Moving Words – Tariffs

“Until you value yourself, you won’t value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it.”  –  M. Scott Peck

Is it “Houston, we have a problem,” or “To infinity and beyond!”

Given a choice between having a problem or looking forward to “Infinity and beyond,” the idea of ‘looking forward’ is far more appealing. Our industry is chock-full of opportunities for van lines, agents, movers, and Van Operators.

How? The first step is by setting your rate range so that the profit potential exists both at the highest price in your range and the lowest price in your range. This requires you to look at your operation from the inside out. At this point it’s not important what your competition’s rates are. What you do need to know is what your agency’s Break-Even Point is for each type of service you provide and each piece of equipment you own or for which you contract. Next is creating added value to each service without increasing its cost.

Let’s take a moment here. What’s more important to you when you purchase a service—the price or the quality of the completed job?  If you’re like most people, quality will win over price. To create quality in a service you need to add value to what you do. Some things which add value increase your Break-Even Point, like using shrink wrap, but they also reduce cost by reducing the opportunity for damage in-transit. Other services add value with little to no cost like having your Van Operators use discarded, flattened cartons to protect the glass of a china cabinet. This not only prevents possible damage but demonstrates to the customers your concern for their belongings, thus creating greater value in your services. Value also needs to be addressed by your agency and its revenue goals. In other words, your added value must benefit your agency’s and your Van Operators’ bottom line to be a true value to all parties involved in a move.

Here are some added benefits to increasing value to your shippers:

• It raises the bar on the competition, making it more difficult for them to under price your rates.
• Consumers anticipate the same level of service from every mover who writes them an estimate.
• It catches your competition off-guard, and creates a situation where they have to figure out what you’re doing and how to respond to it.
• If a customer goes to a lower-priced competitor, rest assured he will return, once he has compared your higher-quality service.

High-quality service creates added value and loyal customers.

Your willingness to go the extra distance, making sure customers are receiving what they want, need, and beyond, is what keeps customers coming back. Price-only shoppers are fickle, and hard to please; value shoppers are faithful to the companies which provide them with the highest quality.

Here’s a list of how to create value by exceeding your customers’ expectations:

• Listen to what they are looking for in a mover.
• Ask them what they’re not receiving from other movers; then provide it.
• Ask yourself what information or additional service would make the shippers’ life easier.
• Help your customers cut costs without having to lower your hauling rates.
• Improve your communication with shippers, keeping them better informed about their shipments.
• Be aware of what services your competition is providing, and then be sure you’re doing more.
• Make sure your customers can reach you or a person in your company on the first phone call. If you have to rely on voice mail, return their calls as quickly as possible.
• Create a raving fan in each customer by becoming his or her raving fan.
• Go beyond the ‘call of duty.’
• Always stay ahead of the competition; don’t rest on your laurels and continually scout for innovative ways to improve your moving services.
• Do the unexpected, like providing a day spa experience for the shipper once the move is completed. Or special Moving Day child-care for the shipper’s small children that includes them in the moving experience, but keeps them from being underfoot. Be creative.
• Survey your shippers post-move, on how the move went, what improvements could be made, and ask what could make the moving experience even better.

If someone provides inferior service, it will be remembered, but in a very negative fashion. If you provide only what they expect, it will be forgotten. When you provide superior service that is unexpected, your customers will remember how you went to infinity and beyond. Do you want to be forgotten or remembered by your shippers?

The most important item is that the greater value you provide your customers, the higher your moving rates can be. What do you think your customers are looking for when they’re shopping for a mover? Perceived and actual value will consistently trump price. Spend your time creating value in your services; know what it costs you to provide the services, and then charge a rate that creates a fair profit above those costs. Now you’ve created value for your shippers and a profit for your van line, agency and Van Operators. And to top it all off, you’ve developed a cadre of loyal and faithful customers who will follow you to the ends of the earth. Or allow you to move them there. And this is determined by the value they receive for the price they pay.

“There is no man more dangerous, in a position of power, than he who refuses to accept as a working truth the idea that all a man does should make for rightness and soundness, that even the fixing of a tariff rate must be moral.” –  Ida Tarbell