In this episode, Derek Dombeck sits down with David Gulas to explore the intricacies of outsourcing eCommerce fulfillment and its impact on sales and logistics. David, co-founder of a Kentucky-based third-party logistics company, shares his journey from a career in sales to becoming a leader in e-commerce logistics. They discuss the challenges of starting a business from the ground up, the importance of building a personal brand, and effective sales strategies in today’s market. Tune in to discover valuable insights and learn how David successfully navigated the complex world of eCommerce logistics.
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Maximizing eCommerce Success: How Outsourcing Fulfillment Transforms Sales And Streamlines Logistics
Introduction To The Generations Of Wealth Podcast
The guest is going to be a little different from what we’ve had in the past. His name is Dave Gulas. He actually runs an eCommerce logistics company. He got into that almost because he didn’t have any other choice. He’s been in sales his whole life. We talk a lot about the sales aspect. He also runs his own podcast called Beyond Fulfillment.
Before we bring Dave on, I just want to make sure that anybody who’s listening for the first time knows we appreciate you being here, first of all. If you’re a longtime reader, you can always go back to TheGenerationsOfWealth.com for all of our released episodes and on any other popular platform out there. Get out there, get involved, give us some likes, some shares, and join our Facebook group, The Generations of Wealth Facebook Group. Get interactive on that. Since we are talking about sales, if you are interested, the No Means Not Yet negotiations training that I offer is available on the website as well. With that, let’s bring on Dave Gulas.
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Dave Gulas, welcome to the show, my friend. We’ve had some conversations ahead of time, both a few weeks ago and before we started recording the show. I’m really excited about your experience in sales and what you do with your eCommerce brands. Why don’t you start off by telling everybody who you are and where you’re from, and we’ll dive into the questions.
Absolutely. Thank you, Derek, for having me. My name is Dave Gulas, and I am the President and Cofounder of EZDC 3PL. We are a Kentucky-based third-party logistics company. We help eCommerce companies and manufacturers outsource their logistics reliably and affordably. We provide warehousing, fulfillment and transportation solutions for people who sell things online.
How did you come to get into this line of business? As we dive deeper into your story, I really want to discuss the way you sell. Let’s start at the beginning.
I’ve been in sales my whole adult life. I went to college for a couple of years, dropped out, and pursued a career in sales. Most of that was in the medical and pharmaceutical industries. A couple of years back, the company I was with was at an executive level, but they unfortunately went under, and I was quickly looking for something else to do. A good friend of mine from the pharma company and I had some conversations about potential businesses we could start together.
A recurring theme we saw at the time was that a variety of eCommerce shippers were having issues with their 3PL, meaning they weren’t getting the right kind of service, orders weren’t going out, and communication was an issue. Our background in pharma was very customer-centric, meaning we were dealing with small business owners shipping medicine that had to be somewhere the very next day. Everything was urgent, and things were going wrong all the time.
We had a very high-touch level of customer service within that industry, and we thought our brand of service would be a perfect fit for the 3PL world. Long story short, we jumped in and did it. The company is nearly two years old, based in Kentucky, with a second location in Maryland. We’re continuing to grow, finding eCommerce brands and manufacturers, emerging brands that need help with their logistics and just providing warehousing, transportation, and fulfillment services for them.
This was a true startup from the ground up. What’s your experience been like starting as the founder?
A variety of things. I’ve always been in sales too. I’ve always been optimistic, had a positive attitude, and been up for a challenge. I’m used to dealing with the grind and the ups and downs of the sales profession. I knew it would be challenging, but I said, “I’ll figure it out.” It was definitely a lot harder than I thought it would be. One thing I noticed right away was that coming from the pharma industry, it was very niche within a certain segment and you didn’t really need to be on social media to build a successful company. In terms of all our peers and everyone around at that time, social media wasn’t a big part of it. It was a lot of B2B marketing. Everyone had lists and knew who the buyers were, so there was a lot of calling and faxing, that type of marketing.
Building A Personal Brand In E-Commerce Logistics
Transitioning to logistics, I realized the importance of having a personal brand, being out there where people could see what you do, posting content consistently, and getting known so people could find you, given the nature of the business. I quickly realized that I had to get busy building a personal brand, getting out there, posting content, and letting people know who I was. That was the biggest surprise that came with it, the urgent need to do that. I began doing that on LinkedIn and saw some initial traction and growth, and then things really picked up when I started a podcast.
In eCommerce, having a strong personal brand isn't just important—it's essential. Get out there, post content, and let people know who you are. Share on XI’d never thought about starting a podcast prior. It never even crossed my mind. That came about, too, because I had so many conversations networking with people and meeting others at trade shows when I was really getting out there. That turned out to be the most valuable source of learning, these conversations with other founders and other entrepreneurs.
One day, the idea popped into my head. If I could put all this on a public forum, others could benefit from these conversations. It would spotlight the guests and our company. It seemed like it made perfect sense. Even though I had no experience doing a podcast and no idea what to do, I just said that it would be the perfect way to get this out there. I started doing it, and we’ve published 54 episodes in just over 9 months, and we’re continuing to publish twice a week. We’ve got a whole lot more booked, and the podcast is rolling.
What’s the name of the podcast, Dave?
The podcast is called Beyond Fulfillment. Right now, it’s everywhere that podcasts are consumed. YouTube is where we started. It’s also on Spotify, Apple, iHeart, and all of the smaller platforms.
I know for me with the Generations of Wealth podcast, I had dabbled a little bit in the past. This past winter, we decided to go all in and made the commitment to run a weekly show. It’s a ton of work. I don’t necessarily know that a lot of people who listen to podcasts on a regular basis have any idea what it takes to put out a weekly show. I honestly don’t know how anybody puts out a daily show. That just blows my mind. Most of us are going to record several episodes ahead, at least. I know the day that we’re recording this is my third show of the day. It’s draining and exhilarating at the same time. Would you agree?
Yeah, it’s definitely work. A couple of things you hit on, too, are the amount of work. I didn’t know what goes into it. With doing a podcast, there’s a spectrum. You can go low-cost, no-cost, all the way up to very expensive in a variety of areas. As you’re starting, you really need to choose wisely how you do it based on what your podcast is about.
The main way I feel I’ve been able to get it off the ground and keep going is just focusing on my strengths and what I’m good at and outsourcing the rest. With a sales background, it’s easy for me to prospect, find guests, and ask them, “Would you like to be on my show?” I’m used to managing a pipeline. I’m used to daily activities, prospecting, or reach-outs, however it’s done.
That part came easy to me. Doing the interview too, I did recruiting for a lot of years. I’ve hired hundreds of sales reps. This is very similar in terms of asking people questions about their background, that type of thing, or conducting a sales discovery call. Same concept. I found quickly that there was no problem for me to solicit guests and do the interviews.
On the technical side, that’s not my expertise. I was fortunate with the people I have who helped us with our marketing. One of them has a podcast and a lot of expertise in digital marketing, graphic design, editing, and all these other backend things that take place with the podcast. We were able to quickly put it together where I would just find the guests, book the guests, do the interviews, get it to them, and then they would do the backend work. We got into a very nice flow. We were dropping once a week for about the first six months.
I always like to never let the funnel go dry or be too close to zero with that. I had such a large backlog of episodes that it was a problem. We decided, “Let’s drop twice a week.” We’ve been doing that for about another three months. It’s been going very well and certainly more work, but we’ve been able to get into a nice rhythm where we have a system in place for when everything gets done, how everything’s done, and how we check up on what needs to be done. We’ve been able to manage it very well.
For me, too, being on calls, I can relate to having days where you have a lot of Zoom calls or multiple podcasts. Being on camera, engaged with somebody for an extended amount of time, certainly requires energy. That can certainly feel draining. Just doing this type of stuff energizes me, and I enjoy it. I’ve been able to keep it going by focusing on where I’m strongest.
Perfect. The reality is those of us who are doing podcasts have a message we want the world to hear. Just like Generations of Wealth, I’m passionate about it. I want to help people. The reality also is that it is growing our network. Every time you have a guest on your show, every time I have a guest on mine or I’m a guest on somebody else’s, that is an opportunity to grow and expand our network.
David Gulas’ Sales Expertise And Insights
That’s why we’re all in business, to continue to grow. That being said, I do want to hone in on your sales expertise in the back end of this show. I know you’ve got an eBook that you wrote about bad sales habits and how to correct them and things like that. Can you tell us some really awesome nuggets and some horror stories from all your years in sales?
Common Sales Mistakes And How To Avoid Them
I had a lot of experience with that in sales because, late in my executive career, I was on the procurement side. I was dealing with a lot of salespeople, and I used to think to myself, “The vast majority of these people are not very good.” Many purchasers can probably relate to that sentiment, but it really opened my eyes when I got on the startup founder journey. If you ever want to talk to a lot of salespeople, just start a company and get out there as the founder publicly, and they’ll come in droves trying to sell you everything you can think of, from consulting to software to marketing to making your YouTube channel number one, and on and on and on. I’m continually inundated with sales attempts from a variety of people.
I don’t know what it was at the time, but late last year, the creative juices were flowing. I said, “I’ve had so many stories of people trying to pitch me, sell me on something that was horrible.” I thought maybe this was a teachable moment where I could list these stories, tell what happened, and then explain what I would have done to turn that attempt around from terrible to great.
I can tell you one in particular. I was at a trade show exhibiting, and we had a booth there. Someone came up, and so we’re a 3PL. For their solution, the ideal customer was a 3PL. They literally cornered me in my booth and rambled on about what they do, literally, for two minutes. They didn’t stop talking. They said they benefit from 3PLs and didn’t ask any questions or even know anything about our company, the stage we’re at, the challenges we were dealing with, or the market we’re in within the 3PL space. They didn’t know any of that. It was just rambling on with features and benefits.
It literally felt like she expected me to buy right there. I was just thinking, “That was very…,” and eventually, I said, “I’m sorry, I have to go.” She got the message, and that was that. But in particular, I thought, “Do people really think that’s the way to properly sell?”
That was one example, but I gave several in the book. Everyone who read it gave very good reviews, and I got a very positive response. I didn’t realize what it takes to launch a digital product either, the type of reach you have to have. It hasn’t had a ton of views or whatnot, but yeah, everyone who read it gave a great response and said they learned something.
I wanted to give that as a gift free to your listeners. We have the link to where it’s at and a coupon code to get it for FREE is “WEALTH”. Hopefully, if any entrepreneurs or even investors read your show that sells for a living and maybe want to get some unique perspectives from the other side, they can see how those attempts come across. It’s a quick read, and hopefully, someone can benefit from that.
Everybody can go to TheGenerationsOfWealth.com/badsales and check out Dave’s book. That’s awesome. A lot of our readers are real estate investors and entrepreneurs, and it’s been my pet peeve over the years how little time people spend learning how to negotiate, sell, and talk to people. I have a two-day training course called No Means Not Yet, which we recorded and is available for that reason. I can’t tell you how many people I know in my space spend $1,000 a month on marketing to try and bring in leads, and they don’t know how to convert.
They don’t know how to actually talk to people. It’s getting worse, in my opinion, in this day and age because nobody wants to have a face-to-face conversation. They want it all quick with texting, emails, and everything else. Are you kind of old school? Are you a face-to-face or on-the-phone type of salesperson?
The vast majority of my sales career has been over the phone. It’s been B2B, selling nationwide commodities-type things. I’ve had a lot of trade show experience. There’s a lot, and it’s not necessarily closing deals. Sometimes, you’ll close a deal face-to-face, but it’s more about meeting people, getting to know them, maybe talking about things when you have a personal meeting that you wouldn’t otherwise over the phone, and deepening that relationship.
The way the world’s evolved, and especially with my founder journey, so many of my calls are on Zoom, and we deal with people from all over the country and numerous overseas clients as well. Oftentimes, it’s a phone or Zoom call. I have had the opportunity to meet several of our customers, whether at a show or elsewhere. I’m all about meeting people where they’re at.
The theme of the way I sell is that I feel like too many people overcomplicate it to where they’re trying to be slick or have a certain technique or say a certain line. For me, it’s just about being real with people, understanding what their pain points are, and helping them find a solution. If your product or service can do that, great. If not, being genuinely interested as a human being and helping them find a solution, whether that’s a referral to someone else, an intro to someone else, or a suggestion of where they might find that solution. I found that if you take that attitude, you can do very well, and people respect you a lot more. You said, too, if it’s a no, people have told me it’s not even a no, it’s not the right time. You said, “No means not yet.” Often, in our business, no just means it’s not the right time. If you do things the right way and preserve that relationship, you can often get business down the road when it is the right time.
Success in sales isn’t about being slick or using the perfect line; it’s about being real, understanding pain points, and genuinely wanting to help. Share on XI would encourage people to always be thinking about that. Many people I see out there are just trying to close the sale for the sake of closing the sale, even if it doesn’t make sense. If you’re really doing it right, your solution should be a fit or not. If it’s not, you certainly shouldn’t push because it’s not going to be like they’re going to know that it’s not the right fit, and you’re going to do more harm than good if you’re pushing too hard where there’s not a fit.
You start getting up against or pushing them back against the wall and come across as the pushy used car salesman. Nothing good ever comes of that. Even if you get that sale, so to speak, they’re going to have buyer’s remorse and there are going to be returns. At least, that’s the way I feel about it.
Importance Of Understanding The Prospect In Sales
I agree. The other thing, too, is to take time to understand your prospect and ask more questions. I can’t tell you, even currently, when I go to a trade show, how many people, maybe from these bigger corporate companies, are trying to pitch and sell just to pitch and sell without even understanding us as a company, where we’re at, and what our needs are. Everyone has quotas and numbers to meet and whatnot. When you don’t do things the right way, nothing works out.
In sales, asking the right questions is key. Don’t just pitch and sell—understand the client’s needs first. Share on XNo, for sure. Dave, I really appreciate you being with us. Is there a question that I should have asked you that I did not? It can be about anything, anything in your world.
Yeah, a couple of things. We talked about the podcast. If anyone’s just tuning in, the Beyond Fulfillment Podcast drops twice a week. We spotlight entrepreneurs, small business owners, and founders. We talk about what their journey was like, the challenges they had to overcome, the pivots they had to make, and the lessons they’ve learned. We drop every Tuesday and Thursday. Check us out on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, and everywhere else podcasts are consumed.
We briefly touched on EZDC 3PL. If you’re an eCommerce company or a manufacturer and fulfillment is a headache for you, you might want to learn more about us because our goal is to take the headache out of fulfillment and provide warehousing, fulfillment, and transportation services. We help people by outsourcing logistics so they can focus on growing their business, focusing on their core strengths, and letting us handle the logistics. The best place to find out more about us is EZDC3PL.com.
Closing Remarks And Contact Information
Perfect. I appreciate it again. We didn’t get into any kind of upper Midwest rivalries because we talked earlier, and there wasn’t anything. We have no rivals. You’re in great parts of the world, at least this time of year, until about January, then it gets a little sketchy.
All good. Great to talk to a fellow Midwesterner and congrats on the podcast and the success you’ve had. Great to see what you’re doing and definitely keep going.
Thanks a lot. We’ll wrap this up for everybody that’s listening for the first time. Thanks for finding us. Those of you that read all the time, thanks for coming back. Please go on anywhere you find both Dave’s podcast and this show, and give us those likes, those shares, those thumbs-ups, whatever it is on that platform. It really helps us a lot to grow our community.
For all of you guys, help us keep bringing great content to you. For anything that I put out, the Generations of Wealth Voyage, which is the conference at sea, the Circle of Trust Mastermind, and the No Means Not Yet negotiations training, all of that can be found at TheGenerationsOfWealth.com, including all of our shows that have been released. If you missed a few of them or want to go back and listen again, that’s where you go.
Until the next show, go out there, live your vision, love your life. We’ll see you then.
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About David Gulas
Dave Gulas is the Co-founder and President of EZDC 3PL, a warehousing and fulfillment company built to serve emerging brands. Prior to launching EZDC 3PL, Dave had a successful sales executive career in the medical and pharmaceutical industries. Dave is the host of the “Beyond Fulfillment” podcast, which focuses on inspiring stories and insights for those on their entrepreneurial journeys.