Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
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INNOVATORS LOAD ONE Taylor, Mich. Load One builds a model for growth based on keeping drivers BY AARON HUFF money on recruiting. "I watched as our competitors were offering sign-on bonuses of up to $15,000," E says Elliott, president and chief executive offi cer of the Taylor, Mich.-based full-service expedited hauler. "While I realized many of the extremely high ones were not very obtainable by most owner-operators, some in the $3,000 to $5,000 range were. Elliott soon concluded that this strategy was not sustainable. Thinking that the esca- " lating competition of sign-on bonuses was an unproductive path, he decided Load One would take the road less traveled. "We chose to not follow the fl ock and went the opposite direction," he says. "We made our current fl eet the priority. It just seemed like money better spent and more logical in the long run to retain what you have and grow that way versus constantly pushing to recruit what you don't know. " During this decision period, the company's turnover rate was trending slightly above 16 percent per quarter. The rate was good compared to the industry average, but in order to grow, Load One's retention rate would have to be great. Becoming driver-centric Elliott and his management team have strived to build a driver-centric company for years, but retention now had become the directive. They went back to work and at- tacked the problem from all angles. Everything, including hiring decisions, was evalu- ated through the lens of retention. "We look at our average revenue per unit," he says. "We control the infl ow of trucks. There is no reason to add 10 percent more units if it will dilute the average revenue per unit. It may be benefi cial for the company in the short term, but it is going to cre- RETURN ON RETENTION arlier this year, John Elliott reached a decision about the future of Load One. For the company to continue to grow and move forward, he had to choose between opposing strategies. The fi rst strategy was to spend more ate a turnover issue." The process of evaluating Load One's retention strate- gies led Elliott to explore new ideas that he felt were necessary to set the company apart in the minds of drivers. While talking to a friend who had left the transportation industry to start a new busi- ness, Elliott says he found the "icing on the cake." Elliott's friend was look- ing to start a technology company that provided incentive programs. Elliott was looking to start a new incentive program at Load One but did not have the IT systems and infra- structure to support it. Together, they developed and launched Load One's Gold Rewards Program in July. The program is similar to corporate rewards programs such as Delta SkyMiles where individuals earn points for con- ducting routine business transactions. With these points, drivers reach differ- ent status levels and redeem them for merchandise and other items, all through an online portal. If viewed as an incentive program, Gold Rewards is a paradigm shift for the transportation industry. Whereas most incentive programs are created to drive operational improvements such as fuel savings or asset utilization, Elliott wanted The company devel- oped an online rewards program to set it apart in the minds of its drivers. COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | DECEMBER 2012 41