We’re always working on business development at Marvin Keller; no company ever grew by resting on its laurels. That’s why we’re always striving to gain new customers and expand our lane options with existing customers. Customer freight bids can be unsparing and even long-standing customers can be seduced by the cheapest bid. Our sales rep, Dan, is always bringing in new leads and has landed the company several new customers in his short tenure so far. Here’s an overview of what’s new so far this year.
Krusteaz
Our most recent acquisition is the baking company Krusteaz. You’ve undoubtedly seen their baking mixes at the grocery store. Many of you have run their lanes to Continental Mills in Hopkinsville KY. We will be running some lanes directly through the customer out of Effingham and Hopkinsville to various locations in IL, GA, KY, and others. These new loads should go live in the next week or so.
Shasta
Those of you who run south may have run a load or two for Shasta Beverages, a soda company. These lanes run from Gainesville GA to Alabaster AL or Montgomery AL. While it’s only a couple of lanes right now, as long as we provide good service, we have our foot in the door to open up new business with them.
KBX
While we’ve been running loads for KBX for a while now, our consistent good service has allowed for more and more lane opportunities. Pennington AL to Elwood IL has been a steady lane for several years now. What started out as a decent way to get back to IL, despite incurring quite a bit of deadhead miles to get there, has become a major hub in the south region. With the proliferation of drivers based in the Carolinas, we’ve created a “micro network” of business down there that makes coming to the Midwest during a work rotation unnecessary. We’ve started running Hartsville SC to Pennington AL, getting us directly where the freight is with no deadhead. The Shasta lanes to AL are also lining up with these. And we’ve recently acquired a Pennington to Olney IL lane in addition to the Elwood, allowing us to return IL drivers home easily. With Pennington being drop and hook, it has become a high velocity lane.
Primient
We’ve been running for Primient for a while, but we were recently awarded a Decatur to Charlotte NC lane, a lane we had been running through a broker. We always want to work directly with customers and the rate is increased by cutting out the middle man.
Growing a business doesn’t happen overnight. It happens in little steps, often one lane at a time, and small changes add up. Sometimes all it takes is one or two customer lanes replacing broker lanes, or a few thousand deadhead miles every quarter to add up to major gains. MK will continue to push forward, grow our customers, improve our service, and continue to be successful. Your part in this is to provide the excellent service necessary for us to remain a carrier of choice. MK’s success is your success.