How the Moving Industry Can Boost Cashflow as the Economy Dips

If you’re feeling a sense that 2023 is a turning point for the moving industry, you’re right. 

The combination of recession, rising interest rates, devaluation of the dollar, and inflation, coupled with fewer skilled workers in the workforce, is delivering a heavy blow to all business owners. Concerns over global unrest only fuel the fire.

How will this all affect the moving industry? Moving industry execs know as well as anyone that it is time to tighten the belt and cut “burn” – or the amount of cash your company overspends. Here’s how to meet these challenges and increase cash flow. 

Reassess the High-Cost Areas of Your Business

To trim burn, ask yourself, “How are you curtailing the sources of burn in your company? What are the main costs of doing business?” Here are some guiding questions help you assess costs:

Marketing

• Brand value - How are you differentiating your company? 
• Lead gen - How are you separating your moving company from the competition from the get go?

Customer acquisition

• Customers - How much does it cost to acquire 1 good lead? No one likes to move, so how can you reassure customers that you’re their trusted partner?
• Sales - How much does it cost to close leads? How are you managing to change the cost of sales and create an organization that is resilient to peak season fluctuations? 

Operations 

• Maintenance - What is the condition of your fleet for the types of moves your customers need? 
• Dispatch - How can you ensure the right size vehicles are showing up for each move?
  Move team - What are your costs on the road? What impacts costs on move day? 

Risk management

• Backoffice - How quickly are you able to collect on the completion of each move?
• Claims - How often and to what extent are damages paid out that could have been avoided?

Everyone is working to cut burn across all aspects of their business. Some of these things can be solved with just working harder. But to reduce burn company-wide, you need to:

1. Take a step back to see the big picture.
2. Identify ways to become competitive and win more business faster.
3. Reassess how you’re doing business across the board 
4. Learn to work smarter - and do more with less. 

AI is Reshaping the Moving Industry

There is no doubt that artificial intelligence (AI) is here for good. The moving industry began adopting technology to assist with completing surveys – with the popularity of smartphones, Facetime, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams rising years ago. And consumers rallied around a new idea: they don’t need to have a surveyor come to their home to accomplish what can be done through a smartphone interaction. 

While those early tools reduced the time to meet with a customer, they don’t dramatically change anything else in the process. There’s still the accounting of all the inventory items to be moved and the real-time aspect of your sales person having to be online with the customer, even if that customer would prefer to provide that data offline. That is where AI virtual surveys save the day and reshape the entire process.

How Do AI Virtual Surveys Eliminate Uncertainty and Cut Burn? 

With AI virtual surveys, cutting burn starts from the beginning of your customer’s experience, with you. Here’s how the process works:

• Your customer finds your moving company. and requests a quote.
• A link to a self-survey video is sent out on behalf of your company.
• Your moving company receives a link to an online reviewer, where AI has inventoried all assets to be moved so that you can review the opportunity and provide a quote to the customer.
• Your team texts or calls the customer to discuss any questions or concerns and provide a quote.
• AI digital visual inventory (DVI) establishes a clear record of the agreed upon move that is used to schedule the appropriate truck, driver and move team. 
• The move team uses the digital visual inventory to prepare and ensure all requisite packing materials and protection is available for the customer’s items on move day.
• Your organization fulfills the move and settles any unexpected mishaps with the digital visual inventory – using it as a trusted document that provides a reference for any concerns or disputes.

What’s the Difference Between Video and AI Virtual Surveys?

Here are the fundamental differences between a video survey and an AI virtual survey:

• The AI is put to work for you and provides you and your customer with all the requisite information needed to perform the move with transparency and a digital visual inventory record. 
• This is a transformational opportunity and surpasses anything else on the market, which sets your company apart as a quality mover while reducing your burn.

How Can Moving Companies Harness AI to Cut Burn?

AI may be here, but there’s only one solution available that harnesses the power of the digital visual inventory through an AI virtual survey. These AI surveys can become a transformational part of your move process – allowing you to reduce burn by changing the game and capturing control over how you run your business.

There’s no expectation that the tidal wave of financial pressures from 2023 and beyond is going to subside. Now more than ever, doing nothing is the choice that can get you into the most trouble. No doubt, in these uncertain times, finding anything that can reduce stress for your customers, your staff, and your move team is difficult to find. 

At Yembo, we’ve spent over 7 years creating AI virtual surveys and the digital visual inventory to help you eliminate uncertainty in these volatile times, cut burn, enhance your customer’s move experience, and move forward with success.