Shipper’s Guide: Getting Logistics a Seat at the Table.
Charlie and Ryan also touch on how applying customer feedback is critical to the evolution of the Evans Experience and how nothing is more important than communication and building trust when building business.
Delafield-based Evans Transportation landed the top spot as the fastest-growing company in the region, as part of BizTimes’ 2023 Future 50 program, and this year is projecting 24% growth. It’s not just growth without a mission. Evans donates 10% of its net income to charitable causes nominated by employees.
Six years ago, after buying out a business partner, the father-son duo of Charlie and Ryan Keepman made it a point to not be “the jack of all trades, master of none.” Instead, they focused on managed transportation and building relationships with less-than-truckload carriers.
However, that focus and execution led to customers asking for the same in truckload service. A growing truckload business led to the launch of a project division for more complex freight. Then, as the post-pandemic economic boom gave way to a downturn that led to layoffs in the industry, Evans decided to keep investing by adding a parcel division.
“We have a really good way of communicating and building trust …nothing more important than trust when it comes to doing business with one another,” said Charlie Keepman, founder and chairman of Evans.
“Listening to our clients and then being able to execute,” added Ryan Keepman, CEO of Evans. “I think that’s a big, big, big piece to it, but a lot of it was very strategic in nature as well.”
Ryan explained the company has its plans in place and leadership teams meet quarterly to make sure they stay aligned and revise them as needed based on customer feedback. He pointed to a new business announcement planned for this summer that was the result of listening to clients.
“Was it in our original budget? No, but we’re finding space for it throughout the year to make sure it can fit and we can service our clients to the best of our ability,” Ryan said.
The kind of growth Evans has experienced poses an inherent challenge for any business. People, culture and relationships have been at the center of the company’s growth, but growing means adding people,creating a potential threat to the very thing that has propelled the business forward.
Ryan said the answer is in leaders using their time effectively and being very intentional about focusing on the company’s people.
“Whereas in the past it might’ve been a lot more focused on execution,but hiring more and better leaders that are in alignment and rowing inthe same direction we are is the only way that we’re going to be able to grow and retain that same family feel to the business,” he said. “It’s hard. It takes a lot of work. It takes a lot of time that sometimes it doesn’t feel like you have, but at the end of the day, you’ve got to make it because your people are what’s most important.”
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