Meredith Steinmeyer – Optimizing Before Automating, Leading from the Buyer’s Seat, and Rethinking Fleet Strategy

Camp Jennings sits down with Meredith Steinmeyer, Director of Fleet Services at Floor & Decor, to explore what it really takes to manage large-scale fleets in a fast-growing retail and distribution environment. With a career that started on the sales side of forklifts before moving into enterprise fleet ownership, Meredith brings a rare, full-cycle perspective to material handling, service partnerships, and operational decision-making. Meredith shares her unconventional path from selling forklifts straight out of college to overseeing more than 3,000 assets across hundreds of stores and multiple mega distribution centers. She explains why service and reliability matter more than brand names, how her background as a vendor shaped the way she partners today, and what most sales reps still get wrong when trying to earn trust from buyers. The conversation dives deep into the future of fleet services—covering automation, predictive maintenance, hydrogen motive power, technician labor shortages, and the importance of optimizing processes before layering in new technology. Meredith also opens up about outreach fatigue, authentic selling, and what truly stands out when vendors try to earn her attention. Grounded, candid, and highly practical, this episode is a masterclass in modern fleet leadership—where strategy, service, and long-term thinking matter more than hype. Follow Meredith on LinkedIn. [00:00] Why sales reps misuse AI—and why listening still wins[00:37] Welcome to Load It or Leave It[01:06] Introducing Meredith Steinmeyer and Floor & Decor’s scale[01:52] The blank-check question: what Meredith would build in 2025[02:20] Hydrogen, service gaps, and the idea of self-repairing equipment[03:32] Why post-sale service matters more than equipment specs[03:55] Meredith’s background: UGA, career ambitions, and early pivots[04:38] Why actuarial science didn’t stick[05:20] Entering material handling: selling forklifts at 22[06:10] The brutal first year—and waiting 11 months for the first sale[07:05] Being trained by Hank Ogden and learning how to really sell[08:10] Why selling non-premium brands makes better salespeople[09:05] Moving from vendor to buyer: joining Floor & Decor[09:50] Treating internal teams like customers[10:36] Seeing the full lifecycle—from DCs to stores[11:25] Why former sellers often make better operators[11:58] Speccing forklifts for a historic Brooklyn store[12:48] Creative constraints, custom equipment, and “the cutest forklifts”[13:32] Meredith’s full scope: managing 3,000+ assets[14:13] Floor & Decor’s explosive growth and expanding footprint[14:57] What Meredith values most in vendor partners[15:48] Transparency, teamwork, and being an extension of the customer[16:07] Outreach overload—and what not to do[16:59] Why generic emails and cold texts fail[17:46] Using AI to understand customers—not spam them[18:40] Why phone calls still earn respect[19:11] The future of fleet services and predictive maintenance[19:37] Automation’s promise—and Meredith’s biggest concern[21:51] From reactive to predictive maintenance with AI[22:49] “Optimize before you automate”[24:03] The future of motive power: hydrogen vs. lithium vs. lead acid[24:21] Why hydrogen works—for the right fleets[25:53] Inside Floor & Decor’s first hydrogen-powered DC[26:37] Will forklifts disappear—or evolve?[28:19] In-house technicians vs. outsourced service[28:36] Building an internal technician program[29:41] The skilled labor shortage—and how Floor & Decor hires[29:56] Recruiting technicians without damaging partnerships