10 Ways to Increase Moving Company Sales and Profitability

Want better leads and more sales? It’s time to make sure you’re focusing on the right things in your moving business.

Despite recent challenges in the moving industry, the vast majority of movers are optimistic about the future. According to our Annual Benchmark Report, they’re planning to raise prices, level up their marketing strategies, and offer additional services to increase profitability and fuel their future expansion goals.

Because the truth is, too many movers still settle for 7% average profitability, when they could be aiming much higher. Here are ten ways to increase not just your sales, but also your profits.

1. Use your off season wisely

Love it or hate it, the off season is inevitable. It also happens to be the perfect time to reflect on what is and isn't working in your marketing and business operations.

Whether your overarching goal is to increase referral leads, try out a new marketing channel, or launch a new ancillary business, you can use this extra time to position your business for optimal profits during peak season.

Here are just some of the ways you can maximize your slow season:

• Make sure your storage business is dialed in: Storage facilities can be an excellent source of recurring revenue, which is especially important during the off season. Make sure you’re making the most of this part of the business by automating your storage billing. Movers like Mac’s Moving and Storage have generated a 500% increase in revenue by using a streamlined system for dual moving and storage service offerings.
• Increase your coverage area: Think about whether it might make sense to take on more time consuming and expensive moves, like interstate and even international moves. Use your expense and profitability reports to set clear guardrails around which types of moves are worth servicing in the off season.
• Test out new services: Our Annual Benchmark Report revealed that 24% of movers plan to expand their service offerings. Use slow periods to roll out new services and create the print and digital marketing collateral you need to effectively promote them when the pace of business picks back up.
• Revamp your marketing: 56% of movers say they struggle with executing and optimizing ongoing marketing programs, impacting their ability to attract new customers. Use your slower periods to review your top-performing lead sources, update your marketing plan, and test new campaigns.
• Optimize your operations: Audit your expenses and look for opportunities to cut costs and increase margins. Make sure your scheduling and dispatch operations are fully streamlined for optimal resource allocation and increased profit per move.
• Network, network, network: Things can be slow during the holidays, but the parties are absolutely hopping — take advantage of the downtime to get out there with a stack of freshly printed business cards and make connections in the flesh. Whether it’s trade shows, local real estate events, or the neighborhood holiday party, you never know where your next awesome affiliate partner could be waiting.
  
  

2. Partner with local real estate agents and affiliates

Speaking of referrals, when was the last time you updated your list of potential affiliate partners? Productive referral partnerships provide the perfect word of mouth scenario. Affiliates get the opportunity to bring more value to their customers, and you get a new lead with an immediate need for your services.

Here are some simple but powerful ways to upgrade your referral program:

• Update your incentives: This could include referral fees, gift cards, discounts, and more. Some movers are even using a points system to “gamify” the process for partners. 
• Digitize your referral process: Create a dedicated landing page and easy-to-use affiliate portal partners can use to submit their leads and track their incentives.
• Identify your best partners: Use your tracking and reporting tools to find out which partners are delivering the most leads. Send regular, gentle follow-up reminders to encourage lower-performing affiliates to refer.
• Update your list of potential affiliates: Who are your top affiliates so far? According to our research, realtors (83%), property managers (7%) and move managers (6%) are the top three referral marketing partners for moving companies. Whatever the case for your business, the key is to find partners whose customer base matches your own, then reach out regularly with personalized emails or phone calls.
• Share your customer reviews and testimonials: Make sure you're being loud and proud about your customer reviews, not only your Google profile, but also on your website and social media channels to make sure incoming referrals are instantly able to see how trustworthy you are. 

3. Raise your prices

Ever wonder if your prices are too high during the low season and too low during the high season? Raising your rates is one of the fastest ways to increase your bottom line, but you’ve got to make sure the right amount of value is there for both you and your customers.

These simple tips will help you optimize your pricing:

• Try rules-based pricing: Use set pricing rules to automatically adjust your rates based on demand. This will help you make sure you’re actively balancing profits with sales volume depending on the season.
• Aim for 5% across the board: More than half of all moving companies (and 61% of best-in-class movers) plan to raise prices by around 5% this year. Depending on your market, consider whether it might make sense to reset your baseline rates by 5% on all moves.
• Charge more for last-minute bookings: Between 2021 and 2022, last-minute bookings with less than 24 hours’ notice increased by a whopping 55% in New York City. If you’re in an area with a high amount of last-minute bookings, make sure you’re charging a premium for these rush jobs.
  
  

4. Ramp up your online presence

With apologies to Joan Jett, in today’s digital age, you better give a damn about your reputation. Today, 92% of consumers say they read product reviews before buying. Not only that, data shows that businesses can achieve an 18% uplift in sales (not to mention major improvements in lead quality) when they have a high number of positive reviews to back them up.

Here are some tips to help you manage and optimize your online reputation.

• Update your listings: Schedule a recurring time every month or quarter to review your Google Business Profile and other online listings across Facebook, Yelp, Angi, and more. Remove duplicates and ensure all key details — address, phone number, hours of operation, description, etc. — are consistent and up to date.
• Add photos to your listings and reviews: Google profiles with photos receive an average of 35% more clicks. Add images of your crew, trucks, or happy customers after a successful move.
• Promote your reviews on social media: Share your 5-star reviews, customer success stories, and testimonials directly to your social media accounts as additional proof of your company's stellar reputation and reliable services.
• Stay on top of incoming reviews: As reviews come in, make sure you’re responding to as many as possible, thanking users for positive reviews and following up with those who had negative experiences.

5. Offer additional services

According to our research, most mainstream movers have yet to offer ancillary services like cleaning and junk removal, but 30% of best-in-class movers plan to actively diversify and expand their services this year.

To plan and launch additional services effectively:

• Train your team: Make sure every member of your sales team can confidently explain the benefits of additional services like moving insurance and valuation coverage, and make it easy for them to provide accurate estimates with those services.
• Share content about your offerings: From blog posts about whether or not to purchase insurance to YouTube videos on how to prep for a long distance move, the right content can help you win trust with potential clients while boosting traffic and awareness for your new services.
• Offer discounts and promotions: By offering limited time discounts on additional services, you can make it easier for customers to say yes and increase your chances of bundling several service add-ons together.
• Offer digital payment options: Make it easy for customers to add additional services at any point in the sales process, even if not included in their initial move estimate.
  
  

6. Launch a search engine optimization (SEO) strategy

Nearly 40% of movers say they plan to improve their marketing this year, with SEO a top area of interest. And it makes sense. Local SEO leads have a 14.6% close rate, compared to just 1.7% for traditional marketing.

Start with the following steps:

• Claim your Google Business Profile: If you haven’t done this already, consider this your urgent reminder to do it now.
• Use tools like Brightlocal: There are plenty of free SEO tools available to help you find out how well you currently rank. From there, you can work to expand your reach in a specific area or location.
• Adding the name of your city or service area: By taking advantage of local keywords in your header tags and meta descriptions, you can immediately boost your chances of getting seen by potential customers who are (quite literally) ready to make a move. For example, “moving services in [your city]”, “best movers in [your city]”, etc.

7. Optimize your pay-per-click (PPC) strategy

The right keywords can also make a big difference to the strength of your PPC strategy and how much ROI you see from your Google ads.

To make sure you’re paying only for the clicks you want, follow these simple steps:

• Conduct thorough keyword and competitor research: Tools like Google Keyword Planner, Wordstream, SEMRush and Ahrefs can help you pick the best adwords for your campaigns.
• Use Google Local Service Ads: Target local leads and let them phone you directly from your ad to increase your conversion rates. Tailor by audience criteria, targeting precise demographics like age, location, and interests.
• Take advantage of negative keywords: If you don’t want to show up for a specific keyword, you definitely don’t want to pay for the privilege (let alone the irrelevant clicks!). Make sure you add negative keywords for services you don’t offer, like long distance moves, international moves, etc., as well as any competitor names you might be ranking for that don’t align with your service offerings.
• Use landing pages: Don’t send ads to your home page. Instead set up ad landing pages with relevant service details and a clear call to action (CTA).
• Set the right budget: Avoid bidding wars and optimize your return on ad spend (ROAS) by setting a clear budget for your PPC campaigns.
  
  

8. Highlight specialty moves

Once you’ve optimized your website and landing pages with all the right local keywords, start thinking about more specific keywords that could help you stand out with customers who are looking for the exact services you offer.

Here are some proven ways to increase your online presence for specialty moves and services:

• Use long-tail keywords: These are lower volume, higher intent keywords searchers might use to find specific types of moves or moving services. For example, assisted living moves, college moves, military moving, musical instrument moving, and more.
• Create targeted landing pages: By creating landing pages for each different type of move you service, you can increase both your organic ranking for that term and provide a more organic conversion experience for PPC leads. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box here, for example, by creating pages for pet-friendly moves or marketing to specific niches like the LGBTQIA community.
• Use your content to reach specific audiences: This could include any combination of blog posts, videos, and other marketing content designed to reach potential leads who might be wondering how to move uncommon items. For example, you could create content answering specific questions like: “How to move a harp?” or “How to pack my Madagascar Dragon Tree?”
  
  

9. Tighten up your standard operating procedures (SOPs)

Believe it or not, your documentation (or lack thereof) has a very real impact on your bottom line. In fact, 60% of moving companies reported inefficiencies in their day-to-day operations that hindered productivity and profitability. Not only that, research has found that employees spend more than 25% of their time searching for the information they need to do their jobs. Just imagine what each one of your sales reps could do with 25% more time per week?

Here’s how to start tightening up your SOPs:

• Pinpoint the gaps in your documentation: Identify areas of the business where a written (or rewritten) process would make a big difference.
• Clearly document your processes: List out the steps for each key process and assign a top performer to help you create or evaluate them for accuracy.
• Turn longer process descriptions into checklists: Use simplified bullet points to create clickable checklists or PDFs that can be easily shared with new trainees.
• Store SOPs in a central location: Make sure they can be easily accessed via a shared drive or digital tool like Notion or Trainual.
• Schedule regular reviews: Have a top performer “own” and continually evaluate each SOP, and invite other workers to offer feedback to help make sure they’re up to date.

10. Make the right impression with leads and customers

When was the last time you put yourself in a new lead’s shoes and actually walked through your own sales process? How about your existing customers? Are you providing them the best experience possible?

The surest way to boost both your sales and profitability is to make sure the experience is as seamless as possible for potential customers and existing ones.

Here are some tips to help you nail it:

• Stay in touch: Make sure each and every lead in your database receives an instant reply via phone, text or email. Use personalized templates and automations to make sure no opportunity slips your radar.
• Use a customer relationship management (CRM) system: 21% of moving companies still don’t use CRM software to capture and follow up with leads. Look for a system that provides accurate, mobile-friendly estimates and multiple communication methods via phone, email and SMS.
• Let customers book and pay online: Set up a mobile-friendly app interface to make the customer experience as seamless and professional as possible from beginning to end.
  
  

Scale your business and your margins with SmartMoving

Boosting sales and profitability isn't just about working hard — it's about working smart. By taking the time to update your marketing and sales strategies, you can position your moving company to thrive in any market.

As the leading moving software platform for scaling businesses, SmartMoving offers a comprehensive solution as you grow and scale your business. From sales to dispatch, crew management, storage, accounting, and reporting, everything is seamlessly integrated in one place. 

At SmartMoving, our goal is to help movers like you boost profitability through increased revenue and operational efficiency. Find out why hundreds of movers choose SmartMoving. Schedule your free demo today.