26  February 22-28, 2013 | Dallas Business Journal | dallasbusinessjournal.com

BY GHIANDA BECERRIL | STAFF WRITER

Founded in 1995, Worldwide Express, a Dallas-based package and freight shipping firm, was started to help small and midsize businesses get the same shipping service as larger companies.

Now it has more than 150 franchised locations throughout the United States, averages 16 million shipments each year and has more than $500 million in annual revenue.

“I became inspired to establish the model doing an assignment while working at Trammell Crow. It became apparent to me that the market leader in express, FedEx, treated small to medium-sized companies, or companies with multiple locations like Crow, very differently than larger ones,” said CEO and founder of Worldwide Ex-press, David Kiger. “I then quickly moved to start Worldwide Express to focus on and target the underserved small to medium sized business segment.”

The company has experienced consistent growth since the start. In 2012 Worldwide Express was named the No. 1 employer in the United States for career advancement by glassdoor.com.

“The company is full of qualified young folks. They are dressed in business attire; they knock on doors and meet with compa-nies and ask about their shipping,” Kiger said.

Ed Ross, CEO of Fidus Investment Cor-poration, said that, since its initial invest-ment with Worldwide Express in August of 2007, he’s been pleased with the overall growth of the company.

“The Worldwide business model enables the company, as a system, to reach the

small-business customer on a nationwide basis. It is truly differentiated in this mar-ketplace. The premise of the model is to add value and enhance the relationship with the customer.”

Although the company has now reached over $530 million in revenue, in 2008 the company lost over half of its total revenue.

Worldwide became aware that its partner DHL was significantly cutting back in the U.S. market. The company quickly moved forward with discussions with other pos-sible partners, UPS and FedEx, in order to get the company back on track.

“We were in a very difficult position as most all of $300 million plus in system rev-enue depended on DHL moving our pack-ages from point A to B,” Kiger said. “Their ultimate withdrawal from the U.S. acceler-ated things dramatically and we were left with very little time to get our customers and our shipments into our new partners’

network.”Worldwide Express fell from $330 million

a year in run-rate sales to $160 million, all in the fourth quarter of 2008. That loss occurred during the busiest time of year for the company and at a time when the economy was rapidly deteriorating. Com-pany executives had to quickly decide what their next step would be, and partnered with their now main freight partner, UPS.

“After securing our light-pack business with UPS, we swiftly deployed our freight program with a focus on less-than-truck-load,” Kiger said. This diversification was key for the company, he said, because it allowed franchisees to begin to replace the suddenly lost revenue.

“We invested in the business because of the strength of the management team and the value proposition that Worldwide provides a small business,” Ross said. “It was a tough period, but the reality is that

it turned out to be a very positive thing for the long-term prospects of the company.“

Kiger said Worldwide’s survival is based in clear and frequent communication and belief in the business model.

“Nothing good can come from a lack of communication,” he said. “I made sure all of the news was disseminated regardless of whether it was good or bad. We knew where we were going and we believed in the power of our model.”

Back on track, company officials are hop-ing to reach $1 billion in revenue in the next four to five years.

“It is only a matter of time before every business owner finds themselves in a real do-or-die situation, perhaps several of them over time,” Kiger said. “You have to be willing to make adjustments to the plan as situational dynamics dictate.”

gbecerril@bizjournals.com | 214-706-7124

For the next generation of great companies

I D E A S I N A C T I O N

SOCIAL SOLUTIONS

Shama Kabani

JAKE

DEA

N

Best practices to use social media as customer service

Taking on the worldAfter surviving significant loss, Worldwide Express exceeds half a billion in annual revenue

REACTION TIME: When David Kiger, CEO of Worldwide Express, realized the company was about to lose its shipping partner, he led a fast move to a new partner and a reinvestment in the company.

S H I P P I N G S E R V I C ENAME: Worldwide ExpressBUSINESS: ShippingHEADQUARTERS: 2828 Routh St., Ste. 400, Dallas

75201OWNERSHIP: PrivateTOP EXECUTIVE: David KigerEMPLOYEES: 500ANNUAL REVENUE: $530 millionPHONE: 214-720-2400WEB: wwex.com

G R E AT E S T C H A L L E N G E ‘We were in a very difficult position as most all of $300 million-plus in system revenue depended on DHL moving our packages from point A to B,’ said CEO David Kiger.

Challenge: At some point not having a toll free number for customer service was shocking. Then, it expanded to hav-

ing a website where customers could get support in addition to a phone num-ber. Today, there is another customer service platform of choice — the social network. Nielsen’s 2012 report shows that one in three individuals now prefer customer ser-vice via social net-works over calling or emailing. Clearly the consumers have

spoken. But, are you listening? Solution: Consumers have never been

as savvy or as demanding as they are

today. The challenge is that we are those consumers and, as leaders, producers and marketers, we have to rise to meet the same challenge we, as a society, have created. This means you have to meet your consumers on the medium of their choice. Today’s medium of choice is clearly social networks. Here are some best practices for providing customer service via social media.

Monitor and listen: You can’t respond if you don’t know what is being said. Monitoring online comments should be a specific responsibility assigned to an individual or group (based on the size of your company). A simple start would be to setup Google Alerts for your company name, names of key executives and even industry terms. By actively listening to what is being said, you can take prompt action when required.

No response is a response: If you’ve ever contacted customer support and not

received anything back, you know that their non-response was indeed a re-sponse. It equates to “We don’t care about your query enough to answer.” On the web, that concept is amplified. Not only is the individual in question offended, the echo of the non-response is heard and felt by all who see the comment.

Handle negative comments with care: It may be tempting to delete nega-tive comments, but refrain. Unless the comment is derogatory, discriminatory or offensive, do not delete. (It also really helps to have a social media policy in place to help dictate what stays and what goes). Deleting a comment can at best incite someone to take it up on their own platform and at worst lead to a PR crisis. Constructive criticism should be responded to in a timely and professional manner. Today, you are judged more on your response than the initial complaint itself.

Shine a light on the positive: Cus-tomer service is often relegated to deal-ing with customer complaints, but that is only one side of the coin. Encourage your customers to share their positive ex-periences, and be sure to shine the light on customers and employees when they behave in a positive manner.

Engage privately when appropri-ate: Just because a comment was made publicly doesn’t mean you have to go back and forth publicly. A simple “We hear you, and have sent you a private message to help you successfully resolve this issue” works just as well. In fact, when private information is concerned, I strongly urge you to resolve it privately.

Social media as a customer-service channel is here to stay. I recommend you learn the rules and then play to win.

Kabani is CEO of The Marketing Zen Group, a social media and digital PR firm based in Dallas.

Reprinted for web use with permission from the Dallas Business Journal. ©2013, all rights reserved. Reprinted by Scoop ReprintSource 1-800-767-3263.

February 22-28, 2013