Truckin': how a determined woman gets to the top

And she was right. Today, Gable, 51, is president and owner of New Age Transportation, Distribution & Warehousing in Elk Grove Village, Ill., a 13-year-old freight brokerage business on track to rack up sales of $15 million this year. She recently was awarded Ernst & Young's Midwest Entrepreneur of the Year award for outstanding customer service.

New Age manages traffic and distribution for small and midsized manufacturers and producers that are too busy creating products to also worry about moving their wares to market. On any given day, Gable has hundreds of contracts with air and trucking carriers around the country, sometimes storing freight loads in a warehouse she leased a few years ago.

"I didn't have any supporting family or education," Gable says of her career as a business owner. "If I can do it, anyone can."

Rewards of taking on risk

Gable got started by refusing to take no for an answer — a trait most entrepreneurs share. She decided she was meant for sales, despite a lack of experience and training.

When the Hyatt restaurant closed for repairs for a few months, she registered at an employment agency. A few days later, she lucked into an interview at a trucking company in Elk Grove that had trouble retaining employees because of the long commute from downtown Chicago. The recruiter cautioned Gable to avoid talking about sales — this was an inside service position, no more.

Gable got the job. She kept waiting tables at the Hyatt, just in case, working 70 hours a week. And she began asking her trucker boss for a chance to sell. When he gave in, she proved to be very good at it.

"It's all about the relationships whether you're selling widgets, food or freight," she says now.

An eye for an opening

Gable's luck, and her eye for an opening, stayed true. Soon afterward, Carolina Freight, one of the nation's leading carriers, acquired the trucking firm. "It was the opportunity of a lifetime" to move ahead, she says. Gable was then married and in her early 30s.

With Carolina's reputation and training to capitalize on, she soon turned into a top producer.

Characteristically, Gable's next moves were to take on greater challenges. In the mid-1980s, the freight industry was roiled by consolidation. Gable, by now divorced with two kids, jumped to a startup and then to a larger regional carrier. In 1986, she remarried. "That probably prompted me to go out on my own," she says. "I wanted more kids and it gave me a bit of a safety net."

In 1989, she began working out of the basement of her home as a commissioned rep. "The business just took off," she says. "It was unbelievable for me. I was making commissions of over $100,000 a month. I hired three employees and they'd arrive at 7:30 in the morning. I'd still be in pajamas."

She rented an 800-square-foot office in nearby Schaumburg, Ill. "It was a beautiful corner office with many windows, full of light," she says. That turned out to be a prescient move.

In 1992, her largest client consolidated all its freight business. "Overnight I lost 40% of my commissions," Gable says.

So she went to work on a new business model. "Most carriers had contracts with clients that charged a standard 5% to 7% of their revenues on all accounts," she says. Instead, she calculated that by brokering and customizing freight services, she could offer innovative discounts — taking a percentage of the fee while saving clients money.

"I decided to become a broker and take over billing," Gable says. The handsome office turned out to be just the ticket to impress new clients. "I stopped working on commission and that beautiful office made me look legitimate. I got the pricing I asked for."

A decade later, Gable is again divorced with five more kids, for a total of seven — the oldest 28 and the youngest only three. Last year, she landed a lucrative contract to distribute AOL Time Warner's cable TV equipment, just about doubling her revenues. "That opened the door to the cable industry." She has now signed up Cox and Charter, too.

She credits her success to a passion for selling — and to never take any deal, any customer or any account for granted. "You have to always be in position," she says. "You can't sit back or go golfing two days a week. I can go in Monday morning and find I lost all my big accounts. It might have nothing to do with me. You must have new accounts. You must focus on keeping that level of service you've always had."

Gable's seven entrepreneurial tips

When asked how she does it, Gable offers these seven tips:

• Never say anything bad about a competitor.
  "When I first began working for Carolina, I saw a model truck from another carrier on a new client's desk and I made some comment about how they couldn't be as good as Carolina. Turned out he had all his business with them and got really mad. I tell my salespeople now that we all say stupid things sometimes."




• Always follow through.
  "People come in and promise things all the time. You have to walk the walk. When I get in front of people, I say, 'You don't have to worry about freight anymore,' and they believe me."




• Hire positive employees.
  "When companies get big, they lose that caring service, the spending a few more minutes on the phone. The New Age employee must be happy to come in every day. I believe in the power of energy."




• Have a life.
  "I'm a mother first. The business can be gone tomorrow."




• Take care of accounts.
  "Too many companies are not looking at what they have. New clients are just one part of the business and they get caught up in the thrill of the sale. But look at the accounts and see if there are other ways to service them."




• Be creative about rejections.
  "The secret to selling new business is getting in front of people. It's hard to keep calling and be frustrated. What I've done is call and say, 'I don't want to be a pest but I want this opportunity and I want your business. When's a good time to call back?' Then, a few months later, I call back, and they say, 'Oh, she remembered. That's really sharp.' It's the follow-up."




• Be personal.
  "It's really about building relationships. Everyone with a big title is still a person. Whoever it is will enjoy it when I ask about his daughter. Share your life. Get to know clients as people. Relationships put you over the top."

Over the next few years, Gable plans to consolidate operations. She's building a 200,000-square-foot facility. Once that's completed — and the economy picks up, of course — Gable will likely look for a buyer for New Age.

And then? "I'd like to tell my story, do public speaking," she says. "I'm thinking about writing a book." What would the title be? Gable doesn't miss a beat. "I'd call it, 'Against All Odds.'"