Brad Beeler is a retired U.S. Secret Service agent who conducted more criminal polygraph examinations than anyone else in the agency’s history, interviewing thousands of suspects in homicide, national security, and child exploitation cases. He now trains federal investigators, intelligence officers, and corporate teams on advanced interviewing, influence, and deception detection, helping organizations eliminate costly communication failures, uncover lies earlier, and build stronger trust. His upcoming book, Tell Me Everything, translates high-stakes interrogation lessons into practical tools for leaders, sales teams, and entrepreneurs who need the truth to make better decisions and more money.

On this episode we talk about:

How Brad went from picking up trash at a softball field to interviewing inmates in a St. Louis jail, and why “tactical curiosity” about people’s lives became his most profitable skill in law enforcement and business.

What he learned from thousands of criminal interviews about why people really do what they do—and how that maps directly to understanding buyer motivation in sales.

The reality of polygraph exams: what they can and can’t do, why they’re best seen as an investigative tool (not courtroom magic), and how “countermeasures” almost always backfire.

Simple, field-tested techniques for lowering anxiety, building trust quickly, and spotting red flags in yes/no answers during high-stakes conversations.

Why the shift to text and AI-driven communication is eroding crucial context, and how to protect the “human signal” in a world that wants everything faster and more automated.

Top 3 Takeaways

1.  The best interviewers and salespeople are “tactically curious”—they let other people educate them, especially about leisure, habits, and backstory, because that’s where trust, dopamine, and real motivation live.
2.  Polygraph isn’t a magic truth machine, but used in the right environment, with the right prep and questions, it can dramatically improve accuracy over human gut feel, which hovers barely above a coin flip.
3.  In business, just like in criminal work, you win more often when you judge the pattern (past behavior) rather than the persona, and when your questions are precise, calm, and anchored in genuine respect.

Notable Quotes

  “We were basically selling jail—I was selling something people didn’t want to buy, so I had to figure out how to get them to like, trust, and respect me first.”

  “Humans are really good at lying because it’s a social lubricant and really bad at detecting lies—we’re right only about 54 percent of the time.”

  “A good interview is like a good podcast: you prep hard, you lower anxiety, you let them talk 80 percent of the time, and you only step in to steer—not to steal—the conversation.”

Connect with Brad Beeler:

  Website: https://bradleybeeler.com

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