7 Technologies Your Moving Company Should Be Using

Ever since Skynet caused a nuclear fallout in Terminator, a lot of people have viewed technology as the enemy. Maybe it wouldn’t end the world, but it will certainly be the end of their businesses. But, were they right? Well, the short answer is no. However, it can get a little more complicated if you really dig into it.

Some industries tend to be a bit more stubborn than others, and the moving industry would certainly fall into that category. But that understandable, for thousands of years, moving hasn’t changed much. However, over the last decade, more and more customers are demanding easier, faster, and more convenient moves. Small, app-based startups are beginning to creep into the industry and the question that needs to be answered is, where is the moving industry heading?

The answer is that the consumers drive the market where they want it to go, which is almost always in a more convenient direction. And while it’s difficult to build, and sometimes painful to implement, technology is designed to make the end user's life easier.

While there are hundreds of ways that technology can help your business, we have whittled it down to the top 7 kinds of technology that can jump-start your moving company and help you keep pace with the evolving industry.

1. A CRM system

Imagine how fast your company could grow if you converted twice as many leads as you currently do. Well, with a moving company CRM, that reality is closer than you think.

When all of your customer information is easily navigable, the entire organization runs more smoothly. There is no such thing as a missing folder when you have a CRM system. A good CRM is a collection of tools that improve the efficiency of your business, like eSignatures, document generators, lead management tools, virtual surveying, and more. Basically, A CRM helps your company communicate more effectively, organize information, and target customers more effectively.

2. Mobile Driver Apps

Mobile driver apps make life easier for everyone involved in the moving process. Drivers don’t need to haul around piles of paperwork and painstakingly fill out form after form. Using a mobile driver app, like HQ Driver, makes the process of getting from point a to point b much simpler.

With features like electronic signatures, paperless documents, integrated imaging, full support for barcode scanners and more, mobile driver apps give movers true piece level tracking from start to finish. By eliminating paper, you also eliminate the time it takes for moves to process through accounting. That means you can get paid in minutes, not days or weeks.

3. Accounting Software

Speaking of getting paid, the accounting industry has been digital for years and is only getting better! The first real breakthrough came in 1983 when Intuit launched the Quicken line of software, the first one built for individual use. You can still pay for all of your billing and accounting to be done by a pro, but new technologies have made traditional accountants less and less needed (sorry if you’re an accountant).

Slight errors in billing/accounting can result in big problems, but the software industry’s foundation is built on the back of tackling small business problems. As long as you have a solid bookkeeping system, forgoing the traditional fees associated with accountants is definitely something that can boost your bottom line.

4. Social Media

In marketing and sales, you want your product where the people are, and that is definitely on social media. In the United States alone, around 80% of the population, or 200 million people, use social media. That’s a lot of potential moves!

Major social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter have become incredible marketing and advertising tools because they have a vast amount of rich data on all of their users. Let’s ignore any ominous thoughts that the idea of social media knowing everything about us may have triggered for a minute and think about how it can help your moving company! That data can be used to hyper-target your ads to maximize your returns and generate leads.

Facebook knows who is moving, so they can put your moving company in front of the right people, at the right time.

5. Email automation tools

Email is an incredibly powerful weapon in the marketer's arsenal if it’s used correctly. We have all experienced the endless wave of spam emails pushing some questionable products or services, but that isn’t what email services we are talking about here. Email automation can be a salesperson’s best friend.

Imagine having the ability to send hundreds or thousands of follow-ups to potential customers by creating one or two templates, then simply clicking a button. With email tools like MailChimp or Marketo, not only is that possible, but it’s much easier and less expensive than most people think.

MailChimp’s “growing business” plan, for example, offers you 500 users and unlimited emails for only $10 dollars per month. It doesn’t take a mathematician to work out that the ROI on sending hundreds of emails out could cover the cost easily. Not only can you save time and effort, but you also get the added bonus of being able to track all of your emails in these tools.

Think how much more effective your sales team could be when they know exactly what a customer is interested in before they even speak to them for the first time. Like social media, we are diving into the realm of being a little creepy with data, but again, use it to your advantage! The more you know about a customer, the more likely you are to seal the deal.

Email automation tools enable your company to vastly expand your reach and open your sales team up to focus on more value driving tasks than constantly following up with cold leads.

6. Ticketing Systems

If you run any sort of business that deals with people, you are going to get complaints. And if you run a moving company, you are going to get a lot of complaints! Even the best moving companies can’t execute every move perfectly: a picture frame will get cracked, a table will get scratched, a driver will be late... these things happen. That’s why you need to be ready to handle complaints quickly. Automated ticketing systems can tackle those unhappy customers much more effectively than you can alone.

Companies like Zendesk and Help Scout can assist you in your customer service needs. These companies provide a system to organize and tackle customer complaints as they come. If you want to use templated responses, an in-depth FAQ center, live chat, an AI chatbot, or a number of other means, most software companies will have you covered. This software can be implemented at a relatively small monthly cost that is absolutely worth it. Losing customers or developing a bad reputation will end up costing your moving company much more in the long run.

7. Move Management

The moving process is chaotic with so many different groups of people that need to organize and communicate activities on a daily basis. To bring a method to the madness, tech companies like MoveHQ have been building solutions to make moving seamless for both the moving company and the customers.

While we happen to think that MoveHQ is the best in the bunch, there are a few other move management software companies that offer services to help with the logistics involved with a move for both local and long-distance.

If you have any questions about how a move management system can help your business, you can reach out to us directly here!

At the end of the day, businesses exist to solve the problems of their customers. While robot AI overlords may be the end of life as we know it at some point, right now, technology can help to streamline operations and improve customer experience, so you might as well use it!