Latest / The Inspired Stories Podcast / Transforming Yard Management Through Innovation: David Bloom Discusses the Vision at Lazer Logistics

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Transforming Yard Management Through Innovation: David Bloom Discusses the Vision at Lazer Logistics · The Inspired Stories Podcast

0:04
Welcome to another edition of the Inspired Stories podcast,
0:08
where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from
0:11
their successes and be inspired by how they've overcome
0:14
adversity. My name is Anthony Cotespotti
0:17
and today's guest is David Bloom, the Vice President of
0:21
National Accounts at Laser Logistics.
0:24
Founded in 1996 and headquartered in Alpharetta, GA,
0:28
they specialize in comprehensive yard management solutions
0:32
including spotting, shuttling, trailer management, gate
0:36
services, and state-of-the-art yard management systems.
0:41
They are recognized as the largest outsourced yard
0:44
logistics provider in North America, and they pride
0:47
themselves on reducing idle time, improving safety, and
0:51
boosting efficiency for their clients now.
0:54
David joined Laser Logistics in 2018 as a financial and
0:58
logistics analyst before moving into his current role.
1:03
He also gained valuable experience as an account manager
1:06
at Chickpea, giving him a strong background in managing driver
1:10
schedules, asset inventory, and customer relationships.
1:15
Under his guidance, Laser Logistics continues to evolve,
1:19
embracing sustainability and innovative technologies.
1:22
David's leadership reflects the company's emphasis on employee
1:26
ownership and operational attitude, helping them build
1:30
dependable partnerships with organizations across different
1:33
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2:16
All right, back to our guest today, VP of National Accounts
2:19
at Laser Logistics, David Bloom. Thanks for making the time to
2:22
Share your story today. It's great to be here, thanks
2:25
for having me. So, David, how did the
2:27
opportunity to join Laser Logistics first come about?
2:33
So actually I knew Adam Newsome, our, our CEO on a personal level
2:37
and, and we just became friends for, you know, about a year.
2:41
And, and he happened to ask me how it was going and I told him
2:45
I was looking to possibly change roles.
2:47
And I had no idea that what his company did or, and I actually
2:52
kind of forgot that he was the CEO of that company.
2:54
And he just said, Hey, why don't you come interview with us?
2:57
And two days later I interviewed with them and I think a day
3:01
later I was offered a position and, and I took it right away.
3:04
And the rest is kind of history. OK.
3:08
So especially keep in mind a lot of people listening are probably
3:12
not familiar with your industry. So kind of breakdown in layman's
3:16
terms, the services that you guys offer there at Laser
3:19
Logistics. Yeah.
3:21
So our core business is spotting.
3:23
Some people know it as switching, yard hustling,
3:28
shunting. There's a lot of different terms
3:30
for it, right? But basically we're moving
3:32
trailers in and out of the doors at warehouses, manufacturing
3:37
centers, paper mills, plants, that sort of thing, or moving
3:42
them from the doors to the yard and then the yard to the doors.
3:47
We also offer short haul shuttles.
3:49
Sometimes that's between two distribution centers or a
3:53
manufacturing center to distribution center,
3:55
distribution center to off site yard.
3:57
We have electric spotting trucks, we've got trailers, we
4:03
offer gate services both automated and from a staffing
4:08
perspective, and we offer drive services as well.
4:12
So, OK, for the uninitiated, why is that even that service of
4:18
sort of moving it from the yard into the warehouse necessary?
4:22
Why doesn't the truck that's delivering the trailer just
4:26
bring it right into where it's supposed to go?
4:29
Yeah. So that's a great question.
4:31
So if you think of, you know, a typical sleeper cab truck trying
4:36
to back that trailer to the door and you've got hundreds if not
4:40
thousands of trucks coming into a distribution center every day.
4:44
Those trucks generally take 4 to 10 times longer to back a
4:51
trailer to a door than a spotter would.
4:54
And in the same capacity to take a trailer from a door,
4:58
especially a loaded trailer. Because if you think about it,
5:02
if a, if a trailer is loaded, then that line inside the
5:05
warehouse is shut down. You can't load any more product
5:08
onto a trailer. So every employee on that line
5:12
is not working. So you're paying them to do
5:14
nothing and no products getting out of the door, which you just
5:19
think of the money that you're wasting during that time and you
5:23
can't rely on the over the road drivers to show up exactly when
5:26
that trailer is ready. So, you know, our trucks and our
5:30
drivers go grab that trailer. They don't have to crank the
5:35
landing gear with take, which takes longer.
5:38
They've got a hydraulic fifth wheel.
5:40
They take it out of the door, they put it in the yard and they
5:42
put an empty back in to continue to be loaded.
5:46
So it's about 4 to 10 times more efficient than if you just had
5:51
the over the road drivers do it themselves.
5:54
Wow. So there's something about these
5:56
trucks that hydraulic fifth wheel that allows them to be a
5:59
lot more efficient in the process than the over the road
6:03
trucks as as you, you kind of called it.
6:06
Correct. Yeah.
6:07
And there are. The majority of them are single
6:09
axle, meaning that they can turn almost 90°.
6:13
So they can maneuver in and out of these spots and throughout
6:16
the yard a lot better than these other trucks.
6:18
And then you throw in, you know, 20 trucks arriving at the same
6:21
time and on the yard. Then it just becomes even more
6:24
clustered and, you know, the time adds up and that
6:27
distribution center essentially shuts down.
6:31
Yeah. And like you said, you know, the
6:34
the over the road truck driver who's coming to haul that that
6:36
trailer away, he's not going to get there at exactly the time
6:40
that, you know, they're finished loading that trailer.
6:42
So what happens to all that idle labor?
6:45
You know, they're continuing to get paid, but they're not
6:47
producing. So you guys are allowing for,
6:50
you know, a lot more efficient workflow and and I would assume
6:54
also that there's a benefit and sort of you're not wasting as
7:00
much fuel with sort of these truck, these bigger trucks
7:03
idling, am I right? Correct.
7:06
Yeah, they're, they're definitely more fuel efficient
7:09
and we've got we've got better control on, you know, if there
7:14
are no moves or if there's nothing necessarily happening in
7:19
the yard, these trucks have automatic shut offs that will go
7:23
into place. So the driver can't just sit
7:25
there with the air conditioning and that driver can go inside
7:28
and has a break room and knows the process.
7:30
This has a radio. Can't give a radio or a tablet
7:33
to every driver coming into the facility to say OK, your moves
7:36
ready to go, right? So what sets you guys apart from
7:40
other companies doing similar things?
7:44
So I think what sets us apart is, is we're just, there's a
7:48
couple things, right. We're an end to end yard
7:50
management company. And what I mean by that is a lot
7:54
of these companies and I, I actually just closed the deal
7:57
this week where we talked initially about just the
8:00
spotting service. And then we said, well, they
8:04
have one company do the spotting service, they have another
8:07
company do the shuttle and then they've got a third company do
8:09
the trailers. And we said, well, why don't we
8:13
just do all of that? And we gave them a proposal.
8:17
And while our proposal was higher for all of those
8:20
services, it was about $500,000 less than what they were paying
8:24
altogether. So we're able to kind of bundle
8:27
all those services not only to reduce costs, but under one
8:31
contract also. So you're not have to negotiate
8:33
and handle three different contracts with three different
8:36
providers or, you know, three different claims processes or
8:40
people. It just makes the process a lot
8:43
simpler. What also sets us apart is like
8:48
you mentioned earlier, we we've got over 700 sites across the US
8:51
and Canada. So a lot of those sites are
8:55
concentrated in a lot of different markets.
8:58
So let's say in Dallas, TX, you've got a site that says,
9:04
hey, we, we need a shift on the weekend, this weekend, we're
9:07
working this weekend. Well, the driver that worked
9:10
Monday through Friday can't work.
9:12
What? We've got another 250 drivers in
9:15
the Dallas market. So all we have to say is, hey,
9:19
who wants some overtime and who wants to work another 8 hours?
9:24
And a lot of times we'll actually have drivers that are
9:26
already cross trained at that other site so they can just step
9:29
in. They already know the processes,
9:30
the trucks, the people, the procedures, and they can just
9:33
hop in and you know, nobody on the inside knows it any
9:36
different because the driver already knows everything.
9:41
And I think this is probably one of the advantages of being the
9:44
largest provider in all of North America, the scale that you guys
9:48
have, you have that deep bench of trained talent who can step
9:52
in and, you know, help out in a moment's notice like that.
9:56
Correct. Yes.
10:03
So you were there for several years before they elevated you
10:08
into your existing role, VP of national accounts.
10:11
What is it that you think that they saw in your work that
10:17
you're like, hey, let's take this young guy who's been here
10:20
for a few years and let's really put him in a position of
10:22
leadership here? You know, I don't exactly know.
10:30
I, I think they just saw someone who, who didn't really have an
10:33
ego who said, yeah, yes. There wasn't anything that they
10:39
asked me to do that I said no to necessarily.
10:42
That was too small or too big. I think I was willing to try
10:45
anything, which maybe I was a little ahead of my spurs on that
10:53
on some things, but I was willing to try it.
10:56
And I, I think I was just reliable and, and they knew that
10:59
I, I could get the job done on, on whatever they asked me to do
11:03
or I was going to do my absolute best to get the job done or die
11:08
trying. So I, I think that's what they
11:12
saw, but I, you know, I don't know exactly.
11:14
I mean, VP of National Accounts, this is a sales and business
11:17
development role. You were coming from a financial
11:20
and you know, logistics analyst role, very different kind of
11:24
responsibilities. Was that a difficult transition
11:27
for you to make? Yes and no.
11:35
I think yes, because I don't think that I'm a typical sales
11:38
guy where I'm just going to be down your door and until we get
11:41
the deal. But I do think that that helped
11:45
me a lot to be able to justify and to find a way to, to make a
11:53
lot of these deals and a lot of these what even contract
11:56
renewals more palpable for a lot of these customers to say, hey,
12:01
yes, I know it's X amount, but think about the other side of
12:05
what you're saving or, or if you did it yourself or if you went
12:08
with another provider, they're going to do XY and Z, whereas
12:13
our proposal does not include that.
12:16
So you're going to save on it looks more on the front end, but
12:19
you're going to save on the back end type of thing.
12:22
Explain that a little bit more why in some cases your proposals
12:26
might seem a little bit more expensive upfront, but in the
12:30
long run they actually save money.
12:32
Yeah. So a great example is, you know,
12:34
if a customer gives us a, a schedule and it's got some
12:37
overtime already in there, a lot of our competitors were will
12:41
charge for overtime over 40 hours, whereas we won't as long
12:46
as it's part of the base schedule.
12:48
We'll we'll pay our drivers the overtime of course, but we don't
12:51
charge the customer anymore as long as it falls within those
12:54
hours. But our competitors are able to
12:57
come in with a lot of times a lower rate because they know
13:01
after 40 hours they're going to charge a much higher rate to the
13:04
customer. And so you go into it knowing,
13:08
hey, this is a 50 hour a week job, we're going to have to pay
13:13
some overtime to our folks. So we're just baking that into
13:16
the price so that the customer isn't getting surprised down the
13:19
road. Whereas it sounds like a lot of
13:21
your competitors are maybe trying to window dress things a
13:25
little bit and they're saying no, no, no, no, here's the rate.
13:28
And then in the fine print, it's like, yeah, but we're going to
13:31
charge you time and 1/2 or double time for, you know,
13:34
anything over 40 hours a week. Right.
13:36
Or they'll make the hourly rate less expensive and the truck
13:40
more expensive, which you know, at like a 40 hour week site or
13:46
at let's say A50 hour week site, to use your example, they're
13:49
paying every week a very high rate for the truck, but on the
13:55
hourly rate they're paying a little bit less.
13:58
Whereas you know, with us, if they paid a little bit higher on
14:04
the hourly rate and less on the truck, you know, a lot of times
14:08
it's 4050 hour. Sites will vary between, you
14:12
know, they may work, work 40 hours a week or they may work 42
14:16
or 47 or 52, but they've got a lot more control over the hours
14:20
rather than just the fixed rate of the truck.
14:23
So if we can keep the fixed rate low, we can work with the
14:26
customer on the hourly rate, which is which is a little bit
14:29
higher than our competitors, but we can work with them on
14:32
reducing those hours through things like optimizations or you
14:37
know, restructuring when moves are called out or how
14:41
efficiently moves are done, that sort of thing.
14:43
So we can, it may be more expensive on the front end, but
14:46
we can work with them to make it less expensive on the back end.
14:50
That makes sense. As you were transitioning into
14:53
this business development, the sales role, you said, you know,
14:58
you're sort of not maybe what people think of as the
15:00
traditional sales guy that's, you know, like pounding on their
15:03
door all the time, like, you know, forcing the deal.
15:06
Were there sort of mentors or folks that were helpful to you
15:10
and kind of finding your footing and what your approach and your
15:14
voice would look like in this role?
15:19
Yeah, and I think there's been a lot of mentors just kind of
15:24
along the way that that have shaped me, right?
15:26
Not only in in this role, but in, in, in my life in general.
15:32
I think that starts with my dad, who, you know, he was a soccer
15:36
coach, a high school soccer coach for as long as I can
15:40
remember and ended up being our coach as well.
15:43
But, you know, I saw the way he carried himself as a coach, as a
15:46
father, as a person, and I wanted to emulate that
15:51
throughout my life. And then, you know, playing
15:56
college soccer and, and leading the team as a captain and being,
16:02
being entrusted with that responsibility was not something
16:05
that I took lightly. And then, you know, coming over
16:08
to Laser and seeing first and foremost, the way that the
16:13
Newsome family and, and Adam and Phil specifically carry
16:17
themselves and interact with everybody across, across our
16:22
company. And, and the way that they
16:25
preach our core values and do what they say and say what they
16:28
do really shape the way that, that I interact with our
16:36
customers. You know, I, I don't, I don't
16:39
think that I have to give a big sales pitch and yell and scream
16:44
and have to act animated. I just give them the facts and
16:47
say, hey, this is it. This is what we can offer.
16:49
I believe in our products and what we're doing.
16:53
And if it's not for them, then it's not for them.
16:57
I like that. And a couple of things I, I kind
16:59
of want to peel apart a little bit there.
17:01
One, you're talking about your time in athletics.
17:04
Your dad was your soccer coach in high school.
17:08
Obviously you were very talented.
17:11
You went on to play at the collegiate level, finally
17:14
played, but you know, you were chosen as captain of your team.
17:18
Kind of curious how some of the skills and leadership qualities
17:24
that you learned in athletics have kind of carried over into
17:27
your professional career. Yeah, I, I think that's a great
17:33
question. And you know, I, I think anybody
17:36
that has played athletics at a, at a high level can make a, a
17:43
great employee and a grade and leader and a great leader.
17:47
It doesn't always translate that way, but I think that they've
17:49
been provided the skill set to be able to do so.
17:53
But for me specifically, I think humility is a big one and not
18:02
not having an ego of, you know it.
18:06
It's not a me thing. It's an US thing.
18:08
You know, we succeed, we win together, we lose together.
18:11
We, we succeed together, we fail together, right?
18:14
It's nobody's fault. Let's figure out how to find a
18:16
solution. I think hard work and the fact
18:23
that I've never seen anybody including myself work hard and
18:27
then not pay off in some capacity.
18:29
So just kind of no matter how, how difficult the, the project,
18:34
the proposal, the days, the especially in sales team, you
18:39
know, if you continue to put your head down and work, it's
18:41
going to pay off at some point. That's great.
18:47
And then the other thing I kind of wanted to dig into was you
18:51
mentioned, you know, the core values of the company and how
18:55
CEO and you know, his uncle, you know, it's a kind of a family
18:59
owned business, you know how they sort of exemplify those
19:04
values every day. Can you say more about what
19:07
those values are and how you see that show up in the the
19:12
leadership? Yeah, I think the biggest one
19:15
is, you know, when you're here, you're family, which I know it
19:20
comes from, from Olive Garden as well.
19:25
But I, I think it's absolutely true.
19:28
And it, and it's just as fitting maybe for Olive Garden as it is
19:32
maybe more fitting for Laser, especially being a family
19:35
founded and and owned business. But you know, I, I've travelled
19:41
with Adam, I've travelled with Phil, I've travelled with staff.
19:46
I, I've been with a lot of the newsoms, especially the ones
19:50
that you haven't seen on the website too.
19:52
And I've seen them put their blood, sweat and tears into this
19:55
company. And it's never with themselves
19:59
in mind. It, it's always with everybody
20:02
else in mind. And, and I've, I know that Adam,
20:06
Phil, Seth, every all of them would and have spent an hour on
20:12
the phone with, with the driver of a driver from, you know,
20:17
California. Out of it yet who's one out of
20:20
our 10,000 drivers who had, you know, an issue with his family
20:23
because their house burned down and, you know, our CEO is
20:29
spending an hour on the phone with him talking to him about,
20:33
you know, his family and, and nothing and it.
20:36
And Adam doesn't have to do that, but he's, he's doing it
20:39
out of the goodness because that's just who he is.
20:43
He cares about him and he cares about them being a part of our
20:47
family. And you know, the principles of,
20:52
of, of how hard the Newsome's work for laser, I think not only
21:00
shows up just in the success, but I think it shows up in, in
21:05
all of our employees as well. Because they see that, yes, I, I
21:12
think Adam and Phil and and Steph, they ask a lot of us, but
21:17
it's nothing. But they always, I think, but
21:23
they're always the hardest working people in the company.
21:26
And they're never asking you to do something that they wouldn't
21:28
do themselves. No.
21:30
And that's what I was just going to say, actually, they they've
21:32
never asked anybody to do anything that they've not
21:35
already done themselves or they're not willing to do
21:37
themselves. And to me, that's great
21:40
leadership. What do you think has allowed
21:45
laser logistics to grow as rapidly and as large as it has?
21:53
You know, I don't think it has anything to do with and
21:57
hopefully they're not listening, but our investors, I don't think
22:00
it has anything to do with private equity.
22:02
I don't think it has anything to do with with any of that.
22:06
I think it does come down to our core values and just providing
22:10
the best possible service to our customers.
22:14
And the reason I say that is because you know, for the first,
22:20
I think 15 ish years, we didn't, we didn't have a marketing team,
22:25
we didn't have a sales team. Everything just came basically
22:29
from word of mouth or growth within our current customer
22:32
base. And it was, hey, you guys are
22:35
doing a great job at this site. Do you want to take a look at
22:38
this site in Paris, California? Do you want to take look at this
22:42
site in Atlanta, GA or it was, hey, we talked to we talked to
22:49
your customer next door to us. They said you're doing a great
22:52
job. Would you like to take a look at
22:56
possibly taking over our facility?
22:58
And that's how we grew for the 1st 10 years or so, 1015 years
23:06
or so. And then we continue to grow
23:09
that way too. And, and obviously we continue
23:11
to grow now in all of those other aspects through marketing
23:15
and, and, and all of that sort of stuff.
23:19
But I I truly think that that's the biggest reason and and
23:24
continues to be the biggest reason for our success.
23:28
You know, I think it says a lot about an organization when so
23:31
much of their growth, especially early on, comes from that word
23:34
of mouth. Yeah, because your customers,
23:40
not only do they appreciate what you're doing, but they're taking
23:42
time out of their busy schedules to tell somebody else, these
23:47
guys solved the problem for us. You should give them a call.
23:51
And so, you know, I think that says a lot about that culture
23:56
and those values that, you know, the Newsom family has put in
24:00
place there when when you get so much of your your business from
24:03
referrals. And to your point, you know, we,
24:06
we've got a lot of customers who they go from one customer and
24:10
they then they change and they work for a new company and they
24:13
say, hey, by the way, I've got a great, you know, a great
24:17
spotting company that can come in and do a great job for you
24:21
guys. And they kind of put their neck
24:23
on the line by recommending us. And I think that says a lot too.
24:29
Yeah. And I'm going to talk a moment,
24:31
David, about sustainability and how that has a big role at laser
24:35
logistics because I understand your electric vehicle fleet has
24:39
surpassed a million 1,000,000 zero emission miles.
24:44
Can you talk about why this is so important to the core of what
24:48
laser is doing? Yeah.
24:50
And actually we surpassed 2 million earlier this year and
24:56
that was so I'm assuming we're probably around 2 1/2 now, but I
25:00
haven't seen that the updated analytics on that.
25:05
And, you know, this kind of goes back to Adam and Phil and, and
25:10
just how intelligent that they really are and how forward
25:15
thinking they really are. Because I remember them talking
25:18
about this back in 2018 when I started.
25:21
And it's like, yeah, it sounds like a pipe dream kind of thing.
25:25
But everything that they've talked about has come true.
25:29
So you know, as far as sustainability and, and how big
25:35
of a role it's playing in laser, you know, we, we went from one
25:42
EV back in 2017 and I think we're rolling out around our
25:49
150th right around now, probably get up to 175 by the end of the
25:59
year. Well, that's pretty impressive.
26:05
And and why is that something that's so important for what you
26:09
guys are doing there at Laser and why, why has that been, you
26:12
know, a key project for the Newsome family?
26:17
So there's I think there's a lot of reasons for that.
26:22
I think 1. You know, we we can see a big
26:25
push for that in the industry, but I think 2:00 you know, we
26:31
wanted to be proactive in coming to our customers who have big
26:35
sustainability initiatives. And those sustainability
26:40
initiatives may be in other aspects of their business, but
26:42
we wanted to be proactive and come to them and say, hey, you
26:46
know, there's quite a bit of emissions in your yard.
26:49
You know, if you think about a distribution center, that's
26:53
where everything meets, right? The amount of traffic, the
26:55
amount of diesel emissions that are on a yard.
26:58
And if we can be a small part or big part in reducing those
27:01
emissions, then, you know, we can not only help their customer
27:06
to meet their sustainability goals, but we can also help that
27:10
that area or that neighborhood or that city or that county to,
27:16
to reduce those mission emissions in that area.
27:20
And not only that, you know it, we found that it's actually a
27:27
lot of these EVs perform better in the cold, in the hot,
27:30
especially for our drivers. It gives our drivers better
27:33
quality of life because it stays cooler in the summer and it
27:37
stays warmer in the in the winter because you're not
27:40
sitting on a big engine. Yeah, I could see that you guys
27:47
face any resistance or challenges and trying to roll
27:50
this out. Yeah.
27:52
So the biggest challenge is really when it comes down to the
27:58
infrastructure costs because you've got to put, you've got to
28:04
run electricity to the EV charging cabinets.
28:08
And for that the customer has to do some sort of there, there's
28:12
some sort of infrastructure cost from the building to the
28:15
charger. And, and it depends on, there's
28:19
a lot of factors that go into how expensive that could be.
28:23
So you get a lot of pushback on the the CapEx or sometimes the
28:28
OpEx cost of that from the customer and whether they have
28:32
that in their budget or not. So that's that's really where we
28:36
get the biggest push back. It's not necessarily we don't
28:40
like EVs or you know, we don't want to go with EVs.
28:44
It usually comes down to to that or maybe it comes down to the to
28:51
the cost of it because the the electric spotters are more
28:55
expensive from our side from a CapEx perspective and you know
29:02
obviously you are saving on fuel, but sometimes you are
29:05
paying more per week than you would with a diesel.
29:10
And why is that? Is it because the electricity is
29:12
more expensive in some way or what?
29:14
What's what's the reason for that?
29:16
No, just because you know, a diesel spotter may run you 120
29:23
to 150,000 and AEV spotter may run you about 300,000 and we
29:31
break that down into a weekly fixed toss for the customer
29:34
over, you know, a three-year contract.
29:37
So you know, obviously the E VS more expensive, but with a
29:42
diesel you're still paying for fuel.
29:44
With an EV you're not. So you take out the fuel, you
29:47
add back in the electricity and sometimes it doesn't come out as
29:51
a as cost neutral or a cost savings.
29:54
And why would somebody choose to do it then if it's going to cost
29:58
them more? Because clearly you've got a lot
30:01
of folks that are making that choice you, you know, you've
30:04
rolled out. A lot of people are willing to
30:06
to take on that extra cost because they they truly do stick
30:13
by their sustainability initiatives.
30:16
Oh, that's powerful. Choosing good for good sake.
30:20
Yeah. Yeah.
30:22
I'm wondering, David, this may or may not be something that,
30:25
you know, you have much of A role in, but you know, with 700
30:29
locations across North America, what's your perspective on
30:33
maintaining a sense of unity and strong communication across such
30:37
a a broad network? I, you know, I, I know that's
30:44
been a challenge for our C-Suite, especially with the,
30:49
the amount of growth that we've had over the past several years,
30:51
which is, which is great, but obviously comes with its own set
30:55
of challenges. And I think Adam and Phil and,
31:00
and our C-Suite have done a great job with that with not
31:04
only the virtual option of getting the whole, as much of
31:07
the company on, you know, calls, whether that's once a month or,
31:13
or once 1/4 as possible. But I think more importantly is
31:19
introducing those core values and representing those core
31:24
values and enforcing, not enforcing, enforcing sounds
31:26
very, very strict, but driving those core values and
31:31
consistency on a, on a daily basis, starting with the C-Suite
31:35
and going, you know, through our executive team, through our
31:39
regional teams and then down to our local teams.
31:42
So I think it's just a matter of consistency and I and I think
31:45
that they've done a a good job with that throughout our
31:48
company. Setting aside any humility here,
31:52
David, how would you describe your superpower?
32:01
I think it's composure. I, I think it's matching
32:03
calamity with serenity. I, you know, my mind just, and
32:07
my body just tends to slow down in those moments.
32:16
And let's take a little bit of a different approach then with
32:19
this question. From superpower to big
32:22
challenge, serious challenge that you've faced in your life.
32:26
What was that? How did you get through it?
32:28
What have you learned going through it?
32:32
Yeah. So by far, in a way that the
32:34
biggest challenge that I've ever faced in my life is going
32:40
through addiction and alcoholism.
32:42
And you know, today I'm almost nine years sober.
32:45
It'll be 9 years sober and in long term recovery in August.
32:53
And you know that that's definitely the biggest challenge
32:57
that I've faced in my life. And I think I can honestly say
33:02
today that I've turned that which was my biggest defect into
33:07
my biggest. Asset.
33:10
How so? I think 1 is being able to share
33:17
that message with not only other addicts and Alcoholics who are
33:23
who are still suffering, but those who are seeking a solution
33:27
and looking to get sober themselves.
33:31
But also other people who, you know, have family members,
33:34
friends, Co workers, loved ones who, you know, have died from
33:40
this disease or, you know, are still struggling with this
33:43
disease. And maybe not only that, but I,
33:47
you know, I've found that every person that I've ever come
33:49
across in my entire life has been through something.
33:52
Everybody's got something right. And just on a, on a pure human
33:57
level, we can relate on whatever challenge they've gone through
34:02
and overcome, whatever that is, we, we can relate on, on that
34:08
same level from a, from a human perspective.
34:11
Congratulations on your ongoing sobriety.
34:16
Kind of curious if you remember sort of what the the ultimate
34:20
trigger was for you to to get the help that you needed.
34:26
Yeah. And it's, it wasn't necessary
34:30
necessarily a loss of anything material, although I think those
34:35
things played a role in it for sure.
34:39
I think I just, well, I know I just got to a point where I just
34:44
couldn't see my life going any further the way that I was
34:48
living, you know, I couldn't see the next day, the next month,
34:53
you know, I couldn't see getting married or having children or
34:56
career or anything like that the way that I was living.
35:00
And I didn't exactly know what I needed to do.
35:03
I just, I just knew something needed to change and I knew
35:07
sobriety was an option and it would frankly, it was the only
35:11
option that I that was put in front of me.
35:16
When you say put in front of you, were were there folks
35:19
around you, folks that you trusted, people who cared about
35:24
you, that that were kind of helping you through this?
35:27
Yeah, there were, there were folks and and loved ones that
35:29
were pushing me in that direction.
35:32
But at that point it was. And I think they did a good job
35:39
of pushing that as a suggestion rather than saying you have to
35:44
do this because I, I truly do think you have to want it on
35:47
your own. And I just got to a point where
35:51
I took that suggestion and said, hey, listen, I think you're
35:55
right. I would like to at least try
35:57
this as an option. It sounds like you've been able
36:02
to use this experience to talk with a lot of other folks who
36:06
are suffering the same thing. Or, you know, maybe they
36:10
recently found sobriety themselves or their family
36:13
members who are affected about by this.
36:16
For those folks who are listening, what advice would you
36:20
give to somebody who maybe finds themselves in a similar
36:23
situation? I would say two things.
36:29
One, there is a solution and two, that solution is more than
36:35
possible. And those are two things that I
36:39
adamantly did not believe when I was in the midst of it, because
36:42
it's both of those things seemed impossible.
36:47
Any advice for folks on kind of first steps to take?
36:53
Don't be afraid to ask for help and accept that help.
36:59
Boy, that's a big one, isn't it? No, coming back to the business,
37:08
you know, and the growth that you guys have seen and you know,
37:13
especially being VP of Business Development, I, I'm or you know,
37:18
national sales, I'm curious, you know, aside from the customer
37:25
referrals that you get, what, what strategies have you found
37:29
that have been most effective to contributing to that significant
37:33
growth? You know, I think it's, I do
37:48
think a lot of it's timing. I, you know, I don't want to
37:50
take away from, from the marketing, you know, side of
37:57
things or, or what we do on the, on, you know, the business
38:02
development side. I, I think all of those are, are
38:05
fantastic. I think when it comes down to
38:08
it, I, I think it's very much relationship driven and whether
38:13
that's, you know, one person, you know, I develop a
38:21
relationship with one person based on mutual respect.
38:24
I do what I say and I say what I do.
38:27
And then they move on to another company or another role and, and
38:31
they make that referral or it's, you know, like we talked about
38:38
earlier, they are approached by somebody else.
38:40
Or when a, when a new company I'm working with asks for a
38:46
referral, they say, hey, can we ask, So can we ask this current
38:50
customer if you guys are worth going with?
38:52
And I've had that happen several times.
38:55
And a lot of times it, it does work out.
39:00
So I, you know, as cheesy as it sounds and it is an, A, a
39:05
saying, it's as long as I'm just doing the next right thing for
39:08
the, for the customers that I have and the business that we
39:13
have and, and continue to try to deliver the best service
39:17
possible for our customers and, and do right by them.
39:20
I think the rest takes care of itself.
39:23
You know, and I'll echo that, you know, for my own personal
39:26
experience as well as just, you know, the countless guests that
39:29
I've had on the show, you know, folks who have seen significant
39:33
success like you guys have at Laser Logistics.
39:37
It really comes down so much to always focusing on doing what's
39:41
right for the customer. And often times that means
39:45
sacrificing your own profits, you know, your own margins, but
39:50
bending over backwards and always asking what can I do for
39:54
the customer, what's best for them?
39:56
And in the end, long term, what's best for the customer is
40:00
going to be best for the supplier too.
40:03
Right. Now, if you had to recommend a
40:08
resource, a book, a course, a podcast, something that's been
40:12
really helpful to you and your own growth and development, what
40:16
would that be? You know it, it's going to sound
40:21
cheesy and it's going to sound biased, but the Big Book of
40:26
Alcoholics Anonymous, which is the basic text for Alcoholics
40:30
Anonymous. And I want you to hear me out on
40:34
this because it, yes, it is tailored to recovering addicts
40:41
and Alcoholics, but really it does provide just a design for
40:46
living based on humility, daily discipline, turning your assets
40:52
or turning your defects into assets, writing your past so you
40:58
can improve your future spiritual, mental, emotional and
41:06
physical health. All of those things are in
41:08
there. So if you can just kind of get
41:12
past the, the, the references to, you know, alcohol or, or any
41:18
other substances, it really does provide a design for living for
41:23
me at least that I can apply to all aspects of my life.
41:29
I love that, a very non traditional answer and I think
41:32
that's why there's so much value in it.
41:38
David, kind of curious to hear your perspective because every
41:41
successful business, obviously there's a great team behind it.
41:45
It's especially a group your size.
41:49
What what have you found? What have you tried and found
41:52
that has been successful for you in attracting and retaining good
41:59
talent there at Laser? Yeah, and I'm a big proponent of
42:06
attraction rather than promotion.
42:09
You know, I don't think I believe that if I'm living by
42:17
the, my own core values and the core values of the company and
42:23
acting in such a way, I think that the talent just follows
42:29
and, and I think the rest, like we talked about, I think the
42:31
rest takes care of itself. I think you're attracting that
42:34
talent and people want to be a part of that.
42:37
And you not only attract that talent, but you retain that
42:41
talent. And you know, I, I don't know if
42:46
I'm the, the most talented guy in the world for and the most
42:49
talented person at laser. I, I really don't think so.
42:54
But you know, there's, there's a lot of offers that you get in
42:59
recruiters and stuff like that when you, when you are in this
43:01
sort of role and they throw a lot of shiny things at you.
43:06
But you know, with Adam and Phil and I, I truly think that they
43:11
they follow that same strategy of attraction rather than
43:14
promotion. I haven't wanted to to leave
43:17
laser. And I think that reinforces the
43:21
answer to that question. So are you saying then a lot of
43:26
the folks that come to work for you guys are kind of referrals
43:30
from other employees? It's the same kind of power of
43:34
word of mouth that you guys have on the client side of things.
43:38
It sounds like is also in play for you on the employee side of
43:41
things. Yeah.
43:42
And it's a lot of former, it's a lot of customers actually that
43:46
come and they say, I, I no longer want to work for this
43:51
company. I want to come work for you
43:52
guys. Wow.
43:55
How about any daily habits or practices that are an essential
44:01
part of your daily life? Things that get you started
44:04
during the day keep you on track, that kind of a thing.
44:08
Yeah, I, I think that's a great question because I, I've found
44:14
that when I do have those daily disciplines, I, I'm much more
44:20
successful, not only at work, but in my life in general.
44:25
But I think, you know, consistency and when you wake
44:30
up, consistency when you go to bed.
44:33
For me, a morning meditation before I get my day started,
44:38
after I get out of bed and you know, get to my computer before
44:41
I turn on my computer or anything like that.
44:43
Just a quick meditation to kind of slow everything down tends to
44:49
make my day a lot easier. I try to do something every day
44:53
for my spiritual, mental, emotional and physical fitness.
44:57
And then I try to have as much consistency in my schedule as
45:00
possible, which is difficult with the, especially with a 13
45:03
month old. But if I can get as much
45:07
consistency in my schedule. And from like a work
45:09
perspective, it's when am I answering emails, when, when am
45:13
I focusing on new business, when am I hunting, when am I doing
45:16
the clerical work that their sales guys hate?
45:19
When am I doing the account management piece of my day?
45:21
And and, you know, having flexibility within that, but
45:26
trying to frame my week and my days up into those different
45:32
roles that my job requires. I'd be curious to hear if you
45:37
found this to be true, as you know, relatively new father,
45:40
that you didn't realize how much free time you had in your life
45:47
until you became a parent and now you've really got to be a
45:52
lot more efficient in everything that you're doing.
45:56
Yeah, there's no more. You've got to literally map out
45:59
every every second you you have with them, especially when
46:02
you've got to get something done.
46:07
You know, David, I've found that a lot of times in my life, a
46:11
mistake that I've made in the moment I end up looking back on
46:18
as being one of my greatest teachers.
46:21
Can you think of a moment like that for you?
46:24
Something earlier on in your career that seemed like a set
46:27
back at the time, but now you realize actually propelled you
46:30
forward. Yeah.
46:34
And so it kind of come, it comes back to the the sobriety and the
46:38
recovery piece. So I actually went to school to
46:42
be a teacher and I I was a teacher for the first five years
46:46
after college and then was let go from teaching.
46:54
And, you know, that was related to to my struggles with
46:57
addiction and alcoholism. And I thought that was, you
47:01
know, my biggest mistake and you know, it, it was just kind of
47:05
the end, right? What I found is that was just
47:09
the beginning to what has been so far and hopefully will
47:17
continue to be a, you know, a successful career.
47:22
Isn't that crazy to think that without having gone through that
47:26
really difficult period in your life, that you wouldn't be in
47:31
the position where you are now? That never would have been the
47:34
chance for this door to open up at a company that, you know, for
47:39
the, the dozens of minutes we've been talking here, I've I've
47:42
heard you do nothing but rave about.
47:45
Yeah, I, you know, I never would have met the nuisance.
47:47
I never would have met any anybody in this company.
47:50
It's it's amazing how that works.
47:53
And I, people ask me all that all the time.
47:56
Don't you miss teaching? It's, you know, not really,
48:00
other than when the summer first hits and I see all the kids out
48:03
of school, I do start to miss it a little bit then.
48:07
It'd be nice to have a few months off.
48:09
Huh. Yeah, I would be, yeah.
48:12
What's What would you consider to be the best decision that
48:15
you've made for your career? I think the biggest, I think the
48:21
best decision is, has been to stay with laser.
48:27
And it kind of comes back to what we talked about earlier
48:30
where, you know, there there are offers all the time, right where
48:35
the grass and you know, the grass always seems greener.
48:38
And listen, we we've all got frustrations within whatever job
48:42
we work there. I think they're that's always
48:44
going to be there. But you know, I think that's,
48:55
that's been the, the best decision that I've made is no
48:58
matter how frustrated I am at, at certain periods or, or
49:02
whatever, whatever is happening, right, to kind of sit back and
49:07
have that perspective and say, you know what, this is a great
49:10
company. I love being here.
49:12
I, I really don't want to move. Yes, there are frustrations, but
49:16
there's a lot of positives as well here.
49:18
And and the positives far outweigh the negatives.
49:22
You know, and I think that's such a, a great reminder for
49:25
everybody listening is that the best of the best jobs, man,
49:30
they, they still have days where you're shaking your head and
49:33
just, you know, going home feeling beat up.
49:36
And so it, it's not realistic to kind of look for a work
49:41
experience, whether you're an employee or, you know, you're,
49:45
you know, founder, the owner, you're not going to have a day,
49:49
you're not going to have an instance where your days are all
49:52
sunshine and rainbows, right? The, the storm clouds come out
49:56
and, and then eventually they, they blow away.
49:59
And, and I think that's what you're getting out here with
50:01
your story. Exactly.
50:03
And listen, unless Manchester United comes calling and and
50:07
they say they've got a center mid position open for me, I, I
50:11
don't know that I'm, I'm going anywhere anytime relatively
50:15
soon. You've been keeping your skills
50:17
sharp. Got your cleats ready?
50:19
Yeah, they're sharp. There's been a, there's been a
50:21
couple surgeries and I'm, I'm probably a little bit slower
50:24
than I was. OK, Maybe we'll cut that.
50:27
That last part about you being a little bit slower out of the
50:30
interview and just in case Man U ends up hearing.
50:33
Faster than I was, Bigger, stronger, faster, all that sort
50:36
of stuff. I like it, yeah.
50:38
Hey David, what's one thing you wish more people knew about your
50:41
industry? About my industry, I wish people
50:48
knew how important it was. I, I think some, I think a lot
50:52
of people think of it as just kind of a necessary evil or a
50:57
cost center. But if you think about it, you
51:01
know, the distribution center, the manufacturing set, whatever
51:04
it is, right? That's where all parts of the
51:06
supply chain meet. That's where air, rail, sea over
51:12
the road, drayage, that's where everything's going right in and
51:15
out of and that's where everything can go wrong.
51:19
And I really do believe I always I always say this, that spotting
51:24
is like the offensive line. We protect your, your, your
51:30
biggest asset, but a lot of times we go unnoticed.
51:36
And that's fine with us. We don't we don't need to be
51:38
noticed. We don't need the praise.
51:39
We don't need any of that until something goes wrong, you know,
51:42
until we have a holding penalty or, you know, something like
51:47
that. And then it's like, oh, what's
51:49
this offensive line doing right? The quarterback get sacked.
51:53
What what are they doing? It's rarely for anything
51:55
positive but the offensive line when you don't have it and you
51:59
don't have a good offensive line.
52:01
And as a Falcons fan, I can attest to that.
52:06
You know, it's very hard to have a successful team and a
52:10
successful operation. As you look at the future of
52:15
your industry and more specifically laser logistics,
52:18
what are some of the exciting changes coming in the next
52:21
couple of years that you're particularly enthused about?
52:25
Yeah. You know, sustainability is
52:27
certainly one that's that's very exciting and we continue to to
52:31
make incredible strides in that, not only on the cost side, but
52:37
on the efficiency side, on the, you know, we, we just continue
52:40
to learn more, the more experience that we've got with
52:43
it. I think there's been huge
52:47
strides on visibility into the yard through data, which, you
52:51
know, Adam and Phil were kind of at the forefront with on the
52:55
spotting side. And, and we've learned that
52:57
through acquisitions of other spotting companies.
53:01
And then, you know, there's, there's a lot happening on the
53:05
autonomous vehicle side where, you know, you've got spotter
53:08
trucks that don't even have drivers.
53:10
They've got somebody, you know, driving and driving a truck in
53:14
Atlanta, GA from, you know, Nashville, TN or, or something
53:19
like that. So there's a lot of, there's a
53:24
lot of things happening that are automation driven, that are
53:27
visibility and data-driven and that are sustainability driven
53:32
to get more flexibility and visibility and sustainability
53:36
not only inside the four walls, but outside the four walls as
53:40
well. Is there any move towards AI,
53:46
driverless vehicles? Anything kind of more on the the
53:49
bleeding edge of tech that you guys are looking at?
53:53
Yeah, You know, I, I think the, I'm not as well read in on the
53:59
autonomous vehicle side. I do think there is some things
54:06
on the AI side on, on autonomous vehicles with spotters.
54:11
But I, I think the technology is not not super far out, but I
54:16
think it's a little bit more far out than maybe an autonomous
54:19
vehicle where somebody's, you know, manipulating it from a
54:22
Control Center versus, you know, it's just AI driven, you know.
54:28
David, I've just got one more question for you.
54:30
But before I ask, I want to do 2 things I'm going to invite all
54:33
our listeners to go ahead and hit the follow button on your
54:35
favorite podcast app. Had a great interview today with
54:39
David Bloom from Laser Logistics.
54:41
And I want you to continue to get more fascinating content
54:44
like this, David. I also want to let people know
54:47
the best way to get in touch with you or laser logistics.
54:51
What would that be? Yeah.
54:54
So the best way to get in touch with me is, is probably just
54:57
through LinkedIn. The best way to get in touch
55:00
with laser logistics is you can go to our website,
55:04
laserlogistics.com or you can look us up on LinkedIn and send
55:09
us a message. Either way, someone will get
55:12
back to you. And for those folks who are
55:16
listening, laser is spelled with AZLAZER, but we will include
55:22
links to David's LinkedIn profile, the company website
55:27
which is Laser logistics.com and their LinkedIn page in the show
55:31
notes. So last question I have for you,
55:34
David, let's say you and I reconnect a year from now and
55:38
you are excited you are celebrating something.
55:40
What is that thing that you're celebrating?
55:46
Well, first and foremost, I'd like to be able to say that
55:49
instead of almost nine years sober, I'm almost 10 years sober
55:54
at the time. I'd like to be talking more
55:58
about what my what my then 26 month old daughter is doing and
56:03
be able to brag on that. I'd also be like to be able to
56:07
share that I'm well ahead of my sales goal that I've got, you
56:11
know, six or seven new logos that came in and and no lost
56:16
business either. I love that and I can see you're
56:20
a man with his priorities in the right place.
56:22
Sobriety and family were right at the top and and then sales
56:25
were underneath that. Yeah, actually, I do have one
56:28
more. I'd like to be able to say that
56:30
Georgia football won another national championship, so I do
56:32
want to throw that in there. As an Ohio State fan, I hope
56:36
it's you and I meeting in the championship game next year and
56:40
we can I'd. Rather not play you.
56:41
I don't like playing Ohio State, but if it means a win, that's
56:45
fine. I may get a little bit more Gray
56:47
hair playing you guys again. Well, well, you can see what not
56:50
only the Big 10, but the SEC has done to this guy here, so.
56:54
I get it, yeah. I'm right there with you.
56:56
Paint our dues. Yeah, David Bloom from Laser
56:59
Logistics. I want to be the first to thank
57:01
you for sharing both your time and your story with us today.
57:03
I really appreciate it. Thanks for having me, been a
57:06
pleasure. Folks, that's a wrap on another
57:09
episode of the Inspired Stories podcast.
57:11
Thanks for learning with us today.