Moving Words – Success

Written by Timothy Brady.

“The secret of success is to do the common thing uncommonly well.” – John D. Rockefeller Jr.

There is nothing more common than moving one’s household belongings. Most people move numerous times in their lives. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Americans currently move, on average, 12 times in their lifetime.

Many of the most successful people I know are either in the moving business or associated with a peripheral vendor to the household moving and storage industry. The reason for their success is that they work hard at doing the job of moving, going well above and beyond the expectations of their customers.

Part of the reason for this success, in my opinion, comes from the customers (shippers) to which we as movers provide our services. HHG moving, as we in the business know, is all about people. Although we movers spend our careers packing, loading and unloading ‘things,’ those things represent people and we move their lives, hopes, dreams and memories. While the item, the chair, the mirror, the picture are all inanimate objects, each one symbolizes the hard work, the love, the pain and life of those in the household. And it’s our responsibility to care for each item in a move as if it’s the most valuable item in the world. It makes no difference as to the condition, the age or even the monetary value of the item; if it’s important to the shipper, it’s even more important to us as movers. To be successful in the moving industry, you must be compassionate above all else.

There are many more attributes necessary to be a successful mover, from attention to detail, to skills in loading a three-dimensional puzzle to utilize every square inch, to maneuvering 70+ feet of tractor-trailer into and out of residential areas they were never designed to enter. And that’s only a few of the requirements for the van operators.

There are packers, painstakingly packing the most fragile of items for safe and uneventful transport.

The dispatchers and load planners put together a load of multiple shipments for the van operator which are profitable and fit a schedule that’s Hours of Service legal, plus meets the needs and wants of pick-up and delivery for each of the shippers on board the van operator’s truck.

Then there’s the person handling claims. Being as great as we are at moving, we’re still all human and things happen. The claims department is one of the toughest jobs in any moving company as this department has the tightrope position of doing what’s right and fair for the shipper, the company and the van operator – three entities that don’t always agree.

The safety department has the tough job of ensuring the company and its drivers are all in compliance with the multitude of Federal and state trucking regulations. This may also be something that’s not always in agreement with what the customer (shipper) wants or requests.

Last but not least is the sales department and the move coordinators. These two jobs require the legendary patience of Job and the skills of a chess master. In moving, the more detail-oriented the estimator/salesperson and the move coordinators are in doing their tasks, the greater the potential for a smoother and uneventful move.

So as a simple reminder to all in the moving industry, while moving is a normal and common occurrence in nearly everyone’s life, it’s our responsibility as professional movers to do our work uncommonly well. Our success depends on it.