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Small Moving Companies May be Missing a TrickBy Stephen Willett The internet can offer more than one way forward for small moving companies trying to break away from the inflexibility and expense, of those Good old Yellow Pages. All moving companies suffer from the moving cycles which characterise the housing markets. For big name branded companies, this may be less of a problem since they serve the upper end of the moving market. This sector may be less prone to cycles, and this class of property owner often chooses between a small number of high profile firms. For smaller businesses, which rely on the chance that a searcher will pick them out from the mass, the problems multiply. To take the example of the Yellow pages: When fewer searchers are viewing the same number of pages, and requests for quotations have consequently declined, there is an obvious temptation to consider buying ones way out of trouble with an increased advertising spend: larger and fancier ads, possibly with extended geographical coverage. This need for extra cost comes at a time when the shortage of customers creates a downward pressure on fees chargeable. The fact is that when the business cycle is in a trough, it is hard to buy a way out, just as when it is at a peak, minimal expense would keep the order book full. But for small moving companies, there is an area of untapped business. It is those small, even single item jobs. So often a client gives up trying to find a feasible price because after many calls, they cannot find that mover who happens to be going the right way. For moving companies, these requests always seem to come the day after they could be satisfied. Individual companies are always failing to meet these requests, and over the country, the number of unsatisfied requests is huge. The internet has revolutionised the cost of reaching your audience, and advertising costs and opportunities are developing away from the stale cough up and hope model of the Yellow pages. The first improvement came with Googles Adwords scheme which allows advertisers to bid for prominence, on a pay-per-click basis, and offers the flexibility to adjust bids as conditions require. For moving companies, Adwords or Yahoos overture alternative, is particularly effective when targeting specialist services (like works of art). The ability to suspend campaigns, or re-write them at a whim, is a big improvement on the Yellow pages model which as an annual publication, leaves a business stuck with its decisions. However Pay-per-click has its detractors. Clickers may be poor sales prospects, and the growth of click fraud (the practice of competitors running up their oppositions costs by repeatedly clicking their ads) whilst probably solvable, means that all campaigns have to be carefully monitored. For moving companies, the full possibilities of the internet have yet to unfold, and a site where a moving company can post part load offers, and where the public (meaning ebayers, students etc) can request quotes from any mover going their way, will be a huge asset for small movers, especially since the overheads and therefore cost of participation will be very low. About the Author: The author has spent 25 years in various service industries, including the last 9 in the removals sector
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