Starting a new company in this economy can be very terrifying. Many things go into starting a business, but the central aspect you must focus on is providing the right service.
If you provide what your customers need, market your company using digital methods, and get the right help, such as moving tariff, then you can be successful even in this economy.
Now, let’s get straight into some tips to help you start a moving business this year.
The Big Ideas
Since you are only starting out, you don’t need to spend an obscene amount of money and purchase big trucks, and rent a massive warehouse. You need to understand that most people want a company to send a few employees to help them move their valuables or heavy furniture.
You can start right away with a regular van and a few employees. But remember, your customers need professionalism and quality more than anything else.
You can also look into all types of moving companies to get an idea of where you want to begin and layout some future goals for the business as well.
Create a Business Plan
Irrespective of the size of your moving business, you need to have a written plan of action for your new company.
A business plan is not only about the startup, but it should also include development, preparing for future problems, allocating resources, and many other things.
Having a business plan can help you think about how to set your brand apart from your competitors. Since there is more competition in the field than ever, being unique in the right way might just be your selling point.
Proper Documentation
With every business, you need to get proper documentation to make your services and everything legal in your state and others.
Your ideas might have helped you think about the exact type of moving company that you want to start. For that, you can search online for the correct permits that your state requires a business of your kind to have before they begin operations.
You could also look on The US Dept. of Transportation website to find out what you need for inter-state and other types of moves. The Department will also be useful to get a unique registration number for your company.
You should also check out a particular service called moving tariff. This can be extremely crucial for every moving company, but especially for the ones only starting out.
Purchase Your Equipment
Depending on the amount of capital you have for investing in the business, the size of the equipment can significantly vary.
You can begin by looking into trucks or vans. If you don’t want to make a big commitment, and simply test the waters, then you can look into renting instead of leasing or buying. Other than that, you will have to think about fuel, maintenance, an office, and some moving equipment.
You might need some dollies, moving pads or blankets, ropes of varying sizes, furniture belts, packaging, and some wrapping materials. It’s a good thing that you can rent just about any of the expensive machinery and equipment on the days your team will need it.
Get Moving and Transportation Insurance
When you are moving all kinds of stuff that belong to other people, your team might be very careful about anything. Obviously, you wouldn’t want to damage anything moving or transporting. But mistakes can sometimes happen, and things can get damaged.
That is why you must look into various insurance policies to cover liability and any damages. You should also get vehicle and cargo insurance.
Some moving companies ask their clients if they want insurance. In case they do, the company will then charge them a little extra. You could try this as well.
Marketing
As you might’ve read above, good marketing can be your best friend nowadays. If you aren’t able to reach enough people, then you might not be able to succeed.
Here are a few starting tips that might help:
- Get an easy-to-remember and catchy name that suits your company. Make sure that you don’t get into any legal trouble because of it.
- Invest in the perfect logo.
- Get some brilliantly designed graphics on your trucks that promote the company, and also provide contact information. Have a similar print on t-shirts for your employees.
- Create some packages of your services to help customers get an estimate of your prices. Also offer custom plans.
- Create an easy-to-navigate website that has a great design. Look into these three aspects, among others, to get your business website popular:
- SEO
- SEM
- Content Marketing
- If you want to have a couple of weeks or a month filled up with clients, then you should contact some online brokers and lead providers.
Get Moving Training
Starting a moving company is not as simple as it may seem if you don’t have any prior experience in the field.
That is why you might need to get some training and a proper understanding of all the processes. The trainers will also teach you how to be more efficient in every aspect of the process, to help you get the work done faster and save money. It will also show some level of professionalism to your clients.
Secure a Warehouse
Moving companies are not only about taking the clients’ possessions from point A to point B. Sometimes, your client may want to store some or all of their belongings with your company for days, weeks, or months till they are ready to move everything to the new site. For additional costs of course.
For that purpose, you may need a secure storage facility with a long-term contract.
Provide the Best Customer Service
Your customers are among the crucial parts that you need to look after
You must provide excellent services to everyone, and make sure there aren’t any complaints. If your client is happy, then they may refer your company to their friends, family, colleagues, and everyone else they know.
Word of mouth advertising is definitely among the best in the moving business.
