Ep 19: The Recruiting Playbook: With Max Graham

What separates the recruiters who build empires from the ones who stay stuck? In this episode of The Drive, Craig Harvey sits down with Max Graham, one of the top recruiters in the country and a 3-time developer of the #1 rookie of the year, to break down the exact mindset, process, and philosophy behind building a high-performing team from scratch.

From his time at military boarding school to becoming a full partner, Max pulls back the curtain on how he finds elite talent, how he runs his recruiting conversations, and why most leaders fail at building because they want it more for others than others want it for themselves.

Whether you're in insurance, sales, or building any kind of team, this episode is loaded with real, actionable frameworks you can use today.

Topics covered:

• The 4 P's that attract top talent (Product, Platform, Percentage, People)
• Tell, Show, Watch, Go, the duplicatable building system
• The 6 C's of a closer: Character, Charisma, Consistency, Conviction, Compassion, and Cause
• How to know who deserves your time and when to cut bait
• Why the largest wealth transfer in history is happening right now and how to be positioned for it

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

So much of the growth of America has been about recruiting. Think about it. Airlines recruit pilots. Cruise lines recruit passengers. The Navy recruits sailors. Hell, the Army recruits soldiers. Churches, right now, are recruiting members. Bars are recruiting drinkers. Even Uber recruits drivers. You show me a restaurant out there that's worth anything. They're recruiting customers. We're going to talk recruiting today, give you some tips, some highlights on how you can become a better recruiter at whatever it is you're trying to grow today on the drive. All right, welcome back to the drive. Craig Harvey today, so excited because we're talking about a subject that really has changed my life. It has helped me go from just mediocre in average to uh, I would say, an organization that has been well above average. Some might say supernatural over the last 12 to 15 years of growth. You can't grow without recruiting. And so I thought, who in the hell can I bring to Santa Rosa Beach to talk about recruiting one of the best recruiters I have ever, ever had the privilege to work with, the great Maximus Max Graham. Stud, how the hell are you? 12 out of 10, Craig. Too blessed to be stressed.

SPEAKER_00 1:16

How about you, son?

SPEAKER_01 1:17

Great, boy.

SPEAKER_00 1:18

Hey, man. I'm loving the Maroon soup, dude. What the hell? Hey, man.

SPEAKER_01 1:22

I appreciate it. I love your suit too. Let's let's get into. Did I mean look, I never thought I'd be doing insurance. Sure as hell, not for as long as I have. Been able to be as lucrative as it's been, make the friends and the difference that we've all been able to make. But we needed guys like you. In the early days, man, I swear to God, I dreamt of hiring guys like you, guys that had a purpose, had a passion. Uh they they were intentional about their direction. And I remember the first time I met you, bro, I was like, we are, we are, this is a top 10% or hell, maybe a top five percenter, right? Uh that that we've been able to attract. What was it about us that attracted you?

SPEAKER_00 2:03

I'd like to think more of a top one percenter, Craig, but uh maybe maybe you manifested it. I don't know. Uh what was it that attracted me to you guys? I would say product, platform, and percentage, also the people. You know, we've got the right products that solve a real problem. We've got the right platform with the systems and duplication. Uh, we've got the right percentage uh as far as the commission goes. And then obviously the people and the culture, it speaks for itself. Uh, you know, you guys are the type of guys I could hang out with outside of work. Uh definitely the guys I want to be in the trenches with when things get hot. Uh, you know, but we've had a great run, Craig, and I feel like we're just getting warmed up.

SPEAKER_01 2:39

So who do you remember who who initially kind of uh maybe told you about NESB and what that first conversation was like? Because that's really what we're gonna get into today is the crux of that initial conversation that we have with individuals about what it is we do. Your initial conversation, do you remember what it sounded like?

SPEAKER_00 2:57

Yeah, of course. You know, Andrew reached out to me, he saw I was posted on social media, uh teaching classrooms full of people how to sell, uh posting my sales accolades at my previous company. I was top 1% out of 3,000. Uh he was put I was posting the trophies I was winning, I was posting big screen TVs I was winning, I was posting trips that I was going on, uh just consistent, just posting, just winning, winning, winning in sales. Uh so when I put out some feelers online looking for a new opportunity, he saw that, reached out and said, dude, I've got what you're looking for. And uh, you know, I knew he was about his money. So met up with him. He showed me his deposits, uh, told me, hey, there's guys here making more money than you can even believe. Uh you need to come check this out. And, you know, I'm the type of guy who sees opportunities all the way through. So I wanted to do my due diligence. Hopped in the car, rode with a couple different people, uh, saw that those systems and processes were legit, the money was legit, and uh took a leap of faith and just the rest is history. So, how long ago was that? Eight and a half years.

SPEAKER_01 3:59

Eight and a half years, dude. My God, how time flies. It's it's unbelievable. And dude, your journey has been amazing. Now, you you obviously have risen through the ranks, you've made partner, uh, full partner. I mean, here you are sitting at this round table um with with uh feathers in in your head, so to speak, and and a lot of trophies that uh you you've been able to acquire. You know, in our business, trophies are protecting people. And and I don't know if you've ever had to deliver a death check, if you've ever had to take someone uh a $20,000, a $25,000, a $15,000 memorialization to the person that believed enough in their uh loved one to you know take out a policy. And then they're the beneficiary. Dude, it is it is something that is life-changing because you just see the look on their face, you just see their countenance just absolutely change. You had to be great at that in order to be where you are, because in our business, it's hard to replicate what what you initially can't duplicate. Like, like if you can't duplicate who taught you, if you can't do it, it's hard to teach it. It's hard to just sit back and tell people, tell people what to do. It's showing people what to do. And eventually, we talked about this last night, you're getting paid for what you know, not just what you do. Do you remember that that season in your career?

SPEAKER_00 5:24

Well, yeah, Craig. I mean, it gets real when someone passes away and you remember having a conversation with them, you know, specifically discussing their loved ones and the purpose for why they were taking the policy out. One day you wake up to an email where, you know, Miss Johnson passed away. And uh, you know, you remember her talking to you about her daughter and why this money was important to have available if that day happened to come, if the good Lord called her home. And uh, you know, when you call her daughter and, you know, let her know, hey, listen, I know you've got a lot on your plate right now, but don't worry, I'm gonna take care of this. Um, you know, and you feel that energy across the phone from how thankful that loved one is that you helped their loved one. Uh, it's just a magical thing, man. I mean, it's certainly not an happy feeling, but it lets you realize how important what we do really is.

SPEAKER_01 6:13

I've heard you say on stage so many times, we put the fun in funeral. Right. So I'm not gonna say it's like, look, I don't want my loved ones to die. But if and when they die, I sure as hell hope they have life insurance. Right. Because it's gonna make it a little bit more fun remembering them versus leaving this massive ass bill. Right. I look, I really think I love you is spelled insurance. And don't ask me to spell insurance because you know I'll probably misspell it. But but I do believe in that. Here's why I've got the great Maximus Meridius Graham MG3 in the house over the last four years, I think four years, three of the last four years, the number one rookie. So we're going back to 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, over those last four years, three of those four years, you recruited, hired, trained, helped develop the rookie of the freaking year. Son of a uh badass. I mean, that's that's amazing. That's amazing. How in the hell have you are you just lucky? I mean, is it magic? Is that what it is? I mean, what's going on here?

SPEAKER_00 7:17

Yeah, it would be three out of the last five years, Craig. And uh, you know, goodness. How many agents do you think we've got at NASB?

SPEAKER_01 7:24

Oh Lord, I would say anywhere around 10,000, I would say, write a piece of business every other month. Okay. Not not full-time, right? Right. So you've got your uh Chinese Army, right? Right, and then you've got your Navy SEALs, your Delta Force. Um I would say, you know, around 10,000 over a two-month span write something.

SPEAKER_00 7:45

Yeah. So, you know, you take 10,000 people who are trying to multiply and grow their business. And uh three out of the last five years, I found the top agent and they're all looking simultaneously. So that's something that I'm pretty proud of. But ultimately, it's not really necessarily a result of me. You know, it's a reflection on my organization and how people that are highly talented want to be a part of a team that's highly talented. A players want to play with A players. And uh, you know, I've been lucky enough to, you know, take some B's to A's, C's to A minus, and uh also find some A pluses along the way as well. And we've kind of joined forces and created that synergy that, you know, just screams at other people who are looking to be a part of something special.

SPEAKER_01 8:27

So let me jump to this. I've often said if you want to just add to your organization, hire followers, let's call them Indians. If you want to multiply your organization, you you have to hire leaders, let's call them chiefs. You've been able to attract, retain, develop, maximize uh these chiefs, aka uh leaders, how how are you able to do that?

SPEAKER_00 8:53

Craig, I'm always looking. And uh, you know, there's people out there who are hungry, uh, either they've got doubt or deficit, and I try to step in and fill that void with proven systems and processes that, you know, can create the lifestyle that so many people are looking for. Um, you know, they say if uh, you know, a man with no direction is easily influenced, and a man with direction has influence. And I'm extremely convicted on my noble cause and being a part of this company. So when I speak to someone with that conviction, with that certainty, I feel like they can feel it, they can tell that it's legitimate. And uh, if they're open to an opportunity and they actually do their homework, they'll see that everything I'm telling them checks out and it's true. I'm not gonna tell them, hey, come take a look at this, waste my time and their time, only for them to find out quickly that this isn't the real deal. They take a look at this and it's exactly what I promised. And in most cases, it's even better. Um, so it's just been really special, man.

SPEAKER_01 9:48

I know we both go to the gym. There's times that that I'm I'm working out and I do a specific uh number of sets, number of reps. If it's four by eight, if it's three by ten, back in the day it was five by fives, you know. Dude, recently I've been going and not necessarily counting my reps, just going to burnout. So instead of having a systematic approach and saying, okay, today I'm doing four by eight on three body parts, I'm just gonna go and I'm going to do as many reps uh with this amount of weight as I possibly can. The reason I say that, I asked you how how do you how do you find these multipliers? You're saying, dude, I'm always looking. So does that always have a number? Like every week, are you saying I'm at least talking to 30? Or as life presents itself, you're ready when potentially that next all-star either calls or you meet them. How does it work? Are you are you are you numerically tracking how much recruiting you're doing, or are you just letting life guide you?

SPEAKER_00 10:43

Yeah, great question, Craig. So um I feel like the only thing on the mind of a shark is eat, and I'm always hungry and I'm always looking. And uh I always look in always. So it's always, always. And um, you know, just constantly staying hungry, constantly looking, and um, you know, just creating that consistency, I feel like it's just it adds up over time.

SPEAKER_01 11:05

So what's the process? I mean, obviously you go from I've often said when you you first start an organization, um, you you just need nine players on a softball team. You ever play church softball? Never. All right. Well, some dumbasses in right field, okay, named Roger Banks, all right, that is batting ninth and uh couldn't catch a cold uh you know in a in a you know freezing pool in the winter. But you gotta have nine players. And so initially, when you you you don't have an organization that has momentum, you're you're kind of hiring anybody, hoping, again, that they may become somebody, that you can develop them, that maybe they know a friend, right? Uh, but eventually you you get you get to a place to where you become a little more exclusive, you become a little more uh focused, you you become a little more, you know, this may not be the right fit for you. So I I think our our viewing audience and listening audience would love to know what is your recruiting, interviewing, and ultimately selection process. How does it sound?

SPEAKER_00 12:05

Sure. Well, it depends on the person. I like to give customers specific value. So I look at who it is that I'm talking to and I try to cater what I say to them based on what I know about them and their situation. And uh to your point that you made a second ago, uh, as far as you know, who you're recruiting in the beginning, you're trying to get whoever it is that you can get, you know, although that that particular situation isn't the end goal, right? I do believe it serves a purpose in the end goal because through hiring people who may not be what you're looking for, it forces you as a leader to level up to be able to work with more different types of people. So, you know, they say within every every adversity is the seed of an equal or greater opportunity. And at an early stage in your career, even if you're not recruiting the people who you think are going to take you to the to the Super Bowl, uh as a leader, you're able to find value in learning leadership in that level. Does that make sense?

SPEAKER_01 13:00

Totally. So so if you're in that selection process, that interviewing process, are you making notes about that person when you're asking pain points? When you're asking, man, take me back over the last 10 years, what have you done? What are you most proud of? Any awards that you've won? I'm just curious because then you can circle back to what it is that they they made mention of maybe six minutes ago in the conversation.

SPEAKER_00 13:21

Yeah, well, you know, recruiting is also sales, right? And one of the most important parts about sales is to connect. And the rule to connecting is it's more important to be interested than interesting. So the beginning part of any sort of recruiting call is you need to, you know, ask the person to talk about themselves, right? There's uh I I've I've read somewhere that uh serotonin's released in people's brains when they talk about themselves. Everybody likes to talk about themselves. And if you can find some sort of a common interest to where you're asking them to talk about themselves, not just to hear them talk about themselves, but because you're also genuinely interested in that person at the time, uh not only do they feel good about themselves, but that's where that connection happens. They're releasing serotonin, they're feeling good about themselves, you're getting to know them at the same time. And then when you segue into telling them about what you have to offer, most people are more interested to learn about you after you've taken the time to learn about them.

SPEAKER_01 14:17

Look, if if if some is good, more is better. And in our business, again, going back and having that belief system, you've said this, and I love this. I'm gonna give you credit for this quote that the difference between a loser and a closer is what? The letter C. The letter C. So I want to give you six C's really fast. All right. Put you on the hot seat.

SPEAKER_00 14:36

But C stands for what?

SPEAKER_01 14:37

Well, that's the six C letters I'm about to give you. I'll give them to you quick. You ready? Character, uh, charisma. Let me go to the glasses here, old man Harvey, consistency, conviction, and compassion, having a caring cause. Uh-huh. So, in my opinion, if you don't have these six C's, I'm not gonna say you're a loser, but you're sure as hell not a winner in my book. These six C's important to be a closer, but but also uh to be able to achieve whatever amount of potential that that God gave you on this this planet. So let's just start with character. Why is character so important in being a closer and in working in an industry such as ours?

SPEAKER_00 15:17

Because people can see through the BS, Craig. You know, I mean, sometimes our clients, they may not be the smartest bookwise, but most of our clients are extremely smart streetwise. So having that sort of character, you know, they can tell if you're just a snake salesman trying to get them over get something over on them, or if you're actually there to, you know, solve their problem and provide them the value or solution to what it is they're looking for.

SPEAKER_01 15:40

So charisma, I I've got listed second, and I think we we inadvertently uh get those out of sequence. In other words, instead of hunting for high character people, uh, we hunt for high charismatic people. And we can define charisma in a lot of different ways. I I I you know to me a lot of it's belief. I mean, charisma is just having that that energy about what it is you're doing. I don't, I'm not charismatic about shit I hate. I'm not charismatic about hockey. I'm not I'm I'm not charismatic about soccer, even though the World Cup's coming up. I may fake it a little, but dude, we talk, we talk football, okay? You're talking golf, you're talking about something that that that I have interest in. Dude, my my my charisma comes out when we talk art, when we talk food, uh, when we talk great friendships and family. So, so charisma in our business, it goes a long way, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_00 16:37

Yeah, of course. You know, charisma I feel like stems from passion. You know, it's it's energy, right? You can see it on somebody, how they move. You know, people who have charisma, they can speak well. And they usually people speak well about a topic that they're confident in. So if you're confident in something and if you feel passionate about something, uh you move with a different different type of move. And uh people can pick up on that, and I feel like that's magnetic.

SPEAKER_01 17:02

The difference I think is also in the consistency. Yeah. Look, high character people are going to do well uh once they find their niche. Charisma is key, but dude, consistency is the ultimate differentiator. I can out consistency you, all right. If that's proper grammar, it probably isn't, but in my brain it sounds right because I look, I don't, I don't necessarily have to be better if I just show up more often. Think about it. You can have somebody that's a 10, but they're taking off three days a week. They're only investing four days a week. If I'm putting in five, six days a week, my consistency is going to beat their competency, let's say. Your thoughts.

SPEAKER_00 17:41

Yeah, the eighth wonder of the world, it's compound interest. And I always tell my team, uh, all you need to do is get 1% better every day, and you'll get where you want to go. So that 1% better every day doesn't work if you're doing 1% better and then the next day it's 1% worse. So you've got to just reach for that little 1% every day and it compounds over time, and that consistency will take you anywhere you want to go.

SPEAKER_01 18:02

I'm gonna morph these next two, let's say conviction and compassion, because I think one is married to the other. They're at least related. Um, because what gives you a compassion for the seniors that we work with is a conviction for what it is that we're selling, what it is that we're offering, that on the worst day of their life, everybody showing up with a bill, except for this conversation, provides them the ability to show up with a check to the most important person in their life. That's a big deal, is it not?

SPEAKER_00 18:34

100%, Craig. And I just to your point, you know, the difference between a closer and a loser is the letter C. The C stands for conviction. And I feel like the conviction comes from the compassion, knowing that what you're doing is a noble cause. I love it.

SPEAKER_01 18:47

We are with the great Maximus Meridius. Bro, you said this was your first podcast. You're nailing it. This is my first podcast. You're a podcast virgin, but not anymore. Not anymore, son. You're crushing this, baby. I'm always happy to be on here with you, Craig. Crushing it. Let's go a little deeper here because I want to know about Little Max. Oh, right, man. Okay. Little Max, yes. Now, not your son. All right. I'm talking about when you were 15, 16, 17, you told me that you developed uh this this intense need to kind of develop yourself, to start uh looking at, again, you're young, but but how can you sharpen a saw that's one day going to be able uh to cut through things that had it not put forth that effort early wouldn't be as sharp later on. What what was that about? What what what prompted that desire in you?

SPEAKER_00 19:38

Yeah, so my parents put me in competitive sports at an early age. I did travel soccer, travel wrestling. Um, yeah, I've always been a competitor. And uh I always excelled in sports, but you know, in school environments, um, you know, I was always good at life, but I was not really as good at school. Uh and uh just as a rebellious young kid, my parents sent me to military boarding school. And at that point in time, when you get around, you know, army rangers, green berets, uh, you know, crazy structured war veterans, um, strong uh male leaders and influencers, uh, they start to kind of bring things to your attention extremely quick if it's not what it should be. So uh when they sent me to military boarding school and I was 14 years old, I realized at that point that I needed to change things if I wanted to get to the next level in areas other than sports. Uh, they really put a lot of emphasis in military school of um personal development and structure and consistency. And um, you know, those things were drilled into me at an early age. And what I realized after, you know, buying into that system, even though in the beginning I was kind of, you know, not into it, uh, is that those things actually did work. And the more I saw those things work on me in my life, uh, the more I started to lean into them and uh really just became obsessed with personal development, reading, listening to audiobooks, uh, finding mentors. Uh, you always said, Craig, uh, you know, the two ways you learn in life is mistakes and mentorship. And one hurts a lot less than the other. Uh so I've leaned heavy into mentorship through people like you, Chad, uh, Jordan in this business in particular, uh, but also in my personal development outside of uh insurance, listening to these audiobooks. And I've just seen exponential growth occur uh in all areas of my life by taking advice from people who have done things that I wanted to do.

SPEAKER_01 21:30

One of the things I love uh about the great Max Graham. I still love calling you Max and us, bro. It goes back to my gladiator days. Uh, but here with MG3, no notes, no phone, no computer. I said, hey, dude, do you want no? He said, Harvey, this stuff's in here. Right. And I was telling you last night we're talking superpowers. Right. And one of one of my when I say superpowers is just filing. I know that sounds silly, but but I right over here, I've got uh an alphabetical uh Rolodex, all right, old man Harvey here, from A to let's just say V. V, let's say is victory or V is is victimization, A is adversity, A is assholes. I've got a list of assholes over there, right? You know, you know what I mean. Uh whatever it might be, B, belief, C, confidence, D, determination. So whenever I need to reference or find a story or uh a poem or or a thought about that subject, it's it's easily accessible. And I guess I say that because so many people I know they self-develop, they read, but they don't retain. It's like there's this there's this hole in their cup where the water's going in, but it's not being retained. It is, it is, it is, is being filtered out, you know, being dripped out because they can't find the information when they need it. So I guess I again I ask you, all of this is in this giant computer. Are you that freaking smart? How are you retaining all this shit?

SPEAKER_00 22:58

Yeah, yeah. Well, so Craig, uh, you know, I remember when I first started, you said that you can never beat a note taker. And I'm not someone that files it away alphabetically like you. What I've done is anytime a I hear something on a conference call or read it in a book or run across a situation in life, I add it to a notepad in my phone. And what I do and what works for me is I feel like when you experience adversity, it's easier to remember those situations and recall the lessons that you learned because of the trauma to whatever level it was that was involved with that adversity and the lesson that you learned through it. So I have my notes set up to where they're basically chronological from my career, from the beginning up until now. And the way I'm able to recall things is because of the situations that led me to these realizations. Um, you know, it's like if you stump your toe in the morning, you're gonna probably remember that more than if something good happens later in the day. It's just easier for people to recall things related to trauma than through wins. And um, through the situations and adversity that I've had across my career. Um, when I have a situation, I seek counsel and try to learn from that situation. And in the journey of the learning, to come to whatever conclusion I came to to create the favorable knowledge that I wanted to gain, I can reflect back on those events and recall the information that I need for future events that are similar.

SPEAKER_01 24:36

Dude, so I just so you know, I I do use my phone, okay? But I've lost so many damn phones. I've had them fall in lakes, right? I've left them on airplanes and not gotten them back. There's a phone of mine somewhere in Paris, France. No shit. Uh ask Keith Thomas and he knows about that. Uh, and what happens is you back it up on the iCloud. I get it, but at times there's valuable information, man, that I've learned, God forbid, unless this house burned down, I'm gonna be able to carry that. And I just I just love, again, the way people learn because it teaches you how you can learn if you apply the same things. Let's get uh specific here. I want to know the biggest hurdle in building, because uh I think a lot of people tuning in, and I've experienced this where you're trying to coach somebody and you tell them what to do, and they say, Oh, I'm doing that. I'm doing that, I'm doing that. And you just want to say, bro, no, you're not. You're not. You're either not saying it right or you're not saying it enough. Because if you say, I'm doing that, and I say you need to have more favorable conversations with people. If you're cold market, you're talking to somebody you don't know, dude, it is just you don't know them, they don't know you. Right. Where's the trust? Where's the believability? However, if you're talking to a warm market individual where you have been favorably introduced, you are so much more likely. Think about it in our business. Is it easier to sell a referral or is it easier to just sell a cold lead wherever it came from? The referral all day. And so that's that's what helps. But for people that are like, okay, I hear you ask him something that I'd like to know, what's the biggest hurdle? Biggest hurdles, plural.

SPEAKER_00 26:17

Yeah, I mean, for me personally, the thing that always really made me struggle is when you want it more for someone else than they want it for themselves. Uh, and I feel like that comes back to, as I mentioned, with building that passion, right? You've got to have passion, you've got to have conviction about why you're doing what you're doing, why you're trying to bring people under your team, what your you know, final destination is that you're running towards. And when you see it so clear, but maybe someone else isn't seeing the vision that you're seeing, it just hurts your heart to know that someone maybe is capable of so much, but for whatever reason, things are in the way.

SPEAKER_01 26:58

So, how do you define or select who gets your time? Because this was something for me that I really, bro, you know me, I'm I'm a little analytical crazy sometimes. I'm I I made like a list, I made like a, you know, a bracket, so to speak, of who it was that I would draft and spend the most time with. And I'm gonna be very blunt, based on the return I would get. Like there were guys that I'd say, bro, I'd much rather hang out with Jimmy because Jimmy plays golf, than I would John, because John hates sports, and we really don't have anything in common. He's on the opposite side of the aisle uh politically. But dude, I think John and I in this relationship can do more than Jimmy and I. And so John would get more of my time. How do you select, define who gets Max's time?

SPEAKER_00 27:47

Well, time, energy, and effort are currency, Craig. You've only got so much of it. And if you are looking at it like an investment, it's just important that you are investing uh your time, energy, and effort into things you get a big return on. So what I always tell people is if you give me 100% of your time, I'll give you 110% of your of my time. And uh in the beginning, I show people what 110% of my time looks like. You know, I basically will do anything that they need and will carry them up to the top until they get their sea lugs under them. But at a certain point, what you can realize, Craig, is if someone stops reaching out to you and the phone calls are going one direction, or if you're telling them to do something and then the numbers are showing something different and you know that the systems work, you know that the processes work, you know that a structured schedule works, you know that if you do, you know, one out of three presentations on average, you're gonna close. If someone's not producing, then it's easy to look at the math, right? The math don't lie, the numbers don't lie. So what I'll do is I'll tell people, hey, I'm gonna give you 110% of my time. All I ask is for you to meet me where I'm at. And if they don't, well, then I, you know, have a conversation with them. And then I wait to, you know, I'll answer their phone no matter what, but those calls need to be coming back to me. It doesn't need to just be a one-directional relationship.

SPEAKER_01 29:02

Dude, but communication decreases, so does belief, right? So does so does that admiration, so to speak. We we've seen that in relationships when we were single, uh, and we see that in in in business when uh people are are claiming to want to go to to a level that uh either their their actions, uh, their activity, their results, or their communication uh is is falling way short. Let me let me get into this because I just you know, I always used when I was talking to somebody short, and and you shared something with me as we were preparing for this that I think is just beautiful, where I would talk story, history, opportunity right-along into tracking and training. So whenever I'd have a conversation with somebody, let's say Max, you're the guy, I would either go first or second. It doesn't matter. I would say, Max, tell me your story. Or you might say, Hey, Craig, how'd you get here? Let me tell you my story. Upon whichever one of us went first, the next person is history. Now, can I tell you a little tip here, Max? A little trick. It's the same fricking thing. Right. Story and history is the same damn thing. It just depends on who goes first. You can do story, I can do history, I can do story, you can do history. It's the same thing. How did we get to where we are? Which takes me to the O. And on the O, I would just pause and say, Max, I want to just take a few minutes and tell you what separates our organization, what separates uh this organism, which continues to grow, right, versus an organization which is stagnant. Um and I would just unleash what it is that makes us different, all setting up the R, which it's all about the ride-along. I mean, look at what we do kind of like when I say online dating, without getting a date, without going to Dairy Queen, without going to the movies, without, without, you know, hitting the Outback or the Longhorns or whatever, wherever it is that that you're you're frequenting, uh taking uh individuals of the opposite or same sex as as uh we uh we embrace uh all all different entities here uh on the drive. Um it's important that you understand the whole reason I'm talking to this person is to be able to show them what we do, which in our case was a ride-along. That was that was the philosophy that I really taught. I know you adhered to it as well. But you have this, and let me go to the glasses here, old, old, old man uh Harvey's eyes here. Tell show watch go. What the hell does that mean?

SPEAKER_00 31:29

Tell show watch go. Yeah, well, you know, you could say the same type of thing two separate ways. And uh, short, I used it, works for sure. Uh, but I think that one that's a little bit more geared towards building, uh, whereas that one's geared more towards how the conversation flows is tell show, watch, go. And basically what that means is uh when you're building your organization, the first step is to tell someone about it. And I think of those uh tell show, watch, go, though those four steps, the tell port part is the most important part. You got to tell them about the opportunity. And when you do that, it needs to be customer-specific value. I always ask people, I'll say, uh, what do you like the best about your current situation and what do you like the least about your current situation? And when they tell me what they like the best and when they tell me what they like the least, when I tell them about the opportunity, I'm gonna make sure that I give them more of what they like and less of what they don't. Uh, the second part is show. So the point of the initial conversation is to put them in the car, right? Uh I mean, what good is telling people about it if it's not moving forward? So you want to make sure that when you have that conversation, you start with the end in mind. And, you know, ways that I'll do that is I'll ask people, uh, you know, tell me about your current schedule. What days are you off? What days are you free? And by asking them that question prior to asking them to get into the car, they've told me what their availability is so that they can't come up with a BS excuse. Uh, so I'll tell, then I'll get them in the car by and show them the opportunity. I want to show them duplicatable systems and processes. I want to show them that we're genuinely helping people. I want to show them that there's money to be made. And I want to show them, you know, that this opportunity is legit legit. Uh, then the next step is to watch them do what you've shown them that you can do, right? Uh, you know, showing them is giving you a chance to show off, but you want to watch them and critique them to make sure that they can be successful at this. So you're gonna tell, you're gonna show, you're gonna watch them do exactly what they saw you do, and then you're gonna repeat, show, and watch until they can uh successfully do it. And then you're gonna want to go to the next person and just continue to repeat the steps.

SPEAKER_01 33:38

Just an amazing, amazing answer from our guest, Maximus Meridius MG3, Max Graham. Uh, I'm not gonna put you on the spot on how far over seven figures uh you you've you've made it because I know it's just the beginning. A lot of you guys, when I talk to you, you're like, Craig, when you ask, when I ask how much have you made, the answer is not enough. The answer is we're just starting, we're just getting going, and and listening to your answers, you see why it is that you have been so successful. I think success uh is is going back to that quote, you want to go fast, go alone, you want to go far, go together. There is a unity in success. There's a togetherness in success. When I met Chad Milner, there was something about that relationship that provided rocket fuel for both of us that neither he nor I could have succeeded at the level that we have without the other. Jordan Smith the same way, Evan Proach the same way. I could I could keep going on and naming names, but we talked about that whole Batman and Robin uh uh conversation. I I don't really like that. I like more of the uh, you know, maybe the uh I don't know. We'll keep it at that. We'll just keep it at Batman and Robin. With that being said, uh I think sometimes Robin gets a bad rap when oftentimes Robin winds up out-earning Batman in our business, and you know exactly what I'm talking about, where you find somebody that is in congruence, they're in synergy with you. Just because you went first doesn't mean always you make more. Okay? And so I'm just trying to give you that that that unity comparison. Why is that so important when you're just getting going? Talking to people right now that are watching or listening that have yet to pop, they've yet to be able to take off, finding somebody that thinks like you, that's gonna work like you, that's gonna be that running partner right beside you, dude. That that that is an accelerant, is it not?

SPEAKER_00 35:32

100%. You know, people want to be a part of something bigger, uh bigger than themselves. Uh, they say that um, you know, a good leader has goals large enough for everyone's goals to fit inside. And uh, you know, if you've got that noble cause, if you've got a crusade, people just want to be a part of something big. Nobody wants to go watch, you know, a show where there's, you know, two people. Uh people want to go to a concert where there's 50,000 people, right? So, you know, if you really want to attract attention, uh, you've got to put on a show. And, you know, the only way you're gonna put on a show is to make it big enough people want to watch. Uh, so I think that uh, you know, what we're doing over here is is is way bigger than anyone even realizes. Uh, but if you pay attention, the largest wealth transfer to ever hit the face of the planet is underway. And we're helping to facilitate that by transferring seniors uh money via final expense insurance. The baby boomers hold the largest amount of wet wealth in the nation. And as they pass to the next generation, uh pass that money to the next generation, since insurance is tax free, that's the primary vehicle that they're gonna use to pass that wealth. So imagine being able to capture a percentage of the largest wealth transfer to ever hit the face of the planet and use that money to increase the wealth, the generational wealth for you and your family. That's literally what we're doing, and that's the size of the opportunity at hand. The largest wealth gener, the wealth transfer to ever hit the face of the planet.

SPEAKER_01 36:56

My God. My God, I heard that. I think you just said something, Max. There was a there was there was some movement going on uh up here in this man cave of a studio uh that we have. I I want to get you out of here on a tough question, okay? And I don't want to just be all unicorns and rainbows as Jordan Smith likes to say. I want to I want to throw you a fastball here. Um something in all of us had to, I I would almost say die in order for this version of us to live. Let me make it a little softer. Something had to change in you for you to be able to reach the potential that you're experiencing to make partner. So what was it? If you took me back, the biggest shift in Max in order to hit partner, the biggest alterization, the biggest change in you had to be what in order for you to get here?

SPEAKER_00 37:48

Well, I think, Craig, in any successful person's life, one day they wake up and realize that no one's coming to save the day. And if you want it for yourself, you know, there's only one way it's gonna happen. You're gonna have to go get it for yourself. Nobody's gonna give it to you. And uh the cost of your new life is your old life, and you've got to be willing to give up what you've got for what you want to become. And uh you also have to be willing to make that sacrifice. It's gotta be something that you're all bought into and you've got to be willing to, you know, expand your mind, try things differently, uh, you know, have take risk, right? Nobody ever won big by playing it safe. And uh, you know, when you realize that, you know, there's really no reason, nothing to lose and everything to gain, and you go all in on yourself and you're willing to give up your old life and you're willing to take chances and you're willing to give it everything you got. Um, you know, I feel like the universe conspires to make all these things come possible. And um, you know, I feel like there's a reason we all found each other, and there's a reason why we found this opportunity. And so much of business in life comes down to timing and uh finding this opportunity before the greatest wealth transfer to ever hit the face of the planet occurs, you know, finding the people who can give you the mentorship and the tools that you need to capture it for you and your family is just a special thing. And, you know, I just I feel a divine intervention, you know, has has brought me here. And uh, you know, I don't want to let it slip slip through my fingers.

SPEAKER_01 39:11

If you want to know why North American Senior Benefits has been one of the fastest growing, if not most stable and fastest growing organizations in the United States of America, it's because of men like Max. You you only get one shot. What that would that great man say? That that great philosopher, Eminem. Do not miss your chance to grow. Opportunity comes once in a lifetime. I think he says, yo, maybe maybe this is your opportunity to take a leap of faith, to make a change, to do something. Uh, who knows? I'm glad you did. I'm glad you believed. We're better off for it. Thank you for tuning in to the drive.