Ep. 10 : Unlocking Retail Success: Mastering Logistics and Freight Costs with Industry Insider, Nick Giuliani of Dynamic Logistix

Episode 10:  Unlocking Retail Success: Mastering Logistics and Freight Costs with Industry Insider, Nick Giuliani of Dynamic Logistix

Summary

In this episode, Christine & Trevor discuss the importance of cost-consciousness in the retail industry and the need for more cost-effective solutions. They also explore the trend of offshore production and blended manufacturing as ways to reduce costs. The conversation then shifts to the role of logistics in reducing freight costs and improving execution in the retail space. The guest, Nick Giuliani, shares insights on the logistics industry and the services offered by Dynamic Logistics. He highlights the importance of visibility and tracking in logistics and discusses the future of the industry, including the use of AI and electric vehicles. The hosts also give a shout-out to a brand that is getting it right and discuss the Top Gun networking group and the KC Shoutout Series.

Takeaways

• Cost-consciousness is crucial in the retail industry, and brands are looking for more cost-effective solutions.
• Offshore production and blended manufacturing are being considered as ways to reduce costs.
• Logistics plays a significant role in reducing freight costs and improving execution in the retail space.
• Visibility and tracking are essential in logistics to ensure on-time delivery and minimize errors.
• The future of logistics includes the use of AI and electric vehicles.
• The hosts give a shout-out to a brand that is excelling in their industry.
• The Top Gun networking group and the KC Shoutout Series are highlighted as valuable resources for professionals.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction
00:29 Cost-Consciousness in Retail
03:18 Logistics and Freight Costs
08:30 Introduction to Dynamic Logistics
13:39 Visibility and Tracking in Logistics
24:36 Networking and Recognition
31:40 Memo to Myself: Leaders Shine Under Pressure
37:24 I Am for the Day: Kindness
39:37 Conclusion

Transcript

BlueLightSpecialPodcast (00:02.702)
Welcome to Blue Light Special, the podcast for CPG brand marketers who want to lighten up their hustle in retail and real life. I'm Christine Wright. And I'm Trevor Lewis. We're here to decode the mysteries of retail and give you some insider hacks to make your brand talk the shelf. Let's get into this week's episode.

BlueLightSpecialPodcast (00:29.454)
Welcome to another exciting episode today where we dive in diving deep into the world of retail success, focus on a crucial aspect, which is logistics and freight costs. Join me as we unlock the secrets with our special guest industry insider, Nick Giuliani from dynamic logistics, ready to master the game. Let's get started. Well, first let's get into what's happening in our worlds. Trevor, what have you been seeing lately? You know, I think, everyone's extremely cost conscious.

You know, I think that in our world displays are, you know, very much needed, whether it's displays or signage in order to just continue to convert shoppers and ultimately, you know, drive sells. However, I would say that a lot of our clients as well as, you know, when I visit with, you know, just other folks outside of the industry is, Hey, the pretty common question is.

How can we do this a little bit more cost effective? What's my most cost effective solution? Yes. And it doesn't necessarily mean that that's always the route they're going, but as budgets are being scrutinized, that just means that more people are interested in, hey, can you give me a good, better, or best scenario? Yes. I will say every design deck I've done in the last couple of weeks has always had a good, better, best scenario. Just to have the options in front of them, give them the choice, but we need to have those.

Absolutely. We're also seeing, Hey, can, you know, can we look at this potentially as an offshore production offshore? and historically speaking, you know, offshore was something that was always, you know, been there on the table. but really, you know, they're long lead time. That's kind of taboo because no one ever thought they had the time. Yes. but now they're looking at it and say, Hey, not only good, but our best.

also show me options of producing an offshore, show me a blended, manufacturing, which may sound like, Hey, we have immediate placement, immediate needs of this placement. here, so let's produce these, these quantities domestically. but then let's look for any of the replenishment inventory to be produced offshore. It's more of a blended manufacturing. so I'd say that, you know, what's happening is, costs.

BlueLightSpecialPodcast (02:48.11)
is being scrutinized and that's across everything that anyone is buying. So the CFOs are definitely in the building per se, and they're definitely looking at, hey, is there a different way of doing this? Which is in some cases healthy, but also for our clients, they need options. I say options is definitely the thing that's happening. And it does trickle down to when we talked to Nick here in a little bit, it's not just can we make or produce these displays?

at a more cost effective option. But in turn then can we structurally engineer and logistically plan them to move through the freight cycle any way that we can to reduce costs? Can we bulk them on a load? Can we do this or that to reduce the freight costs? So that comes into play as well. Totally. As well as the execution piece of it, which is, hey, we've historically had a third party merchandiser sent in to do this.

Are there ways that we can simplify the execution and have a store associate do it? Maybe with a video. With a video. Or can we reduce the time that's needed for the third party merchandiser to be sent in? And so, yeah, I mean, you look at just all of the different milestones at a simple display project. That affect cost. That affect cost. And they're definitely asking, as they should, what are some different options? Can we look at this slightly different?

But it's all being cost driven is the biggest, you know, what's happening in our world. Okay. Well, moving on from what's happening in our world, are we ready to offer our shout outs for the week? We love to acknowledge brands that are getting it right. So Trevor, who you got? Midday Squares. I want to hang out with these people. You can't avoid them there. I want to hang out with them. They look like a good time. I want to say the description I saw about them was Shark Tank meets the Kardashians and it is spot on.

But you know, I love passionate being around passionate people and their entire team. I know is fairly active on LinkedIn as well. Very, very. I just, you see them. I haven't, you know, I'm definitely going to try their, the products, but the reason why I'm going to try their products is because of them. Well, yeah, it's not because, well, I mean, it's like the chocolate super food. So you can't get much better than that, but just their excitement and what they do to promote is crazy. It's, you know,

BlueLightSpecialPodcast (05:15.95)
Again, I don't know. I look at them. I'm like, man, it feels like they do circles around all every other CPG brands out there because they're everywhere. Yeah. Well, there's three of them and Jake and Leslie are brother, sister, and their mom still sends handwritten notes and I think Polaroids in with first orders for customers. So, I mean, you can't get any more personalized than that. It's pattern up, pattern interrupt, it's humanized. You know, you get the

the founder led story, you feel that you could experience that. They look like they're having a good time. I mean, I know that they also go through their challenges just as any company does any business does, especially when they're, you know, emerging and growing and evolving. They have their fair share. They're transparent with that as well. but just the pure passion, that I believe that they work work.

under is phenomenal and it's contagious. And so I think that that's part of why their brand does so well is because they're just passionate people. And I think their product aligns to probably passionate people probably consume their product. Have you seen, I think it's Jake. I think it's Jake. I know what you're talking about. He has this video and it's with, I think it's a store associate that he goes in. It's a stocks. Yeah, that stocks their product. That stocks and he does this freaking dancing.

They dance together like a TikTok. Yes. And I could watch it all day long. It's freaking great. It's an older gentleman and he's so cute. He is. And I have no idea how their relationship like begun or started. But again, just to, I know it had to be passion. He was in there. He probably came in there super passionate about what he does. Asked him about stocking the product. How he can help. I'm sure that guy is probably equally as passionate. And they just hit it off. I don't know how it went, but someday maybe we'll have a chance to bring him on and if we do. That would be fun.

I'm asking that question because who is that guy? That is probably like Joe or something. That is freaking gold. Yeah. Well, I did see today that they just launched some Hy -Vee. I know that you've seen, they do all these road shows in Costco. You're just blazing a trail for an emerging brand and it's great. Yeah. So definitely shout out to Midday Squares. Keep doing your thing. Keep, you know, inspiring us all because maybe you don't necessarily know, but we're definitely inspired over here in Kansas City. Yeah, definitely.

BlueLightSpecialPodcast (07:31.918)
Hey there folks, welcome back to another captivating segment of We Didn't Go to School for This. Today we have the privilege of bringing in none other than Nick Giuliani. Now, if you're not from Kansas City and you haven't crossed paths with Nick, well, something's amiss. Nick is not just a familiar face. He's arguably the most connected Kansas City and out there. His dedication to giving back to the community is downright awe -inspiring. Seriously, I've never met someone so committed.

to helping others reach their goals. And let me tell you about one of the coolest things Nick does. He has this shout out series on LinkedIn. Each week he shines a spotlight on amazing people, nonprofits, and women owned businesses in KC. But wait, there's more Nick also wears another hat. As the director of sales for one of the fastest growing companies in Kansas City, dynamic logistics. So buckle up for as we dive into the world of dynamic logistics and discover the exceptional services they offer.

Ready to learn and get inspired. Let's do this. Welcome, Nick. Thanks, Nick. Thank you for having me on. That was a fantastic introduction. Thank you. I hope you like that. It's definitely deserving. And, again, I know we're going to be talking a little bit today, just, understanding the, you know, the uniqueness of logistics, in our world, the trade in the display world, you know, logistics is often the largest.

cost whenever it comes to deploying in -store solutions. I know you help us as well as a multitude of other clients. So we're going to jump right in and help us understand how long have you been in the logistics industry? So I have been in 14 of my 15 working years in logistics. So right out of college, I started at two different companies on the brokerage side. So I was doing sales and the account management.

So shout out to all the account managers and brokers out there. That is not an easy job. It is incredibly difficult sitting in the middle between shippers, receivers, and carriers. So that's what I did for five years. I got into more tech sales after that, and then got back into logistics a year later. And the parcel auditing side, and I've been with Dynamic Logistics now for just over six years. So, you know, as you kind of highlight a few of the service and offerings that Dynamic Logistics has in industries, give us some...

BlueLightSpecialPodcast (09:54.19)
Give us a little flavor for what those are and so we have a better understanding. Yeah, so Dynamic Logistics, we are a third party logistics company with really two main offerings. So about 80 to 85 % of the freight under management through Dynamic Logistics is through our XTMS offering. And one of the things that makes it unique for what we do when it comes to TMS, which is transportation management software.

is that we wanted to be more than just a software provider. So the software where we and our clients are executing their day -to -day logistics is the foundation of XTMS, but we've built a lot of ancillary services around it to help support our clients. We do spend more time in the mid -market shippers, so not the Fortune 100 or 50. A lot of them are under -resourced. So we build and have dedicated account management teams that work with each of our clients. We also help with the freight audit, the payment.

We help with claims, we provide reporting, we meet quarterly with our clients. So I mean, at any given day, we could have five to seven teams uniquely inside of Dynamic Logistics that are working with our clients in some capacity. So we wanted to be really a true partner and not just be a vendor. So that has been our focus. And then the other side of our business is more of a traditional freight brokerage. So they work with either our smaller clients or some of the really big, 300, 400, 500.

million dollar in freight spend type clients and they just move specific lanes or different you know origin points for for those clients. Got it so you know in our world we're obviously you know collaborating a lot and one of the things that's always important for us is that you know we work with experts that how are familiar with shipping into DC's specifically to you know Walmart, Target,

is I'm assuming that's all part of what you guys offer as well. Give us a little flavor for that. It is. Yeah. So the majority about of our TMS clients, about 60 to 70 % are food manufacturers and most of them ship into really it's three main client bases, food service, you know, your us foods and your Cisco's that end up in restaurants.

BlueLightSpecialPodcast (12:12.078)
Grocery warehouses, you know, high V's, price choppers, but a big portion of them do go to retailers. So the Walmarts, Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, Target's, Costco, Sam's Club, a lot of our clients are shipping into those end receivers, and most of them ship to the DCs. Obviously, they're not shipping to the store itself. We have a few clients that ship to store, but it's more rare. They're typically going to the Walmart DC or Sam's Club, Costco DC, and then, you know, Walmart's getting it into the store.

So I know the buzzword is in our world, at least, you know, Christine and I, as we're setting in sales and we're, you know, our clients are always asking, you know, can you give us tracking? Can you help us understand if this is being delivered on time? So help us understand how do you ensure delivery, that is being on time as well as minimizing just shipping errors. There's a lot of moving parts. we know that, you know, part of the mesh points of us setting your team up success is making sure the labeling is right.

so help us just kind of give us some insight on what do you guys do to help, kind of navigate those arenas as well. Yeah. So I'll kind of start with like what our clients did before DLX. So let's say client X ships, you know, food out of, you know, soup out of Massachusetts down to Publix in Florida. Pre DLX, they set that shipment up, gave it to the carrier. Driver shows up at the dock. They load it up. He's gone. They have no idea where.

truck is. They have no visibility. The only way they know is they called their broker or their carrier and they're like, hey, where are you? Whether that's accurate or not, we know. I mean, everybody in the shipping world has had the same instance where it's like, yeah, driver's only 30 minutes away. And then three hours later, they're sitting there waiting for that driver to show up. And in the food space, dealing with food and the retail space, being late to Walmart is a big deal. It can be very, very expensive when it comes to fines. And those fines for a low, you know, minimum

type thing like a meat or a protein. Like every cent matters in these clients, you know, end game as far as being that profit, as far as that product with that client. And so to have a $500 fine for being late is a big deal. And so when we started our TMS program, we use a combination of people and technology. So integrated inside of our TMS solution is a platform called Chain. And what that is, is it either tracks the driver cell phone, the ELD within the actual

BlueLightSpecialPodcast (14:38.734)
trailer itself. We've even started tracking and tracing a system it's called Tive. It's a temperature tracking system, but it has GPS tracking. So we integrated chain with Tive so you can track the freight as it goes down the road and the temperature as it goes down the road. So for our clients, they log into the TMS, they look at their load board, they can see everything that's in transit and not just in transit, but if they want to know a specific receiver, I want to see everything that's in transit to Walmart, everything that's in transit to Target, Whole Foods.

and they can click a little binocular and it pulls up a separate window. And it's basically like when you order Uber Eats and you're watching the driver go down the road, they're able to have that live tracking and tracing as it goes down the road. So what that does is it's two things, right? One, you actually know where the driver is. Positive stuff. Number one, that you didn't have. I mean, the amount of time our clients spent sending an email, hey, where's the driver waiting 35 minutes to hear back. Like that's time that customer service and sales are freaking out because if Walmart doesn't get that freight, they're gonna be pissed.

So now sales and customer service along with our logistics teams for our clients had that visibility. The second is dealing with what you talked about, which is errors, right? If all of a sudden it's like, well, this guy has an 8 a delivery at Walmart in Jacksonville, but he's six hours away. Now you can get out ahead of that because you had that live tracking tracing and the TMS can send push notifications to anyone that's dealing with those end receivers and end clients so that they can know, hey, he's not going to make it. We got to get that delivery appointment rescheduled so you're not fined or hey, can they work him in if he gets there now?

So that live tracking trace and that added visibility is huge for our clients because they were just flying blind until their client called sales or customer service and said, hey, where's your driver? Most of our clients had no idea where their freight was when it was going down the road. They were just kind of living in that, no news is good news. I hope it gets there. And then obviously, because each of our clients do have dedicated account managers and we also have a 24 17. So.

At six o 'clock, we have a team that stays from six p to six a So we have a lot of clients that ship Fridays, Saturdays, you know, have early Monday morning deliveries. And so that team is also there to be tracking and making sure that, you know, our clients don't walk into, you know, a crazy storm on Monday or whatever happened over the weekend. So it's a combination of using the tech as well as our team to ensure, you know, we're having communication and knowing how to get out ahead and have proactive.

BlueLightSpecialPodcast (17:00.494)
communication if there are issues. Yeah, well that's great. Sounds like you're really leaning into how do we create more transparency into this and then how do we make it ease of use through just not only giving them transparency but making sure that the user experience is easy and you can understand what to do if there's some potential challenges. So, awesome. And I got another question coming up here just related to some of the innovations. We'll jump in that here in a second. But before that, I think...

The buzzword everywhere is sustainability. In our world, sustainability can mean a lot to a lot of different people or a lot of different organizations. But I know that a lot of our clients, the way that we work on displays is we often really think through the pack out, the logistics, and that really informs some of our design. Because we want to minimize that. We want to minimize the amount of trucks that are needed to be used to deploy.

But what are some of the initiatives that you guys are leaning into or exploring just related to sustainability? Yeah, so it's really cool. So the technology that our TMS, the foundation of our program, the reseller that we work with actually just launches in the process of launching a carbon footprint tracker. And so we're going to be able to allow our clients to know what their carbon footprint is based on the freight that moves through our system.

And so a lot of what we try to do for all of our clients, not only from a sustainability and a carbon footprint standpoint, but our goal, especially with our food clients, is helping them maximize the truck. Right? So if Walmart puts in an order, they only want six pallets. Well, six pallets on a truck that can handle 40 plus is not a good use of space. Right. And so the system itself is bringing in all of our clients orders, and then it's doing planning and optimization to try to do everything they can to either max out the space or the weight of a truck.

so that they can get as much product on. So even if it's a pickup in Massachusetts and it has three drops along the way to try to maximize that and reduce, like you said, the number of trucks that they have to use to make that delivery, not only is it good from a costing standpoint and tracking the metrics that they want from just being healthy as a company, but that is helping with, you know, that sustainability and keeping their carbon footprint down. But that is something I think if I remember it was either the end of this quarter, end of Q3, that function was going to be available so we can make that part of.

BlueLightSpecialPodcast (19:24.718)
KPI reviews with our clients and how their carbon footprint is awesome. Are you seeing that type of requests, come from your clients? I mean, is that, are they inquiring more about sustainability in your world? Yeah, we've had a few clients even ask, like basically say, we need to be able to have this information, you know, cause especially for the California, I don't know. I can't remember exactly what year, but there's new laws coming in about the types of, you know, how old is the truck and trailer that's coming into the state? Like California has a lot.

around that type of stuff. Obviously they're getting big on the electric trucks as well. And so we're trying to get out ahead of a lot of that to provide our clients, especially on the West coast, that type of visibility and KPI so they can meet the expectations and even potentially have tax breaks and things like that, that come with it. Awesome. What innovations or advancements do you see shaping the future of logistics?

So AI is huge, obviously, right? I mean, you talked about buzzwords. There is no bigger buzzword than AI. And so I think a lot of times, especially when it comes to logistics, right? So we'll use Walmart for an example. So if ClientX is shipping into Walmart, either them or us or whoever it is of our clients, we have to go into like the system called Retallix and set those delivery appointments. I'm seeing probably AI taking that over at some point.

The AI can take the POs, they can see what it needs to deliver by Walmart, and it's going in and making those delivery appointments to kind of help reduce human error. Obviously the live tracking and tracing side of stuff is starting to blow up. There's a ton of companies out there that are providing that live visibility. And then I think too, just the equipment type. I do think you're going to see more and more of the electric vehicle rollout, especially as the California and traditional states make it more.

Got it. Well, again, I appreciate those. Another quick follow up, and this one's kind of just based on a mock scenario. So let's just pretend you're brand new into your position and you're responsible for managing logistics and freight. What would be one or two things that you would try to do fairly early on just to help, you know, minimize any challenges if you was being tasked with this? Because a lot of our clients, honestly,

BlueLightSpecialPodcast (21:45.87)
They are responsible for moving components to different location, leveraging freight. Oftentimes they have no idea. They've not done it before. They don't know where to start. What would you do if that was, if you would task with the same similar type of responsibility? Yeah, logistics is unique. Like you said, it's one of the most expensive parts of anything. And I think for most of our clients, like it lives in the top five in their P &L as far as just expense. And so,

There's kind of two schools of thought when it comes to logistics, right? The first is like cost reduction, just pure hard cost reduction, which is, am I getting the best rate? Am I, you know, the fuel, additional, you know, charges, things like that. That's kind of one part. And then there's also the soft cost part of it, which is, you know, am I maximizing my trucks? You know, what kind of KPIs are we looking at? What kind of people effort am I putting into logistics? So if you are new into this role, what you'd want to do is try, at least in the beginning, is to find a partner.

as an expert in whatever you're doing. Whether it's building materials, chemicals, food, whatever it is, try to find a third party logistics company or a broker or somebody that you can kind of lean on to say, hey, this is a brand new thing for us. We're now taking over shipping and freight. Can you help us kind of get that set up? I think that's kind of step number one. There are also really, really great publications out there like Freight Waves.

tons of podcasts, all kinds of professional development that you can do to just stay on top of just understanding what's happening in the industry. But the easiest thing is to kind of find that 3PL partner to help be kind of an outsource extension of your logistics department to kind of help support you as you're kind of getting ramped up and learning about logistics and shipping and then continuously reviewing it. Not just once a year when your CFO is like, Hey, we set a budget. Now it's this. It's like, you know,

whether it's monthly or quarterly with that partner to make sure like, hey, we are getting new lanes or we're getting a new client, right? A lot of our food clients, it's like, hey, we just sold Trader Joe's. That's a whole new experience going into a Trader Joe's and it is going into like a UNFI or Walmart. So, you know, having that partner with that expertise and leaning on them is, you know, one of the best bets is you're kind of getting used to working in the logistics industry because it is, it's a special thing. It is a special industry that is just a constant array of crazy challenges.

BlueLightSpecialPodcast (24:10.158)
And you're dealing with, you know, unexpected things can happen, you know, tornadoes, hurricanes, you know, you're trying to deliver in New York city and there's a, an accident and there's traffic for three hours and they're trying to cross the bridge. So like logistics can cause a lot of issues. so yeah, having that partner and then really being able to understand like, how can I be proactive and dealing with some of those issues that come your way? Cause they're going to, well, those are definitely some, you know,

Simple tip that you could really implement from, you know, call it day one. I appreciate you dropping a few of those nuggets there. All right. I'm going to ask a, we had a couple of questions come in from the audience. One of them was what strategies do successful companies employ to optimize transportation routes and minimize costs while maintaining high service levels for retailers? Yeah, that's a great question. So it also for us, like I was kind of talking about earlier with the multi -step, it kind of starts at the order.

Right? So I'll give you an example. We had a client, they ship basically popsicles, right? It's frozen sugar water. So they can't be shipping eight, 10 pallets. So they actually set minimum orders in place with their client. A lot of retailers, a lot of grocery stores. And they said, if you don't order this amount, we're not going to ship it until your amount reaches that. Cause they can't send a six, you know, six pallet full truck load when they're shipping a product with that thin of margins. So I think that's kind of where you can start.

is sales and customer service can try to put in potential minimum orders. Obviously, when you're dealing with the likes of Walmart and some of these big retailers, they set the, I mean, if Walmart says give me six pallets, you're gonna get them six pallets, right? And so if you're in that world, then the goal is, okay, if I have all these orders, is there a way for me to potentially take orders from another receiver? Like, okay, I got Costco's right down the street. Can I now all of a sudden I go from six to 15s on one truck?

So you're starting to lower that cost per pound, because if you're paying for the full truck, you want to try to get as much of that freight on there as you can. And so taking that orders and trying to create multi drop is really helpful as far as optimization. It can be very difficult, obviously, if you just have a spreadsheet or you're pulling that out of an ERP and trying to do it in a spreadsheet. So again, kind of finding that partner that has some kind of TMS that can help you do that planning and optimization more automatically can be really helpful.

BlueLightSpecialPodcast (26:31.47)
And again, then you're taking out some of that human error. And then really just finding really good carrier partners, right? When you talk about delivering into these retailers, it's not just enough for it to be on time. It can be early is also be a fine late is a fine on time. And then in full is such a big thing with a lot of these retailers. And so reducing damages, making sure that, you know, you're getting, getting, being proactive in that communication with these receivers, if you're going to be late, but yeah, being able to create.

as much multi -stops as you can to have that ability to lower your overall, you know, cost per pound, cost per case, cost per mile, whatever you're tracking to know, like, is this a healthy client for our business? And then just working out ahead of time. So I'll give you another example. So we had a client, the second that they get the POs from Trader Joe's, they have to make appointments before they even create the actual load themselves. They fill up so much on the receiving end there. So they're giving those delivery appointments to the carrier.

before the loads even created, because they're like, we, this is like, it fills up three weeks in advance. So the second that that PO is placed or S and O, I guess it would be the sales order. They're making those delivery appointments in Trader Joe's system to make sure that they can meet that on time, you know, must arrive by date from the client. So really understanding the differences, obviously in your end receivers, will be very helpful. Awesome. Well, yeah, well, sure. There's some, some great insight right there. We're getting a lesson. So today.

So I appreciate it, Nick. One final audience submitted a question, which is, could you share an example of a time when effective collaboration between CPG food manufacturers and logistic teams led to a significant improvements in supply chain efficiency or cost savings? Yeah, absolutely. So I kind of touched on a little bit earlier that there's like two schools of thought when it comes to just pure hard cost savings. So we brought out a client. They're one of the biggest soup producers in all of

I think they're like third or fourth as far as producing soup. So I'll give you kind of this example as a hard cost savings. So before we ever even went live, we took their current incumbent carriers, the people that were moving their freight, we brought our network to the table and right away, just by creating that competitive environment, we dropped their rates overall. If they would have shipped everything identical, about seven figures. Just by creating a competitive environment and bringing different carriers to the table, creating that competitive environment will reduce your...

BlueLightSpecialPodcast (28:57.806)
And right now, with the way freight is sitting, it is a shippers market. I mean, it is the lowest rates have been in a long time. They're definitely in control of running that what we call an RFP. So running that, whether you're doing it, we used to see it a lot more once a year. And then once COVID hit, it became a little bit more quarterly and even like biannually. But running those consistent RFPs will create that competitive environment and kind of help keep your costs strong. So that's one example.

Another one was an egg client. They actually, if you watch TikTok, I think it's Pete's pasta, where he was like taking the eggs and making the pasta and doubling it every single day. So our client actually donated those eggs. So they're awesome. And so for them, it was really about how do we get more freight on the truck? Cause we got to start lowering. And for them, it's not a cost per pound metric. They actually track cost per dozen because of the eggs. And so for them, they had a benchmark that said our cost per dozen is X and we need to get it to here.

And we had done a lot about reducing the, just the pure cost of like what they were paying to the carrier. So then it was, well, how do we get more freight on the truck? And so using the planning parameters, you know, really digging in and understanding the order patterns from their clients and how to get more freight on the truck ended up lowering. I think over the last couple of years, we've lowered like two or three cents per dozen, which if you calculate that over, you know, millions and millions of pounds, it's very significant and becomes a really big savings for them.

So those are just a few examples, but again, there's always going to be broken down into like just pure hard costs. Like I was paying 230 a mile and now I have a carrier that'll do that for 210 a mile plus fuel, easy, hard cost savings. And then it's what is the big benchmarks that our client looks at, which a lot of CPG brands are looking at cost per pound most of the time. So how do you reduce that? And that's typically how we got to get more freight on the truck.

Got it. Well, my gun is my man sincerely appreciate, you know, all of the insight, all the nuggets and tips, as well as some of the things you've got your eye on related to the future of the industry. you know, again, I know a lot of, if you're not following Nick on, on LinkedIn, I would definitely encourage you to go and, you know, connect with him, follow him. this is a piece, as I mentioned earlier, what he does in his day to day role, what he does to the community in Kansas City is.

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phenomenal and so we're definitely fortunate to be able to have you on here, Nick, and again, just appreciate it. But you're not done yet. We're getting ready to take you to the hot seat. I'm going to turn it over to Christine as she navigates our lightning round. Yes, it is time for the lightning round, which is something we ask all of our guests to participate in. So are you ready, Nick? Okay, first one. What's one new brand you recently purchased and why?

so I was at the dog store here in town.

for our dog, he takes allergy medicine. I bought them because it was the only option. So typically we get it mailed through like a Chewy, but he ran out. So I just went to the store and that was what they had and he's liked them so far. Okay. Well, what's one thing you've bought on TikTok or Instagram?

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I honestly can say I have never purchased anything off of an ad, off TikTok or Instagram, but I did see, so my wife basically works on her laptop. So it's kept popping up. It was like something you can attach to the back of your laptop and then it creates two screens. The ad just kept popping up and I was like, Hey, you should look at this. You work on your laptop a lot. So she did buy something else. So you influenced that. I influenced her decision, but I honestly, those ads, I do everything I can't not to buy it because I don't want to see it.

Okay, what is one piece of technology that you cannot live without? My phone. That'd be a lot. That was one. That's the same answer I gave when I got asked that. That one's consistent. What's the worst career advice you've ever been given?

Hahaha

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That's real. Worst career. Something probably around like look out for yourself first or like be selfish. I think there is a part of that, right? Where you want to make sure you take care of yourself. But I think if you're at the right company and you align with their mission and values, like you should be obviously working towards that overall goal. So that's probably something around that. Where do you go to consume information to do your job better?

So for me, it kind of comes down to two things. I mentioned freight waves earlier, so that's kind of my go -to as far as like industry knowledge so I can understand the trends that are happening within freight. So I think a lot about what we do, which is really unique, is we sell to these manufacturers. We have to understand their business, sometimes even more than they do, because it is a very complex world of logistics. So from like professional development and logistics, freight waves is huge. A couple of people on LinkedIn.

When it comes to sales itself, for my professional development books usually and then podcasts. Okay, last question. What advice would you give your 25 year old self?

Network. Good answer from me. Network would do it correctly. Yeah, I didn't really even take networking seriously. And Trevor and I met obviously through Top Gun and I joined after I met Scott Havens in October of 18. And even in like my first couple of years, like I just went to events and I didn't really do much else, but I would say network would do it with the go -giver.

mentality and you will see stuff come back to you 10x that you never. I love that go giver mentality. Yeah. Yeah. Well, he's one of the best in the business when it comes to networking. So again, I would definitely encourage you guys to, you know, follow, Nick on LinkedIn. and you know, you'll kind of just see firsthand just, you know, how active he is in the community. I know you mentioned top gun. so he's also the president of top gun, which is to give us a little flair for what top gun is. Yeah.

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Top Gun is a millennial peer networking group. Really it was designed for people to not only grow personally and have relationships with other like top executives and business leaders and nonprofit leaders in the community, but to do it with similar age, right? We're all going through the same things in our career and life. And so it does allow us to really just keep thriving, support each other in business, support each other in life. We have 10 events a year. So one a month, except we take July and December off.

It can be fun stuff like bowling or playing golf or, you know, really, you know, topics with people like Tim Cowden or different, you know, executives in town kind of sharing their knowledge with the group. Awesome. And the last thing I want you to just, you know, drop some insight on is your shout out series. I know you have a website, tell us a little bit about, where we may be able to find some of those past shout outs. Yeah. So the website is Casey shout out series .com.

I created that about a year and a half after I started the Shoutout series, because as much as I like LinkedIn, it's not the best for searching, not the best for archiving things. And so I moved all of the posts. I'm a little bit behind right now, but all of the previous Shoutout posts, whether it was leader, nonprofit or women owned businesses is on kcshoutoutseries .com. So you can learn about all the amazing people doing great work. But yeah, I've been doing the series since November of 2021.

The leader series, the women owns started in March of 22 and the nonprofit, I think just hit a year anniversary recently. Awesome. Well, again, thanks my man. I really appreciate you coming on and definitely look forward to continuing to follow, learn and participate in any of those upcoming events. Thank you all so much for having me on. I really enjoyed the conversation. For our last segment, we want to give you a little glimpse into our own minds. We all have those moments where we reflect.

learn and remind ourselves of certain truths for me. It's my memo to myself and for Christine, it's her I am for the day. It's a chance for us to be a bit vulnerable, share our thoughts and maybe some of it will resonate with you. so Christine, on the drive in today, my memo was, you know, I think I've shared numerous times on the show that I'm, I love sports. And so, you know, I think right now, the NBA is in their playoffs. And so you,

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You hear some of the commentators speak about when the lights are the brightest, that's when the stars have to shine. and you know, I think the memo that I told myself is leaders have to do their best work under pressure. and I believe it's, I believe that wholeheartedly, and I'm, I probably subscribe to a little bit more just because I love sports and I love when you see, you know, the, the stars shining, and.

the brightest moments. And so that was definitely the memo to myself is again, leaders have to do their best work under pressure. Very, very true. Well, my I am for the day, which is my accountability partners in the morning when we're having coffee, we text each other and say, what are you today? And today I am kind. And that just comes from, I think a lot of people are jumping on that bandwagon. I know Gary V is always big about kindness is the best marketing you can put out there, but I think.

Practicing it and just stopping yourself during the day and really paying attention to being kind is a whole other thing rather than just saying you're going to focus on that. So just stop and say something kind to someone. Tell them they look nice today. Tell them they're doing a good job. I will say I walked around the corner today after I came back from the kitchen and Tia just said...

Christine, you're doing a heck of a job today. Just out of nowhere. And those are the little kind things that we all need to kind of stop and remember are important and to focus on that. Totally love it. And yeah, there's the, you're absolutely right. I think, you know, you, you forget just how impactful go through the motions all day on autopilot and you don't think about those little things. And I'm extremely guilty of that. And then you're so correct of just, you know, just a simple.

Hey, you know, love the outfit or what you're doing, you know, that what that can do to brighten somebody's day. so awesome. I definitely love that. I am for the day as well. All right. So, well, that's it for this episode, folks. We're grateful to have you along for the ride as we lighten up your hustle through retail and real life. Thanks for listening and keep your questions and comments coming. We love tuning in to what you want to know about helping your brands stand out in store. Please like and share the podcast. We appreciate your help.

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getting the word out about Blue Light Special. And finally, join us for next week's episode where we will dig into Gen Alpha and its influence on consumer spending.

This podcast is a production of In -Store Design Display, the go -to expert for guiding and elevating your in -store experience. Our wordsmith, Julie Edge, and mix master, Jackie Barra, make all of this possible. So a big thanks to them and the entire team at In -Store Design Display. Stay tuned for our next episode on YouTube or wherever you consume podcasts. We'd love to hear from our listeners, so please drop us a line and tell us what you want to hear about retail and real life.