Senior Manager
Robbie Reader
Robbie's Story
One Last Shot
Robbie Reader had sworn off home security. He spent nearly six years working seven days a week managing his own security dealership program. From the outside, Robbie was doing great. He made about $100k a year on a good year, and he built a pretty solid team. But in those years, Robbie had one vacation, and the money he made was routinely reallocated to ensure the program ran efficiently. He was constantly running trying to keep up with the work and take his career to the next level. “We were doing between 2000-2500 accounts a year, which would be a fairly big manager at Vivint,” Robbie says. “I could just never turn that corner.”
Despite the time and investment he had made, Robbie had to shut down the program. He and his friend Jace, who had also operated and then sold his own dealer program, had a long conversation about how they would never again do anything related to alarms. Two weeks after that conversation, Jace called Robbie to tell him he had signed on with Vivint.
“I was like, ‘what are you talking about?’” Robbie laughs. “We just had this conversation and we were done with alarms. He said, ‘I know, I know. But, I think if you had seen what I have seen you’d be at Vivint, too.’”
Robbie said he would consider contacting Vivint. Maybe. But he was pretty jaded. Despite his reservations, Robbie reached out to Troy, the senior manager who had recruited Jace. Robbie set up a phone call and then proceeded to not show up for the call. He did this about 12 more times. “I was very hesitant about getting into Vivint,” Robbie says. “I was very skeptical.”
He finally showed up and, as he learned more, his skepticism grew. “Troy told me his story; he was making a lot of money—way more than I had ever made at my dealership program. More than doctors make,” Robbie says. “As he was telling me this, the bigger part of me didn’t believe him. I thought he was probably lying. But another part of me thought, if even a portion of what he is telling me is true, then maybe there is something to this.”
His curiosity got the best of him and Robbie boarded a plane to fly from Arizona to Utah to visit the Vivint campus. He was determined to go behind the curtain and find the catch. Everything he saw and heard seemed too good to be true. But it wasn’t. “Something that’s really cool about Vivint is that it’s really transparent,” Robbie says. “There’s no smoke and mirrors.” Robbie wanted to be sure and asked to see the paycheck stubs of those with whom he was meeting. “No problem,” they said. And he was taken to accounting where his jaw dropped at the numbers he saw.
But it wasn’t just about the money. “Everyone talks about drinking the orange Kool-Aid, and I drank it hard,” Robbie recalls. “The money got me in the door, but what got me to come to Vivint was that I was really impressed with the caliber of people that I saw— these young guys that were working hard and talking about themes that weren’t normal discussions: being your best self and the whole-person paradigm. When I flew home from that trip, I was so diehard Vivint.”
By January 5, 2013, Robbie had signed on with Vivint. He and Jace agreed to co-lead a team together in Hawaii. They planned to each recruit 10 people for the summer season that would start in only three months. By April, Robbie had recruited 24 reps on his own. “Something that I didn’t expect that has been a huge part of why if I’ve had any success in my career at Vivint has been attributed to the Vivint recruiting machine,” Robbie says. “My recruiting power from owning my own dealer program was amplified. I went from having a BB gun to a bazooka. I had so many tools to recruit with.”
Robbie and his team went out and did 1,000 accounts that first summer. He exceeded his own expectations by surpassing the 150 goal he had set for himself and selling a little over 225. He knew he had found something special in Vivint, but it wasn’t until the plane ride home at the end of the summer that it hit him.
“I remember flying home and reliving the past nine months of my life. I remember sitting down and being like, ‘wow, what they’re doing is special. I wonder if I could do it. And what if I could do it? What if I got a six-figure backend check? That would change my life. What if I could build something here?’” Robbie recalls. “All that hit me as I was in the plane flying into Phoenix after the summer. As soon as I saw the city and we were right above phoenix, I just started bawling and I couldn’t even stop myself. It was so embarrassing that this old woman sitting next to me put her hand on my back and started patting me. It was awesome. Vivint came through for me in every single way.”
Robbie continues to excel at Vivint. Today, he is a senior regional manager within the Evolution division—a division he personally chose to be in after losing his regional manager to an outside solar company. “I have a unique appreciation for Evolution because I chose to be in this division,” Robbie says. “When I first met Cheyenne, we kind of clicked. I talked to a few of the guys about Cheyenne and their experience working with him. Every single one of them talked about how much they trusted him. That was a big thing for me. I chose to be with Evolution because of that trust.”
In the years since joining the Evolution division, his region’s accounts has grown tremendously. By the end of the 2019 summer season, Robbie’s area will have done a little over 5,000 accounts.”I would not have this career if it weren’t for Evolution,” he says. In thinking about what’s next, Robbie looks inward. He is focused less on paychecks and more on evolving into something more. “I want to live life excellently,” he says. “The more I remember that, the more focused I am. Once you scratch that money itch, it can’t be about money or you’ll die off. You gotta find your holy cause. You’ve gotta be connected in life to what’s really important—and it’s not the money.”
Senior Manager
Robbie Reader
Robbie's Story
One Last Shot
Robbie Reader had sworn off home security. He spent nearly six years working seven days a week managing his own security dealership program. From the outside, Robbie was doing great. He made about $100k a year on a good year, and he built a pretty solid team. But in those years, Robbie had one vacation, and the money he made was routinely reallocated to ensure the program ran efficiently. He was constantly running trying to keep up with the work and take his career to the next level. “We were doing between 2000-2500 accounts a year, which would be a fairly big manager at Vivint,” Robbie says. “I could just never turn that corner.”
Despite the time and investment he had made, Robbie had to shut down the program. He and his friend Jace, who had also operated and then sold his own dealer program, had a long conversation about how they would never again do anything related to alarms. Two weeks after that conversation, Jace called Robbie to tell him he had signed on with Vivint.
“I was like, ‘what are you talking about?’” Robbie laughs. “We just had this conversation and we were done with alarms. He said, ‘I know, I know. But, I think if you had seen what I have seen you’d be at Vivint, too.’”
Robbie said he would consider contacting Vivint. Maybe. But he was pretty jaded. Despite his reservations, Robbie reached out to Troy, the senior manager who had recruited Jace. Robbie set up a phone call and then proceeded to not show up for the call. He did this about 12 more times. “I was very hesitant about getting into Vivint,” Robbie says. “I was very skeptical.”
He finally showed up and, as he learned more, his skepticism grew. “Troy told me his story; he was making a lot of money—way more than I had ever made at my dealership program. More than doctors make,” Robbie says. “As he was telling me this, the bigger part of me didn’t believe him. I thought he was probably lying. But another part of me thought, if even a portion of what he is telling me is true, then maybe there is something to this.”
His curiosity got the best of him and Robbie boarded a plane to fly from Arizona to Utah to visit the Vivint campus. He was determined to go behind the curtain and find the catch. Everything he saw and heard seemed too good to be true. But it wasn’t. “Something that’s really cool about Vivint is that it’s really transparent,” Robbie says. “There’s no smoke and mirrors.” Robbie wanted to be sure and asked to see the paycheck stubs of those with whom he was meeting. “No problem,” they said. And he was taken to accounting where his jaw dropped at the numbers he saw.
But it wasn’t just about the money. “Everyone talks about drinking the orange Kool-Aid, and I drank it hard,” Robbie recalls. “The money got me in the door, but what got me to come to Vivint was that I was really impressed with the caliber of people that I saw— these young guys that were working hard and talking about themes that weren’t normal discussions: being your best self and the whole-person paradigm. When I flew home from that trip, I was so diehard Vivint.”
By January 5, 2013, Robbie had signed on with Vivint. He and Jace agreed to co-lead a team together in Hawaii. They planned to each recruit 10 people for the summer season that would start in only three months. By April, Robbie had recruited 24 reps on his own. “Something that I didn’t expect that has been a huge part of why if I’ve had any success in my career at Vivint has been attributed to the Vivint recruiting machine,” Robbie says. “My recruiting power from owning my own dealer program was amplified. I went from having a BB gun to a bazooka. I had so many tools to recruit with.”
Robbie and his team went out and did 1,000 accounts that first summer. He exceeded his own expectations by surpassing the 150 goal he had set for himself and selling a little over 225. He knew he had found something special in Vivint, but it wasn’t until the plane ride home at the end of the summer that it hit him.
“I remember flying home and reliving the past nine months of my life. I remember sitting down and being like, ‘wow, what they’re doing is special. I wonder if I could do it. And what if I could do it? What if I got a six-figure backend check? That would change my life. What if I could build something here?’” Robbie recalls. “All that hit me as I was in the plane flying into Phoenix after the summer. As soon as I saw the city and we were right above phoenix, I just started bawling and I couldn’t even stop myself. It was so embarrassing that this old woman sitting next to me put her hand on my back and started patting me. It was awesome. Vivint came through for me in every single way.”
Robbie continues to excel at Vivint. Today, he is a senior regional manager within the Evolution division—a division he personally chose to be in after losing his regional manager to an outside solar company. “I have a unique appreciation for Evolution because I chose to be in this division,” Robbie says. “When I first met Cheyenne, we kind of clicked. I talked to a few of the guys about Cheyenne and their experience working with him. Every single one of them talked about how much they trusted him. That was a big thing for me. I chose to be with Evolution because of that trust.”
In the years since joining the Evolution division, his region’s accounts has grown tremendously. By the end of the 2019 summer season, Robbie’s area will have done a little over 5,000 accounts.”I would not have this career if it weren’t for Evolution,” he says. In thinking about what’s next, Robbie looks inward. He is focused less on paychecks and more on evolving into something more. “I want to live life excellently,” he says. “The more I remember that, the more focused I am. Once you scratch that money itch, it can’t be about money or you’ll die off. You gotta find your holy cause. You’ve gotta be connected in life to what’s really important—and it’s not the money.”
