“Founder-led selling is still the most powerful kind of selling.” — Dave Gulas

In this week’s episode, Carol Schultz sits down with Dave Gulas, Co-Founder and President of EZDC 3PL, to talk about what sales teams must lean into as 2026 approaches: visibility, authenticity, and relationship-driven selling in a world flooded with AI-generated noise. Dave explains why generic cold pitches on LinkedIn are failing, and how personal branding and real opinions help salespeople differentiate and build trust.

Dave also shares the origin story of EZDC 3PL, built after seeing “big box” logistics providers become complacent during and after the supply chain chaos of COVID. He breaks down why customer service, communication, and accountability are the real advantage in a market where thousands of 3PLs offer similar “space and labor.”

The conversation begins with a timely real-world issue in freight: theft and “burning an MC number,” where bad actors exploit carrier identity loopholes to steal loads fast before anyone can respond. From there, they move into scaling a logistics company, managing a remote warehouse team from a different state, and why hiring the right people (and learning from the wrong hires) is core to building a strong workplace culture.

Finally, Dave talks about launching the Beyond Fulfillment podcast as a learning tool during the hardest early stages of growth — and how consistency turned it into 220+ episodes, a growing YouTube channel, and high-level founders reaching out to be guests.

Takeaways:

Authenticity and visibility are essential for sales in 2026.

Cold pitching without relationships is not real selling.

AI is making generic outreach worse, not better.

Differentiation comes from real opinions and human connection.

Great customer service and over-communication build long-term trust.

Founder-led selling is difficult to replace at high-stakes moments.

Early growth mistakes help define your ideal customer profile.

Remote teams work best with strong leaders and clear systems.

Hiring the right people is a growth multiplier.

Consistency in content can create unexpected opportunities.

Chapters:

00:00 Welcome + Why sales teams need this in 2026

00:32 What EZDC 3PL does (warehousing, fulfillment, transportation)

01:04 Real-time supply chain theft and diverted freight

02:27 How freight theft happens + “burning an MC number”

03:22 The #1 sales strategy for 2026: visibility and authenticity

04:33 Why cold pitching on LinkedIn is broken

05:11 The “fake compliment → wild promise → demand a meeting” script

06:01 How AI reinforces bad sales outreach

06:48 Why Dave founded EZDC 3PL

08:17 The meaning behind the name EZDC 3PL

09:23 How COVID changed logistics and created complacency

10:29 Customer service as the real differentiator

12:50 Why Kentucky is a strategic warehouse location

13:15 Managing a remote warehouse team as a founder

14:21 Founder’s “zone of genius” and role clarity

15:40 Why 3PL isn’t just “space and labor”

16:37 Early mistakes: taking the wrong clients

18:06 Bottlenecks to growth: space, timing, inventory transfers

20:34 Will Dave always lead sales?

21:53 Founder presence on sales calls (even at billion-dollar scale)

24:11 Why sales hires often fumble the message

27:56 Building culture through hiring lessons

30:13 Why Dave started the Beyond Fulfillment podcast

31:29 Consistency results: 220+ episodes and 13K YouTube subscribers

32:58 Where to learn more about EZDC 3PL + closing

Connect With Host Carol Schultz

Find more information about our host Carol Schultz and her company at Vertical Elevation, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

Want to be our next guest expert? Email [email protected] with your information.

And of course, click "follow" to stay up-to-date on new episodes and leave an honest review/rating letting us know what you thought!