"Together Talks" feature # 88: Prodio presented by KLS, freight company
Some Background on Prodio
For today's edition of "Together Talks" campaign, KLS had the opportunity to interview Co-Founders, Kellie McCormick and Chelsea Thomason, of Prodio, an exclusive creative collective obsessed with building brands. Their goal is to uncover profitable paths for their clients, helping brands sprout and grow. Their services are rooted in discovery, enhancement, and education, resulting in identity refinement, stronger market positioning and scalable business.
“The Prodio creative collective was not only designed to link our clients to expert level resources but to unite a community of creative and talented individuals across the state of Michigan...and beyond.”
Prior experience leads to 2019
Kellie and Chelsea first met years prior when they worked together on the rebrand and relaunch of a French bakeware company in the United States. After that project wrapped, each went their own ways exploring other opportunities, but ultimately stayed in contact. Then, during a happy hour discussion over industry challenges, the duo put their initial ideas together and started meeting weekly to explore the opportunity to implement their vision. They continued for nearly four months until they decided to officially begin building Prodio in December of 2019.
A motivation leading to the creation of Prodio was their frustration with the lack and quality of the resources and availability for small to medium sized businesses. They felt there was an opportunity to provide not only a better cohesive process, but also top-tier talent without the big agency price tag. They set out to achieve this and become a true partner for the businesses they wanted to help. Six months after their soft launch, they both agreed that the momentum was there to dive in full, and from then on, the Co-Founders of Prodio were full- time with their start up. As the business progressed, the meaning behind their company’s name would never be more evident, Latin for ‘to sprout or to grow’.
Helping small to medium sized
With the focus on small to medium sized companies, Chelsea mentioned that regardless of the industry, there is one common denominator for their client base - businesses in growth mode. Developing Prodio, their focus was to rectify high costs and accessibility to expert level marketing and branding solutions available to companies wanting to grow. Their process would involve scalable solutions to bring everything together in one place, under the expert management of Prodio and most importantly at an affordable price point. Chelsea and Kellie understood the importance of ROI and were determined to bring value to their clients with a focus on key metric results.
Building strong partnerships remains at the forefront of what they do. Getting to know who they are working with, the company, and their goals allows Prodio to customize and tailor their approach. Understanding the client’s trajectory enables them to develop the right custom path to help reach their growth goals. Kellie explained to us that it is easy for clients to view Prodio as an extension of the team. They also find it important to keep education at the center of all they do. Not just in providing the tools, but also teaching clients how to use them to enhance the value of Prodio’s services in the short and long term. Their client-focused, supportive and educative approach sets them apart from other growth marketing agencies in their space.
Partner with KLS
KLS offers LTL and FTL for both dry and reefer transportation.
Our nationwide coverage provides companies a reliable, consistent, and dependable logistics partner to handle your trucking needs.
For more information on how we can help call our office today 708-980-0920 or reach us via our email quote request here!
Creative Collective: Building Dream Teams
At its core, Prodio’s strength lies within their talented Creative Collective network. They have united top level talent all over the country to build creative dream teams, capable of achieving any marketing or branding request. The collaborative team is just another way that Prodio provides a tailored approach for their clients. Utilizing Prodio’s services, the client can access specialized creators (ie. graphic designers, photographers, videographers, social media managers, etc.) without having to manage an internal team or the overhead that comes with it. Prodio allows businesses to remain agile and evolves alongside the changing needs and goals. Creative Collective members are thoroughly vetted in order to maintain the quality of the work and maximize the creative collaboration. In fact, a good majority of the Collective is comprised of individuals Kellie and Chelsea have worked with throughout their careers from coast to coast in the US and globally.
Kellie and Chelsea look to continue building their creative community to meet their scaling business needs and expanded offerings. For clients, a large current emphasis is on 2024 strategy planning and execution, and a selection of audits for their clients. Prodio’s marketing, branding or digital audits are a great tool if you don’t know where to start in building a growth path. They provide an in-depth analysis and strategy moving forward that is realistic and achievable. Kellie explained, "Our whole intention is that working with Prodio, you, your team, and your entire business will be in a totally different place by the end of the year."
Prodio is planning an expansion of services with focus on internal company education in a shifting industry. Chelsea described to us that in the last 3-5 years there has been more change in their industry than arguably the last few decades. Constant evolution within their industry requires internal education to remain at the peak of the resources available to their clients. Staying on the cutting edge is imperative for Prodio to remain best-in-class; and not selling pre-packaged, old solutions to their clients goes back to their customizable approach. Chelsea told us, "Branding is a living, breathing thing, that constantly is and needs to be evolving. We ensure our clients remain competitive, reach the right audiences and invest in the right things."
Building a culture
Creating brand culture is something that both Chelsea and Kellie consider vital to the success and longevity of Prodio. Kellie explained how much she appreciates the flexibility of running the company that they have manufactured for themselves. The diversity of the work and the ability to create, adapt, and deliver while having a family is so fulfilling to her. Chelsea echoed those sentiments, summing it up, "Being an entrepreneur is a difficult journey but incredibly rewarding to build and see the impact we have on our clients' businesses."
Piece of Advice
The conversation with Kellie and Chelsea ended with each sharing their pieces of advice and also free marketing advice for everyone!
Kellie – "Never stop learning, whether that be in business or in life. It's definitely a reason we put a lot of emphasis and focus on education in our business. And, you know, we learn a lot from every project that we do. I can't tell you how many times I say to Chelsea, 'If nothing else, we're going to learn something.' So, just don't be afraid to explore something new or a new strategy, cause if nothing else, you're going to learn something."
Chelsea – "Lower your expectations as an entrepreneur, focus on the positive and don’t get stuck in your own head. I think that we all start our ventures with that exciting vision that inspired us to begin with. However, don’t get hyper focused on constantly searching for that perfect project, perfect goal or that perfect client. It's about identifying opportunity, building, and maintaining. Fostering those relationships, your network, and finding yourself around supportive, mindful individuals that are going to support you through your journey. And in general, see everything as an opportunity rather than having impossibly high expectations."
Marketing Advice:
1: First impressions in today’s world are often a digital impression. When it comes to your business’s digital presence, ask yourself:
“Is this the first impression I want to have, is it a good representation?” "What am I trying to prioritize for the viewer?" "What are my main messages?"
Make sure that is reflected appropriately.
2: Founders Syndrome:
“Look, we all started our businesses because we are passionate about what we do, but the good majority excel at only a handful of what it takes to run a thriving and growing business. Don’t fall into Founder’s Syndrome and get out of your own way by staying open minded and collaborate with specialists in their own businesses/fields, you will be amazed at what it does for your business, network and peace of mind."
Interested in being featured with "Together Talks"?
KLS is booking our upcoming schedule now!
Contact us as we would love to learn your story and share it amongst our audience.
Weekly we provide 2 companies our platform to expand their reach courtesy of our campaign. Let's collaborate!!!
In Closing
KLS wants to thank Prodio and Co-Founders, Kellie McCormick and Chelsea Thomason, for today's "Together Talks" feature. Follow along for the Prodio journey with their social handles below!
Klimson Logistics Solutions - Together Talks with Prodio feature # 88
*Klimson Logistics Solutions is an Industry Leading Customer Service 3PL. Our focus and commitment to our clients has us striving to be the BEST customer service 3PL for LTL, FTL, Reefer, and Drayage in the country. KLS, freight company, is a 3PL providing nationwide logistics solutions. KLS shipping services include: LTL freight, FTL freight, Reefer LTL freight, Reefer FTL freight, and Drayage. Klimson Logistics Solutions thanks you for viewing our marketing campaign, "Together Talks". If you have any interest in being featured or questions regarding your freight operations please contact us today!
Why KLS?
Our precise and reliable effort.
We handle every shipment with the exact same process. It does not matter if you move one shipment a year or ten per day, you will receive the same level of customer service from us. When we started this company, we had one goal in mind, treat every shipment like it was our own. With our vast knowledge of the industry, we understood what a customer would want from a communication standpoint. We applied that process to be the standard here at KLS. Our reliability and being able to depend on our consistency is why we have such long-standing relationships with our clients.
Our Process?
Every shipment in our industry starts with a quote. We are firm believers that time is money, thus we strive to have quotes back in a 5-10 minute reply time for LTL and FTL, any FCL quotes are at the mercy of the carriers getting back to us. For LTL we have the flexibility to quote both off of NMFC and also Density depending on the carrier. Utilizing our services, you’re allowing us to use our expertise to class your freight accordingly to ensure we are providing the best rate we possibly can.
Once a quote has been submitted and a client chooses to proceed with KLS handling the arrangement of the shipment our full process begins. We create the BOL that will be used for the shipment. If it is a new location for our system, we will obtain all the important/special details (reference numbers, contact details, shipping hours, closed for lunch, dock/doors, etc.). We meticulously build every detail into our software for all future shipments involving that location. After we have both locations built and necessary reference numbers have been applied we will tender the shipment to the carrier. We use this method because it provides us a real time pickup number from the carrier to obtain updates prior to pickup. Our staff will either email the BOL directly to you or to the shipper (at your request) the minute after the tender has been accepted by the carrier. LTL carriers require a 2 hour window prior to close time in order to schedule it for a same-day pickup attempt.
The following morning you’ll receive an email from us. It will either provide the reason the pickup was missed (driver’s trailer filled up, driver missed the close time, truck broke down, shipper said no freight, etc.) or if the pickup was successful you will receive the PRO (tracking) number from us, along with the eta for delivery. Our staff will track it throughout the duration of transit and advise if anything happens that will alter the estimated delivery date. The day the shipment delivers we will email you with confirmation and the POD (Proof of Delivery), should you require it.
Your shipment has been quoted, scheduled, picked up, and delivered. The next step is waiting for the carrier to invoice us and make sure the rate matches up. If it does, we close out the invoice from the carrier in our system and automatically your invoice is created and sent to the requested party at your company. In the event the carrier has an additional charge on their invoice “Variance”, we will never send you an invoice with an additional charge without first identifying you of the charge.
Let us repeat, NEVER WILL WE JUST BILL OUT AN EXTRA CHARGE WITHOUT YOU BEING NOTIFIED.
You are our customer, we represent you. Should the carrier provide an extra charge on an invoice, “Lift gate, additional weight, reclass, detention, etc.) We notify you of the charge via email first. Second, within that email we identify what is required should you choose to dispute the charge. Again our goal is to honor your request, if you want to dispute, we will dispute. During a dispute we will provide you updates every step along the way. Once a dispute is closed out, whether it is approved or rejected, then we will invoice you as the invoice has been resolved.
For reference, our company only had 6.2% of all shipments go to dispute in 2022 and we successfully won 91% of those disputes on behalf of our customers.
This is our process for every single shipment you move with us. We don’t cut corners, we don’t hide from difficult situations. We believe in being available, honest, and transparent. We don’t ever want to tell you that a shipment is lost, damaged, misrouted, but it is our duty to notify you the second we find out something has gone wrong. We hate to present bad news, but it is part of the job. What you can guarantee is that we will work a shipment all the way through and turn over every stone until we get a resolution for our clients.
Services offered?
Our core business is LTL and FTL. Within these options we have options for both dry and refrigerated/frozen. We also offer FCL/Drayage options. Our company as a 3PL has nationwide options and services clients across the US.
Let’s breakdown our services more in-depth
LTL:
Standard and Guaranteed
CFS (Imports & Exports)
Tradeshows
Hazmat
Anything that is on a pallet can be moved LTL. Typically LTL is up to 10 pallets, but the sweet spot for a carrier is 6-8 pallets at most for an individual shipment. LTL quotes are good between 5-30 days depending on the carrier. LTL can be quoted either via NMFC or density to determine the class (we do this for you).
Volume:
Anything over 10-12’ of space in the truck is the technical rule for a volume shipment. When we run a quote for you we will determine if it qualifies for volume and provide you a rate if available. Volume moves allow you to get a reduced rate for larger shipments. The caveat to volume shipments it the quotes are only valid for 3-7 days and they move on capacity between terminals. If a terminal is backed up they will move their LTL freight first before the volume freight, which can lead to longer transit times for volume moves.
FTL/Dedicated/Expedited: 53’ Dry and Reefer 26’ Box trucks with lift gate Sprinter Van The main difference for FTL vs LTL is space and transit time. For standard pallets you can fit either 26 or 30 pallets in a 53’ dry van. The other main difference is transit time, for FTL each day counts in the transit time, whereas LTL does not count the day of pickup, weekends, or holidays in their transit time.
Reefer/Frozen:
LTL and FTL
We specialize working in the CPG space with food manufacturers. We regularly deliver to
the following locations:
Kehe
UNFI
Core Mark
DPI
Wegmans
Cugini
H.T. Hackney
Netrition
HEB
ALDI
Chambers and Owens
EBY Brown
Nassau Candy
Harris Teeter
Wakefern
NU INC
Long Distribution
What makes KLS different?
There are thousands of freight brokers and 3PL in our industry. Barrier to entry is rather easy and agents or owners will often hire sales people without any intention of properly training them. It results in high turnover for many freight companies and a forgettable experience for the client. We choose to operate differently through our consistency. We truly care about doing right by our clients and prospects too. While we would love to help provide our services to every company we speak with, that just isn’t realistic. We won’t always be the right fit for every company that moves freight and that is ok. Our authenticity as a shipping company sets us apart from the competition and that is backed up by our testimonials. We also run a marketing campaign bi-weekly called “Together Talks”. We interview, highlight, and promote two businesses every week. Our goal is to grow our network, make new connections, and learn something new with each collaboration. Check it out on our website and if you’re interested in being featured reach out.
Our company also runs a year long charity promotion. Book your first shipment through KLS and we donate to the charity of your choice in your name. Our way of thanking you for giving us an opportunity to show you the KLS way and what makes us one of a kind. This entire package is what we offer to every prospect and every client. Our goal is to help provide answers that customers may have when it comes to shipping. We want to always be available as a resource and will always offer a lending hand whenever we can.
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