Unlock Freight Success: Why Carrier Partnerships Matter | RXO Strategy

Speaker 1 [0:00] Don’t worry, we’re here at the Unified Solutions Carrier Kickoff Event here at the Westin, Chattanooga, Tennessee. And I visited this man’s city, the Queen City, and now you had to return the favor in the scenic city. Speaker 2 [0:12] Told you I was coming back. Speaker 1 [0:13] You told me, you meant it, you were. You meant it, you were. Y’all, this is Brian Riley, for those that don’t know, VP of National Account Sales at RXO. Brian, first off, it’s good to see you as always. Speaker 2 [0:22] You too. Looking good. Speaker 1 [0:23] Well. Speaker 2 [0:24] Looking good. Speaker 1 [0:24] Trying to keep up with you. No, stop it, stop it. Speaker 2 [0:26] You got the summer bod going. Speaker 1 [0:27] I gotta lose a couple. Guilty as charged. Speaker 2 [0:33] Very nice to meet you officially. Thanks for having me. Speaker 3 [0:36] All right, so tell us, what do you think of the event so far? Have you enjoyed it? Uh, have you learned anything yet? Speaker 2 [0:41] Absolutely. So I would say yes to all the above. This is my 3rd year at the U of R Supplier Conference. Um, I think every time it’s gotten— they’ve dialed it in. Uh, I think just the overall— the way they set this up, having all their providers come in, giving a clear concise message to the team, setting expectations, leading with RFP. Not a lot of customers continue to do this, whether it be the expense of having, you know, putting on the event, bringing all their team members in, and then obviously having all of us in the same room. So it’s been, it’s been great. I think I always appreciate Rob and the team kind of giving the insight and their direction going forward. Speaker 1 [1:18] You know, this is a relationship-based business. We talked about this when you were on with the truck. It’s not necessarily what you know, which that’s important conceptually, what you know, It’s who you know as well. You pride yourself on this. RXO prides itself on this. Why is that continually to be the fabric of what you all do each and every single day you wake up and log into these systems and get the day started? Speaker 2 [1:40] Yeah, I think that Dorica said it great today during her presentation. You know, you’re in— our carriers are an extension of our brand, of our business. And so, and I think when, when you, when you really look at business in that way, in that You’re not just signing up to perform a task or a contract award. You’re really signing up to be and represent that customer and obviously your own reputation as well. So the communication piece and building that foundation of a partnership, and I would say across the organization, and what this event specifically does that a lot of others don’t do is I have access and we all have access, equal access to all of their stakeholders across the organization. So whereas I may have a strong relationship with someone at a various level or a particular site, site, I have the opportunity now to expand that partnership and discuss opportunities that are specific to each site and location. And so rather than having to physically travel individually to all— to 15 different sites or to have 50 different people trying to talk to one person, I think it just creates a streamlined approach that really does great for the— as a provider and also for as a customer with Eurobar. Speaker 3 [2:47] Sales guy’s dream. Right. Like you get to expand and see the right people to expand to without having to do their research. They’re already here. You don’t have to make the 27 trips. Speaker 2 [2:56] That’s— Yep, 100%. And I think, you know, my theory has always been you do prepare for any— you always prepare for something to where you’re providing value. But knowing who all is going to be here, knowing whether it be talking through opportunities or talking through challenges or maybe just talking in an informal setting about what they’re facing at a specific site or location that you might not always get from a corporate leader. That makes a lot of sense. Speaker 3 [3:19] So in a current— I think we can all agree that capacity is tight in the current market. So in a market like this, what can and should shippers do to continue to preserve those relationships with their providers? Speaker 2 [3:33] Yeah, I think, you know, we talk a lot about one thing we use a lot of time is win the tiebreak. If all things are equal, what’s the differentiator? That’s why you would choose one thing over another. If price is the same, if services metrics are the same, because in a room of 60 to 70 providers, there’s a lot of equal performance. They’ve had some award winners who outperform some others. But what is it that you do and your company does that separates you to win the tiebreak? And so I think where that comes into play from a capacity standpoint is they have to have the trust and the communication that you’re going to answer the phone in the good times and the bad. You’re not just constantly searching for what can you d