The Staffing Paradox Every Fleet Knows

When freight slows down, driver applications surge. For Brad Vaughn, VP of Recruiting at Maverick Transportation, this created an impossible situation.

His 1,700-truck fleet operates across flatbed, boat, glass, and 60+ dedicated divisions, hiring 25-40 drivers weekly. But as market conditions shifted and call volumes spiked, his recruiting team was drowning in leads they couldn't afford to lose—with no budget to add headcount.

"After you do this for a while, you figure out if freight's good, drivers are hard to come by, and if drivers are easy to come by, it's because freight's not very good," Brad explained. "When things slow down and you're not in a growth mode, that means drivers are easy to come by, which means you're gonna see a really big uptick in your call volume."

The Hidden Cost of Drowning in Leads

The operational damage went deeper than missed calls. Voicemail boxes filled with 9+ messages from frustrated applicants. Drivers complained on social media. And internally, morale collapsed.

"You get a team that feels like they're drowning," Brad said. "They see large amounts of voicemails from applicants who've waited a good time to get... to have someone call them back. So they're not always at the best of moods when you reach them."

The result? Recruiters stuck in endless phone tag, chasing cold leads, and burning ad dollars.

"You end up losing a lot of those applicants that you spent good advertising dollars to get."

Why Maverick Chose Double Nickel

Brad had been demoing AI products and asking vendors to build solutions. The response? Shrugs and skepticism.

"I couldn't convince people that you couldn't be more wrong. They want it, and they need it. They may not know it now, but they need it."

When Double Nickel came along, the timing was perfect. Brad saw a product built to solve his exact operational bottlenecks—and a team willing to partner on refining it.

The Solution: Eliminating Voicemails & Converting Short Forms

Maverick implemented a two-phase approach focused on inbound call management and outbound lead conversion.

Phase 1: Scheduled Callbacks Replace Voicemails

When recruiters were busy, Maverick's phone tree offered callers two options: press 1 to leave a voicemail, or press 2 to speak with a virtual recruiter and schedule a callback.

Voicemails dropped to virtually zero.

"I have been astounded that our voicemails... I don't even want to say they've gone to... low, they've gone to virtually nothing. Everyone opts to talk to the virtual assistant and schedule one."

Drivers received confirmed appointment times, text reminders 15 minutes before calls, and prepared recruiters ready to move applications forward.

"When you schedule them, you're having productive contact band, because what's happening is, the way the double nickel system is built is that applicant is getting a text to say, hey, just a reminder, Brad's gonna be calling you here in 15 minutes. The recruiter's getting a calendar invite."

Phase 2: Automatic Short-Form Conversion

Maverick receives roughly 80% short-form leads weekly—just name, phone, and address. These valuable leads previously sat in queues while recruiters prioritized full applications.

Now, Double Nickel's outbound system handles initial contact automatically, schedules follow-ups with live recruiters, and texts applicants a link to complete the full application.

"It's converting short forms to full applications for us. And these are short forms that, honestly, otherwise we may not have even gotten to in a timely fashion."

Results: Efficiency Without Adding Staff

Within 90 days, Maverick saw:

📈 13% increase in applications sent to processing
📈 10% increase in weekly hires
📈 Near-zero voicemails, down from hundreds per week
📈 50+ scheduled calls per week

All without adding a single recruiter.

"We've seen a 13% increase in applications sent to processing, a 10% increase in our weekly hires. And it just continues to grow."

Would Brad Recommend Double Nickel?

Brad doesn't hesitate.

"I would and have recommended it to several of my peers in the industry already. Anybody that battles the voicemails, that battles the phone tag, battles the staffing versus the lead and call volume—this is the way to do it."

He's even presented his results at industry conferences, where a vice president from a major carrier told him: "I'm jealous of what you're doing with the AI stuff."

For Brad, the value proposition is clear:

"This is the way that you can ramp up your lead volume without having to add personnel."

Want to learn how you can achieve similar results?

Double Nickel helps fleets book more qualified conversations, convert more short-form leads, and hire more drivers — without adding headcount.

👉 Book a call to see how it works.