In this ongoing blog series, we’re introducing you to the individual members of the Trucker Tools team so that you can get to know the people behind the company. For this third blog in our employee feature series, we interviewed Russell Bennett, who is Trucker Tools’ Director of Onboarding and Implementation. Before coming to Trucker Tools in 2019, Russ worked for 15+ years in freight brokerage for several different companies, specializing in heavy haul and Department of Defense freight. When he’s not working, Russ loves spending time with his family, scaring unsuspecting visitors to his aunt and uncle’s annual Halloween corn maze, and playing music with his son.
Say hello to Russell Bennett, Trucker Tools’ Director of Onboarding and Implementation, who loves the learning opportunities he gets on the job.
Name: Russell Bennett
Title: Director of Onboarding and Implementation
Hometown: Portland, Ore.
First Concert: Portland Blues Festival
Instruments Played: Bass Guitar
Pets: Dog Coco, Lizard Arlo
Catch Phrase: “Good morning, party people!”
What Russ Does at Trucker Tools
“I oversee onboarding and implementation for Trucker Tools, which means that I oversee the TMS onboarding team. When a customer signs up for digital freight matching, load tracking, Book It Now® or Broker Advantage, the onboarding team sees them through the integration process. ELD integrations also are encompassed in my role. If a carrier chooses not to track with the Trucker Tools app but would like to track with their ELD instead, we work with the ELD provider and the carrier to get that set up so we can track for the broker customers on the ELD device. I help out on the accounting side, as well. I help out quite a bit across all teams because I have pretty extensive general broker knowledge.”
What Russ Likes About Working at Trucker Tools
“When I came to Trucker Tools, I was ready to get out of brokerage. I was tired of that grind and I was looking for a change, so I jumped at the opportunity. After talking with Prasad, our CEO, and hearing about how Trucker Tools is bringing something new to the industry that isn’t being done, I got really excited. Not only did Trucker Tools have the tracking aspect, which was from my experience superior over other options out there, but also where the company is pushing to go with digital freight matching and Book It Now® got me excited. That’s what I like working about working at Trucker Tools — that thought of doing something new. It’s the thought of pushing the envelope. Since I’ve been here, the company has never been about you rest on your laurels and stick to the status quo. There are a lot of people working to make the company and our solutions better every day, calling out if we see an issue with the way something operates or if we think that something can be done better. People raise their voices and it gets heard. I really love that about working here.”
What a Great Day at Work Looks Like for Russ
“For me, it’s a happy customer. When you have a customer at the end of the day who says, ‘Man, this is great — thank you for helping me out’ and having them happy, that to me is a good day. When you have so many customers happy with what you’re doing, enjoying your partnership and the work you’re doing together — to me, that’s a good day. People that work here are passionate about making things better. I get excited about different things now. It’s not just about covering that load anymore or making a good margin on that load that makes me happy. It goes back to that customer satisfaction. Did I make the customer happy and do a good job today? Did I represent Trucker Tools well at the end of the day?”
How Working at Trucker Tools Has Pushed Russ Outside His Comfort Zone
“It happens all the time, to be honest with you, especially working with Prasad, our CEO. He wants people to learn and to grow on their own. I think that’s part of the company culture — giving people the tools to improve, but leaving the path up to them. If there’s a certain challenge we’re facing, Prasad can give you tips on how to get through that, but he leaves it up to you on how to figure it out. You don’t grow and you don’t make things better without getting outside of your comfort zone. You have to be ready to learn something. That’s a daily thing for me here at Trucker Tools. Not everything is peaches and cream. Some customers are unhappy, but if you listen to why they’re unhappy, then you learn something. I think if you go in with the expectation that you don’t know everything and with a learning mindset, it serves you well because you may learn how to improve what you’re doing.”
What Russ Likes To Do Outside of Work
“I’m a very big family person. I love spending time with my family. We like getting together and spending time enjoying each other. My aunt and uncle own a farm here locally and they do a haunted corn maze every weekend in the month of October and I’m one of the actors. I’ve been doing it since 2013 and it’s really, really fun to dress up in a scary costume, hide in a dark corn maze, and pop out and scare people. It’s very good stress relief. I love it. The other one is music. Recently I gave my son an old guitar and we have been going up to our music room every night and I’ll play a baseline on my bass guitar and he’ll strum whenever comes to mind. We make music together and that has been truly amazing.” To learn more about the Trucker Tools team, be sure to check out Introducing James Reine, Training Coordinator at Trucker Tools.
