Pegasus President, Ken Beam Featured in Prestigious
Dallas Business Journal
Pegasus TransAir Enjoying Success as a Young Company
By Margaret Allen Staff Writer
| GRAPEVINE-It's only been four years since Ken Beam left the world of corporate freight forwarding to start his own logistics company in the Metroplex. |
| In that time, he's built Pegasus TransAir Inc. to $9 million revenue in 1997 with terminals in four cities. For 1998, Beam expects revenue of $13 million to $15 million. |
| As a freight forwarder arranging the movement of cargo from one location to another, Pegasus' business is 60% air cargo and 40% surface transportation, primarily high-tech cargo such as telecommunications products and computers. |
| Customers include Nissan Motors, Fujitsu Network Communications Inc., Nortel and DSC Communications Corp. in Plano. |
| At its Metroplex location, Pegasus operates from a 15,000-square-foot combined office and warehouse building off State Highway 114 in Grapevine near Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. The company has three of its own bobtail trucks and one tractor-trailer rig. Besides the Dallas headquarters and terminal, Pegasus' locations in Baltimore, Los Angeles and Boston are also near the airports in those cities. |
| But no matter which terminal a customer calls, Beam says the company is the same. |
| "If you call Pegasus anywhere in the country, it's like McDonald's-it feels the same, wherever you are." |
| Pegasus has grown 30% to 50% annually for the past two years, said Beam. The number of employees-primarily salespeople-has doubled from 20 in 1997 to 40 this year. The company has recently entered a partnership agreement with a small Canadian freight forwarder in which the two will share services when they ship across each other's border. |
| Beam's plan for the rest of this year include opening terminals in Washington D.C., and Miami, hiring more salespeople and bringing a truckload broker in-house instead of using an outsourced service. That step alone should make a 20% difference to the bottom line, he said. |
| Even with expansion throughout the United States, Dallas continues to be the company's biggest market. Beam said it's also one of the most competitive. The North Texas freight market is booming and new freight forwarders are rapidly moving into the area. |
| "A lot of freight forwarders have their corporate headquarters on the East and West coasts, but you're seeing a lot of them opening offices here, too," he said. "Even though it still comes down to relationship selling, now customers are also wanting value added. They won't just give you their business because you took them fishing or bought them tickets to the ball game." |
| With Beam expanding Pegasus by one or two new terminals a year, he said he's always looking for good salespeople-but he takes a different tack to hiring than most freight forwarders. Those coming into the market usually hire from within the market, so that salespeople in the Metroplex are continually jumping from one company to another, often taking customers with them. |
| "I hire out of the market," said Beam, noting that he doesn't look for people already in freight forwarding. |
| His last hire was a recent graduate from the University of North Texas in Denton, who was top of her marketing class and had also had courses in logistics. |
| Before that, Beam hired a salesman who came into the Pegasus office in Grapevine selling packaging material. |
| "I look for people who are educated, pleasant and self-driven. I don't care if they have one ounce of freight forwarding experience," he said. "You can teach someone skills. But you can't teach someone positive attitude and motivation." |
| Every employee's bonus is tied to customer service, measured by an employee's on-time percentage for getting cargo where it needs to be when it's supposed to be there and by interviewing customers about the sales agent's service. |
| At the same time, Beam said it's his policy to treat his employees well-a massage therapist comes in twice a week to give massages, and there's always fresh fruit available for munching. Team-building events are also part of the company culture. |
| But the biggest benefit is yet to come, he hopes. Beam is laying the foundation to take his company public in 2003. Already debt-free and profitable since 1997, Beam is shooting for $50 million in revenue in five years. |
| "I'm doing it to benefit the employees," he said. "We'll be starting this year, but if I sell the company or take it public, then the employees will have the option to buy stock at a set price." |
| Reprinted with permission, Dallas Business Journal, May 29-June 4, 1998. © 1998, Dallas Business Journal. |