Studies have shown that 40 million Americans move each year. This accounts for almost 15% of the U.S. population.
When these people decide to move, they often call on one of the many moving companies scattered throughout the country to help. They have roughly 17,000 options to choose from.
This might make it seem as though there are plenty of moving companies to go around. But there is almost always room for one more in most of the cities throughout the U.S.
Would you like to open one up? Learn how to start a moving company before you attempt to get things up and running. It’ll increase your moving company’s chances of enjoying success once you get it off the ground.
Here are 10 tips that will help your moving company get off to a great start.
- Research the Moving Companies Operating in Your Area
How familiar are you with the moving companies that are currently operating in your city or town? If you don’t know the first thing about them, you’ll want to do your research before trying to figure out how to start a moving company of your own.
Start by making a long list of all the moving companies offering services in your specific city. Then, add the names of moving companies in neighboring cities as well.
Visit the websites for each of these companies to see what they’re all about. It’ll give you a good overview of what kind of competition your moving company could potentially face.
- Decide What’s Going to Make Your Moving Company Stand Out
Once you know more about the moving companies in your area, you can start trying to carve out a lane for your new moving company. You should try to learn which moving services other companies aren’t offering so that you can step in and fill the void.
Maybe most of the moving companies in your area are focusing on helping people make residential moves and ignoring the commercial moving needs of businesses. That will let you know that you can capitalize on extending moving services to commercial clients.
Whatever the case, you should make a strong effort to set your moving company apart from the pack right from the start.
- Come Up With a Clever Name for Your Moving Company
You don’t have to come up with a name for your moving company this early on in the process. But it’s going to go a long way towards making your moving company feel real to you if you have a name lined up.
Brainstorm some clever moving company names and bounce them off your family members and friends to see what they think. You should be able to come up with a great name that explains what your company does and sticks in people’s minds after they hear it.
- Register Your Moving Company and Obtain the Proper Licenses and Insurance
After coming up with a name for your moving company, you can go ahead and register your business with your city or town. You can also kickstart the process of getting your hands on the different licenses and insurance that you’ll need to operate a moving company.
The licenses and insurance that you’ll need to acquire for your moving company vary from one state to the next. But generally speaking, you are going to need to have some licenses and insurance to set up shop.
Take a trip down to your city hall to see exactly what you’re going to need to do to make your moving company 100% legit.
- Invest in At Least One Truck for Your Moving Company
It’s obviously going to be difficult to run a successful moving company if you don’t have at least one moving van. Your company’s moving van is going to be the lifeblood of your business in a lot of ways.
But that doesn’t mean you need to spend a small fortune on it. In fact, you can bypass the new moving vans that are out there and go with a used moving van instead. It’ll allow you to get your feet wet in the industry before investing in something nicer.
You might also want to look into securing a Watchcard to keep your moving van fueled up. Once you start helping a lot of people move, you’re going to find that you’ll go through your fair share of gas each week.
- Purchase Other Equipment and Supplies for Your Moving Company
After you’ve found a moving van for your company to use, you’ll want to fill the back of it with moving equipment and supplies. You’ll also want to get into the habit of adding to your equipment and supplies overtime to ensure your company always has what it needs to help people move.
Here are some of the essential moving equipment and supplies that you’ll need:
- Moving dollies
- Handtrucks
- Furniture sliders
- Moving blankets
- Moving straps
You should also pick up a toolbox that has things like a measuring tape, box cutters, a hammer, screwdrivers, and more inside of it. This will provide you with everything that it’ll take to pull off successful moves for your customers.
- Create a List of the Services Your Moving Company Will Offer
At this stage of the game, you’ll have all the various things you’ll need to provide your company’s moving services. But you will, of course, need to be able to let people know what those specific services are.
Are you going to offer to help people pack up their things prior to moving them? Are you going to be able to assist people when it comes to moving larger items like refrigerators and pianos? Are you going to extend long-distance moving services to people?
You should ask and answer these kinds of questions to come up with a list of your moving services. It’ll let people know whether or not they’re going to be able to count on you to provide them with the services they need.
- Figure Out How Much You’ll Charge for Your Moving Company’s Services
It’s not enough to simply come up with a list of moving services that your moving company is going to provide. You also need to be prepared to tell people how much those services are going to cost them.
On average, most moving companies charge somewhere between $80 and $100 per hour to help make local moves and anywhere from $2,500 to $5,000 to help make long-distance moves.
But you don’t have to stick to those numbers. The prices you charge should be based on where you’re located, what kinds of services you offer, and more. Just make sure they’re fair and affordable compared to your competitor’s prices.
- Market Your Moving Company’s Services to the Masses
You can offer the best moving services in the world at the best prices. But these things aren’t going to do you much good if you don’t know how to market them to the masses and drum up interest in your moving company.
You need to create a strong marketing strategy for your moving company and put it into action to start bringing in customers. You can market your company successfully by:
- Setting up a website for your company that includes your services, your contact information, your company’s history, etc.
- Paying for advertising in local newspapers and on local TV and radio stations
- Creating social media pages for your company on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and more
Ask any small business owner and they’ll tell you that marketing is one of the most important aspects of running a successful company. You’re not going to get very far without great marketing plans.
- Make Sure Customers Are Satisfied With Your Moving Company’s Services from the Start
As long as you market your company in the most effective ways, you should start to see your phone lines lighting up in no time. Customers will begin calling you to provide them with the services they need.
It’s very important for you to treat your first few customers like kings and queens and set them up with the greatest services that you can. They’re going to be the ones who will leave you online reviews and tell other people about your business.
If they don’t have an amazing experience while working with you, it could stunt your company’s growth and prevent you from becoming successful. You’re going to have to work twice as hard to earn customers later if your initial customers aren’t happy with what you bring to the table.
Learn How to Start a Moving Company That Will Be Successful
Starting a moving company from scratch might seem simple enough at first. But as you’ve seen here, there is a whole lot that goes into it.
Now that you know how to start a moving company, use these tips to bring all your moving company ideas to life. They should put your company on the right track and improve your chances of achieving success within your first few months.
Discover other ways to start a successful small business in 2020 by checking out the informative articles on our blog.