Neil interviews David Englutt about his life, singing, sales career, and long involvement with the Southwest Meat Association (SMA). Englutt describes gaining confidence singing classic country and Western swing (Ray Price, Johnny Bush, Faron Young, Bob Wills) and appearing with the Western Swing Music Society of the Southwest, including a March showcase in Wichita Falls. He outlines his career path from Tarleton State—where he joined activities, discovered meat judging, and won a national championship—into Cargill as its first pork-division management trainee, helping start plants in Beardstown, Illinois and Ottumwa, Iowa, then moving through Smithfield/Gwaltney, Jimmy Dean/Sara Lee, and into equipment and packaging sales before joining Townsend Engineering and later Morrell, which was acquired by JBT. Englutt shares customer-retention keys (integrity, product knowledge, consistency), a sales process acronym “PATTERN,” and emphasizes relationship-building. He recalls his first SMA convention in San Antonio and serving multiple terms on the board, describing SMA as a supportive, family-like community.
SMA StartKleen Dove Hunt
Friday Oct. 2, 2026 – Saturday October 3, 2026
Copper Ridge Ranch
Nocona, Texas
Visit www.southwestmeat.org to register.
Links
Topics
01:24 How Singing Started
03:00 Old School Country Tales
04:08 What He Does Today
04:42 Mergers and Growth
05:40 Keeping Customers
07:07 Meat Judging Roots
08:11 Getting Involved Early
10:48 Cargill Career Break
13:59 Smithfield and Tar Heel
15:16 Learning to Sell
19:14 Sales Process Pattern
21:37 First SMA Convention
24:59 SMA Family Culture
26:28 Final Thanks and Wrap
