Why answering your own phones is killing your moving business

Moving company owners do it all. You run marketing, you manage crew, you hire and train, you book jobs, you build estimates, and you even answer your own phones.

But what if doing it all is hurting your business?

What if answering your own phones is doing more harm than good?

Here are 4 reasons answering your own phones is killing your moving business:

Reason 1: Response time wins the day

Take a moment to estimate how many calls you miss per day.

Now, did you know that 35 to 50% of sales go to the company or vendor that responds to a customer first? That means that every time you miss a call, you’re missing a chance at revenue. Missed calls mean missed business.

Unless you’re glued to your phone 24/7 and always willing to drop what you’re doing to answer, answering your own phones is hurting your revenue.

And even if you do answer a customer’s call…

Reason 2: You might be fumbling the follow-up.

When a customer calls you but doesn’t book their move, what happens next? Do you follow up with them?

The reality is that 80% of sales take 5 follow-ups to close. That means 80% of your leads could be slipping through the cracks, and it isn’t because of your price or customer service. If you’re not following up with leads, you’re leaving money on the table.

And even if you do answer customer calls and do strong follow-up…

Reason 3: As the saying goes, time is money.

How much time do you spend on the phone with prospects or working leads?

The average moving customer call is 12 minutes and 45 seconds. If you multiply that by even a few calls a day, it adds up quickly. Answering your own phones takes way too much of your valuable time (and that isn’t even taking lead follow-up into consideration).

For a moving company owner, time really is money. Because if you’re wasting time…

Reason 4: You can’t focus on what matters

Spending hours on the phone and working leads might seem productive, but think of it this way: If you are spending all of your time answering your own phones and working leads, you won’t have time to develop your business.

Your time and expertise are better spent focusing on the business, developing crew, planning for expansion, and taking care of your customers than working phones. To spend all of your time on the phone is to spend less time where it matters most.

So… how do moving company owners keep answering phones from killing their business? There are 2 options:

Option 1: Hire your own in-house sales team

Hiring your own sales team can be effective in solving these problems. You’ll be able to win more customer and take some time back, but there are two risks:

1. Hiring sales team members is expensive (You’ll spend ~$48k/yr in salary alone), and
2. It’s difficult to find someone who is knowledgeable about the moving industry.

While hiring an in-house sales team seems like the right move, the cons outweigh the pros. (Check out our full article on this here).

Your better option is to…

Option 2: Partner with Oncue Booking.

If you want to keep answering phones from killing your moving business, your best bet is to partner with Oncue Booking.

Oncue Booking is a team of move booking experts who answer phones, work leads, quote customers, and book moves for you 7 days a week.

Oncue Booking crushes response time by answering calls 7 days a week and responding to customers within 5 minutes.

Oncue Booking nails lead follow-up with 12 touch points (calls, messages, email, and text), extensive outbound efforts, and response times of <5 minutes.

Oncue Booking saves you time and frees you up to focus on what matters by handling every single call and every single lead on your behalf. (The average Oncue Booking customer saves 28 working days per year 🤯)

Conclusion:

Handling calls and leads on your own is killing your moving business. While hiring an in-house sales team or call center is an option, only Oncue Booking will give you the competitive advantage your moving company needs to win.

With Oncue Booking, you can by be the first to respond to customers, follow up with every lead, save time, and simplify your booking process.

Want to learn more about Oncue Booking? Book a demo today.