This article was originally published in IAM's Portal Magazine.
Successful movers aren’t sitting around waiting for the market to improve. According to the State of Moving Report by SmartMoving, best-in-class movers are revving their sales and marketing engines to grow revenue, protect profitability, and remain competitive.
Every year at SmartMoving, we partner with some of the industry’s leading organizations to collect insights from hundreds of movers across the US and Canada. This year, the data was clear: 34% of movers are in growth mode, and they’re not letting economic headwinds hold them back.
With the right strategies, these movers are ready to bounce back stronger than ever in 2025.
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Our research shows that best-in-class moving companies don’t just spend more on marketing—they invest in their sales teams. But after surveying hundreds of movers, we found 38% don't offer sales commission.
If that’s you, this is a great place to start. By offering the standard 7% commission, movers can scale revenue faster, simply by incentivizing the team.
The next step is to make sure the jobs you’re booking are profitable. Put systems in place to track not only the strength of your sales process, but also the quality of the jobs you’re bringing in. While it’s important to look at metrics like lead response time and number of follow ups, make sure you’re also keeping a close eye on profit per job after deducting all expenses, including commissions.
Keep in mind that the more you invest in your team’s success, the higher your bookings will be. In the moving industry, there’s a significant difference between average and best-in-class sales performers, with our data showing that top salespeople book over $75k more per year compared to average players.
So give your team the tools, resources, and incentives they need. With the right systems in place, you can start finetuning your lead routing, scripts, and follow-up processes to hold the team accountable for booking more profitable jobs.
It’s no surprise that best-in-class movers have high-performance affiliate programs. But in a climate of lower lead volume and rising ad costs, this is a critical strategy for profit-minded movers.
As movers look to get their hands on as much organic business as possible, those with a strong referral strategy will drive better leads, lower marketing costs, and healthier margins. Plus, booking rates are often higher on referrals compared to other lead types.
With over half of movers planning to increase marketing budgets this year, you don’t want to be outmaneuvered. If referrals are one of your most profitable channels, now is the time to double down. And if you’re just getting started, let the math be your guide.
For example, if your goal is to get $50,000 in revenue from referrals and the value of your average move is $2,500, you’ll need 25 referral moves to hit your target. Unlike other lead sources where you must carefully weigh your acquisition costs, you can go straight to your list of potential affiliates to figure out how you’re going to bring those 25 jobs through the door.
Remember, even a handful of productive partnerships can go a long way towards scaling revenue. With systems that make it easy to intake partner leads, you’ll be on track to increasing referral business this year.
In moving, customer reviews are gold. Yet our research revealed that a number of movers still haven’t mastered the basics of online reputation management (ORM).
The data found that best-in-class moving companies have nearly 2X as many reviews on average, compared to average (725 reviews vs. 399 reviews). Not only that, 82% of movers have less than 500 reviews, 78% don't use ORM software, and the owner or CEO is the one managing reviews at almost half of moving companies.
For companies planning to increase prices this year, having hundreds of positive reviews proves you’re worth every penny. But moving company owners have better things to do than chase reviews all day.
By developing a repeatable system for increasing volume and velocity, you can get more reviews by taking it off your plate. For example, with ORM software, your team can manage reviews across multiple platforms to increase your positive review count, automate review requests, and even create quick, professional replies with help from AI.
With inflation cooling, the housing market showing signs of recovery, and 87% of movers feeling optimistic, it could be a milestone year for your moving business. But in an unpredictable economy, it’s not enough to hope for the best. You need actionable strategies to hit your targets and grow revenue in 2025.
Discover all the strategies best-in-class movers are using to win this year.