As summer approaches, and the US economy remains strong, 2018 is looking to be a record year for the household goods industry. P4P has been investing heavily in hiring and training our peak season staff to handle the volume and our clients have similarly been preparing their operations teams for a solid season. Below are a few common discussions we are having with clients on how to best prepare.
Sales Capacity vs. Trucking Capacity
One of the biggest mistakes we see moving companies make is that they mis-time when to ramp down and ramp up their marketing spending. A common mistake is to wait until June when the operation is already totally slammed to slow down on lead purchasing, and then not start it up again until August/September. The problem is that customers who are moving in September/October are starting to shop around for movers in July/August. While Memorial Day to Labor Day may be when the biggest trucking capacity crunch is, sales for those moves generally take place April through July. Our recommendation to clients is to wait until you are really seeing the majority of move dates as blacked out (usually early June) before turning down your marketing spending a bit, but then turning it back up again in mid-July so that you aren’t missing out on those September/October moves.
After Hours Coverage
You should expect that your entire office staff will be swamped dealing with operations for the summer. One way to help out is to outsource after hours coverage for leads as well as operations issues. For operations issues, a live person taking down a note that gets emailed to a supervisor (or even warm transferred if it meets certain criteria) is a far superior customer experience than getting routed to voicemail. Additionally, new leads that come in that meet your criteria can immediately get an appointment scheduled. This is especially important in the summer when customers are on edge due to the capacity crunch and will call someone else if you don’t pick up.
Video Survey
During the heat of the summer, some of your most lucrative jobs will be consumer sales performed by your in-home sales professionals. Customers don’t have a ton of options as blackout dates start to show up, and are usually willing to pay a premium to get on the schedule on a date that works for them. The last thing you want is to miss out on a consumer move because your salespeople are busy doing military and corporate surveys. Many companies are turning to video survey for these non-consumer moves. Companies like P4P can get these surveys done quickly and accurately, usually within 24-48 hours of the move being initiated.
Additionally, if you are working with P4P for contact center services, be sure to keep us updated on blackout dates as soon as you hear about them so that we are only sending customers your way that you can operationally handle.
Good luck to you and your teams as you ramp up for summer, and remember to reach out to P4P if there is any way we can help with these or other services.