In-Person Prospecting & Closing for 401(k) Advisors

[0:04] Chad: Can you hear me? A beer, Mark? Sure can, Chad. Oh, they're behind us back there, by the way. Dramatic effect. [0:13] JD: I haven't had one of these in a long time. But Budweiser is gross. [0:17] Chad: You're doing it with your. With Paul Senior. I remember when I first started working for pdc, that was like your jam data. You're a Budweiser. And so [0:28] JD: it tastes stinky. [0:29] Chad: Yeah, because it is. [0:35] JD: Papa just bailed. [0:37] Chad: Yes, Webb. [0:37] Paul Hughes: That's. [0:38] Chad: That's. They're working harder and getting paid less. That's what's happening right now, jd. I'm digging the different background every week. Dude, where are we at now? You're too late, Justin. We've had this conversation. Okay. Sorry. [0:49] JD: We're actually in my office. I just. We actually did spin the desk around. [0:55] Paul Hughes: Oh, you did? [0:56] Chad: Okay, Mike Rogers. [1:00] JD: No, I think it's. [1:01] Chad: Bud Light is fine. And it comes out even better when you're on a golf course with you and you have your Vikings tube that you take them out of, but Budweiser. [1:14] JD: Brandon, were you able to stream to YouTube? All right, yeah, that's on YouTube if [1:20] Chad: you want to do that. [1:23] JD: Maybe just a little bit of light in here. Like really dim. [1:27] Chad: Josh. I haven't seen Josh Morris join. Is he going like an alias or something? I don't know. Maybe. Oh, Will. What bad does Will have to say? We all gave it to ourselves, Will. So we're all immune now. Antibodies. Antibodies. [1:47] JD: The kissing session. [1:48] Chad: Mark and Chad had to get that thing. I'm gonna kill myself. Wow. I'm going to kill myself and it's your fault. Hey, true story. Chad said that yesterday. And I brought him a shot in his office. He did. I did not say I was gonna kill myself. I said you might find me hanging. It's different. I picked that for my sound check. So it worked. [2:13] JD: Yeah. Justin always looks like he's like a model in a. Like, this is how your video should look on Zoom. [2:24] Chad: He looks like he's. You know those ESPN 30 for 30s where they look like they're doing the interview and they're. They're getting ready for it. You got the athlete that's getting ready to answer those hard pressing questions. That's what he looks like every time. He's. [2:39] Paul Hughes: Hmm. [2:39] JD: He's using a real camera, like depth of field. [2:44] Chad: I don't talk. I gotta have something going on here. [2:48] JD: I'm suffering through this beer tan, man. Because it's my father in law's favorite beer and it sucks. [2:56] Chad: Hey, by the way, Will Hackler, That's I don't know, maybe five points in the tally. Mark. Mark and I got up at 4am this morning and tried to watch the Masters. We watched the first off on 10 before the water or the rain delay. So, yes, I'm with you. Thursday night football, retireholics and Masters all in one day. Doesn't get much better. [3:17] JD: Dude, how about Tiger bro? [3:21] Chad: How about the fact that Bryson Dechambeau should have shot 85 today? [3:26] JD: He drained trains up that birdie on the last hole, and I'm like, how the hell did he finish 2 under? It was like all over the place. That's why. [3:40] Chad: When he hit that ball left, what was it, 1312 or 1311? Was it 11? It was 97 or whatever. We found that. Oh, my gosh. I just like when he pointed that way. He's like, you guys see the meme that said it was him saying, hey, Augusta is a par 67 for me. And says, augusta, hold my beer. Yeah, no, yeah, Augusta says, hold my beer. I haven't seen that, but that's good. [4:05] JD: All right, I think we're ready to rock. Hey, what's up, everybody? Welcome to another episode of Retireholics. We are so glad that you have joined us on this wonderful Thursday. You know, I. I was a little pissed off today. I realized I didn't have a Smirnoff Ice in my possession. I had to run last minute to the grocery store and I had a moment of this fucking show. Why am I doing this? Why am I running to the grocery store last minute stressing to prep for this stupid show? But then I had a counter moment. I have had the pleasure of being on several webinars this past work week. I don't know why. Just my calendar lined up and I was asked to join several of these webinars, and I think our show is actually pretty good. These webinars I attend are ridiculously shitty and boring, and people are still using PowerPoints and talking in big. Talking in big fancy words. And I'm sitting there cussing to myself like, this is crap. Are people really watching this stuff? So I'm gonna go out on a limb and say, no, I love retireholics. I like what we're doing, and we're gonna keep doing it. [5:47] Chad: Mike just won the cbc. [5:49] JD: Oh, I got to pay attention. Let's introduce our guest and then we'll do a little housekeeping. Paul Hughes out of Minnesota, the father of my wife, the husband of my favorite mother in law in the world, and in all reality, everybody. He really is a sales Training stud. I mean, he has spent his entire career, which spans like, 300 years. I don't know how old he is. It's really old. And he's always been focused on sales. He does a lot of niche stuff for, like, food and food distribution for some really, really big companies. But he also is just. Always got his head in a book, understanding new sales strategies. He has literally killed thousands of trees with those yellow notepads. I mean, he goes through yellow notepads like. Like I go through beers. So there it is. There's one. Welcome to the show. A, B, C, A. Always BBC closing. Always be close. Welcome to the show, Paul. I will probably call you Papa several times, but thanks for being here, buddy. [7:17] Paul Hughes: Glad to be here. [7:18] JD: All right, let's do a little housekeeping before we get started. Housekeeping. Housekeeping. [7:26] Paul Hughes: I don't think you're sleeping. [7:29] JD: Make sure you are in gallery view. It's up in the top right or top left or somewhere up there. Just hover your fricking mouse over it and find it. Go in gallery view so you can see everybody. And if you're going to chat, which you should, because we will be anointing a chat bar champion today, and I'm hoping it's going to be a good one. So make sure when you're chatting, you're chatting to all of the attendees and panelists, and not just to the panelists. Otherwise, Mike Webb's gonna rip on you because that's a rookie move. Word of the episode or prohibitive word? You know how this works, right, Papa? If you say this word that I'm about to say, you must drink from your nasty drink. And I know Papa's got a little Jagermeister close to him, and the word is going to be sales, or any form of that word. [8:25] Chad: Examples, please. [8:26] JD: Sell. Selling. Sold, or sales. I don't know why I always have to drink for that. That's kind of bullshit. [8:36] Chad: No, you absolutely don't. But what is it? Should be four. That looks like. [8:39] JD: What is that? [8:41] Chad: Elixir. [8:43] JD: It's all I could find. [8:46] Chad: Oh, that's like five minutes in a normal show for jd. [8:50] JD: I could run to the. I can run to the liquor cabinet. Yeah, yeah. So that's the. That's where the episode. Let's dive right in, shall we? And we're going to start right with sales. And when. I'm talking about sales right now. All right, I owe two. [9:08] Chad: Get another bottle, J.D. [9:10] JD: huh? [9:10] Chad: Just get another bottle now. [9:13] JD: Well, let me be specific about what I want you to envision And I will drink for those. Hang on. I'm talking about actually going to the prospect's place of business. You know, walking in, seeing the receptionist or the person at the front desk. And I usually ask them where the bathroom is right away because I've been in the car for a while. And you come back and then they go seat you in the conference room and say, hey, would you like a water or coffee? And you're like, no, I'm cool. I don't need one. And you sit in the conference room and you wait for the decision makers to come in. And now you go to shake their hands, talk about the weather. And you've got about 45 to 60 minutes to convince them that you got something better. And you're the. You're the place to go. That's what I'm talking about today. That's what I want to focus on. And I think our industry is uniquely difficult and different because we have so many moving pieces. Like there's so many subjects or so many areas that you may or may not need to cover in a point of, you know, the S word that it can be really intimidating to figure out where, when, and how. So let me. I got several subjects I want to talk about, but let me start first with how important. I'll go to you, Chad. How important in the 401k biz, when you prep for one of these types of meetings, is it to prepare strategies? And are you always preparing strategies or are you sometimes going in cold? [10:48] Chad: Well, sometimes you're forced to go in cold because you have no information. But there is still a strategy behind that. You still need to know the meeting flow that you're trying to have happen and make sure that you're hitting on the points that you believe are going to give you the best likely chance of winning the business. But yes, absolutely, I set up a strategy, and I think I've taught the guys, too. What I'm looking for is a magic bullet. I'm looking for something in my review of what they're doing or what their objectives are that nobody else has brought to their attention before. And so while I go in and talk about how we can improve for them what they're doing, whether or not it's. It's efficient or prudent for them, I'm always looking for that one thing to just dazzle them with. Yeah, I want to. Absolutely. [11:33] JD: I want to circle back to how maybe advisors could can. How they can use that type of strategy and what things they could put in place. But let Me. Let me ask, and I'll go to pop on this one. Chad knows. I used to have a strategy where I would go in and really kind of. Kind of dominate the room. I had my own agenda, and I had a lot of talking points that I wanted to get out. And then I heard a lot of people in sales. Ah, dang it. That's three. Talk about J.D. you need to talk less and listen more. And I've really fought that. Papa's doing his head in confirmation because I still think that's a bunch of bullshit. But. All right, PA Papa. And then we can go to Justin. We go to Chad. Should you be listening instead of talking in a. In a meeting where you're slinging stuff? [12:25] Paul Hughes: Well, first of all, you bandits have been trying to. [12:31] JD: I said slinging stuff. [12:37] Paul Hughes: This four or five letter word. And I'm going to do my best not to have to drink too much. I don't think there's any question that one of the major problems that most salespeople. And let me define the word most. [12:54] JD: That's one puppet. Go ahead, keep it on. We'll just keep them there. [12:59] Paul Hughes: I gotta take it little by little or I'd be in trouble in a long time. I know most people who do that job for a living talk too much, listen too little. One of the most important pieces that we see in our work with different organizations, working with talent development for those people is that their probing skills are underutilized and their presentation skills are usually more often overly used than they shouldn't be. So really, it's a blend of the two. But I think the ratio should be very easily, that you should be listening at least two to three times more so than you should be talking. [13:49] JD: So let me challenge you on that a little bit in that how do you listen two or three times to people that don't know what the hell they're talking about? Like, they have no idea about a lot of the. I'm just playing devil's advocate. A lot of the things that you need to show them and explain to them, like, they don't understand. And I. First of all, I wanted to say I do agree with you, because if you take over too much and you're too s. Wordy and you're too in control, that's not a good meeting. You definitely. You said it earlier, Paul. You got to strike a balance between the two. But I think in our industry, I'd be curious what Mark and Chad would say. It can be really hard because we are trying to convince or I'LL put this to you, Chad, aren't we. We are trying to convince the people in there that we are an expert in what we do. So how do you accomplish that without looking like a idiot? You know, here's. [14:45] Chad: Here's the two things that I'll say. Number one, if you are talking too much, you're likely pitching and you're not consulting. And I think that as an industry, we need to be good at consulting, not pitching. We're not pitching a product, we shouldn't be pitching a service. We should be consulting and determining if we're the right fit. So that, that would be the first thing. The second thing, the problem is we're trying to be an authority in something, and we feel like we have to talk to show that we're an authority. But if we listen and understand what they want to hear about, then when we do talk, we can talk less and still be seen as an authority. And I think that that's the issue with those that are talking too much is that they're stepping in, saying, I have to spew all of this out, all of this out, because they need to know that I'm the smartest person in this area. It's just not the way it should work. And I don't believe it's the way it does work. [15:34] Paul Hughes: Well, I hitchhike on that, Chad, is that, you know, one of the realities is when you get into those particular type of calls, you, when you are asking appropriate questions, you begin to learn quickly, what level of understanding does this individual have of the complexity of the 401 program that you're bringing to them. And so if you simply go in with the intent that is, you know, here I am, here's my name, here's my company, here's the background, and you begin to splurge. You have a real high risk factor because you're going to be treated by that person. And is another walking, talking, brief, carrying type person good? [16:17] JD: Yeah, No, I. I think that that should be a very big fear for a lot of advisors is to be. Papa called it a suitcase carrying, briefcase carrying person. I call them like a suit and tie. Because our industry is full of suits and ties. And it's okay to wear a suit and tie, but you're going to just look like the next guy that's trying to sell them. So that, that's one that's gonna. [16:42] Chad: I like Tony's approach. You guys see that? [16:46] JD: No. [16:46] Chad: How much do you hate your current TPA and how am I doing? [16:52] JD: It's a dance It's a dance for sure. Do you guys agree with this? A lot of the big leaders or thought leaders in this space feel like the most important thing that you need to focus on accomplishing when you get in that room is trust and you're nodding your head yes. What does that mean to you? Chad, in a 401k, how are you building trust? Is that just them going, oh, I like this guy. Like he's got a calm demeanor, this or that or is it trust that? Oh, well, this guy really knows his stuff. [17:22] Chad: I think those go hand in hand. You need to be relatable. You need to make sure. I don't know, it's so funny, but I like it. You need to be relatable and you need to be trustworthy. So you need, as we were talking about, understand what they want to hear, what's going to make them feel good about the meeting, what's going to make them feel good about bringing you on board. And you need to hit on those points. I always say building rapport and gaining trust is what you're aiming to accomplish. [17:48] JD: Paul, is trust something that you talk to your people about? [17:52] Paul Hughes: Well, we usually utilizing what you're saying, Chad, is usually we say you need to establish belief and trust. If they have a sense of believing what you're bringing to the party, the trust factor can grow significantly. If on the other hand, they don't get that feel that I can believe this guy or this lady, you got a problem now you're going on uphill battle. [18:17] JD: You know what I feel like comes second to trust and a very close second. And I don't know or I haven't discovered the right word for it, but it's when you're in that meeting and they see you as, as like passionate, but also like you love what you do and you kind of. And I use this a lot. This live, breathe and sleep it. I feel like that if these decision makers can look at me and go like, wow, I'm inspired by this person. Like, they actually love what they do. They seem to spend a lot of time thinking about it and, you know, it's not just a job for them. This is, this is something that they're really into. I think that goes over really, really well. And I don't know the word for it, but I feel like innately I'm always trying to make sure that that message gets across when I'm at. When I was in those types of meetings, because that was true to me and I felt like it was going to differentiate Me, from the people before me and after me. [19:13] Chad: Something just came to mind that I hadn't thought about until we started having this conversation, which is in all the training that I had in school and thereafter for the S word for this type of position we're talking about, it was always about pulling as many arrows out and firing them until one sticks the whole spaghetti on the wall analogy. And I think perhaps, and I was that bad when I started in the industry as well. That's perhaps why people spew when they get in that situation, because they've been trained, whether they know it or not, to just throw as much out there and see what they bite on and then try to catch on to that versus listening and hearing what's important to them. And grabbing onto that in your conversation, I think that that's probably 101 in terms of what they taught me growing up, which is you put as much out there, you see what someone bites on and then you start reeling it in. [20:04] JD: That's why I think it's really important in our industry to have that strategy going in. And I've already picked like, okay, I'm going to focus on their fixed account or their lack of target date funds or maybe the fee structure is high. Like you're picking these areas that you're to focus on. Almost like a football coach would, would prep his defense or his offense to go into a game. Like you come in that way because otherwise you. There's so much that you just lose sight. And I say this from experience. When my father first taught me, I would tag along with him at these meetings. I'm so scared of the word. I do not like this bourbon. [20:44] Chad: I was going to say, we've seen advisor too. [20:48] JD: And my dad was so, so smart and he knew so much about 401ks. And we'd get back in the car and he goes, so how did you think that meeting went? And I was really. I didn't know a lot at the time. And I was like, I barely understood 90% of what you're talking about. And I'm assuming that if I didn't understand it, neither did the people that you were presenting it to. And so. And then I would go out and do it myself and I would leave a meeting. I've told chad this before. 90 minute meeting, red in the face, which is normal for me. But. And just flustered that I had covered so many different topics that I really felt like I left a mess behind me. And that's where I started to evolve to get a lot More strategic and a lot more, you know, focused on just certain key areas that I thought would give me the success. And I think that that's something that Chad, you do all the time and the boys do as well. Right? [21:45] Chad: Yeah. [21:46] JD: I want to add one more before we go to a little bit of a fun game. I used to say this, and I want to talk about it. I used to say, well, ask you guys, is it good or bad to pick a fight with your prospect? It's a trick question because I think it's good to pick a fight with the person you're trying to to S word too. Okay, that sounded weird. [22:15] Chad: You got to be at a certain level before you do that, though. [22:17] JD: Well, but this is maybe, but this is. What I mean is if you come in to promote a product to me and you're a yes man or a yes woman, and I get my antennas go up and I find that you just tend to agree with everything I say and you're just being very, very nice and oh, yes, sir, I agree with you. I feel like you're that briefcase holding suit and tie person that Papa talked about. I don't trust you, so you've failed rule number one. But if you have the confidence to actually call me out on something and say, hey, sir, I understand why you're saying that, but my research leads me to believe that that's incorrect and that this is the way you should do it, I think you win trust very quickly. Because even though you might get under that person's skin, what's registering in their head, whether they realize it or not, is this is not a yes man or a yes woman. This is someone who's willing to tell me the truth. And guess what? They probably do know a lot more about this subject than I do. And in the end, that's the kind of person you want to hire, is the person who's going to guide you and not BS you and not yes you all the time, but actually show you how to do things the right way. Am I completely off base with that? [23:43] Paul Hughes: Well, I think the most important thing you're going to run into in that particular position is your choice of words and the wordsmanship that utilize the interaction, the dialogue, so that you don't take a perhaps totally opposite position, but rather a contrast comparison situation wherein, you know, you're saying to this particular customer potential, you know, what you have just said is an interesting statement. A lot of people feel that way. Our experiences have taught us blank. And now you've just moved it to a Different way to present that so that they look at you in the context of saying, hmm, I hadn't thought about that. [24:19] JD: But that's no fun. That's no fun. I like to look over and say, that's a stupid opinion. Let me tell you the real way. I'm kidding. No, you said it in a much more mature way. I just mean, don't be afraid to get a little dirty and mix it up with your prospect and say like, hey, man, that's. I get it. A lot of people feel that way. But let me show you why I think that a different approach is better. And they're like, okay, man, this guy's not messing around. Let's go ahead and spin the Wheel of ice before my Smirnoff gets too lukewarm. And Papa, you don't have to worry about this one. It doesn't involve you. But my store still only has the big dogs and any one of us could get it. Although the wheel has been loving chess and as of lately. But yeah, just spinning. [25:11] Paul Hughes: What does that mean? [25:26] Chad: I know it is. [25:28] JD: I'm starting to feel like it's rigs. [25:31] Chad: I tested it right before this. It landed on Chad. [25:34] JD: I'll do it again right now. I was just a tester. Bring me everyone. No, that's the free one. [25:58] Chad: That shows that it's not rigged. No, no, no. [26:00] JD: Yeah. Justin lost again. [26:05] Chad: There's a cycle, there's an order it goes through and Brandon just preps it. So I'm the next club. You'll never know. [26:16] JD: Let me ask you guys, this Wall street has a pretty bad rep, right? Papa was talking about the briefcase guy. But I think Wall street in general, people are lack trust of that industry. Do you see yourselves or the advisors that you work with ever trying to position themselves as not Wall street in some way? Like maybe even the savior or the person that's going to help the client navigate the evil waters of Wall Street. How often do you see that happening intentionally? [26:55] Chad: I don't see intentionally. I don't think at least. But I do see many advisors trying to really be authentic in themselves and casually dressed as we've all talked about and comfortable in those meetings and not trying to be the overly polished corporate. I'm sitting up trying to make sure you buy what I'm bringing. [27:14] JD: Let me be. Let me be deeper with that because I don't think I'm making my point across. And it's all my fault. I used to go in and talk about revenue share, talk about share classes, talk about conflicts of interest. Amongst the record keepers and the providers pay to play in terms of funds getting on certain menus. And I would explain that to the decision makers because I was looking to present myself as kind of their guardian and that this was all this evil crap that was happening but that I was gonna pop open the hood for them. I was gonna show them the engine. I was an insider who knew how it worked, but I was not with them. Right. I was on the positive side of Star wars, not the Darth Vader side. Does that make sense and do you see people using those types of techniques? [28:06] Chad: Makes sense. I don't see anyone using those techniques. I don't know about you guys. Maybe they should. It could be beneficial. [28:14] JD: I think it's smart. I think it's smart because we were talking earlier about how trust is so important and so when you. [28:22] Chad: Yes, the industry. JD I do. We've talked about how we need to dig ourselves out of a hole. You've looked at the polls that say we're below a used car salesman as an advisory group and we're trying to go in. That's gotta count. That counts. So I feel like going in and trying to say that that group is bad instead of just trying to be good is not the right way to go about it. [28:51] JD: I like that. I like that point. I just am telling you that God honest truth. Like I did this a lot in my career and I feel like it worked really well for me. And what I could also say is I think advisors in the industry as a whole can continue to move in the positive direction. But the fact of the matter is record keepers and mutual funds and large institutions, I'm sorry to be the pessimist, are always after profits first. I mean in my mind. And so when I talk about the industry getting to higher levels and improving our brand, I'm talking about the advisors and the solutions that they're bringing to the front lines. I don't have any hope for mutual fund companies and large record keepers chat that they're always going to be talking [29:41] Chad: to doesn't know that we're all tied together. They don't really distinguish between. There you go. [29:49] JD: That's the gap I'm trying to create. Go ahead, Justin. [29:52] Chad: Where I see it could be effective as if you're doing some type of open arc, you're trying to pitch open arc versus the other guys. This is how clean we are. We're completely transparent. We don't play any games. But otherwise I would agree with Chad. Like I could send a negative message towards the Client. [30:07] JD: Great, that's a great point. Yeah, the open arc. But just to reiterate, that's exactly what I'm trying to do is I think they have that opinion of Wall Street, Chad. I know that they do. Like we've seen the research, we've seen the studies. And so I'm attempting to distance myself from that and show them that, hey, I'm their protector, you know, I'm going to get them through all this. [30:28] Chad: In that example you just gave right there, you're pushing our organ, our business, our industry down into the mud to better yourself with that analogy. Yeah, I'm going to make sure they think that everything they believe about Wall street is actually true and that they see me as their savior. Whereas I want to bring us all up. I want to make the fiduciary rule will make us all look like we're truly there for the clients best interests. But we all should be there, period. Whether or not there's a rule. [30:58] JD: Well, I think you should continue to hold on to that belief, Chad. But I think it's bullshit because I don't think. I think that it's okay to be that savior for the client. Show them that the industry is tainted a little bit, which it is. To go into a further kind of subject that I didn't want to talk about. [31:16] Chad: What do you say? What are you saving them from? [31:20] JD: Well, conflicts of interest. Not understanding where revenue is going. Not understanding how much revenue is going to whom. Not understanding things like fixed accounts, guaranteed accounts, proprietary target date funds. Not understanding that they're claiming administration is less than it actually is because it's really a loss leader for other revenue. Like all those things, Mark, are things that I don't think clients understand and I don't think the big Wall street firms want them to understand. And I'll back this up with I've been on several calls in the last two weeks and I don't want to get soapboxy again, but I usually do at one point. There are a lot of these aggregators, a lot of these wellness tools, all this talk you've heard about data. We are looking at a future right now where there's going to be a lot of conflict of interest and a lot of people trying to sell a lot of people a lot of stuff. Oh, [32:27] Chad: anyways, I will tell you. [32:34] Paul Hughes: Know the other thing, and I think you're. I'm trying to discern what said here. JD is one of the primary responsibilities is to find that wedge, which we would refer to as a point of differentiation between you and the crowd that you're supposedly a part of. And you know, the fact of the matter is, is that there are those people who are passionate about what work we do, and there are those people who are in it for one thing, and that's their own selfish motivation. If you want to call it greed, call it greed. [33:11] JD: Cash rules everything around me Green get the money dollar, dollar bill yo. [33:17] Paul Hughes: If the only motivation and stimulation is making more money, it's been my experience you're never going to get enough money. That's not the issue. The issue is what I believe you stand for and the team at AT Plan design is it is helping that client get what they need to serve them and their people's retirement needs. And as a result of the way you serve that, it reciprocates back to you guys in the form of growth. Simple. [33:49] JD: I also think Chad and I and Justin end up differing on that because you guys. Were you over there complaining about my opinions too, Mark? Is because you guys worked side by side, side with a lot of these record keepers. So you develop relationships. You know, you go out and do some of these point and say, oh, that's a check swing some of these meetings together. So I get it. Check swing. So I get it. You understand that relationship. But I understand, hey, be smart. Understand that your decision makers might have a lack of trust for your industry as a whole. And if you could set yourself apart from that a little bit and still believe in Chad's hopes and dreams of a better future, I think there may be something to that. How do you guys feel about. I would say I was always really bad at closing. So I've told Chad this many, many times. I was never the guy with some cool, slick, like, message at the end of the meeting. Brandon doesn't have volume. That's fine. I was never that guy. I was always kind of like, I'd put out my presentation and then I'd head out like, oh, well, hopefully they'll call. And how do you feel, papa? Do you train people on some type of way to like. I know there's like an assumptive close, there's a silent close, there's all these kind of like techniques, right? Do you believe in that? [35:18] Paul Hughes: There are the techniques. I think, you know, just in terms of the whole premise of closing has been our experience that, number one, those people you're calling upon know that you are there with the direct intent of wrapping up business. Don't let them down, number one. Number two, when it comes to the issue of Closing. What is always bothersome to me is that if you don't, and I recognize it in your world that it's not a today close, it may be a number of calls before you quote, consummate a proposition. The point being, however, is that the precedent you set by not asking for that commitment is a danger spot. Because if you didn't get it when you were the first time, when you come back the second time, it becomes more difficult. And we haven't even begun to talk about this evening in terms of some of the mental preparation. And I'll go back as an example at the beginning of our conversation when you first talked about it and used the word cold. You know the terminology cold call. Well, you know, not trying to be a wise guy, but being serious. A cold call is a call that you make in international falls on the 20th of January. That's a cold call. [36:35] Chad: Nobody knows where International Falls is. [36:37] JD: Where's the monkey? Where's the monkey? [36:40] Paul Hughes: It's expensive. Now, the point of it is, is that what's the mental attitude that you have before you go into engage in a dialogue and discussion? Because if you would allow me to know what you're thinking when you walk in the door and I could jot it down if I had the opportunity, you wouldn't sue me. I would tape record it within a brief carrying case and play it back to you and choose to you and show you all of the words you use that we're the turn off and not the positive turn ons. [37:13] JD: I don't, I struggle with. I don't want to get too off track there with that one, but I struggle with like trying to change the way I speak strategically. Like, I feel like I'm hurting that, that trust and that authenticity thing. Like I. But I hear you. If maybe you've got some things that don't play out very well, maybe you could work on those things. But Chad, have you taught the guys to just. And Mark, do you guys. Are you cognizant about a close like some type of. And I'll give you an example of one I, now that I think about it, I used to use. That would work. I would get to the end of what we call our plan analysis package, right. And which is basically just a big PowerPoint presentation. And I would, at the end, I would. There was a, there was a slide, right, that would summarize everything. And I basically say like, so look, you get this, you get this and you get this, which you didn't have. And it's all for this cost, which is really prudent compared to what you have. And so all these things point towards a really good decision. Are you confident in this decision? Do you agree with what I just said? And that was kind of like my close was like to get them to go. Yeah, like this is a no brainer. Is that something you guys are doing in any way, shape or form? [38:28] Chad: Yes. I call that a recap is what you just did. Yeah, but, but I remember Mark has no S word training and so I remember when he came on board and moved over from the CFO role into that side of things, I started talking about test closes and trial closes and things that I had learned over the years. And he's looking at me like, I'm just going to go in there and be myself. And I'm like, that's going to work, dude. So to your point, J.D. no, I don't, I don't have a specific close. What I tend to do more often than not is, is to say I'm excited to be a resource for you. I'm looking forward to be an extension of your team. Here are the next steps. That's as close. That's more of like a soft close in itself, I would say. Yeah, you know all the terminology, don't pay attention to that. But here's part of the, the additional component that we are involved in when we are in these meetings is that there could potentially be us record keeper and advisor point. So now you've got three people and somebody there wants to run a close somehow, some way. I am not that person and I never will be. But there are some wholesale. That's okay. Check swing that. That they are very aggressive and it's weird. Like even I get this feeling of like. And some advisors are the same way. But so what I'm saying is like maybe I don't do it but in a meeting it could definitely be a part of that process where yeah, for sure it's coming up. But if it's just me and an advisor, yeah, I'm taking that route of hey, we've presented with everything you need to know. Here's what the next steps will look like. But I'm not. [40:17] JD: Then you say, then you say Mark, do you say so are you gonna shit or get off the pot? [40:22] Chad: Like a piece of paper? This is how I end every meeting. [40:27] JD: Well, you know what they say? [40:32] Chad: Fuck out. [40:33] JD: Have you guys, have you guys ever felt guilty when you get to like Safe harbor deadline and you actually have to say to your prospect like hey look, we need this by this date if you want to get this deal done. Do you feel sleazy? [40:48] Chad: No, I love that. It's because ever since getting into this industry, like my prior life before, you know, being with you guys, it was very much a sales like true sales type, Justin. And coming, you know, into this industry, it's been very kind of those soft closes or hey, you know, fault you do the recap and whatnot. So those deadlines, you get that opportunity like, hey, we gotta get going now. And you don't feel sleazy about it all because it's the truth. Because you're helping and you're just advising that there's, there's action to take. You're not pushing them because you want to make a number that you have to hit a quota. You're saying, we started this conversation, now we can continue that and help you. But if you don't, that's the thing though is if they don't, then you have to obviously be there to show them what other options they have outside [41:41] JD: of that without sale is made on every call you make, either you sell the client some stock or he sells you on a reason he can't. Either way, I like that. [41:52] Chad: Affleck's got a lot of. [41:53] JD: Papa, do you have, you have some thoughts on closing? [41:55] Paul Hughes: Well, you know, I was going to just jump on Mark's comments and that is that, you know, one of them that I personally like is the one where you do that summarization and then you say, okay, as we move forward, you're using affirmative and positive words. As we move forward, we're gonna have to have these three things taken care of. And I'm going to do this and I'll do this and this. And what I'll need from you is that you're gonna have to be able to do this and this. Now can I get that taken care of this week? I mean, you know, it is a positive. It's affirmative. And you are moving forward with an assumption type of a closing scenario. [42:36] JD: I like that. [42:37] Chad: I actually really like that it paints a picture in the client's head of what's going to happen in the path you're going to go down. And that's something, I think it's very underutilized. [42:46] JD: That's a perfect segue. I was going to talk about the follow up, Chad, because I know that's a big part of our industry is the follow up after that meeting. [42:53] Chad: That's a weakness for me. [42:55] JD: I like where Papa's saying, let's set up a follow up, like let's define it. Like that's cool. [43:03] Chad: You've done that your whole life if you didn't know. Because the way you created our plan analysis approach at the last slide is a timeline. And so that's what I use as I transition typically out of that meeting is here's the next steps for engagement. And I do so saying I want to be an extension of your team. Here's the next steps for engagement. So I guess maybe I am closing more than I'd like to acknowledge. Plan analysis set up that way from the beginning. J.D. [43:29] Paul Hughes: yeah, and Chad, it's, it's really almost. If you're dealing with an individual who is in an organizational structure, that's corporate nature, they're used to creating out of their conversations any strategic plan, any tactical action. And they know that there are sequential steps that are going to be taken. And when you lay it out that way mentally they get tuned in quickly. [43:52] JD: I like that. It's very, that's their corporate mentality is like, okay, what's, what's the next task to get done? And you should use that to your advantage. I definitely think it's a mistake if you're an advisor or advisor, TPA record keeper team. If you're not creating some type of timeline, follow up at the end of that meeting. And just leaving it as a, as a loose, as a loose end would not be a good thing. Let's have some fun. We play a game. What's the name of the game, Mark? [44:25] Chad: I don't know. You tell me. [44:27] JD: I think it's called the. I like just the lame game, but it's lamer game. Is the chopper ever serious? I feel like 90% of what they say is just, oh, you just, you're not watching. [44:40] Chad: They're in mass out there. So he knows the way it works. You don't have to explain it to him. I don't think senior needs a description. Description of the game. No, he's show before. So I'm just gonna jump right in. Okay. And these are some very serious questions that need addressing by all of us. The first one here is, is it lame or are you game if you go to a restaurant, any restaurant, and you order a Budweiser and you require that this Budweiser be accompanied by a frosty glass, not a regular glass, frozen glass. And if, and if they don't have a Frosty glass, then you ask for a cup of ice instead of the frosty glass. [45:31] JD: Whoa, you're getting some lambs. There's Some lambs coming in. The guest always goes first, Papa. [45:38] Chad: What do you got in that frosty mug, by the way, Senior, you're always going to be. [45:42] Paul Hughes: This is Budweiser. [45:43] Chad: Yeah, I'm totally game, Mark. [45:47] Paul Hughes: So did you want me to answer that? [45:50] Chad: Gonna let you know that I may have gotten these questions. [45:52] JD: Is it lame or are you game? [45:54] Paul Hughes: I'm game because I have this basic belief that when I'm going to a restaurant and cash is coming out of my wallet or plastic is coming out, I want my expectations to be met. [46:08] JD: Do you know how many loogies have been in my food because of this man harassing people? [46:14] Chad: Well, my question is, if you go somewhere and they don't have Budweiser, like if you go somewhere and they say, can I get a Coke? And they're like, oh, we have Pepsi. When you go somewhere and they say we don't have Budweiser, what's the alternative? They give you or Budweiser just like a staple. [46:29] Paul Hughes: Yeah. Well, first of all, what I do in those situations, Mark, is I trust my son in law. Can you believe that? To get me a beer choice that is comparable to in color, taste and flavor to Budweiser. And he's pretty damn good at it. [46:47] JD: I've taken Papa to some fancy places where he goes, yeah, I'll have a Budweiser. And they look at him like, sir, we do not serve Budweiser here. [46:57] Paul Hughes: I gotta take you guys back to this. The reason that I'm kind of a Bud fan is that, you know, you can see the scan and see the spelling. My wife Carol and I were in Hawaii having dinner and just about to come back to the mainland. Years ago, we had a great waiter. We finished dinner and I was having Budweiser and he said, do you know anything about the word Budweiser? And I said, no, now look at the letters. And I'm going to spell it out to you in words because you deserve what every individual should experience regularly. I love it. [47:29] JD: Do you know what Adidas stands for? Okay, [47:36] Paul Hughes: Afraid to ask. [47:39] Chad: Next question. I'm not even gonna go, yeah. [47:42] Paul Hughes: All right. [47:43] Chad: If you have a favorite show, let's just say, and this favorite show is so popular that they decide to have other associated shows that are just based in different cities. For example, you know, you've got your standard NCIS that came out, right? And then they're like, let's do an NCIS Los Angeles and one in New Orleans and then one in Vegas. Is it lame or are you game to watch every single iteration of that show. What are your thoughts there, senior? [48:13] Paul Hughes: That's lame. [48:18] Chad: Probably disagrees with you. [48:20] Paul Hughes: Nana is sitting close by, and she gasps for air lick. [48:27] JD: Papa's sleeping on the couch tonight. [48:32] Chad: Okay, Chad, there's only one original, so I'm lame as well. Okay, you pointed at me like I was gonna be game for that. No, I meant James. [48:42] Paul Hughes: Dad, way to go. That's. You're on. [48:44] JD: First of all, when Nana. When Nana stays at my house for months and months and watches ncis, I want to shoot myself in the head. [48:52] Chad: Lame, Justin. It's lame. Just like Real Housewives. Amanda. God. Jesus, what are you doing yourself? [49:04] JD: Have you ever seen the acting on those shows? [49:11] Chad: All right, perfectly timed. [49:15] Paul Hughes: Division 20. [49:17] Chad: Is it lame, or are you game? Using a chainsaw while on a ladder. Oh, dd. That's a dd. Senior, you're first. [49:27] Paul Hughes: Say that again. One more time. [49:29] Chad: Using a chainsaw while on a ladder. [49:33] Paul Hughes: Who in the hell would ever do anything like that? [49:36] JD: I'm just gonna say it right now. [49:37] Chad: JD gave me all these questions, and I thought they all related back to you. [49:42] JD: You didn't hear his wife laughing in the background? [49:46] Paul Hughes: You know when I hit that, When I hit the ground, it wasn't bad. After I finally woke up about five minutes later. [49:53] Chad: Wait, this. [49:54] JD: What? What? [49:56] Chad: We got to go into this now? Yeah, he's just drinking. I. I paused and laughed. [50:04] JD: On ice. [50:05] Chad: Jaeger on ice. [50:07] Paul Hughes: Absolutely. Man. [50:08] Chad: Jd, don't. I remember our financial advisor coming into our office with a wound across his leg because the chainsaw hit his leg. [50:18] JD: Yes. He's on there today. Doug knows a little something about chainsaws. Yes. [50:24] Chad: DD's had a chainsaw on his leg doing that. [50:26] JD: DD. [50:27] Chad: Penman. Thought you were smarter than that, buddy. All right, I'm just gonna ask then. Chad, that's lame. Yeah. Shit in your life. So that's surprising. [50:42] Paul Hughes: Jd, [50:44] JD: I would never go near a chainsaw without a ladder. So it's lame. [50:50] Chad: It's lame, Justin. Oh, I'm game if I get to watch it on stories on Instagram because we always get good laughs out of that shit. What's that? Me? No, no. [51:03] JD: All right. Oh, Shannon, I do not know how to use a channel quote. [51:06] Chad: Greg. That's Darwin award stuff, right? For sure. All right, last question. Only because I kind of want to hear the story is getting hit with a golf ball. Is that lame, or are you game? Senior year first. [51:21] Paul Hughes: Man, you are taking me someplace very dangerous. I get to provide a narrative to my answer. [51:30] Chad: I want to hear a story. Because apparently, very definitely, [51:37] Paul Hughes: several years Ago, JD and my daughter and their family were visiting us here in Minnesota. We went golfing, my good buddy Larry Savage and I, and we took JD with us. And I don't mind telling you, he was having one hell of a bad round. I mean, by the time we got to the sixth or seventh hole, he was borrowing golf balls from me because his were in the pond and in the wood. [52:01] JD: Chad, you know what I had? [52:03] Chad: You had the sh. Word. Don't say it. [52:07] Paul Hughes: Exactly. So finally we get up to the ninth hole, my buddy drops a ball onto the green. I drop it on JD's about 100 yards out there. And I'm trying to be empathetic with the poor guy, and I speak out and I yell out to him and says, hey, look, don't be stressed. Just take an ICC swing. [52:28] JD: Seven iron, seven iron. [52:31] Paul Hughes: I'm on the right hand side of the green. And again, he's about 80, 90 yards out. [52:37] JD: Hold on. Can I interrupt? [52:39] Paul Hughes: Only if you're going to add to the story. [52:41] JD: I'm about to hit a seven iron, 165 yards. You're over to the right. And I say, papa, can you move a little bit? I've been shaking shit all day long. [52:54] Paul Hughes: That is a line of stuff. He drills this sucker, and as soon as he hit it, all I could think was, oh, Golf hit about 2 inches from my elbow. [53:09] JD: It was a. It was a missile, bro. A missile right on him. [53:13] Paul Hughes: Real missile. Well, for five years I suffered with it. I kept begging him for strokes when we played. He was cheap as hell, would never give me any. So just to let you know how this finished up, we got on the green, we putted out. Larry, my buddy and I start walking towards our cart. Mister, you know, golfer here, he has to take an extra four or five putts to practice. So while he's doing that, my buddy Larry loosens the strap around his golf bag. And so we all jump in the bag on a cart and we say, come on, let's get going. He jumps in and you know how he goes. He rams the gas pedal down and bam. Here goes the golf clubs all over the place. All I can tell you is my buddy looked at him and says, jd, you are just having one hell of a horseshit day, aren't you? [54:02] JD: This story has gone on way too far, especially for a man who hits his driver, like 140 yards. So I wouldn't talk any shit. [54:15] Chad: Well, you know what they say. [54:18] JD: You know what they say? You know what they say? [54:22] Paul Hughes: What do they say? Nana says, you Know. [54:26] Chad: Well, you don't know. You know what they say, Nana doesn't know. [54:31] JD: Nana doesn't know. Okay, Chad, you wanted to try a little, little new segment in our little group text. So why don't you explain it to everyone? Because I struggled with it a little bit. [54:41] Chad: I don't get it at all. B, do you have the footage? Yeah, we've got it. We've got it. [54:47] Paul Hughes: We're good. [54:47] JD: Everybody. Here comes Chad's segment. [54:51] Chad: Hold on. [54:52] Paul Hughes: This is lamer game program. [54:54] Chad: No, [54:57] JD: wait, wait. Come on, man. [55:00] Chad: I mean, come on, man. [55:02] JD: Come on, man. [55:04] Chad: Okay. Come on, man. And it is things either in the industry or outside that probably shouldn't exist that are just dumb by nature. So here's my first one based on that topic is shanks. Shanks should not exist. That should not happen. No golfer should go through a series of rounds having the shanks. But we'll get to the serious one, which is where this came from. Secure Act 2.0 came out and said one component will be automatic enrollment with auto escalation for every single existing plan that's been with a. It's with a business that's been in place for more than three years and has more than 10 employees. And I sat back and went, are you kidding me? People are struggling to offer plans because of the administrative responsibility. We're talking about fiduciary liability. We're scaring them and now we're telling them they have to implement automatic enrollment with auto escalation for an 11 person company that reluctantly is starting one in California because we're forcing them into it anyways. That to me was a why. It was a, come on, man, we shouldn't be doing that. [56:10] JD: Come on, man. Well, I sat and used those words, Chad. I sat on my couch watching the Masters and I'm like, okay, so I'm supposed to think of why, why do we do this? And all I could think of was, why do birds suddenly appear? I couldn't come up with anything. You guys don't know that song? [56:30] Chad: Yeah. No, I don't get it. [56:31] JD: They're too young. But I will go to the one that everyone's going to expect me to go to. But it's the one legit one that I actually feel like is why do we create a new type of plan that doesn't do anything that the normal type of plan does? We already have three 38s. We all have three 16. We have 321s. We already have economies of scale with record keepers gathering assets. Why do we have peps, they don't do jack shit. That's my one. You know, John Sullivan wrote me today on private message and he goes, JD, I know you don't like Pepsi, but why? Why are you so angry with them? There's just another way for people to save. Isn't that a good thing? I ranted with him for another hour in direct message. I must have typed 5,000 words telling him how wrong he was. [57:29] Chad: I can't disagree that it is another way for people to save, but I don't think it's a necessary or a proactive or a good way for people to need to save. [57:39] JD: I told him it's the wrong direction for our industry. It's already starting to create all kinds of conflicts of interest where people are trying to game the system. And not to put my tinfoil hat on, but the whole reason why the government created it and the legislation was there was to help the retirement plan gap and to help small plans and new plans get started. And that's not what any of these companies are trying to build. They're trying to build solutions to get millions and millions of dollars. So it's just fucked from the top to the bottom and sideways. It's stupid and it shouldn't exist. That's my. You asked for my why. That's my why. [58:18] Chad: Justin, jd, you and I, if we're gonna go down the pep rally for a second. You and I were chatting this past week where I said in my mind, the way they're constructing PEPs right now is to at some point in the future cut out the advisor. Yes, they've gone after heavy now. Robo advisors with many of those PEPs are trying to say drive down cost. Trying to say, you don't need all this stuff, you're just like everybody else. So use the same thing where they're using. What do you think the next role is that they're going to cut? [58:46] JD: I like this. I like where you're going with this, Chad. [58:49] Chad: Those folks need to show value and work against it. [58:53] JD: I think this is a great segue as we had Andre on our thing that we did for Excel and we called it Andre's Conspiracy. And Amanda and Shannon and the TPAs out there are going to love this. This advisor said, I like working with TPAs because I want to protect my business and I want to make the record keeper in a sense less in control and less visible. And what Chad just tied into, which does concern me with PEPs, but it also concerns me with these 401k disruptors everyone going after the data. I know this is a subject we've talked about a lot in the past, but it's a very serious one. All of the wellness solutions, and I'm a, I'm a proponent of wellness. But what you all you advisors need to be very careful and keep your eye on this is this industry as soapbox is slowly moving towards gaining more control over these participants. And I agree with what Chad said, that's at your expense. They're kind of pushing you to the side and it's a slow grind, but watch out. And I'm going to keep watching this shit. And I think we need to band together. The best thing about 401k plans is advisors. They're the only ones on the front lines on the ground that actually get shit done. And so for our industry to move towards a solution that's less advisor centric and more big box record keeper data Robo is not a good look. That's a big deal. Yeah, I mean, what does Wall street say about that, Chad? [1:00:36] Chad: No answer for you there, jd. They want that. They want the data, they want the dollars. That's what we'll say. I think it's funny that every episode for them on the past eight, we've somehow looped this in the same because it's the race different. Jd, is pep fired up? [1:00:53] JD: No, this is, this is not just pep related. This is the whole industry. I'm talking like, I don't think I communicate properly sometimes talking about the wellness programs. I'm talking about the 401k disruptors. I'm talking about. And when I say disruptors, I mean the betterments and the. Yeah, so that's some serious shit. What would you like to talk about, Mark? [1:01:24] Chad: Just laughing at Greg's comment. I just want to know what the chat bar wants to talk about more than anything. I love that folks are throwing Q and A out to Paul since Paul chimes. This is a great subject matter right here. Senior. I think we need to understand a little bit more about when JD first came into your life and what you thought about him. I mean, when I first met JD, it was only 10 years ago and he was wearing a suit and he was running a business and I was like, wow, this guy's pretty cool. And Brandon, hold on, wait, pause, pause. I'm a. I'm a dad. I have a daughter. I don't know what it even feels like to have a. She's 6, right? I don't know what it feels like to have a guy come. [1:02:15] Paul Hughes: You're so old. [1:02:16] JD: Hold on. [1:02:18] Chad: I'm long winded. I'm setting you up. Setting you up. [1:02:23] Paul Hughes: You're the domino effects. [1:02:25] Chad: Yeah, you get this guy, this, this grainy, sleazy, surfy dude. Probably. [1:02:31] Paul Hughes: Let me get something in here. [1:02:34] Chad: No, no, Mark, shut up. [1:02:37] JD: Hey, we're at an hour. Can we close the show and then come back to this? [1:02:41] Chad: Is that. [1:02:41] JD: Yeah, well, let's. [1:02:42] Paul Hughes: Do. [1:02:42] JD: We got to do Chop our champion? [1:02:44] Chad: And then let's, let's. Let's extend it just like five minutes, all right? [1:02:50] JD: And then we'll shut it down for good. Papa. I think what he wants to know. Do you remember the first phone call when I called your house? [1:02:57] Paul Hughes: You know, you might want to give me a tip here or Sue, But I think one of the things I first remember was when you called. You called and asked for Tracy. And I said, who's calling? And I think your response was, well, who's this? And I thought, well, who the hell is this guy? [1:03:16] JD: That is not how it went down. I called your house and I said, is Tracy there? And you. And you said. And then. Just a minute. And then I find out, like a week later, Papa's like, why doesn't that guy introduce himself to me? Like, I answered the phone. He should have introduced himself like, hello, kind sir. My name is James Douglas Carlson and I would like to. What's the old term for dating? I would like to court your daughter. Is that what you wanted me to say, squire? [1:03:54] Paul Hughes: But it would have been a little better. [1:03:56] JD: And then what I said to you was, you didn't introduce your fucking self either, old man. [1:04:03] Paul Hughes: Now, we've got it straight, [1:04:07] JD: all right? Unless you got something else to rip me about, go ahead. Papa. [1:04:11] Paul Hughes: Well, no, I was just going to give the answer to Mark, but if we've got to wrap up the show. [1:04:16] Chad: No, you want to hear it? [1:04:18] JD: What did you think when you saw this sleazy surfer? [1:04:21] Paul Hughes: How this unfolded is that my daughter moved out to California to finish school. And, you know, we were thrilled that she was going to be out there. She'd get a chance to visit with her sister up in la. And so the next thing I know, I can only tell you that because she lived with my hairstyle so long, when she saw JD and his hairstyle, she was fascinated with guys that had long hair. So that was probably the first domino. Yeah, baby. The second domino was when we finally got the chance to meet out in the West Coast. I believe we might have been someplace at a lounge in a hotel, and they were playing music And I think maybe that Tracy and J.D. got up and started to dance, and the music happened to be the Bee Gees. And Carol, my wife, loves the Bee Gees. Yeah. JD Gives us one of those John Travolta Saturday night dance moves. My wife looks at me and says, aha. She looks at Tracy and winks. And that's. Next thing I know, they're dating. And all of a sudden, a little bit later, I'm sitting reading a book in my family room, and Carol sits down and says, by the way, did I tell you that JD And Theresa got married? I said, what the hell are you talking about? [1:05:41] JD: There's a little bit of. A little bit of nonfiction going on there. Okay, time out, time out. [1:05:48] Chad: JD what's your interpretation of this story? Story, please. [1:05:52] JD: If Papa wasn't so old and he still had a brain, he would know that I actually went to dinner with him in downtown Minneapolis and asked if I could marry his daughter before we did. But he's losing it. He's getting old. [1:06:09] Chad: Budweiser today. [1:06:11] Paul Hughes: He did that after I had four beers and two's my tolerance. [1:06:17] JD: Where are you? [1:06:17] Chad: At [1:06:21] JD: my chat bar Champion votes is for Greg Greenfield. I've liked him from the beginning. I liked him in the middle. I liked him at the end. He's witty, he's funny, he's everything I love about chat bar. That's my vote. Justin. [1:06:37] Chad: Oh, Tony. Mr. Davis, he said, stuck with me. I can't remember what it was, though. [1:06:45] JD: And it's good that he used his own name today. [1:06:47] Chad: I feel like the champions of Champions were out tonight for sure. I don't think anybody came out strong enough to catch up to Will. Will had an early lead, and he kept pace for me. [1:07:02] JD: Who won last week? [1:07:08] Chad: I remember I voted for Will. I voted for Josh last week. Josh. [1:07:11] JD: Aaron. Aaron. It was Aaron. [1:07:15] Chad: Anyways, I'm a little concerned that PCH isn't on here. [1:07:20] JD: We need to look out for pch. All right, Mark, who's your vote? [1:07:23] Chad: It's will for sure. 100%. Yeah, that's because he's a player. [1:07:27] JD: Will, does Papa get a vote? Papa, have you even watched the chat bar? [1:07:34] Paul Hughes: I did. I was watching a little bit down here. But one thing before you wrap up, would you please check with Mike Webb to find out whether he now realizes that I'm the celebrity and you're the son in law? [1:07:47] Chad: He's on here. He's here. [1:07:50] JD: Papa, who is your vote for chat bar champion? [1:07:59] Paul Hughes: I got to think of the names that I had. Greg Greenfield. [1:08:01] JD: OOH we have a tie. And this is. We get everyone, right? [1:08:06] Chad: Yeah, half of us. Guys, there's five. We got everybody. [1:08:12] JD: Yeah, we got everyone. We can talk. [1:08:13] Paul Hughes: Two. [1:08:13] Chad: Greg, two Wills and Tony. [1:08:17] JD: Mark, not so good at math. In real life, there's not two candidates. [1:08:24] Chad: It's all right. [1:08:26] JD: Brandon, do you want to break the tie? [1:08:31] Chad: Say Tony. I'll go. [1:08:34] Paul Hughes: Well, I was gonna. [1:08:34] JD: Why are you. [1:08:35] Chad: You push me, Tony. Yeah, say someone else. Completely random. [1:08:38] JD: You didn't break the tie. [1:08:39] Chad: You created a three way tie. [1:08:43] JD: They all get okay. No, it's a playoff. [1:08:47] Chad: Shh. [1:08:48] JD: It's a playoff. Okay, Tony, Will, Greg, you must say your funniest statement right now. And we're gonna vote. You got 10 seconds. Go. I like this. I like this. [1:09:08] Chad: Crickets. [1:09:10] JD: They got to come up with something. The Human Torch was denied a bank loan and I don't know that reference. [1:09:17] Chad: I don't get it. [1:09:19] JD: I lost. Come on, man. I used the Q and A. What? [1:09:27] Chad: That makes him look better. [1:09:29] JD: Oh, he's ripping on. All right. It's a no brainer, right? Well, what was Greg? It's all ball bearings these days. Will Hackler, champion of the chat bar. Champion. Way to go, Will. In the clutch. Will needed to make that little three footer for the championship, and he did. Thank you, everyone for tuning in to another episode of Retireholics. Next week we have Tom Foster. [1:09:59] Chad: We sure about that? [1:10:03] JD: Tom Foster, Nashville right there. Erisa Attorney. And we're thinking about. We're thinking about. We don't know whether we're going to take Thanksgiving off or not, but how weird would that be? Retireholics on Thanksgiving. Who knows? I don't know what's on. [1:10:15] Chad: Going. [1:10:16] JD: Going down. But next week. Tom Foster. Thanks for tuning in. We appreciate it. Amanda, I'm glad you could come because you never show up. Amanda. [1:10:24] Paul Hughes: And [1:10:27] JD: everybody, tennis. Man alive. Will, Greg, all of you, you're awesome. I love you. Brannon, play the music. [1:10:36] Chad: Good night. Mark can kind of slow dance together. Here we go. [1:10:50] JD: Here we go. Every time. [1:11:07] Chad: Ch. Your wedding song. [1:11:18] JD: Papa, you need to go dance with Nana. [1:11:33] Chad: Soothy. Sprinkle in your hair go to starlight and your eyes are blue that is why all the girls in town follow you all around Just like me they love want to be close to you. On the day that you were born the angels got together and decided to create a dream come true See this sprinkle moon your hair of golden starlight in your eyes are blue [1:12:46] JD: that is [1:12:47] Chad: why all the girls in town follow [1:12:53] JD: you all around [1:12:58] Chad: Just like me they [1:13:01] Paul Hughes: long to be close to you. Oh, was that an indication of JD That I just saw? [1:13:11] Chad: Yeah. I was putting my hair down, getting it all loose and making it. [1:13:15] Paul Hughes: I was gonna say, God, it looked just like him. Only you. Just you. You need to grow your hair, because pretty soon.