How Axle Logistics Grew to $1B: Culture, Sales, and Smart Automation

Shawn McLeod, President of Axle Logistics, joins us to share how the Knoxville-based 3PL scaled from $17M to over $1B in revenue. We explore Axle’s “build your empire” culture, their six-week LaunchPad training program, and where they automate without losing the human relationships that drive freight. From hiring and retention to thriving in soft markets, Shawn delivers a playbook any brokerage or ops-heavy business can use.

Chapters:
00:00 — The hard lessons of first-time leadership
03:30 — Axle’s trajectory: from ~$17M to $1B+
07:30 — Culture as strategy: “Build your empire” and loud sales floors
12:00 — Avoiding micro-cultures when scaling offices
16:30 — Hiring at pace: signals that actually matter
22:00 — Training at scale: LaunchPad’s six-week ramp
27:30 — Retention: base vs. commission, fairness, and grind
34:00 — Where to automate first (repeat touches, doc QA, quoting)
41:30 — Keeping the human: when relationships beat automation
47:00 — Surviving soft markets: travel > excuses
52:30 — Leadership evolution and feedback loops

Key Takeaways:

• Culture is Axle’s #1 growth strategy — lose that, and you lose everything.
• LaunchPad’s six-week program speeds ramp time and improves throughput.
• Automate repetitive touches (document checks, quoting) but never the relationship.
• In down markets, Axle increases customer travel rather than cutting it.
• Hiring focuses on energy, work history, and coachability — not just interview polish.

Memorable Quotes:

• “Culture is number one in the strategy for growth.”
• “Automate the repetitive; never automate the relationship.”
• “Travel is the last thing you cut in a soft market.”

Links & Resources:

• Shawn McLeod — LinkedIn
• Axle Logistics — Website

Sponsor:
This episode is brought to you by Vooma — AI that unlocks revenue in your team’s inbox with automated quoting, order entry, tracking, and more. Learn more at Vooma.com.