Navigating Growth in the Supply Chain Industry

And today on the show I have Lori Kincannon , who is the chief revenue officer at McKinney Trailer Rentals .

It was a Japanese company and so lots of processes , lots of learned , respect . We earned the value of time because they were very regulated , you know . So I learned a lot there . I then I worked there for about 12 years and then I moved on to a company that probably everybody knows a little bit about Pokemon Cards . Oh yeah , yeah .

So I worked there a year . This company was called Wizards of the Coast and I introduced them to trucking . They used to fly all their cards everywhere . So I was kind of a hero for a little while because they saved them lots of money because we put the cars on trucks instead of air freighting , so that was kind of fun .

Then they were sold by or sold to Hasbro . So I was really only there a year because they moved their operations back east , operations back east . And then I went to work for a competitor , plm trailer leasing , and kind of started the whole trailer part , learning about every single thing about a trailer . The branch was like losing money .

So we pretty much just it was me by myself . So I learned how to kind of run everything from operations to cleaning the bathroom , to falling out of trailers , because I'd have my high heels on so I could go see customers in the afternoon and I'd have somebody picking up a trailer in the morning . So I would .

I fell out of a lot of trailers but I kind of learned everything . Um , it was funny . My boss would call me and say , um , well , what are you doing today ? And that was back when we used file folders . So I'd say , well , I'm on the seas today . I'm calling every single customer that ever had rented a trailer before .

So , um , I got through the z's and we ended up being very successful . I worked there for about six , six and a half , seven years and then , um , on to mckinney trailer rentals . So , um , as I got there , I um , it was a big change for me .

So I kind of went back to just account management and when I went in in , the president of the company said well , I have no job for you with your experience , so you'd have to come in . I took a pay cut and just did account management for a while and it was kind of a risk . It was difficult . I had two kids in college and it was hard but I did .

I learned a whole bunch and I kind of felt like taking that risk would get some reward someday . And here I am , so it's been great .

We're following trends , we're paying attention , we're in charge of revenue growth , all of those pieces .

And so how do you think your experience , as I wanna say , you were like senior VP of marketing and sales last week , that was your , you know all of that work in sales and marketing and , being in that role previously , how do you think that that has helped you become , you know , chief revenue officer now ?

You know transaction that you do , whether it's . You know making a sales flyer or giving a customer a discount , you know for volume or whatever . Every single thing affects your bottom line .

So I just think learning that you know everything from you know walking into a customer and them saying they want a big discount to the whole marketing side of it , I think it really helped me learn everything and kind of see that effect on being profitable .

I love talking to people who've been at companies for a really long time , because they think to have a tenure at a company that long typically means that you're able to grow in your career , which you know we're witnessing right now and I want to talk about the why , Like why have you felt comfortable staying at a company so long ?

How have you been able to grow ? What has McKinney done to help you be successful and want to stay there ?

worked in other positions first and all been promoted from within . So I think that's super encouraging to anyone . In fact , you know many people .

After my promotion was announced you know that was their comment was it's so cool to see somebody that they know worked really hard and worked in a lot of different positions and has been able to get to the level that I am . So I think that whole the management team looking at people and what we do within and wanting to promote from within and encouraging .

They love to hear what the employees have to say . They're very approachable .

You can sit down with an owner or the president of the company at any time and they want to hear what you have to say , what your opinion is , and you do feel like you're owner or the president of the company at any time and they want to hear what you have to say , what your opinion is , and you do feel like you're heard .

So , um , and I do think a lot of companies right now are dealing with the cost of attrition and what that looks like when their employees leave . So do you have any advice for companies that might be looking to grow more tenure in their team ?

But we encourage them , you know , and promote that teamwork when they're in the office and making sure that everybody's all there at the same time to work together and to throw ideas . And then we're very flexible . We want people to , you know , work together in teams and not only doing , you know be cross-trained but but doing whatever makes sense for the company .

So I think a lot of times people get so focused in their one position and you know , I work in billing , I work in sales support , I work in marketing . Our people are cross-trained in absolutely everything so they can do anything at any time and I think they revel in that being able to , you know , work outside the box and learn about the company .

We also encourage , you know , customer appreciation events . You know we still do holiday parties . We still give all our employees . Every employee that starts at McKinney gets a welcome box on their first day . And you know we still do holiday parties . We still give all our employees .

Every employee that starts at McKinney gets a welcome box on their first day and you know it's not a lot but you know it's something . You know some shirts and some hats and some coffee mugs and you know the swag . So they feel like .

You know , when they're nervous on their first day of work they have something to say welcome to McKinney , we're glad you're here . And then we just continually try to , you know , be good with people and to care about their feelings and be flexible and , you know , making sure they have a good work-life balance .

I make sure that when I go down to the corporate office , I'll go down , you know , once a month and I walk around the office and talk to everybody in accounting that you know , have their noses in their computers and I say how are you doing ? And you know how's your family and what's going on .

And I think that it helps because I think all our executive team does that . I think many people will tell me you know that's the first time that I've ever had the president of the company , you know , ask me about my family or you know what . You know they feel like that they have . You know their face .

It's not just a person you know sitting at a desk , so I think that that makes people feel good .

And even , yeah , like I think that's something that when we started to have more remote employees , that kind of went away . But I almost feel like it's more important , if you're not showing up in person every day , to still feel connected , like I like what you said .

Oh , obviously there's some people that have to come to work every day and there's people who have the luxury that they're able to work from home , but we still , when we brainstorm , we get together and we have these conversations . I think being able to navigate that in a really productive way is important .

I know you know a lot more people are coming back in office and a lot more employees still want to be not in the office , and so I think in those conversations it's important to think about why are you moving people back ? Like ? I'm married to an engineer . He is quality control . He has to go to the plant every day he can't .

But you can't work at home . I don't work anywhere but home , unless if I'm traveling for a trade show , and so our jobs have always been different that way . But he's never been like , oh I wish I could work . Well , he's also .

He's just one of those people who isn't productive unless he's like at the office , and I think that that's important where , like for me , I can get really , really distracted if I'm working with other people , or like I was a writer for the first half of my career and being in an office and people coming into the office and even saying hello to me could just

completely ruin the flow of work and so I wanted to come . Can I have meeting days and come into the office and go to the meeting so we can brainstorm ? But the days where I need to sit and focus and write , like , please let me be home , it's not because I don't want to be productive , it's because I do . I do want to be productive .

I want to sit and I want to be able to , like blast my music , if that's what my brain needs that day , or watch my trashy tv shows in the background , if that's what I need to be the most productive , but that can you , you know , ruin other people's production .

So , but I think , like that's always my advice to companies is , like , really think about why you're making these decisions . Is it really , you know , okay , did you see productivity go down because people went home ? That's a different thing , and it's because they then don't have the equipment that they need at home . And can you help that ?

Or you know , I think it's important not just be like , oh nope , it's time to move back , or it's not really thinking through who needs right right and being flexible .

I don't want to drive a vehicle when I have a migraine , but I could normally get some amount of work done and and be able to focus , but I don't want to get behind a wheel .

I don't want to be stuck in a place that's like really super far away from my dark bedroom , you know , with those lights , and so I can be productive at home , but it's the cost of transfer to the office really going to push me out of it . And , um , I had jobs that were like , no , you have to come in .

I'm like , okay , well then I'm going to miss my deadlines on all the things today and I will take a PTO day because I literally it's unsafe for me to drive . So , being understanding of that , and you know , people take care of other people and they have to be- able to . I think that can go a long way .

Yeah , and I think a piece of this is professional development too , and I really love how you said that everyone is cross-trained on everything which I think is incredibly important , especially for sales and marketing people , because if we need to sell what we're doing , if we need to position and market what we're doing , we need to know what we're doing .

And I don't think that every sales and marketing person is given that space to really be able to do that , to do the work , to go into a truck or go into the office or go sell or lease or whatever those circumstances are . And even I always tell marketing people go on the sales calls and listen .

Oh yeah , for sure you know like you have to be able to do that because you're never going to be able to talk the talk if you can't walk the walk at all .

You know if they're at a you know corporate office or you know back office , that they are going into a branch at some point and you know , watching a trailer inspection being done , watching the customers pick up going on a sales call and trying to get a feel for you know what we are selling and what the customer needs .

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You know we have um , a marketing company that does our website and our seo helps us with marketing . We have another company that does our social media because I'm terrible at it .

So at least they're they're doing all that for us and doing our graphic design and stuff , rather than trying to employ experts and all those because you have to keep up on it if you're know in that every single day in that world you're going to miss something .

So just um really trying to be flexible and trying to make sure that you have experts , you know all the time . And then I think the sales um landscape is changing with um so much , you know , kind of consolidation of companies , especially in the transportation um field and and um a lot of centralization and that .

So I think the sales landscape has changed quite a bit , with people just , you know , wanting to go one place , that one-stop shop . They want centralized , they want , you know , national rates , they want you know everything to be super easy . They want to be able to , you know , go into the computer and click on a box and say , order a trailer .

So that's not quite what we do , it's a different business model , but we try to . You know , um , we have a sales support team that that handles um , all our centralized account , our national account , and they may handle everything from , you know , the reservation process all the way through to collections . So , um , we try to do it all and and do it well .

So , um , that , helps us , you know , differentiate us with our competitors .

So we actually met years ago we were trying to figure this out a couple of weeks ago when we actually met , but I know , I remember meeting you before I took on the role of executive director at TMSA and you .

Then , when we were together , it was at the Transportation Club of Tacoma Luncheon earlier this February , which was an amazing opportunity for me to be able to come and talk about things that are going on . I was the guest speaker because you invited me and it was amazing and you are a past president of the Transportation Club of Tacoma .

I have it written on my face too and I'm like don't mess it up and I do no problem , but Transportation Club of Tacoma and you're a past president and you are involved in TMSA . You have other things going on .

Why do you think this type of engagement is important , being active in different transportation groups and engaging in the community transportation groups and engaging in the community .

encourage everybody to go to meet the customers , to network , to learn as much as they can about the customers and what the customers wants and needs are . And then , you know , it's just great for referrals too .

I know I will have people calling me from the transportation club when they need a trailer and they've never rented a trailer before , but they've seen me and then met me through you know , the networking , and so that's always good too .

But it's , you know , getting your name out there , getting your brand out there , and just the fact too that I think people see that your company's involved . You know , along with you know , any community involvement .

Most of the organizations all have their charity events that they sponsor or involved with , and that's where I can , you know , get that side of it that because I work so much , I don't have a lot of time so I'm able to do that through these transportation organizations and I think it's good .

Mckinney's been a huge advocate for giving back to the local communities in which we serve , so we try to encourage our employees and others to be involved in that .

So if you do and it's not just you worry , I mean you should consider submitting , but anyone that's watching or listening to this .

We have different awards that we like to give out , and purpose is one of them , and so anything that is a community-based or sustainability-based program that you're doing to give back to your local community or the logistics community is a good fit for that one .

We have the Trailblazers , which is going to be your best of sales and marketing , and then we have the Rising Stars open as well right now , which is anyone who's been in the industry for five years or less and it's really , you know , doing an awesome job .

So submissions for that open for members , is a charge for non-members , but submissions open through the end of March .

So if you're thinking about that and thinking about how important it is to give back to the community I was actually we do a community give back here at TMSA , at Elevate , and I remember sitting at the Transportation Club of Tacoma event and you guys were talking about how you guys were giving back and I loved to see that .

I think it's really important as organizations to give back and as associations , when we're bringing people together to highlight some ways that we can do that most effectively . Sure , so you , prior to taking on this chief revenue officer role , you were in charge of sales and marketing at your company and that's something that you had done for quite a few years .

So I'm wondering how you feel like that role of marketing business development in transportation evolved over the past five , 10 years .

We've recently added more national account and business development people , because I think having those hunters out there looking for little gems that other people might miss um and and the whole centralization um of kind of a lot of the big customers um have um they're buying up each other and you know everybody's just consolidating .

So I think having that national account um ability um is for all companies , you have to have it . Um . We've been because of our branches um different states .

They all have had a kind of a goal to act like this branch maybe was their own company and to , you know , treat it like they would if it was their own money when they're spending money or going out and doing things .

We've always asked them to act like it was their own business and so I think it's been a little bit of a change in us to act like it was their own business and so I think it's been a little bit of a change in us going more national accounts .

So in the local level they have to take care of those national accounts , but then we have now directors of national accounts that go out after these much larger companies and I think our service business model is such that many of these national account companies , once they start doing business , whether they're thrilled to do business , because we still have that local

touch . We have the local touch from each of our local branches . So I think that that is super important . So we've been very successful in just kind of transitioning from this little local business model to a national account model . And even though we aren't nationwide , we do have trailers on lease throughout the entire US .

We have a lot of partners and vendors that we use in other states . So we've been able to kind of make that switch to be nationally recognized , not just as a regional partners , which we used to be . So I see McKinney in Ohio .

We have a little thing that we have on our , on our website that we have , you know , mckinney , out on the road so people will take pictures and send it .

I think having them report up to one person can help create that , to be less siloed and more connected , especially , at the end of the day , you're sharing revenue goals . The goals of sales and marketing is to make money for the company . It's just you're doing it and you're a different part of the funnel or whatever .

So do you feel like that structure really allowed your teams to be more nimble ? And I do think the cross training and what you described earlier in this interview probably really helps with that as well .

We , you know , do kind of quarterly executive meetings and meetings with our VPs and we kind of just all sit in one room and talk about you know where the company's going , where should we move next , where should we open a branch up , what's working and what's not .

So I think having that all under one umbrella where everybody feels like they can tell everybody what's going on and what they think and then be heard , and we will sometimes be hashing out what we agree with and don't agree with and go .

Sometimes we get to a point where it's okay , we're going to table this till next time , and other times we're like done , we've checked it off the list and we get stuff done . So I think that's an any company has those issues .

But boy , having that chance to sit down all together and hash everything out and get everybody's opinions , and it's just a free flowing meeting where we can make sure that everything's addressed , any issues we're having , or you know what . What do we want to do next ? Where do we want to go , you know ?

So we're looking at other areas right now to move into with . Hopefully we'll have somewhere in Chicago by second quarter , so that's pretty exciting by second quarter .

Is there anything that you really think that people should be on the lookout ?

I'm a little concerned over , you know , possibly upcoming tariffs and what the you know cost of steel and equipment is , and you know I I don't want to raise prices , I don't want to have to do that , um , so I'm hoping all of that gets rectified , uh , pretty quickly , um , and , and you know , looking forward to more smooth sailing coming up , but it might be

later this year well , thank you so much for coming on the show today .

I had a mentor of mine , a very wise man , that said you know , you're the only one , that's , you know , looking out for you and you need to be responsible first to your family and then to your career and you personally . So ask for what you need . And I think that that was so true and that really hit it .

Hit with me because I don't think I'd ever gone and said this is what I need or this is what I want .

So , and I think , kind of as a , as a mom and a woman and a , you know , kind of male dominated village , you kind of get to that where you're just going through the motion sometimes , and so I think I would tell me to be an advocate for myself and ask for what I need I think that's great advice for young gregory and for anyone today .

Well , thank you so much for coming on the show today . Next week , we will have an episode with Kyle McNutt and we'll be talking about all things video production and giving away some tips on how to do it effectively , what does AI have to do with it and all of the good things . Really excited about that .

And if you want to hang out with me or Kyle or Lori , you can come to Elevate June 8th through 10th in Austin , texas . We're slowly we have our keynote announced .

She's talking about not just storytelling but story selling and how to tell the right story at the right time to the right people , because if you're not doing that , you're missing opportunity , and we are announcing our breakout speakers in the upcoming week , so definitely want to check out that page , see what's going on .

I will pull up this too so you can look at the website If you don't want to scan it's eventstmsatodayorg

. But thank you so much for coming on the show and being with us here today and thank you for being such a supportive member of TMSA . It's always good to chat with you , lori . Thank you All right . A supportive member of TMSA . It's always good to chat with you , lori . Thank you All right . Thanks , bye-bye .