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Moving Words – Evolution

Written by Timothy Brady.

“Evolution is a process of constant branching and expansion.” Stephen Jay Gould (American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science)

The evolution the moving industry is currently experiencing is going to require a number of paradigm shifts in order for the agents and Van Operators to keep up and actually prosper in this new business environment. One area in which a lot of creative thought and planning needs to be applied is how the services of a moving agent are going to be marketed and how the Van Operator can be a benefit to his agent.

When the 19th Century ended and most movers hauled household goods by wagons and horses, a large majority of people moved themselves. When trucks started showing up on the scene people were saying, “Those infernal internal combustion engine contraptions will never work. They’re unreliable and dangerous.” When containerized moving showed up a few years ago the old guard in the moving industry was saying, “Nobody is going to have their precious belongings moved across the country in one of those infernal containers.”

The moving industry is always evolving; we’re not driving horses and wagons (as tempting as it may be with the price of fuel) or our fathers’ moving vans anymore. Why are we still trying to sell our customers and run our moving companies the same old way? With available technology, there are endless ways moving vans can be utilized for efficiency. But the one element that hasn’t changed, and won’t for the foreseeable future, is the human element. Without the ingenuity of your people; sales staff, operations, safety director, mechanic, the skills of movers and Van Operators, and most of all, you, the manager of all of this insanity, the moving industry itself would not exist.

Traditionally, the van line and moving agent had the full responsibility of going into the market and locating moving clients. The process was to work through time-honored methods of the van line’s marketing and advertising departments, establishing brand recognition through national/regional advertising campaigns, coordination of national accounts and relocation companies plus providing consistency in the look and feel of the agency family. The agents have been responsible for providing the local sales staff to do the hands-on managing of everything from the single COD customer to the negotiating and maintenance of national accounts.

With today’s changing business environment from the internet moving scams, to containerized moving, to the ever-present self-move industry and customers who are both price and quality conscious, the need to involve “boots on the ground’ in your marketing efforts becomes even more important. That’s your Van Operator, that same Van Operator who is becoming more and more difficult to retain, and who is generally unhappy with the reduction in revenue causing the smaller paycheck to the house. It’s also a complex ordeal to find and train new persons interested in taking on the lifestyle of the 21st Century professional mover.

With all the cards that are stacked against your agency or moving company, you need to look at what services you’re going to sell and how you’re going to market these services. Evaluate the resources available to you within your moving company to help rebuild your previous slice of the pie and gain new market share.

As you develop this new marketing plan, include a very valuable point of contact to your target markets, your Van Operators. This is truly where the rubber meets the road when you’re growing your customer base. The axiom that comes to mind is, “It’s easier to sell a current, well-established customer than it is starting from scratch in creating new customers.” This is where the Van Operator becomes one of your most important marketing tools. With this premise in mind, the next step is to develop a division-marketing plan for each van and Van Operator.

10 steps to The Ideal Van Operator’s Marketing Plan:

  1. One who provides the same high level of service with every customer, every time. The rules of success in providing top-notch service are based in common sense and something we all learned as children, the ‘Golden Rule.’ Regardless of who the shipper is, COD, Military, or your biggest corporate account; if you and your Van Operator accept their shipment on your van, they become the total focus, and deserve the very best service.
  2. The most important area of customer service and the easiest to perform is usually the most ignored, and that’s communication. Communicate consistently with a defined schedule.
  3. When your Van Operator is assigned the load, he immediately calls the shipper to introduce himself, explaining he’ll be handling the load and to verify the information on the load, origin, extra stops and destination details.
  4. He communicates any differences or changes back to you and you in turn call the booking party (van line agency or person responsible for booking the load) and explain the details.

Note: Be careful not to agree to or alter any portion of the hauling agreement with the shipper if the shipper is another agency’s customer. It’s up to the booking agent to make changes or increase fees. Be sure to communicate any conversation with the shipper which includes changes or inconsistencies with the original information you or your Van Operator received when assigned the load by the booking agency. This should be handled through you. Then you and your Van Operator can be sure everything the shipper is expecting is being provided. It will also help ensure your Van Operator is being paid for all rendered services.

  1. Once the shipment is on the truck, the Van Operator must have all necessary contact information for the party receiving the shipment at destination. If they are different from the people who were at origin, your Van Operator calls to let them know he’s on the way and his ETA. Verify all his delivery details with the receiving party during your call. Make sure they have a means of contacting you at a moment’s notice if any details should change.
  2. Next, your Van Operator contacts you and fills you in on all details concerning transit and delivery which have changed. The Van Operator lets you know if there are changes affecting delivery times or services not listed in the order for service, so you can communicate the details to the booking party.
  3. Then call the booking party, to provide them with your Van Operator’s ETA and the other details of your conversation with your driver about his dialogue with the receiving party.
  4. Each day during transit, your Van Operator makes a short update call to the receiving party, keeping them informed on his progress and again to find out if there are any changes requiring action by him or others involved in the move. During one of these calls, the Van Operator asks for or verifies the directions to the receiving party’s delivery location. In today’s electronic age, this can be accomplished through e-mail if the receiving party has access to e-mail during the transit period. However, it’s still a good idea for him to leave a couple of update phone messages with the receiving party, if only to provide reassurance that their valued belongings are in good hands.
  5. Once he has delivered, if the shipper is a different person than the receiving party, either you or he should call to let them know delivery has been completed. Also, you should call the booking agent to let them know the same information.
  6. Three days after the completed delivery, call all parties again to be sure there aren’t any overlooked details.

‘On the road marketing’ by your Van Operators through the service they provide each customer is what will determine the significance of quality and whether you’re just another mover, or a company deserving  raving fan status.

“There are no shortcuts in evolution.” Louis D. Brandeis (Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the United States from 1916 – 1939.)

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