Moving Words – Reevaluating
Timothy Brady
“Evaluate what you want because what gets measured gets produced.” – James A. Belasco
As we’ve entered the 2020 moving season, we’re walking into an entirely new world with COVID-19 still being a health threat to everyone. We’re having to change our ‘inside the shipper’s home’ procedures to maintain the health of everyone involved.
There’s still one major goal, though, in what any moving company owner wants to see: good-paying, consistent, quality loads for his entire fleet. Remember, 2010 was a growth year for tonnage in certain sectors, even after the Great Recession in 2008. Right now, we can’t predict with any certainty what’s going to happen economically. With booked shipments being reduced and complications created through keeping our social distances, increased costs and time in maintaining a safe, disinfected and sanitary environment, where are we headed?
It’s time to reevaluate where you’re hauling, who you’re hauling for, and what you’re hauling. Many hauling sectors had declines with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, but not all. A hauling sector can be anything from the lane you haul in, to type of moves you’re concentrating on, to the individuals and/or company accounts for which you haul.
Here are the questions for which you’ll need answers:
- Is it possible your trucks are headed in the wrong direction?
(Either your outbound loads need to be headed to destinations where reasonable paying returns are available, or your outbound revenue must be paying for the complete round trip.) - Have you become complacent and routine in the routes you run?
(You’ve become content with the accounts or shippers for which you’re hauling and haven’t invested the time to keep tabs on what’s happening in your region or other peripheral areas.) - Do you know where and if there’s an area or lane where growth is occurring? Is there a factory in your region closing or a new one being built, indicating a large number of families moving in or out?
(Keep your ear to the ground and know what’s going on around you by tracking any regions where there are increased home purchases or houses being placed on the market.) - What is the prospect for growth in your lane or lanes in the near future?
(Know what emerging, relocating, or expanding industries are developing along your service area lanes.) - Are you able to maintain the needed cash flow while waiting for moves to increase?(With increased costs and declining revenues, be sure you follow the money.)
Continue your research with these questions:
- Is it possible you’re hauling for a declining national account?
(Keep a close financial eye on the companies for which you move their transfers and new hires. Look for trend indicators that can tell you if any of your accounts are in trouble: labor problems, foreign competition, new government regulations, or declining market share.) - What are the growth expectations over the next one, two and three years for the companies for which you’re hauling?
(Become a prognosticator of what’s happening in the accounts for which you move their employees.)
And your final questions should include:
- Is it possible you’re hauling for a declining region?
(Know everything that’s going on in each industry for which your trucks move people. It’s not just keeping track of the regulations and trends in trucking which will keep your company in the black, it’s knowing the same about each industry from which you glean shipments.) - What are the growth expectations over the next one, two and three years for the shippers to which you’re marketing?
(Become the all-seeing, all-knowing wizard, where you can look into your future and know which shippers and accounts are going to give you the revenue you require.)
As you do your evaluation of your current business (and by the way, it’s suggested you do this once a quarter), a more complete picture of the state of your moving business will begin to appear.
“When the chips are down, life forces you to take inventory and reevaluate the people in your life.” – Yolanda Hadid
