Using a Podcast to Create Relationships with Freight Agent Dave Gulas

In this episode of Everything is Logistics, Blythe speaks with Dave Gulas, a former pharmaceutical sales executive who co-founded EZDC 3PL, an e-commerce fulfillment company. Dave talks about pivoting to the logistics industry during the COVID-19 boom, partnering with SPI Logistics as a freight agent, and the value of networking and building relationships. He also offers insights into his content marketing strategy and the impact of his "Beyond Fulfillment" podcast.


QUOTES:

• "If you just start and keep showing up, good things are gonna happen. And that's really the secret. If you want even call that a secret. And so I just decided to do it and kept doing it. And now we have a real podcast, we've dropped 38 episodes and have a bunch more recorded and continue to book more." - Dave Gulas on persisting with his podcast
• "You really never know where they're going to come from, or wet. Or right, it's got to be the right time as well, right? It's got to be the right, the right fit at the right time. So the more you can be visible out there with your online presence. And for me, it's through the podcast, or it's being a guest on a podcast like this." - Dave Gulas

LINKS:

• EZDC 3PL
• Beyond Fulfillment Podcast
• David's LinkedIn
• David's Twitter
• David's Website

WATCH THE FULL EPISODE

---------------------------------------------

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!


Are you experienced in freight sales or already an independent freight agent? Listen to our Freight Agent Trenches interview series powered by SPI Logistics to hear directly from the company's agents on how they took the leap and found a home with SPI freight agent program.


Tai TMS is designed to streamline your brokerage operations and propel growth for both FTL and LTL shipment cycles. Book a demo with the Tai team today and tell them Everything is Logistics sent you.

Trimble is transforming the way the world works through industry leading solutions that reduce cost and maximize productivity. Learn more about Trimble Technology here.


Digital Dispatch maximizes your #1 sales tool with a website that establishes trust and builds rock-solid relationships with your leads and customers. Check out our website services here.

Transcript

Dave Gulas: 0:05

I mean I think it just boils down to like real customer service, like a pharmacy, and they're a part of the community and they're dealing with all the people that need, you know, medicine's urgent right. People have to get this stuff. So when you give them your word that this is going to go and it's going to be there tomorrow, you know you need to follow through on that. And then we saw so many people just if they didn't have a certain volume or they weren't the biggest company or they weren't considered what was a good customer by, you know, certain 3PLs. They just were getting second-class service.

Dave Gulas: 0:37

So you know, with our industry, coming from pharma, you really can't survive if you don't give exemplary customer service. So that's all we know. And we were even told by some consultants very early on when we were learning about the 3PL world, like not to give personal service and not to accept smaller accounts below a certain threshold, and that just you know. We don't do business that way. I mean we value customers customers, the lifeblood of any business and we know that even some of the biggest companies start small and everyone has to start somewhere. So we don't look down on shippers if they, you know, if they're not already established or they don't have a certain package volume.

Blythe Brumleve: 1:22

Welcome into another episode of Everything is Logistics, a podcast for the thinkers in freight. We are proudly presented by SPI Logistics and I am your host, Blythe Brumleve. We've got another great show for you today because I'm happy to welcome in Dave Gulas. He is the president and co-founder of EZDC 3PL, an agent for SPI Logistics, and also, as if he doesn't have enough on his plate, he's a podcast host of Beyond Fulfillment. So, Dave, welcome to the show.

Dave Gulas: 1:47

Hi, Blythe, great to be here. Thank you for having me.

Blythe Brumleve: 1:50

Absolutely. Now I always like to get people's background into how they joined the logistics industry, because it's typically not through going to college. It's somebody from. Somebody else refers you, or a family member refers you. So what's your story? How'd you get into logistics?

Dave Gulas: 2:09

Oh boy, so I've been in sales my whole career, my whole adult life. I've always been in sales in some capacity and for much of that time I was in the medical and the pharmaceutical industry and then gradually worked my way up in terms of sales, sales management into an executive role at a small business, and that involved a lot of logistics. Just in terms of it was a distributor model, so just constantly buying and selling product and you're selling to independent pharmacies, so everything's urgent, everything's going overnight. You're dealing with small business owners and things go wrong all the time. So constantly dealing with the logistics end of it being out in the warehouse did this come in? It's got to go turn it right around and go out here. And you know pushing the warehouse workers to receive stuff quicker and get it out quicker, and constantly being involved. And then you know dealing with the salespeople too, to help them get their deals. You know consummated and you know just constantly juggling all those balls.

Dave Gulas: 3:12

And in late 2022, a good friend of mine from the industry and I we saw a big gap in the market just numerous e-commerce shippers that we knew were having a lot of problems with their 3PL and you know, I always, I see it was often because of the whole COVID boom. You know, there was a big imbalance of supply and demand where, you know, the big e-commerce spike, and a lot of people, like smaller people, got pushed out or just weren't getting the right service. There was a lot of complacency. So we saw an opportunity and we had space and we said you know, why don't we just open up an e-commerce 3PL? Because we think our brand of customer service from the pharma industry, which is going the extra mile, high touch, always being available, late ship, cutoff times, all that type of thing could translate well and we could carve out a nice niche. So we jumped in and did it and, yeah, 18 months later or so, here we are.

Blythe Brumleve: 4:16

Oh, that's amazing. So you probably, because from a lot of companies I've spoken to they talk about sort of the COVID was like the line of demarcation and so they had one business plan before COVID but you were, and then they have another one after COVID and so you kind of took advantage of you know what the new market sort of looks like. How do you think your pharmaceutical experience helped you with the launch of the new company? I mean, you mentioned problem solving is just really at the core of that and trying to get those shipments on time and communications. Am I oversimplifying?

Dave Gulas: 4:55

it. No, I mean, I think it just boils down to real customer service Because, like a pharmacy, and they're a part of the community and they're dealing with all the people that need you know, medicine's urgent right People have to get this stuff. So when you give them your word that this is going to go and it's going to be there tomorrow, you know you need to follow through on that. And then we saw so many people just if they didn't have a certain volume or they weren't the biggest company or they weren't considered what was a good customer by, you know, certain 3PLs. They just were getting second-class service.

Dave Gulas: 5:31

So you know, with our industry, coming from pharma, you really can't survive if you don't give exemplary customer service. So you know, that's all we know. So that's all we know. And we were even told by some consultants very early on when we were learning about the 3PL world, like not to give personal service and not to accept smaller accounts below a certain threshold, and that just you know. We don't do business that way. I mean we value customers customers, the lifeblood of any business and we know that even some of the biggest companies start small and everyone has to start somewhere. So we don't look down on shippers if they're not already established or they don't have a certain package volume.

Blythe Brumleve: 6:14

I love that because, as we're mentioning COVID, there were so many small businesses that got started up. When people are working from home, they have maybe a little bit of extra time and so they can start those side hustles, and so it sounds like maybe a lot of your customers are some of the smaller to midsize, or I guess maybe give us a sense of what your customer makeup is. Is it mostly pharmaceuticals? We mentioned e-commerce, so what kind of falls under that umbrella for you?

Dave Gulas: 6:44

Yeah, it's all e-commerce with the 3PL side. So it's refreshing to not have to get a license for everywhere you want to ship, like in pharma. So, yeah, it's all e-commerce and it's a variety of things, from apparel to beauty, to nutritional supplements, to home goods, various things like that. And, yeah, we, things like that. And yeah, it's we. We work with startups. You know, some are just getting out there and then some are established and have high, high package volumes as well. So it's a mix of them and we we just want to make sure it's the right opportunity for us. But we're, you know, we're very open to talking to people, even if they're not established companies.

Blythe Brumleve: 7:23

And so, as you know, I was listening to your conversation with Kevin over at the New Warehouse podcast and you mentioned that switching I think your words were switching 3PLs is such a pain in the butt for e-commerce companies. I think I'm paraphrasing a little bit there. But why is it such a pain in the butt for, you know, some of these companies to switch their providers? What are they experiencing that's causing them to switch?

Dave Gulas: 7:50

Well, it's ironic too, because most of our customer base have come from another 3PL that they haven't been happy with. So yeah, I mean it's just a hassle, just like moving at home, right, you have to move all your stuff from one place to another. It's a hassle, it's expensive and we've even seen it firsthand to where you know the outgoing, the old 3PL, just kind of boxes their stuff up like they don't care and, you know, just shoves it out the door. And you know us, as the new 3PL, have a mess on our hands. So we've seen that happen.

Dave Gulas: 8:25

So you know no one wants to leave a warehouse. You know it's a big deal. But at the same time you know people, their business is everything to them, so they want to be with and as 3PLs we are an extension of that brand's business. I mean that's a very serious responsibility. So you know we want to make sure that we treat them properly, we treat them with most respect and all the orders go out on time and if there's a problem we deal with it promptly. And again, we don't. You know, granted, right there, you want to be efficient and you want to have processes in place to make sure everything can run smoothly, in the best way possible. But even for customers that aren't at the highest you know package volume, we still treat them the same way we treat our largest customers. So we treat every customer with respect and we want to make sure their issues are solved as quickly as possible.

Blythe Brumleve: 9:23

Now for you, for your company. It sounds like a lot of it is from reading your website. It's mostly sort of warehouse fulfillment based as three PL services. Is that accurate?

Dave Gulas: 9:34

Yeah, yeah. So usually brands will rent space in our warehouse and then we'll connect to their Shopify or whatever platform they're on, and then the orders will flow in and we'll fulfill.

Blythe Brumleve: 9:46

Are you, I guess, able to see sort of market fluctuations happening within your own you know sort of DC centers where you know how it's affecting, you know Shopify customers or Shopify shippers?

Dave Gulas: 10:01

You know it's, we're a young company, so we're still, you know, growth and I mean we've seen big sales over the weekends and it's. It's not really the market as a whole, it's just really customer specific. So, uh, you know we're still. We're still kind of in a very um, uh what's the way I would describe it Just very much in a growth mode. We're continually onboarding customers and getting everything set up and getting their orders out the door and up and running, and it's really just the individual customers how they operate their business, what we see.

Blythe Brumleve: 10:37

What does, I guess, sort of a typical onboarding process look like when you have a new customer? Is it setting up the shipments from their old 3PL provider to the new locations? What does that onboarding process look like for them?

Dave Gulas: 10:53

Well, yeah, I mean, every customer is different.

Dave Gulas: 10:55

So we just want to make sure we have a thorough understanding of their business, of their process, and make sure we both have clear expectations about what the relationship is going to be like and we let them know our process and what we need from them. And we want to know any special things that they do, you know, for their orders. Sometimes people have a special note that needs to be printed out and included with the order or taped onto to a piece of product and whatever it is. So we just want to make sure we have a thorough understanding of that and what the projected volume is, any specific sales they're doing and anything else that's important to them, and we want to make sure we give them everything they need to run their business successfully and not have to worry about the fulfillment.

Dave Gulas: 11:44

And that's really the biggest value that we offer, because also, too, we deal with brands that are fulfilling in-house and then they reach a certain point where it's time to outsource fulfillment and we've seen firsthand where people say, wow, thank you so much, I have so much more time, so much more freedom and you guys are doing a great job. I don't have to think about packing orders and go into the post office every day and all this, or, you know, I don't have to manage employees in the warehouse type of thing. So you know, we, we just want to make sure that we do our part to make that fulfillment process as seamless as possible for the brand.

Blythe Brumleve: 12:25

Are you in freight sales with a book of business looking for a new home? Or perhaps you're a freight agent in need of a better partnership? These are the kinds of conversations we're exploring in our podcast interview series called the Freight Agent Trenches, sponsored by SPI Logistics. Now I can tell you all day that SPI is one of the most successful logistics firms in North America, who helps their agents with back office operations such as admin, finance, it and sales. But I would much rather you hear it directly from SPI's freight agents themselves. And what better way to do that than by listening to the experienced freight agents tell their stories behind the how and the why they joined SPI agents tell their stories behind the how and the why they joined SPI. Hit the freight agent link in our show notes to listen to these conversations or, if you're ready to make the jump, visit spi3plcom. What do you think has been the biggest learning curve since starting your company?

Dave Gulas: 13:21

You know, we really thought from pharmaarma and there was a lot of great experience. We really thought we knew logistics pretty well and then getting into an actual e-comm 3PL, you realize how much you don't know, um, so it's just just really having to learn fast and, um, you know, talk to a lot of different experts and there's so much collaboration that goes on within logistics because there's so many different facets of it and you can't be an expert in everything. So we've been able to just network very well and partner with a lot of different experts we need for various aspects of it and really just trying to learn and then execute as quick as possible and then obviously judge the feedback and adjust wherever we need to.

Blythe Brumleve: 14:09

And so, during that time frame, when did you decide that? Because, as you're leaning on experts and things like that, when did you decide that you wanted to become a freight agent?

Dave Gulas: 14:21

Well, so when people hire us for the e-comm fulfillment right, they often just like outsourcing the logistics Whenever the freight comes along with that. They want us to handle that too, which is fine. And I didn't really know a lot about freight coming in and you know, I mean I like, not like the back end of it, right? So people would say, hey, I need, you know, these pallets move from point A to point B, can you help me out? And so what happened?

Dave Gulas: 14:49

At first that I would go out to other freight brokers and several times it was just not, uh, not happy with the service and different aspects of the transaction. And then one time in particular, the customer was very upset based on the service and I just that was like a light bulb for me. Customer was very upset based on the service and I just that was like a light bulb for me, like, wow, this can't happen. Right, I have to find a way to really be able to control the customer experience and facilitate this in a way where I know that you know I can impact, that, you know people aren't getting back and stuff's not there and no one knows what's going on, that type of thing.

Dave Gulas: 15:23

So Joe Lynch actually he introduced me to the guys over at SPI and I found out about their agent model and it just was the perfect fit, because me, as a salesperson, I'm always just obsessed about creating a positive customer experience so I can be customer facing and do all the follow-ups that need that's needed. And then SPI has such a an incredible network, uh, and support system where they they have a team of experts and they handle all aspects of the transaction and they give their agents so many tools to to be successful. So it just seemed like the perfect fit and, uh, you know, as soon as I found out about that, I just, you know, I pursued the opportunity and here we are.

Blythe Brumleve: 16:05

Oh, that's amazing. So you didn't actually like you know, maybe you didn't know what you don't know, I guess. And so, because of a referral from you know, shout out to Joe Lynch, great podcaster, the Logistics of Logistics, which I believe you are. By the time this episode releases, that episode that you have with Joe Lynch will be out, um, so we'll make sure to include that in the show notes in case people want to to go give it a listen, cause he's one of my, my favorite podcasters, former guests on on the show too. Um, but that's interesting that that, joe, was the sort of the, the referral for you to go to SPI, cause I, I take it, you, you maybe didn't know, like what to look for, what to search for online in order to solve that problem for yourself.

Dave Gulas: 16:48

Yeah, not at all. And a funny thing about Joe too when I first, when we first opened up and I was networking and I talked to I don't even remember who it was but they said, oh, you know, you're over in Michigan, you should talk to Joe Lynch. I said, ok, great, who's Joe Lynch? And I looked him up, I said, oh, wow, okay, and his number, his cell phone number, is like online. So I literally just called him out of the blue and he was on a walk and he talked to me for, like you know, like a half hour, gave me all kinds of advice and you know that was, we've been friends ever since. But you know, and then all you know, all that time later he introduced me to SPI and I was just on a show the other day and, yeah, just amazing, what, what one relationship can lead you to, I guess is the point of that.

Blythe Brumleve: 17:34

Yeah, I mean it just sounds like it was such a perfect fit for you to be able to make that transition over to SPI, where they take care of all of those pain points for you. You can probably keep more of those margins too and control the customer experience where some of your customers were facing some other frustrations. So that's super cool to hear that. I didn't know that we have briefly talked before we hit record, but that's super cool to learn that that Joe made that introduction for you, cause I had a whole slew of questions. I'll be honest that I was going to ask well, what did you search for online? What you know? What were your pain points beforehand? But it sounds like you just called Joe and Joe just handled it for you. He solved the problem for you.

Dave Gulas: 18:13

Yeah and um, you know again, the biggest thing too is just for the customer right. Like, if we're going to refer someone, we want to make sure that they're solid and they're going to do the right thing, and just being able to have that relationship with SPI and the way they operate, uh is is first class. So, yeah, yeah, I co-sign that I think you know.

Blythe Brumleve: 18:32

anybody who listens to the show probably already knows that, so I won't, you know, beat that. Well, I guess I will beat the SBI drum a lot, because they've been a big supporter of mine, first podcast sponsor still to you know, this day, and lucky enough to call some of them, you know, at the SBI team, friends and it's just been a great relationship. So it's really cool to hear that someone else has, you know, joined them recently too and had that, you know, very similar experience, so that's awesome. Joined them recently too and had that, you know, very similar experience, so that's awesome. Let's talk about the content marketing side of things, because you have a podcast called Beyond Fulfillment. So tell us how that came to be. How did the? Did you start the podcast before the company or, you know, maybe at the same time? Or give us that backstory.

Dave Gulas: 19:16

Yeah, so funny thing too is when you know from pharma you know I was never even on LinkedIn, right Like it was just a different type of market where everyone knew who everyone was. You know, there might've been a hundred people selling the same thing and you're selling to the same 20,000 plus pharmacies and you would buy lists and you would know everyone and you would make calls and that was the business, right. And then I get into logistics and I realized people have to find you and so I didn't. I wasn't visible online. I, you know, I didn't have like a public personal brand. And I realized that too when I went to an IWA conference and it's like, wow, like this, I, um, no one knows who I am. Right, I need to find a way to get visible. So started posting on LinkedIn and just figuring out as I went and started to build some traction and grow like that.

Dave Gulas: 20:06

And I was on Kevin's podcast um, kevin Lawton, at home delivery world in the summer, uh, last last, uh, it was like last June or something and that episode he gave us the video. So you know, my team would post some of the shorts and we'd always get a lot of engagement. It would really do well. So I started to notice the power of a podcast. From that and along with that I was doing a lot of networking and all the challenges and things that I was experiencing as a founder like the biggest way I was able to learn and deal with it and just find solutions was from talking to other people. And then, just one day, the idea popped in my head. It's like, wow, you should start a podcast, because if you could have these conversations where you're getting so much value and then you put them on a public forum, you know, obviously you're going to benefit the guest is going to benefit, but also the audience can benefit benefit, the guest is going to benefit, but also the audience can benefit and it's really a truly win-win. And so I got the idea and my team thought it was a good idea. So I literally put the announcement out right away and I got great response. And then Matt Fain from Pop Capacity I don't know if you know him, but immediately he reached out and he said man, I think that's a great idea, I'd love to be your first guest, and so I literally booked that as soon as I could.

Dave Gulas: 21:25

And at this time, too, there's nothing built. I don't even know anything about a podcast and, like my marketing team said, don't worry, we'll show you how to do it. So I just started over Zoom. I didn't even have a mic in the beginning and I just I was like Googling how to do a proper interview. I love it, I love this so much, you know, and so I just did it right. And I just did it and kept doing it, and that's always been one thing I've been very good at is consistency. And then once I did it and I felt great and got good response, I just continued to keep doing it over and over again and I found a good system to find guests, to book guests, to have the interviews. And then, yeah, my team handles like the backend and the editing and all that kind of stuff. But yeah, it's just, it's been a great experience it's, and it's done wonders for the business too, just in terms of helping us win business. Great experience it's, and it's done wonders for the business too, just in terms of helping us win business.

Dave Gulas: 22:22

And I was telling Joe this yesterday. It's like it's not directly attributable to the podcast, but I mean the way I look at it is. You know, so many 3PLs operate out there as faceless, nameless brands, right when you know you're sending your goods somewhere, but do you really know who this person is? So if they see me every day posting videos and I'm all interviewing all these people and I'm constantly visible online and they get to know who I am as a person, that automatically builds trust, even if we're not, you know, physically speaking all the time like they can just see. You know, see the consistency and see that I'm out there and see that I'm not hiding and that you know if there's a problem. I'm not hard to find, right. So I think that's been a big inflection point which is helping us win more business. You know, just that, online visibility, letting people see who I am.

Blythe Brumleve: 23:14

I feel like you just wrote a testimonial for why every business owner should start a podcast, because people get so caught up in the myth of perfection, especially when starting a show, and I love that you just took the bull by the horns and just went, you know, just dive head first into it, because, you're right, you're not going to know everything right away. The biggest fear is from just the lack of starting, that. You want every episode to be perfect, but it's not going to be perfect until you start doing it. And so the the. I think it's amazing that you had, you know, a podcaster and Joe Lynch make the referral to SPI, and then you had another podcaster and Kevin with new warehouse, and he is, you know, inspiring you to, to start up your own show. And then now it's helping you communicate with your customers, be, you know, provide that value to prevent to provincial or potential leads in the future.

Blythe Brumleve: 24:13

And so how do you take us behind the scenes a little bit? What does sort of your I guess your content creation process look like? How are you prioritizing guests? Is it kind of you know the guests you would like to do business with and learn from, or you know subject matter experts that you know maybe work in other parts of of 3PL fulfillment. Um, how do you approach? You know who you're going to talk to and why.

Dave Gulas: 24:37

Yeah, so it started out. It really started out and it's still based on, like, the entrepreneurial journey, because so many times, especially, like you know, growing a startup and I knew it was going to be hard, and I always have that attitude, you know I'll figure it out Right, I'll just keep. You know, I'll just keep working at it and but it was just so much harder than I thought it was going to be, and you know I'll just keep working at it and but it was just so much harder than I thought it was going to be. And you know, sometimes you just need help, you need to lean on other people, you need to hear someone else's story, and that really helped me out a lot and just having other people's perspective on things, right. So that's where I thought too, like, if I can talk to not only logistics, cause those are many of the entrepreneurs I know but other industries, because, like, an entrepreneur is going to learn from anything, right, if you see a sales tactic and I would always do that, even in my sales career too If I saw something that worked in this industry or from this position or this job and I can apply it over here, I mean, why wouldn't you do that right.

Dave Gulas: 25:39

You're always testing things and trying things out. So I thought for entrepreneurs this would be perfect where I could bring those stories of how people did it, and I've had a wide range of guests from different industries, from coaches and copywriters and investment people just all types of other industries so I always just like to hear their story, the struggles, the challenges they dealt with some unique ways. They overcame it. What was the hardest part? You know what's the family life, you know just all these different things, because there's so much that you deal with when you're running a company that I thought it would be a much needed, I guess, light to help people hear some stories from other people that are going through the same challenges.

Blythe Brumleve: 26:26

Brokering success demands a battle-ready strategy. Tye TMS equips freight brokers with the ultimate battle station for conquering a tough market. With Tye, brokers gain access to a comprehensive platform where rate intelligence and quote history converge on a single screen. It's not just a page, it's a strategic command center designed to help brokers win. Tye equips your team with all of the data they need to negotiate with confidence and allows them to communicate directly with carriers and customers from a simple control base. Revolutionize the way your brokers perform by giving them a competitive advantage with TIE TMS. For more info, go to tai-softwarecom. Backslash battle stations and we also have a link for you in the show notes to sign up for a demo. Do you have a favorite story or guest or topic from your time as being a podcaster?

Dave Gulas: 27:22

Yeah, so one of my guests. This episode, too, has by far the most views, because this guy he's like a unicorn, right. He's a very special guy. His name is Brian Esposito and he's been a lifelong entrepreneur, particularly in the beauty business. He's been a lifelong entrepreneur, particularly in the beauty business, and so his story too, where he was growing his companies and then he got I think it was 2016, he got hit by a drunk driver Right and he was like real messed up. He was heavily concussed and he couldn't work and at that point too, he was like one of these entrepreneurs that's like vital to his business, and a lot of the people he had around that time were maybe not the right people and maybe, you know, just kind of not pulling their weight. So when he couldn't work, everyone that he had around him kind of abandoned him and he went like millions of dollars in debt and he just had this crazy, just crazy downward spiral and anyways, he worked through it. He never filed bankruptcy, he came back, he got healthy again and, long story short, he paid everyone back. He's now got equity in a hundred plus companies.

Dave Gulas: 28:29

He's the CEO of a thriving company called Diamond Lakes Minerals, which is really changing investment with regards to blockchain and that type of technology, and he's just, he's really. He's what a real comeback story is all about, and just hearing him talk and hearing his story and it's just inspiring. And I've gotten to know him much better and we've become friends and, anyways, he's got a huge following and he's very engaged with his network. So that episode did really well. So that's one that sticks out to me and that's, you know, anytime you're going through a tough time, I just think of something like that and it's like, wow, right, could be worse, could be a lot worse. Yeah.

Blythe Brumleve: 29:11

Now, when you so that's such a great story. I imagine that once you hear a story like that, then that is the constant reminder to your point as to keep going, to keep pursuing new challenges and to keep tackling them. And then you know, as you've had these different conversations with all of these different types of guests, have you taken any of those learnings and applied it to your own business? I think you mentioned something about you know sales tactics from another industry. Is there any conversations like that that are helping you in sort of the sales and marketing aspect of your show, which is essentially your marketing and sales plan?

Dave Gulas: 29:50

too Literally. I learn every day from all types of sources. With logistics especially too, the one thing I had to get used to was just the sales cycle too, because pharma it's very transactional, it's very quick. People need stuff right away, so things move. They're always moving fast, where logistics oftentimes it can be the opposite. If someone's going to switch warehouses they may take months and months to make a decision and there's all sorts of things that need to align and challenges and whatnot. So yeah, I've definitely learned just in terms of like the cadence and the follow-up and some of the different aspects of the sales cycle, and that's been probably the biggest adjustment for coming to the logistics industry.

Blythe Brumleve: 30:41

Now, how are you using social media? I've heard you mention LinkedIn a couple times. I imagine that that's playing a really big role in connecting with those you know current customers, prospective customers and also your guests.

Dave Gulas: 30:55

Yeah, yeah, I mean, virtually every guest I've booked, I think, has come via a LinkedIn relationship. So, yeah, LinkedIn has been huge. You know I'm on some of the others, but LinkedIn is really the one I spend my most time on. And yeah, it's just, it's just. Networking is so powerful, right, Because the world is so big, so many people are, you know, interconnected and even if you're not in the same place. So I'm always just trying to network, collaborate with people online and always trying to find our ideal customers. And, you know, social media is just a phenomenal way to do that. And particularly as the face of the company, as I am right, you really need to be out there and letting people know who you are and just continuing to move your business forward.

Blythe Brumleve: 31:45

Now does that look like daily postings to LinkedIn podcast clips? What does it look like from a tactical perspective? How do you prioritize those types of things right? Because that's what I hear from a lot of founders is that I want to start a podcast, or I want to start creating content on LinkedIn. I just don't know if I have the time for it. So how are you finding the time for it or prioritizing the time for it?

Dave Gulas: 32:13

Yeah, well, that's an excellent point. So I partnered with a boutique firm. They're called Hicks Marketing and they've been just phenomenal and we work very well together. And it's two women, they both have a long career within marketing and editing and that type of thing. So I just batch, create a lot of different content and a lot of different ideas.

Dave Gulas: 32:37

I have ideas flowing to me like constantly and so, uh, now, especially cause it's so busy with the business, I'll literally block out time to just come up with ideas and write them out and I send them to my team in a very messy format and then we meet once a week and they manage the content, calendar and and all that sort of thing. Uh, but that's, that's how I found time to do it and that's what's worked best for me. And you know, I'm constantly in touch with them and we we have like a high level meeting once a week for like an hour and go over everything. So just try to streamline it, make it as efficient as possible. And yeah, so right now it's probably two, three, four times a day that we're posting, just depending on the day.

Dave Gulas: 33:18

Yeah, and a lot of podcast clips and just a lot of. You know, I'm into personal development. I'm into, you know, always just trying to be my best self. So you know, I post other motivational type of stuff or quotes or you know whatever. So that's you know. I just try to do things that are that align with me, that other people would resonate with as well.

Blythe Brumleve: 33:43

Marketing has changed so much in just the last handful of years, I'm curious as to what, based on everything that you know now, where are the areas that you want to play around with marketing, sales-wise, in logistics, versus stuff that you want to stay a little bit away from? What is working for you, that you'd like to do more of, and then what's not really working that you need to either revisit or just cut out altogether?

Dave Gulas: 34:12

Yeah, I mean, we've tried different outbound approaches and it's been okay, but it's really just getting in front of the right people and you never really know, like, particularly in our segment, right.

Dave Gulas: 34:30

You just really never know where they're going to come from or where, or it's got to be at the right time as well, right, it's got to be the right fit at the right time. So, the more you can be visible out there with your online presence and for me it's through the podcast or it's being a guest on a podcast like this, you know, of course, trade shows have been great for us and it's hard to point to one specific area, but we've had, like, our online presence have grown so much. I mean, it's multiple leads every week and many of them we've converted that, just that. Just find us, and sometimes, in the rush of everything too, I don't even always ask people how'd you find out about us? But somehow they're finding us and they're contacting us. They're contacting us. So the more I can just be visible and, you know, let people know who I am and what I'm about, what we're about. That's what I find is working the best to continue to grow.

Blythe Brumleve: 35:27

And so I would imagine that that's tremendous insight, because I feel like I tell people all the time like the value of the podcast is creating those relationships and then distributing it out to your audience so that you stay consistently on top of mine. So it sounds like you're doing that exact same thing. You are reaping the rewards from it. So give us a little preview, I guess, of what the rest of this year looks like for you. Are you prioritizing trade shows? What does it look like to prepare some of your customers for the holiday season? How do you sort of map out what your priorities look like from a content perspective to help that audience for the rest of the year?

Dave Gulas: 36:08

Yeah. So for the rest, we're figuring out trade shows for Q3 right now, looking at that, obviously, preparing for Q4. We're in the middle of a big software upgrade at the moment, so we're heavily focused on that and just making sure everything can run seamless with all of our customers. And then we're in the middle of numerous onboardings as well. So, same thing stay in touch with everyone, and I mean the most. You know. Obviously we're always wanting to find new business and continue to grow and, you know, eventually we'll have more spaces too. We have a Maryland location, we're opening up New Jersey as well. So more spaces. But the biggest thing and the guiding principle really is just helping our customers win. So everyone that we have that signed on and they put their trust in us, we want to help them be successful and have a seamless fulfillment operation. So that's top priority and just continuing to be out there and connect with more people that want to take the headache out of fulfillment and talking to them and if it's the right solution, then being that solution for them.

Blythe Brumleve: 37:17

Love it. Yeah, I think it's going to be. We're in for an interesting Q3 and Q4 this year. I'm not I have no idea how things are going to turn out, especially in an election year. It's one of those like just wait and see. But I mean, if you're getting leads coming through the door, then that means you're doing something right, and so kudos to you. And a couple last questions here. If another founder in logistics is thinking about, you know, starting a podcast, what advice would you give to them?

Dave Gulas: 37:46

You know, I would just say just start right. Because I've talked to, I've talked to several people like much more established and much you know bigger companies and longer tenure, and you know people that I would really look up to and they've said wow, you know, I wanted to start and I just I just couldn't do it. You know, I couldn't get out of my own way or I didn't know how to do it, or I bought equipment and I just I just haven't been able to do it. So I would just say you just got to start, like just start and seize on that momentum and just get some momentum and keep going. And it's really like listen, if I can do it right, I had no podcasting background, no media background.

Dave Gulas: 38:27

I just decided to do it and kept doing it. And now we have like a real podcast and we've dropped 38 episodes and have a bunch more recorded and continuing to book more. And so I would say like, if you just start and keep showing up, good things are going to happen, and that's that's, that's really the secret. If you want to even call that a secret. That's just that's what you got to do.

Blythe Brumleve: 38:49

Love it, love to hear it. All right. All right, dave. Where can folks follow you? Follow your work, the podcast, become a customer.

Dave Gulas: 38:57

All that good stuff follow your work, the podcast, become a customer, all that good stuff. Yeah. So LinkedIn I'm always on LinkedIn, you can DM me there. Connect we're just launching a new site, davegouliscom, which will have links to everything I do, so you can put that in the show notes. My email is dave at ezdc3pl. You can always email me if you want to talk. And yeah, dc 3PL, you can always email me if you want to talk. And yeah, and then check out the podcast. It's on YouTube, we're on Spotify, we're on Apple. It's called Beyond Fulfillment. So, yeah, check that out and definitely like and subscribe if you found value from the content Googlelesscom.

Blythe Brumleve: 39:32

I'm just adding that to my show notes to make sure that I can have all of those links handy for folks so they can go and make sure that they get subscribed, especially if they are in the fulfillment space and want to learn more about the challenges that are around that, and hopefully you can offer them some advice and help them in their journey. So, dave, this was an awesome conversation. Thank you so much for joining us.

Dave Gulas: 39:55

Thank you, blythe, appreciate it for joining us.

Blythe Brumleve: 40:03

Thank you, blythe, appreciate it. I hope you enjoyed this episode of Everything is Logistics, a podcast for the thinkers in freight, telling the stories behind how your favorite stuff and people get from point A to B. Subscribe to the show, sign up for our newsletter and follow our socials over at everythingislogisticscom. And in addition to the podcast, I also wanted to let y'all know about another company I operate, and that's Digital Dispatch, where we help you build a better website. Now, a lot of the times, we hand this task of building a new website or refreshing a current one off to a coworker's child, a neighbor down the street or a stranger around the world, where you probably spend more time explaining the freight industry than it takes to actually build the dang website.

Blythe Brumleve: 40:42

Well, that doesn't happen at Digital Dispatch. We've been building online since 2009, but we're also early adopters of AI, automation and other website tactics that help your company to be a central place to pull in all of your social media posts, recruit new employees and give potential customers a glimpse into how you operate your business. Our new website builds start as low as $1,500, along with ongoing website management, maintenance and updates starting at $90 a month, plus some bonus freight, marketing and sales content similar to what you hear on the podcast. You can watch a quick explainer video over on digitaldispatchio. Just check out the pricing page once you arrive and you can see how we can build your digital ecosystem on a strong foundation. Until then, I hope you enjoyed this episode. I'll see you all real soon and go Jags you.