Transcripts
Welcome back to Unboxing Logistics.
Speaker:It's 2026.
Speaker:Can you believe it?
Speaker:I cannot believe it.
Speaker:This is amazing.
Speaker:Really excited for this upcoming year.
Speaker:All of the numbers are starting to trickle in from our past peak season.
Speaker:I'm really in the height of my nerdiness, loving to check
Speaker:out what happened, what went right what, what went wrong.
Speaker:And you will be getting all of that data really soon.
Speaker:So stay tuned for that.
Speaker:I'm Lori Boyer, as you know, your host here at Unboxing Logistics.
Speaker:Today we are kicking 2026 up with a really important topic that is really,
Speaker:I think, critical to the success of your business anywhere you are in
Speaker:the logistics and shipping industry.
Speaker:Honestly, in any role, in any position, in any portion of if you're a carrier
Speaker:or a shipper, if you're a mailer, if you're anything, this topic is for you.
Speaker:We are gonna be talking about how this industry is still a people industry.
Speaker:Relationships are massive in this industry and can honestly
Speaker:make or break your success.
Speaker:So I have brought on two of the best motivational, inspirational,
Speaker:getting us kicked off and ready and excited to know how to make sure our
Speaker:relationships are perfect in 2026.
Speaker:I've got Marty and Fahim from AYM High Consultants.
Speaker:Welcome, gents.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:We are so excited to be here.
Speaker:So excited.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:I would love for you to introduce yourself.
Speaker:Tell us each, give us just a minute or two, your background.
Speaker:And then I would love, one thing that we're doing here on the podcast is we,
Speaker:and this is perfect for our episode, we like to shout out other people that we
Speaker:really admire in the industry, someone you've worked with and tell us why.
Speaker:So let's start with Marty, and then we'll go to Fahim.
Speaker:Tell us who you are, your background a little bit, and
Speaker:who you admire in the industry.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Who I admire.
Speaker:Now that is a, that's a big, that's a big ask, but I can
Speaker:think, so I can think of someone.
Speaker:My name is Marty Johnson.
Speaker:I've been in this industry since the early nineties.
Speaker:I know it's weird 'cause I look 25, but I'm not, but I've been
Speaker:in it since the early nineties.
Speaker:My parents had shipping stores for about 20 years.
Speaker:I opened the first one in 91.
Speaker:I was a young teenager.
Speaker:So I worked with them for a long time, ended up managing
Speaker:three locations for them.
Speaker:And I went to school, I did other jobs here and there, all that.
Speaker:And they retired and sold their businesses.
Speaker:And at the time I said, nope, no thanks.
Speaker:I don't want 'em, I'm done.
Speaker:I'm gonna do something else.
Speaker:And I ended up doing consulting in this industry in the Independent
Speaker:Mail and Parcel Center, is what it was called at the time.
Speaker:And I ended up working for the association of what was
Speaker:called the Association of Mail and Parcel Centers at the time.
Speaker:When I was there, I we changed to the Association of Mail and
Speaker:Business Centers because we realized that this industry has shifted.
Speaker:It's not just shipping, shipping, shipping at a shipping store anymore, but we're
Speaker:becoming full on business centers with printing, with all their services.
Speaker:And then when I was there, I decided that, hey.
Speaker:I know what I'm doing when I run a shipping store.
Speaker:So I opened my own and I had my own for 13 years in Ithaca, New York.
Speaker:And I sold that at the end of 2023 and semi-retired.
Speaker:And now, 10 days later, Fahim my brother from another mother, my dear friend, my
Speaker:colleague, someone with whom I worked for many years, about 10 years off and
Speaker:on, and just have a, an incredible bond
Speaker:with, he and his wife, Seema, and their son Yusef,
Speaker:and another colleague and I started AYM High Consultants.
Speaker:And we now are able to coach specifically in the print mailbox shipping industry and
Speaker:help other stores go from good to great, add a new service, bring on a new thing.
Speaker:We also go to conferences.
Speaker:We speak, we present, we teach classes, we train.
Speaker:So that's a real quick of where I came from.
Speaker:Who I admire, and Fahim, forgive me, but I'm not gonna pick you even
Speaker:though I do admire you so much.
Speaker:But that might be a little too easy.
Speaker:But I'm gonna pick Seema, who is Fahim's wife,
Speaker:other half, and support behind Fahim, and she's our third colleague now.
Speaker:It's down to the three of us coaches at AHI Consultants.
Speaker:So she's number three, but she's number one, you know what I'm saying?
Speaker:Like she's the glue that holds us together.
Speaker:She is a problem solver, a solutions provider.
Speaker:She is the voice of reason that we need a lot of times.
Speaker:We're all three of us are dreamers, all three of us are doers, but she is the
Speaker:rock and the kind of the litmus test.
Speaker:So when we're working on something, she is she's who we put things up against
Speaker:and she's yes or no, or this makes more
Speaker:sense, or whatever.
Speaker:Seema
Speaker:is that support.
Speaker:And that's a role I think in any business that's so important.
Speaker:You need the checkers and you need the pushers,
Speaker:absolutely.
Speaker:I love
Speaker:that.
Speaker:We all need a Seema in our business.
Speaker:It,
Speaker:I need it in my own life too.
Speaker:I can be a dreamer sometimes, and I've got some of my team members who will
Speaker:push back and say, okay, Lori let's think realistically here for a minute.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:That's who Seema is.
Speaker:So I'm gonna say Seema
Speaker:she's a dear friend of mine.
Speaker:She's a colleague.
Speaker:She is a rock and a mentor to me, and without her, none of
Speaker:us would be where we are, so.
Speaker:That's awesome.
Speaker:Okay, Fahim.
Speaker:I'm Fahim Mojawalla and I've been in this industry officially for about 20 years.
Speaker:I'm the co-owner with
Speaker:my wonderful wife, Seema, as you heard so much
Speaker:about, my rock and my better half for, I have Island Ship Center in
Speaker:Grand Island, New York, one of the three top spotlight stores for the
Speaker:FedEx authorized Ship center program.
Speaker:And we started with a, a garage and a dream, and a FedEx authorization
Speaker:number, and a fax machine.
Speaker:And 20 years later here we are.
Speaker:I met Marty in 2015 in Vegas
Speaker:at a trade show, and Seema actually met him in
Speaker:a class and connected us together and was like, you have to meet this guy.
Speaker:He's just like you, but he is like from a different place and it's just it's
Speaker:like your brother from another mother.
Speaker:That's exactly what she said.
Speaker:And I was like, it can't be true.
Speaker:There's nobody who has this much energy as I do.
Speaker:And lo and behold, I, it was like looking in the mirror.
Speaker:From a different side of that mirror.
Speaker:We are really, we're brothers from another mother.
Speaker:We connected in 2016 really, and for 10 years we've been coaching together,
Speaker:we've been growing together, we've been mentoring together, we have been loving
Speaker:life together, we've been traveling together, and it just felt right.
Speaker:Because I made so many mistakes the first 10 years of not doing
Speaker:it correctly, not having a mentor, not having a coach, not having
Speaker:direction.
Speaker:So when Seema came on board in 2013,
Speaker:2014, she said, we have to turn this business around.
Speaker:You're not making any money.
Speaker:And I made no money for 10
Speaker:years.
Speaker:And of course, Seema, once again, she was
Speaker:the one who made us go to Vegas.
Speaker:And she's she approved that purchase.
Speaker:We closed our store for one week.
Speaker:We came back and we did everything that we were supposed to do, we implemented
Speaker:all of the strategies, which 97% of the people don't do, and we grew our business.
Speaker:And in 2019, we were awarded one of the top three spotlight
Speaker:stores from FedEx in the country.
Speaker:And we were invited to the FedEx hub.
Speaker:And we have a great connection with FedEx and we do, of course, UPS
Speaker:and Postal Service in our store.
Speaker:Having done that as Marty said, we started AYM High
Speaker:consultants, January 10th, 2024.
Speaker:We've just been assisting others, and the greatest joy is really
Speaker:being honored by these stories of these store owners who implemented
Speaker:our strategies and are soaring.
Speaker:That brings us the greatest joy.
Speaker:I just received four different text messages from end of the year,
Speaker:updates from our store owners.
Speaker:We have a hundred percent success rate.
Speaker:Any client that we take on, really we assist them until they get to
Speaker:that excellence level and beyond.
Speaker:And who I really admire.
Speaker:What's my force?
Speaker:Interestingly are Dub and Cindy Johnson, Marty's parents.
Speaker:Who are mentors, they're one of the greatest
Speaker:joys for me and for Seema was when I finally,
Speaker:I we knew each other out through Facebook and interactions, but we officially met in
Speaker:September of 2023 when they came to visit us at an event that was hosted at our
Speaker:place through the Association of Mail and Business Centers, and they both came and I
Speaker:was able to travel with them and ride with them in their car and go to the parking
Speaker:area and take them to Niagara Falls.
Speaker:It was one of the greatest joys of my life.
Speaker:And then have dinner with them.
Speaker:And talk about their stories, their struggles, and what
Speaker:people see now as their success.
Speaker:They told me about what it took to get there.
Speaker:Going from manual labor, manual processes, to automation, to selling three stores,
Speaker:to raising someone like Marty and beyond.
Speaker:It's a joy to witness them.
Speaker:I wish them long lives, great blessings, and they
Speaker:continue to inspire Seema and me and hundreds
Speaker:and thousands in this industry and beyond.
Speaker:Oh.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:That was so inspirational.
Speaker:I just wanna say there were a few things that stood out for me.
Speaker:First.
Speaker:I love that the two of you met at a trade show.
Speaker:Trade shows are so important.
Speaker:I'm gonna actually throw in, I have a link, I think of all
Speaker:the trade shows that'll be at this year, meeting other people.
Speaker:Is huge and I I've worked in other industries and our
Speaker:industry is really unique in that relationships are really critical.
Speaker:I also love how the importance.
Speaker:Of those relationships the love, the mentorship really was more important.
Speaker:Even though Fahim, you shared an incredible success story in your
Speaker:business, turned around and you made all this money, but it wasn't about, wow.
Speaker:Then I bought a new jet ski, then I got this.
Speaker:It was about the people and it was about the relationships.
Speaker:And honestly we all know when it comes down to it, at the end of the
Speaker:day, that's really what's important.
Speaker:And we're gonna be talking about that.
Speaker:But of course.
Speaker:Having great relationships.
Speaker:The best thing is it's like a good, happy side on both sides of the coin.
Speaker:Having great relationships also leads to better businesses, also leads to
Speaker:improved efficiency and functionality.
Speaker:And really we're gonna talk about that today.
Speaker:What does it mean to create a really people-focused business?
Speaker:And how do you do it in a way that makes your business more successful?
Speaker:Doesn't hinder from that.
Speaker:So I wanna let's sit back just a minute and I'm gonna
Speaker:throw this question to Marty.
Speaker:How would you define maybe I wanna talk about, I see a lot of people say
Speaker:our industry is very transactional.
Speaker:We're going numbers, we're shooting out, printing our stickers our mailing
Speaker:things we're, you go into a warehouse and you can just see packages just flying by.
Speaker:We're a very numbers and transactional kind of industry.
Speaker:So your message is that really this should be a relationship based industry.
Speaker:What does that mean?
Speaker:What is the difference between relational based and transactional based?
Speaker:Absolutely relational based means that you see that client or guest and Fahim and I
Speaker:do not use the word customer often, okay?
Speaker:'Cause customer is a very transactional word.
Speaker:Someone gives you money and you give them a service.
Speaker:It's a done deal.
Speaker:A relationship or a client.
Speaker:A client or a guest.
Speaker:A guest is someone you welcome into your space, right?
Speaker:You treat them differently than just someone off the street.
Speaker:And a client is someone with whom you have a relationship that you
Speaker:do business over and over again.
Speaker:So we try to use the words guest and client.
Speaker:Can I just ask really quick, so Fahim, I'm gonna ask you, Fahim, what is the
Speaker:importance of the way you call them.
Speaker:What is the importance of the words, I guess?
Speaker:The importance of the words are essential because transactional
Speaker:is one time, and relationship is time and time again consistently.
Speaker:So client
Speaker:and guest is an ongoing relationship.
Speaker:When they are a guest, it it we take it from Disney, be our guest.
Speaker:Put our service to the test.
Speaker:Why do they say that?
Speaker:It's basically from the book Michael Eisner's book about be our guest.
Speaker:Marty gifted it to me and we went to town with it.
Speaker:I just wanted to mention one thing about what you were saying.
Speaker:In 2023, and feel free to use it if you wanna give me credit.
Speaker:I coined a phrase about this.
Speaker:With Marty and with Seema in at our event, and
Speaker:I said, it's full of alliteration.
Speaker:Relationships reap real results regardless of recessions.
Speaker:And I didn't know what type of time.
Speaker:Relationships reap real results regardless of recessions.
Speaker:Do you love it?
Speaker:I love it.
Speaker:I love it.
Speaker:And we go to town with it because.
Speaker:I didn't know that two years later we would be coming down to uncertain
Speaker:financial and eco economic times.
Speaker:And when that happens, it's, it could be seen as an obstruction or an opportunity.
Speaker:Two of my words for 2026 are opportunity and generosity, and
Speaker:that's all through relationships.
Speaker:If I use the word customer in our building, everybody knows from my
Speaker:team that it's a onetime done deal.
Speaker:I don't like that person.
Speaker:We put notes on it and we spell it with an O, like costumer.
Speaker:He or she costs us money to do the service.
Speaker:So it's a onetime thing.
Speaker:Please let them go.
Speaker:They are welcome to go elsewhere.
Speaker:Interestingly enough when we send them elsewhere, they don't get
Speaker:the service that they do here.
Speaker:So my team comes first.
Speaker:Our guests are second.
Speaker:That's another thing we do.
Speaker:So if someone is not treating our team well, then they go from the
Speaker:guest to the customer category.
Speaker:Ah so Marty, that simple paradigm of switching the way you're viewing
Speaker:people that you're interacting with now as this kind of two-way
Speaker:relationship, you're both getting something out of this relationship
Speaker:instead of just my customer's paying me and I get money and they're gone.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So that's your first step, is that what you were saying when it comes to
Speaker:building a relationship based bu business?
Speaker:It is, yeah.
Speaker:And Fahim said it better than I could, but it's all about seeing someone's value.
Speaker:Not at the current sale, but their long-term value.
Speaker:So we always try to get our clients and our team members to think about
Speaker:a person as creating an advocate for your business, not just making a sale.
Speaker:We want to take someone.
Speaker:We had a good mentor, Sarah, who taught a class years ago, and she said, we want to
Speaker:go from satisfied guest to loyal advocate.
Speaker:So we want, we don't want someone to just be satisfied with service.
Speaker:We want them to be so blown away with the service that they receive.
Speaker:Shipping is a very transactional, traditionally.
Speaker:It's mundane.
Speaker:It's just like I gotta ship something.
Speaker:Ugh, I gotta go to that counter and they're just gonna be
Speaker:rude to me, the whole thing.
Speaker:But when you pivot that and you make it an experience that they're not
Speaker:gonna forget and treat them great, give them a cookie, you just have
Speaker:a great experience that they love.
Speaker:They're gonna go out and tell all their friends and family, wow, I just
Speaker:had a great time shipping a package.
Speaker:Or printing a printing, or whatever it was.
Speaker:And it really, it takes your business from here to like way beyond.
Speaker:Because people are then talking about it and people are coming in to
Speaker:experience what you have to offer.
Speaker:How do you get staff, so for instance, on board with this?
Speaker:I could, I know, I can just see I have 20 something kids who may be
Speaker:working jobs and rolling their eyes and being like, this is so cheesy.
Speaker:I don't care about this person.
Speaker:Especially if it's like a part-time how do you get
Speaker:everybody bought into this vision?
Speaker:Our number one role is hire the smile, train the skills, hire
Speaker:the smile, train the skills.
Speaker:So it's, it starts with who you bring on board, right?
Speaker:And it, personality has to be number one, heart authenticity,
Speaker:care has to be number one.
Speaker:You're not gonna hit the nail on the head every single time.
Speaker:And another thing is you have to be okay with letting someone go early on
Speaker:if you just know they're not a good fit.
Speaker:Which is a struggle for me and something that I did not always succeed at.
Speaker:But I think that is the most important thing, like an
Speaker:authentic staff is so important.
Speaker:It also comes down to treating your team members correctly.
Speaker:Paying them well, giving them just whatever they need and respecting
Speaker:them, empowering them, allowing them to have a part of the business that
Speaker:they own in the, in regards that like they, they're allowed to make decisions
Speaker:there and you are empowering them to do you're not micromanaging them so much.
Speaker:And these are not things that I'm inherently good at.
Speaker:These are lessons I've learned over the years.
Speaker:I caught a few little things there that I'm gonna share and then Fahim, I wanna
Speaker:hear if you have anything to add to that.
Speaker:But first, start at the hiring process.
Speaker:I loved the, I think you said hire for the smile train with the skills.
Speaker:I am a huge believer on that one.
Speaker:I hire people from my team.
Speaker:I am looking for the right fit, the right personality, the right way of
Speaker:thinking, the right in my specialty, it's research and are you curious and
Speaker:are you, that can't be trained as easily.
Speaker:But then also that willingness to let people go when they're
Speaker:not a good fit, which is hard.
Speaker:And then the third piece being that really it has to start with
Speaker:you being authentic yourself.
Speaker:And I think that is sometimes a key.
Speaker:That's another area where I will get people just rolling their eyes oh, we
Speaker:have these company values that nobody really follows and so Fahim, is
Speaker:there more that you would add to that?
Speaker:Seema and I try to lead by
Speaker:example.
Speaker:And we have a six month probation for anybody that we hire.
Speaker:And it's basically to see if not just if they're a good fit,
Speaker:but if they like what they have.
Speaker:We have a very different specific, awesome culture, but there's a
Speaker:lot of demand on that culture.
Speaker:So from the top down, we've gone through 14, 15 different people
Speaker:over the past five, six years to find the right team members.
Speaker:And I just completed another interview before this recording.
Speaker:For a new team member that will be onboarding in January.
Speaker:And we hired for the smile, we hired for the mindset, we hired
Speaker:for the willingness to learn.
Speaker:So there's six qualities that we go over.
Speaker:Hunger, being hungry, humble, coachable.
Speaker:That's from Mr. Lencioni's book.
Speaker:And then from Warren Buffet.
Speaker:Three for Warren Buffett, intelligence, integrity, and enthusiasm.
Speaker:And if you have all six, everything else can be taught in any industry.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:If you take these six things, I look for it in my potential son-in-laws.
Speaker:I look for it in my existing daughter-in-law.
Speaker:I look for it in this is, it's a beautiful thing and it, because
Speaker:we're talking about relationships, it applies to life as well, Lori.
Speaker:Can you say those six things one more time so that we make sure we don't miss them?
Speaker:What are the six characteristics when you are hiring?
Speaker:These are the six things you need to be looking for.
Speaker:So being hungry, humble, coachable, having integrity, enthusiasm, and intelligence.
Speaker:I love it.
Speaker:What are some ways that you can look and identify these?
Speaker:Are there questions you use that are like secret tools?
Speaker:I know one thing for instance, that I ask is I'll say, let's say you've come
Speaker:upon this problem what would you do?
Speaker:What is your process to see if they're, how their critical thinking skills might
Speaker:be in terms of the hungry, are they going out and trying to find solutions?
Speaker:That kind of stuff.
Speaker:Do you have any tips for people?
Speaker:How do you identify that they have some of these characteristics?
Speaker:We do, and I'm going to refer to Marty, and I'm also gonna just plug
Speaker:in for anybody who wants to get them.
Speaker:We, for our coaching clients and even people who reach out to us,
Speaker:we have a whole interview list that Marty made at his store and they
Speaker:can reach out to a at aymhigh.com.
Speaker:Contact us and get a free list of interview questions
Speaker:when you're interviewing.
Speaker:One of the ones that I really love is Marty's gonna elaborate on it, about what
Speaker:happened on the way to the interview and how they got there, and how to assess the
Speaker:positivity or negativity of the person.
Speaker:Go ahead, Marty.
Speaker:I was just gonna say that's one thing.
Speaker:The first thing we say is, how was your trip in?
Speaker:And that tells you everything you need to know.
Speaker:That's the interview right there.
Speaker:Essentially, they will either be like, oh, it was great.
Speaker:It was a beautiful day and I sat next to this lovely person on the
Speaker:train, or I did this, or whatever, or or they'll be like, oh, traffic
Speaker:was terrible and I woke up late.
Speaker:And their attitude in response to that simple question before they think the
Speaker:interview was actually started, because the interview has actually started, really
Speaker:is your litmus test to how they are gonna interact with you, with your other team
Speaker:members and with your guests and clients.
Speaker:And that is really it.
Speaker:It's very simple, but that will tell you most things you need to know.
Speaker:Smart.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:Okay, so we've hired good people.
Speaker:Now, let's pretend we're having a day when everything hits the fan.
Speaker:Okay?
Speaker:How do we work in a relationship-based business?
Speaker:So if we are focused on relationships, but we are super stressed out,
Speaker:right, some bad things are happening, everyone's under pressure.
Speaker:What?
Speaker:What should that look like in a people first, relationship based business?
Speaker:I would say that you, regardless of what's going on,
Speaker:you need to remain authentic.
Speaker:So from my experience, I have, I've had those days I've had tons of those
Speaker:days, and there have been times when I have, I've lost it emotionally
Speaker:in front of my team, in front of my guests, in front of my clients.
Speaker:I am I remember distinctly one time I was just, I don't even remember what
Speaker:was going on because it really doesn't matter now, but I just started crying.
Speaker:I was trying to help somebody, the thing, and I'm just there.
Speaker:And they were just like stop.
Speaker:They give me a big hug.
Speaker:And they were like it's gonna be okay.
Speaker:And we can act, we can put on our customer service face as someone said one time.
Speaker:Which is important in a lot of times, but honestly, a little transparency with and
Speaker:I'm sorry, I just need to take a beat.
Speaker:Can you wait a minute?
Speaker:I need to collect myself in the bathroom and come back.
Speaker:And I've done that a number of times as well, when things are really bad.
Speaker:Stress management is not easy for everybody.
Speaker:And people have different things that complicate that.
Speaker:But being willing to say, hey, I need to take a beat.
Speaker:I need to go, just go step back into my office for a minute or two.
Speaker:This is also where having a team come in is essential that they can
Speaker:pinch hit for you when they need to.
Speaker:But for many years, both of us, we ran our businesses solo.
Speaker:We didn't have a full team.
Speaker:And once you have a team, you realize what a blessing it is.
Speaker:But before that, sometimes you just need to I've locked the door at
Speaker:times because I just needed a minute.
Speaker:It's okay to take a minute.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:I can't say how much I love that.
Speaker:The authenticity, the willingness to be vulnerable, to not try to
Speaker:seem like you have it all together.
Speaker:To me, it seems that it would open up and create an environment
Speaker:where other people can share.
Speaker:Fahim, do you have anything to add to that?
Speaker:Open communication, mutual respect, empathy, and collaboration.
Speaker:For example, it happened yesterday, one of our newer team members misdirected
Speaker:or mislabeled a package that was supposed to be in an envelope for FedEx.
Speaker:It was a pack.
Speaker:And all these things.
Speaker:So after the fact, we explained the entire situation to her privately,
Speaker:my wife and I, and explained to her that, look, this was a $20 mistake,
Speaker:quote unquote, on the front side of it.
Speaker:It cost us $3.
Speaker:I took $5 from the tip jar, and I said.
Speaker:XYZ member, I paid this for you.
Speaker:Next time, it just goes out from your pocket, but it's not gonna happen.
Speaker:This is not gonna happen next time.
Speaker:This is how we train our team.
Speaker:Marty has an amazing 80% rule.
Speaker:When you hire people that are able to do 80% of what you're able to
Speaker:do, that's a great team member.
Speaker:It's okay for them to use their best judgment and even be wrong at times,
Speaker:because overall, in the aggregate picture, it makes your business look phenomenal.
Speaker:If you are not on the same page with your team in front of your guests, your
Speaker:business is not gonna look stellar.
Speaker:And a lot of business owners make this mistake.
Speaker:They wanna correct their team member in front of the guests.
Speaker:You never do that.
Speaker:Always compliment in public, correct in private.
Speaker:Compliment in public, correct in private.
Speaker:I really like that.
Speaker:That's fantastic.
Speaker:Where do you see the kind of our biggest gap areas, the areas
Speaker:where it's most tempting to fall into kind of transactional
Speaker:behavior instead of relationship?
Speaker:Are there certain kind of danger spots that we should keep an eye out for?
Speaker:I think the biggest place where I would fall into that
Speaker:is when you just get so busy.
Speaker:When your orders are coming in, when your line is building up, when things are so
Speaker:hectic that you just wanna bang 'em out.
Speaker:And that's, that is transactional.
Speaker:And in our talk about relationships and transactions, we don't
Speaker:wanna dismiss a transaction.
Speaker:Without transactions, we have no business, right?
Speaker:We need the money, we need the cash flow, we need all that.
Speaker:But we're, what we're talking about is treating a person or a client
Speaker:just for the money they give you, not for the value they have long term.
Speaker:But it is very tempting when you're so busy to just not give your full attention
Speaker:and not fully understand their situation.
Speaker:What has allowed the independent mail-in shipping store to really
Speaker:thrive in 2025 and 2026, when there are so many options online to ship
Speaker:all these things and just drop it off?
Speaker:The way that the stores that are still doing very well with counter
Speaker:shipping is because they are, they know their clients and they know
Speaker:exactly who they're sending it to.
Speaker:They know exactly what they need, and they take time to have a discussion with
Speaker:them and then suggest the best method.
Speaker:A lot of independent shipping stores have DHL, FedEx, UPS, postal, all
Speaker:these different options in one place.
Speaker:Versus being at a carrier counter where you only have one option.
Speaker:And the magic there is that you can have a discussion with that
Speaker:person and guide them to the best option for their needs and budget.
Speaker:And that's truly outstanding.
Speaker:But if you don't take time to have that conversation and you just say, okay, your
Speaker:cheapest option is this, or whatever is this, you're not building a relationship.
Speaker:So I think the danger of getting intrinsic into transactional thinking is when
Speaker:you are too cluttered up in here, or cluttered up in here, and you don't take
Speaker:the time to understand your client's needs before you suggest an option to them.
Speaker:How do you balance that approach of taking time, talking to customers,
Speaker:making it special with speed that we know in our industry is go.
Speaker:And I stood in long lines to send a package, and you're balancing
Speaker:this customer experience a speed versus personal approach.
Speaker:How do you figure out Fahim a good way to balance that or
Speaker:to know if you're doing well?
Speaker:Two words, pricing and sorting guests.
Speaker:So we have an internal, it's almost like a CRM.
Speaker:Each guest has notes.
Speaker:We have notes on a lot of our guests that come in.
Speaker:So if they're
Speaker:diamond level, then Seema and I will take care
Speaker:of that person personally.
Speaker:They usually have a card on file.
Speaker:We have a third station dedicated towards our diamond level and
Speaker:our frequent drop off clients.
Speaker:Those are the people that my team knows to direct to one of the two owners and
Speaker:then we engage them in conversation.
Speaker:It's very important to have efficient systems in place.
Speaker:Most stores have been doing this.
Speaker:A lot of the veteran stores have been doing this over 10 years and
Speaker:they haven't invested in systems.
Speaker:The other thing, Lori, is that they're so type A that they're not
Speaker:willing to let go.
Speaker:They, Seema and I parent our kids.
Speaker:We have five children.
Speaker:Three of them are valedictorians, the older three in their, each
Speaker:individual chosen field, right?
Speaker:I'm from I'm South Asian.
Speaker:I'm from India, but I'm very atypical Indian.
Speaker:We did not expect our kids to be a doctor, lawyer or an engineer,
Speaker:or fall into a particular trap of their careers, chosen career.
Speaker:We let them find their way and we allowed them to make small mistakes
Speaker:so that they wouldn't be big ones.
Speaker:The greatest fear that store owners have is when it gets really busy, oh,
Speaker:one of my team members is gonna mess up in estimating and lose the transaction.
Speaker:Guess what?
Speaker:What if you yell at that person in a moment of anger and that team member
Speaker:walks away from your entire store?
Speaker:What then?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Oh, I absolutely.
Speaker:It is so true.
Speaker:And I love, I wanna point out something you said there again,
Speaker:for everyone listening in our unboxing logistics family, we
Speaker:have people across the industry.
Speaker:And many of those are ecommerce stores as well, and shippers, and
Speaker:making sure that you have different approaches to different customers.
Speaker:That was something Fahim mentioned there, is that you've got your
Speaker:diamond customers and they're not customers, your guests and your clients.
Speaker:Yes, you've got your diamond level guests and clients, and you need to make
Speaker:sure that they may be treated slightly differently than somebody who maybe just a
Speaker:one time person who's come and gone and same thing if you're having people who are
Speaker:abusing return policies or there's, you don't have to have a one size fits all.
Speaker:I think that's so important in every relationship.
Speaker:Obviously Fahim, you and I need to shout, I have seven kids, so we are
Speaker:the parents rocking it here, but every child has a different approach from me.
Speaker:Because it's different needs, different situations, and seeing them as people
Speaker:and as individuals is critical.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:This conversation is going so fast and I'm sad because we need to wrap
Speaker:up already and I feel like you.
Speaker:I have one thing to say on this though.
Speaker:Go, Fahim.
Speaker:Go.
Speaker:Really important.
Speaker:I wanna end it with this.
Speaker:And because people are gonna listen to us and they're gonna be like, this is
Speaker:great and you've got all this energy and you're talking about relationships,
Speaker:but do you actually make money?
Speaker:Let me just share with you, Starbucks, American Airlines now turning it around.
Speaker:Delta Airlines, right?
Speaker:Apple.
Speaker:You wanna talk about relationship business?
Speaker:So American Airlines is now turning it around.
Speaker:They're they realize that what Delta and United has done since 2015, they've
Speaker:gone relationship based with their first class, premier diamond levels.
Speaker:Hilton and Marriott.
Speaker:Once again, all the people who are paid to play, who are high level
Speaker:clients, their transactions have gone through the roof much higher than if
Speaker:they were just transactional based.
Speaker:When you get into their rewards category, that's what we're
Speaker:trying to suggest to people.
Speaker:Your mailbox clients or your ecommerce clients, get them
Speaker:into a subscription base.
Speaker:Treat them like royalty, like specials and they will continually give you
Speaker:results on a residual income basis.
Speaker:Much higher transactions than if you were just transactional based.
Speaker:That's what I wanna hit home.
Speaker:Love it.
Speaker:And you know what?
Speaker:We live in a world right now, sadly, where there are so many
Speaker:negative interactions in the world.
Speaker:There is so much negativity.
Speaker:There is, there's just so much out there that's so toxic that, that
Speaker:different experience of feeling like these are my people, these are people
Speaker:who are treating me well who think of me as a person and not as a number.
Speaker:It can be a massive differentiator for your business.
Speaker:It can be a massive differentiator for your team that you
Speaker:may have in a warehouse.
Speaker:It can be a massive differentiator for why your culture is different.
Speaker:And it does lead to success.
Speaker:Marty, any final words you have as well?
Speaker:Yeah, no I say amen to everything that's been said.
Speaker:We've been talking a lot about your team members and just we just differentiate
Speaker:customer from guest and client.
Speaker:We don't say employees, we say team members.
Speaker:And that is also an important distinction.
Speaker:You've gotta respect them.
Speaker:And I had a rule in my business that everybody vacuums I vacuum, you
Speaker:vacuum, we all clean the toilet.
Speaker:Like we all do these things.
Speaker:Like I am not on some upper echelon over here.
Speaker:And then you're down here doing the no, we are partners in a team
Speaker:and I would frequently refer to them as my coworkers, not my employees.
Speaker:Or my team members.
Speaker:So I think just sometimes just a switch in your vernacular switches your mindset.
Speaker:Then you can really start soaring from there.
Speaker:Words matter.
Speaker:I'm a word person.
Speaker:I've been a writer forever.
Speaker:But small shifts in words, that's when you read newspapers, if you
Speaker:see ads, one word can totally make a change in how you're seeing something.
Speaker:And that's something I'm hearing from you, Marty, over and over,
Speaker:is we need to change the way that we address and refer to people.
Speaker:That could be step one.
Speaker:Everyone who listens knows me.
Speaker:I say, pick a thing.
Speaker:What is one thing you're going to do today?
Speaker:We had a conversation.
Speaker:We had a huge list.
Speaker:Marty and Fahim can probably write a book.
Speaker:They probably will, but.
Speaker:I'm working on one.
Speaker:Exactly one thing, one thing that you're gonna implement in 2026.
Speaker:Research shows it again and again.
Speaker:If you think you're gonna do 272 things, you'll end up doing zero.
Speaker:So pick one.
Speaker:Pick one thing from our conversation today.
Speaker:Apply it.
Speaker:Actually start doing it and you will see your business.
Speaker:So thank you so much again for being here.
Speaker:I'm gonna have to have you come back because I have so many more questions.
Speaker:How do we scale this?
Speaker:How can we do on a big stage?
Speaker:What do we do when you don't have people bought in?
Speaker:So we'll have to have you back another time, but this has been really fun.
Speaker:Love to.
Speaker:Thank you so much for the opportunity and the honor.
Speaker:We would love to come back.
Speaker:We are so grateful.
Speaker:How could people get in touch with you if they're interested?
Speaker:Are you on LinkedIn?
Speaker:Yes, we are, we're in LinkedIn.
Speaker:Everything is at AYM High Consultants on Instagram, Facebook,
Speaker:LinkedIn, and go to aymhigh.com and our contact is right there.
Speaker:They can reach out to us as well.
Speaker:These two are fantastic.
Speaker:AYM by the way,
Speaker:AYM spelling.
Speaker:But these two are fantastic.
Speaker:I know that they're willing to answer questions just to,
Speaker:and to get to know people.
Speaker:They really believe about these relationships, that they're critical.
Speaker:They practice what they preach.
Speaker:So thank you again, and we will see everybody next time.
