Heroes in Business - Tim Davis CEO of UPS Store is interviewed by David Cogan of Eliances Heroes

Episode Date: June 14, 2024

Tim Davis CEO of UPS Store is interviewed by David Cogan of Eliances Heroes radio show amfm. They discuss franchising and the proliferation of UPS Store having 4500 locations. 

Welcome back to Alliances Heroes, where heroes in business align. To be part of our super community and find out more about Alliances, visit www.alliances.com. Now, back to our super host, David Kogan, founder of Alliances. That's right, this is David Kogan. Can you believe what the morning has been? I mean, we had the president of ChildHelp working to help children who have been abused doing so much for the community. We just had the co-founder of Eventbrite. Now, everybody in the world knows Eventbrite, right? I mean, it's used.

Every invitation you get now registering online is pretty much Eventbrite. He was all the way from France. We'll be ending the show with the founder of Blackboard Inc. Now, he just sold the company for $1.6 billion, and he's going to share with us some of the secrets of how he went about doing that. But I got to tell you, our next hero, unbelievable. He is the president of a business that you see, first of all, located in many strip malls, almost everywhere. And it's a place where you can ship stuff and do many other things. Any idea who that is? Well, it's a pleasure to have Tim Davis, the president of the UPS store.

Now, Tim, most unique, let me ask you first off the bat, most unique item maybe that you've heard about someone bringing in to have one of your locations shipped? Oh, God, well, first let me tell you, first, thank you for having me on, and good morning, David. That's a great question, unique items. I was visiting a store one time and was watching the group put together a crate for a moose head that a customer had brought in to have shipped across the country. Must have been one of the most unique things that I had seen. Unbelievable. Now, Tim, you are, you know, how does one make it to the top of their game? I mean, you're at the top of your game. You're responsible for 4,500 locations. your game, you're responsible for 4,500 locations.

And that means the franchisees plus the franchisees' families and their cousins and their brothers, because everybody's relying on everything through all the way up to the UPS store and that. How does one make it to the top of their game like you've done? Well, for me, it was a real journey of just, you know, education, trying to pour myself into the job, really caring about the people that I work with, and just the team environment that we have at the UPS store. And franchising really is all about a team feeling. It's a system where you're in business for yourself but not by yourself. And I think that just goes and crisscrosses throughout our entire organization.

So I was really fortunate to have all of the resources available to take advantage of different opportunities and really enjoy what I'm doing. I mean, incredible. And I've got to tell you, now the UPS stores, like you mentioned, franchise. Incredible. And I got to tell you, now the UPS stores, like you mentioned, franchise, and I'll let you know, I have personally spoken with some of the franchise owners who told me that they were most impressed with, are you ready for this, the support that they have received. And I'm not just saying that to toot anybody's horn. I'm saying it truthfully that I've spoken with them because, you know, alliances were a place where entrepreneurs align. We work with many entrepreneurs and business owners and that, and I mean, they're very impressed. But what do you think maybe are the top two to three traits that someone really needs to be successful in business? Well, two to three traits is pretty easy for me to pin down, especially when you're talking about a franchise system. And so many of our small businesses in the country are franchised. I mean, first and foremost,

you have to have drive. I mean, you have to have fire in the belly and a willingness to get up and an eagerness every day to go out and go get them. Without that, it's going to be very tough to make it in just about any business because the landscape is so competitive. I think in franchising especially, working the system, working the model that is provided, it's something that you can research extensively before you get into that business. So when you do, working that model to the nth degree is certainly going to be the right approach. And you have so many other franchisees that are proving that model that you can rely on for help. And in the UPS store network, that's certainly true. We have over 4,500 locations throughout the country. And so there's a lot of resources for our owners to work with each other on. And get the support.

And the ones that we provide from our home office. But lastly, and I think maybe most important for business in general is you got to understand your finances. You got to know your numbers. You got to know your margins. You have to know how to set your pricing and not just guess at things. I mean, again, worthy advice for sure. And you're listening to alliances heroes. That's right. Are you a hero in business? Tim Davis certainly is, president of the UPS store. You can reach him by going to theupsstore.com or you can go to Alliances,

the place where entrepreneurs align, E-L-I-A-N-C-E-S.com. And again, Tim's doing so much. In fact, Tim, you're a strong supporter of entrepreneurs. You've been part of Entrepreneur Magazine. By the way, we had the chief editor, Amy Cosper, on our show. Share with us, Tim, you're a strong supporter of entrepreneurs. You've been part of Entrepreneur Magazine. By the way, we had the chief editor, Amy Cosper, on our show. Share with us, though, also to a little bit more, the changes that you've seen taking place with entrepreneurs.

You're very tapped into what's going on. You support and sponsor many organizations for entrepreneurs. What's some of the changes you've seen? Well, I think changes over the time that I've been in business are pretty significant in the areas of access to capital, especially through the Great Recession of the late first decade of the 2000s. That became a big issue for entrepreneurs. I think now, even more so, though, just competition. You have to differentiate yourself in so many ways. It's not hard to start a business, but it's very hard to stay relevant, and it's really hard to compete.

And it's a challenge to distinguish yourself from everybody else. It's absolutely doable. All those things that we talked about a minute ago, starting with enthusiasm, are the key differentiators for making a business successful. And I see it all the time, where a business will start up, but it won't stay in business because it's not doing the things besides their original concept to make a business healthy. You can't just make a product. You've got to get out and market it. You've got to connect with your customers. And, you know, I got to tell

you, it is a big deal having you here. I mean, last month we had the president of UPS International here who we interviewed. And I think we now have got pretty much everything covered on UPS. And you are also a board member with Marine Toys for Tots. What's some of the most important things maybe you would share with children okay so with our children children of our future to increase maybe their chances of being successful like yourself you've had a very successful career you're on the top of your game 4,500 plus locations that you're responsible for what maybe some tips can you either give to parents to give to their children or children themselves? Oh, well, there's, I mean, the number one thing is education. I mean, clearly we've just got to provide children a great education. One of the things that I'm so proud of with the Marine Toys

for Tots Foundation is our affiliation at the UPS store with them through our Toys for Tots literacy program, which is something that so many of our stores participate. So it's not just about giving, you know, underprivileged children a toy at Christmas. It's a chance to put a book in their hands year-round. And again, you can reach Tim Davis, president of the UPS store, by going to theupsstore.com. You can also go to Alliances, the place where entrepreneurs align that's also doing so many magical things in the community and helping businesses grow. In fact, who did you look for advice during your career? I mean, you went from going

in the Marine Corps for seven years. You served seven years in the Marine Corps and becoming president of the UPS store. Who did you look to for advice growing up? You know, I was really fortunate growing up. I had a number of mentors that took interest in me, and it was mainly because I expressed an interest in things they were good at. You know, I don't think that there's any mentor that's really going to be thrilled to work with someone if you approach them with the idea that they're just, you know, there to give you something. But if you're really there to learn, it's amazing how many people will reach out and want to help you along the way. And I got great

advice from people from the time I was growing up, really through my career, and even today, people that I will call on and ask advice of. And I tell you, it's one of the great keys to success. And that's excellent. And I think, too, someone being part of the UPS store, right, they have the ability to call you guys for advice, maybe call other franchisees, right, and lean on one another because someone, I would imagine, within the system has gone through the same type of thing, correct?

Absolutely. You know, we offer so much support as a home office, but franchisees relate to each other so much more on a personal level. I mean, they've just walked in each other's shoes. And when we were just talking about mentorship, you know, when you throw that third component in, it's just really a one, two, three opportunity to provide help to store owners. Mentorship to, we're affiliated with SCORE, for instance. I don't know if you're familiar with

SCORE, but they're a nonprofit that's dedicated to helping small businesses, and they give free mentorship programs and business advice. So they're a great alliance for us to work with our owners as well. Excellent. We've got about 15 seconds left here. Most important, what special superpower do you wish you had, Tim? Special superpower. If I had a superpower, it would be to go back in time and fix any mistakes that I've ever made. Oh, I love it. I think we all wish that we could undo things, but you know, instead what we have to do is learn from them and move on. I love it. That think we all wish that we could undo things, but instead what we have to do is learn from them and move on. I love it. And that's been part of the great experience.

Well, you're a war veteran, and not only that, you have gone on to now serve by initiating change and running a successful franchise system for one of the most successful and recognized brands globally. Tim Davis, president of the UPS store, is our hero today. And when we return, we're going to have the founder of Blackboard sold his company for $1.6 billion. And thank you to loopydocs.com for all your editing needs and our producer, Glue, in the studio.