The Power of Automation: How Moving Company Owners Can Streamline Operations

Are you a moving company owner looking to streamline your operations and workflow? Are you done with juggling multiple tasks, working off random spreadsheets, and double-booking nightmares? Automation is a powerful solution for professional movers. This blog post will explain how moving company owners like you can use automation software to gain more control and ease over your day-to-day operations so you can focus on growth.

The Power of Automation for Moving Companies

Using technology and management software to automate workflow can be transformative for the best moving companies. With Oncue, moving company owners can streamline their business operations, reduce manual labor and costs, enhance efficiency, and deliver a more seamless customer experience. And you already know the benefits of outstanding customer experience – five-star reviews, customer loyalty, and referrals. 

Implementing automation needs to be done with intention and proper training should be provided for leaders and employees as they learn any new system. In addition, while automation makes connecting to your customers more efficient and streamlined, make sure they always receive a personal touch and that all interactions are monitored for improvement. 

Some Areas for Your Moving Company to Streamline

1. Automating Review Process

Positive reviews are critical to any reputable moving business. Automation can greatly enhance the customer review process and help improve the quality of reviews you receive. For example, with Oncue, you can send automated follow-up emails after a move is completed to thank customers for their business and ask for their feedback. You can also easily request, track, and share reviews on Google, Facebook, and your company website. In addition to emails, you can send automated SMS reminders to customers a few days after their move, prompting them to leave a review, if they haven’t already. 

Customized templates can be created for review requests, reminders, and thank you messages. Personalize these templates with the customer’s name, move details, and a request for specific feedback. Consider also sending a brief automated feedback survey along with the review request. This can help you gather more data and analytics, providing you with useful insights and identifying areas for improvement. 

If your moving company uses a customer relationship management software (CRM), booking system, or any moving company software, it will typically integrate with a review management tool. This can automatically trigger review requests based on completed moves. Take advantage of review management platforms that offer automation features. These software solutions can help you schedule and send review requests, monitor review sites, and gather feedback in one central dashboard. You can also have the ability to automate request timelines. For instance, you might send an initial review request email, followed by a reminder email a week later.

Another way automation makes the review process easier is by using QR Codes and NFC tags. These can be added to moving documentation or invoices, making it convenient for customers to scan, be directed to the review page, and then leave their feedback. For customers, ease and minimal clicks are key here. 

In addition, social media integration can allow you to automatically share positive reviews on your moving company’s social media channels. You will want to monitor and respond to reviews across various platforms. Set up alerts when new reviews are posted so you can stay on top of and address any feedback, both positive and negative.

2. Follow-ups

Communication is critical to providing exceptional customer service during the moving process. Moving is a stressful event in people’s lives; don’t leave your customers left wondering or anxious about the details. Let them focus on unpacking with peace of mind without worrying about the logistics of moving day. It’s easy for tasks and follow-ups to get lost in day-to-day business. Streamlining follow-ups with automation can help your moving company prevent costly errors as they relate to your moving services. Automation can help you stay organized, maintain consistent communication, and provide excellent customer service. This shows your customers you are managing their move with care. With Oncue, you can send emails and text messages to customers regarding estimates and pricing, their upcoming move, inventory, and electronic Bill of Lading. Streamline your follow-ups by having the following in place:

• Customer Onboarding Emails. As soon as a customer books a move, send an automated onboarding email that confirms all the details and what they will need to know going forward. 
• Pre-Move Reminders. Send automated emails a few days before the scheduled move date that include the date and time, what to expect, and anything else the customer needs to know.
• Real-Time Notifications. Moving day is stressful enough, customers shouldn’t have to worry about the status of their move. Keep them informed and connected through automated notifications that will update them with details such as moving crew arrival, delays, and when the move is done.
• Post-Move Thank You: Business owners can automatically send a thank you email to customers after the move is completed. Express gratitude for their business and provide a link for them to leave a review or provide feedback. 
• Special Offers and Discounts: Set up automated emails to send special deals to previous customers. This encourages repeat business and customer loyalty. 
• Billing and Payment Reminders: Send automated reminders for any outstanding invoices or payments. This can help make sure payments are coming in on time, as well as reduce administrative work among your employees.

3. Accounting and Payments

Moving companies can significantly improve the efficiency and accuracy of financial processes by streamlining their accounting and payments processes. By leveraging cloud-based automation, moving companies can reduce manual data entry, minimize errors, improve financial accuracy, and free up valuable time for management to focus on strategy and growth. 

Oncue helps moving businesses easily track payments and receive payment through the software. This tool allows for seamless invoicing, payment tracking, and financial reporting providing you with a more organized way of managing your company’s financials. 

Streamline accounting tasks such as generating and sending invoices; scheduling recurring invoices at specific time intervals; integrating online payments so customers can pay easily and conveniently; tracking, capturing, and categorizing expenses; syncing your bank accounts for bank reconciliation for the most up-to-date financial records; setting up an easy system for expense approvals; processing payroll; paying vendors and providers; scheduling financial reports; and calculate and track taxes. In addition, automation allows you to manage your documents in one place, making your records more accessible and searchable when needed. With Oncue’s dashboard and reporting features, you can get a bird’s eye overview of your company’s jobs and payment activity and make more informed decisions.

4. Emails

Emails are typically used to increase communication with customers. Whether a commercial move, a local but new location move, or a long-distance move, streamlining emails with automation can help moving companies keep their customers better informed. Be sure to use personalization to include your customers’ names and information, when possible. Similar to follow-ups, here are some ways moving companies can use automation to streamline their communication processes. 

• Customer onboarding
• Booking confirmation and reminders
• Real-time updates
• Feedback requests
• Review thank you emails
• Cross-selling and upselling
• Referral campaigns
• Service updates
• Invoice and payment reminders
• Weather and traffic alerts
• Employee notifications
• Seasonal greetings and announcements
• Follow-Up surveys
• Segmented marketing campaigns
• Integration with CRM and booking system
• Unsubscribe and opt-out management

With Oncue, you can increase your conversion rate on Yelp and Thumbtack by up to three times with a custom autoresponder. Reply to inbound inquiries in under 10 minutes, improve your ranking, and book more jobs for your entire business through this easy automation tool.

5. Social Media

Automating social media can help your moving company effectively manage your online presence, engage with customers, and promote your services to new markets. That said, be sure to regularly review your automated posts and interactions to ensure they align with your brand’s voice and values. 

There are several ways you can use tools to automate your social media and make it easier for everyone involved. Research social media mobile apps that can help you curate and schedule content, automate postings, manage hashtags, create automated responses, monitor engagement on your accounts and in the moving industry, run social ads, and conduct a/b testing on social campaigns.

6. Text Messaging (SMS)

Text messaging (SMS) is a quick and easy way to reach your customers as your messages will appear on their phones. Once you have their phone number, use it wisely. It’s a fine balance between keeping customers well-informed and being intrusive. Text messaging can be a useful way to communicate but remember to keep messages concise, informative, and respectful of customers’ preferences. Regularly review and adjust your automated text messaging workflows to ensure they align with customer needs and expectations.

Automating text messaging can streamline your communications efforts and enhance your customer’s overall experience when done well. With Oncue, you can send automated text messages to send appointment reminders, move progress updates, and (hopefully) receive quicker responses from customers. 

Consider automating your text messaging for appointment confirmations; pre-move reminders; real-time updates; weather or traffic alerts and delays; feedback requests and review thank you messages; invoice and payment reminders; and appointment rescheduling.

7. CRM Software

CRM software is a powerful web-based management system that can greatly enhance your customer service. It is technology for managing all your company’s relationships and interactions with customers, leads, and prospects. The right CRM can help your moving company book more jobs, automate communications, collect payments, and showcase stellar reviews. What else can CRM do? Here are just a few of the many benefits. 

• Automate lead capture from a variety of online sources
• Send automated follow-ups
• Nurture leads
• Schedule appointments
• Generate quotes
• Onboard customers
• Send reminders
• Gather customer feedback
• Integrate with communications/social media channels
• Invoice and payment tracking

Oncue’s move management solutions provide the functionality to track all incoming moves, assigned crew, and truck availability with our calendar tool. This allows team members a streamlined way to manage your availability and prevent the dreaded double-bookings! In addition, capture leads or book a move directly from your website using Oncue’s custom lead and booking forms. Once a move is booked, you can create a customized master inventory list, collect inventory over the phone, and automatically generate an electronic Bill of Lading to send to customers for review and approval.

Using Oncue’s reporting and dashboard will also allow you to gain more insight into your company’s analytics and provide an overview of your customer journey. This information can be invaluable and set you on a path for growth and scalability.

Benefits of Streamlining Process and Workflows for Moving Companies

Increased cost efficiency – Automation brings cost savings by eliminating wasteful and redundant activities. Streamlining tasks allows moving company owners to optimize resource allocation and reduce manual labor. This allows for reduced labor costs, lower fuel expenses, and minimized operational inefficiencies. 

Improved productivity – Streamlined processes are helpful for everyone on the road and on-site; they are impactful on the bottom line and make your employees more efficient. Automation can simplify tasks for your team members, allowing them to focus on higher-value activities. It also reduces the risk of human error, which is a win. 

Improved communication – Clear and frequent communication is critical for both your employees and customers. Streamlined processes lead to quicker response times, accurate scheduling, and better overall communication. Customers benefit from a smoother, more organized moving experience, leading to higher satisfaction and positive reviews. Employees benefit from greater transparency and direction, as well as reduced confusion and burnout. 

Better time management – Streamlined workflows shave time off employees’ day-to-day tasks allowing them to focus on items of greater importance and do their job more stress-free. Faster turnaround times for quoting, scheduling, and invoicing, keep customers happy and primed to make referrals. In addition, automation can set your moving company up for growth and scalability, while keeping your company agile and ready for change. 

Minimize risk – Streamlined processes often involve standardized procedures and automated checks, reducing the likelihood of errors and minimizing the need for rework. It also allows for more consistent service delivery which is critical for a strong company reputation.

Conclusion

Automation is everywhere in our lives and its power to take your moving company to the next level is waiting to be unlocked. Oncue offers moving companies an engine to power their operations, optimize workflows, and deliver stellar customer service. 

Consider automation’s transformational benefits on your moving company and see what Oncue can do for your business today.