On today's episode on Veritas Vantage, Supply Chain Leaders Brian Hastings and Justin Maines sit down with Chadd Olesen, CEO and founder of AVRL, to discuss his unconventional entry into the logistics industry and his work with top brokerages. Topics include automation, change management, and strategies for transforming midsize brokerages into industry powerhouses. Chad shares insights on the complexities of spot bidding, the impact of emerging technologies, and the importance of educating brokers. Join us as we explore how AVRL is revolutionizing the transportation sector and what the future holds for brokerage companies.

The Logistics & Leadership Podcast, powered by Veritas Logistics, redefines logistics and personal growth. Hosted by industry veterans and supply chain leaders Brian Hastings and Justin Maines, it shares their journey from humble beginnings to a $50 million company. Discover invaluable lessons in logistics, mental toughness, and embracing the entrepreneurial spirit. The show delves into personal and professional development, routine, and the power of betting on oneself. From inspiring stories to practical insights, this podcast is a must for aspiring entrepreneurs, logistics professionals, and anyone seeking to push limits and achieve success.

Timestamps: 

(00:31) - Chad's Journey into Logistics

(00:46) - Early Projects and Key Partnerships

(02:06) - Breaking into Transportation

(05:02) - Automation in Transportation

06:13 Growth and Change Management

(07:31) - Solving Problems for Shippers and 3PLs

(14:34) - Future of Technology in Logistics

(19:33) - Challenges and Opportunities in Automation

(21:13) - Intern's Quick Adaptation to TMS

(22:39) - Building a Unique Culture at AVRL

(25:37) - Challenges in Technology Adoption

(27:27) - The Role of Change Management

(33:49) - Client Expectations and Long-Term Success

(37:07) - Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Connect with Chadd Olesen!

▶️LinkedIn | Website

Connect with us! 

▶️ Website | LinkedIn | Brian’s LinkedIn | Justin’s LinkedIn

▶️ Get our newsletter for more logistics insights

▶️ Send us your questions!! ask@go-veritas.com

Watch the pod on: YouTube

Justin: 00:00:00

Justin and I just got done talking to Chad Olafson, CEO and founder of abrl, talking about a couple things.

Justin: 00:00:07

Change management, automation and how to propel your mid size brokerage into a powerhouse.

Justin: 00:00:13

The reason why Chad is qualified to talk about some of these things is because he's working with the top brokerages in our industry today.

Justin: 00:00:20

Let's get to the show.

Chad: 00:00:30

Chad, you run the most mysterious company in logistics, but your background's not logistics.

Chad: 00:00:36

Yeah, like tell, tell us how you kind of got intertwined into this crazy industry.

Chad Olafson: 00:00:42

I'll try and leave as many company names like off the table, but the largest retailer in the world introduced me to a massive intermodal company and kind of like if you like go.

Chad Olafson: 00:00:54

Before that my CTO and I built a bunch of BMWs in car technology.

Chad Olafson: 00:01:00

What had happened was a technology company tried to buy us and SAP gave us money to go and not be sold.

Chad Olafson: 00:01:07

They essentially wanted us to go to market.

Chad Olafson: 00:01:09

And to go to market was to connect disparate systems.

Chad Olafson: 00:01:13

So if you look at companies like an ExxonMobil or a Nike or a Daimler, a lot of times the ERP system doesn't talk to the wms, which doesn't talk to the tms and it creates like massive problems.

Justin: 00:01:23

Sounds familiar.

Chad Olafson: 00:01:24

Yeah.

Chad Olafson: 00:01:25

So we started doing work like that.

Chad Olafson: 00:01:27

We got involved in oil and gas brokerage.

Chad Olafson: 00:01:30

We've done a ton of work for most of those top oil and gas brokerages.

Chad Olafson: 00:01:35

They end up operating in this thing called Intercontinental Exchange.

Chad Olafson: 00:01:38

And Intercontinental Exchange is called ICE and it's a chat system.

Chad Olafson: 00:01:41

And so if you worked for BP and you worked for Shell, you might swap and you do it via chat.

Chad Olafson: 00:01:47

Well, what ends up happening is you have these oil and gas traders that make millions then taking almost like a codified language and entering into the ERP system.

Chad Olafson: 00:01:58

So we started doing that for a lot of these oil and gas companies.

Chad Olafson: 00:02:02

Ended up meeting this retailer and the retailer introduced me to JB Hahn.

Chad Olafson: 00:02:07

That was kind of like our intro into transportation at all.

Justin: 00:02:11

It's awesome.

Chad Olafson: 00:02:11

And I think that that like a lot of startups, when they come into transportation or logistics, they start with like the smallest players and work their way up.

Chad Olafson: 00:02:20

Yeah, like our first customers were top 10 logistics companies.

Justin: 00:02:24

Yeah, easily.

Chad Olafson: 00:02:25

Yeah.

Chad Olafson: 00:02:26

Like when you think of like our.

Justin: 00:02:27

Silver platter, I worked in, I was in Arkansas for a couple years and JB Hunt was the king.

Justin: 00:02:32

I mean it was one of the biggest employers around there.

Justin: 00:02:35

Obviously you know Walmart's got a half halfway decent name, but yeah, they were, they were one of the Biggest employers in the area.

Chad Olafson: 00:02:41

Yeah.

Chad Olafson: 00:02:42

And it's, it's interesting, I think that the brokers and carriers in that region, it's almost kind of like this like little like friend group.

Chad Olafson: 00:02:49

They go golfing together.

Chad Olafson: 00:02:50

And so we got introduced to one and then to another, another.

Speaker D: 00:02:53

That's great.

Chad Olafson: 00:02:53

And a lot of our original growth was organic.

Chad Olafson: 00:02:57

We knew we were making impact.

Chad Olafson: 00:02:58

t space, it was like February: 2020

Chad Olafson: 00:03:05

Never been through a cycle before.

Chad Olafson: 00:03:07

But we started getting all these inbound from a lot of the like larger logistics companies who are friends or their friends worked there.

Chad Olafson: 00:03:15

And we never touched mid market.

Chad Olafson: 00:03:17

Like my entire goal at the beginning was like, don't touch mid market.

Chad Olafson: 00:03:20

Like let's go after like the top 103 pls.

Speaker D: 00:03:23

Yeah.

Chad Olafson: 00:03:23

And try and solidify that placement.

Chad Olafson: 00:03:25

That's actually what led to the marketing piece of like us not marketing and advertising.

Chad Olafson: 00:03:31

Yeah.

Chad Olafson: 00:03:31

And we felt like if we started to do that, then all we're going to do is breed competition in versus allowing us to go and focus on like siloing use cases.

Chad Olafson: 00:03:41

So like spending time with like spot bidding.

Chad Olafson: 00:03:43

Spending time here, spending time here, spending time here.

Chad Olafson: 00:03:46

What ended up happening was we probably came out like three years ahead of everybody else.

Speaker D: 00:03:50

Yeah.

Chad Olafson: 00:03:51

And that's what ended up happening with that.

Chad Olafson: 00:03:52

No marketing strategy.

Justin: 00:03:54

That's awesome.

Chad: 00:03:54

So you got teed up by some big, big players, Fortune 500 companies.

Chad: 00:04:00

Did you immediately come out and you're able to automate like what you were doing, just back office processes or what was your sweet spot for the transportation industry?

Chad Olafson: 00:04:10

So with transportation, what ended up happening is we were working on.

Chad Olafson: 00:04:14

So my background is like voice technology.

Chad Olafson: 00:04:16

And what we were doing, we were actually doing it with Honda and East Liberty.

Chad Olafson: 00:04:20

What ended up happening was like they wanted to speak out a process and then find a flag in a default.

Chad Olafson: 00:04:26

Like 1.36 cars that leaves the lot is the same.

Chad Olafson: 00:04:29

That's problematic from like a schematic perspective.

Chad Olafson: 00:04:32

They fly all these like SMEs all over the country to essentially identify faults in the electrical system.

Chad Olafson: 00:04:38

But if you could literally speak out a process, have that system write all the code for it, you could plug it into the ECU and it would flag the fault.

Chad Olafson: 00:04:47

And this is what we were going into market with.

Chad Olafson: 00:04:49

We were like, oh, we can do this and we can do maintenance, inspections and help companies identify those problems early or easier.

Chad Olafson: 00:04:57

And that's what I actually went in to that first logistics company to sell and they were like, this is great.

Chad Olafson: 00:05:03

Could you automate our spot bidding?

Chad Olafson: 00:05:04

And we were like, I don't know what spot bidding is, you know, and then we looked at it and we were like, oh my gosh.

Chad Olafson: 00:05:10

From Surface it like it looks like a super easy problem to solve.

Speaker D: 00:05:14

Yeah.

Chad Olafson: 00:05:14

But it's actually more complex and a lot of people have tried to solve it with robotic process automation tools like UiPath, Automation Anywhere, et cetera.

Chad Olafson: 00:05:23

The challenge is, is that these web pages change so frequently that your RPA ends up just being broken all the time if you do it.

Chad Olafson: 00:05:30

So then we were like, well maybe we start focusing on web based automation.

Chad Olafson: 00:05:35

And that's really like what like really pushed us forward was we were like, we're going to focus on this as an industry for time being granted we might go after other industries or we will we work with some shippers.

Chad Olafson: 00:05:47

Like we have other like legs that we're going to go after.

Chad Olafson: 00:05:51

But right now we have a really like really good opportunity to impact transportation.

Chad: 00:05:55

So we're going to be so obviously tech automation, bots, AI, huge hot topic in logistics and transportation.

Chad: 00:06:05

You fell into by accident somewhat the spot bid automation.

Chad Olafson: 00:06:10

Yeah.

Chad: 00:06:11

And that's in: 2020

Chad Olafson: 00:06:12

That was in: 2020

Chad Olafson: 00:06:13

Yeah.

Chad: 00:06:13

d how has it transformed from: 2020

Chad Olafson: 00:06:19

I mean it's massive.

Chad Olafson: 00:06:21

When we look at like our original team, we probably had eight or nine people working on at AVRL during that time.

Chad Olafson: 00:06:28

We're about 120ish people right now, give or take.

Justin: 00:06:31

It's awesome.

Justin: 00:06:32

Congrats.

Justin: 00:06:33

Thank you.

Chad: 00:06:33

Incredible.

Chad Olafson: 00:06:34

Yeah.

Chad Olafson: 00:06:34

And we're really trying to like grow responsible, like.

Chad Olafson: 00:06:38

Right.

Chad Olafson: 00:06:38

And so like you have to be.

Chad Olafson: 00:06:39

When we like go to our website, like, oh yeah, ABR only brings on like 18 customers per year.

Chad Olafson: 00:06:44

Well, if we're successful with them, that's actually a solid growth metric for us.

Chad Olafson: 00:06:48

And so our investors have been super happy with it.

Chad Olafson: 00:06:51

Like we're like happy with it but.

Chad Olafson: 00:06:53

But it allows us to be like sustainable in a growth pattern, giving our customers top notch service.

Chad Olafson: 00:06:59

My number one thing right now is to help customers with change management.

Chad Olafson: 00:07:03

You guys have implemented technology.

Chad Olafson: 00:07:05

Implementing technology is easy.

Chad Olafson: 00:07:06

The change management on your culture of your implementation is huge.

Justin: 00:07:10

Super hard.

Justin: 00:07:11

Funny story.

Justin: 00:07:12

We just implemented a new TMS, I would say about 18 months ago.

Justin: 00:07:16

And I feel like we're just now hitting our stride with getting everybody.

Justin: 00:07:20

Well, not, not everybody, but majority of people on that Right track.

Justin: 00:07:25

One thing I was going to ask is, you know, even, you know, we talked about the growth you know, kudos to you guys for, for crushing it.

Justin: 00:07:32

What is like the, what is the main problem that you're solving for these shippers or three pls?

Justin: 00:07:37

Like what is the main problem that you're solving?

Chad Olafson: 00:07:39

I think that like there are main challenges that we're solving.

Chad Olafson: 00:07:43

Yeah, I know not everyone who watches this is going to agree with what I think.

Chad Olafson: 00:07:48

I honestly believe that the companies who automate spot bidding, maybe automate tender acceptance for contracted freight, automate other things, they then get to spend all of their time with their shipper.

Chad Olafson: 00:08:01

And so it depends on the type of 3 PL or carrier on what the problem that we're solving is.

Chad Olafson: 00:08:07

Like one, I'm going to give our customers more at bats.

Chad Olafson: 00:08:10

Right.

Chad Olafson: 00:08:11

That doesn't mean that your win percentage going to go up, probably going to go down because we should be looking at more volume.

Chad Olafson: 00:08:17

But what ends up happening is for the first time ever, what you get to do is you get to run network strategy.

Chad Olafson: 00:08:24

Right.

Chad Olafson: 00:08:24

So before if you look at a cradle of the grave model or a split model, pod based model, you're really buying for like your own pocketbook as a broker versus an organization.

Chad Olafson: 00:08:35

Right.

Chad Olafson: 00:08:35

And if we're trying to be competitive on an rfp, maybe we're okay with lower margin and higher volume from the spot market to build capacity in a specific market or zone, et cetera.

Chad Olafson: 00:08:49

And so there's a couple of like plays that we're after.

Chad Olafson: 00:08:53

One, we want to give you more at bats.

Chad Olafson: 00:08:55

Right.

Chad Olafson: 00:08:55

And I think that that's like super important.

Chad Olafson: 00:08:57

The only way to really do that is automation.

Chad Olafson: 00:08:59

Unless you're going to staff a ton of people on these boards.

Justin: 00:09:01

Well, I think it's like you have a decision to make.

Justin: 00:09:03

Right.

Justin: 00:09:04

It's either you staff a ton of people or you look at automation to perform that service.

Chad Olafson: 00:09:08

Yeah.

Chad Olafson: 00:09:09

I think another thing is we're trying to provide better data visibility.

Chad Olafson: 00:09:12

Yeah.

Chad Olafson: 00:09:13

We want to make sure that you're able to see like, you know, what are you bidding on?

Chad Olafson: 00:09:17

Why are you bidding on it?

Chad Olafson: 00:09:18

Why are you not bidding on it?

Chad Olafson: 00:09:19

What was the opportunity lost from not participating?

Chad Olafson: 00:09:21

We end up seeing all of these like unique things that happen where like you didn't bid on something under £10,000.

Chad Olafson: 00:09:28

Well, what if fuel is really high?

Chad Olafson: 00:09:29

Would that change the way that you're thinking about bidding?

Chad Olafson: 00:09:31

And I think when you look at automation and what it does for like the opportunity for a broker to start participating more, we want to help them identify like trends or holes in the shipper's routing guide that we can find like Repeatable patterns in or repeatable business in.

Chad Olafson: 00:09:47

So you have like all of that, but then at the same time, we want to go in and help reduce cost.

Chad Olafson: 00:09:53

And the reason for the cost reduction is, you know, if we can automate a specific piece that you don't want, you no longer have to staff, then your cost of serve goes down.

Chad Olafson: 00:10:02

So if we can exploit yield and reduce cost to serve at the same time, it creates unique pricing discretions in the market.

Chad Olafson: 00:10:08

That's ultimately what we're trying to do.

Justin: 00:10:10

Increase revenue, reduce cost.

Justin: 00:10:12

Yeah, seems like a pretty good model.

Justin: 00:10:13

I like that sounds made up.

Chad: 00:10:15

That's impossible.

Justin: 00:10:16

Yeah, that's awesome.

Justin: 00:10:17

I think that's one thing that him and I talk about often is how do we automate some of those tasks?

Justin: 00:10:23

How do we get certain things in place?

Justin: 00:10:26

And you mentioned it earlier upstairs that not necessarily you set it and forget it, but how do you strategically make those decisions on a weekly basis or if you have to tweak it a little bit here or there, you do that and you have some person be the champion or the leader of that group to manipulate that.

Chad Olafson: 00:10:45

Yeah, I think for a lot of the industry, they look at us and they're like outsiders to the industry.

Chad Olafson: 00:10:51

They don't realize that, like former GM of pricing works on our team.

Chad Olafson: 00:10:56

Some of the old BNSF pricing analysts are on our team.

Chad Olafson: 00:11:00

We have some, like, really smart, talented people on our team.

Chad Olafson: 00:11:02

They ultimately are helping our customers look at their data, get better at data, better at reporting, better understanding where there might be opportunity, et cetera.

Chad Olafson: 00:11:11

Our whole goal is that a lot of the pricing tools, a lot of brokers don't know how to use the pricing tools because they were never educated on them.

Speaker D: 00:11:18

Sure.

Chad Olafson: 00:11:19

We really want to help customers understand, like, okay, where do you actually live relative to DAT market rate?

Chad Olafson: 00:11:26

Do you buy above it?

Chad Olafson: 00:11:26

Do you buy below it?

Chad Olafson: 00:11:28

It could change based off of a lot of different things.

Chad Olafson: 00:11:30

KMA is dependent on, like the market, your origin, your destination, like where you have active capacity.

Chad Olafson: 00:11:37

And so for us, we want to like, we're kind of taking like charge of, like, hey, we need to make sure we're educating our customers on these items and seeing that they actually implement them.

Chad Olafson: 00:11:48

Otherwise they're not going to be as successful with our tools.

Justin: 00:11:51

Well, I mean, I love that education piece because I feel like not a lot of other vendors or partners out there do that where, you know, you're going along in the process, educating the end user on how to do this, how to manipulate some of the data, where you're able to win more spot shipments or you're able to, you know, manipulate those rates and know the market and eventually, you know, win more shipments.

Chad: 00:12:12

Also I also think, you know, coming from, I don't think it's any secret that Brian, I came from TQ at this point but you almost take it from granted when you're at a company like TQL and you have access to endless data.

Chad Olafson: 00:12:25

Yeah.

Chad: 00:12:25

And endless support in back office that have analysts and know they crunch numbers and they can spit you back a very, very specific RFP that you will.

Justin: 00:12:36

Win with 30 minutes.

Chad: 00:12:38

Yeah.

Chad: 00:12:38

Companies like ADRL, now you have almost leveled the playing field for mid sized companies like us.

Chad: 00:12:44

Small to midsize I should say.

Chad: 00:12:46

But our whole mindset with technology is how do we leverage technology to do more with less headcount that's going to allow us to grow as opposed to just higher.

Chad: 00:12:57

Higher, higher.

Chad Olafson: 00:12:58

Yeah.

Chad: 00:12:58

We want to be very calculated and strategic with who we hire in terms of talent and then retain that talent but also use that technology to grow and give people the right resources.

Chad: 00:13:08

So you know, leveling the playing field allows companies like Veritas to do then go and compete with the big box brokerages out there.

Chad Olafson: 00:13:16

Yeah.

Chad Olafson: 00:13:17

And I think that every brokerage has to be mindful of like how do we grow, you know, 15% year over year without just hiring more and more people.

Chad Olafson: 00:13:28

I don't think the automation is like the end all be all for that but it should definitely be part of everyone's strategy and it should be an augmentation to the human at the end of the day we just want to help educate on our tools so that your brokers, your AES, your pricing team can get better at buying in the market relative to your costs in the market.

Speaker D: 00:13:49

Sure.

Chad Olafson: 00:13:50

And that was like why we took this whole approach of like I give you more at bats, I train you on the tooling, it's your strategy.

Chad Olafson: 00:13:57

And I think that that's like something that will always be core to AVRL because if we're going to work with multiple 3pls, multiple carriers, it has to be their strategy.

Chad Olafson: 00:14:07

It can't be like my strategy because I don't understand how you purchase relative to the market.

Justin: 00:14:13

Sure.

Chad: 00:14:13

I know you've had a lot of experience now like more so recently within transportation.

Chad Olafson: 00:14:17

Yeah.

Chad: 00:14:18

Not necessarily your background but clearly you're familiar with the industry.

Chad: 00:14:22

With work with so many companies.

Chad: 00:14:25

Twenty years ago, even when Brian and I started it was all cradle to grave.

Chad: 00:14:30

We're starting to see that take a backseat and get phased out almost what are your thoughts of the next 10 years?

Chad: 00:14:36

What does that look like in terms of how technology comes into play, but also still including that human factor, it's interesting.

Chad Olafson: 00:14:45

I think that.

Justin: 00:14:46

Get at that crystal ball, man.

Speaker D: 00:14:48

Yeah.

Chad: 00:14:48

You have to know the answers.

Justin: 00:14:49

Yeah.

Chad Olafson: 00:14:51

Cradle the Grave works exceptionally.

Speaker D: 00:14:54

Yeah.

Chad Olafson: 00:14:55

Exceptionally good.

Chad Olafson: 00:14:56

Exceptionally bad.

Chad Olafson: 00:14:57

I'll give Scott Friesen credit at Echo for that one because he's literally told me that.

Chad Olafson: 00:15:00

And I think it's so true though, like what ends up happening with Carol Grave models is like the broker or that like team ends up buying for their own pocketbook or like their own workload.

Speaker D: 00:15:12

Yeah.

Chad Olafson: 00:15:12

And there's a lot of opportunity that's left and everyone that we've seen enter in to like our tech that runs like a split model.

Chad Olafson: 00:15:20

There's obviously going to be a fight at some point.

Speaker D: 00:15:23

Sure.

Chad Olafson: 00:15:23

But if you look at the data relative, like you buy better with automation and a pricing team running it than a broker all day long.

Speaker D: 00:15:32

Yeah, yeah.

Chad Olafson: 00:15:33

The broker makes like a gut like react like just jerk reaction like, ah, California markets effed like.

Chad Olafson: 00:15:41

Well, no, what you did was you're.

Chad: 00:15:43

Allowed to cuss, by the way.

Chad Olafson: 00:15:44

Okay.

Chad Olafson: 00:15:45

I don't know, the last podcast that I was on, they were like, no cussing my grandpa watches.

Chad Olafson: 00:15:51

Feel free.

Justin: 00:15:52

Yeah.

Chad Olafson: 00:15:55

That'S like a can of worms that will open up.

Chad Olafson: 00:15:57

So I have to be a little bit careful.

Chad Olafson: 00:15:59

You and I both.

Chad Olafson: 00:16:00

No, but like when you look at like that model like someone's like, oh, California markets like completely trash.

Chad Olafson: 00:16:07

But maybe you booked a load that pulled on Ontario market rate, but it actually was Victorville, California zip and you dead headed 80.

Chad Olafson: 00:16:16

You had someone had a deadhead 80 miles up a mountain across the desert to get there.

Chad Olafson: 00:16:20

But the broker doesn't understand why the rate was generated that way.

Chad Olafson: 00:16:25

And so what ends up happening is you get this much more granular focus with automation and the data on it.

Chad Olafson: 00:16:32

So I think, I just think that the model has to shift at some point with more technology coming into play.

Chad Olafson: 00:16:42

I feel like it has to.

Speaker D: 00:16:43

Yeah.

Justin: 00:16:44

I think even when you're talking about the cradle to grave and even the broker's gut feeling to pull the trigger also has to deal with lead time or when that load was sent over or what the market is and when the holiday is coming up or whatever that looks like.

Justin: 00:16:58

So again, puts a lot of emphasis on, you know, the broker's experience, their gut reaction, your ability to manage decisions.

Justin: 00:17:07

And you know, sometimes, you know, I've done it a million times but make a bad decision.

Justin: 00:17:12

You know, when I'm in the driver's seat.

Chad Olafson: 00:17:13

So yeah, and like you look at like tql.

Justin: 00:17:15

Yeah.

Chad Olafson: 00:17:16

Like their model works for them.

Justin: 00:17:19

Yeah.

Chad Olafson: 00:17:19

And so I think that the model has to be worked for.

Chad Olafson: 00:17:22

Like it has to be built for that brokerage.

Chad Olafson: 00:17:24

And how it's going to run, I think going from curl to grave to split.

Chad Olafson: 00:17:29

We've watched some of our customers go through it and it's terrible until it's working and then it's good to take a brokerage like that though and to move it.

Chad Olafson: 00:17:39

I don't know if that's possible.

Chad: 00:17:41

I feel like even since Brian I started over four years, we would try one TMS upgrade, try one Rate tool upgrade, try this, try that.

Chad: 00:17:52

There are so many vendors I feel like that have continued to enter the space and not necessarily a bad thing, but what are your thoughts on that?

Chad: 00:18:02

Is that something that's going to continue?

Chad: 00:18:03

Is there just opportunity here?

Chad: 00:18:05

Why so many vendors?

Chad Olafson: 00:18:06

Why so many vendors?

Chad Olafson: 00:18:07

Focus on rate?

Chad: 00:18:09

No, just logistics in general.

Chad: 00:18:10

It's almost a dime a dozen.

Chad: 00:18:13

How do you see that evolving in the next few years?

Chad: 00:18:17

Is it going to get consolidated or are there going to be bigger players in the game?

Chad: 00:18:21

What's that look like, do you think?

Chad Olafson: 00:18:22

I think the bigger players keep getting bigger.

Chad Olafson: 00:18:25

I think what's going to end up happening is the barrier to entry is going to get harder and harder and harder.

Chad Olafson: 00:18:29

Right.

Chad Olafson: 00:18:29

So like every cycle you have new entrants that come in and then like people do get consolidated out, et cetera.

Chad Olafson: 00:18:36

I think one of the challenging things that exists is that when Covid happened and so much technology came into the space, a lot of that technology will get ripped out primarily because it drove cost to serve up, not down.

Chad Olafson: 00:18:52

And so what ends up happening is like the good technology that persists will stay, but it's going to end, like create a new baseline.

Chad Olafson: 00:19:01

And so if you want to come in and now work with Dollar General, there's no spot portal anymore.

Chad Olafson: 00:19:07

It's API.

Chad Olafson: 00:19:08

And guess what?

Chad Olafson: 00:19:09

They don't even support edi.

Chad Olafson: 00:19:10

You have the API tender.

Chad Olafson: 00:19:12

And so like what broker?

Chad Olafson: 00:19:14

Like you have to have a TMS to even work with them.

Chad Olafson: 00:19:17

Same with tjx, same with Bridgestone.

Chad Olafson: 00:19:19

So like what's ending up happening is like as the shipper shifts their technology structure, the broker has to like respond to that.

Chad Olafson: 00:19:27

What's going to end up happening, it's going to pull that industry up and then like I do believe it's going to be much harder to create new brokerages.

Speaker D: 00:19:34

Yeah.

Chad Olafson: 00:19:34

And so I don't necessarily know if There will be less of them.

Chad Olafson: 00:19:39

I think that the bigger players will continue to get bigger, but I think that there will just be less entrants that come in.

Justin: 00:19:46

Yeah, I mean, I think you mentioned it earlier, but I think that the brokerages that don't keep up or don't go with the tide on the technology side of it, I do think they're going to get left in the dust.

Justin: 00:19:55

I think there's going to be so many shippers that are out there that are going to acclimate towards the technology piece that if you don't keep up with it, you're going to be left out in the cold.

Chad Olafson: 00:20:03

Yeah.

Chad Olafson: 00:20:05

The strategy that you get to run with certain technologies is interesting.

Chad Olafson: 00:20:08

And I don't believe in automating everything.

Chad Olafson: 00:20:10

We've looked at customers who have tried to automate carrier sales and it's like one of the worst things you can do because you lose negotiations.

Chad Olafson: 00:20:16

And so you have to like definitely be strategic about what you want to automate what you don't want to automate.

Chad Olafson: 00:20:21

And that might be very specific to a company.

Chad Olafson: 00:20:23

Like, I'm not here to say that today every single company can be successful with automated spot bidding because they're not willing to like put the work in, then it's just going to fail and not work.

Chad Olafson: 00:20:33

But the companies who actually do it and put the time in and look at the data and then respond back to the data, they're ultra successful.

Chad Olafson: 00:20:40

But at some point every single company is going to have to do it.

Chad Olafson: 00:20:45

And so what a better time to learn digital quoting freight than a down market?

Justin: 00:20:50

Because you get more free time.

Chad Olafson: 00:20:51

It's more free time.

Chad Olafson: 00:20:52

But like, think about, like in an inflationary market trying to adjust your rates and never have tried it before, right?

Chad Olafson: 00:21:00

You lose money on the table, you buy a shipment, you don't just lose a little bit of money, use a lot of money on it.

Chad Olafson: 00:21:05

Like, right.

Chad Olafson: 00:21:06

There's a lot of problems.

Justin: 00:21:07

I had a friend of mine who worked at C.H.

Justin: 00:21:09

robinson for hell 15.

Justin: 00:21:11

I think it was like 18 years.

Justin: 00:21:13

And one of the things that he said, and we talk every now and then, probably once a year or so, but he said, and I thought it was pretty good as far as the sentiment, but it's not only the technology, it's the people behind the technology that are pulling the triggers, pulling the levers, figuring out which way to go.

Justin: 00:21:30

And so I think, yeah, I mean, I don't think technology is going anywhere.

Justin: 00:21:35

Also, how do you implement the right people behind it to pull those levers in?

Justin: 00:21:39

The right fashion.

Chad: 00:21:40

Some of these young bucks coming in to.

Justin: 00:21:41

They know it.

Chad: 00:21:42

I mean they're wizards.

Chad: 00:21:43

They know how fast they pick it up.

Justin: 00:21:45

We, we had an intern that literally came in hell six weeks ago and picked up our TMS in like three days.

Chad Olafson: 00:21:52

Yeah, yeah.

Justin: 00:21:52

And we're like, hold on.

Justin: 00:21:53

Like all you need to do is watch YouTube videos and you got it.

Justin: 00:21:56

We're good here.

Justin: 00:21:57

Like no, I just get it.

Justin: 00:21:59

But no, but yeah, he's great.

Justin: 00:22:01

Dude's great.

Chad: 00:22:01

But I want to.

Chad: 00:22:02

Did you have one more thing?

Chad Olafson: 00:22:04

My only like comment that I was going to make is that technology, like is this constant evolution.

Chad Olafson: 00:22:10

And I think that yeah, like a lot of younger people grew up with technology and so yeah, it may be easier to adopt.

Justin: 00:22:17

Yeah.

Chad Olafson: 00:22:17

But I do believe that each broker will have to focus on analytics, like moving forward.

Chad Olafson: 00:22:23

Like it doesn't mean every broker has to be an analyst.

Speaker D: 00:22:26

Sure.

Chad Olafson: 00:22:26

But I do believe that they have to be able to read data, interpret data, transform that data into act like tend to action.

Speaker D: 00:22:34

Sure.

Chad Olafson: 00:22:34

And what we are seeing with our customers is they almost run like a carrier sales strategy meeting for the automation every week and literally go through the data.

Chad Olafson: 00:22:42

And what do we want to adjust and what do we foresee happening?

Chad Olafson: 00:22:45

That doesn't mean foresee happening.

Chad Olafson: 00:22:46

With seasonality, trends can also be what's the weather impacts going to happen?

Chad Olafson: 00:22:50

What's this, what's this, what's this?

Chad Olafson: 00:22:52

And those customers who like just start to make that part of the culture, then all of a sudden it's just, it's part of it.

Chad Olafson: 00:22:59

It's not this like forced thing that you have to do and someone gets mad because you lost money on a load.

Chad Olafson: 00:23:05

Like let's go and look at why that was the case.

Chad Olafson: 00:23:07

This is definitely an underlying reason.

Speaker D: 00:23:10

Sure.

Chad: 00:23:10

I want to shift more so because I'm curious and fascinated by a few things.

Chad: 00:23:16

I've never really seen anyone throw a one line sentence on LinkedIn and generate so much activity.

Chad: 00:23:25

So we know you're well connected in the industry.

Chad: 00:23:28

We've met it several times, connected at some events.

Chad: 00:23:31

But I want to talk about avrl, the culture you've built and what's next for you all.

Chad: 00:23:37

And I'd like to start with more.

Chad: 00:23:39

So like your approach on not really marketing, not broadcasting the name the brand all over social media.

Chad: 00:23:49

Where's that thought process come from?

Chad: 00:23:52

Because it's clearly successful.

Chad: 00:23:53

And where did you learn that?

Chad Olafson: 00:23:56

I don't know where I learned it.

Chad Olafson: 00:23:57

When we were coming into transportation, we started looking at transportation, we started looking at companies that work in freight technology.

Chad Olafson: 00:24:05

And what was constantly happening was one company would say that they would do it, and then like, a couple weeks later, all of the companies were marketing that way.

Chad Olafson: 00:24:13

And we're like, wow, this could be terrible for us if we marketed what we're trying to do, because all we're going to do is breed competition.

Chad Olafson: 00:24:20

Now, there's a couple of things that happen if I don't advertise really hard to sell against me.

Chad Olafson: 00:24:24

If I don't talk about what we're doing, who we're doing it with, it's harder to sell against me.

Chad Olafson: 00:24:29

And so as we started to see it actually work, we were like, wow, we should double down and go, like, deeper into this.

Chad Olafson: 00:24:38

Like, almost like an exclusive network that we run in.

Chad Olafson: 00:24:42

But when I started writing, I'm pretty outspoken.

Chad Olafson: 00:24:47

And when I started writing on LinkedIn, people started texting me.

Chad Olafson: 00:24:51

And what a lot of people don't see about LinkedIn is like, I'll write this post and it will get 0 likes, and I'll get 50 people that text me.

Chad Olafson: 00:24:59

Like, important people in the industry that text me.

Chad Olafson: 00:25:01

And, like, I love that.

Chad Olafson: 00:25:02

Like, keep doing that.

Chad Olafson: 00:25:03

And so I was starting to realize, like, oh, shoot, it has nothing to do with the engagement.

Chad Olafson: 00:25:07

Has everything to do with, like, as long as I, like, just keep pushing, like, pushing what I think other people will connect with me on, like, a different level.

Chad Olafson: 00:25:16

And it was never about avrl.

Chad Olafson: 00:25:19

I think the moment that I start, like, just posting about avrl, I just, like, lose all of.

Chad: 00:25:23

I don't think.

Chad: 00:25:24

I think I've ever seen you post about.

Chad Olafson: 00:25:26

I think the only time I've ever post about avrl is, like, you know, we file a patent.

Chad Olafson: 00:25:29

I'm, like, just pumped for my team.

Chad Olafson: 00:25:31

we, you know, we land on Inc: 5000

Chad Olafson: 00:25:35

Like, it's easy to get on there one time, two times, three times, like, four times harder.

Chad Olafson: 00:25:40

And so, like, stuff like that where I want my team to see, like, I'm proud, but we actually share a lot internally.

Chad Olafson: 00:25:46

Like, we'll have a customer that wins their, like, you know, 10,000th load with the automation.

Chad Olafson: 00:25:51

They send us, like, this internal note that gets broadcast internally.

Chad Olafson: 00:25:54

And so a lot of, like, our messaging that we have isn't, like, pushed out.

Chad Olafson: 00:26:00

It's pushed, like, in.

Chad Olafson: 00:26:02

And what we're trying, like, the culture that we're trying to, like, drive at avrl is I, like, I want to win.

Chad Olafson: 00:26:09

Like, we don't want to lose.

Chad Olafson: 00:26:10

Like, we want to win.

Speaker D: 00:26:11

Yeah.

Chad Olafson: 00:26:12

And we Also believe that technology is massively underserved in transportation, and it goes back to the change management piece.

Chad Olafson: 00:26:20

Like, if a broker doesn't like technology, they won't adopt it, and then it fails.

Chad Olafson: 00:26:25

And I think that there are probably some great technology companies that have come into the space and they got fizzled out or it failed not because the technology was bad.

Chad Olafson: 00:26:33

They just couldn't get it adopted in the industry.

Chad Olafson: 00:26:36

And so what we want to do is, like, we actually want to elevate the industry with more sophisticated tools.

Chad Olafson: 00:26:42

So we have some competitors in the space that we, like, won't mention.

Chad Olafson: 00:26:45

But, like, a lot of times they're trying to dumb down their tech to meet the broker.

Chad Olafson: 00:26:48

It's not what we should do.

Chad Olafson: 00:26:49

We should educate the broker to be better at using more complex technologies.

Chad Olafson: 00:26:53

So if we dumb down the problem, then that doesn't serve anyone.

Justin: 00:26:58

No, it doesn't.

Justin: 00:26:59

I mean, two things there.

Justin: 00:27:01

I love the fact that you said we just had a broker that won their 10,000th shipment and we won 10,000ths.

Justin: 00:27:06

That's tough.

Speaker D: 00:27:07

10,000?

Chad: 00:27:08

I'm not even a 10,000.

Justin: 00:27:10

They want a lot of shipments.

Justin: 00:27:11

They want a milestone.

Justin: 00:27:14

Yeah, yeah, A milestone of shipments.

Justin: 00:27:16

And you broadcast that internally, where you're happy for your customer success because you know that's only going to breed a higher level of client retention.

Justin: 00:27:25

That's awesome.

Justin: 00:27:26

And also, you know, from an employee perspective or a culture perspective, getting all the people or getting the education piece and we talked about a little bit earlier, but educating the broker.

Chad Olafson: 00:27:39

Right?

Justin: 00:27:39

And like, when you talk about, oh, the broker brings in a techno or some tech vendor, they're spending a couple grand a month and then they.

Justin: 00:27:47

Well, they don't use it.

Justin: 00:27:48

Like, oh, we never really used it.

Justin: 00:27:50

Well, whose fault is that?

Justin: 00:27:51

Right?

Justin: 00:27:51

To me, that's the tech vendor.

Justin: 00:27:53

They need to educate the broker to use their technology to have a higher level of client retention.

Chad Olafson: 00:27:59

Well, like, I'm gonna be speaking at TIO Technovations with three of our customers, and the session is change management.

Justin: 00:28:07

Nothing.

Chad Olafson: 00:28:07

And I like, wrote to tia.

Chad Olafson: 00:28:08

I was like, look, this is not talked about.

Chad Olafson: 00:28:10

This, like, literally we go to, like, all these events, these technology events, or like TIA or like freight waves, and everyone's just like, it's like a billboard for that company, you know?

Chad Olafson: 00:28:19

And I was like, I don't want to talk about avrl.

Chad Olafson: 00:28:21

I don't want to talk about the companies.

Chad Olafson: 00:28:23

Like, what's the shit that you have to go through to get, like, the technology implemented?

Chad Olafson: 00:28:27

Because it sucks.

Speaker D: 00:28:28

Sure.

Chad Olafson: 00:28:29

Once you get it Implemented as part of the culture, then it's great.

Chad Olafson: 00:28:32

And so I think the industry just needs to spend a lot more time talking about change management and like real conversation.

Chad Olafson: 00:28:38

Like it sucks to get your, your, your account stripped from you because you're like, what the hell?

Chad Olafson: 00:28:44

I'm like good at buying, Like I'm good at winning freight here.

Speaker D: 00:28:47

Yeah.

Chad Olafson: 00:28:47

And it's not the problem.

Chad Olafson: 00:28:49

The problem is, is that we need to like, we need to be bidding as like a company.

Chad Olafson: 00:28:54

Like not like you here and you here and you here.

Chad Olafson: 00:28:58

It's like what's our strategy for our entire organization and moving it forward.

Justin: 00:29:04

So Justin and I know about change management, but dumb it down a little bit.

Justin: 00:29:08

What does change management mean for the listeners that are out there?

Chad Olafson: 00:29:11

Change management.

Chad Olafson: 00:29:13

So I think that there maybe is like multiple meanings for change management.

Chad Olafson: 00:29:16

What it means for me is like the change from like one process to another.

Chad Olafson: 00:29:23

I use like spot bidding as an example.

Chad Olafson: 00:29:25

Forever the account rep has been responsible for bidding on freight.

Speaker D: 00:29:30

Yeah.

Chad Olafson: 00:29:31

And a company that you guys know like all too well.

Chad Olafson: 00:29:33

The very first time I met with the Procter and Gamble team, they were like walking us through the process and I was like, why don't you use the competitors rates on that portal?

Chad Olafson: 00:29:42

And he was like, there's no competitors rates on that portal.

Chad Olafson: 00:29:44

And I'm like, click on settings, click here, click here, click here.

Chad Olafson: 00:29:49

And then all of a sudden the new column appeared and it had all of their competitors rates on it.

Chad Olafson: 00:29:53

He had no idea because he had adopted that portal from the person who had that account before him.

Chad Olafson: 00:29:58

And so what ends up happening in a lot of brokerage is like your knowledge transfer.

Chad Olafson: 00:30:02

Like.

Chad Olafson: 00:30:02

Yeah, like knowledge is power and transportation for sure.

Chad Olafson: 00:30:05

And there is like a massive like amount of knowledge that these brokers have.

Chad Olafson: 00:30:10

Yeah.

Chad Olafson: 00:30:11

However, you only know what you were trained to know or what you've learned from the market.

Chad Olafson: 00:30:16

The benefit that we have is I work with 50% of the top 103 PLs.

Chad Olafson: 00:30:22

Yeah.

Chad Olafson: 00:30:22

I literally will tell you like what to do or what we want to like help you, educate you on is like what we think is best, what we've seen.

Chad Olafson: 00:30:29

But the change management is like going from one process to another.

Chad Olafson: 00:30:33

It doesn't just happen overnight.

Chad Olafson: 00:30:48

There has to be like effort that's put into it and it has to stop from start from leadership.

Chad Olafson: 00:30:54

Has to be like, this is the model that we're going in now.

Chad Olafson: 00:30:57

And I don't want to say that there's like a ton of weak leaders in transportation, but there's a ton of weak leaders in transportation.

Chad Olafson: 00:31:02

Like, they decide to buy and then they don't, like, they don't do the work to like to at least try it.

Justin: 00:31:12

Well, I think it's hard.

Justin: 00:31:13

I think it's hard to implement that.

Justin: 00:31:14

And they're gonna.

Justin: 00:31:15

They're gonna get met with friction and resistance from their team.

Justin: 00:31:18

And they don't wanna have those conversations.

Justin: 00:31:20

They don't wanna go in and say, hey, listen, I know the way that you've been doing it for the past three years has worked and you're doing well, but we're gonna do this.

Justin: 00:31:27

How much friction will that happen?

Justin: 00:31:29

Especially with a top earner, a top broker, like, hey, listen, I get it, but we're actually going to move to this direction.

Chad Olafson: 00:31:35

Oh, my gosh.

Chad Olafson: 00:31:36

I was so.

Chad Olafson: 00:31:37

Do you know Dave Broning at nfi?

Speaker D: 00:31:39

No.

Chad Olafson: 00:31:40

He was a CH guy, Brilliant, like really smart guy.

Chad Olafson: 00:31:43

And I've spent a little bit of time with him.

Speaker D: 00:31:45

Yeah.

Chad Olafson: 00:31:45

And we had this dinner that was around like, TIA or something.

Chad Olafson: 00:31:50

And he.

Chad Olafson: 00:31:51

We were like, talking about like some of the most challenging things that they have done.

Chad Olafson: 00:31:54

And he was like, I've had to fire some of my best earners because they are not willing to adopt technology or not adopt the new processes that we need.

Chad Olafson: 00:32:04

And that takes like, massive kahunas to like, do that.

Chad Olafson: 00:32:07

Yeah, but it's what's best for NFL.

Justin: 00:32:09

A lot of courage.

Chad Olafson: 00:32:10

Yeah, but I posted about this on LinkedIn and I got so much flack.

Chad Olafson: 00:32:16

They were like, oh, people are weak leaders.

Chad Olafson: 00:32:18

If you're getting rid of like, your like, top employees.

Chad Olafson: 00:32:21

Cause you can't, like, you know, you're not leading them in a way that's done.

Chad Olafson: 00:32:24

There are definitely people in this industry that are like, no, I'm not gonna change.

Chad Olafson: 00:32:29

And sometimes change management is like doing what's best for your organization long term.

Justin: 00:32:33

Got it.

Chad Olafson: 00:32:33

And going through these, like, process changes in order to do what's best for your company long term.

Chad Olafson: 00:32:38

Not like current situation.

Justin: 00:32:40

Now we talk about all the time.

Justin: 00:32:41

But like cradle to Grave to, you know, POD model or, you know, the split model.

Justin: 00:32:46

It's like, how do we make this change?

Justin: 00:32:48

When do we do it?

Justin: 00:32:49

You know, we were born and raised on Cradle to Grave.

Justin: 00:32:51

Right.

Justin: 00:32:51

So that's all we know.

Justin: 00:32:53

But how do we make that change in the future?

Justin: 00:32:55

And when do we do that?

Justin: 00:32:56

When do we rip the bandaid off?

Justin: 00:32:58

It's hard.

Justin: 00:32:59

So even for us, change management is something that, you know, we talk about very, you know, pretty often.

Chad: 00:33:04

Well, it's also, you know, you're always going to have tough conversations.

Chad: 00:33:08

We've had plenty of them, especially with change in technology or processes.

Chad: 00:33:13

But communication is one thing that we can control.

Chad: 00:33:17

So being upfront about those changes that are on the horizon and laying out the blueprint on the process, the timeline, what's going to look like, how it's going to impact that individual, those things we control.

Chad: 00:33:28

So as long as you're not blindsiding employees, and at the end of the day, if they're not on board, that's tough.

Chad: 00:33:33

Yeah, but we did our part.

Chad: 00:33:35

We gave them a reason why we're making that change and how it's going to impact the company.

Chad: 00:33:39

And if that's not a pill they can swallow, then spit it out.

Chad Olafson: 00:33:43

And sometimes, like, when we look at transportation, you guys fight, like, a lot of factors.

Chad Olafson: 00:33:47

Right.

Chad Olafson: 00:33:47

Like, is our payment model appropriate?

Chad Olafson: 00:33:50

Right.

Chad Olafson: 00:33:51

Like, you start automating, like, spot.

Chad Olafson: 00:33:52

Like, who gets paid for that?

Speaker D: 00:33:53

Sure.

Chad Olafson: 00:33:54

You know, but what ends up happening is, like, a lot of, like, split models, appointment scheduling, like, who prioritizes.

Chad Olafson: 00:34:01

Is Walmart more important than Costco?

Chad Olafson: 00:34:03

Because one's getting scheduled for all the time.

Chad Olafson: 00:34:05

Right.

Chad Olafson: 00:34:05

And, like, if your top earner expects that or they're paying, you know, an employee, an employee more revenue or, like, more percentage of their salary, like, that becomes really difficult.

Chad Olafson: 00:34:18

And so maybe it's not just like the change of communication, the change of transformation, but maybe a lot of things have to change with the implementation or the movement of the future of freight.

Speaker D: 00:34:30

Sure.

Chad: 00:34:31

One unique thing before we ever decided to move forward with avrl is the conversation.

Chad: 00:34:38

We had one with Becca, but also Madison, where you all were so clear about the expectations and what the process would look like, where I almost felt like you were trying to convince us not to work with you.

Chad: 00:34:54

Is that something that's in your all's tool belt?

Chad: 00:34:57

Because we were.

Chad: 00:34:58

We heard the expectations, but we were.

Chad Olafson: 00:35:00

Fully on board in: 2021

Chad Olafson: 00:35:04

We brought on customers that we had no right bringing on.

Chad Olafson: 00:35:08

They literally would come on and had four accounts and we charged them, like, a ton of money.

Chad Olafson: 00:35:13

And it was like, we.

Chad Olafson: 00:35:15

We didn't know that the industry was cyclical.

Chad Olafson: 00:35:17

So we didn't know, like, the strategy would change.

Chad Olafson: 00:35:19

We didn't know that there wouldn't be volume in certain accounts like this.

Chad Olafson: 00:35:22

Something that we had to learn.

Speaker D: 00:35:23

Yeah.

Chad Olafson: 00:35:24

And my entire goal at this point is, like, if someone signs on to avrl, we're gonna give it our, like, best shot for it to be successful and give them the tools to be successful.

Chad Olafson: 00:35:36

But we need Them to also believe that they're going to do everything.

Chad Olafson: 00:35:42

And to be honest, like, when I had Rebecca talk to you, I was like, scare the shit out of them.

Chad Olafson: 00:35:45

They still want to go, awesome, let's go.

Chad Olafson: 00:35:47

And we literally have this conversation all the time because automation, the amount of effort that goes into automation from both sides is a lot.

Chad Olafson: 00:35:57

And the last thing that I really want someone to do is pay me money.

Chad Olafson: 00:36:00

And then like, what?

Chad Olafson: 00:36:00

We just don't work together.

Chad Olafson: 00:36:01

And I'm like, wow, thank you for wasting your time, your money.

Chad Olafson: 00:36:05

And like, we are left with nothing because this should be a long term relationship.

Chad Olafson: 00:36:10

And we're like, yeah, there's going to be days that are shit and there's going to be like times where like, we lost money on this load.

Chad Olafson: 00:36:17

Why?

Chad Olafson: 00:36:17

Like, let's go look at that.

Chad Olafson: 00:36:20

But if we've never had that conversation up front, then I kind of look like I'm scamming the industry and I don't want to be like that.

Justin: 00:36:27

Yeah, I love that.

Justin: 00:36:28

I mean, you, you mentioned a little bit earlier, but I think why, why spend the time and energy, even through the implementation process, to jump through all these hoops and then you're not going to keep the client over 12 months or 24 months.

Justin: 00:36:41

It doesn't make sense.

Justin: 00:36:41

And I love that part of it.

Chad Olafson: 00:36:43

Yeah, I think that's something that we've had to learn, but it's something that's like 100% in our tool belt now.

Chad Olafson: 00:36:49

Like, you talk to us, we're going to be like, do we, like we actually have in meetings internally, do we think that this company could be successful with us?

Chad Olafson: 00:36:56

Yes.

Chad Olafson: 00:36:57

No.

Chad Olafson: 00:36:58

We, we've told companies like, maybe go try out another vendor if it works, like, maybe it could work with us.

Chad Olafson: 00:37:04

Sure.

Chad Olafson: 00:37:05

But you have to have like the appetite to be like, we want to do this if we're going to do it.

Chad Olafson: 00:37:11

We have customers that have seen like insane results.

Chad Olafson: 00:37:13

We have a customer that increased net new shipment down by 300% and they're monstrous.

Chad Olafson: 00:37:18

And it can do great things, but it takes a lot of work and I just want people to be aware of that.

Chad Olafson: 00:37:24

And so Rebecca was like a key part.

Chad Olafson: 00:37:27

Like if I called you and I was like, justin, you know, you gotta like think about this.

Chad Olafson: 00:37:32

You're not gonna receive it the same way.

Chad Olafson: 00:37:34

But Becca's been in that seat before.

Chad Olafson: 00:37:37

She's used our technology as a customer on that side, worked with brokers.

Chad Olafson: 00:37:43

She knows what it actually takes and what you need to be thoughtful of.

Chad Olafson: 00:37:46

She's the best person for that.

Speaker D: 00:37:48

Yeah.

Chad: 00:37:48

Well, your team's uber talented, so, you know, props to you and your leadership team.

Chad: 00:37:53

It's been a great experience.

Chad: 00:37:54

We're looking forward to the partnership.

Chad: 00:37:55

Love what you're doing for the industry as a whole.

Chad: 00:37:58

Where can people find you?

Chad Olafson: 00:38:00

You can find me on LinkedIn.

Chad: 00:38:01

One liners on LinkedIn.

Chad Olafson: 00:38:03

No, I think.

Chad Olafson: 00:38:04

I mean, if you, like, go to our webpage, there's an email.

Chad Olafson: 00:38:08

This is like email@ABRLIO.

Chad Olafson: 00:38:11

I don't actually know what it is.

Chad Olafson: 00:38:12

If you do Anything@ABRLIO, it'll probably end up on my desk.

Chad Olafson: 00:38:17

We have, like, a unique model.

Chad Olafson: 00:38:19

Like, I spend time with most of our customers and it's primarily just to understand, like, what's happening in the market.

Chad Olafson: 00:38:24

Like, where are pitfalls?

Chad Olafson: 00:38:25

Where can we get better at product?

Chad Olafson: 00:38:26

Like, where can we get better at understanding, like, the tools that we need to build?

Chad Olafson: 00:38:30

We're in, like, this constant evolution.

Chad Olafson: 00:38:33

And so my leadership team is, like, at the forefront.

Chad Olafson: 00:38:36

File a ticket.

Chad Olafson: 00:38:37

CEO is going to see it, and we'll, like, push it to a product owner.

Chad Olafson: 00:38:40

I think we have to be like that because of, like, this tech becomes, like, super crucial to someone's operations.

Chad Olafson: 00:38:46

Right.

Chad Olafson: 00:38:46

Like, if it touches revenue.

Speaker D: 00:38:48

Yeah.

Chad Olafson: 00:38:48

It's important.

Chad Olafson: 00:38:49

So, yeah, that's great.

Chad: 00:38:50

Well, Chad, we seriously appreciate you coming in town.

Chad: 00:38:53

Maybe see at Technovations.

Chad Olafson: 00:38:54

Yeah, Technovations for sure.

Chad Olafson: 00:38:55

I'll be like, I'm going to speak at McLeod event.

Chad Olafson: 00:38:58

Trimble Insight, Technovation, Inland Distribution.

Chad Olafson: 00:39:01

Like, literally four weeks.

Justin: 00:39:04

That's what it's about.

Chad: 00:39:05

Chad, we appreciate it.

Justin: 00:39:06

Yeah, thank you, guys.