I work with many moving companies on their marketing efforts. It’s become a specialty of mine. I kind of fell into the “moving marketing guru” niche, and I’m loving it. Initially I started working with one Oklahoma City moving company on their marketing efforts, and over time my contacts and reputation grew and I began working with multiple moving clients.
The moving business is a hard business. But it can be a very profitable business if run correctly. One of the keys to successfully running a moving company is to do everything you can do to keep the moving leads coming in throughout the year.
Humans need oxygen to survive. Moving businesses need leads to survive.
Success is based on having a consistent supply of moving leads.
The thought process works like this (as Charlie Munger always advises, invert always invert):
- What is success for a moving business (or any business)? Making a profit.
- How do you make a profit? You make more revenue than your expenses.
- How do you make revenue as a moving business? You provide moving services.
- How do you provide moving services? You find people who need moving services.
- How do you find people who need moving services? You set yourself up with a consistent flow of moving leads coming in month after month.
A steady source of moving leads is the key to surviving, thriving, and making profits as a moving company.
Here are 10 ways to consistently have moving leads coming into your moving business month after month.
1. Thumbtack
Thumbtack is a great way to get moving leads. Thumbtack gets in front of people on Google when they search for home services companies. If you search for “moving companies,” “plumbing companies,” or “roofers” on Google in any major city you’re likely to see a Thumbtack page listing the “top 10” service providers in your city. For example, when I Google “moving companies Oklahoma City,” this Thumbtack page listing the top 10 moving companies in Oklahoma City is on the first page of the search results. Thumbtack is absolutely crushing it on the search engine results.
Once a customer goes to a Thumbtack page they are prompted to tell Thumbtack what kind of service they need and where they need it. They will fill out a form telling Thumbtack specifically what they need done and then Thumbtack will send that lead to the service companies with Thumbtack accounts in the area.
Then the service providers get to send the lead a quote and a message. In that message you can give the customer your contact information and encourage them to call you to schedule their move. They also have the option of messaging you back through Thumbtack’s messaging system.
The moving companies are charged a few bucks to send their quote and that’s the only fee involved with Thumbtack.
Thumbtack provides a consistent flow of quality moving leads, and it’s a great resource that every moving company should be taking advantage of.
2. AdWords
Another great way for moving companies to generate a consistent flow of moving leads is to run ads on Google searches using Google AdWords. Google is hands down the best form of direct marketing in the world. You can get your business in front of people who are searching for exactly what you’re selling, and you only have to pay when some clicks on your ad and goes to your website.
Millions of people search for movers on Google every year, and as a moving company trying to get leads, Google is somewhere you just have to be. Every month the term “moving companies” gets searched for an average of 110,000 times on Google. And the term “movers” gets Googled an average of 60,500 times a month. And there are hundreds of other high volume moving-related keywords that get searched for every month.
Google is the new Yellow Pages, and it’s the number one way people try to find home service providers. As a moving company you have to be on Google trying to get in front of those people and turn them into moving leads. People search for movers on Google every month, and it’s a great way to get a steady flow of moving leads coming into your business.
I strongly recommend that all moving companies give Google AdWords a try. And if you need help setting up your AdWords campaigns give me a call. The moving industry is one of my strongest niches on AdWords.
3. Bing
Advertising on Bing is basically the same thing as advertising on Google, but there are two factors that make Bing much less attractive. Less people use Bing, and their ad platform is less user-friendly than Google AdWords’ platform.
That said, if you have a larger pay per click budget than you can spend each month on Google, then I encourage you to set up and run Bing ads. I also help moving companies set up and run ads on Bing.
4. MovingCompanyReviews.com
MovingCompanyReviews.com is kind of like Thumbtack, but they only focus on the moving industry. Their process is similar to Thumbtack. People search Google for a moving company, MovingCompanyReviews.com usually shows up on the first or second page, the user goes to their website, and they tell MovingCompanyReviews.com details about their move, and in turn, MovingCompanyReviews.com sends those leads to local moving companies.
Moving companies can then contact the customer and give them a quote.
You pay a small monthly fee to be a member of MovingCompanyReviews.com and then you pay a few dollars for each lead.
MovingCompanyReviews.com doesn’t send as many leads as Thumbtack, but every lead counts. And I have found the leads from MovingCompanyReviews.com to be high quality leads. I encourage all moving companies to use MovingCompanyReviews.com because it’s a cheap way to get a handful of extra leads each month.
5. Billy.com
Billy.com is like an older-generation model of Thumbtack. Users go on Billy and tell it what kind of home service they need done. Then Billy sends those leads to home service companies who can contact the lead and give them a quote.
I think it costs a few dollars to bid on each job.
I have found Billy to not be very user-friendly and the leads are a lot lower quality than Thumbtack, AdWords, and MovingCompanyReviews.com. It’s an older platform that I think will lose market share to newer, better websites like Thumbtack and MovingCompanyReviews.com. But for now it’s still a decent way to get moving leads if you need more leads than Google, Thumbtack, MovingCompanyReviews.com, and referrals can provide.
6. Referrals
Every time you move a customer you have a chance to turn them into an evangelist for your business. Moving is a stressful process, there are a ton of horrible moving companies out there, and usually people have had bad experiences with movers in the past.
If you show up and wow your customer with quality and professional service, then you have the chance to turn them into a big fan of your business who will then tell their friends about you and potentially provide referral business to you.
There are two important things to remember when trying to build up your referral leads:
a) Don’t ever forget that first you have to wow the customer with quality and professional service. You have to do a good job for them.
b) And then don’t forget to ask! After the move when they are feeling happy and relieved that the moving process went well, thank them for choosing you and tell them how important referrals are for your business. Encourage them to tell their friends about you and give them things like business cards, magnets, and pens so they remember your contact information when they tell their friends about you.
Also, you can try encouraging customers to refer their friends to you by implementing a customer-referral program. You can set up a program where you’ll email $25 Amazon gift cards to former customers who refer new business to you. Give them a $25 gift card for every move they send you.
Referrals are a great source of leads, but you have to work hard to encourage them.
7. Get To Know Realtors
Who knows more people who are moving than realtors? The answer is no one! Realtors can be a great source of moving leads. Try to get as many realtors sending moving leads to you as possible. Reach out to them, show them how you’re a reliable and professional moving company, and encourage them to send their clients to you for moving services.
This Oklahoma City realtor has a “Becky’s Favorite” list of vendors that new home owners would be interested in. Try to get on lists like this.
If I owned a moving company I would be reaching out to every realtor in town and build relationships with them. I would also join and be active in all the local real estate and realtor associations. Realtors are a great source of moving leads.
8. Deals With Apartment Complexes
Apartment complexes are also a great source of moving leads. People are always moving in and out of apartment complexes and most complexes would love a reliable mover they can refer their tenants to. Get in touch with every apartment complex in town and offer them commissions on all moves. Apartment complexes are a great source of easy, profitable moves that every moving company should take advantage of.
9. Shop Local Websites
Link building is a strategy that every local business needs to engage in these days to be competitive in SEO and also to keep the referral traffic coming in to their website. But the key is to build quality links. One strategy of quality link building I use is “shop local” websites. They are business directory website that every medium to large city has. Here are a couple examples:
Austin – Go Local Austin
Oklahoma City – Keep It Local OK
These websites list deals or rewards that local business offer customers who find them through these shop local websites. And in return, the shop local websites list and promote these businesses.
These websites are a great link opportunity and will help you with SEO and ranking higher in Google. And they are also a great source of referral traffic. Find your local shop local website, offer a deal like 10% off the moving price, and get listed. You’ll probably be pleasantly surprised with the referral traffic and leads you’ll get from this one link.
And then extrapolate this quality link building strategy out to other quality local links. If each link sends in one visitor a week to your website and you have a hundred of these quality links, then that is 400 new visits a month to your website. If you have a 3% lead form conversion rate then these 100 links will provide 12 new leads a month. And remember, the name of the game in the moving business is to get a consistent flow of moving leads to keep you busy year round.
10. Groupon & Amazon Local
My last source of moving leads are two similar websites, Groupon and Amazon Local. Both of these websites are basically websites that will list deals that you can offer customers. The downside is that you have to offer low rates in order to get any business from these sources. The upside is that they’ll list your business and you can get a good link for SEO purposes and some good exposure for your business.
Get In Touch
Success in the moving business comes down to getting a consistent flow of moving leads coming in each month, and I hope this article helps you accomplish that.
I have worked extensively with many moving companies on their marketing efforts, and I know the niche well. I have helped moving companies experience 300% year over year growth, going from 36 moves in a month to 144 moves in the same month the following year. I can help you take your moving company to the next level. I’ll help you dominate your local market with online and offline marketing, and you’ll have leads coming in year round.
Contact me and let me know how I can help you.
