CEO Exclusive: The Redneck Stock Exchange
Kevin Nolan, CEO of Nolan Transportation Group (NTG), knows that even industries with storied histories need to evolve with the times. The trucking business is no different. Ever since the industry was deregulated in 1980, companies such as NTG have been leading the way in innovative new business practices which could have positive applications beyond the field of “freight brokerage”.
This week on CEO Exclusive I’m happy to welcome Kevin Nolan (CEO) and Luke Tauscher (General Manager of the Atlanta office). NTG is one of the fastest growing companies in Atlanta, and was recently named #461 on the 2016 Inc. 500 | 5000 list of America’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies.
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Nolan has heard the phrase “Uber for Trucks” as a description for his business model, and thinks it’s a good conceptual starting point, but Uber’s main innovation was creating a brand new workforce, whereas NTG helps connect existing workforces (small to medium sized trucking companies) to more profitable and convenient client bases. His company acts as an important intermediary between those who deliver and those who receive the delivery. Given the high octane, fast-paced nature of the business, Nolan calls his line of work the “Redneck Stock Exchange.”
Motivate Your Staff
Brokerage businesses are built on effective sales—clearly a core competency for Nolan’s staff. Closing a high volume of transactions and serving those customers day, after day, after day, is really tough. It’s a high-pressure situation that comes with a lot of uncomfortable conversations: sometimes you have to get it right. The NTG team knows how to motivate staff through stresses of sales.One really interesting strategy is interoffice competitions. Nolan describes a hypothetical game that would drive sales - “whoever gets the most quotes out by noon, you get free lunch, and you get tickets to a Braves game and you get a night out with a lot of drinks, and then ball later, or something.” Another such event is asking everyone to dress like they’re about to play their favorite Olympic sport, and whoever wears the best costume gets $100. Ice-breakers and confidence-makers like these are priceless tools in combating the natural stress of sales and keep your staff fresh and excited to give it their all.
Bring in Great Talent
Where’s the best place to scoop up talented employees who will work hard instead of playing Pokemon Go on company time? Recruiting right out of college can give a company a valuable edge in terms of the enthusiasm of its workforce (although you may have to insist they leave their frisbees at home). People hired right out of a university are typically eager to get right into their first job, to put the learned skills to use and dive headlong into a career. Those young adults currently graduating, known as the “millennial” generation, possess beneficial traits that other generations may lack that can help your company excel.
What techniques could help in creating a competitive sales force? Kevin Nolan believes he has the answer: “We're tenacious in the way that we go about sales, but we do it in a competitive yet collegial way, and the fact is that we want to help people save money, give them access to equipment that they didn't have before. But the guys and girls that we hire, we look for people that were well-rounded in school. They didn't have to be a straight A student, but it helps if they were involved in a sport or fraternity, sorority, social stuff on campus, student union or anything that shows that they were well-rounded and able to work, but can also be social.”
Tauscher has his own criteria for finding worthwhile salespeople: “The number one thing I look for is someone who I know can be aggressive, and they're not afraid of anything or they're not timid, they'll ask the right questions. Somebody who looks in my face and it's just immediately like I can't even talk because they're just taking over the room. And the biggest thing in this industry isn't your one-time sale. If you're just making a bunch of one-time sales, you're not going to get anywhere. If I can have a real conversation with you on a personal level, that's what is going to carry you somewhere and you've got to develop these sort of relationships with your customers, the ones which will last one year, two years, three years, four years, five years, however long you need because you're not working with them strictly on business.”
It takes a special sort of sense to see if someone has the savvy for sales, in other words. Of course, this applies to other areas as well- you should have a precise picture in your mind of the type of person you’re looking for when hiring. Certain values and skills just fit better in different occupations. A well-oiled company melds different sorts of people into one cohesive force with a singular mission statement. Nolan makes sure that he hires managers that have the same goals for NTG that he does: “I'm not going to throw someone in there who has their own way of doing things and doesn't want to go about things our way, because if you throw to someone in the middle of a line that has their own objective, the whole line fails.”
Utilize the New Millennial Workforce
There are definitely certain stigmas surrounding millennials, but in each of these potential generational weaknesses, there is a secret strength that your company can utilize. Millennials get grief for always having their faces pointed at a device, but because of this, many of them excel with technology. Some say they are glued to social networking: and ipso facto, they are often wonderful communicators. Some complain that they have a sense of entitlement in terms of rising up the “ladder”, but in truth they set high standards for themselves in order to achieve success.
Nolan is fully aware of strengths such as these and takes full advantage: “We've got six full-time recruiters that are amazing, and they go to thirty-five campuses a year and basically they know within the first phone call, is this person going to be able to work the phones and land freight or not and be able to do deal with truckers? And so… we kind of have what we're looking for in people, and Luke and his team, they interview hundreds of people to get to the people that they hire… [millennials are] pretty fun and they are very smart, very witty and understand how to communicate really well through technology, but also, you know deep down, very social.”
Kevin Nolan / Nolan Transportation Group
Kevin Nolan founded Nolan Transportation Group in 2005 with a small office, a box of cash, and two employees. NTG was built on a service promise and Kevin’s open communication style quickly earned the trust of both carriers and shippers. After five years in operation, NTG opened additional offices and began to take off, adding nine more offices between 2011 and 2016. Today, NTG has 12 offices nationwide and employs over 500 people from all backgrounds. In 2015, NTG was recognized on the Inc. 5000 list as one of the fastest-growing companies in America. NTG is ranked #461 on the 2016 Inc. 500 | 5000 list of America’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies.
Kevin received his B.S. in Business Administration from Presbyterian College while playing college football, developing the competitive spirit he runs business with today. After finding early success as a freight broker for C.H. Robinson, Kevin left the industry and went on to manage multiple Waffle House stores. He finished his career as the top sales manager across the company, honored with the Top Waffle Award. Kevin went on to earn his MBA at Mercer and completed the degree with a business model focused on the freight brokerage industry. With experience and education under his belt, Kevin was able to form the foundation for NTG.
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Luke Tauscher / Nolan Transportation Group
Luke Tauscher is the General Manager of the Atlanta branch of NTG. A 2011 graduate of Texas Christian University, Tauscher moved to Georgia after accepting a job with NTG.
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