a customerputs a google review online
right and they give you a onestar.
Can that hurt you?
Speaker 1 (20:02):
it can.
Um, because what, what islooked?
It takes typically fivepositive reviews to negate the
weight of a negative review.
So think about it.
I mean, and that seems unfair,right, you know you're like do
you want to walk into a fightwith somebody where it's like
one versus five?
Speaker 2 (20:21):
You know, do you want to be on a?
Speaker 1 (20:22):
bare knuckle challenge.
I know, do you want to playbasketball like one versus five?
No, you know.
So it's tough, but yeah, I mean, at the end of the day you've
got to.
So when that comes in, it's aplus and a negative one.
It says, all right, we messedup, how do we fix this?
How do we flip this?
So doing that, that's the.
That's where you say, yes, itcan hurt you, but I think the
(20:44):
positive way in that too issometimes when we do receive
those, it gives us such anopportunity to fix that.
And we've had many a times whereyou know we're not perfect.
Things don't always go well.
There's also things out of ourcontrol that we can't control,
whether that's a customerneeding a certain product or
something they're trying to getordered that's on back order.
Sometimes they don't understandthat and we get that.
But with that negative metricit gives us an opportunity to
(21:08):
fix it.
And we've had time wherecustomers will go back and
update a review, make itpositive and say, hey, I had a
bad experience at first.
They came, they fixed it andthey reached out.
And for us I always tell ourteam that's a positive because
that lets customers know if wedon't get it right, we're going
to fix it.
So I think, yes, I think thatmetric also helps.
(21:30):
Sometimes it does that.
That's the reason why we have aprocess, when a negative review
comes in, to figure it out andand then we have a.
We have, we know, we have aclock to figure out.
We got it, we got to fix thisso we can flip that metric.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
Yeah, and on the flip side too, you know as far as
can it hurt you?
I think a lot of people to yourpoint.
They don't, they try, theydon't really have a review
process in place.
Let's be honest, I mean, youguys probably do the same thing
you want to go to localrestaurants.
Don't you look up their Googlereviews, especially if you've
never been to this place.
(22:12):
I mean, if people arecomplaining about the food and
the service and all, you'reprobably not going to go right.
So it can hurt you in a way ifyou don't have positive Google
reviews on there.
An owner looks at this one,let's just say it's one or two
reviews that are one star andthey go.
Oh no, not another one.
We used to be in the same boatuntil we had so many positive
reviews.
We actually were like team, youdid a great job on this.
Maybe we had a communicationbreakdown, whatever.
To your point, it can turn theopposite way, and I know you
mentioned this too employeerecognition for you owners and
(22:33):
managers, listening is a bigthing.
Brady and Adam, we prideourselves on making sure that we
recognize our employees forgetting those, and they look
forward to that.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
It's a big thing.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Here's one, and I know we've done this in our
organization Even recently.
Uh, we talked about coffee withthe CEO of I think it was the
last episode or two episodes ago.
But what about doing some typeof how do you want everything
we've been talking about to thispoint?
Is external metrics right?
What can we do to help thecustomer do internally, but from
an internal perspective haveyou ever considered in your
(23:07):
business, or again your company,whatever have you ever
considered asking for anonymousfeedback from your team about
your organization?
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Well, nobody ever wants to hear the negative.
That's right.
You've got to be able to acceptthe constructive criticism and
I can tell you as a creative,that's very hard, that's very
hard criticism, and I can tellyou as a creative, that's very
hard, that's very hard, um, butI mean, I also understand, um,
that that when you do that, Imean that's something, benji,
you and I have had manyconversations because you're
(23:36):
just a supportive person.
That's just your personality,that's who you are.
And we've had conversationswhere I'm like, benji, tell me
it looks terrible, like it'sokay, like I need you to say
this is not your best work.
So if I do something and it'snot, then I need to know that If
there's something that it seemslike hey, I know you have the
capability of doing this, I feellike you're not giving the
(23:57):
attention, like I think thatconstructive criticism needs to
be happening, whether that isanonymous or just giving that
metric, like hey, and you know,hey, this is the work I've seen
you do and this is the work thatyou're doing, that we did on
this.
It's just again, I think that's, I think that's extremely
important.
It's not easy, but I think it'ssomebody you've got to be able
(24:20):
to to handle that.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Yeah, brady.
Brady, you've done again coffeewith the CEO recently and we
have our employees in there giveus positive feedback.
Maybe some things that we needto improve on.
What have we seen from ourpeople just with?
Speaker 3 (24:33):
that.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Because I see your recap every week and it's pretty
good stuff.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
Well, and when you do that too, Brady, in the caveat
with what Benji's asking also toadd into what he's doing, I was
going to see, if you don't mind, talk a little bit about how
you're doing that.
But also, what I love is you'regiving recognition based on
your core values.
I've noticed you've done thatthe past couple weeks, where
you're giving recognition insideof what you're saying hey, this
(24:59):
is what is our core values, andthen you're giving people in
that.
So I know that's a whole bunch.
Speaker 3 (25:09):
We threw at you, but I just wanted to make sure
because I thought that wasreally neat that you've been
doing that lately.
Yeah, so I think we're going todo another podcast episode on
core values and how we recentlychanged ours up.
But, yeah, based off of that iswe started doing this thing
called Coffee with the CEO, towhere we started three weeks ago
ago and, over the course oflike 24 to 30 weeks or something
(25:30):
like that, sitting down withevery, every person in the
organization, and really forthree purposes.
One is to roll out the corevalues individually uh, from us
to them, right.
So that's the first purpose.
But the other purpose wasfinding out what's going well in
the organization.
So we start out with a positiveand we get everybody to
(25:52):
typically there's about fivepeople that's in there but find
out what's going well in theorganization.
And then the third thing istell me what challenges we're
having, and we've heard a lot ofgood feedback and, to this
point, when you're looking atdata, okay, and so we're getting
all this feedback right, benji,and what we're looking at is
(26:12):
what we're looking for aretrends.
Okay, we're not necessarily aone-off.
Yeah, somebody had a badexperience here, a bad
experience here, or what thosethings are, but what are the
commonalities?
And then we take thosecommonalities and say, okay,
what do we need to do about that?
Okay, so a big one for us.
(26:34):
And sometimes you think you'redoing things really well and
you're like, well, we need toreevaluate that.
So one of the big things thathas come out is communication,
and you know you've got allthese.
You know we're about up to 180,190 employees, something like
that, but it's hard tocommunicate to 190 people.
So that's something that wehave to figure out how to do
(26:55):
better, and I think we've gottenbetter over the last 12 to 24
months.
But that's something that hascome out of these sessions by us
asking these questions, out ofthese sessions, by us asking
these questions.
And then what we're doing, tospeak to what you were talking
about, adam, is how do we engagewith our people related to the
(27:17):
core values, and so we have ourpayroll platform called PayCore.
There's a recognition featurethat's in there, goes out to
everybody, and so we want peopleto recognize where people are
doing something really well, andwe're tying that back to one of
our new seven core values thatsays hey, adam, you know what
(27:39):
you did.
You were doing an amazing jobdoing this podcast and producing
it.
You know you are reallyfollowing through on relentless
execution, which is one of ourcore values.
So we could go in pay core andwe could recognize Adam for that
.
And then what we're doing isevery week we're tallying those
up and through our communicationchannel with Slack, with our
(28:01):
entire organization, is we'resaying, hey, there were five
people that really embodiedrelentless execution.
They got called out this weekby their peers and so we're
posting that on there.
So it's just a way ofcommunication and reinforcing.
And that's another data pointas well to see okay, well, now
(28:23):
we've got three weeks worth ofdata to say we got a lot of
people that are pursuingexcellence and less people that
are data wins.
So now how can we focus more onthe ones that are keep what
we're doing, but focus on theones that we're having some
challenges with and how do wemake those a little bit better?
Speaker 2 (28:42):
Yeah, and there's obviously, like Brady said,
there's many taking this datathat we're getting.
There's many tools out therethat you can use Google Sheets,
you know Excel, obviously, ai,with chat, gpt, you can plug
stuff in.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
Just don't copy and paste.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
That's true, that's right.
But here's the biggest questionObviously, there's lots of
tools, right?
What if you fail?
Let's say you get all this data, ok, what if?
What could happen?
Speaker 1 (29:10):
Well, what's the point of collecting?
And if you're not?
That's my first thought,exactly, I mean, what's the
point?
It feels like it's.
You know every moment of yourday.
You know finding pockets oftime.
Your time is one of your mostvaluable commodities that really
you can control if you'recontrolling it the right way.
So if you're spending the timeand effort to collect it but
(29:34):
you're not using it, then what'sthe point in that?
I don't know.
That's my first thing.
I don't know if that kind of, Idon't know if that no.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
I agree with you.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
That's my first thought I'm like why are you
collecting it?
Speaker 3 (29:47):
Yeah, yeah, I think that's a big point.
I mean, you're wasting a lot oftime by doing it.
So, by using the data, you wantto use it for good, and if you
get a lot of that, then you cancurate that to help drive
whatever those KPMs or thoseKPIs are.
It's supposed to help you makebetter decisions, correct.
That's why we say data drivesdecisions.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
But if you don't use it to your point.
Speaker 3 (30:16):
If you don't use it, then you're probably going to be
making some bad decisions.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
Well, and I think too I think something that's
important, because we've heardthis a lot, especially in the
position that you guys have beenin training and helping other
serve pros and things like that.
They're like hey, show us, howare you guys being successful
with things?
Though, the first things I find, if somebody's like well, I
mean I don't understand.
Like how are you doing this?
Like, for instance, we, we havea company we use to help with
(30:42):
our, our digital marketing, andlike how do you know it's making
you money, I'm like, well, wetrack it and I'm there like, oh,
you do that, wait what?
because they'll be like, becausewhat what's funny is?
They'll come like oh well, thiscompany's I don't, I hate,
they're way too expensive andthey're not making us money.
They're not making us money,it's a waste of money.
I'm like all right, well, Isaid, well, you know how many,
how many calls are you getting?
How many of those are youconverting?
(31:03):
Uh, of the calls you convert,what's your average dollar per
job?
and they're like well, I don'tknow and I how can you, you know
, for us to say, well, thiscompany doesn't work.
We need to have valuable data.
Now, it's helped us in the pastlike, hey, this company
actually doesn't work, we needto move on.
But I think too, if you're in aposition where you're trying to
figure out if a system'sworking for your business, you
(31:27):
have to first look.
Do I have the data to provethat?
Or is that just an emotionalchoice?
Do I just emotionally think Ihate this, it doesn't work?
You can say that all you want,but emotion doesn't drive
financial.
Yes, you can have a passion forsomething, you can love
something as a creator, I 100%understand that but you can't
(31:48):
make decisions based offemotions.
We have to make decisions basedoff numbers.
Brady, you and I have walkedthrough that a lot, even in some
of our other markets.
Oh yeah, and me as an emotionalperson, and that's something
you know no.
Every year on my evaluation itwas always the top, like we got
to not be emotional, so I'maware of it.
(32:09):
But there are some decisions wehad to make to cut some things.
That was tough to cut but thedata showed.
I mean, you can't deny data.
So I just as you're talkingabout that, benji, I think
anybody listening if you'restruggling in an area, first,
the first question you shouldeven ask yourself is do I have
(32:30):
the data to prove it or whatever?
Do I have that to show?
Speaker 2 (32:37):
Yes, that's exactly right.
So if you don't again to yourpoint if you don't use the data,
why even start using it Now?
We want to encourage you tostart with something whatever
that is, track something, andthen, as you get better at it
again, you can go on and on.
I've got a list, we'll put itin the show notes for you.
And yes, 100%.
Guys, this is ChatGPT, becauseI have not read any of these
(33:00):
books, but I will tell you I didlook these up.
Brady would say I wouldn'trecommend anything unless I've
read it myself, but I did lookthese books up.
They do exist.
Just a couple Data Science forBusiness Foster Provost.
You got data driven, creating adata culture.
That was a key one that came tomind.
You got thinking fast and slow.
(33:22):
The point of that one is makingsure that you're interpreting
the right kind of data, becauseyou don't want to just put
something out there and justhope it hits.
You know, really spend timediving into it.
Another one predictive analysisthe power to predict who will
click, buy, lie or die.
Basically, you know how can Imake strategic decision-making
(33:43):
process across these differentfields.
As we wrap this show up, guys,just a few key takeaways.
Okay, data can drive decisions,not in business, not just in
business.
Excuse me, but in yourday-to-day life we talked about
the softball coach, the weightloss, the restaurant world.
Again, in our business,anything data drives decisions.
(34:05):
Anything you do, challengeyourself, go ahead.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
Sorry, adam, oh no, you were, I was.
You're just talking about thosethings.
I just wanted to point out too,if y'all have questions about
this, if you're listening, well,if you go to our website,
higheruppodcastcom and you clickon our team, on the bottom,
there's a place that you can askthese questions and we'll
answer them.
So if you have something, forBenji or Brady to ask them about
(34:30):
how they're making businessdecisions.
These are things that we wouldlike to cover.
I mean, yes, we're working onsome of these episodes based on,
like they said.
In our last episode, you heardBenji and Brady.
Both these are things that theyare dealing with in their
business, but if there'ssomething you're dealing with in
yours, we'll dive into it foran entire episode.
So go there Again.
(34:50):
Higheruppodcastcom, Go to ourteam.
Under that, you'll actually seea place that you can put your
name, your email and then justwhat you're dealing with or
questions that you may haveabout your business.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
Yeah, and in the show notes too there's a little link
that says ask a question,submit a question.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
You can do that as well, obviously, sorry, I was
trying to catch you before yousigned off, I was like hold on,
make sure y'all do this.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
We mentioned this a few minutes ago.
Challenge yourself and yourteam to start with something one
to three.
Don't start with more than thatbecause you can get too
overwhelmed in it.
Start with one to three andthen, once your team gets it
done, you can add others.
And, last but not least,celebrate the results of your
team exceeding or gettingcomplimented.
That is very important to yourculture.
(35:34):
Again, Brady said we're goingto talk about on one of the next
episodes about our core values,how we realign those and what
it's really doing inside ourorganization.
Guys, you got any closingthoughts before we take it
offline?
Speaker 1 (35:47):
I just want to know if Brady has a dad joke before
we finish, I do, oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (35:52):
That's what I was waiting on.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
That's why I jumped in earlier, because I was like
when Benji gets rolling, he'llhit his clothes out, and I'm
like hold on.
I want to hear this.
I need to see if he has one.
Speaker 3 (36:04):
This is going to be along the lines with data.
Let's hear it 85% of people.
It's a known fact.
85% of people don't know how todo math.
I'm just glad that I'm a partof the other 25%.
Oh, I can tell you.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
I'm part of the 85, and you know this working with
me firsthand.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
Adam, I hope you realize 85 and 25 don't add up
to 100.
I know that, that's why.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
I said that.
Speaker 2 (36:37):
Okay, there we go.
Hey guys, as always, thanks forlistening.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
That was my dad joke.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
Thanks for listening in.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
What's funny is somebody's listening right now
and they're like does he know?
That was my joke.
The funny thing is I'veprobably sat in meetings with
Brady where he said this andhe's looked at me like Adam, you
know that that doesn't, thatdoesn't match Right, and I'm
like I do.
Now I do.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
Listeners.
Thank you guys so much fortuning in.
As always, Share the episode.
If you're on YouTube, you canshare it.
However, you can help get theword out.
We're seeing tremendoustraction with this and we just
want to be a blessing and helpother people in their business.
As always, you can connect onsocial media at higher up
podcasts on our platforms.
I think we're on Instagram TikTOK Facebook YouTube yeah,
wherever as always, go out thereand choose to live a higher up
(37:27):
life.
See you next time.
all right.
Well, benji brady, welcome intoanother episode, episode 23.
Uh, today we're talking datadrives decisions data, data
drives decisions.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
All right, when you think of the number 23,.
What do you guys think of?
What comes to mind first?
Michael Jordan 100% yes, yes,yes, yes.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
The GOAT, michael Jordan the only person that
doesn't you know yell at thejournalist on court during the
game about his son.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Well, true, but I will tell you, as the topic is
today, today, I'll let youmention it here in a second
number 23 had the best stats inthe history of the game.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
plug there's a plug for you yeah, I do need to go
back and watch this documentary.
I never did and I heard it wasa.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
It was really good really good, yeah, I did too,
that's.
That's actually a good note,adam, I need to do the same
thing I need to check it,especially as a filmmaker.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
I should check that, but I heard, and aren't you?
Speaker 2 (01:06):
aren't you, adam, aren't you impressed with
brady's setup?
Speaker 1 (01:09):
we, actually I am for those that are that are
watching the uh, I was jokinglycalled a vidcast so you know,
those are watching on youtube.
Brady looks quite professional.
This is it's nice.
It's a nice change.
It's nice change.
It's nice to have you where thesun isn't coming in behind you.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
I'm kind of partial to my office.
I mean, I'm very cozy in there,you know.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
But this is good, I think a lot of people would say
that they are just glad hedoesn't have the stack of books.
That was probably one of ourmost engaged episodes, like all
the stack of books and documentshe had.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
I still used it.
I still used it up until lastweek.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
What we didn't account for was for the changing
of the seasons.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
That's true, and the sun coming in, yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
So when you saw that you're like guys, the time's
changing and the sun's justbeaming through my window Yep,
yep it.
And the sun's just beamingthrough my window Yep, yep it
was very angelic, though Veryangelic it was it was, it was
Well, yeah.
So, like I said, today we'retalking data drives decisions.
This is a great topic for ourlisteners because this has been
(02:18):
a key emphasis on any and everydecision that you guys have made
in your business.
Data, I mean, you can't fightit.
You know, brady, you've said itbefore but hope is not a good
strategy, and the counter tothat is data drives decisions.
Data lets you know is somethingworking?
Is it not working?
Do we need to pivot?
Do we need to find anothermethod?
(02:39):
So I know this is a big thingfor both of you that y'all have
really pushed, with anyoneassociated that works for you,
serves with you.
Whatever, that is Data and it'snot just business, right,
that's like your family, that'schurch.
That's everything that lets youknow is what I'm doing working
(03:01):
or am I wasting my time?
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Yeah, it's data does drive decisions, everything you
do.
And just just to give you alittle history, I guess we might
tell a little story, um, aspart of the history, but I was a
travel softball coach forprobably close to I don't know
10 years and actually cause Iknow it was not 10 years seven
years.
The first three years we playedpark ball For those of you who
(03:27):
don't know, that's like the parkin your local community or
whatever and I'll never forgetthe first year we were looking
to.
As a matter of fact, Adam, Iwas talking to your wife.
Both the girls were at abirthday party this past weekend
and we were talking about thegirl that we were there for
McKenzie and Addie to have thebirthday party.
Her aunt, me and that lady'shusband actually coached
(03:51):
softball together.
We were talking about softballstuff and Emily was standing
there and I'll never forget,because Emily was talking about
y'all were about to start Addiewith the whole.
You know, park season wasstarting up again.
A couple of the girls thereplayed together and I was
reflecting back to those daysthinking, man, I remember when
Sammy was playing park ball, wehad to make the decision about
12U softball that's the age of12 and under is what they call
12U.
Are we going to continue?
(04:13):
Because they didn't really havea park, you know, park girls
playing park softball after 10U.
It really didn't exist.
So the only way we were going tocontinue to get better was to
go play travel softball.
So I called this guy up andsaid, hey, I want to be able to
be a coach.
What does this entail?
He said, tag, you're it Like?
You're going to be the 2005girls softball coach for travel
(04:33):
for this specific organization?
I said, fine, that works.
So our first year OK, datadrives decisions.
Our first year fall of 2016,.
We won five games out of 16games, that's a 31% win
percentage Not very good.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Not very good?
Speaker 2 (04:50):
No.
So I had to make a decision,like I've got to recruit some
additional girls.
There were some girls thatdidn't want to play anymore.
The next spring, we went 17 and17 and we won one championship.
So that was a 50% win ratio.
One championship the next fall,the following fall, we won 20
games, only lost six and wefinished first place twice, so
(05:16):
we have a 77% win percentage.
One, two championships and thenthe next spring 2018, we won 26
games, lost 16, and won fivechampionships.
So data drives decisions.
We had to make a few changes toour team, to.
Maybe it's your organizationwhich we're going to talk about
(05:36):
here in a second, but thosethings matter, especially in
parents.
Adam, I'm sure you could havetested this now.
Parents get really uptightabout their, their daughters,
playing softballs to the pointof, you know, walking up to the
fence and shaking the fence.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
I know you've seen it I know you've seen it, man I'll
even vicariously, through theirkids.
I just take pictures.
That's all I do.
I just enjoy watching her playand take pictures of them I
would love to see some of themoments you capture.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
That's a story for another day.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
I told somebody the other day I think one of my next
series should be is capturingangry parents of these games and
like, oh, that'd be good, I'dwatch that series you could get
posted hey, you could start aninstagram, I mean, and, and
you'd probably get some peopleto dial in angry parents, so
we'll call it but.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
But that brought that back.
So another thing I wanted totalk about.
Okay, me myself.
So about a year ago I weighed228 pounds.
All right, today I'm 238 pounds.
Now, by the way, just for youlisteners, that's not muscle
weight.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
You're also tall though I'll give you that.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Yeah, but it don't matter.
I need to get back down to my228 pounds.
How do I change this?
How?
What would you guys say?
Speaker 3 (06:54):
well, I mean, it's gonna start with making some
different decisions in a mindsetyou know first yep, but then
you gotta decide yeah, go ahead,adam.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
No, it starts.
It starts with what you'reeating.
Like Brady's saying, makedecisions, it starts with what
you're eating.
What are you putting into?
Speaker 2 (07:11):
your body Yep, and you have to exercise.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
You have to do a little more.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Less intake of calories, more outtake, we'll
say, of calories throughexercise.
I know you guys know I loveChick-fil-A.
What I'll never forget therewas one day that Sammy and I
were going to a softballtournament several years ago and
we walk in and we're sitting towhere we can see behind the
(07:37):
counter.
Okay Now, first thing I did.
She said what are you lookingat?
And I said I'm actually lookingat their screen above the
drive-thru window.
You know, back then they didn'thave 100% where you can look
right into the kitchen.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
I knew exactly where you were.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
That's sad, I know that back then, if you guys
remember.
They've changed the way they dodrive-thrus.
Now a lot of people are doingthis, not just in Chick-fil-A,
but in other restaurant fastfood as well.
They now have the doors open upwhere people walk out.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Yeah, I actually like that a lot better.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Yeah Well, why?
Because service is faster,right, I mean, you get faster
service.
So back then they had thewindows.
They had to hand the bagthrough to you.
I looked up on this TV up thereand there was several key.
I'm going to call them KPMs keyperformance metrics.
(08:30):
Don't know if that's what theycall them, but we'll just call
them that to make it good forthis, for this podcast today,
and up there on the screen theyhad order time, customer service
time, food delivery time andthe.
I forget what the other one was, and I know you guys are going
to agree with this, but how manytimes have you got to a
drive-thru with you and yourwife and kids or whatever?
And when you actually pull upto the window and your food's
not ready, what do they tell youto do?
(08:51):
Pull forward, pull forward.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
Pull forward to the stop sign that's at the end of
the building that blocks therest of the traffic.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
That's right.
So here's a question Do youguys think that they stop their
metric when they have you pullforward?
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Oh, 100%.
Yes, Do they 100%.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
I have to agree with Adam.
I don't know about that, butthink about this.
They've stopped their clock.
Their clock has stopped becauseyou've moved out of the way.
It's time for the next.
You're out of the cycle.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Other than the end of the cycle is delivering the
food.
But technically you're out ofcycle, I would assume.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
I would think so.
Now, if you're a Chick-fil-Aemployee or manager or owner or
whatever, listening to this.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Please reach out to us and let us know what the
actual thing is, we would alsolike a sponsorship, if there's
any of those for someChick-fil-A.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
But the thing is, the key is, even in the restaurant
industry they're tracking somekind of metrics because they
know the faster they can get youthe food it's hot, right off
the kitchen line that you'regoing to be the most satisfied
customer and you're probablygoing to come back, especially
if your order is right.
So here's what we're going totalk about today.
(10:05):
In your business Maybe it'syour church, maybe it's your uh,
you're a manager of a company,maybe you're an employee what
are some key metrics?
Brady and I are going to talkabout just a few um that we do
in our organization.
Just a few.
Okay, how quickly do we have asindustry standard, brady, that
when a customer calls our office?
(10:25):
How quickly do we have asindustry standard, brady, that
when a customer calls our office, how long should we respond
back to that customer?
That we're on the way?
Speaker 3 (10:34):
Well, I mean, in our industry it's always been an
hour.
We've got a one Now listen,nowadays if you wait an hour to
call somebody back, that's goingto be a long time.
So it's actually shorter thanthat, but the industry standard
has always been about an hour.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Yeah.
And then the next metric is howlong would we be on site to
that customer's house industrystandard Four hours.
Four hours Now.
Obviously we're going to beatthat time because we want to get
there fast.
And then what's the next metricis how long should we have some
kind of now again, just soeverybody knows Adam's mentioned
this a couple of times we arein the restoration business
(11:10):
water, fire, cleanup,construction.
How long should it take us toget some kind of debriefing back
to the insurance company ifthey choose to file a claim or
whatever?
What's that typical timeframe?
Eight business hours.
Eight business hours Again.
We try to beat that as well.
There is actually a company inBirmingham Adam we'll see if you
know who they are that inBirmingham Alabama they're
(11:34):
called On Time 59.
Do you know what their sloganis?
It's On Time Electric.
It is On Time Electric.
Do you know what their promise?
Speaker 1 (11:44):
is.
I'm not a branding guy, Ishould.
It's like if we don't beat 59,it's on our dime, or something
like that.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
You are so close.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
That was really good, because we watch the news every
morning and they are a sponsorand we hear it Welcome to
on-time electric Wait.
Do they have a jingle?
Adam, can you sing that for us?
They do.
I can't.
That's why I missed it On.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
Time 59?
Speaker 1 (12:10):
I have no shame.
I don't know if they have ajingle.
Actually We'll be there in 59or it's on our dime, something
like that you are so close OnTime 59 or we pay you 59.
I knew it was something likethat.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Yeah.
So basically what they say isif we have an appointment with
you, we are going to be on time,or there is no $59 charge.
I've never used them so Iwouldn't know how they charge,
but that is their motto.
That's good, yeah, how longdoes it take you to get on site?
It's all about service.
Think about speed of service.
So, no matter what industryyou're in, it's about speed of
(12:49):
service.
Today's world.
Brady is exactly right.
If we were to wait an hour tocall a customer back in our
industry, they've probablycalled two or three other
companies at this point, right,especially the way Google works
and all those other things.
So again, going back to theChick-fil-A model, if you guys
had to pull forward out of thatdrive-thru line and you had to
(13:12):
wait at the stop sign Brady wastalking about and you sat there
and sat there and sat there andsat there, wouldn't you get
upset?
Absolutely, yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
What's the point of fast food if I could have gone
and sat down for this?
Speaker 2 (13:27):
See, we could drop the mic right there I could have
gone to a sit-down restaurant.
That is not fast food and ithappens at other restaurants all
the time Taco Bell, McDonald'syou could go on down the list
that if you don't get your foodon time, people are going to get
upset.
So again, key metrics.
So you know you could go ondown the list that if you don't
get your food on time, peopleare going to get upset.
(13:48):
So again, key metrics.
So, Brady, I got a couple ofthings for you, for our team.
So, basically, anytime we havea meeting, we're pretty much
talking about metrics.
Yeah, how often should thesemetrics be talked about with
your team?
Speaker 3 (14:04):
for those listening out there, how often should you
bring them up, I mean, I wouldsay, as often as you can.
Now, in an ideal world, a lotof us, we have technology that's
available to us today, and sodashboards and apps and things
like that should be Now againgranted.
If you're putting in the rightinformation into the system,
(14:27):
then it should report back toyou, just like Chick-fil-A, I
mean.
There's somebody probablysitting there pressing the
button Okay, we got the order,and then now they're pulling up
and we've started gathering thestuff.
So, as long as you're puttingin the right information, you
know, garbage in, garbage out,but as long as you're putting
the right information, we canget that information out.
So, typically, what we do isevery time that we meet, we're
(14:51):
looking at some type of metric,and here's the analogy that I
use all the time.
Okay, let's say that you go toyour favorite sports game.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
Okay, besides upward sports, okay, where everybody
wins, everybody wins, that'sright, everybody wins.
But let's say you go to yourfavorite sports game and you
show up and nobody's keepingscore.
Is that a?
Is that a?
Is that a fun game?
Probably not, because you.
I mean, what's the point?
Right, you want to know who'swinning.
So the only way for us to knowwho is winning in our
(15:25):
organization is through the dataand what the data is showing us
.
And are we meeting thedeadlines or are we not meeting
the deadlines?
Are we meeting the metrics?
Are we not meeting the metrics?
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Love it.
So think about this there are alot of business owners, not
even in our what we would callour industry, that call Brady
and I for questions and things,all that.
Maybe they pass us in church,you know, maybe it's at this
local store, supermarket,whatever.
And I've been asked thisquestion a lot, Brady, I'm sure
you have as well.
Should I share my financialswith my team, what would?
Speaker 3 (16:03):
you say, I mean, for a long time we, we didn't Um,
but I think as much, as much asyou can, I mean, are you going
to?
Are you going to share the fullthing?
No, but I mean, being abusiness owner is a, is a um.
It's a big blessing in, in in alot of ways and sometimes it
can be burdensome depending on.
(16:25):
You know just the amount ofinformation that's out there and
if you're the only one that isholding on to that information
and you're not sharing it atleast with your leadership team,
then you've got to be able toshare that burden across,
because you may have certainmetrics of revenue and profit
and you know just certain thingslike that that are on your
(16:45):
profit and loss statement, yourbalance sheet, whatever that
looks like.
If you're the only one thatknows that information and
you're not sharing it withothers, then they don't know if
the company's winning or not.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Yeah, that's a great point, because and I agree with
you that I think there'ssometimes where you don't need
to share everything, but atleast with your key managers
that's the key here at leastwith your key managers.
And look, let's be honest,because people say why would I
want to share that with mymanagement team?
Listen, if you can't share someof this information again to
(17:17):
Brady's point, not everythingwith your management team you
probably have the wrong personin the wrong seat.
Okay, so just take that intoconsideration.
We pride ourselves in puttingpeople around us that they are
better than us as far as maybethey get great ideas.
I'm not talking about as far asbetter, but maybe they get
great ideas.
They do a fantastic job.
We need to be able to bewilling to share with them the
(17:39):
key points.
Here's one, adam, this comeshome for you Google reviews Do
they hurt you or do they helpyou?
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Oh, 100%, they help you.
It's one of the key metricsthat Google looks at, because
then also it's consistency.
Google wants to see that youhave an active profile.
They're not going to pushbusinesses that people use their
platform to find if they're notactive or if they're unanswered
(18:08):
.
That's why for us it'simportant to gain those.
We have metrics right now.
We break it down for how manyreviews we want each of our
franchises to get per year.
We break it down to let themsee what they're doing quarterly
so they can understand.
So they have quarter goalsbecause those quarter goals
allow them to realize all right,well, we're supposed to hit
(18:28):
this many in a month, but forthe quarter we're behind, so
maybe they had a slow month orsomething like that, so they
need to look at those.
So we break those down yearly,quarterly and monthly, and then
even further, we celebrate thosewith our team weekly Like, hey,
these are the reviews that wepulled.
So we're really hitting thoseall, from the top to the bottom
(18:51):
with them.
But it also makes a big impact.
I mean that's huge to get anyof those type of things because
Google sees it.
And then also you're talkingabout metrics.
Google measures how quickly yourespond.
I mean our goal is 24 to 48hours for something we we hit
that way less Typically it's wetry to do day of, obviously over
(19:15):
a weekend.
It might be tough if we getjobs with the weekend or evening
.
But you know our goal.
Our goal is 24 hours, our, our,we don't try to extend past 48.
Like, we know that we need torespond within a day or so and
(19:35):
google again.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
They measure that data, that you're measuring
yourself to say, hey, this is abusiness we would recommend.
Yeah, so so, adam, on the flipside, metrics, keep, keep
performing metrics.
Can they hurt you?
Speaker 1 (19:45):
I mean, yes, I would say so as well.
What when you're talking abouthurting?
What way are you looking intothat?
Speaker 2 (19:51):
so great, great question.
I was actually hoping you'd askit.
So let's say that a customerputs a google review online
right and they give you a onestar.
Can that hurt you?
Speaker 1 (20:02):
it can.
Um, because what, what islooked?
It takes typically fivepositive reviews to negate the
weight of a negative review.
So think about it.
I mean, and that seems unfair,right, you know you're like do
you want to walk into a fightwith somebody where it's like
one versus five?
Speaker 2 (20:21):
You know, do you want to be on a?
Speaker 1 (20:22):
bare knuckle challenge.
I know, do you want to playbasketball like one versus five?
No, you know.
So it's tough, but yeah, I mean, at the end of the day you've
got to.
So when that comes in, it's aplus and a negative one.
It says, all right, we messedup, how do we fix this?
How do we flip this?
So doing that, that's the.
That's where you say, yes, itcan hurt you, but I think the
(20:44):
positive way in that too issometimes when we do receive
those, it gives us such anopportunity to fix that.
And we've had many a times whereyou know we're not perfect.
Things don't always go well.
There's also things out of ourcontrol that we can't control,
whether that's a customerneeding a certain product or
something they're trying to getordered that's on back order.
Sometimes they don't understandthat and we get that.
But with that negative metricit gives us an opportunity to
(21:08):
fix it.
And we've had time wherecustomers will go back and
update a review, make itpositive and say, hey, I had a
bad experience at first.
They came, they fixed it andthey reached out.
And for us I always tell ourteam that's a positive because
that lets customers know if wedon't get it right, we're going
to fix it.
So I think, yes, I think thatmetric also helps.
(21:30):
Sometimes it does that.
That's the reason why we have aprocess, when a negative review
comes in, to figure it out andand then we have a.
We have, we know, we have aclock to figure out.
We got it, we got to fix thisso we can flip that metric.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
Yeah, and on the flip side too, you know as far as
can it hurt you?
I think a lot of people to yourpoint.
They don't, they try, theydon't really have a review
process in place.
Let's be honest, I mean, youguys probably do the same thing
you want to go to localrestaurants.
Don't you look up their Googlereviews, especially if you've
never been to this place.
(22:12):
I mean, if people arecomplaining about the food and
the service and all, you'reprobably not going to go right.
So it can hurt you in a way ifyou don't have positive Google
reviews on there.
An owner looks at this one,let's just say it's one or two
reviews that are one star andthey go.
Oh no, not another one.
We used to be in the same boatuntil we had so many positive
reviews.
We actually were like team, youdid a great job on this.
Maybe we had a communicationbreakdown, whatever.
To your point, it can turn theopposite way, and I know you
mentioned this too employeerecognition for you owners and
(22:33):
managers, listening is a bigthing.
Brady and Adam, we prideourselves on making sure that we
recognize our employees forgetting those, and they look
forward to that.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
It's a big thing.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Here's one, and I know we've done this in our
organization Even recently.
Uh, we talked about coffee withthe CEO of I think it was the
last episode or two episodes ago.
But what about doing some typeof how do you want everything
we've been talking about to thispoint?
Is external metrics right?
What can we do to help thecustomer do internally, but from
an internal perspective haveyou ever considered in your
(23:07):
business, or again your company,whatever have you ever
considered asking for anonymousfeedback from your team about
your organization?
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Well, nobody ever wants to hear the negative.
That's right.
You've got to be able to acceptthe constructive criticism and
I can tell you as a creative,that's very hard, that's very
hard criticism, and I can tellyou as a creative, that's very
hard, that's very hard, um, butI mean, I also understand, um,
that that when you do that, Imean that's something, benji,
you and I have had manyconversations because you're
(23:36):
just a supportive person.
That's just your personality,that's who you are.
And we've had conversationswhere I'm like, benji, tell me
it looks terrible, like it'sokay, like I need you to say
this is not your best work.
So if I do something and it'snot, then I need to know that If
there's something that it seemslike hey, I know you have the
capability of doing this, I feellike you're not giving the
(23:57):
attention, like I think thatconstructive criticism needs to
be happening, whether that isanonymous or just giving that
metric, like hey, and you know,hey, this is the work I've seen
you do and this is the work thatyou're doing, that we did on
this.
It's just again, I think that's, I think that's extremely
important.
It's not easy, but I think it'ssomebody you've got to be able
(24:20):
to to handle that.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Yeah, brady.
Brady, you've done again coffeewith the CEO recently and we
have our employees in there giveus positive feedback.
Maybe some things that we needto improve on.
What have we seen from ourpeople just with?
Speaker 3 (24:33):
that.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Because I see your recap every week and it's pretty
good stuff.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
Well, and when you do that too, Brady, in the caveat
with what Benji's asking also toadd into what he's doing, I was
going to see, if you don't mind, talk a little bit about how
you're doing that.
But also, what I love is you'regiving recognition based on
your core values.
I've noticed you've done thatthe past couple weeks, where
you're giving recognition insideof what you're saying hey, this
(24:59):
is what is our core values, andthen you're giving people in
that.
So I know that's a whole bunch.
Speaker 3 (25:09):
We threw at you, but I just wanted to make sure
because I thought that wasreally neat that you've been
doing that lately.
Yeah, so I think we're going todo another podcast episode on
core values and how we recentlychanged ours up.
But, yeah, based off of that iswe started doing this thing
called Coffee with the CEO, towhere we started three weeks ago
ago and, over the course oflike 24 to 30 weeks or something
(25:30):
like that, sitting down withevery, every person in the
organization, and really forthree purposes.
One is to roll out the corevalues individually uh, from us
to them, right.
So that's the first purpose.
But the other purpose wasfinding out what's going well in
the organization.
So we start out with a positiveand we get everybody to
(25:52):
typically there's about fivepeople that's in there but find
out what's going well in theorganization.
And then the third thing istell me what challenges we're
having, and we've heard a lot ofgood feedback and, to this
point, when you're looking atdata, okay, and so we're getting
all this feedback right, benji,and what we're looking at is
(26:12):
what we're looking for aretrends.
Okay, we're not necessarily aone-off.
Yeah, somebody had a badexperience here, a bad
experience here, or what thosethings are, but what are the
commonalities?
And then we take thosecommonalities and say, okay,
what do we need to do about that?
Okay, so a big one for us.
(26:34):
And sometimes you think you'redoing things really well and
you're like, well, we need toreevaluate that.
So one of the big things thathas come out is communication,
and you know you've got allthese.
You know we're about up to 180,190 employees, something like
that, but it's hard tocommunicate to 190 people.
So that's something that wehave to figure out how to do
(26:55):
better, and I think we've gottenbetter over the last 12 to 24
months.
But that's something that hascome out of these sessions by us
asking these questions, out ofthese sessions, by us asking
these questions.
And then what we're doing, tospeak to what you were talking
about, adam, is how do we engagewith our people related to the
(27:17):
core values, and so we have ourpayroll platform called PayCore.
There's a recognition featurethat's in there, goes out to
everybody, and so we want peopleto recognize where people are
doing something really well, andwe're tying that back to one of
our new seven core values thatsays hey, adam, you know what
(27:39):
you did.
You were doing an amazing jobdoing this podcast and producing
it.
You know you are reallyfollowing through on relentless
execution, which is one of ourcore values.
So we could go in pay core andwe could recognize Adam for that
.
And then what we're doing isevery week we're tallying those
up and through our communicationchannel with Slack, with our
(28:01):
entire organization, is we'resaying, hey, there were five
people that really embodiedrelentless execution.
They got called out this weekby their peers and so we're
posting that on there.
So it's just a way ofcommunication and reinforcing.
And that's another data pointas well to see okay, well, now
(28:23):
we've got three weeks worth ofdata to say we got a lot of
people that are pursuingexcellence and less people that
are data wins.
So now how can we focus more onthe ones that are keep what
we're doing, but focus on theones that we're having some
challenges with and how do wemake those a little bit better?
Speaker 2 (28:42):
Yeah, and there's obviously, like Brady said,
there's many taking this datathat we're getting.
There's many tools out therethat you can use Google Sheets,
you know Excel, obviously, ai,with chat, gpt, you can plug
stuff in.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
Just don't copy and paste.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
That's true, that's right.
But here's the biggest questionObviously, there's lots of
tools, right?
What if you fail?
Let's say you get all this data, ok, what if?
What could happen?
Speaker 1 (29:10):
Well, what's the point of collecting?
And if you're not?
That's my first thought,exactly, I mean, what's the
point?
It feels like it's.
You know every moment of yourday.
You know finding pockets oftime.
Your time is one of your mostvaluable commodities that really
you can control if you'recontrolling it the right way.
So if you're spending the timeand effort to collect it but
(29:34):
you're not using it, then what'sthe point in that?
I don't know.
That's my first thing.
I don't know if that kind of, Idon't know if that no.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
I agree with you.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
That's my first thought I'm like why are you
collecting it?
Speaker 3 (29:47):
Yeah, yeah, I think that's a big point.
I mean, you're wasting a lot oftime by doing it.
So, by using the data, you wantto use it for good, and if you
get a lot of that, then you cancurate that to help drive
whatever those KPMs or thoseKPIs are.
It's supposed to help you makebetter decisions, correct.
That's why we say data drivesdecisions.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
But if you don't use it to your point.
Speaker 3 (30:16):
If you don't use it, then you're probably going to be
making some bad decisions.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
Well, and I think too I think something that's
important, because we've heardthis a lot, especially in the
position that you guys have beenin training and helping other
serve pros and things like that.
They're like hey, show us, howare you guys being successful
with things?
Though, the first things I find, if somebody's like well, I
mean I don't understand.
Like how are you doing this?
Like, for instance, we, we havea company we use to help with
(30:42):
our, our digital marketing, andlike how do you know it's making
you money, I'm like, well, wetrack it and I'm there like, oh,
you do that, wait what?
because they'll be like, becausewhat what's funny is?
They'll come like oh well, thiscompany's I don't, I hate,
they're way too expensive andthey're not making us money.
They're not making us money,it's a waste of money.
I'm like all right, well, Isaid, well, you know how many,
how many calls are you getting?
How many of those are youconverting?
(31:03):
Uh, of the calls you convert,what's your average dollar per
job?
and they're like well, I don'tknow and I how can you, you know
, for us to say, well, thiscompany doesn't work.
We need to have valuable data.
Now, it's helped us in the pastlike, hey, this company
actually doesn't work, we needto move on.
But I think too, if you're in aposition where you're trying to
figure out if a system'sworking for your business, you
(31:27):
have to first look.
Do I have the data to provethat?
Or is that just an emotionalchoice?
Do I just emotionally think Ihate this, it doesn't work?
You can say that all you want,but emotion doesn't drive
financial.
Yes, you can have a passion forsomething, you can love
something as a creator, I 100%understand that but you can't
(31:48):
make decisions based offemotions.
We have to make decisions basedoff numbers.
Brady, you and I have walkedthrough that a lot, even in some
of our other markets.
Oh yeah, and me as an emotionalperson, and that's something
you know no.
Every year on my evaluation itwas always the top, like we got
to not be emotional, so I'maware of it.
(32:09):
But there are some decisions wehad to make to cut some things.
That was tough to cut but thedata showed.
I mean, you can't deny data.
So I just as you're talkingabout that, benji, I think
anybody listening if you'restruggling in an area, first,
the first question you shouldeven ask yourself is do I have
(32:30):
the data to prove it or whatever?
Do I have that to show?
Speaker 2 (32:37):
Yes, that's exactly right.
So if you don't again to yourpoint if you don't use the data,
why even start using it Now?
We want to encourage you tostart with something whatever
that is, track something, andthen, as you get better at it
again, you can go on and on.
I've got a list, we'll put itin the show notes for you.
And yes, 100%.
Guys, this is ChatGPT, becauseI have not read any of these
(33:00):
books, but I will tell you I didlook these up.
Brady would say I wouldn'trecommend anything unless I've
read it myself, but I did lookthese books up.
They do exist.
Just a couple Data Science forBusiness Foster Provost.
You got data driven, creating adata culture.
That was a key one that came tomind.
You got thinking fast and slow.
(33:22):
The point of that one is makingsure that you're interpreting
the right kind of data, becauseyou don't want to just put
something out there and justhope it hits.
You know, really spend timediving into it.
Another one predictive analysisthe power to predict who will
click, buy, lie or die.
Basically, you know how can Imake strategic decision-making
(33:43):
process across these differentfields.
As we wrap this show up, guys,just a few key takeaways.
Okay, data can drive decisions,not in business, not just in
business.
Excuse me, but in yourday-to-day life we talked about
the softball coach, the weightloss, the restaurant world.
Again, in our business,anything data drives decisions.
(34:05):
Anything you do, challengeyourself, go ahead.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
Sorry, adam, oh no, you were, I was.
You're just talking about thosethings.
I just wanted to point out too,if y'all have questions about
this, if you're listening, well,if you go to our website,
higheruppodcastcom and you clickon our team, on the bottom,
there's a place that you can askthese questions and we'll
answer them.
So if you have something, forBenji or Brady to ask them about
(34:30):
how they're making businessdecisions.
These are things that we wouldlike to cover.
I mean, yes, we're working onsome of these episodes based on,
like they said.
In our last episode, you heardBenji and Brady.
Both these are things that theyare dealing with in their
business, but if there'ssomething you're dealing with in
yours, we'll dive into it foran entire episode.
So go there Again.
(34:50):
Higheruppodcastcom, Go to ourteam.
Under that, you'll actually seea place that you can put your
name, your email and then justwhat you're dealing with or
questions that you may haveabout your business.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
Yeah, and in the show notes too there's a little link
that says ask a question,submit a question.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
You can do that as well, obviously, sorry, I was
trying to catch you before yousigned off, I was like hold on,
make sure y'all do this.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
We mentioned this a few minutes ago.
Challenge yourself and yourteam to start with something one
to three.
Don't start with more than thatbecause you can get too
overwhelmed in it.
Start with one to three andthen, once your team gets it
done, you can add others.
And, last but not least,celebrate the results of your
team exceeding or gettingcomplimented.
That is very important to yourculture.
(35:34):
Again, Brady said we're goingto talk about on one of the next
episodes about our core values,how we realign those and what
it's really doing inside ourorganization.
Guys, you got any closingthoughts before we take it
offline?
Speaker 1 (35:47):
I just want to know if Brady has a dad joke before
we finish, I do, oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (35:52):
That's what I was waiting on.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
That's why I jumped in earlier, because I was like
when Benji gets rolling, he'llhit his clothes out, and I'm
like hold on.
I want to hear this.
I need to see if he has one.
Speaker 3 (36:04):
This is going to be along the lines with data.
Let's hear it 85% of people.
It's a known fact.
85% of people don't know how todo math.
I'm just glad that I'm a partof the other 25%.
Oh, I can tell you.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
I'm part of the 85, and you know this working with
me firsthand.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
Adam, I hope you realize 85 and 25 don't add up
to 100.
I know that, that's why.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
I said that.
Speaker 2 (36:37):
Okay, there we go.
Hey guys, as always, thanks forlistening.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
That was my dad joke.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
Thanks for listening in.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
What's funny is somebody's listening right now
and they're like does he know?
That was my joke.
The funny thing is I'veprobably sat in meetings with
Brady where he said this andhe's looked at me like Adam, you
know that that doesn't, thatdoesn't match Right, and I'm
like I do.
Now I do.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
Listeners.
Thank you guys so much fortuning in.
As always, Share the episode.
If you're on YouTube, you canshare it.
However, you can help get theword out.
We're seeing tremendoustraction with this and we just
want to be a blessing and helpother people in their business.
As always, you can connect onsocial media at higher up
podcasts on our platforms.
I think we're on Instagram TikTOK Facebook YouTube yeah,
wherever as always, go out thereand choose to live a higher up
(37:27):
life.
See you next time.
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
True Crime Tonight
If you eat, sleep, and breathe true crime, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT is serving up your nightly fix. Five nights a week, KT STUDIOS & iHEART RADIO invite listeners to pull up a seat for an unfiltered look at the biggest cases making headlines, celebrity scandals, and the trials everyone is watching. With a mix of expert analysis, hot takes, and listener call-ins, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT goes beyond the headlines to uncover the twists, turns, and unanswered questions that keep us all obsessed—because, at TRUE CRIME TONIGHT, there’s a seat for everyone. Whether breaking down crime scene forensics, scrutinizing serial killers, or debating the most binge-worthy true crime docs, True Crime Tonight is the fresh, fast-paced, and slightly addictive home for true crime lovers.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com