3 Pillars for Anchor 3PL: People, Excellence, and Profit

Learn how BBSI helped Sam Souvall transform Anchor 3PL’s undocumented organizational knowledge into success-driving processes, policies, and operational structures to support the success of his team and the satisfaction of his customers.

Executive Summary

Sam Souvall, owner and CEO of Anchor 3PL, felt he and his team were, “building the plane as it was flying,” as they struggled to simultaneously establish internal procedures and scale the company in the face of rapidly increasing customer demand. That changed after partnering with BBSI. 

What started as a hesitant, introductory call about his business quickly turned into a strong partnership, centered on the shared goal of building a framework that positions Anchor 3PL for success. 

Since joining BBSI, Anchor 3PL has:

  • Grown their staff by 30%
  • Increased net income by 10x 
  • Increased revenue by 5x
  • Exceeded every outlined goal by 5-10x over

 

 
Sam Souvall

About Sam Souvall and Anchor 3PL

Just over 10 years ago, Sam Souvall founded Anchor 3PL in Salt Lake City, UT. Anchor 3PL specializes in cargo management and route-guide preparations for big-box fulfillment across the Western US. Sam opened his doors alongside a small team whose responsibilities were to handle warehousing and logistics, and ensure packages arrive promptly at their destination. 

Quick-turnaround logistics services, like cross-docking, require seamless coordination. But demand was growing rapidly, and with the Anchor 3PL team operating on loosely-defined policies and procedures, Sam knew his ability to effectively scale was threatened. His team managed to keep trucks on the move, but Sam was stuck.

The Challenge of Growing a Company While Building Structures

Sam knew he needed an employee management strategy that empowered his employees to thrive in their roles and helped drive revenue growth. But as a growing, third-party logistics company, documenting policies, processes, training, and reporting structures took a backseat to the hectic nature of cargo storage and distribution. 

Without standard operating procedures in place, much of Anchor 3PL’s processes and employee expectations relied on verbal communication. When new employees asked about the operational knowledge needed to be successful at Anchor 3PL, Sam told them to rely on coworkers who knew the processes as a quick fix.

But as Anchor 3PL began to expand, Sam saw their exposure to safety, HR, and compliance risks growing at a concerning pace. With missing, incomplete, and inconsistent documentation of policies and procedures, it became increasingly difficult for Sam to respond to employee misconduct while maintaining business performance.

Lack of Corrective Action Policies

Without an employee handbook, onboarding, or corrective action procedures, Sam and his managers could only tell employees, “Don’t do that again,” when conduct issues arose. While this loose approach initially worked for his small team, things quickly changed as Anchor 3PL’s staff expanded without critical safety, substance, and sexual harassment policies in place. He knew he needed to create and communicate better policies, and offer his employees training to match.

Strategic Growth Planning

As Anchor 3PL’s business expanded, Sam was left with little time to develop a strategic growth plan to set up his company for sustained success. It was difficult for Sam to break away from day-to-day operations. He needed more resources, a documented plan, and capital investment to achieve his goals.

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Just look at [the] data — not only did we grow our business, but we got the right business. That's where they really helped me, because they partnered in supporting me and my strategic goals. They really helped us with the experience they have — there's a lot of wisdom there. We set 5-times and 10-times goals, and that's been our blueprint for growth since 2017.
Sam Souvall
Owner, CEO of Anchor 3PL
left-quote Created with Sketch.
When you’re growing a company, it’s not like there’s a how-to book,” says Sam. “You’re really creating innovations, efficiency, economies, and it’s nice to be able to check in with someone and say, ‘I’m considering taking this approach. How would I do this?’
Sam Souvall
Owner, CEO of Anchor 3PL

The BBSI Approach

After joining BBSI, Sam met with his Business Unit Team who quickly became a formidable force in helping him document and improve Anchor 3PL’s unofficial policies and procedures. BBSI also helped Sam develop an organizational chart, a tool that identified Anchor 3PL’s talent gaps to effectively grow his staff. 

“Meeting [for] the first time, I was pretty hesitant, because I am not used to talking about my business,” says Sam. “And then after 20 minutes, it was like this therapy session. You know, you're pouring your heart out.” 

Throughout the process, Sam began to refine Anchor 3PL’s business pillars — people, excellence, and profit. The forward-looking growth and revenue goals Sam first expressed to BBSI helped shape and drive this core strategy. 

“From our meetings, I developed my three core pillars. And this is all thanks to their team prompting ours,” says Sam. “People, excellence, and profit — those are our pillars, in that order.”

Documentation Replaces Organizational Knowledge

Sam and BBSI quickly built an employee handbook with formal drug, sexual harassment, and workplace safety policies that clearly set conduct expectations for his team. The rollout was combined with BBSI-facilitated training sessions to ensure employee understanding.

“Structure for us — as a logistics company — is critical to success, especially order process procedures. And BBSI assisted us in creating our employee handbook and policies,” says Sam. “We had an employee issue that was difficult, and they walked us through it. They assisted us, counseled us, set up a series of trainings, and then we did corrective action. We identified the problem, and created solutions so it never happens again.”

Organizational Structure and Staffing

The new organizational chart revealed gaps in Anchor 3PL’s workforce, empowering Sam to identify existing employees to fill roles and hire new talent as needed. BBSI helped him navigate this period with a temp-to-hire program, and those recruits now make up 30% of his full-time staff.

“Getting the right people, then getting them into the right seats, and cleaning some house - that was a big deal,” says Sam.

Multiple-Year Growth Plans

Anchor 3PL exists to help shipments get where they need to go, and BBSI has helped Sam get where he needed to go. BBSI and Sam began by setting aggressive one-, three-, and five-year growth goals, and then determined which tactics to employ and the milestones they needed to hit along the way.

Results

Four years ago, Sam had goals in mind, but no map to get there. When he took an introductory call with BBSI, he knew he had found the solution. Sam self-describes those goals as, “audacious,” but with BBSI, they’ve hit every single one. 

“​​Just look at [the] data — not only did we grow our business, but we got the right business,” says Sam. “That's where they really helped me, because they partnered in supporting me and my strategic goals. They really helped us with the experience they have — there's a lot of wisdom there. We set 5-times and 10-times goals, and that's been our blueprint for growth since 2017.”

Today, BBSI continues to empower Anchor 3PL to reach its next maturity stage with a growth framework and expanded team.

CS | Client Anchor 3PL Case Study

Together for the Long Haul

Many of Anchor 3PL’s early issues are now learning experiences. With the help of BBSI, Sam is working toward new goals that are just as “audacious” — like repeating 10x growth and expanding into safe hazmat, and chemical warehousing and storage.

“When you’re growing a company, it’s not like there’s a how-to book,” says Sam. “You’re really creating innovations, efficiency, economies, and it’s nice to be able to check in with someone and say, ‘I’m considering taking this approach. How would I do this?’"

Businesses, like Sam’s, who partner with BBSI gain access to a team of professionals who help them with their most pressing issues. Business owners can then focus on long-term growth by turning growth barriers into minor hiccups and get back on the path to achieving their goals and aligning with the company’s original mission. 

If you’re ready to see the progress you can make with BBSI’s payroll, strategy, HR, risk and safety, and staffing and recruiting services to chart your course, contact your local branch to learn more.

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