May 29, 2021 • 18 mins
When Adam Butler started in business, his network was not comprised of decision makers. He said “if you stay in business long enough, the ecosystem of decision makers matures with you.”
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Guest - Adam Butler
Host - Carl Grant
Producer - Seth Grant
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Carl Grant (00:15):
Welcome to Rainmakers. I'm Carl Grant. And
I'm here with Adam Butler,founder of the Butler Brothers.
Welcome, Adam.
Adam Butler (00:22):
Thank you very much. Glad to be here.
Carl Grant (00:25):
Adam, you are in the branding business, tell us a
little bit about what you do.
Adam Butler (00:30):
We build brands for organizations that are focused
on getting to what's next forthem. Oftentimes, that's driven
by external market forces thatare causing them to pivot. Or
they're a legacy brand thatrealizes that their offering has
changed, and that their storiesbeen outstripped by their
internal changes, or theirstartup who has a big idea. And
(00:56):
needs to create the story andthe brand for it. So we work
across all those different typesof organizations and, and
moments of inflection.
Carl Grant (01:07):
Now, I'm looking across your history here, you've
really been a family orientedbusinessman, and which is
unusual, right? Your your firstnine years were spent as a
student of your father, and thenyou're working with your
brother, talking about thedynamic.
Adam Butler (01:25):
Wow, Carl, you picked up on, it's never been
put to me that way. But yeah, mydad didn't run a painting
company. And one of the thingsmy brother and I talk about a
lot is how much we learned aboutvalues from working for him.
Because he was in his business,not just on his business, and it
was, there was a paintingcompany, there's a lot of
(01:46):
customer service, they'remanaging different kinds of
staff, managing customersexpectations, and then just
having to do do the job and doit well. So Marty, and I learned
a lot about attention to detail,accepting responsibility for
mistakes, managing people, wedidn't really realize that
(02:08):
that's other than just becominggood painters. That's what was
happening to us. That was ourfirst management training
course. Then we foundadvertising. as we as we were
leaving high school and goinginto college and kind of found
that industry, Marty and I endedup being interns together at one
(02:28):
of the Southwest's bigger shopscalled gsdm, advertising. They
had Southwest Airlines, LandRover, the US Air Force, big
accounts, and that's Marty and Iwere able to be partners in that
ecosystem. Creative partners, Iwas a writer, he was an art
director. We did that for alittle bit. We we the dynamic
(02:51):
was that we needed to have otherpartners to learn and grow. And
we did that. And then, afterseven years of working in the
industry, we came back togetherto found the other Bros. And
that's when things kind of wentfull circle, what are the values
that we learned of working forour dad, and we poured those
into our business. And that'ssomething else we can talk more
(03:14):
about later. But I'd say themost important and valuable
thing about working with family,if you have a healthy
relationship is the trust thatyou can put in one another. I
think that's the most valuableasset that it presents beyond
everything else. Because beingan entrepreneur is hard. And if
you can't trust the people thatyou're working with. I think Pat
(03:38):
lencioni says that's like,that's the baseline of all of
all good businesses trust.
Carl Grant (03:44):
To keep this business going and thriving for
19 years, you've had to developa number of relationships and
client relationships andreferrals. Talk a little bit
about how you go aboutcultivating those relationships
and keeping them alive.
Adam Butler (03:58):
Well, you know, people like to say, blank is a
relationship business. Allbusinesses are relationship
businesses. When we started ourbusiness, we were 29 years old
and 28 years old, I didn'trealize that my network did not
include a ton of decisionmakers. That just proves how
(04:23):
naive I was. Now, what happensif you stay in business long
enough is the ecosystem ofdecision makers matures with
you, especially if you maintainrelationships by doing the right
thing. So I think it's there'sprobably a cool chart that you
can put time over behavior. Andat a certain point, the universe
(04:49):
starts to actively conspire onyour behalf. If you've been
doing good work, your networksmaturing and you've been
behaving properly, all of asudden the field of
opportunities magnifiesmassively. So that's one thing
I've seen, which I would whichwhat I would say is almost a
passive effect. But the act ofeffect is something, a story
(05:13):
that hit me one day I wasdriving to work, I saw a guy
with a cardboard sign that hemade out in front of an oil
change chain. So this was aperson that worked for a chain,
but he had a sign that said,we're ready to change your oil
today. And he was just sittingthere with a cup of coffee. And
it inspired me to write a piececalled Don't be afraid to ask,
(05:37):
because it was a great reminderof, if you don't ask, if you're
too proud to ask. Especiallywhen you have like a really
qualified lead or something thatyou know your firm, or that your
service would be great for.
Don't be too proud to ask. andexpress your interest people
(05:57):
love being flattered by the Askthe nuances of how you do it
isn't, isn't important. But ifyou never asked, you'd never, no
one ever says yes to you. So I'dsay it's that it's that you
know, strategy of who to ask,not being afraid to ask. And
(06:19):
then really monitoring yourbehavior and delivery over time.
That's the flywheel. From myperspective,
Carl Grant (06:28):
now, in your business, is there a give to get
type of approach? So when yousay that, remember to ask, so
yesterday I was meeting with aninvestor, yes, manages a large
family office. And I was, youknow, doing him favors sending
him deals, talking about thingsI could do to help him. And then
(06:49):
it dawned on me, as we wereclosing our our meeting to say,
hey, I want to remind you, Iwork for a law firm. And if
there's ever anything we can dofor you. You know, please keep
us in mind. And so, you know, Isometimes I'll go on and on, and
then I'll leave that part out.
Right? Yeah. Right. And peoplelike me, because I do them
(07:13):
favors, and you know, help them.
But then, if it doesn't resultin business for my firm, you
know, there's no sense in mereally being employed by my
firm, right?
Adam Butler (07:25):
Oh, Carlyle, love that I, because what I found, I
think that speaks to yourpersonality. We haven't known
each other that long. But in ourfirst conversations, you know,
we talked about a bunch ofpeople, we both knew ideas, we
were having deals we were doing.
And what I think is fascinatingis, what you did was position
yourself at the end of that. AndI do think that's important to
(07:51):
advocate for yourself. That wassomething my mom was fond of
saying, if you don't advocatefor yourself, no one will.
Connect, connecting that to anidea that was given to me by one
of my best professors incollege, Tom Campbell was a
management professor at UT. Hesaid, You know, you're always
(08:11):
running your own business insideof whatever business you're in.
And he was trying to impregnateus with an entrepreneurial
mindset. But it was aboutpositioning and just clearly
stating, this is what I do. Thisis how I make money. I love
sharing ideas with you. Butthese are the leads I need. And
(08:31):
it's remembering it's business.
There's nothing, there's nothingcrass about saying that, and
especially curl like you ifyou're giving to people they
want to give back.
Carl Grant (08:47):
But sometimes I forget to ask. So I, you know,
Adam Butler (08:51):
I just think maybe maybe the thing that we're
scratching on here is that isthat it feels somehow
inappropriate, or, you know, orgrabby to do that. And I don't
think it does, I think reallyarticulating your positioning
and what you're after as abusiness. Gently and
(09:13):
repetitively is a good idea.
Carl Grant (09:17):
Yes. And then you also mentioned about the
decision makers not being partof your network when you started
out and I think about my worldand I'm trying to relate it to
your so when I started out,working with the venture capital
community, I, I always gaveequal attention to partners,
principals and Associates, it'skind of and then analysts are
(09:39):
below or below them, but they'renot typically out in the market
as much. And because I alwaysgave the analysts attention,
whereas others did not otherswould focus on the partners
because they're the so calleddecision makers. Those analysts
have gone on to run their ownfunds and and they, they respect
those those relationships I havewith them because I gave them
(10:00):
attention back when nobody elsedid. And I took them seriously.
And so if I'm introduced tosomebody who's just entering the
business, or the the kid of apartner who wants to do this and
wants some advice, I always taketime with those folks, because I
plan to be at this for a longtime. And and I know that it
always comes back around to youin the long run.
Adam Butler (10:24):
Yeah, I would, I would, yes. And that with a
parallel, which is if you if youare sponsored by a senior
decision maker, we look at it inour business as our job to win
their team. Like that the leaderhas positioned us with an
opportunity, but we could beworking with anywhere from five
(10:44):
to 30 people after that, andevery one of those individuals,
to your point is someone thatmakes their own decision about
you, how you treat them, how yourespect their role, how you
listen to them. So I 100% agreewith that. And once you're in
there, you know, through thegrace of the decision makers
(11:05):
trust in you, you do have theopportunity to to make a lot of
new friends. And sometimes, youknow, those relationships become
the most fruitful, because thedecision maker disappears from
the equation.
Carl Grant (11:17):
Yeah. And I found even with somebody who's a
scheduling assistant, or asecretary, sometimes those
relationships are key too. And,and while some people who are
focused on the end goal may blowthem off, I always take the time
to connect with somebody who'sbooking meetings for somebody,
(11:37):
connect with them on LinkedInand say it was nice to meet you.
And well, you know, I give himjust as much attention as I do
the actual person I'm meetingwith.
Adam Butler (11:45):
Well, I can tell you a great story about that.
One of our Senior Vice Presidentat Texas Children's Hospital, a
woman by the name of MichelleRiley Brown said to me once Hey,
Cassandra, her her assistant,her birthday is next week, she
worked so hard. It wasincredible. She She said, Hey,
(12:09):
would you make time to recognizeher, which I thought was
incredible leadership byMichelle. But we then we did it
and Cassandra was thrilled, butit was, but it was incredible,
because it was driven by herleader in the business to do
that. And just kind of makes methink of that when you talk
about taking care of those whotake care of getting you to the
(12:30):
table.
Carl Grant (12:32):
Yeah, and I'm not, I'm not once again, not
expecting anything out of it.
I'm just trying to be nice,because, you know, you just
never, you never know, you neverknow.
Adam Butler (12:41):
Its a hard job. I mean, you know, you think about
them, and it's verytransactional in that role. And
when someone says, Thank you, itlikes, it stops the record. I
mean, it's like, Whoa, you know,I this is just my job. But I'm a
person and I appreciate Iappreciate being thanked. So I
think it's, I think it's a humanthing to do what you're
(13:03):
describing. If it works outpositively, from a business
standpoint, all the better, butit's just a good way to go
through the world, man, you'regoing to get that
Carl Grant (13:13):
it does. And also also, you know, if you're going
in for a meeting in in, so yougo on to client sites, and
people are getting back tonormal now. And yeah, when you
go into visit that person, ifthe person you encounter isn't
the person that set up themeeting, if you take the time to
say, Hey, is, you know, Sue, orjohn here, you know, whoever set
(13:34):
up the meeting, I, I'd like to,you know, shake their hand and
and it goes a long way. Right?
They remember that, and then thenext time you're looking to get
a meeting, when you reach out,they're gonna be more apt to
help you get on the calendarthan somebody blew off. Right?
Adam Butler (13:50):
That's right. They know where that secret hour is.
Carl Grant (13:53):
Yeah, exactly.
So look, the time flies fast onthese podcasts. I always like to
leave time for advice forsomebody who's looking to do
what you do, right? We haven'tdone a deep dive into your
branding, but maybe you can talka little bit about that. And
then recommendations you wouldhave for somebody who's you
know, young person listening,just thinking, I like it. I like
(14:16):
what Adam does. I want to aspireto do that.
Unknown (14:20):
Yeah, I mean, let me think of the right place to
start. I mean, I definitely myjourney into business
development. Really, I mean,started the day that we started
our own business, right, itbecomes imperative on that day.
I was a part of the new businessdevelopment cycles inside of a
(14:43):
giant agency. In fact, Marty andI got our big break, working on
the business development side ofthe business at gsdm. When gsdm
pitched Mazda back in 1997.
Marty and I's idea was used bythe agency and Already was still
an intern and I was, I was, Ithink I'd been a copywriter for
a couple of months, I might havestill been a Traffic Manager.
(15:05):
But we got involved in thebusiness development function.
And that that can sometimes inour industry, especially back
then it was really the wild westpart of the business because it
was a lot of speculative work,which meant there was a lot of
opportunity to break through wewe broke through, that's how we
(15:28):
became partners was because wewere in the new business part of
the organization. And we came upwith an idea that the agency
thought could help when, andthat that made us breach on the
radar, it was like Who the hellare those guys? that got us more
opportunities. So that that'sone thing I'd say if you're in a
(15:48):
company, you know, being helpfulin the business development,
part of the organization is adynamic place to be in terms of
my own business, I mean, we'relooking for fit along a lot of
vectors we, we have, if we get acold lead, we have a set of
questions that we ask that havebeen honed over the years to
(16:10):
reveal financial fit culturalfit, timing, it's a very simple
intake form that then, and somepeople don't want to fill it
out. And that's fine. But itdoes create a much better first
conversation, it gives me asense of where that conversation
needs to go or could go. And mymindset, then and that in those
(16:34):
early moments are, this iseither going to be a great
opportunity for us or someoneelse. And until I determined
that it's a great fit for us,I'm very open to either of those
outcomes. And I'm committed tohelping that person. And I talk
about it that way. Because Idon't we want mutual fit. We're
also a part of an independentagency network, and there's
(16:59):
people within that network thatI can get business to, so that
it's sort of, then it shiftsfrom, I want this and I don't
want anyone else to have it. Andthat's when that selling really
starts. And then it's learningas much about the organization,
its history, its people itsstory as possible. And starting
(17:21):
to without giving Mark away forfree to really define that
challenge. More specifically, Ithink that's the that's usually
the turning point is the clientfeeling the engagement,
especially from a person whosename is on the door, and seeing
the people behind me, the teamthat we have, and starting to
(17:44):
feel like there's a processhere, there's results associated
with that process. And I feelthese people. And what we do is
risky. And everything I justdescribed is about de risking
the decision. So that's where Ithink it all comes down, I you
(18:04):
know, to the decision that getsmade by two people on a phone or
a zoom call or in a boardroom ofwho to go with. And then if we
don't get it, I really do wantto know why we didn't. Because
it's super valuable information.
So being graceful in defeat, andasking smart follow up questions
(18:25):
is something we try to do.
Because again, Carl, to yourpoint, one of the people on that
call and that decision makinggroup could have really wanted
you to be the firm, and theydidn't get their way this time,
but they might next time.
Carl Grant (18:41):
Well, Adam Butler, that is great advice. Adam
Butler, founder of the ButlerBros. I appreciate you doing the
podcast today. If you like whatyou heard today, please
subscribe, please rate thepodcast and share it with your
friends. Thanks, Adam.
Adam Butler (18:54):
Thank you, Carl.
Have a great
Welcome to Rainmakers. I'm Carl Grant. And
I'm here with Adam Butler,founder of the Butler Brothers.
Welcome, Adam.
Adam Butler (00:22):
Thank you very much. Glad to be here.
Carl Grant (00:25):
Adam, you are in the branding business, tell us a
little bit about what you do.
Adam Butler (00:30):
We build brands for organizations that are focused
on getting to what's next forthem. Oftentimes, that's driven
by external market forces thatare causing them to pivot. Or
they're a legacy brand thatrealizes that their offering has
changed, and that their storiesbeen outstripped by their
internal changes, or theirstartup who has a big idea. And
(00:56):
needs to create the story andthe brand for it. So we work
across all those different typesof organizations and, and
moments of inflection.
Carl Grant (01:07):
Now, I'm looking across your history here, you've
really been a family orientedbusinessman, and which is
unusual, right? Your your firstnine years were spent as a
student of your father, and thenyou're working with your
brother, talking about thedynamic.
Adam Butler (01:25):
Wow, Carl, you picked up on, it's never been
put to me that way. But yeah, mydad didn't run a painting
company. And one of the thingsmy brother and I talk about a
lot is how much we learned aboutvalues from working for him.
Because he was in his business,not just on his business, and it
was, there was a paintingcompany, there's a lot of
(01:46):
customer service, they'remanaging different kinds of
staff, managing customersexpectations, and then just
having to do do the job and doit well. So Marty, and I learned
a lot about attention to detail,accepting responsibility for
mistakes, managing people, wedidn't really realize that
(02:08):
that's other than just becominggood painters. That's what was
happening to us. That was ourfirst management training
course. Then we foundadvertising. as we as we were
leaving high school and goinginto college and kind of found
that industry, Marty and I endedup being interns together at one
(02:28):
of the Southwest's bigger shopscalled gsdm, advertising. They
had Southwest Airlines, LandRover, the US Air Force, big
accounts, and that's Marty and Iwere able to be partners in that
ecosystem. Creative partners, Iwas a writer, he was an art
director. We did that for alittle bit. We we the dynamic
(02:51):
was that we needed to have otherpartners to learn and grow. And
we did that. And then, afterseven years of working in the
industry, we came back togetherto found the other Bros. And
that's when things kind of wentfull circle, what are the values
that we learned of working forour dad, and we poured those
into our business. And that'ssomething else we can talk more
(03:14):
about later. But I'd say themost important and valuable
thing about working with family,if you have a healthy
relationship is the trust thatyou can put in one another. I
think that's the most valuableasset that it presents beyond
everything else. Because beingan entrepreneur is hard. And if
you can't trust the people thatyou're working with. I think Pat
(03:38):
lencioni says that's like,that's the baseline of all of
all good businesses trust.
Carl Grant (03:44):
To keep this business going and thriving for
19 years, you've had to developa number of relationships and
client relationships andreferrals. Talk a little bit
about how you go aboutcultivating those relationships
and keeping them alive.
Adam Butler (03:58):
Well, you know, people like to say, blank is a
relationship business. Allbusinesses are relationship
businesses. When we started ourbusiness, we were 29 years old
and 28 years old, I didn'trealize that my network did not
include a ton of decisionmakers. That just proves how
(04:23):
naive I was. Now, what happensif you stay in business long
enough is the ecosystem ofdecision makers matures with
you, especially if you maintainrelationships by doing the right
thing. So I think it's there'sprobably a cool chart that you
can put time over behavior. Andat a certain point, the universe
(04:49):
starts to actively conspire onyour behalf. If you've been
doing good work, your networksmaturing and you've been
behaving properly, all of asudden the field of
opportunities magnifiesmassively. So that's one thing
I've seen, which I would whichwhat I would say is almost a
passive effect. But the act ofeffect is something, a story
(05:13):
that hit me one day I wasdriving to work, I saw a guy
with a cardboard sign that hemade out in front of an oil
change chain. So this was aperson that worked for a chain,
but he had a sign that said,we're ready to change your oil
today. And he was just sittingthere with a cup of coffee. And
it inspired me to write a piececalled Don't be afraid to ask,
(05:37):
because it was a great reminderof, if you don't ask, if you're
too proud to ask. Especiallywhen you have like a really
qualified lead or something thatyou know your firm, or that your
service would be great for.
Don't be too proud to ask. andexpress your interest people
(05:57):
love being flattered by the Askthe nuances of how you do it
isn't, isn't important. But ifyou never asked, you'd never, no
one ever says yes to you. So I'dsay it's that it's that you
know, strategy of who to ask,not being afraid to ask. And
(06:19):
then really monitoring yourbehavior and delivery over time.
That's the flywheel. From myperspective,
Carl Grant (06:28):
now, in your business, is there a give to get
type of approach? So when yousay that, remember to ask, so
yesterday I was meeting with aninvestor, yes, manages a large
family office. And I was, youknow, doing him favors sending
him deals, talking about thingsI could do to help him. And then
(06:49):
it dawned on me, as we wereclosing our our meeting to say,
hey, I want to remind you, Iwork for a law firm. And if
there's ever anything we can dofor you. You know, please keep
us in mind. And so, you know, Isometimes I'll go on and on, and
then I'll leave that part out.
Right? Yeah. Right. And peoplelike me, because I do them
(07:13):
favors, and you know, help them.
But then, if it doesn't resultin business for my firm, you
know, there's no sense in mereally being employed by my
firm, right?
Adam Butler (07:25):
Oh, Carlyle, love that I, because what I found, I
think that speaks to yourpersonality. We haven't known
each other that long. But in ourfirst conversations, you know,
we talked about a bunch ofpeople, we both knew ideas, we
were having deals we were doing.
And what I think is fascinatingis, what you did was position
yourself at the end of that. AndI do think that's important to
(07:51):
advocate for yourself. That wassomething my mom was fond of
saying, if you don't advocatefor yourself, no one will.
Connect, connecting that to anidea that was given to me by one
of my best professors incollege, Tom Campbell was a
management professor at UT. Hesaid, You know, you're always
(08:11):
running your own business insideof whatever business you're in.
And he was trying to impregnateus with an entrepreneurial
mindset. But it was aboutpositioning and just clearly
stating, this is what I do. Thisis how I make money. I love
sharing ideas with you. Butthese are the leads I need. And
(08:31):
it's remembering it's business.
There's nothing, there's nothingcrass about saying that, and
especially curl like you ifyou're giving to people they
want to give back.
Carl Grant (08:47):
But sometimes I forget to ask. So I, you know,
Adam Butler (08:51):
I just think maybe maybe the thing that we're
scratching on here is that isthat it feels somehow
inappropriate, or, you know, orgrabby to do that. And I don't
think it does, I think reallyarticulating your positioning
and what you're after as abusiness. Gently and
(09:13):
repetitively is a good idea.
Carl Grant (09:17):
Yes. And then you also mentioned about the
decision makers not being partof your network when you started
out and I think about my worldand I'm trying to relate it to
your so when I started out,working with the venture capital
community, I, I always gaveequal attention to partners,
principals and Associates, it'skind of and then analysts are
(09:39):
below or below them, but they'renot typically out in the market
as much. And because I alwaysgave the analysts attention,
whereas others did not otherswould focus on the partners
because they're the so calleddecision makers. Those analysts
have gone on to run their ownfunds and and they, they respect
those those relationships I havewith them because I gave them
(10:00):
attention back when nobody elsedid. And I took them seriously.
And so if I'm introduced tosomebody who's just entering the
business, or the the kid of apartner who wants to do this and
wants some advice, I always taketime with those folks, because I
plan to be at this for a longtime. And and I know that it
always comes back around to youin the long run.
Adam Butler (10:24):
Yeah, I would, I would, yes. And that with a
parallel, which is if you if youare sponsored by a senior
decision maker, we look at it inour business as our job to win
their team. Like that the leaderhas positioned us with an
opportunity, but we could beworking with anywhere from five
(10:44):
to 30 people after that, andevery one of those individuals,
to your point is someone thatmakes their own decision about
you, how you treat them, how yourespect their role, how you
listen to them. So I 100% agreewith that. And once you're in
there, you know, through thegrace of the decision makers
(11:05):
trust in you, you do have theopportunity to to make a lot of
new friends. And sometimes, youknow, those relationships become
the most fruitful, because thedecision maker disappears from
the equation.
Carl Grant (11:17):
Yeah. And I found even with somebody who's a
scheduling assistant, or asecretary, sometimes those
relationships are key too. And,and while some people who are
focused on the end goal may blowthem off, I always take the time
to connect with somebody who'sbooking meetings for somebody,
(11:37):
connect with them on LinkedInand say it was nice to meet you.
And well, you know, I give himjust as much attention as I do
the actual person I'm meetingwith.
Adam Butler (11:45):
Well, I can tell you a great story about that.
One of our Senior Vice Presidentat Texas Children's Hospital, a
woman by the name of MichelleRiley Brown said to me once Hey,
Cassandra, her her assistant,her birthday is next week, she
worked so hard. It wasincredible. She She said, Hey,
(12:09):
would you make time to recognizeher, which I thought was
incredible leadership byMichelle. But we then we did it
and Cassandra was thrilled, butit was, but it was incredible,
because it was driven by herleader in the business to do
that. And just kind of makes methink of that when you talk
about taking care of those whotake care of getting you to the
(12:30):
table.
Carl Grant (12:32):
Yeah, and I'm not, I'm not once again, not
expecting anything out of it.
I'm just trying to be nice,because, you know, you just
never, you never know, you neverknow.
Adam Butler (12:41):
Its a hard job. I mean, you know, you think about
them, and it's verytransactional in that role. And
when someone says, Thank you, itlikes, it stops the record. I
mean, it's like, Whoa, you know,I this is just my job. But I'm a
person and I appreciate Iappreciate being thanked. So I
think it's, I think it's a humanthing to do what you're
(13:03):
describing. If it works outpositively, from a business
standpoint, all the better, butit's just a good way to go
through the world, man, you'regoing to get that
Carl Grant (13:13):
it does. And also also, you know, if you're going
in for a meeting in in, so yougo on to client sites, and
people are getting back tonormal now. And yeah, when you
go into visit that person, ifthe person you encounter isn't
the person that set up themeeting, if you take the time to
say, Hey, is, you know, Sue, orjohn here, you know, whoever set
(13:34):
up the meeting, I, I'd like to,you know, shake their hand and
and it goes a long way. Right?
They remember that, and then thenext time you're looking to get
a meeting, when you reach out,they're gonna be more apt to
help you get on the calendarthan somebody blew off. Right?
Adam Butler (13:50):
That's right. They know where that secret hour is.
Carl Grant (13:53):
Yeah, exactly.
So look, the time flies fast onthese podcasts. I always like to
leave time for advice forsomebody who's looking to do
what you do, right? We haven'tdone a deep dive into your
branding, but maybe you can talka little bit about that. And
then recommendations you wouldhave for somebody who's you
know, young person listening,just thinking, I like it. I like
(14:16):
what Adam does. I want to aspireto do that.
Unknown (14:20):
Yeah, I mean, let me think of the right place to
start. I mean, I definitely myjourney into business
development. Really, I mean,started the day that we started
our own business, right, itbecomes imperative on that day.
I was a part of the new businessdevelopment cycles inside of a
(14:43):
giant agency. In fact, Marty andI got our big break, working on
the business development side ofthe business at gsdm. When gsdm
pitched Mazda back in 1997.
Marty and I's idea was used bythe agency and Already was still
an intern and I was, I was, Ithink I'd been a copywriter for
a couple of months, I might havestill been a Traffic Manager.
(15:05):
But we got involved in thebusiness development function.
And that that can sometimes inour industry, especially back
then it was really the wild westpart of the business because it
was a lot of speculative work,which meant there was a lot of
opportunity to break through wewe broke through, that's how we
(15:28):
became partners was because wewere in the new business part of
the organization. And we came upwith an idea that the agency
thought could help when, andthat that made us breach on the
radar, it was like Who the hellare those guys? that got us more
opportunities. So that that'sone thing I'd say if you're in a
(15:48):
company, you know, being helpfulin the business development,
part of the organization is adynamic place to be in terms of
my own business, I mean, we'relooking for fit along a lot of
vectors we, we have, if we get acold lead, we have a set of
questions that we ask that havebeen honed over the years to
(16:10):
reveal financial fit culturalfit, timing, it's a very simple
intake form that then, and somepeople don't want to fill it
out. And that's fine. But itdoes create a much better first
conversation, it gives me asense of where that conversation
needs to go or could go. And mymindset, then and that in those
(16:34):
early moments are, this iseither going to be a great
opportunity for us or someoneelse. And until I determined
that it's a great fit for us,I'm very open to either of those
outcomes. And I'm committed tohelping that person. And I talk
about it that way. Because Idon't we want mutual fit. We're
also a part of an independentagency network, and there's
(16:59):
people within that network thatI can get business to, so that
it's sort of, then it shiftsfrom, I want this and I don't
want anyone else to have it. Andthat's when that selling really
starts. And then it's learningas much about the organization,
its history, its people itsstory as possible. And starting
(17:21):
to without giving Mark away forfree to really define that
challenge. More specifically, Ithink that's the that's usually
the turning point is the clientfeeling the engagement,
especially from a person whosename is on the door, and seeing
the people behind me, the teamthat we have, and starting to
(17:44):
feel like there's a processhere, there's results associated
with that process. And I feelthese people. And what we do is
risky. And everything I justdescribed is about de risking
the decision. So that's where Ithink it all comes down, I you
(18:04):
know, to the decision that getsmade by two people on a phone or
a zoom call or in a boardroom ofwho to go with. And then if we
don't get it, I really do wantto know why we didn't. Because
it's super valuable information.
So being graceful in defeat, andasking smart follow up questions
(18:25):
is something we try to do.
Because again, Carl, to yourpoint, one of the people on that
call and that decision makinggroup could have really wanted
you to be the firm, and theydidn't get their way this time,
but they might next time.
Carl Grant (18:41):
Well, Adam Butler, that is great advice. Adam
Butler, founder of the ButlerBros. I appreciate you doing the
podcast today. If you like whatyou heard today, please
subscribe, please rate thepodcast and share it with your
friends. Thanks, Adam.
Adam Butler (18:54):
Thank you, Carl.
Have a great
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