Category Archives: Leadership

Posted on

Increase Profits: Tighten Up Your Moving Operations

[fb_button]

  ► Get This Episode On iTunes

SUMMARY

In this video, Louis Massaro shares how you can be increasing profits (or losing money) based on how you’re running your moving companies operations.

  • Moving crew management: “Have you ever caught movers working off the clock?”
  • Equipment management: “Have you ever had a customer call and say the movers left a dolly here? Think about all the customers that didn’t call to say they left a dolly here.”
  • Money management: “Do you reconcile the bank account every single month or do you assume because the dispatcher closed out the job the money is in the account?”
  • Customer satisfaction: “When you get 5-star reviews it helps your conversion rate. It’s much easier to sell when you’re 5-stars on Yelp.”
  • Claim reporting: “Figure out what’s getting damaged, who are the people damaging it, pull them aside and say let’s teach you how to handle these flat screens, let’s teach you how to handle these glass tops and marble tops.”
  • Watch the video to get the full training.

HOT NEWS & DEALS!

  1. Join the Moving CEO Challenge: Official Louis Massaro Community Facebook Group! A place for moving company owners to connect, share ideas, and inspire one another. Click here to join!
  2. Latest Instagram!
    Check out @LouisMassaro for new announcements, valuable tips, and enlightening videos to take your moving company to the NEXT LEVEL!

RELATED POSTS

Run a Tight Local Moving Operation

How to Deal with Damage Claims from Moves

Set Your Moving Company’s Dispatcher Up for Success

Train Your Movers in Customer Service

5 Keys to Hiring Movers for Your Moving Company

Follow Louis on Instagram for daily tips and motivation to grow your moving company.

Taboo porn https://www.blowjobvideos.xxx/categories/596/taboo/ watch online.
Posted on

Exit Strategies For Moving Company Owners


[fb_button]

Summary

You can’t run your moving company forever, right? So what is your exit strategy? You basically have 3 options for the future of your business and they all start with creating a “model business”.

The 3 Exit Strategies for Moving Company Owners

  1. Duplicate and expand  – Your long-term goal may be to expand your business and open up additional locations. Whether you want to franchise your moving company or maintain ownership of your additional locations you’ll need to create a model business as a prototype to be duplicated.
  2. Pass down to family – Many people want to build a business that they can pass down to their family. Think about the day to day issues and stress that you deal with in your business, do you really want to pass that on to loved ones? Instead, focus on developing your systems and processes so that everything runs smoothly with minimal problems and consistent cash flow. Then you can pass it down.
  3. Build and sell – If your ultimate goal is to sell your moving company, then why not get top dollar for it? Create a turn-key moving company that produces a consistent profit that can run without you. Your ideal buyer wants to know that the business can run without you and most importantly without them.

Regardless of what your exit strategy is for your moving company (and it may change over time), what you need to do now is build a model moving company. Focus on establishing processes in writing and fine-tune this processes to make your business run smoother.

Not only will this open up your options in the future, it will allow your business to run smoother and more profitability today.

Watch the video above for the full episode.

[fb_button]

Like this episode? Please share it! My blog and videos are ad-free ONLY because you share my work!

Hot News & Deals!

  1. Join the Moving CEO Challenge: Official Louis Massaro Community Facebook Group! A place for moving company owners to connect, share ideas, and inspire one another. Click here to join!
  2. Latest Instagram!
    Check out @LouisMassaro for new announcements, valuable tips, and enlightening videos to take your moving company to the NEXT LEVEL!

How can I help? What challenges are you facing in your business? What areas could you use some tips in?

Leave me a comment below and I will be more than happy to get back to you or post a video on the topic.

Follow Louis on Instagram for daily tips and motivation to grow your moving company.

Full Transcript
[The following is the full transcript of this episode.]

Hey my friend. It’s Louis Massaro, CEO of Moving Mastery and founder of Moving Sales Academy. What’s the exit strategy for your moving company? You open up a company, what’s the ultimate goal? 10, 15, 20, 30 years from now, what’s the plan? If you’re gonna own a moving company, I’m challenging you not to just look at it and say, “Hey, I just wanna make some money.” Now, maybe when you first get started, that’s the goal. You’re like, “Hey, I just, I wanna make some money. I wanna make a living.” But you have to kinda think further out. Where are you taking it? Where do you wanna go? A lot of people say, “Hey, I wanna grow and I wanna get to that next level,” but where is that next level? What is that for you? It’s different for everybody else and it’s something that you really should think through, because if you plan this out, you could start taking the steps to get there. I wanna share with you the three options that you have when it comes to your exit strategy for your business, like long term, what are you gonna do with it? Because if you’re gonna succeed, you need an exit strategy. You need to know where you’re headed, otherwise, your whole goal and your whole focus is to just make a living.

And if that’s where you’ve been up till now, that’s okay, but I’m challenging you to think a little bit further. I’m challenging you to think a little bit bigger as to where you wanna go, alright? It’s different for everybody. There is no right or wrong answer. I’m gonna give you three options, and they’re all great options. It’s just what’s in line for you? What feels right for you? What feels right for your family? How much work do you really wanna put in? A lot of times we’ll say, “I just wanna grow. I just wanna make a ton of money.” What is a ton of money? How much do you really wanna make every single year? Do you know that? You might have a number in your head, but have you ever sat and thought about what it would take to live the lifestyle that you wanna live? Like really put pen to paper to see, “Hey, I wanna own this type of house and this type of car. I wanna send my kids to this type of school. I wanna have this much in retirement, be able to retire by this age. What is that gonna cost me to do?”

When you put the pen to paper, sometimes you’ll be surprised that it’s not as much as you think it might be. So as you’re building your company, it’s important to think about the end game, the end objective, and I wanna give you the three options of where you could go with that, alright? Option number one, duplicate and expand. This basically means you’re gonna take your current office, you’re gonna duplicate it, and you’re gonna open more offices. And that could be company-owned stores, that could be franchises. Either one falls into option one. And when it comes to franchising versus owning them yourself, that’s gonna be a whole another episode that I’ll do. But the idea is that, what do you wanna do? Do you wanna open multiple… Do you envision yourself with multiple offices throughout the country? Then that would be option one.

Option two, you wanna build it and pass it down to your family. Do you have children or even brothers or sisters, or nieces or nephews, somebody that you wanna eventually pass this down to and keep it in the family? Maybe this business was passed down to you by somebody in the family. That’s a very viable option. That’s something that a lot of people look to do. That’s their goal. I have a friend that he wants to pass the company down to his son to take over and run one day. So that’s your second option when it comes to your exit strategy of getting out of the business. Number three, build and sell. Maybe you have your office now. Maybe you have multiple offices now. You don’t necessarily need to open more of them, but you can build that current location with a plan to sell it, and your plan might be to sell in five years, 10, 20, whatever that might be for you. But if you’re gonna build your business to sell it, you need to make sure that things are set up in a way where somebody’s gonna want to buy it.

So you have these three options. You have duplicate and expand, pass down to your family, or build and sell. What’s the solution? What do you need to do now to prepare yourself for any and all of those options? It’s create a model business. A model business is essentially a prototype, a perfect business that if you wanted to franchise, this would be your prototype. This would be everything set up just right; the systems, the processes. Everything is exactly the way it needs to be, so that somebody would come in and be willing to pay you to buy one of your franchises. If you’re gonna open up another location that you own, or maybe you open with a partner, you want a model business to model that second business after so that that business is successful.

If you wanna pass it down to your family, do you really wanna pass down a business to your family that’s not smooth running, that doesn’t have the systems and doesn’t have the processes in place? Think about some of the stress that you might have from lack of systems and processes. I’ve been there. I know it’s a very stressful thing. Do you wanna pass that business and the stress that goes along with it down to someone in your family? Or would you rather pass them a turnkey business, something that they can come in and you have all the systems in place. You have all the processes in place in writing, where you’re not required to be there, and they can take it and run it successfully, and you can move on.

Or maybe you wanna build it and sell it. Option three. Well, I can tell you if you wanna sell your business, you’re gonna get top dollar by having a turnkey operation. Meaning someone can come in, turn the key in the door, walk in and everything runs. Your systems are in place, your processes are in place, it runs smoothly, it runs profitably, and it doesn’t require you, right? I’ll talk to companies and say… My goal is to sell. And I’ll say, “Okay, well buyer doesn’t wanna come in and hear that the magic sauce for your company is you. You might be the magic sauce right now. You might be the reason that the company runs as good as it does, but for somebody that’s coming to buy your company, that’s gonna require you to stay there and work that business. So if you wanna get top dollar, if you wanna get the people with big money, the people with big money come in and buy a business, that’s a good return on their investment. They’re not looking to buy a job for themselves, they’re saying, ‘Hey, how much can I earn in the stock market? How much can I earn in real estate? What’s the return on investment in this moving company that I could buy that everything’s setup, systems and processes, it’s already smoothly running. I could just put my money in, there’s people there in place, they could run it,’ that’s when you get the top dollar for your company, right?”

So basically what it comes down to is regardless of what your exit strategy is, you have to create a model business. It doesn’t happen overnight, but it’s something that you need to start shooting for. You need to first start and say, “Hey, what do I really want?” Because to grow is a very vague word. Even getting to the next level, what is that? It’s different for everybody. You don’t have to open multiple locations to be successful. You don’t have to franchise your business to be successful. You don’t have to get into long… You could have a local moving company with a few trucks and make very good money. What does the success mean to you currently, and then where do you wanna take it? Because you need to start thinking about that. Otherwise, you’ve just created a job for yourself.

That’s not what you want. That’s not why you put in the hours. That’s not why you take on the stress and the responsibility and the liability of owning a company, not to create a job for yourself, to build the future. What does that future look like to you? And whatever it is, there is no right or wrong. Everyone is gonna be different, so don’t follow someone else’s idea of success. Look at your idea of success and just know even if you want to pass it down to your family, why not pass it down with systems and processes in writing. A smooth running business that they’re not gonna have to take the burden of that stress. That’s what you really want. You wanna duplicate and expand, duplicate and expand with systems and processes in place. You create a model, that’s what you wanna start with. Create a model with the business that you have. Before you start thinking about the expansion, think about, “How could I make this just right to be able to expand it later?” So whatever you’re gonna do, build a model that’s gonna help you create the success exit strategy that you’re looking to have in your business. Until I see you next time, go out there every single day, profiting your business, thriving your life. I’ll see you later.

Posted on

Moving Season Kick-Off Party

Build Rapport With Your Staff and Show Them You Care

[fb_button]

Summary

Moving season can be a very exciting time of the year for moving company owners. It’s the time of year when you know things are going to get busier, naturally. Moving season runs from about May through September each year, even though moving companies will start to feel things getting busier in March and April.

You’re going to need the most out of your staff during this time and you want to get them excited and onboard for the peak moving season.

Every year we would throw what I called a Moving Season Kick-Off Party to signify that moving season is here and build excitement amongst my team. We would have the party in April or May at various venues. We had BBQ’s at the office, we rented out a pavilion at a city park and even took everyone to a baseball game. You can come up with whatever sounds good to you and works with your budget. It doesn’t have to be extravagant.

You may be thinking “why do I need to throw a party for moving season?”

5 Reasons To Throw a Moving Season Kick-Off Party

  1. Builds rapport with your staff – When do you really get to spend time with your team outside of the office? This is a great opportunity to get to know them and build some rapport.
  2. Get family buy-in – Moving season may require that your team works extra hours to meet the demand. It’s important that their families understand that it’s a busy time of year and buy-in and like the company that they’re working for.
  3. Builds comradery – Having this party will help everyone within the company feel a sense of “togetherness”. A way for everyone to get to know one another outside of work and unite over a common objective.
  4. Creates excitement for moving season – It will signify that moving season is here and create excitement around it. People can anticipate that things will be getting busy and it creates an optimistic buzz in the office.
  5. Shows that you care – This shows your employees (and their families) that you care about more than just business, business, business. It will go a long way in developing trust and rapport with your team, which will make them want to work harder for you.

If you haven’t done this before, I think you’ll find that it’ll become a yearly tradition that you and your team will look forward to!

Watch the video above for the full episode.

[fb_button]

Like this episode? Please share it! My blog and videos are ad-free ONLY because you share my work!

How can I help? What challenges are you facing in your business? What areas could you use some tips in?

Leave me a comment below and I will be more than happy to get back to you or post a video on the topic.

Follow Louis on Instagram for daily tips and motivation to grow your moving company.

Full Transcript
[The following is the full transcript of this episode.]

Hey my friend, it’s Louis Massaro, CEO of Moving Mastery and founder of Moving Sales Academy. I don’t know about you, when moving season’s coming around, I get super excited about it every single year. You know it’s that time of year, where you’re gonna be busy no matter what. Typically from May to September, in the US at least, would be moving season. You just know that that’s the time that you’re gonna to be really busy, right? That’s the time of the year that you can definitely raise your rates. That’s the time of the year where everybody’s able to book moves at that time, right? But, at that time of the year, you’re also gonna rely on your staff more. You’re gonna need them to work harder. You’re gonna need your dispatcher to work harder. You’re gonna need your movers to work more hours. You’re gonna need your sales people to possibly work some more time. You’re gonna require a lot more out of everybody and the best way to get everybody on board for moving season, in my experience, has been to throw a moving season kick off party. This is something we would do every year, either April or May, where we would essentially throw a party for everybody in our staff and their families.

Where they would come and we’d get together and we’d set it off for the year, kick off moving season because we know it’s that time of year where people are going to be away from their families a little bit more. You’re going to be away from your family a little bit more, you’re going to be a little bit busier working some more hours than maybe you usually do. So for me, every year having this moving season kick off party was just… It would just signify moving season’s here, let’s go. Let’s make this happen. And we would do it, at first, we’d do just a barbecue at the warehouse. Get the grill out, hamburgers, hot dogs, a little barbecue, nothing special. But then we started to rent out pavilions at city parks and things like that where we could have some volleyball going on, some horseshoes, sometimes we’d get a bounce-house for the kids. Other times, we’d take everybody to a baseball game. You have to look at what’s feasible for you. A baseball game? I don’t know about where you’re at in your team, but typically, the seats are pretty cheap for a baseball game. Like, during the day. And it’s just something that you could do to get everybody together.

I’m going to give you five reasons why it’s important to do this, ’cause you may be thinking “I don’t need to throw a party, what’s the point? They’re not going to appreciate it.” I’m going to give you five reasons why I think it’s important to throw a season kick off party for your staff.

Number one, it builds rapport with your team. A lot of times as the owner, you don’t really have the time to sit and talk and show interest in your employees and their personal life and what they have going on, or get to know them. By having this one party, it’s something that you could get to know them a little bit, talk to them, let them see you as a normal person and not just as the boss. It helps build rapport with your entire staff.

Second reason, you get family buy-in. Meaning, everyone that works for you has a family. When they go home, they’re talking to that family about how their day was, how their job is, how their boss is, how the company is. If you bring the family into the fold and get them to come join you at a fun company outing, it makes them feel a little bit better about their spouse or their father or whoever, going to work every day to work for you and your company. When you get them involved, it really helps build a family environment for everybody.

Third reason, have a season kick off party, it builds comradery amongst staff. Movers that maybe never really hung out with each other or spent time with each other or office staff that never really got to know each other outside of work; it gives everybody that opportunity to do that. To where, when you go back to the office, there’s a stronger bond and sense of comradery between everybody. Like, “Hey, we’re in this together. Moving season’s coming and it’s going to busy, but we’re in this together.” Really important.

Number four, it creates excitement for moving season. Don’t just roll into moving season like nothing’s happening. You know it’s gonna get busy, let everybody get excited about it. Your sales team, hopefully, they’re gonna be able to make more money if they’re on commission in moving season. You, as the owner, are going to make more money. The people you have incentivized are going to be able make more money. And it’s an exciting time. You should never look at moving season as “ugh, more work”. It’s an exciting time, it’s going to be busy. There’s going to be moves flowing in, you need to create some excitement around it.

And the fifth reason why you should have a moving season kick off party, it shows that you care. You do things for your employees because you want to show them that you care and it’s not just “hey come to work, I’m gonna pay you and then go home.” That’s why you do a Christmas party, that’s why you do a season kick off party. To show them that you care about them as an individual. Listen, take this time this year to put something together. It doesn’t have to be extravagant, but anything where you can get everybody together. My suggestion, the best bet I think, would be to find a place, a city park or something where you can get a pavilion, get everybody to go there and have kind of a daytime BBQ activities. Build a comradery, get everybody excited about moving season and kick it off in the right way. And hopefully, you go out there this year and you crush it in moving season. ‘Til I see you next time, go out there every single day, profit in your business, thrive in your life, I’ll see you next time.

Posted on

Take Your Moving Company To The Next Level

Whether You're Just Starting Or Have Been In Business Twenty Years

[fb_button]

Summary

If you’re like most people in the industry, you want to take your moving company to the next level. Whether you’re just starting out or have been in business for twenty years, there’s always the next level of achievement that can be reached. But what does that mean for YOU?

Why is it that some moving companies are struggling just to stay in business and others are making millions every single year? It’s because the companies that are making millions have their systems in place, they have their processes in place. They take their business seriously and put in the time to build it.

Do you want to take your moving company to the next level?

If so, start working on your systems and processes. If you want to go beyond where you’ve been able to get to so far, you need structure in your business. You’re going to need a team and that team needs to know exactly what they should be doing. How do you think McDonald’s got to be so big? The systems and processes.

Set up your systems and focus on your customer

I believe that when you’re not worried about money, when you’re not worried about whether you’re going to book enough moves to pay the bills and have money to take home every single month you can focus your time, energy and resources on providing quality service to your customers.

Set up systems to make sure the moves keep flowing in and then focus on providing quality service to your customers. Go out there every single day and create raving fans out of your customers. Provide excellent service and make their move less stressful. The only moving companies that are going to last are the ones with excellent customer service.

Profit in Business and Thrive in Life

It’s not just about profiting in business. My motto is “profit in business, thrive in life”. You need to be able to do both. What good is making millions of dollars if you don’t take the time to enjoy it? It’s all about freedom! Freedom to do what you want, when you want and with who you want.

Going beyond your comfort zone

There were many times on my journey of growing my moving company to $20 million a year where I felt like “I can’t do this, this is beyond my level of capabilities” but you know what? That’s where you grow, that’s where you become better. Everyone has doubt, it’s human nature. Just don’t let it keep you from taking action. Courage is taking action in spite of fear. vape shop online store

You have to constantly be on the edge of your comfort zone and pushing it a little further all the time. Staying in your comfort zone is a recipe for an unfulfilled life. There is a whole world waiting for you beyond that imaginary line. Go enjoy it.

Watch the video above for the full episode.

[fb_button]

Like this episode? Please share it! My blog and videos are ad-free ONLY because you share my work!

How can I help? What challenges are you facing in your business? What areas could you use some tips in?

Leave me a comment below and I will be more than happy to get back to you or post a video on the topic.

Follow Louis on Instagram for daily tips and motivation to grow your moving company.

Full Transcript
[The following is the full transcript of this episode.]

I talk to moving company owners every day, and the number one thing is, how do I get to that next level? Regardless of what their particular circumstance is, they always want to achieve more, they always want to have their business running smoother, they always wanna be making more money, they wanna be able to take time off and enjoy themselves and be able to take vacations and not be working 80 hours a week. What does it all come down to? It’s like, how do I get to that next level? They feel a sense of being stuck where they’re at and wanna break out of that. And I tell ’em that it’s possible. I did it. I started with nothing and went to $20 million a year. Now, that may be what you’re looking to do, or maybe you just wanna have a business that’s doing a few million a year and be able to bring home a couple hundred thousand a year for yourself. But either way, there’s always that next level.

So the thing that you wanna remember is that it’s possible. And there are times where you get discouraged and then times where you feel like, “You know what? This is such a hard business.” Take a step back. Look at how many companies are out there achieving at high levels. Why is it that some moving companies are struggling just to stay in business and others are making millions every single year doing the same thing? It’s because the companies that are making millions have their systems in place. They have their processes in place and you know what? They take it serious. They put in the time and they treat it like a business. I see a lot of companies out there and they say, “You know what? I’m gonna get some trucks and get some movers and throw it together and try to make some money.” And the back end isn’t there. The systems aren’t there. The processes aren’t there, and that’s what you’re gonna need if you wanna get to that next level.

So when I say the next level, I don’t mean that you need to shoot for $20 million, $100 million a year, whatever outrageous goals you might have. Maybe you just really want to make more money. Maybe right now you’re bringing home $200,000 a year and you wanna go to $400,000 year. Whatever that is, I’m sure you wanna go to that next level. What does that do for you as a company? I believe that when you’re able to not worry about money, when you’re able to not worry about if you’re gonna book enough moves to pay the bills and have money to take home every single month, you can focus your time, your energy, your resources on providing quality service. I’m doing this because I know there’s some really good people in this business. There’s some great moving company owners, they go out there every single day and put their customers’ best interests at the forefront of what they do and perform a quality move. The public needs that. The public needs to feel trust in the moving industry again and be able to know that they can go online, they could find a moving company, they could see their ratings and know that this company’s gonna come out and take care of me.

But I also know that a lot of these companies that are going out and doing a great job every day need some help when it comes to how to market their business, how to sell more jobs, how to actually perform more quality moves so that the public has a great moving company in their market. So I wanna put the tools and the resources and the information that I have in the hands of those people. I want them to go out and be a great moving company in their market. I want them to deliver amazing service to their customers, but I wanna help them get more customers. I know what it’s like to own a moving company where things are constantly changing, the technology’s constantly changing. You look to your right and you look to your left and who do you turn to for answers? I was there, I struggled with it and I went and I found my answers outside of the industry. I looked at the other industries to see how they were doing things and how I could apply that to the moving business.

So now I wanna be able to take all that information, take what allowed me to make my company successful and help you make your company successful, because it’s not about just profiting in your business. My motto is profit in business and thrive in life. You need to be able to do both. It’s not about having a business where you set it up and it’s like a job for yourself. You wanna be able to work on your business and not always work in your business. You wanna be able to have systems and processes and the right people in place to when you can enjoy the money you’re making. What good is making millions of dollars if you don’t take the time to enjoy it? If you don’t take the time to spend with your family and really enjoy life, that’s what it’s all about.

And I see companies out there either struggling in one or two ways. They’re struggling to get their business to that next level, wherever they’re at. That struggle could mean different things for different people, they could just be getting started and having trouble really getting some traction, or they’ve been in business for 20 years and have watched things shift and change, but have been a little nervous to jump in to the new way of doing things and adopt the new modern way of marketing and selling for their business. Either way, it takes a shift in perspective, and that’s what I hope to do. I just wanna shed some light on some things that work for me, ’cause you know what? For many years, I struggled. I did well financially, but I struggled to find the answers and the solutions and everything that I needed to make my business run the way that it did. And you know what? I can share that information with you now. I don’t wanna see somebody else have to go through that information quest to find what they need and try things, ’cause it doesn’t always work. You find some new stuff for your business and you implement it, and you have to sit and wait. And what if it fails?

I went through all that, and I’m sure you’ve went through all that. So, if I can help provide any information in any area of your business that’s gonna help you avoid those learning curves, stay ahead of the curve, make more money, be able to set up some systems and processes, and more than anything, show you what’s possible. A lot of times, when we’re in the trenches, and we’re grinding it out day-to-day in our business, we start to get a little overwhelmed and we start to feel like maybe it’s not possible, maybe I can’t do this. There was many times as I was growing my business and climbing to a $20 million a year level, where I felt like, “You know what, I can’t do this.” Like, “This is beyond my level of capabilities.” But you know what? That’s where you grow. That’s where you become better. You have to constantly be on that edge of your comfort zone and be pushing it a little further all the time, because you develop as a person, your business grows, and that’s how life becomes fun and interesting, and you just become an overall better person for it.

Again, it’s not all about making money. It’s about building something that you could, [A] be proud of, that can support you and your family, that you could possibly sell one day and not have to work again or pass it down to your kids. My goal and my promise to you is to always deliver valuable content that you could apply to your business, whether that’s videos, articles, e-books, whatever it is. I’d love to have you come join me in one of my seminars one day, or enroll in my online course, or I’d really love to work with you one on one in coaching. But if not, I’m gonna be providing tons of free, valuable information that helps you get to that next level in your business. So, if there’s anything you ever need, please don’t ever hesitate to reach out to me. I’m here. I’m here to serve. I’m here to help you and I don’t wanna see you go through the struggles I went through, so please, if you have any questions, I’m always available. Reach out to me. Until I meet you in person one day, go out there every single day and profit in your business and thrive in your life. I’ll see you soon.

Posted on

Moving Sucks!

Create A Better Moving Experience For Your Customers

[fb_button]

Summary

As a moving company, it’s easy to overlook the fact that moving is not a fun event for your customers. It can be one of the most stressful things they do in their life and quite frankly, moving sucks! What can you do to make the moving experience “suck less” for your customers?

  1. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes – Put yourself in your customer’s shoes and see what you can do to create a better customer experience. This practice should be applied to all areas of your business from marketing to sales and all the way to moving-day.
  2. Make their experience suck less – I realize that you’re not going to be able to do things to make moving-day the best day of their life. But you can add a little more joy to the experience for them.
  3. Train your team on having compassion – Customers can be tough to deal with at times. Understand that they are going through a stressful time and train your team to have some compassion for that. Learn to not take it so personally when they give you an attitude.
  4. Respect their belongings – Sometimes it’s not enough to move their stuff from point A to point B without damaging anything. They want to see that you have respect for their belongings and aren’t just tossing it around. Show a little extra care when handling their belongings.
  5. Honor your customer’s trust – People buy from those they like and trust. If they reserved their move with you it’s because you earned their trust. Honor that trust and deliver on the service you promised.

As a moving company, you’re not going to change the world with the service you provide. But you can make a difference in the lives of the people you move. Knowing that moving sucks, what can you do to make it better for your customers?

Watch the video above for the full episode.

Like this episode? Please share it! My blog and videos are ad-free ONLY because you share my work!

How can I help? What challenges are you facing in your business? What areas could you use some tips in?

Leave me a comment below and I will be more than happy to get back to you or post a video on the topic.

[fb_button]

 

Follow Louis on Instagram for daily tips and motivation to grow your moving company.

Full Transcript [The following is the full transcript of this episode.]

Moving sucks. Not the moving business. Moving, the process of moving, sucks. The moving business is great, but think about your customers. Think about everything that they’re going through during this whole process. Moving, statistically, is one of the most stressful things people do, behind funerals, divorce… Moving is one of the most stressful things that they do. It’s not a fun experience for them. So, as a moving company, it’s important to remember that. It’s important to remember that this customer is not really enjoying this whole process. And even though you do this every day, they don’t. And they may be going through… Who knows? They might be moving because of a funeral. They might be moving because of a divorce. They might be moving because they just got downsized. They also might be moving because they just hit the ladder and they’re moving to something bigger, but it’s still a stressful experience. Picking up everything that you own and displacing your whole family and going somewhere else, even though it might be exciting a little bit, it’s gonna be stressful for people.

I know that there’s a lot of customers that can spaz out and freak out. I remember the first time a customer freaked out because we were a half hour late because she was gonna miss the cable guy, really freaking out on us ’cause she was gonna miss the cable guy. And I’m like, “Woah.” But when you start to think about it and when you put yourself in their shoes, you start to understand that it’s not just the cable guy. There’s a lot of stuff going on, that their whole world is up in the air. So just remember that moving sucks. And I wanna give you five steps that will really help you and your company live that with your customer.

First step is, put yourself in the customer’s shoes. Understand where they’re coming from. And this isn’t something that you just do once and forget about it. It’s something you need to remind yourself and your staff to do on a fairly regular basis. It’s gonna allow you to create a better culture, to create a better environment, to create a better experience for your customers, which turns into more repeat and referral customers, more five-star reviews, more business, more money. So it’s lucrative to make sure that you’re taking care of your customers and understanding what they’re going through. Put yourself in their shoes.

And then see what you could do to make their experience suck less. Moving sucks, what could you do to make it suck less? I’m not delusional. You’re not gonna make their moving day fantastic, like the best day of their life, but you can make it not as bad. You can make it a little bit better and you can definitely try to not add fuel to the fire and make it worse. Make their moving experience suck less.

Number three, train your team on having compassion. The same way that I’m talking to you about… Remember what this person is going through, they might be freaking out. They might be following you around the house and saying, “Don’t touch that. Be careful with that. That’s an antique. That was given to me by my grandpa.” Have compassion for what they’re going through. Train your team to have compassion for what they’re going through. And it’s just gonna help the whole experience, and you’ll stop taking it so personal when they’re a little… They have a little attitude and they’re a little stressed out. You’ll realize they’re going through a stressful time. If you worked at a funeral parlor, would you freak out because the customer is freaking out? The family is in there, and they’re stressing out and giving you a hard time. Moving is up there with a funeral. Moving is up there with a divorce. Just have little compassion and understand what they’re going through, and you won’t take it so personal.

Respect their belongings. Too many times, we get used to this. Our movers will go in a house and they know what they’re doing. So they’ll go in and then they’ll just grab something and put it down and start padding it and schlep it out of the house. Having a little extra respect for their belongings, even though you know what you’re doing, just to show them that you’re gonna take care of it, goes a long way. You’ve had customers… If you’ve been in this business more than a few months, you’ve had customers that will follow your movers around and every little thing that they do. If the movers showed up, and showed a little more respect for their belongings right away, right up front, and took a little extra care, those customers would start to back off a little bit. Not all of them, but there’s customers who would start to back off a little bit and let them do their thing.

And number five, you have to remember. You booked this move because they believed in you, they trusted you, you had a good sales pitch, and you earned their trust. So, honor their trust. The reason they went with you is because they trusted you. People buy from people they trust and like. So, they book their move with you, they put their trust in you to come out and handle their stuff. Honor that. Earn that trust after the fact. Don’t just do what you need to do to book the move. Earn that trust throughout the course of the move.

Just remember, it’s not just for you, this is for your team. This is for your movers. This is for your office staff. When they call in and they speak to somebody about a problem they have, and the person on the other end of the phone in your office treats them not so good or just with a little bit of an attitude, that needs to change. Respect the fact that moving sucks, your customers are going through that, and look at it as an opportunity to create a little extra joy in the experience for them. You could play a big part in how stressful this move actually is for them. Think about that.

Until I see you next time, go out there every single day, profit in your business, thrive in your life, I’ll see you later.

Posted on

How To Fire Someone At Your Moving Company

6 Steps To Letting An Employee Go

[fb_button]

If you’ve ever had to fire someone you know it’s not an easy thing to do. But as a business owner or manager, it comes with the territory. Too many times business owners delay firing someone who they know is not a good fit for their company, someone who is hurting their business more then they are helping their business. It’s an uncomfortable situation that’s not fun to deal with, but if it’s time, you need to do it.

6 Steps To Fire Someone At Your Moving Company

 

  1. Document the reasons you’re firing them in their employment file – You never know which employee will turn around and sue you for wrongful termination. Before you fire someone, make sure that you have good documentation in their employee file showing the reason you are firing them. Don’t skip this step, you’ll be sorry if one day someone unfairly files a lawsuit against you.
  2. Prepare yourself for the conversation – Before you have the conversation with the employee to terminate their employment, make sure you prep yourself first. You always want to go into the conversation knowing what you’re going to say and also what you’re not going to say, this way you can get right to the point.
  3. Keep it brief – There is no need for a long drawn-out conversation. You don’t want to get into finger pointing and blaming and bringing up all of the things that they did wrong. Keep it short and sweet.
  4. Allow them to resign – If someone is just not a good fit and they didn’t do anything to hurt you or your company (like stealing), then give them the opportunity to resign. This will not only allow them to keep their dignity but also help them to find another job.
  5. Tell them what the next steps are – After you give them the news that they are being let go, tell them what the next steps are. Things like when they should leave, when they will receive their last paycheck etc.
  6. Meet with the remaining staff – When you fire someone, usually the rest of the company will be on eggshells. They may be wondering “Am I next?”. You want to make sure you address this with your remaining staff and let them know what they can expect moving forward.

I’m not encouraging you to go out and start firing people. But I know that when you finally let someone go who is not a good fit or is hurting your company, it’s a huge relief. Treat the person with respect and handle the situation with class, but do what’s best for you and your company.

Watch the video above for the full episode.

[fb_button]

Like this episode? Please share it! My blog and videos are ad-free ONLY because you share my work!

How can I help? What challenges are you facing in your business? What areas could you use some tips in?

Leave me a comment below and I will be more than happy to get back to you or post a video on the topic.

Follow Louis on Instagram for daily tips and motivation to grow your moving company.

 

Full Transcript

[The following is the full transcript of this episode.]

Hey, my friend, it’s Louis Massaro, CEO of Moving Mastery and founder of Moving Sales Academy. If you’ve ever had to fire somebody in your company, you know it’s not an easy thing to do. It’s not a fun thing to do. But if you have to fire someone who’s a longtime employee, who’s been with you for a while, it’s even more challenging. I’ve had to fire family members, and best friends, and people that have been with me for years, and it just… Sometimes they’re not on the same path with you and sometimes your company’s growing and going to a certain level and they’re no longer a good fit in that position or maybe they had something change in their life and all of a sudden, they’re just not the same person that they once were. And they’re not delivering the value that you need from them in your company. Maybe they’re being disruptive with your other staff and causing problems. There’s a lot of reason why you might need to let somebody go. And I could tell you, it’s not an easy thing to do, but if it’s time, then you need to do it.

I wanna give you some steps to go through here that if you need to fire a longtime employee for whatever reason, that you have some steps to follow to go through. And you need to remember one thing, they’re not gonna be happy about it, but at the same time, they could actually be relieved. You never know. They might not wanna be working for you anymore either, they just don’t wanna let you down. You might not wanna fire them and they might not wanna quit on you. So you really don’t know, but you have to go into it expecting that they’re not gonna be happy about it. And you have to do it with respect. Unless they stole money from you, unless they purposely screwed you over, you need to go into it with respect. You need to honor the situation and know that they’re gonna get upset in that meeting. They may say some things to you to try to trigger you and set you off and you need to remain calm and cool and just handle the situation. So I’m gonna give you some steps here to follow.

First thing you need to do before you bring ’em in, before you have the meeting, as you’re starting to think that, “It’s time for me to let this person go,” document the reasons for their employment file. I don’t care who it is, I don’t care if it’s family, I don’t care if it’s your best friend, I don’t care if it’s somebody’s who’s been with you for a long time, you need to have a good documentation, if this turns into a lawsuit. A lot of times when someone’s close to you, a lot of times when someone’s been with you for a while they may get bitter over you firing them and turn around and file a lawsuit. You wanna make sure that your ducks are in a row, that you have all your paperwork lined up, that you have good reasons for firing them. In certain states, you wanna make sure you know the laws in your states when it comes to firing. You wanna make sure that you have everything you need in the file to show, if for some reason you do end up in court, you have reasons that you fired them. This is for you before you even have a meeting with them to let them know that you’re letting them go.

Second thing, prepare yourself for the conversation. This isn’t something that you just wanna wing, this isn’t something that you just wanna get in there and wing it with them. You wanna know what you’re gonna say and you also would wanna know what you’re not gonna say. It’s very easy to get caught up in a conversation when they start asking why, “Tell me what I did wrong, tell me what I could have done better.” You need to prepare yourself, you need to go into it with your mind made up. If you wanna have a conversation with someone about their performance, that’s a different issue. You have a conversation with them about their performance, but if you know that it’s time for them to go, you need to go into it with your mind made up and prepare yourself for that. You’re gonna wanna keep it brief. You don’t wanna get into this whole this long thing, you wanna tell ’em the reason that you’re letting them go, that you’ve made up your mind and that’s it. You don’t wanna get into what they could have done wrong, you don’t wanna start blaming them for stuff, you don’t wanna start bringing up specific issues, you wanna keep it brief. They’re gonna wanna know why, they’re gonna wanna drill you for information, there’s no benefit in that. There’s no benefit in dragging out the conversation like that. Make it brief, move on, be respectful, allow them to resign.

If there’s somebody that’s been with you a while and they’ve… You just are going in separate directions and they’re no longer needed for your company, and again, they didn’t steal from you, they didn’t do something to hurt you, give them the opportunity and allow them to resign, instead of being fired. This is gonna help them find another job, it’s gonna help them be able to tell their next employer that they left instead of that they were fired. And it helps them keep some dignity and not feel like, “I got fired.” So give ’em that opportunity. Always tell ’em what the next steps are. You wanna make it brief, you wanna go in there with precision. Do what you need to do and move on. It’s not easy. So you wanna make sure you tell ’em what the next steps are. “We’re gonna mail your paycheck to your house, I’m gonna need you to go get your belongings right now and leave for the day,” or “So-and-so is gonna escort you out.”

Whatever the case may be, you need to be specific about what the next steps are. If they’re certain… If you wanna help them file unemployment, give ’em all the paperwork and say, “Here, go ahead and file unemployment.” Give them next steps. If you have a severance package for them let them know what it’s gonna be. Any paperwork you need them to sign, get it all done right then and there. Let ’em know what the next steps are and once they leave there’s gonna shock within your company. If this is a long time employee, somebody that’s been there for a while, all the rest of your staff looks at them as part of the main infrastructure of the company, as the main figure of the company. You wanna meet with the remaining staff right away. And you don’t necessarily need to give everybody an explanation. You wanna give a short, brief explanation, so and so is no longer with us, I had to let him or her go today, but I just wanna let everybody else know, you’re doing a great job or whatever the case may be you might have to fire more than one person in one day, you might have to fire a group of people.

You wanna make sure that everybody else there feels comfortable because when people get fired, everybody in the company is on eggshells. Everybody’s wondering, “Am I next? Am I next? What’s going on? What’s going on? What happened?” You wanna address it right away. Don’t fire somebody and just go right back about your business and act like nothing happened. Have a meeting with your staff, let them know what happen, you could be vague in what the cause was, say something along lines of, “He or she was just no longer a good fit for the company, we parted ways, and I want everybody to know, it’s business as usual, if you have any questions, come and see me and I’ll address them with you personally.” That’s it. Real short, real sweet, and you move on. And what I’ve found is that you feel a lot better after you do this. Anytime that I had someone that I knew I needed to let go and I procrastinated a little bit because it was hard and I kind of avoided it a little bit, once it was done and it was over it felt great, it was off your chest, you could move forward.

It really holds you down when it’s every single day and you’re like, “I need to let that person go, how do I do it, how do I deal with it?” Listen, I know it’s tough, I know it’s hard, I’m not encouraging you to just start firing people, but sometimes someone’s not the right fit for your company. It’s not a bad thing. If you have vision for where your company needs to go, if you have a vision for the people that you need, and you have certain job descriptions that you need people to facilitate and they’re not doing their job, you need to let ’em go. People are either hurting you or they’re helping you. It’s very rare that somebody’s like right in the middle. And if they’re right in the middle, chances are they’re sliding to the side of hurting you. If they’re no longer helping you progress to where you want your company to go and doing your job and you feel like it’s time, you need to do it. Follow these steps, I know it’s hard, but you’ll get over it, they’ll get over it, they’ll be better off, they’ll find another job, they’ll be fine. It’s not the end of the world.

If you have any questions, as always, leave ’em in the comments down below, I’ll be more than happy to answer ’em for you. Until I see you next week, go out there every single day, profit in your business, thrive in your life. I’ll see ya later.

 

Posted on

Profit and Loss Statement for Moving Companies

The Numbers Don't Lie - Review Your P&L Monthly

[fb_button]

One of the most important things you can do as a business owner is review your Profit and Loss Statement every month. This will give you clarity into what is really going on inside your company. The numbers don’t lie, they’ll tell you the truth about areas that need work and the areas that are doing great.

Review Your Profit and Loss Statement Monthly

  1. Record all income and expenses – You need to make sure that all of your income and expenses are being recorded in an accounting software like Quickbooks Online.
  2. Review a detailed P&L – Before you can dive into your numbers and start analyzing what’s going on, you need to make sure that all your numbers are correct. Make sure that each transaction is entered into the correct category within your accounting software.
  3. Review summary P&L with the percentage of income – Now that you verified and made corrections to ensure your numbers are right, it’s time to review them. Print off a summary P&L statement and add the filter for the percentage of income (% of income). This will give you a better perspective into what is going on than just looking at the total numbers.
  4. Mark it up and write all over it – When you are reviewing the statement, write all over it. Circle, highlight, make notes and write out questions you may have or things you need to look into.
  5. Identify areas of concern and opportunities – Now you want to look for any areas that could be causing your profits to be lower than they should be. You’ll also want to identify opportunities where you can take something that is working good and enhance it.

This routine of reviewing my P&L every month is one of the most important things that I did for my companies. This is what really gave me the clarity and confidence I needed to get to the next level. Once you know your numbers, things become very clear. Get in this habit and gain more control over your company’s future.

Watch the video above for the full episode.

[fb_button]

Like this episode? Please share it! My blog and videos are ad-free ONLY because you share my work!

How can I help? What challenges are you facing in your business? What areas could you use some tips in?

Leave me a comment below and I will be more than happy to get back to you or post a video on the topic.

Follow Louis on Instagram for daily tips and motivation to grow your moving company.

 

Full Transcript
[The following is the full transcript of this episode.]

Hey, my friend, it’s Louis Massaro, CEO of Moving Mastery and founder of Moving Sales Academy. Do you ever feel like you’re just not on top of your business? Like there’s certain areas that you just can’t see? You know there might be an issue, or there might be a problem, or might be some additional opportunities, but you just… You don’t feel that you can see it all in front of you. I wanna share with you a process that, for me, really was one of the defining moments, and what helped me take my business to the next level, and just have that total clarity of what was going on, and be able to make the decisions that I needed to make to grow my business, to make adjustments, and to make improvements. And that was reviewing my profit and loss statement every single month.

If this isn’t something that you do now, you need to watch this, because this is very, very important. And I know a lot of people shy away from it. I’ll talk to them about it, and follow up with them in a few months, and they haven’t started this process yet. And a lot of times, it’s being scared of what you’re gonna see. When you start to unravel your numbers and start to take a look at what’s factual, what’s actually there, how your company’s really doing, some people, they want to know, but they don’t wanna know. You need to know this information. It’s the only way that you’re gonna grow your business. It’s the only way that you’re gonna scale your business. It’s the only way you’re gonna keep yourself from hitting an iceberg and crashing your ship. You need to make sure that you’re on top of these numbers every single month. I talked about this broadly in the video on knowing your numbers, which is number one… It’s the number one rule in the “10 Rules of a Profitable Moving Company,” but I talked about it broadly. I wanna specifically talk to you about how to go about reviewing your P&L, your profit and loss statement, every single month.

First of all, I would recommend, if you don’t have an accounting software, that you sign up for QuickBooks Online. It’s super easy to use. It’s only, I think, depending on the package you get, maybe $15 to $30 a month, depending on what level. But it’ll allow you to integrate your bank account, your credit cards, everything in there, and it’ll just be very seamless. If you have a bookkeeper, it’ll be very easy for them to use, and if you don’t, you’ll be able to figure it out as well. The first thing you wanna do is make sure that all your income and expenses are recorded. What that means, is making sure that everything is recorded into QuickBooks. Now, if you use a different accounting software, that’s fine. It just matters that you use an accounting software. Don’t try to do all this with pen and paper. And I don’t care what level you’re at, I don’t care if you just started out, you need to spend this money, and get QuickBooks, or some other accounting software for 15 bucks a month, super cheap.

Record all of your income, all of your expenses. And you wanna make sure that it’s all categorized exactly. Your income, you wanna have local moving income, you wanna have long distance moving income, you wanna have storage income. You really wanna break it down. You could even go further and break it down as packing income as well. Then for your expenses, you wanna have operational expenses, you wanna have labor expenses, you wanna have everything broken down and really drilled down, so you know what’s what. You need to get it inputted into your accounting software, that’s the first step. Now, once it’s being done… Ideally, you would have a bookkeeper and this would be happening on a regular basis. The bank accounts would be integrated with QuickBooks. Your credit cards would be integrated with QuickBooks, everything would go in there. When you make a deposit, it’d be put in QuickBooks. When you ran credit cards, that would be integrated and that information would go into QuickBooks. And you would have a bookkeeper that’s going in, and basically categorizing all of that, to put it in the right spot.

The thing that you’re gonna wanna do first and foremost, once that’s being done, is review a detailed P&L, a detailed profit and loss statement. Every single accounting software should allow you to print out either a summary or a detailed P&L. You could either print it out or you can do it in Excel. I’m a big fan of doing things in Excel, but when it came to this, I would always print this out, hold it in my hand, get out a pen. And what you wanna do with the detailed P&L, is you wanna make sure that everything that was classified, everything that… All the expenses were put in the right category.

For example, if you… Your fuel expense, you wanna make sure that that’s listed under fuel for your trucks. Maybe you pay your own personal fuel for your car out of the company, you wanna make sure that’s in a different category. You wanna make sure that whoever is categorizing this information, your bookkeeper, they could very easily make some mistakes as to exactly where things should be categorized. You go through this, you make the adjustments, write ’em out, either go back into QuickBooks, and make the adjustments yourself, or hand this back to your bookkeeper. I would hand it back to the bookkeeper, and they would make the adjustments, make the corrections, and then I would be able to review a summary P&L, and I would add the percentage of income filter to it. What this is, is now you won’t have… On the detailed P&L, you have every single transaction for the month. It’s gonna show every single deposit, whether it be cash, whether it be credit cards, every single check that was paid out, every single credit card statement, but on your summary, it’s just gonna show income. Local moves, how much income? Long distance moves, how much income? Storage, how much? Total of all income.

Then it’s gonna list all of your expenses. What you wanna do is print out the summary and add on percentage of income. The percentage of income, what that’s going to do, is tell you each one of your expenses, what percentage of your total income was spent on that. For example, if you had your marketing, and under marketing, it said that you spent, let’s just say $10,000. Your total income, let’s say, was $100,000. Next to marketing, where it says you spent $10,000, it would say 10% of income. That’s a real good indicator and a number that I like to look at, to be able to tell how you’re doing. That percentage jumps out off the page and really will speak to you, a lot of times, more than just the numbers themselves.

It’s a great identifier to be able to tell how you’re doing, and if you’re keeping things in a certain range. For example, your labor percentage. Your labor percentage should pretty much be the same all the time. It fluctuate very little, but it should be the same. I could tell you, by reviewing my P&Ls, in one of my offices, I found that my labor percentage was high. Well, when I started to look into that, I found that the dispatcher had a little deal going on with the movers, was paying ’em extra hours and getting a little kickback after they cashed their check. I found out about this, why? Because I was reviewing my P&L. I’ve also found out about claim situations. This is how you find out what’s going on in your company, because when things aren’t right, you could see it in the numbers and numbers don’t lie, very important.

Again, I would print that out, mark it up, write all over it. Circle things, highlight things, write all over it, whatever you see that’s not right or you have a question on. “Why did we spend so much buying moving equipment this month?” Circle it, write your question next to it, and then you could go research it later. This is so important. Take the time to review the numbers, to go through them. It may be intimidating at first, if you’ve never done it, but I can tell you, once you get in this process, you’re gonna have total control over your company. You’re gonna know exactly what’s going on, and if there’s problems, they’re gonna be sticking out to you, and you’re gonna be able to resolve ’em.

And the last thing you do is identify areas of concern, and areas of opportunity. Every single month, you can go through it and say, “Well, what, why?” The area of a concern, “Why did we spend so much money in moving equipment?” You need to look into that. Maybe you’re losing moving equipment, and you don’t know about it, especially if you’re not hands-on every single day with your business, and you’re remote, and you have people running things. Your P&Ls, what’s gonna really help you determine what’s going on, and then there’s opportunities. You could also see that you’re doing really well in a certain area and maybe you could ramp up your efforts there. Maybe you see that you’re only spending 3% of your total income on marketing. Well, you have a lot more room that you can go, you have a lot more money that you could spend in marketing. That’s an area of opportunity.

By going through this every single month, I’m telling you, it’ll change your life, it’ll change your business. You’ll be on top of things and this is how you need to run your business. Once I started doing this, once I started understanding this, this is where I found out everything that was going wrong. This is where I found out all the adjustments I needed to make. This is where I was able to open additional locations, scale those locations, know when we needed to pull back on certain expenses, know when we could really push forward with certain things. If you’re not doing this now… And listen, I know people at multiple locations, I know people that are van line agents that don’t do this. I’m not talking to someone who is just starting a moving company, this goes for everybody. And you could be very, very, very successful, you could be making a lot of money and still not do this. You may be watching this, say, “I’m good. I’m making a lot of money.” But you know what? You could be making more money, if you do this. ‘Cause it’s not always what’s coming in, it’s also what’s going out. And if you don’t visually see what’s coming in, and what’s going out every month, there’s a lot that could be happening that you don’t know about.

Please, I challenge you, start reviewing your P&L every single month. Regardless, if you’re just starting your business today, do this every month. If you’ve been in business 20 years and you’re doing $5-10 million a year, do this every single month. You’ll thank me for it. I’m telling you, this is some of the best advice I could give you. This is one of the things that really helped propel me to that next level in my business. If you have any questions, as always, leave ’em down below. Until I see you next week, go out there every single day, profit in your business, thrive in your life. I’ll see you later.

 

Posted on

Is Brokering Moves Illegal?

Interstate Moving Brokers Can and Are Held Civilly and Criminally Liable

Is brokering moves illegal? If you’re a moving broker, have ever considered becoming a broker or your moving company works with brokers there are some important facts that you need to be aware of. Although brokering moves itself is not illegal, there are many actions of the broker that can be illegal. As a moving broker or a carrier who works with brokers, it’s crucial to understand the details of these laws.

In the book: Interstate Moving – Consumer Protection and Legal Compliance Guide, moving industry attorney Michael Garcia writes about all laws and regulations for interstate moving companies. In the book, he also outlines all of the laws and regulations that apply to moving brokers and the carriers that work with them.

Along with owning and running moving companies, I also owned an interstate moving broker company for four years. In that time I experienced first hand the challenges that brokers face. I almost went to prison for running my moving broker business, it’s not a joke. I wanted to share with you some important points to understand about the laws governing moving brokers. I don’t want to see what happened to me, happen to anyone else.

As the customer’s agent, Interstate brokers have a legal duty to their customers to act in good faith and issue honest and accurate estimates.

Interstate moving brokers can and are held civilly and criminally liable for:

  1. Failing to clearly describe and represent their services as an interstate broker – If you are a moving broker OR if you work with a moving broker, you must make sure that the customer is 100% clear that you are a moving broker that’s booking their move and not the carrier.
  2. Failing to obtain an interstate license prior to conducting business – This goes without saying, you need to have a broker of household goods license with the FMCSA before you book any moves and broker them to carriers.
  3. Failing to secure and file a $75,000 surety bond with the FMCSA – In or order to get a broker license you must have a $75k surety bond.
  4. Brokering a shipment to an unlicensed motor carrier – As a broker, it is your responsibility to make sure that the carrier is licensed. That means at the time of the shipment, not only when they sign up with your company. They could have been licensed when they signed up with you but lost their license along the way. It’s your responsibility to monitor their license to make sure it’s active.
  5. Failing to provide potential consumer shippers with a complete listing of all motor carriers in the broker network – You must provide a list of every single company (carrier) that is in your network to every potential customer that you give an estimate too.
  6. Failing to provide shippers with the booklet “Rights and Responsibilities when you Move”  – You can provide this electronically as a PDF but you must provide it to every customer that is moving interstate.
  7. Failing to provide a written estimate for services based upon the motor carrier’s published tariff – When you book a move as a broker, you MUST book each move using the tariff of the company that will be hauling that shipment. If you are the carrier and the broker is not using your tariff to book your moves, you will be held responsible too.
  8. Failing to maintain a “master list” of brokered transactions – You must maintain a list of all of your transactions, including financial transactions with carriers.
  9. Failing to have a properly signed “409” agreement with each licensed motor carrier in the network – A 409 agreement is the contract between the broker and the carrier.
  10. Failing the provide consumer shippers with a written notice of deposit, refund, and cancellation policies – Your estimates should clearly state the use of any deposit and what the refund and cancellation policies are.
  11. Conducting business evidencing a pattern of fraudulent estimates – “lowballing” – It does not matter who is to blame. If the customer receives one price and that price is raised by the carrier, that will be looked at as a low ball estimate. So as a broker, make sure your estimates are accurate and that your carriers are not increasing it. As a carrier, make sure that your broker is providing accurate estimates for your moves.

I would suggest that you pick up a copy of attorney Michael Garcia’s Book Interstate Moving Consumer Protection and Legal Compliance Guide and read it. Have everyone involved in your interstate operations read it. (https://interservices.fr This book is about ALL interstate moving laws not just for brokers but for carriers too.

So is brokering moves illegal? It depends if you are following the law. If you are a broker OR if you are a carrier that works with brokers, MAKE SURE YOU KNOW THE LAW!

Watch the video above for the full episode.

Like this episode? Please share it! My blog and videos are ad-free ONLY because you share my work!

How can I help? What challenges are you facing in your business? What areas could you use some tips in?

Leave me a comment below and I will be more than happy to get back to you or post a video on the topic.

Follow Louis on Instagram for daily tips and motivation to grow your moving company.

Full Transcript

[The following is the full transcript of this episode.]

Hey my friend is Louis Massaro, CEO of Moving Mastery and founder of Moving Sales Academy. Is brokering moves illegal? I’ve been getting this question a lot lately, so I wanted to address it. Those of you who’ve watched my previous video on how I almost went to prison for running my moving company, I really got into how I was in the moving business, had offices throughout the country, then I had long distance trucks running all around the country and I decided to sell the long distance trucks, get into brokering. Long story short, I ended up pleading guilty to felony charges, based on running a brokerage business. So the question becomes, is brokering illegal? If you don’t know the story, I’m not gonna get into it in this video, you can go ahead and check for the video that says, “How I almost went to prison for running my moving business.” I go through the whole story in there, today I wanna address is brokering moves illegal? And the answer to that question is no, brokering moves in and of itself is not illegal, but what I wanna do is break down some things that you need to be looking at and you need to be concerned about, if you’re gonna be a broker and if you’re gonna work with brokers.

So, what I wanted to do is, I brought with me a book from Michael Garcia. Michael Garcia is the moving industry’s leading interstate moving attorney. He actually wrote this book, Interstate Moving Consumer Protection and Legal Compliance Guide. Michael’s a great guy, he knows what he’s talking about and I wanted to read you something out of his book. Not only to think about the brokering situation and my story and what happened to me, and let that be kind of a decision factor for you on whether you wanna be a broker or continue to be a broker or whether you wanna work with a broker. I wanna read you some stuff right out of this book, so that you can understand where you’re at, where do you stand if you’re gonna broker moves. So, let me read this to you, it says, as the consumer shippers agent, so as a broker, you’re actually an agent for the shipper, the customer, the person that’s moving interstate, all right? You’re the one that’s gonna go out and find the mover for them, you’re their agent, okay? Interstate brokers have a legal duty to consumer shippers to act in good faith and issue honest and accurate estimates.

Interstate brokers can and are held civilly and criminally liable for the following. Number one, failing to clearly describe and represent their services as an interstate broker, okay. This was part of what caused me to get in trouble. When we first became a broker, we were also a moving company. I also had locations throughout the country, local moving companies, so my website had pictures of trucks all over, real trucks that we owned, talked about us doing moves because we did, but our interstate page talked about us being a broker, but that wasn’t enough. ‘Cause consumers were confused because when they went to the site they saw that we had trucks, they saw that we talked about being movers, they even saw pictures of our movers, and that’s part of the reason that I ended up getting in trouble for being a broker. So that’s really important that you disclose that to the customers, if you’re gonna be broker or if you’re working with brokers, okay. ‘Cause remember something, even if you’re not the broker, if you’re the carrier, and your broker’s not complying with the law it’s gonna fall on you.

So it’s just as important that as a carrier you understand what should be getting done legally to make sure you’re protected as well. So you wanna make sure that you’re definitely clearly stating that you are a broker. What we ended up doing was creating a whole another website, even created a whole another brand that was never associated with my old brand, so that there was no confusion at all about us being a broker. The new website had no pictures of trucks, no pictures of movers, every single page said we’re a broker, we’re a broker, we’re a broker, or as the old site because we were a moving company also there was confusion. So, it’s not enough to say, “Hey, on my interstate page I talk about being a broker,” I’m living proof that that’s not enough. You have to clearly make sure your customers know that you’re a broker.

Number two, failing to obtain an interstate license prior to conducting business, you must have a broker license before you broker any moves. Failing to secure and file, a $75,000 surety bond with FMCSA, you have to get a surety bond at $75000, you don’t pay $75,000, but you must get the surety bond, so that you’re legal. Brokering a shipment to unlicensed motor carrier. You need to vet everybody that you do business with. As part of being a broker, that’s the most difficult part, you’re essentially… We spend a lot of time policing carriers, doing background checks, trying to figure out when somebody applied, were they a carrier that we at one point blackballed, and we didn’t let them in our company anymore that now has another company in someone else’s name and now they’re trying to reapply to be part of our network? You need to make sure that, A, they’re licensed and B, they’re gonna do a good job if you’re a broker.

Failing to provide potential consumer shippers with a complete listing of all the motor carriers in your broker network. As part of being a broker, you must give every single customer a list of every carrier that’s in your network. Whether that’s electronically through email, whether you mailed it them, whether you give it to them, if you do an on-site estimate, you have to give them a list of every carrier that’s in your network. Failing to provide consumer shippers with the booklet rights and responsibilities when you move. This is whether you’re a broker or whether you’re a carrier, they need to get a copy of that. You could do that digitally as well. You could send them a PDF of that.

0Number seven, failing to provide a written estimate for services based upon the motor carriers published tariff. This is something that I know there’s a lot of people not doing, okay. As a broker, you have to know who you’re giving that move to at the time of booking it and you have to book it on their tariff. If you don’t know what a tariff is and you’re a broker, get this book. ‘Cause it’s a problem if you don’t know what a tariff is. If you’re an interstate carrier or a broker and you don’t know what a tariff is, you need to get this book. I’m not gonna explain it. I’ll put a link down below where you can get a copy of this.

You have to book every job on that particular carrier’s tariff. For us, if we knew what was on the east coast in a certain area and a certain carrier was gonna be handling it, we would book it on their tariff using their rates, their information. Because as a broker, all you are is essentially a booking agent, I don’t know if that’s technically correct but you work for the carrier. The carrier doesn’t work for the broker. A lot of times, there’s a misconception there, thinking that the carrier works for the broker but really the broker’s booking moves for the carrier on the carrier’s tariff. Very important.

Failing to maintain a master list of broker transactions. You have to keep a master list of everything from all your customers, all the deposits you took, all the financial transactions back and forth between you and the carriers. You have to have a list of that as well.

Failing to have a properly signed 409 agreement with each license motor carrier in your network. 409 agreement is essentially a broker agreement between the carrier and the broker that has all of your terms… It’s a contract between a broker and a carrier. You must have one with every carrier that you work with. Again, these are things that brokers can be held civilly and criminally liable for. So these are very important.

Let’s see, failing to provide consumer shippers with written notice of deposit, refund and cancellation policies. It needs to be very clear what your refund policy is, what your cancellation policy is, and it needs to be spelled out for ’em. For us, we had they could cancel up until seven days prior to the move. That needs to be in writing, in the terms and conditions when they book their move, very clearly.

And number 11, conducting business evidencing a pattern of fraudulent estimates called low-balling. This is another reason where we got in trouble. We weren’t necessarily giving low-ball estimates, but we were giving moves to carriers that were raising the price on those moves. When they raised the price on those moves, our estimates looked like low-ball estimates. It wasn’t our intention. We weren’t purposely doing it, but it doesn’t matter. That’s why you have to really police everything that’s going on. We could sit all day and say, “We weren’t giving any low-ball estimates.” But if the price went up then estimate you gave was low, to the consumer, that’s a low-ball estimate. If there’s a pattern of that, again, these are reasons that as a broker, you could be held civilly and criminally liable. There’s a lot more to it in here about brokers. There’s everything you need to know about interstate moving in here. I’ll put a link below, where you guys can get a copy of this. I suggest that if you do any type of interstate moving, whether you’re a broker or a carrier, that you definitely look into this.

Listen, you need to know the law. Period. You need to obey the law. I know, that sounds like common sense, but you need to go through this thing with a fine tooth comb. Highlight it, mark it, check off, what else? Circle what you need to do. And make sure you’re following every single guideline. It’s not a joke. You guys know my story, I literally had to plead guilty to fraud, felony charges from being a broker. It’s not a joke. If you’re gonna be a broker or if you’re gonna work with brokers, make sure things are getting done correctly. I can’t say it enough, I can’t stress it enough. If you haven’t seen the other video, it’s called “How I Almost Went to Prison for Running my Moving Business”. Go watch that, I explain the whole story. I hope this was helpful. Until I see you next week, go out there every single day and profit in your business and thrive in your life. I’ll see you later.

 

Posted on

How Successful Moving Companies Handle The “Off-Season”

5 Questions To Ask Yourself As You Come Out Of Summer

[fb_button]

Moving Season is coming to an end. How do you plan on dealing with it? Chances are things are going to slow down a little bit. Are you going to complain about it and count the days until summer? Or are you going to take action and make it count? I’m going to share with you how successful moving companies handle the “off-season”.

Every year as summer was coming to an end, I would sit down and look for ways to make the most of the off-season. To me, this was a time to be proactive and implement things that would move my company forward. All successful moving companies should take advantage of this time as well.

5 Questions To Ask Yourself Heading Into The Off-Season:

  1. What’s on my to-do list that I haven’t got around to? – During the summertime in the moving business, it’s usually all hands on deck. It can be so busy that the only thing you have time to do is handle the day to day operations of covering moves. Now is the time to look at all the things that have been getting put off and see what needs to be handled.
  2. What ideas do I have to generate more business? – I would imagine your mind is always working on new ways to generate more business. You probably have some ideas written down or floating around in your head. Now is the time to pull them out, prioritize them and pick some that you can implement.
  3. Where can I reduce expenses and cut costs? – It’s easy to roll out of moving season with fat pockets and not be thinking about your expenses. That’s why it’s a good habit to look at your expenses every year as things start to slow down.
  4. What areas of my business need to be tightened up? – You know the answer to this. The area in your business that you know is not on-point but you just have been too busy to come up with or implement a solution. The off-season is the perfect time to implement new processes and get things tightened up.
  5. What can I do to improve my physical health? – If things slow down for you, use that time to get yourself in better shape. Do you need to start eating healthier? Working out? Even if you start off small by changing a few foods you eat and going for walks. When you eat good and exercise your mind is sharper, you have more energy and you feel better. Don’t you think that could help you accomplish more in your business?

Take action now

Pick two or three projects that you are going to work on this off-season. Pick projects that once you complete them will make a MAJOR impact on your business. Do you need to hire and train better movers? Get your accounting and reporting on-point? Or set up a strong sales process?

Figure out what that is and then get it on the calendar. Start chipping away at them. This is how successful moving companies handle the “off-season”.

Now is the time, don’t wait!

Watch the video above for the full episode.

[fb_button]

Like this episode? Please share it! My blog and videos are ad-free ONLY because you share my work!

How can I help? What challenges are you facing in your business? What areas could you use some tips in?

Leave me a comment below and I will be more than happy to get back to you or post a video on the topic.

Follow Louis on Instagram for daily tips and motivation to grow your moving company.

Posted on

How To Deal With Stress Of The Moving Business

5 Ways To Manage The Stress Of Your Business

Business can be stressful. You don’t have to let the stress of the moving business run your life. With so much responsibility of owning a moving company, it’s easy to allow yourself to get stressed out and overwhelmed. What is that stress costing you and your business? You already know stress isn’t good for your health, but it’s also bad for your business. When you’re stressed out, you’re not as effective of a leader as you could and should be.

It’s a long road to alleviate stress completely, but you can learn to manage it and not let it run your life and business.

5 Ways To Deal With Stress of The Moving Business

  1. Decide not to be a stress case – It all starts with a decision. If you want to start running your business without the stress, you have to decide you don’t want to be a stress case. After that, you’ll find better ways of relating to your business and ways to deal with your stress when it comes up.
  2. Get organized – If you’re unorganized, you’re going to be stressed out. You’re going to feel overwhelmed. You’re going to feel like there is not enough time in the day. Getting organized is one of the best things you can do to alleviate stress. When you are organized, you can be proactive and not reactive. You can focus and execute around your priorities and accomplish the things that are really going to help you move forward in your business. You want to be able to run your day and not have your day run you.
  3. Own your role as a leader – When you make a decision to become a business owner, you’ve got to take the good with the bad. If you want to reap the rewards, you also need to take on the responsibility of everything else that happens in your business. Good or bad, own your role and don’t stress out about it.
  4. Accept that things will go wrong – This is a fact that you need to face. When things go wrong, it’s the situation itself that will cause stress but your reaction to it. It’s not effective to stress out about it. Deal with the situation and ask yourself “how can we prevent this from happening again?”
  5. Release the stress when it happens – Stress won’t go away completely, but you can get rid of it quicker. When situations occur that cause the stress, learn to let it go as quick as possible. Every moment you’re stressed out, you’re not making good decisions as a leader. Take some deep breaths, go for a walk, whatever you need to do to let it go.

I realize stress can’t be solved in five steps. If you decide today that you no longer want to run your business as a stress case, you’re taking a step in the right direction. Don’t get discouraged if you try and fall down. Just commit yourself to not being a stress case, and like any new skill, you’ll get better at it over time and with practice.

Let the stress go, my friend.

Watch the video above for the full episode.

Like this episode? Please share it! My blog and videos are ad-free ONLY because you share my work!

How can I help? What challenges are you facing in your business? What areas could you use some tips in?

Leave me a comment below and I will be more than happy to get back to you or post a video on the topic.

Follow Louis on Instagram for daily tips and motivation to grow your moving company.

Full Transcript
[The following is the full transcript of this episode.]

Hey my friend, it’s Louis Massaro CEO of Moving Mastery and founder of Moving Sales Academy. Have you ever been totally stressed out or overwhelmed with work, with your business. Do you feel that way maybe everyday? Is it something that continues to be a problem for you? It’s a stressful business, any business is stressful but the moving business is definitely a stressful business. I know that, I’ve been there, I used to… When I started I was so stressed out, I had ulcers, I was sick to my stomach. I allowed myself to just be stressed all the time. I allowed every circumstance that would happened and every problem that would pop up to affect me. I decided to change that, because it’s a decision. When you stress out, when you get overwhelmed, you may not realize it but you’re making a decision at that point to allow yourself to get stressed out, and to allow yourself to get overwhelmed. As entrepreneurs, as business owners, we talk about I’m stressed, I got everything, all this stuff to deal with, I got all these employees and trucks and it’s stressful. And in reality stress is just a code word for fear. If you really break down stress. If you really take a look at what stress is, it’s all fear.

If we don’t cover all these jobs what’s gonna happen? Customers are gonna be upset. So you’re fearful the customer is going to be upset. You’re not gonna make the money that you wanna make for that day. What’s gonna happen if movers don’t show up on a busy day? We’re not gonna cover the work. You get stressed out. You’re fearful of what’s gonna happen? So it’s important to first take a step back and look at what it is, and realize that you know what that doesn’t have to be you. Maybe you’re stressed out because that’s the way you learned, whether you did it consciously or unconsciously, to run your business. Maybe you as a kid you saw somebody running a business and they’re always yelling and screaming and then they were stressed out and just came home and were pissed off. Or you saw it in a movie or a TV show and just that was the stigma of how businessman should be or a business woman should be. But it doesn’t have to be that way and it’s not effective to be that way. If you wanna be effective leader, you can’t be stressed out all the time. The general of an army isn’t stressed out throwing fits and getting pissed off at people. You gotta keep your composure and if you’re stressed out your decisions aren’t gonna be as good as they could be and should be.

Listen, I know it’s tough and there’s no magic bullet to deal with stress but I wanna give you five things, that you can do to help manage the stress of running your businesses. So the first thing is… And this is how it all started for me was; decide not to be a stress case. Make the decision right now that, “You know what? I don’t wanna run my business as a stress case.” And a lot of people will fight me on this. A lot of people watching this are gonna say, “Yeah, but you know what Louis? You don’t know my circumstance. You don’t know what I have to deal with in my business. You don’t know that it’s only me and the employees I have, they don’t do what they’re supposed to do and I barely have enough money to pay the bills every month.” Listen I’ve been there, and I know it and someone who wants to argue for this and say that you don’t know my circumstance. They’re gonna keep looking for drama, they’re gonna keep looking for something to be stressed out about and if you keep looking for something to be stressed out about, you’re going to be stressed out. So first thing is just decide right now in this moment, you don’t wanna be a stress case anymore. You wanna lead your business with a clear head and a clear focus and be there when you get home for your family and not be all stressed out. It’s a better quality of life and you don’t have to be a business owner. You don’t have to go in and run your business and let stress dictate how you do things.

Number two, this will alleviate a lot of stress for you, get organized. I’ve talked to a lot moving company owners and I talk to them about, talk to me about your time management talk to me about how you organize things. I ask them certain questions that lead to me finding out if they’re organized or not, because if you’re unorganized you’re gonna be stressed out. You’re gonna be overwhelmed. You’re gonna feel like there’s not enough time in the day. There is plenty of time in the day. There’s plenty of time in the week. There’s plenty of time in the month. There’s plenty of time in the year. But when you’re not organized, you’re acting in a reactive state. You’re not being proactive. You don’t have stuff on your calendar, laid out in order of priority of what needs to get done and what needs to get accomplished.

It’s a whole different ball game when you have everything in your mind and you know all these things you need to do. I’m sure you have a ton of stuff you need to get done and a lot that you’re responsible for, I know this believe me I’ve been there. But when you have it organized. When you know what your priorities are and then you put them on your calendar, and let’s say you have something that you know needs to get done and now it’s on the calendar for two days from now or two weeks from now, whatever it is, whatever it lies within your priorities. You can be focused and calm and in the moment and deal with what’s in front of you, instead of worrying about all the stuff that you can’t get it all done right now. So get organized put it on the calendar and do it order of priority, organize and execute around priorities, always.

Number three, own your role as a leader. You’ve chosen to be a business owner for better or for worse. There’s a lot of good things that come with it, and there’s also things that can be looked at as bad things that come with it. Or stressful things or overwhelm or responsibility. If this is what you’re choosing, if you wanna own a business, you need to own that role and understand that things are gonna happen. (https://fmcg-viet.com) Understand that people are gonna disappoint you. Somebody’s not gonna do their job correctly, you’re gonna have a customer that just is difficult to deal with. Things are gonna happen and that’s your responsibility. If you wanna take home the big bucks, if you wanna be the one that’s not punching the clock, that’s not working for an hourly wage for somebody else, and you wanna own your own business, then own that role and know that there’s gonna be some things that could cause stress that go with that. Not stress, things that could cause stress if you let them cause stress. Own the role… Listen, it’s a penalty of leadership. It’s not all good. There’s other stuff that comes with it. Own it.

Next, accept that things are gonna go wrong. Accept this fact. This was one of the best things I ever did. Because you know what? I had offices in cities throughout the country. So everyday, something was happening. Whether a truck flipped over, whether a mover was injured on a job and then wanted to sue for workers comp. All these things if they happen to you, guess what? Chances are they’ll have happen again. Chances are something worse could happen that hasn’t already happened. And if you allow that to throw you off completely, if you allow that to completely ruin your day, your week, your year, whatever, you’re not gonna be in a centered place to be able to run your business as a leader.

Accept that things are gonna happen and when they happen, just say, “You know what? That’s just part of being in business.” You could then ask yourself, “What could we do to make sure this doesn’t happen again?” “What could I do to fix this?” But don’t get… Whatever it is, think of the worst case scenario. Think of the worst case scenario. Whatever it is, it could happen. But it’s not the end of the world. And if you think about every moment you’re stressed out, every moment you’re overwhelmed, you’re not making good decisions as a leader. So you need to get away from that as quick as possible. Doesn’t matter what happens, it doesn’t matter. It could be the worst thing, you need to allow yourself to process it, deal with the situation at hand like a leader and then move on. Don’t be a victim and say, “Oh, this happened to me. Everything was going smooth and then the truck got blown with wind off the highway.” That happened me before, totally tipped over the whole box of the truck, with the customer shipment in it, and many other things. Well, they’re gonna happen. Accept that.

Last one is release the stress when it happens. I’m not under some false conception here that stress is gonna go away based on what I’m sharing with you today. But what I do know is that you can manage that stress better. What I do know is that when these things happen, when that whatever it is happens, that customer calls and yells, that mover that was your lead guy quits and goes and works for somebody else, whatever it is, that pisses you off, that stresses you out, if you sit at your computer and you’re going through emails and all the sudden you just feel totally overwhelmed, like, “I have so much to do and I can’t get to it all.” Take a step back and tell yourself, “You know what? In this state of mind, I can’t be a leader. I can’t steer the ship of this company in the right direction if I’m stressed out and overwhelmed and frazzled.” So release it right away.

Do whatever you need to do to release that stress, whether that’s sit in your office, close the door and breathe, take some deep breaths, go for a walk, go for 20 minute walk. Just literally walk outside your office, and just go for a stroll and tell yourself, “You know what? I’m in no position to be a leader right now. I need to go and get my mind right because my mind controls everything that happens in my business. And if my mind’s not right, my business isn’t gonna be right.” So the quicker that you can take care of that and release it, the more productive you’re gonna be. Listen, we’ve all had those days where you’re just stressed out and you’re overwhelmed and you let something that happens early in the day ruin your whole day. Think about how much time you wasted that day. Think about all the productive things you could have been doing to move your business forward with that time but you couldn’t because you were so stressed and overwhelmed with that situation. Release it quick. Listen, I know it’s tough, I know it’s a stressful business but if you decide that, “You know what? I don’t wanna be a stress case. I’m gonna start taking steps and taking action that is gonna allow me to alleviate stress, you’ll find your own ways to do that. Alright? I hope this was helpful. Don’t stress about not being stressed. I’ll see you next week. Go out there, profit in business. Thrive in life. I’ll see you later.