In Episode 136 of “The Trusted Advisor,” RSPA CEO Jim Roddy talks leadership with Steve Casteel, the President of VAR/ISO Payteva. Among the topics discussed are strategies to build an ownership culture inside your organization, the importance of investing time and money supporting local groups, why pushy sales tactics don’t work, and how humility enables leadership growth.
“The Trusted Advisor,” powered by the Retail Solutions Providers Association (RSPA), is an award-winning content series designed specifically for retail IT VARs and software providers. Our goal is to educate you on the topics of leadership, management, hiring, sales, and other small business best practices. For more insights, visit the RSPA blog at www.GoRSPA.org.
Watch Episode 136 now:
“The Trusted Advisor” is also available on Amazon Audible, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Podcasts, and Spotify, subscribe today!
Full episode transcript via Apple Podcasts:
00:00:00.980 –> 00:00:04.600
Roddy: Hi, Jim Roddy here from the RSPA, jumping in before today’s podcast.
00:00:04.600 –> 00:00:12.440
Roddy: With an update on RetailNOW 2025, the retail technology channels, number one trade show, education conference, and networking event.
00:00:12.440 –> 00:00:13.660
Roddy: So first, the basics.
00:00:13.660 –> 00:00:21.880
Roddy: You can join RSPA and retail IT channel leaders live and in person, July 27th through the 29th, on the strip in Las Vegas at Caesar’s Palace.
00:00:21.880 –> 00:00:32.740
Roddy: With nearly 200 exhibitors, RetailNOW is one-stop shopping for VARs and ISVs, and with an expected 1,600 or more attendees, it’s the place for extreme industry connectivity.
00:00:32.740 –> 00:00:38.880
Roddy: Across just 48 hours, you’ll meet new partners and new solution providers who can accelerate the success of your business.
00:00:38.880 –> 00:00:41.760
Roddy: Now, here’s something that’s new for retail in 2025.
00:00:41.760 –> 00:00:55.140
Roddy: The focus of the event is going to be helping retail IT VARs and ISVs better compete against what we call the margin obliterating, VC-backed, 800-number, one-size-fits-all POS providers who don’t have a channel.
00:00:55.140 –> 00:01:09.220
Roddy: The general session and many of the 18 breakout sessions will address that topic directly, and the remaining breakouts will offer guidance to help you become a better leader, improve your company culture, grow your sales, improve your customer service, and learn about new technologies.
00:01:09.220 –> 00:01:19.460
Roddy: So if you’re serious about the retail IT channel, and you’re serious about beating the 800-number guys, you have to attend RetailNOW 2025, July 27th through 29th in Vegas.
00:01:19.460 –> 00:01:21.920
Roddy: RetailNOW is where the industry meets.
00:01:21.920 –> 00:01:30.880
Roddy: For all the details and register at discounted early bird rates, visit the RetailNOW website today at gorsp.org/retail now.
00:01:30.880 –> 00:01:35.160
Roddy: Again, go rsp.org/retail now.
00:01:35.160 –> 00:01:36.180
Roddy: Enjoy today’s episode.
00:01:41.909 –> 00:01:49.549
Roddy: Welcome to another episode of The Trusted Advisor podcast and video series, powered by the Retail Solutions Providers Association.
00:01:49.549 –> 00:01:55.129
Roddy: Our goal on the pod is to accelerate the success of today’s and tomorrow’s leaders in the retail IT industry.
00:01:55.129 –> 00:01:56.609
Roddy: I’m Jim Roddy back with you again.
00:01:56.609 –> 00:01:58.369
Roddy: Thank you so much for joining us.
00:01:58.369 –> 00:02:04.649
Roddy: Now, as always, we talk with leaders in the Retail IT channel about their leadership journeys and what they’ve learned along the way.
00:02:04.649 –> 00:02:07.469
Roddy: In this episode, we’ll talk with Steve Casteel.
00:02:07.469 –> 00:02:13.329
Roddy: He’s the president of Payteva, a VAR and ISO providing point-of-sale payments and payroll solutions.
00:02:13.329 –> 00:02:17.789
Roddy: He’s also a member of the Board of Directors for the Iowa Restaurant Association.
00:02:17.789 –> 00:02:28.369
Roddy: Steve’s been an active RSPA member, so you might have seen him speak at RetailNOW 2024, where he was a panelist for this session, Beating the Giants, How to Compete Against VC-Backed POS Solutions.
00:02:28.369 –> 00:02:38.009
Roddy: Or if you attended RSPA Inspire’s Leadership Conference, you might have seen him on stage for this session, Leading with Purpose, Best Practices for Employee Retention and Engagement.
00:02:38.129 –> 00:02:41.309
Roddy: Steve, welcome to The Trusted Advisor.
00:02:41.309 –> 00:02:42.009
Casteel: Thank you.
00:02:42.009 –> 00:02:43.709
Roddy: Happy to be here.
00:02:43.709 –> 00:02:44.429
Roddy: Glad to have you here.
00:02:44.509 –> 00:02:46.309
Roddy: So you and I don’t go way back.
00:02:46.309 –> 00:02:52.829
Roddy: Most of my relationship is seeing you on stage and being impressed with your organization and the things that you’re doing there.
00:02:52.929 –> 00:02:58.589
Roddy: So before we get into it any further, can you help our audience get to know you and Payteva a little bit more?
00:02:58.589 –> 00:03:01.729
Roddy: I gave a one sentence description of your organization, your background.
00:03:01.729 –> 00:03:06.729
Roddy: Can you tell our audience a story of when and how Payteva started and what the company looks like today?
00:03:07.629 –> 00:03:08.069
Casteel: Yeah.
00:03:08.069 –> 00:03:13.849
Casteel: So I started in this industry almost 13 years ago.
00:03:13.849 –> 00:03:17.889
Casteel: I was working for one of the bigger processors in the country.
00:03:17.889 –> 00:03:33.829
Casteel: They got bought out by a bigger processor, was around with them for about two years, and they started changing the way everything was done, changing how we got paid, what we could sell, we’d have to partner with somebody on certain products.
00:03:34.449 –> 00:03:37.529
Casteel: So I decided to go off on my own.
00:03:37.529 –> 00:03:40.329
Casteel: That was right around eight years ago.
00:03:40.329 –> 00:03:44.149
Casteel: Never really intended to start a business per se.
00:03:44.149 –> 00:03:47.629
Casteel: I just knew that I could do better on my own.
00:03:47.689 –> 00:03:51.729
Casteel: Then from there, I built a team through word of mouth.
00:03:52.809 –> 00:03:55.489
Casteel: So Payteva is based in Iowa.
00:03:55.489 –> 00:03:57.169
Casteel: We’re in five different states now.
00:03:57.169 –> 00:03:59.389
Casteel: We have 28 agents under the team.
00:04:05.429 –> 00:04:09.189
Casteel: We specialize, of course, in restaurant and retail.
00:04:09.189 –> 00:04:14.169
Casteel: But our biggest customer is actually a distributor out of California.
00:04:15.329 –> 00:04:21.489
Casteel: So we don’t particularly specialize in one vertical or one market.
00:04:21.489 –> 00:04:35.089
Casteel: We try to help everybody, which is one reason why we joined the RSPA is because we wanted to get into some of these other special verticals like cannabis, for example, and RSPA has been great for that.
00:04:35.089 –> 00:04:39.169
Casteel: But so, yeah, that’s kind of how Payteva got started.
00:04:39.169 –> 00:04:39.509
Roddy: Got it.
00:04:39.509 –> 00:04:39.969
Roddy: Interesting.
00:04:39.969 –> 00:04:45.789
Roddy: So eight years ago, prior to eight years, no entrepreneurial background, anybody in your family an entrepreneur?
00:04:45.789 –> 00:04:48.949
Roddy: Or was this like a, you know, we’re diving into the deep end?
00:04:48.949 –> 00:04:51.129
Casteel: Oh, I’ve had plenty of other businesses.
00:04:51.129 –> 00:05:02.389
Casteel: In fact, yeah, the reason why I got into, the reason why I started my own ISO about 20 years ago, I had five different businesses I was running.
00:05:02.389 –> 00:05:07.929
Casteel: I had a transportation company, cleaning company, marketing company, entertainment business.
00:05:07.929 –> 00:05:13.089
Casteel: I used to DJ and a buddy of mine for Heartland Payment Systems.
00:05:13.089 –> 00:05:17.269
Casteel: And he hit me up to sign me up for payment processing all the time.
00:05:17.269 –> 00:05:19.869
Casteel: I’m like, man, I get called on by people like you all the time.
00:05:22.029 –> 00:05:26.549
Casteel: And it was about five years after he first initially contacted me.
00:05:26.549 –> 00:05:29.769
Casteel: I had three employees calling sick one day.
00:05:29.769 –> 00:05:33.269
Casteel: And I just called him up and said, hey, man, what do you guys have to offer?
00:05:33.269 –> 00:05:36.749
Casteel: And he’s like, let me get you in front of the manager in Iowa.
00:05:36.749 –> 00:05:40.229
Casteel: He’d been promoted down to Arizona at that point.
00:05:40.229 –> 00:05:42.249
Casteel: And the rest is history.
00:05:42.249 –> 00:05:44.889
Casteel: Two months later, I started.
00:05:44.889 –> 00:05:47.889
Casteel: And then six months later, I sold all of my businesses.
00:05:48.329 –> 00:05:50.969
Casteel: I told my wife, I’m selling everything.
00:05:52.449 –> 00:05:56.889
Casteel: I was done having employees, done with all that.
00:05:56.889 –> 00:05:58.429
Casteel: And yeah, the rest is history.
00:05:58.429 –> 00:05:59.969
Casteel: So yeah.
00:05:59.969 –> 00:06:00.549
Roddy: Interesting.
00:06:00.909 –> 00:06:01.449
Roddy: Okay, great.
00:06:01.449 –> 00:06:06.329
Roddy: So you’ve got a couple of different runs in terms of leading an organization.
00:06:06.329 –> 00:06:11.089
Roddy: So a big reason why we’re having this conversation today is what I alluded to earlier.
00:06:11.089 –> 00:06:15.969
Roddy: It’s what you said, ad inspire related to company culture and compensation.
00:06:15.969 –> 00:06:16.569
Roddy: It’s interesting.
00:06:16.889 –> 00:06:20.649
Roddy: You sold your companies to be like, I don’t want to have employees anymore, right?
00:06:20.649 –> 00:06:25.209
Roddy: But what you said on stage was, ad inspire, we don’t look to hire sales reps.
00:06:25.209 –> 00:06:26.609
Roddy: We don’t want employees.
00:06:26.609 –> 00:06:28.589
Roddy: We want invested owners.
00:06:28.589 –> 00:06:37.829
Roddy: And so you mentioned you offer a vested interest program where employees can buy equity in the company and you have a survivorship clause for residual payments.
00:06:37.829 –> 00:06:40.509
Roddy: So I think I know why you did that, right?
00:06:40.509 –> 00:06:44.329
Roddy: Based on what you said now, you don’t want all these transactional people just leaving, not caring.
00:06:44.329 –> 00:06:45.809
Roddy: But where do these ideas come from?
00:06:45.949 –> 00:06:50.269
Roddy: And then how do you execute on them as an SMB business owner?
00:06:50.269 –> 00:06:54.129
Casteel: Yeah, so a great question and a couple of different answers.
00:06:54.129 –> 00:07:02.269
Casteel: So Payteva, we have very low turnover, our tracerate is very low, and that’s on purpose.
00:07:02.269 –> 00:07:04.809
Casteel: And you kind of alluded to it.
00:07:04.809 –> 00:07:11.549
Casteel: One, we have a program where employees can buy equity into Payteva.
00:07:11.549 –> 00:07:16.429
Casteel: They have to be here a certain number of years, and we only allow so much that they can buy into at a time.
00:07:16.429 –> 00:07:22.489
Casteel: But they have the opportunity to purchase equity into Payteva.
00:07:22.489 –> 00:07:24.549
Casteel: We also have a sweat equity option.
00:07:24.549 –> 00:07:26.849
Casteel: Hey, Steve, I don’t have the money up front.
00:07:26.849 –> 00:07:31.169
Casteel: I don’t have the money right now, but I want to earn my way into Payteva.
00:07:31.169 –> 00:07:43.029
Casteel: So if they hit a certain goal every year, after 10 years of achieving that goal, they can own 1% for every year they achieve that goal.
00:07:43.029 –> 00:07:50.109
Casteel: So they can own up to 10% of the company just by achieving those sales goals.
00:07:50.109 –> 00:07:55.669
Casteel: And then another thing we do is the survivorship clause with our residuals.
00:07:56.369 –> 00:08:04.869
Casteel: Once an employee, an agent becomes vested, that residual stays with them forever.
00:08:04.869 –> 00:08:07.649
Casteel: So if they leave, we’ll still continue to pay them.
00:08:07.869 –> 00:08:18.849
Casteel: If they pass on for some reason, then we’ll pay that money to their family next to kin, their beneficiary, whoever.
00:08:18.849 –> 00:08:24.709
Casteel: But yeah, every employee who’s vested, they get those benefits.
00:08:24.709 –> 00:08:26.389
Roddy: And can you talk about the ROI on it?
00:08:26.389 –> 00:08:31.809
Roddy: Because I can imagine, I was self-employed many years ago before I came to the RSPA.
00:08:31.809 –> 00:08:34.049
Roddy: And in my mind, I’m like, that sounds expensive.
00:08:34.049 –> 00:08:35.829
Roddy: That sounds expensive, like how do I afford it?
00:08:36.189 –> 00:08:38.249
Roddy: Can you talk about what’s the payback on that?
00:08:38.249 –> 00:08:42.049
Roddy: What’s the ROI to be able to do those things?
00:08:42.049 –> 00:08:42.669
Casteel: Sure.
00:08:42.669 –> 00:08:43.069
Casteel: Sure.
00:08:43.069 –> 00:08:50.229
Casteel: So, you know, me as a leader of the company, I understand, you know, I’m a, I love Steve Jobs.
00:08:50.229 –> 00:08:51.549
Casteel: I’m a big follower of Steve Jobs.
00:08:51.549 –> 00:08:55.949
Casteel: I’ve read a lot of his books, a lot of his biographies and all that.
00:08:55.949 –> 00:09:00.929
Casteel: You know, he had a saying, I don’t hire people to tell them what to do, right?
00:09:00.929 –> 00:09:03.009
Casteel: I hire smart people for them to tell me what to do.
00:09:03.249 –> 00:09:11.549
Casteel: So I understand that all of our success is because of my agents, my sales reps.
00:09:11.549 –> 00:09:16.409
Casteel: So I feel the best way to reward them is to give them a piece of the pie, right?
00:09:16.409 –> 00:09:25.589
Casteel: So as far as return on investment, so yeah, they do have to hit a certain quota to achieve that equity status for the year.
00:09:25.589 –> 00:09:29.609
Casteel: If they do, then it’s, I mean, after 10 years, it’s paid for itself.
00:09:29.789 –> 00:09:34.229
Casteel: It’s already paid for itself by the time they receive that equity.
00:09:34.229 –> 00:09:45.649
Casteel: So more than anything, they, you know, we all know this, anybody who has kids, you know, if you buy stuff for your kids, they don’t appreciate things, right?
00:09:45.649 –> 00:09:52.509
Casteel: But if you make them pay with their own money, you know, they treat it better, they treat it nicer.
00:09:52.509 –> 00:10:01.129
Casteel: They have more of a vested interest and we’re not an ESOT by any means, but everybody feels like an owner in the company, right?
00:10:01.349 –> 00:10:07.529
Casteel: So, you know, we did that intentionally and so far it’s worked great for us.
00:10:07.529 –> 00:10:07.869
Roddy: Got it.
00:10:07.869 –> 00:10:08.229
Roddy: Thank you.
00:10:08.229 –> 00:10:13.149
Roddy: And then do you promote like this whole vested interest program when you’re recruiting?
00:10:13.149 –> 00:10:19.509
Roddy: Before we hit record, you talked to me about your, you know, standing up and getting hiring some people inside your organization.
00:10:19.509 –> 00:10:24.069
Roddy: Is this something that you lead with to try to get the attention of the right people, right?
00:10:24.069 –> 00:10:26.669
Roddy: Now somebody who’s not just looking for a quick hit, right?
00:10:26.669 –> 00:10:30.169
Roddy: You’re looking for somebody who’s really going to retire from your company.
00:10:30.309 –> 00:10:32.449
Roddy: So do you use that as a recruiting tool?
00:10:32.449 –> 00:10:34.629
Casteel: A hundred percent, yeah.
00:10:34.629 –> 00:10:37.169
Casteel: So there’s a thousand ISOs out there, right?
00:10:37.689 –> 00:10:42.049
Casteel: And a lot of them playing vested residuals.
00:10:42.049 –> 00:10:43.069
Casteel: We’ve got it all in writing.
00:10:43.069 –> 00:10:46.009
Casteel: We’ve got sales agreements that are all in writing.
00:10:46.009 –> 00:10:49.029
Casteel: We share those with potential new hires.
00:10:50.089 –> 00:11:00.749
Casteel: So if at any time they have any question, if they need to sit down with their financial planners and say, hey, listen, this is something that I’m planning for in the future.
00:11:00.749 –> 00:11:01.609
Casteel: How does this look?
00:11:01.609 –> 00:11:02.809
Casteel: How soon can I get it?
00:11:02.809 –> 00:11:09.269
Casteel: We’ve got blueprints on how to hit certain residual marks in less than a year.
00:11:09.269 –> 00:11:14.409
Casteel: We have a blueprint that gets our reps to 10K per month in less than a year.
00:11:14.409 –> 00:11:16.409
Casteel: And that’s the vesting status right there.
00:11:16.409 –> 00:11:21.889
Casteel: So we give you the blueprint so that you become vested in less than a year.
00:11:21.889 –> 00:11:24.369
Casteel: For some reps, it takes about two years.
00:11:24.369 –> 00:11:28.629
Casteel: But if you really do it right, you can achieve it in less than one year.
00:11:28.629 –> 00:11:31.009
Casteel: And then once you get that, it’s yours for life.
00:11:31.009 –> 00:11:31.969
Roddy: Yeah.
00:11:31.969 –> 00:11:32.389
Roddy: Yeah.
00:11:32.389 –> 00:11:38.709
Roddy: And it sounds like it would attract, like I think about when you hire somebody who’s really young, they don’t care about health insurance.
00:11:38.709 –> 00:11:41.489
Roddy: They don’t care so much about 401K match or anything like that.
00:11:41.489 –> 00:11:55.469
Roddy: It seems like this is attracting for you somebody who’s been in the workspace for a while, has more responsibilities, and they’re looking for a long term home as opposed to, I can make 10 grand more here than I did at my prior employer.
00:11:55.549 –> 00:11:56.469
Roddy: Am I understanding that correctly?
00:11:56.789 –> 00:12:03.469
Roddy: It seems like it would turn away the right people, and it would attract or turn away the people who wouldn’t be a fit, and it would attract the right people.
00:12:03.469 –> 00:12:05.089
Roddy: Am I understanding that correctly?
00:12:05.409 –> 00:12:07.009
Casteel: Yeah, 100 percent.
00:12:07.009 –> 00:12:11.749
Casteel: On top of that, we will also share, some of our agents have said, hey, you can share my resume with them.
00:12:11.749 –> 00:12:13.929
Casteel: We’ll cover their name, the accounts, and all that.
00:12:13.929 –> 00:12:18.089
Casteel: But we’ll show, hey, this is when they started, and this is where they’re at.
00:12:18.089 –> 00:12:22.869
Casteel: We have some reps who have been with us for two years and they’re making 20,000 a month.
00:12:23.509 –> 00:12:27.389
Casteel: In this industry, it’s very attainable.
00:12:27.389 –> 00:12:29.069
Casteel: We show them real numbers.
00:12:29.069 –> 00:12:34.589
Casteel: We show them, hey, this isn’t a pipe dream, you’re going to be able to achieve this if you follow this blueprint.
00:12:34.589 –> 00:12:39.049
Casteel: We’ll also show them some of the people who have taken longer.
00:12:39.049 –> 00:12:41.689
Casteel: Here’s somebody who’s been here and they’re okay with that.
00:12:43.889 –> 00:12:47.149
Casteel: They’re okay with making a lesser amount, whatever.
00:12:47.149 –> 00:12:48.729
Casteel: But we show them the good and the bad.
00:12:50.989 –> 00:12:54.869
Casteel: And then on top of that, we also have other incentives.
00:12:54.869 –> 00:13:03.889
Casteel: We have a President’s Club, we have sales and trips, and then we have, we kind of took this from one of my previous employers.
00:13:05.549 –> 00:13:07.289
Casteel: We have paintings.
00:13:07.289 –> 00:13:15.089
Casteel: So once you get to certain marks for residual, 10K, 33K, and 50K per month, then you get paintings.
00:13:15.089 –> 00:13:18.709
Casteel: And it’s just something you can hang on your wall to remind you of your success.
00:13:19.269 –> 00:13:22.109
Casteel: To remind you of your achievements.
00:13:22.109 –> 00:13:26.709
Casteel: Some people hang them in their office, some people take them home, some people don’t even take them out of the box.
00:13:26.709 –> 00:13:39.869
Casteel: But something we took from another employer, and it’s really great because it lets them know, hey, that first one is especially great too, because it lets them know, hey, I’m vested.
00:13:39.869 –> 00:13:42.949
Casteel: No matter what happens, I’m going to get this money.
00:13:42.949 –> 00:13:44.009
Roddy: Interesting.
00:13:44.009 –> 00:13:44.769
Roddy: Well, thank you for that.
00:13:44.769 –> 00:13:47.509
Roddy: So we’re talking, that’s a lot about the internal structure.
00:13:47.729 –> 00:13:49.649
Roddy: So and we’re talking about the people.
00:13:49.649 –> 00:13:53.269
Roddy: And as you recall, Steve, from the workshops that we had and inspire, right?
00:13:53.269 –> 00:14:00.489
Roddy: A big foundation to competing with what we call the out of town VC back to 800 number guys is your culture and your people.
00:14:00.489 –> 00:14:07.509
Roddy: But an important step is getting those folks involved in the right community, the local community, because the 800 number guys just can’t do that.
00:14:07.509 –> 00:14:24.529
Roddy: So I saw Payteva is a member of it looked like on your website, at least a dozen associations like the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance, the Clear Lake Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Women Business Owners, Iowa Chapter, and then the Technology Association of Iowa.
00:14:24.529 –> 00:14:30.669
Roddy: So I’m curious, why do you invest time in money in local groups like that?
00:14:30.669 –> 00:14:32.269
Casteel: For a bunch of reasons.
00:14:34.029 –> 00:14:36.349
Casteel: We like to put our money where our mouth is.
00:14:37.529 –> 00:14:41.429
Casteel: As you say this, I just sponsored a dance team in Ankeny, Iowa last night.
00:14:44.149 –> 00:14:48.629
Casteel: But we’re big in backing up what we say, right?
00:14:48.629 –> 00:14:54.969
Casteel: We have a local competitor, we’re not saying any names, but they have a huge campaign where they push local, right?
00:14:56.969 –> 00:15:08.869
Casteel: Any organization that we can support, so all the chambers, all the associations, not only are we members, but we actively participate and then we actively participate in their trade shows, their conferences.
00:15:10.269 –> 00:15:12.489
Casteel: We think that’s very important, right?
00:15:12.489 –> 00:15:17.889
Casteel: We know we’re competing against the big BC backed companies.
00:15:17.889 –> 00:15:21.209
Casteel: And our saying is, how many times are they gonna have lunch?
00:15:21.209 –> 00:15:24.169
Casteel: How many times are they gonna bring their family for dinner here?
00:15:24.169 –> 00:15:32.929
Casteel: On top of that, how many times are they gonna come here to your business to support you versus being on an 800 number, right?
00:15:32.929 –> 00:15:43.789
Casteel: Even if we’re two hours away, like for example, Waterloo, Iowa is two hours away from Des Moines, we’re still more local than any of these VC-backed companies, right?
00:15:43.789 –> 00:15:49.229
Casteel: So not only do we say, hey, we’re local, but we’re gonna support these local organizations.
00:15:50.729 –> 00:15:57.089
Casteel: We believe that supporting local is more than just a campaign.
00:15:57.089 –> 00:15:59.969
Casteel: So that’s why we joined all these associations.
00:16:01.149 –> 00:16:05.469
Casteel: And on top of that, it’s a good business decision for us.
00:16:05.789 –> 00:16:09.349
Casteel: Inside of these organizations or other businesses who are like-minded, right?
00:16:09.349 –> 00:16:11.329
Casteel: They want to work with local businesses.
00:16:11.329 –> 00:16:12.449
Roddy: Yeah.
00:16:12.449 –> 00:16:16.329
Casteel: So that’s why it’s important for us and that’s why we’re a part of so many associations.
00:16:16.329 –> 00:16:20.149
Casteel: And I think we need to update our website because I think we’re up to over 20.
00:16:20.149 –> 00:16:20.529
Roddy: Are you?
00:16:20.529 –> 00:16:21.009
Roddy: Okay.
00:16:21.009 –> 00:16:23.189
Casteel: Associations that we’re a part of, yeah.
00:16:23.189 –> 00:16:23.829
Roddy: All right.
00:16:23.829 –> 00:16:24.629
Roddy: Well, good.
00:16:24.929 –> 00:16:33.969
Roddy: And it seems like it also feels like a lot of RSPay members that I talk with, especially the VARs, the ISOs, they talk about what builds your business and they talk about word of mouth.
00:16:34.489 –> 00:16:42.349
Roddy: But it seems like you joining, I guess I can’t picture you with a spreadsheet going, the Clear Lake Group, what’s the ROI on that?
00:16:42.349 –> 00:16:45.109
Roddy: It’s not a mathematical equation for that.
00:16:45.109 –> 00:16:56.349
Roddy: But my guess is with you getting involved in these local, it makes sense and it’s part of your pitch in order to do that thing and to be able to rub elbows with these folks.
00:16:56.349 –> 00:17:02.929
Roddy: And again, not just rely on cross your fingers word of mouth, it sounds like you’re super charging and giving some fuel to that word of mouth.
00:17:03.569 –> 00:17:06.229
Casteel: Yeah, it’s 100 percent about building relationships.
00:17:06.229 –> 00:17:08.709
Casteel: It’s part of our blueprint.
00:17:08.709 –> 00:17:12.989
Casteel: Our industry, our business is so hard to get in front of people.
00:17:12.989 –> 00:17:15.489
Casteel: As I mentioned earlier, there’s thousands of ISOs out there.
00:17:17.249 –> 00:17:22.649
Casteel: When we call merchants, we’re the third or fifth processing company to call them that day.
00:17:23.369 –> 00:17:24.909
Casteel: It’s a real thing.
00:17:26.269 –> 00:17:28.889
Casteel: More than anything, yes, we’re looking to build those relationships.
00:17:29.229 –> 00:17:30.809
Casteel: You mentioned Clearlake, Iowa, right?
00:17:30.809 –> 00:17:32.689
Casteel: We have a rep up in Clearlake.
00:17:32.689 –> 00:17:43.829
Casteel: One of the things we said is, hey, we need to join some local organizations just to show that, hey, yeah, we are local, we want to support local and build those relationships.
00:17:43.829 –> 00:17:44.449
Roddy: Got it.
00:17:44.449 –> 00:17:45.969
Roddy: I can just picture people listening now.
00:17:45.969 –> 00:17:47.749
Roddy: What do I need to be successful?
00:17:47.749 –> 00:17:51.049
Roddy: Join the Clearlake Chamber of Commerce and sponsor a dance team.
00:17:51.129 –> 00:17:51.789
Casteel: There you go.
00:17:51.789 –> 00:17:52.889
Casteel: Yeah.
00:17:54.569 –> 00:18:01.029
Casteel: It was funny, I was talking to this dance team yesterday, and they said part of our sponsorship gets our logo on a T-shirt.
00:18:01.029 –> 00:18:03.989
Casteel: I said, okay, how many T-shirts are you guys going to print?
00:18:04.009 –> 00:18:05.689
Casteel: They said 52.
00:18:05.689 –> 00:18:06.609
Casteel: I think, great.
00:18:09.569 –> 00:18:15.329
Casteel: I was hoping for 1,000 or 3,000, but no, 52 T-shirts, so yeah.
00:18:15.329 –> 00:18:19.509
Roddy: But it’s 52 people in your target audience is really what it comes down to in your backyard.
00:18:19.989 –> 00:18:21.849
Casteel: 100 percent, yeah.
00:18:21.849 –> 00:18:22.249
Roddy: All right.
00:18:22.449 –> 00:18:31.729
Roddy: Another thing that I saw in your website, and it was a statement that it seems like it really empathizes with small business owners and offers them a unique tool that I’m hoping you could tell more about.
00:18:31.789 –> 00:18:37.869
Roddy: Your website says, we know business owners are contacted on a daily basis by credit card processors.
00:18:37.869 –> 00:18:40.749
Roddy: That’s why we’ve created tools to compare our rates with our competitors.
00:18:40.749 –> 00:18:44.029
Roddy: No need to talk to a pushy sales rep.
00:18:44.029 –> 00:18:46.669
Roddy: Then it says, if our rates beat your current rates, we’ll let you know.
00:18:46.669 –> 00:18:50.289
Roddy: If you’ve got a better deal where you’re at, we’ll also tell you that too.
00:18:50.289 –> 00:18:58.389
Roddy: I’m curious, can you talk about how do you use that tool, not just to help you make sales, but it sounds like you’re also showing merchants that you’re on their side.
00:18:58.389 –> 00:19:03.049
Roddy: You’re starting off the relationship as an advisor, not trying to sell your stuff to them.
00:19:03.049 –> 00:19:03.749
Casteel: 100 percent.
00:19:04.369 –> 00:19:10.509
Casteel: A lot of our reps will say, listen, even if you don’t work with us, you’ll know if you’re getting a good deal with a current provider.
00:19:10.509 –> 00:19:24.229
Casteel: It reminds me of, I don’t know if Progressive still does this, but Progressive used to say, hey, 15 minutes or less, we’ll show you if you’re getting a better deal or not.
00:19:24.249 –> 00:19:27.509
Casteel: One, we like to educate our customers.
00:19:27.509 –> 00:19:36.309
Casteel: In the B2B space, level 2, level 3 processing, a lot of merchants don’t even know these pricing models exist.
00:19:36.309 –> 00:19:38.529
Casteel: Pizza shops is another good example.
00:19:38.529 –> 00:19:40.589
Casteel: They do a lot of hand-keyed entries.
00:19:40.589 –> 00:19:43.989
Casteel: They don’t realize they can save money just by putting in a zip code.
00:19:47.309 –> 00:19:49.969
Casteel: More than anything, we want to educate our customers.
00:19:49.969 –> 00:19:51.849
Casteel: The last thing we want to do is be pushy.
00:19:52.709 –> 00:20:02.289
Casteel: We have a no obligation quote tool on our website where you can punch in your numbers, and it’ll show you, and we’re using industry averages for interchange.
00:20:04.869 –> 00:20:10.889
Casteel: For bars and restaurants or retail stores, we have average interchange rates that we’re basing our rates off of.
00:20:11.729 –> 00:20:21.169
Casteel: When they plug in their numbers and they enter in how much they pay, it’ll show, hey, you’ve actually got a great deal or hey, you could do better.
00:20:22.469 –> 00:20:24.289
Casteel: From there, they have the opportunity.
00:20:24.289 –> 00:20:31.849
Casteel: We don’t collect any of their info at this point, so they don’t have to give us their name, their phone number, and email.
00:20:31.849 –> 00:20:34.009
Casteel: We’re not going to spam them.
00:20:34.009 –> 00:20:38.029
Casteel: At this point, if they don’t want to move further, they don’t have to.
00:20:38.029 –> 00:20:42.789
Casteel: But if it says, hey, we can do better, would you like somebody to contact you?
00:20:42.789 –> 00:20:45.409
Casteel: At that point, they can send us their information.
00:20:45.409 –> 00:20:48.329
Casteel: So once again, we’re not going to spam them.
00:20:48.329 –> 00:20:52.629
Casteel: From the very first interaction, we don’t want to be pushy with them.
00:20:52.629 –> 00:21:03.769
Casteel: And from the very last, hey, if, for example, one of our reps just talked to a coffee shop here in Iowa, they’ve got a fixed rate with toast.
00:21:03.769 –> 00:21:07.129
Casteel: And I told them, hey, we can’t do that.
00:21:08.029 –> 00:21:10.149
Casteel: We’re going to lose money if we do a fixed rate.
00:21:10.149 –> 00:21:13.189
Casteel: Toast is actually losing money with them.
00:21:13.189 –> 00:21:18.409
Casteel: So we went back, and despite toast, we said, hey, you should go sign up with Square.
00:21:18.409 –> 00:21:20.569
Casteel: You’ll get a better rate.
00:21:20.569 –> 00:21:25.049
Casteel: But we can’t, I mean, from a financial point, we’d lose money, right?
00:21:25.049 –> 00:21:26.089
Casteel: So we can’t sign them up.
00:21:26.089 –> 00:21:29.769
Casteel: But we still let the merchant know, hey, there’s still a better option.
00:21:29.769 –> 00:21:34.209
Casteel: If you’re looking to save money, you could go sign up with Square.
00:21:36.389 –> 00:21:40.909
Casteel: So, yeah, all of our reps, we try and push that.
00:21:40.909 –> 00:21:54.889
Casteel: Of course, we have some reps that do get pushy at some times, but I know how I want to be treated as a consumer, and that’s how I want our reps to be treating our potential customers.
00:21:54.889 –> 00:22:02.209
Roddy: This is interesting because we started talking about culture, but it seems like this tool ties into your culture as well.
00:22:02.729 –> 00:22:06.469
Roddy: You are not in an adversarial relationship with your employees.
00:22:06.469 –> 00:22:07.609
Roddy: You’re on the same side of the table.
00:22:07.609 –> 00:22:10.009
Roddy: Let’s make this work long term.
00:22:10.289 –> 00:22:15.209
Roddy: Then with the community, you’re on the same side of the community, you’re going to be in the same place as there are.
00:22:15.209 –> 00:22:20.429
Roddy: Then as with this tool as well, I remember Gil Cargill, he was an advisor in the channel.
00:22:20.429 –> 00:22:23.609
Roddy: He had worked for IBM and he had a really deep voice and a great quote.
00:22:23.609 –> 00:22:27.869
Roddy: He said, as a sales rep, I had a choice to be pushy or poor.
00:22:27.869 –> 00:22:30.169
Roddy: I chose pushy.
00:22:30.169 –> 00:22:38.669
Roddy: But it seems like what you’re saying is, you’re not choosing pushy, you’re choosing, hey, let’s see if it’s the right fit, because it ties in with everything else that you do.
00:22:38.669 –> 00:22:40.349
Roddy: You’re always on the same side of the table.
00:22:40.349 –> 00:22:47.429
Roddy: And that’s like an overarching message you’re trying to communicate almost subtly as opposed to overtly, if I’m understanding that correctly.
00:22:47.469 –> 00:22:47.909
Casteel: Yep, 100%.
00:22:48.449 –> 00:22:55.869
Casteel: At the same time, we don’t like to play the price game because we know our value.
00:22:57.409 –> 00:23:02.289
Casteel: Everything that we sell, we stock in inventory in our back room.
00:23:02.289 –> 00:23:09.109
Casteel: We also sell paper, all the printers, everything that we sell, we have a backup of.
00:23:09.109 –> 00:23:13.569
Casteel: And we’ll let customers know, hey, listen, yeah, you probably could get a better price.
00:23:13.569 –> 00:23:15.869
Casteel: But at the same time, what’s more important to you?
00:23:17.149 –> 00:23:21.469
Casteel: Your uptime for your business or having the best price.
00:23:21.469 –> 00:23:41.849
Casteel: So yeah, along with having great prices, being local, we also want to make sure that we are getting the value that we provided or we are providing in return, by having good, healthy margins on our contracts.
00:23:42.089 –> 00:23:43.549
Roddy: No margin, no mission.
00:23:43.549 –> 00:23:46.849
Roddy: And so I’m going to ask Steve about his personal leadership journey.
00:23:46.849 –> 00:23:52.489
Roddy: But first, we’re going to pause here to let our listeners and viewers know about the Retail Solutions Providers Association.
00:23:52.489 –> 00:23:58.869
Roddy: The RSPA is North America’s largest community of retail technology VARs, software providers, vendors, and distributors.
00:23:58.869 –> 00:24:04.989
Roddy: To accelerate your success through an RSPA membership, email membership at gorspa.org.
00:24:04.989 –> 00:24:08.129
Roddy: And if you’re not a member, we will not push you to become a member.
00:24:08.129 –> 00:24:11.809
Roddy: We will look to see if it is the right fit, if it’s the right community for you.
00:24:12.369 –> 00:24:18.189
Roddy: Also, we want to make sure we thank these companies who support the RSPA community and make this podcast and video series possible.
00:24:18.189 –> 00:24:20.109
Roddy: Our Platinum sponsors, Blue Star.
00:24:20.109 –> 00:24:24.589
Roddy: Our Gold sponsors, our Cocard, Epson, Heartland, and ScanSource.
00:24:24.589 –> 00:24:32.969
Roddy: And then finally, registrations now open for RetailNOW 2025, the Retail IT channel’s number one trade show, education conference and networking event.
00:24:32.969 –> 00:24:37.829
Roddy: This year’s event is set for July 27th through 29th at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
00:24:38.309 –> 00:24:43.169
Roddy: For information, visit gorsp.org/retail now.
00:24:43.169 –> 00:24:46.449
Roddy: RetailNOW is where the industry meets.
00:24:46.449 –> 00:24:50.849
Roddy: So like I said, let’s talk about your own personal leadership journey.
00:24:50.849 –> 00:24:56.729
Roddy: And you gave a little bit of background before, but I’m curious, like, how would you describe your leadership style?
00:24:56.729 –> 00:25:02.949
Roddy: So are there a few like overarching words or phrases that represent what you’re striving for as a leader?
00:25:02.949 –> 00:25:03.389
Casteel: Sure.
00:25:03.389 –> 00:25:06.789
Casteel: Before we get into that, I just want to say one thing about your little commercial there.
00:25:06.909 –> 00:25:12.289
Casteel: If you’re watching this and you’re not an RSPA member, you need to join today.
00:25:12.289 –> 00:25:18.109
Casteel: Jim likes to talk about return on investment a lot, and we got our monies back in the first month.
00:25:18.109 –> 00:25:20.389
Casteel: And I’m not saying that.
00:25:20.389 –> 00:25:25.449
Casteel: I can tell you 100 percent, everybody at the RSPA organization is amazing.
00:25:25.449 –> 00:25:30.369
Casteel: I’ve been connected to so many different vendors, so many different leaders.
00:25:30.369 –> 00:25:32.369
Casteel: If you’re not a member, you need to join today.
00:25:32.369 –> 00:25:35.509
Roddy: So very kind of you to say, thank you, Steve.
00:25:35.589 –> 00:25:36.609
Roddy: Yeah.
00:25:36.609 –> 00:25:41.789
Casteel: So as far as my leadership goes, I understand I don’t know everything.
00:25:41.789 –> 00:25:48.129
Casteel: And I tell everybody that, hey, if you’ve got a better idea than me, I’m more than happy.
00:25:48.129 –> 00:25:50.969
Casteel: I lead, by the way, I like to be led.
00:25:50.969 –> 00:25:56.429
Casteel: Where I came from, we used to have, they’d call them daily hot seat calls, right?
00:25:56.429 –> 00:25:58.309
Casteel: And I used to hate it.
00:25:58.309 –> 00:26:02.349
Casteel: My manager at the first of the month, he’d, Steve, what do you have in the pipeline?
00:26:02.349 –> 00:26:03.049
Casteel: What’s cooking?
00:26:03.569 –> 00:26:06.889
Casteel: And I just hated that so much.
00:26:06.889 –> 00:26:12.909
Casteel: So here at Payteva, we don’t have the daily hot seat calls.
00:26:12.909 –> 00:26:17.889
Casteel: We don’t have daily intention emails or anything like that.
00:26:17.889 –> 00:26:21.309
Casteel: The thing that tells me if you’re selling are the numbers that you’re putting up.
00:26:21.309 –> 00:26:24.949
Casteel: So if you’re putting up numbers, great.
00:26:24.949 –> 00:26:27.909
Casteel: The other thing too, I don’t think we’ve mentioned this yet.
00:26:27.909 –> 00:26:29.209
Casteel: I know we’ve talked about it before.
00:26:29.209 –> 00:26:30.269
Casteel: A lot of our reps are 1099.
00:26:31.349 –> 00:26:34.349
Casteel: So we don’t have any quotas here.
00:26:34.349 –> 00:26:35.749
Casteel: But we do have incentives.
00:26:35.749 –> 00:26:39.789
Casteel: So if you hit a certain amount, then you get incentivized.
00:26:41.989 –> 00:26:46.989
Casteel: We have different incentives for different levels of quota that’s sold.
00:26:46.989 –> 00:26:48.049
Casteel: But we don’t have quotas.
00:26:48.049 –> 00:26:55.889
Casteel: So I don’t think it’s necessary for me to call you every day and say, hey, what are you putting up on the board?
00:26:55.889 –> 00:26:58.389
Casteel: If a rep doesn’t want to sell anything this month, they don’t have to.
00:26:58.689 –> 00:27:05.949
Casteel: But going back to the question, my leadership style is very laid back, very open door.
00:27:05.949 –> 00:27:15.029
Casteel: Once again, if you have a better idea, if you think we can make money or better serve customers in a different way, I’m all ears.
00:27:15.029 –> 00:27:17.729
Casteel: It’s not Steve’s way or the highway.
00:27:17.729 –> 00:27:19.829
Casteel: I’m totally open to any ideas.
00:27:20.689 –> 00:27:22.249
Roddy: So how do you get results?
00:27:22.249 –> 00:27:24.309
Roddy: Because obviously you’ve had success doing this.
00:27:24.309 –> 00:27:28.349
Roddy: How do you get results with being laid back at the same time?
00:27:28.469 –> 00:27:30.869
Roddy: How do you blend those two together as a leader?
00:27:30.869 –> 00:27:31.349
Casteel: Yeah.
00:27:31.349 –> 00:27:33.989
Casteel: So in incentivizing people.
00:27:33.989 –> 00:27:40.089
Casteel: So one of the things that we incentivize people with are trips to, for example, RetailNOW.
00:27:41.189 –> 00:27:47.069
Casteel: If you want a trip to RetailNOW, then you have to sell 20K in a month and you just earned your ticket.
00:27:47.069 –> 00:27:50.069
Casteel: If you want to go to the Midwest Acquire Show, sell 20K.
00:27:50.069 –> 00:27:56.989
Casteel: If you want to go to the Southeast Acquire Show, maybe you don’t want to go to a show, but maybe you want some financial benefits.
00:27:57.449 –> 00:28:01.329
Casteel: Sell 15K and you get a 500-dollar bonus.
00:28:01.649 –> 00:28:05.249
Casteel: There’s ways that we incentivize without being pushy.
00:28:05.749 –> 00:28:12.369
Casteel: I have a feeling that quotas are kind of negative in a way.
00:28:12.369 –> 00:28:14.089
Casteel: That’s my own feelings.
00:28:15.229 –> 00:28:17.529
Casteel: It’s like a cash discount model.
00:28:17.529 –> 00:28:20.889
Casteel: Nobody likes a surcharge, but everybody loves a discount.
00:28:21.989 –> 00:28:23.789
Casteel: I have the same feeling about quotas.
00:28:23.789 –> 00:28:26.249
Casteel: Nobody loves a quota, but everybody loves an incentive.
00:28:27.869 –> 00:28:29.109
Casteel: We’re incentivized every day.
00:28:29.109 –> 00:28:35.469
Casteel: If you go to Target and you buy $100 in home goods, you receive 20% off.
00:28:35.469 –> 00:28:40.169
Casteel: That’s how on the sales side of things, we manage it.
00:28:40.169 –> 00:28:41.489
Casteel: So far, it’s been great.
00:28:41.489 –> 00:28:45.589
Casteel: Like I said, our attrition rate compared to the industry is very low.
00:28:49.769 –> 00:28:55.409
Roddy: So you’re putting more of the carrot out there than I played on a rec softball team, and one of the guys is a sales manager for a radio station.
00:28:55.409 –> 00:29:01.109
Roddy: He said he’d get up on the table, take off his belt and start swinging it around and go, sell, sell, sell.
00:29:01.109 –> 00:29:02.529
Casteel: We don’t do that.
00:29:02.849 –> 00:29:04.689
Roddy: I hope you’re joking.
00:29:04.689 –> 00:29:05.089
Roddy: It’s good.
00:29:05.089 –> 00:29:05.709
Roddy: So thank you for that.
00:29:05.709 –> 00:29:07.909
Roddy: So that’s the way that you lead today.
00:29:07.909 –> 00:29:13.869
Roddy: I’m curious to learn about some experiences you might have had early in your career that shaped you to become a leader where you are now.
00:29:13.869 –> 00:29:21.509
Roddy: So can you share with us a learning experience or one story that’s really stuck with you and shaped you as a leader?
00:29:21.509 –> 00:29:25.109
Casteel: Yeah, kind of going back to the last question, this question.
00:29:25.489 –> 00:29:29.229
Casteel: One of my favorite quotes is a quote by Zig Ziglar.
00:29:29.229 –> 00:29:33.349
Casteel: He says, you can get anything in life that you want by helping others get what they want.
00:29:33.349 –> 00:29:41.329
Casteel: So I’m more than willing to spend the time with any of our new reps, any of our reps for that matter.
00:29:41.329 –> 00:29:45.909
Casteel: If it means that they either learn something, it helps them get a deal.
00:29:47.309 –> 00:29:50.069
Casteel: I always make myself available to them.
00:29:50.789 –> 00:30:05.989
Casteel: I do have time with my family, but if there’s something that they need help on or anything, I try to make myself available to help them because I know it’s going to get returned in some way or another.
00:30:05.989 –> 00:30:10.449
Casteel: For me, that’s financial return if they go and sell something.
00:30:10.489 –> 00:30:18.209
Casteel: But I love Zig Ziglar saying, if you help others get what they want, they’ll help you get what you want.
00:30:18.209 –> 00:30:18.869
Roddy: Got it.
00:30:18.869 –> 00:30:19.129
Roddy: Love it.
00:30:19.129 –> 00:30:20.509
Roddy: In fact, I love it so much.
00:30:20.509 –> 00:30:25.289
Roddy: When I was at Jamison Publishing, that was Business Solutions Magazine.
00:30:25.289 –> 00:30:28.369
Roddy: We put up on our offices when everybody worked in the office.
00:30:28.369 –> 00:30:37.669
Roddy: We had two sides of the building and we had that exact Zig Ziglar quote hanging over the door frame, so everybody saw it every single day.
00:30:37.669 –> 00:30:38.149
Roddy: Thank you for that.
00:30:39.309 –> 00:30:49.549
Roddy: Throughout this year, I’ve been working up the courage to ask this question to every leader who appears on The Trusted Advisor, so maybe this is me putting you on the hot seat when you don’t like the hot seat.
00:30:49.549 –> 00:30:55.269
Roddy: But I’m curious, can you tell us about a mistake that you made as a leader and what you learned from it?
00:30:55.269 –> 00:31:01.629
Roddy: It can be a recent mistake, it can be a long time ago, it could be a colossal disaster, it could be something that fell short of your standards.
00:31:01.629 –> 00:31:03.889
Roddy: Just curious about to get a mistake and what you learned from it.
00:31:05.369 –> 00:31:06.889
Casteel: I’ve made a lot of mistakes.
00:31:09.009 –> 00:31:11.789
Casteel: I’m willing to admit them.
00:31:13.109 –> 00:31:25.129
Casteel: But two years ago, well, in the past, we signed up with a processor and I didn’t read the contract.
00:31:25.129 –> 00:31:28.829
Casteel: Signed the contract and I didn’t read all the fine print.
00:31:29.069 –> 00:31:32.229
Casteel: And it turned, it bit us.
00:31:32.229 –> 00:31:33.929
Casteel: It bit us pretty hard.
00:31:35.429 –> 00:31:39.649
Casteel: And so much that there was a lawsuit involved.
00:31:39.649 –> 00:31:42.049
Casteel: And it’s probably as much as I can say about it.
00:31:43.389 –> 00:31:48.589
Casteel: But I went to the team and I said, hey, I made a mistake, but this is how we can make it better.
00:31:48.589 –> 00:31:54.569
Casteel: Here’s, as long as we can set the expectations with what we know from this now, we can work with this.
00:31:56.969 –> 00:32:01.029
Casteel: And to this day, we’re still working with that processor now.
00:32:01.029 –> 00:32:06.469
Casteel: So it was a pretty big mistake.
00:32:06.469 –> 00:32:10.549
Casteel: But like I said, today, we’re still working from it.
00:32:10.549 –> 00:32:16.889
Casteel: But with anything, and I tell all my reps, listen, I don’t care what the truth is, we just need to know, okay?
00:32:16.889 –> 00:32:21.469
Casteel: Nobody in this industry, if something happens, if a lie gets told, nobody dies, right?
00:32:22.549 –> 00:32:24.889
Casteel: But I just need to know if you can tell the truth.
00:32:24.889 –> 00:32:27.709
Casteel: We can go from there, right?
00:32:27.889 –> 00:32:31.029
Casteel: If you didn’t make a mistake, let’s own up to it and move on.
00:32:31.029 –> 00:32:34.349
Casteel: We can’t control what happened, but we can control how we react.
00:32:34.349 –> 00:32:44.329
Casteel: So yeah, hopefully, I don’t, I mean, I’m always going to make mistakes, but as long as we can learn from them, then it’s okay.
00:32:44.329 –> 00:32:53.449
Roddy: My old boss used to say, I like to have my problems in front of me where I can solve them, not have them behind me so they could calm me down from behind like a tiger in the jungle kind of thing.
00:32:53.449 –> 00:32:54.909
Roddy: You don’t want that surprise.
00:32:54.909 –> 00:33:00.089
Roddy: Can you talk, because there’s a lot of leaders who don’t get vulnerable like you did in front of their team.
00:33:00.089 –> 00:33:02.789
Roddy: They feel like they can’t admit a mistake.
00:33:02.789 –> 00:33:14.609
Roddy: So can you talk about you’re still able to lead the organization, maybe lead the organization better if you’re able to, if you’re telling people, I need you to tell me the truth by you telling them the unvarnished truth and when you made a mistake.
00:33:14.689 –> 00:33:18.729
Roddy: Can you talk about that balance as well?
00:33:18.729 –> 00:33:19.049
Casteel: Yes.
00:33:19.049 –> 00:33:26.049
Casteel: So with our leadership, we have a weekly leadership meeting.
00:33:28.009 –> 00:33:34.269
Casteel: First of all, if we have a meeting where all we’re talking about is numbers or something I can send out an email, we’ll just send out an email.
00:33:34.269 –> 00:33:37.329
Casteel: We’re not going to waste time with something like that.
00:33:37.329 –> 00:33:40.829
Casteel: But part of our meetings too is we’ll read books.
00:33:41.169 –> 00:33:45.229
Casteel: We see a lot of books behind me, I see a lot of books behind you, I love that.
00:33:45.229 –> 00:33:54.129
Casteel: But we like to practice servant leadership.
00:33:56.909 –> 00:33:59.609
Casteel: I’m always coaching my team.
00:34:00.749 –> 00:34:07.609
Casteel: I don’t call anybody out, but I say, hey, listen, if we’re in this situation, this is how we can handle.
00:34:07.609 –> 00:34:14.869
Casteel: Being a servant leader means I’m putting my needs behind my team’s needs, right?
00:34:16.409 –> 00:34:18.569
Casteel: So we’re always working on that.
00:34:19.709 –> 00:34:31.929
Casteel: Once again, as I said before, with any of my leaders, I’m open to sitting down outside of work hours or whatever, and just say, hey, I had this situation, how could we handle it better?
00:34:31.929 –> 00:34:43.389
Casteel: But in almost any situation, we’re not, with our leadership, with our agents, we don’t reprimand, per se.
00:34:43.389 –> 00:34:47.609
Casteel: Hey, next time that happens, this is how we can handle it better, right?
00:34:47.609 –> 00:34:53.029
Casteel: So I don’t know if that answered your question, but books are big in my world.
00:34:54.269 –> 00:34:56.829
Casteel: We’re always trying to go over a new book.
00:34:56.829 –> 00:35:00.869
Casteel: I just bought these PIFP debt cards a month ago.
00:35:00.869 –> 00:35:01.989
Casteel: I want to go over those with my team.
00:35:01.989 –> 00:35:09.809
Casteel: I don’t know if you’ve seen those out there yet or not, but we’re always working on team building and leadership.
00:35:09.809 –> 00:35:10.229
Roddy: Yes.
00:35:11.129 –> 00:35:19.829
Roddy: It reminds me when somebody’s not hitting the standard that you want them to, it’s either a commitment problem or a competence problem.
00:35:19.829 –> 00:35:22.009
Roddy: Too many times people think it’s a commitment problem.
00:35:22.009 –> 00:35:28.769
Roddy: Stand up on the table, swing your belt around and say, you better do this, or like you said, you better hit this quota or I’m going to throw you out of here.
00:35:28.769 –> 00:35:30.709
Roddy: But sometimes people might not know.
00:35:30.769 –> 00:35:32.069
Roddy: So that’s what it sounds like you’re saying.
00:35:32.129 –> 00:35:40.029
Roddy: It’s like teach first, put your arm around them first, and also create an environment where they can say where they fell short.
00:35:40.029 –> 00:35:45.069
Roddy: That’s why it’s important for you to say where you fell short, so they can say like, okay, I guess it’s permitted for me to do this.
00:35:45.229 –> 00:35:46.529
Roddy: Am I understanding that correctly, Steve?
00:35:46.529 –> 00:35:48.889
Roddy: Is that what you’re aiming for?
00:35:48.889 –> 00:35:49.509
Casteel: 100 percent.
00:35:49.509 –> 00:35:50.489
Casteel: Yeah.
00:35:50.489 –> 00:35:52.829
Casteel: Exactly what we believe in.
00:35:52.829 –> 00:36:03.669
Roddy: Because I remember early in my management career, the reaction was if somebody falls short, slap them on the hand is what it was as opposed to, wait a second, maybe they don’t know how to do it, and you should probably start there.
00:36:03.669 –> 00:36:05.989
Roddy: It’s a lot safer environment to do that.
00:36:05.989 –> 00:36:07.889
Roddy: So we’ve only got a few minutes left to do.
00:36:07.889 –> 00:36:09.589
Roddy: I have a couple more questions for you.
00:36:09.589 –> 00:36:11.049
Roddy: You mentioned Zig Ziglar.
00:36:11.049 –> 00:36:20.229
Roddy: I’m curious about maybe him and maybe some leaders you work with in person that you look up to as mentors and have really helped shape your leadership approach.
00:36:20.229 –> 00:36:22.109
Roddy: I’m curious, what did they say?
00:36:22.109 –> 00:36:25.909
Roddy: What did they do that’s had a lasting impact on you for your entire career?
00:36:27.429 –> 00:36:27.669
Casteel: Sure.
00:36:27.929 –> 00:36:31.469
Casteel: I’m part of a breakfast club that meets once a week.
00:36:31.469 –> 00:36:36.069
Casteel: Within that, to be part of the club, you have to be a business owner.
00:36:36.069 –> 00:36:40.889
Casteel: You have to have buying power, which would be if you’re a business owner.
00:36:40.889 –> 00:36:44.749
Casteel: But this breakfast club has been around for over 85 years.
00:36:44.749 –> 00:36:47.409
Casteel: We have over 90 members in the club.
00:36:47.409 –> 00:36:51.949
Casteel: A lot of guys in the club that have done amazingly well.
00:36:51.949 –> 00:36:53.349
Casteel: There’s a couple of guys in the club.
00:36:54.149 –> 00:36:59.409
Casteel: I’ll name their first names, not their last name, but Todd, Kirk, Tom.
00:36:59.409 –> 00:37:03.169
Casteel: These guys all own multi-million dollar businesses, right?
00:37:04.689 –> 00:37:11.989
Casteel: I just met with Todd two weeks ago for some advice, right?
00:37:11.989 –> 00:37:14.669
Casteel: On top of that, I also have a business coach.
00:37:14.669 –> 00:37:19.009
Casteel: Like I said, I understand, I know that, I don’t know everything.
00:37:19.009 –> 00:37:26.269
Casteel: I can’t, you know, for me to say I know everything about business, about running an ISO would be asinine.
00:37:26.269 –> 00:37:28.849
Casteel: So I’m always looking to others for advice.
00:37:30.269 –> 00:37:43.409
Casteel: The probably, probably one of the, I guess, you know, probably one of the best pieces of advice that I’ve heard from one of my mentors is always be willing to listen, right?
00:37:43.409 –> 00:37:45.989
Casteel: I gave you two ears, one mouth for reason.
00:37:47.409 –> 00:37:52.989
Casteel: You know, if you’re talking more than the other person, then you’re probably in the wrong conversation, right?
00:37:52.989 –> 00:37:59.709
Casteel: So always be a great listener, quick to listen, slow to talk.
00:37:59.709 –> 00:38:02.149
Roddy: So got it.
00:38:02.149 –> 00:38:02.689
Roddy: Interesting.
00:38:02.689 –> 00:38:03.409
Roddy: Thank you for that.
00:38:03.409 –> 00:38:04.309
Roddy: So yeah.
00:38:04.309 –> 00:38:07.729
Roddy: And so can you give me a little bit more color on that, that breakfast club?
00:38:07.729 –> 00:38:09.849
Roddy: Like that’s, you said, a bunch of business owners.
00:38:09.849 –> 00:38:13.269
Roddy: It’s and so I’m guessing it’s in your local area is what it is.
00:38:13.269 –> 00:38:14.269
Roddy: So that’s what it seems like.
00:38:14.269 –> 00:38:17.669
Roddy: And is it a national thing or is it just a local to you guys?
00:38:18.549 –> 00:38:19.349
Casteel: It’s a local group.
00:38:19.349 –> 00:38:21.549
Casteel: Hold on one second.
00:38:21.789 –> 00:38:24.289
Roddy: For those listening only on audio, Steve’s out of his chair.
00:38:24.289 –> 00:38:25.849
Roddy: He’s grabbing a certificate off his.
00:38:25.849 –> 00:38:26.929
Casteel: Sorry.
00:38:26.929 –> 00:38:31.449
Casteel: So this is a photo of all the guys in the group, right?
00:38:31.449 –> 00:38:33.369
Casteel: So it’s called Reciprocity Club.
00:38:35.809 –> 00:38:38.129
Casteel: You have to be invited to the group.
00:38:38.129 –> 00:38:41.149
Casteel: So you have to be invited from one of the members.
00:38:41.149 –> 00:38:43.929
Casteel: And once again, you have to be a business owner.
00:38:45.589 –> 00:38:53.609
Casteel: And then once you’re invited, there’s a board, and then they vet you.
00:38:53.609 –> 00:38:55.649
Casteel: But once you’re in, you’re in.
00:38:55.649 –> 00:39:00.169
Casteel: And like I said, the group’s been around for over 85 years.
00:39:01.229 –> 00:39:02.209
Casteel: We have a board.
00:39:02.209 –> 00:39:04.189
Casteel: We also have a leadership team.
00:39:05.909 –> 00:39:11.809
Casteel: The leadership team starts at membership chair, social chair, vice president, then president.
00:39:13.449 –> 00:39:17.149
Casteel: But it’s a great organization, and it’s a little bit networking group.
00:39:17.149 –> 00:39:19.869
Casteel: It’s a little bit social group.
00:39:19.869 –> 00:39:23.349
Casteel: Now, I just love rubbing shoulders with the guys in the group.
00:39:23.349 –> 00:39:29.149
Casteel: Like I said, there’s guys in this group that have lost more money than I’ll ever make in my lifetime.
00:39:30.249 –> 00:39:38.929
Casteel: So some guys who, there’s, I think, over three businesses in the group that have been around for over 100 years.
00:39:38.929 –> 00:39:45.169
Casteel: So if you’re listening, if you’re watching, if you’re not in a group like this, I encourage you to go find something similar.
00:39:46.189 –> 00:39:48.169
Casteel: Like I said, it’s not pure networking.
00:39:48.509 –> 00:39:52.409
Casteel: It’s a mix between social, mentorship, leadership group.
00:39:52.669 –> 00:39:53.729
Casteel: It’s an amazing group.
00:39:53.729 –> 00:39:54.789
Roddy: So interesting.
00:39:54.889 –> 00:39:57.529
Roddy: I love the name because I love the law of reciprocity.
00:39:57.529 –> 00:40:02.609
Roddy: When you give something to somebody, they feel obligated to help you and that is the way that it should be.
00:40:02.609 –> 00:40:08.549
Roddy: Mark Olson, retired President of APG-Cash for would always say, build relationships before you need them.
00:40:08.549 –> 00:40:09.429
Roddy: Don’t be transactional.
00:40:09.509 –> 00:40:13.289
Roddy: I’m doing this for you because I’m expecting something back, but I love that reciprocity.
00:40:13.289 –> 00:40:15.629
Roddy: So all right, Steve, last question for you today.
00:40:15.629 –> 00:40:20.209
Roddy: So like we’ve covered a lot, but I’m curious like your final advice for our audience.
00:40:20.329 –> 00:40:30.669
Roddy: So let’s say you have like a three-minute ride share with a small business leader that you’ve never met before, you’re going to the airport and they say, Steve, give me some advice, lead an organization.
00:40:30.669 –> 00:40:34.269
Roddy: So what would be your leadership advice for our audience?
00:40:34.269 –> 00:40:34.769
Casteel: Sure.
00:40:34.769 –> 00:40:36.449
Casteel: Always start with why.
00:40:36.449 –> 00:40:39.589
Casteel: If you’re doing it just for money, you’re probably doing it for the wrong reasons.
00:40:39.589 –> 00:40:40.869
Casteel: But always start with why.
00:40:40.869 –> 00:40:42.929
Casteel: There’s a great book.
00:40:42.929 –> 00:40:44.629
Casteel: I think the title is, yeah, What’s Your Why?
00:40:44.629 –> 00:40:45.349
Casteel: Or start with why.
00:40:45.349 –> 00:40:45.969
Roddy: Start with why.
00:40:45.969 –> 00:40:46.649
Roddy: Yeah.
00:40:46.649 –> 00:40:47.849
Casteel: Yeah.
00:40:48.269 –> 00:40:50.149
Casteel: So start with that.
00:40:50.149 –> 00:40:52.109
Casteel: I just said, are you going to find it?
00:40:52.269 –> 00:40:54.929
Roddy: It’s on my shelf, but I can’t pick it out right now.
00:40:54.929 –> 00:40:56.449
Roddy: So I was going to try to get out of my seat too.
00:40:56.489 –> 00:41:10.089
Casteel: But yeah, you know, another thing I like to tell my team, to want to promote a team is, you can go quick by yourself, but you can go far with a team, right?
00:41:10.089 –> 00:41:15.389
Casteel: So don’t be afraid to share stuff with your team.
00:41:15.569 –> 00:41:22.989
Casteel: As a business owner, there’s some things you can’t talk about with everybody, right?
00:41:22.989 –> 00:41:31.469
Casteel: If you don’t have a leadership team, promote some of your team players up to management, share with them some of the stuff, get them involved, right?
00:41:31.469 –> 00:41:43.089
Casteel: Once again, going back to that vested interests, if they feel involved, if they feel like they have ownership, then they’re going to be more conducive to doing things, I guess, in a better way.
00:41:43.089 –> 00:41:50.429
Casteel: I don’t know, that sounds goofy, but open yourself up, listen more, talk less, and you’ll be okay.
00:41:51.689 –> 00:41:52.269
Roddy: No, thank you for that.
00:41:52.269 –> 00:41:59.309
Roddy: I was just talking to a member of one of the RSPA leadership team yesterday about the importance of humility, being foundational.
00:41:59.309 –> 00:42:04.269
Roddy: Where, to me, if you have humility as a leader, you can walk into a conversation with an idea.
00:42:04.269 –> 00:42:07.349
Roddy: But if someone else comes up with a better idea, there’s almost nothing better than that.
00:42:07.349 –> 00:42:11.209
Roddy: You’re like, oh, good, better than the idea I had, and you’re happy to go and run with that.
00:42:11.209 –> 00:42:15.689
Roddy: But that takes humility that you don’t have to be the big shot and who has all the answers.
00:42:17.029 –> 00:42:18.229
Casteel: More than that, have humility.
00:42:18.229 –> 00:42:23.149
Casteel: If somebody does have a better answer, hey, celebrate that person, right?
00:42:23.149 –> 00:42:25.129
Casteel: Yeah, so.
00:42:25.129 –> 00:42:26.409
Roddy: Excellent, very nice.
00:42:26.409 –> 00:42:28.509
Roddy: Well, that does it for this episode of The Trusted Advisor.
00:42:28.509 –> 00:42:35.669
Roddy: If you enjoyed our discussion, be sure to subscribe to the RSPA YouTube channel and The Trusted Advisor podcast so you never miss an episode.
00:42:35.669 –> 00:42:40.189
Roddy: Before we go, big thanks again to Steve Casteel for sharing his wisdom with us today.
00:42:40.189 –> 00:42:48.309
Roddy: Thanks also to RSPA Marketing Director Chris Arnold for his production work, Joseph McDade for our music, and last but not least, thanks so much to you for listening.
00:42:48.309 –> 00:42:55.329
Roddy: Our goal at the RSPA is to accelerate the success of our members in the retail technology ecosystem by providing knowledge and connections.
00:42:55.329 –> 00:42:59.489
Roddy: For more information, please visit our website at gorspa.org.
00:42:59.489 –> 00:43:02.809
Roddy: Thanks for listening and goodbye everybody.
