Larry Kruger from Customized Moving offers an alternative plan to break moving away from the commodity it has become.
The moving industry has been losing its mojo for decades, particularly in the corporate market. A victim of being outsold by the real-estate industry and simply losing the will to compete with the relocation management companies.
There was a time when the mover was an integral part of the corporate relocation program. We had sold into traffic departments that spoke our language and were open to a three-martini lunch. When the management of the programs switched to HR, we did not distinguish the difference between freight and corporate culture. Through our own arrogance we made our pricing, our terminology, our old-boys club swagger, distasteful to the corporate HR market. Now we stand in the corner and wonder how we lost our seat at the proverbial table. In my opinion it was all an overabundance of hubris and a lack of sales and marketing. Our inability to develop a unique message, our inability to speak HR, our inability to ditch our rhetoric and become user friendly. Is it time to correct the past and reimagine this industry and take the customers back?
Pump the brakes and look at the new environment, the remote work, the cost consciousness of the corporations, the rise of lump sum service models, the transferee demanding choice not pigeonholes, and the increase in smaller moves. Everything is pointing to a direct-to-mover model. As movers, for some reason, we think we can not go after the corporate market. Be clear on this, no one owns any market, they have a product, period, just like you do. If you can demonstrate that you have a better, more direct, more economic service, it should get down to a business decision from a corporation. Free market is just that, but it is also important that the corporations are open to and out looking for options ...