Biggest Issues with Your Moving Crews

Foreign.

It's Luis Massaro. And welcome to another episode of the Moving Mastery Podcast.

This podcast is all about helping you reach that next level in your moving company. And we do that by sharing with you processes and strategies and ideas that they get you thinking bigger on what's possible. You know, I grew my business from working out of a truck rental yard all the way to $20 million a year. And I want to help share those.

Strategies with you so that you could.

Reach that next level in your business, whatever that is for you. And, you know, it's not all about just making more money. It's about profiting in your business and thriving in your life.

And we do that by, you know.

Being able to set up those systems, set up those processes so we could step away and work on our business and not be there every single day stuck in the GR so that we have some time to enjoy with our families and just enjoy life and the fruits of our labor. And today, I am just so excited to talk to you about something that is gonna help you reach that next level in your business. And it's called Smart Moving Software. This is a company that I co founded with an amazing partner and group of programmers that have just built an amazing platform. You know, this is a software that runs your entire moving business. Not only runs it, but truly optimizes it. You know, one of the things that I love the most is that you have just ultimate clarity into your numbers. I mean, as soon as you log in, you've got a dashboard right there that just tells you everything that's going on. You know, one of the things that I've realized over the years that helps moving companies really get to that next level of success is being able to know their numbers. And, you know, without a system that pulls everything together, it could be really, really challenging. And Smart Moving just has all the reports and all the information dialed in the way that you need it to be. And I'm just so excited to tell you about it today. So go check it out, get a demo, go to Smart Mo.

Sign up for a free demo, check it out. And listen, if you don't have a CRM in this modern day of moving, you need a CRM. If you've already got a CRM and you're just looking for an upgrade, something that's more streamlined, something that gives you all the tools that actually matter, go to smartmoving.com, check it out. It's going to help you do everything from the minute you get leads to your sales process to Customer service, to dispatch, to following up with your crews, to handling your numbers and your books and your reports. Everything you need is there in a streamlined, systematic, automated process. And I'm just so excited to be.

A part of it.

I'm so excited to finally have a solution to offer to moving company owners that for years were asking me, louis, what platforms did you use? What softwares did you use? And the truth is, I used a lot of different stuff that I had to tie together because there wasn't something like Smart Moving that allowed me to just do everything in one place. And now that we have that, I mean, we've got customers at all different levels using this software. You know, companies that, you know, maybe they're just starting out, companies that have been in business for 10 years, they've got 10, 15 trucks. We've got nationwide franchises that are running their entire operation off of smart Moving. So I want you to go check it out today, because I'm so excited about it. It's called Smart Moving Software. Get your free demo@smartmoving.com and without further ado, let's jump into this episode of the Moving Mastery Pod.

I know the challenges that go along with, you know, having crews, right? I mean, you know, some of you might be on the moves yourself, right? Most of you have teams. Most of you have several crews, multiple trucks. And, you know, with that comes a lot of challenges, right? And, you know, a lot of people will say, well, you know, it's. It's the biggest pain in the business. It's the hardest part about the business. And that's true, right? But the reality is, if it was easy, then everybody would do this, be in this business. If it was easy, everybody would be, you know, succeeding at high levels takes a lot of work to hire, to train, to manage your workforce, right? And, you know, most of your guys are great guys, but they're not necessarily choosing to do this. I mean, it's like an option that they have for a job. And, you know, there's a lot that goes with that. There's a different dynamic between the, you know, the crews out in the field doing the work and those in the office. And we have to respect the fact that our movers are the face of the company, period. Right? They're the ones that go out there every day. They're the ones out here in Arizona right now work, you know, and wherever you are in a summer, working in 100, 110 degrees in the back of the truck, they're the ones walking into these houses where Customers are filthy with cats everywhere and you know, feces all over, you know, you know, the stuff that they deal with. And it's a lot of work, not to mention the physical aspect of it, not to mention the day to day just back breaking work. It's challenging.

That's their challenge. Okay, then you have your challenge as the owner of the company trying to execute on the move that you promised to your customer. Right? The success of your company relies completely on your marketing to sales, to service consistency. Being able to market, hey, here's what we provide. Being able to sell, like really sell your service, not undersell, but oversell and then over deliver on that service all depends on your movers. Everybody's got some issues, right? It's just kind of the nature of what happens. So we want to talk about how to navigate these.

You know, issues that really have been occurring for years. You know, I've heard they've been 20 years since I started my moving company. They've been going on since then, been going on since before then. And we want to try to mitigate them the best we can and deal with them and learn to address certain things in certain ways and accept other things as that's the way they are. Right? And I hear from a lot of you like, it shouldn't be this way, it shouldn't be this way, it shouldn't be this way. And some of the stuff it's like, yeah, it is that way. And we just need to accept that. And I think by hearing that from me and seeing everybody else that's dealing with some of the same struggles, you learn to say, okay, let's, let's address the stuff that we can do something about and let's accept the stuff that we can't do anything about. And you know, until the day comes that you have robots doing the moves, these are issues you're gonna deal with. And don't wish for that day to come, because when that day comes, you're gonna have a problem with your business. Right? Whoever could afford to have the robots will have a business. Whoever doesn't have the robots won't have a business. Don't worry, it's not coming anytime soon. Whoever else, whoever's out there promising that it's not happening anytime soon. So.

Let'S talk about some of these issues. So I've got some, some issues and then I've got some preventative measures of things that we could do to prevent overall problems. Okay, so let's talk about the first one.

Too much work or not enough work. Right. Who's got movers? Let me see your hands. Who's got movers? That either they come to you and say, there's too much work, it's too busy, there's too much going on, or there's not enough work, there's not enough happening. Right? Right now you've got too much work, right? I hear from a lot of you, I know. You know, right now it's. It's. You're pushing them, you know, you're pushing your guys. You know, they're working hours, they're putting in time. Wintertime, there's not enough work.

I don't know if any of you have had it, but I've had, you know, multiple grown men cry to me, tears coming down their eyes in the wintertime, because it's slower and there's not enough work. And it's tough, right? But then those same guys in the summer, when they're making a ton of hours, they're making the money, they're making the overtime, they're making the tips, they're making the commissions on packing, like, it's too much work. I need days off, I need days off. I need days off. And I could get that. I mean, this isn't about, you know, cracking the whip. This isn't about, like, you know, working people till they pass out. But we do need them, you know, communicate that this is a seasonal business. We do need to communicate and remind them that there will be a time when it slows down. So for me, I'll tell you how I handled this issue, right? You know, it's basically, you know, I call it mover juggling, right? You just have to be able to juggle.

What'S going on. I mean, if anyone has a perfect science for it, please let me know. But I don't think there is one.

And so I want to share, like, what I. What I've done in the past and what I know other people do to try to handle this. It's like, right now, let's talk about right now, because it's so busy, okay? Understand where they're coming from, right? It's a lot of work day in, day out, day in, day out. It's a lot of work. But.

Most of them need the money, too, okay? Most of them need the money, and you're providing work. And so for me right now, this is what I'm telling my private clients. This is what I would be saying to movers right now if I had. I'd say, look, I haven't checked the stats today. Of what the unemployment rate is in this country. But right now there are people like not working that have no job. So I know this is hard. I know this is a lot of days, I know this is busy, but we need to look at this right now, you and I, as a blessing that we have this much business, that we have this much work, that we're able to provide this many hours.

And it will be that, that constant conversation, you know, it's. You're gonna have to be a coach, right? You're gonna have to, you know, get them to go do that next job. When they tell you that they're tired and they can't do it anymore, they're done. They've been working non stop.

You're gonna have to talk to them and see what's really going on. And the best way to start that conversation is always to understand where they're coming from, right? You know, sometimes either us or our dispatchers get so focused on get the job covered, get the job covered, get the job covered. And when they get that resistance and that pushback from the driver, usually.

They kind of match it with the same resistance or they give up one of the two. They either match it with the same resistance order like, okay, no problem, I'll find somebody else to do it. And you know, you work really hard to spend money on advertising, to book jobs, to get those jobs, you know, on the schedule. And now you've got to get them serviced. And you know, you're gonna have to do what you need to do to convince them to go do that next job, right? And then look at it when you're scheduling and schedule with more intention, meaning, you know, so don't wait for them to come and say, I can't do another job. No, look, they've been working straight for 8, 9, 10 days. They need some time off, right? And I guarantee you, if you guys look at your calendar right now, there's probably a few days, sporadic throughout the calendar that aren't completely booked up, okay? And this is part of what we call mover juggling, right? You've got to be intentional about scheduling days off for them, right? Think about it like preventative maintenance, right? Even though they don't want the day off, give them that time, start to stagger them so that they don't, you know, break down. And like, I've had too much, I can't do it anymore. I just, I need days off now. Now they need days off.

Be intentional about that, right? Know when they're, when they're Overworked.

And you have to just realize it's going to be tough. You're going to have to have those conversations. You might not want to, but that's part of this business. Like, I'm just, you know, I want to just. I want you guys to hear from me like that's. That's part of this business. The summers are busy. Do I wish. Do you wish that we could spread it out super evenly every day of the week and all year? Sure, of course. But we don't have that luxury, so we do the best we can to spread things out. But, you know, you've got to be able to talk to them when there's too much work. So we'll talk about some other preventative things that you could do in a minute, but just know now's the time. You need them. Now's the time to encourage them, to coach them, to incentivize them, to show appreciation. We're going to talk about that in a minute. But, you know, show them appreciation. Understand where they're coming from. When they tell you that there's too much work, don't just, you know, not acknowledge it. Like, all right, whatever. Just go back out there. You've got to acknowledge it. But at the same time, you're in this together, okay? Every summer, you're gonna be in this together, guys. This is the time.

You know, hey, what are you looking to do? What do you know? You're saving for a new car. You're saving for this. Well, guess what? Now's the time to make that money and put it away. Push hard now. When things slow down, schedule that vacation, take that time off. But you'll make the money now to pay for it then, right?

So too much work, not enough work. All right, that's basically one of the main issues. Next one, Damage.

Damage, damage, damage claims, right?

This is part of the business, and you need to do the best you can to.

Train, incentivize, motivate, and continue to train your movers with something called targeted training. Right? As you start to see.

Certain damage happen, it's important that you keep track of what type of damage, who's actually causing the damage. Right? This way, you could do specific targeted training. So if you're keeping track of, you know, okay, we've got these claims. Let's look at these claims. Who caused them? What crews caused them? Okay. What is it that they damaged? You know, for me, the big realization was when I looked on my P and L in one of my offices and saw a huge number paid out in claims, I'm like, what is going on here? Drill down into the claims report. Like, okay, it's the same kind of, you know, crew of guys, a couple crews guys, and they're all damaging TVs.

Marble tabletops, glass tabletops, things that kind of get packed the same way, right? So instead of blowing it out of proportion and feeling like I had this huge, huge problem that I needed to address with everybody and retrain everybody or get all new crews, we pulled those crews aside and specifically trained them on how to handle those.

Items, right? How to handle those specific items called targeted training.

And you want to. You want to. You know, part of.

This whole thing is leadership, right? So as we're talking about this, I want you to, you know, sit in the stance and wear your leadership hat, right? Because you don't want to match.

You know, crybaby ness with crybabiness. You don't want to have all the complaints coming at you and then you come back with, oh, if they were just to do this and if they were just to do that, look, it's your business. It's your responsibility, right? And a lot of it's about leadership. And part of leadership is making people feel a sense of pride in what they do. And they don't want to damage stuff, right? So there needs to be a little bit of carrot and a little bit of stick, right? There needs to be some. Some appreciation and some, you know, sense of pride that goes along with doing a good job and not damaging stuff. And then there needs to be some consequences.

You know, everybody here, I know we got people from all over the world here, and you've got different laws in different places, right? But there needs to be some consequences. And that doesn't mean, hey, they damaged something for $500, they need to pay you $500, because then you're pretty much bankrupting them in a sense, right? Like, you know, you're taking away a paycheck over something they damaged. But there needs to be some consequences. There needs to be some incentives that maybe they were given that get taken away, right? There needs to be a demotion of some sort, right? There needs to be a written warning. There needs to be a requirement to go back into some training. But the damage needs to be addressed, and I think it gets addressed by targeted training, okay? And giving them a sense of pride and then recognizing the people that just don't care and getting rid of them. And be vigilant about hiring, because when you're vigilant about hiring, when you like Just make it, you know, like your sales process. You're always getting leads, you're always booking jobs. You should be doing that with movers too, because then you're not in a position where, you know, you're like, man, this guy sucks, but I need him. And part of that is part of the business. And you kind of have to deal with it to an extent. To an extent. But if it goes on for too long, then that's on you. You know, it's one thing if like, there's an issue and you're like, okay, you know, we're approaching the end of the month, we're slammed. There's no time to get somebody else in here. I'm like, I gotta roll the dice and keep, keep them on the crew, you know, because we've got to service these jobs. Hopefully nothing happens. There's a difference between that and then six months later, that person's still working for you. And all it's doing is just like, you know, upsetting you. Give me, you know, stomach pain. Right. And aggravating you. There's a difference. So, you know, the best thing you could do is become as a company. Right? Doesn't have to be. You could be your operations manager dispatcher is implement that mover hiring process and just build that in to a regular routine. Build that into a regular routine to where you're not in a position. Look, there's a lot of people out there right now that need work, okay? You know, government handouts are going to start running out and all the people that are kind of sitting back, like just collecting their checks, they're going to need to go back to work.

Experienced movers, not experienced movers, doesn't matter. There's people out there having that. It's the one thing that will relieve most of this pressure, right, Is knowing that, hey, I've asked you to do certain things. I've trained you, have incentivized you. I've, you know, tried to have meetings and coach you and give you a sense of pride in what you do, but it's, it's just not for you. When you're not afraid to let them go because you know, you could bring somebody else in, everything changes. Okay? So that's damage. Now let's move on.

Bad mouthing and complaining. Okay, who's had movers badmouth your company to the customer?

No, they're doing it. Okay? They're doing it. Right. Or bad mouth your company to the new guy that just started? Right. Or complain to you about the new guy that Just started or whatever it is. Badmouthing, complaining, bad mouthing, complaining, Bad mouthing, complaining. Well, look, bad mouthing can't be tolerated, right? If they're, if they are undermining your efforts on sales and marketing and online reputation and building and creating raving fans, that's unacceptable. They need to know that and they need to have. You need to explain to them as a leader that there's, you know, you need to give them another platform and outlet to voice their frustrations, but not to the customer.

Right? Totally unacceptable. But understand they've. Listen.

I think we'd all, if we were out there on the truck all day, every day.

Showing up on a job, customers like, I was told this, I was told that by the salesperson. I was told this, I was told that. Why aren't you doing this? Why aren't you doing that? They, it's, it's natural human tendency to defend yourself and deflect it. Oh, they always do this. They always tell customers it's going to be four hours when it's really going to be six. Right? And you want to use that as an opportunity to go, okay, well, first of all, the badmouthing stops now. Like, if you're going to work here, if it happens ever again, you're going to be terminated immediately. I don't care if it's in the middle of a job, okay? Second of all, bring this stuff to me. This is how we all get. This is what you're saying to your mover. This is how we get better.

As a company, right? I'm trying my best, you're trying your best. The people in the office are trying their best. But here's the thing. This is not a one man sport, right? This requires everybody to do their part. Like one person can't carry the whole thing. Like, this isn't basketball where like you could have a really great player that carries the whole thing. Right? We need everybody to do their part. Offense, defense, special teams, everybody. It's more like football. It's a lot of people that go into this. So bring this stuff to me. So create an open, whether it's a suggestion box, an email, an anonymous.

Web form. Like you could create Google forms, right? Where they could submit something anonymously that comes into your company. Give them an outlet for these complaints, okay? And let them know that the badmouthing, it's, it's 100% violation and terms for termination immediately. I would put that in your onboarding paperwork when you talk to them right away. Right? But you can't just Shut. You can't suppress people if they have something to say. You've got to give them an outlet to be able to say it and then not punish them for saying it to you. And listen to the complaints, right, Listen to the complaints. Because you know they're gonna be your loudest critic for when things aren't running the way they should. They're gonna be your loudest critic for a dispatcher that just, you know, sending them all over the place, unnecessarily sending them out with not the proper equipment.

You know, for estimates not being correct, for coming back to you and saying, hey, the customer was told this and this is what really was going on. This has been happening a lot, right? How they voice it, you can't take it personal, how they come at you, how they.

You know, their frustrations spill over.

It is what it is. Accept it and use as an opportunity to get better in that area. But bad mouthing the company, totally unacceptable. And make them see that, Let them have some pride and what it is they do and explain to them when something happens. I understand that when you're out there, you want to defend yourself because the customer's coming at you and it's easy to point the fingers. All I want you to do is say, you know what, let me look, let me call the office and let me look into that and let me find out what's going on. Okay? But part of it's the nature of the business because they're there, they're in front of the person, they're thinking, hey, you're hiding out in the office. I'm here dealing with them, and they want to get a good tip. So bad mouthing needs to be known that it's unacceptable.

Hey, my friend, it's Louis and I'm just hopping in really quick to remind you to go get your free demo of Smart Moving software. Smart Moving Software is a company that I co founded that is quickly becoming the leading moving software in the moving industry. And I'm super excited for you to check it out.

So go get your free demo today.

Just go to smartmoving.com that's smartmoving.com and sign up for your free demo and.

Check it out today.

Next one, theft.

You know, when I talk about this, people think that I'm being, you know, cynical or that I'm not giving.

Movers the benefit of the doubt. And I don't classify any group of people as being a certain way, but I know that in a group, you know, of how, you know, if you've got however many crews you've got.

There could very well be somebody in that group that will steal from you, from the customer.

From the company, and they'll do it in different ways. So let's talk about this. I just had this happen. I've been talking about this since day one. And I literally had a private client text messaging me. What was it last week?

Guys are stealing fuel. I'm like, yeah, I could have told you that. A matter of fact, I've said that over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over. And people want to think, no, not my guys. Not my guys. It's not about.

You know, it's not about, like, looking at everybody and saying you're a thief. It's about setting up your business so that there are no opportunities to steal, right? If you have a candy shop on the street in a busy fairway, you leave the key in the door to the candy shop. People are going to go in the candy shop and take the candy. If you make it easy for somebody, right, they're going to take advantage of that opportunity. So, you know, the fuel is a perfect example. I mean, it's happened to me. I've seen it happen to clients. It's probably happening to some of you without realizing it. Where they take the fuel card, they go to the fuel station, they're fueling up their own car, and you're like, oh, no, no. I make it so that they can only fuel up diesel. They're fueling up other diesel trucks and getting half the money in cash. Okay? So, you know, theft is a real thing that you just need to be aware of, right? It's like. Like, you know, a lot of people like Louis, I don't want to think about that. I want to stay in the positive. You guys know, I want to stay in the positive all the time. But you got to be real, too, about what's going on out there and what's happening. And.

You know, this. This guy found out. It's been. You know, he's still investigating it, but it's been going on for a while now. You know, sent me text messages, sent me pictures and text messages from his crews, like, oh, I thought we were allowed to do that. Everybody's doing it, you know, and the reality is someone like that.

Doesn'T think about themselves as a thief, and they find ways to justify, right? And that's. That's, you know, you need to be able to put yourself in other people's shoes and Sometimes, you know, someone looks at it and they're like, oh, the company, they got all kinds of money. I could take a little extra fuel here to fuel up my car or this and that. You know, I had a lady that worked for me in the office. We're talking about movers, but lady worked for me in the office doing payroll years ago, found her cutting herself double payroll checks. For a while, right? For a while.

So, you know, there's theft from the customer, there's, you know, theft from fuel. There's working off the clock, right? I talk about that a lot. Like, hey, yeah, we're done at 2 o'. Clock. Meanwhile, they stay there till 3. They either collect the extra money from the customer. Meaning, like, I had crews come back before with, you know, we had like a yellow and a white copy of the contract before everything went digital.

On the customer's copy, it said $1,000. On our copy, it said $900. I don't remember the exact numbers, but it was about $100 difference. And we, you know, once we caught it, once we went back and looked at all their contracts, they were doing it a lot. They were doing it a lot. You know, they would clock out early at the office, but then stay, but then still charge the same rate to the customer and pocket the extra money.

Or work off the clock for, you know, additional tip. If they clock out on your job, on a local move for 2 o' clock, and they stay there till 3, they stay there till 3:30 without you knowing about it. Even if they're not getting specifically, like, part of your bill, that's stealing. They're giving away time and resources to, that's your customer that you booked, that you had, marketing, sales and everything you do to build your business. Think about all the aspects of the business, right? From the lead generation to booking the move, servicing the moves, making sure customers are happy, trying to get reviews, dealing with your insurance, dealing with this, dealing with that. If the customer's move is six hours, you need to get paid for six hours, not for five hours so that they could get an extra tip. That's stealing to me. Okay? I wouldn't say that's something to go, you know, bring charges over, right? But if they're stealing fuel, if they're stealing payroll, if they're stealing from a customer's job, huge. And something to consider pressing charges over and making an example, right? This is not the place to do it. The lady that was stealing payroll kind of broke my heart to do it, but I had the cops come into my office, my call center probably had at the time, it was the smaller of probably out of 30 people in there. And take her out in handcuffs.

Did I want to do that to her? No. But at the same time I needed to set the tone that like you steal, there's gonna be consequences, right? So you've got to be able to prevent the theft that's going on. And storage is another big area. You know.

I talk about storage, People will ask somebody who's asking me, should I do storage? And I'm like, look, storage is a major responsibility. If you're going to do storage, I think it's a great business. But make sure that you take on the fact that that customer is trusting you with their belongings.

Right? Think about it for a second. We don't think about it. Oh, storage, they're going to pay me this for the vault. No big deal, bring it in. But like that customer saying, take my possessions like my life and please take care of it and hold it and you know, keep it safe until I need it. Well, another big area for theft is movers know, hey, they're gonna talk to the customer. Oh yeah, no, we're moving away. We're gonna be in storage for at least a year. Well, if nobody's watching, nobody's back at the warehouse doing inventory as everything comes off the truck. Okay? We've had it before that that truck might make a pit stop and drop a TV off at their house. Maybe they intend on stealing it or maybe they just intend on borrowing it. I had a customer will be back in a year, I'll have it through the super bowl, I'll use it, I'll bring it back. Right? If you're doing storage, somebody needs to be at that, at your office as shipments come in. If you're not loading it directly into the vault at the house, checking off items as they come in. Alright, so listen, I don't mean to like bring you guys down and depress you, but this is like just stuff that goes on, you know what I mean? And we've got to address it and we've got to deal with it. It's part of the business. Here's the next one.

Not showing up, right? Not showing up. Oh.

You got your crews laid out, you got your jobs laid out, Everything's gonna go perfect. And this guy doesn't show up or that guy doesn't show up, or they come in late.

First things first, find them, Find them. Blow up their phone, drive to their house, send the two guys that were on the Job with them to their go find them, right? I used to go two guys houses, knock on the door, their wife would answer, yes, is so and so here. He's sleeping. Well, he's supposed to be at work right now. And if he doesn't get to work in the next five minutes, he's going to lose his job. I don't know if you guys are cool with that or not, but, you know, or make that phone call. It's a little bit different now. Back in the day, not everybody had a cell phone, so, like rang the house phone, and when the wife answered, I'd say the same thing. Track them down, like, get the job covered. Don't just like, you know, give up on it. Then address the issue, then address the problem, right? And you know, have people on standby, have your mover database ready to go. Because the first things first is you've got to cover the job, right? It's like you can't let your anger for them not showing up distract you from what's really important. And what's really important is we need to cover this job. We promised this customer we're gonna be there. We promised we were gonna get it done. What do we need to do? We blow up their phone, we send out the text, do we have anybody here that can go, can we turn a three man crew into a two man crew? You know, how do we do it? Can the dispatcher go, do I go personally? Okay, if not, you start hitting that mover database up. You know, your list of moving movers that used to work for you, that applied, that, you know, maybe came in and applied and like, yeah, I want cash every day, but, you know, or I want 25 an hour and you pay 15 an hour. Like, hey, can you work today? Can you work today? Can you work today? You know, many times, like at the end of the month or a busy weekend, I sat there on the phone calling. Now my wasn't on a fancy spreadsheet or anything. It was literally a disgusting coffee stained, fingerprinted sheet of paper with handwritten numbers crossed out, crossed on black line, blacklisted, Never call this guy. And I'd sit there and just call, can you work? Hey, do you remember me? You came in, listen, can you work today? I'll pay you today, I'll pay you today, right? You've got to go into that mode. Like we're talking about the movers themselves. But the first thing you got to do is get those jobs covered and then you address them after the fact, right? And you Know, listen, you do typical.

You know, what businesses do. You give a first warning, you give a second warning, right? Maybe with movers you got to be a little more lenient. You go third and fourth, but then you go termination or suspension.

Termination or suspension. But it all comes back to leadership. It all comes back to how you talk to them. It all comes back to the rapport that whoever is dealing with those movers on a day to day basis has with them. You know, if there's somebody solid that they, you know, somewhat like, or at least respect that's in that driver's seat of dispatch, you're gonna have crews that do what they're supposed to do. If there's somebody there that they have zero respect for, they don't like, they're gonna do what they want to do no matter what happens. So.

Payroll.

Raise. These are two separate things, payroll and raise. So payroll is.

My hours aren't right. They got their paycheck, My hours aren't right. This is a company responsibility. Okay? You know, a lot of times people, certain things happen, you know, maybe their hours weren't right for a period of time. It happens, right? I've had it happen where it's like, you know, early on, we're in transition, we're switching systems, or there was a new dispatcher that didn't mark stuff down or things. The process was just broken or unassembled for the moment, and.

The payroll wasn't right. That could happen one time and they're going to remember that for years. Okay? So the key is to get the payroll correct, right? Get the payroll correct. Like, do not let it go to chance. I'll tell you how I handled it. Early on, every single job that went out, when they came back, there was a move sheet that they had to fill out. Who was on that move, what time it started, how much they collected, they would sign that they collected. If it was cash, they'd mark the hours for every job. If they did two or three jobs that day, there was also a payroll sheet where they would turn in the hours that they worked that they wrote that they had. You know, they wrote it down and we'd match it up and make sure that it was correct.

And then later on, as we started to implement CRMs, it was part of closing out a job. You know, like the administrative work is so important. I know, it's like we got to cover this job. The phones are ringing, this customer's here, this truck broke down. But it can never overshadow the administrative work that has to get done. So, you know, if you're closing out your job and your CRM, match that to the contract, match that to the job. Make sure that the right guys are on there, you know, and we would never, you know, you have to make sure because did. Did you might have marked down, hey, I want these guys to go out on this job in your CRM when you schedule it. But day of the move, they picked a different helper, right? I never added the helpers to the job specifically. Right. I would add the driver only. And then after the job closed out, I would make sure which helpers were on it and I would add them. And it was like a major thing. Like, don't let one day go by without making sure that the day before was closed out completely and that everybody's payroll was there and it was accurate. Then when you give them their paychecks, print out a payroll, print out a sheet that shows what their paycheck consists of. This job, this many hours, this job, this many hours. This job had commission because you sold boxes. This many hours, right? We deducted you for, you know, whatever you needed, an extra shirt, or we deducted you for this and show that to them on a sheet. Print that out for them, right? You should be able to do this in your CRM, Print this out for them to show them because you want to eliminate it. It's an unnecessary time wasting conversation. But you do have to address it. If someone feels like you cheated them on hours and you brush them off.

Like you're not, you know, you're creating.

Very disgruntled person at the least, right? So you've got to make sure your payroll processes are on point. If you're having issues week in and week out. Week in and week out, like, just get it right, right? If you've got to sit there every single night and make sure that the hours are on point, you got to get it right, okay? And then show them.

That you're taking action on it. And when they do have questions about it, you've got to address it. But you address it on your terms at your time. It's 6:30 in the morning, you're dispatching trucks and like, I need to talk to you about my hours. Something's missing here. Okay? Leave that with me. I'm gonna look at it while you're out. We'll talk about it when you get back today, right? We'll talk about it when you get back. Next thing is the raise.

All right? I need another dollar an hour. I need another dollar an Hour. I need a raise.

Well, you've got to be able to, number one, few things, okay? You've got to be able to stand firm when you know a raise isn't possible and let them know that you've got to have some incentive programs like mover bonus points to be able to.

You know, incentivize them to let them earn that extra dollar an hour, not just give it to them, but they'll let them earn it on top of what they get.

And you want to have a way to.

Show the pathway of how to get that extra raise, right? Maybe. Hey, look, you know, you're a helper, right? Now. What would it take for you to get your license? Because if you get your license and you start driving, you can get an extra two, three, four dollars an hour, whatever it is, right? How about packing? You know, we're going to have a packing certification next week. You know, it's voluntary. You could come. But if you know how to be a packer, there's a lot of additional revenue that you can make. Packing, right? Whatever it might be. Maybe you're going to teach them how to do piano moving, right? So if you have, like, certain levels where they can ascend and how they can earn that extra money, and maybe it's not even something like that. Like, look, you've had some claims. If you go the next 90 days with zero claims or you get your claims amount under this number, then.

You know, we'll.

We'll give you a dollar, we'll give you 50 cents. Well, you know, let them know what it is. But you got to be able to address that raise and let them know and not feel pressured to just give it to them just because. All right.

If you guys could tell, like, I get passionate about this and, you know, excited about it because I know what you're going through right now. I know what you're dealing with, right? And, you know, it's not. Listen, it frustrates me, too, right? It aggravates me, too. Like, I'm not, you know, I'm not going to act like when I was dealing with this stuff, I was all zen, it's okay. Like, don't worry. No, there's issues, there's problems. It aggravates you, right? But I want to give you some things that you could do to be preventative about it. Number one is.

Clear expectations right off the bat, right from day one, clear expectations on what their job is, what it is you expect from them.

From the minute. So there's a few things Right. Like how you expect them to interact with you and the office when you need them to be there. You need them in uniform by this time. What they need to go do to their truck before they start the job, when they come back, what you expect from them during the day, certain interactions that need to happen, what you expect from them. Clear right off the bat, okay? This will solve a lot of these problems. Like, these were individual issues. This is overall creating a better culture that has less of those issues. Right? So clear expectations right off the bat. Same. When they get to the job.

You'Ve got to make sure they've got clear expectations. Look, when you get to a move, here's what you need to do. First thing is you go introduce yourself to the customer. As the driver is introducing himself to the customer, I want helpers to be standing right behind them with pads on their shoulders, shrink wrap under their arm, ready to go. Be cheerful, say hello, introduce everybody. Don't walk up one person and be like, oh yeah, my guys are in the truck. I need everybody to show themselves and meet the customer right away. Right? Things like that. We need the truck to be neat. We need the truck to be organized, right? Clear expectations. I didn't do this early on. Like, when I started, it was like, you want to know my hiring process? It was like, okay, yeah, you've got experience.

Show up Friday at 6:30. Yeah, no, you're good, come on in. Right? That was like after answering an ad, here's a shirt, go. Here's a shirt, go. Like. And I realized, like, that didn't work too well, right? There was a lot of issues that came from that and I quickly had to adapt. But once you set clear expectations, and it took me a lot of years to realize I got to set really clear expectations, it changes everything. This goes not only for your movers, but every. Anybody you deal with in life.

Staff relationships, anybody. You've got clear expectations. They know what you want. It takes care of a lot of miscommunication, a lot of issues. They might think you want one thing, but you want something totally different. Next is mover support, right? You've got to be able to show support to them as well.

What does that mean? They call you to like, this job is bigger than we expected. We need some more dollies. We're gonna, we're running out of pads here. We're gonna need more pads. Instead of be like, well, why didn't you get more pads?

Send somebody to bring them more pads before they damage your customers furniture, right? Get them what they need, they need support. You know, if you guys do long distance, my long distance drivers, when they were on the road, we had like a concierge service for them, anything they needed. You need to send your wife flowers for your anniversary. No problem. Call Lori, she'll take care of it. Right, we'll take it right out of your, you know, we'll deduct it right out of your, your settlement.

Anything, anything they needed, we took care of it. They called us. You know, can you make a hotel reservation? Can you do this, can you do that? Yeah, like we're there supporting them.

You know, simple stuff. You know, you go and do a job, you go check up on the job, right? A spot check on the job, bring them some waters, bring them some Gatorades, bring them some, you know, snack bars, right? Be supportive of them. That's your front line, those are your soldiers. If you think about it in that way, if you think about it like, look, you, you've got your, your general and your higher up commanders at the office and then you got your soldiers going out to execute on your mission that you gave them. And they call you and say, we're out of ammo, don't tell them, throw some rocks, figure it out, right? Like get them the ammo, get them what they need, be there to support them, alright? Mover support. Next thing we talked about, this is just leadership. There has to be somebody dealing with the movers on a day to day. For me, that's a dispatcher. A lot of you call it operations manager, a lot of times it's both. But whoever is interacting with them, giving them their jobs, giving them their next jobs, giving them their paychecks, having conversations with them about what's going on.

They.

Need to be.

Good leaders, right? Good leaders. If you've got somebody in this position or you're in this position, you struggle with leadership. Go read, you know, read like a John Maxwell book, right? John Maxwell read, you know, ton of stuff on leadership. I think there's one like 21 laws or something on leadership, right? But really it's just about like being someone that they can count on to be fair. But be firm, right? And it's hard to be firm if you don't have expectations set. If you haven't set expectations and they're not clear, how could you be firm, right? If you're reprimanding somebody for something they didn't even know was wrong and you're like, well, you should know that that's wrong, how are they supposed to know if they knew as much as you knew they'd be doing what you do.

If they knew as much as you knew they'd be doing what you do, right? And I know a lot of you started off as movers on the trucks, and now you're doing what you do. How many of the guys that you were working with are still working on the trucks?

You know, it's. It's, you know, not everybody moves up. There's nothing wrong with starting somewhere, right? But don't just assume that everyone should know what you know. You've got to set the clear expectations. That goes for everybody in your office, too.

Next one is targeted training. We touched on this, okay? Targeted training. Train them on specific things, right? We think about the mover training process, and we sometimes get overwhelmed with it, right? I'm like, oh, my God, we got to train them and all this stuff. Break it down. Pick your top issues, whether it's, you know, certain damage to certain pieces, whether it's, you know, communication, whether it's badmouthing the company, whatever it is, right? Have a specific targeted training that you do.

Keep them on track, all right? Targeted meaning you don't have to train them, you know, put them back through an entire training if the only thing that they're doing is, you know, they're getting damaged because they're stacking heavy book boxes on top of light, not filled boxes that are crushing them, right? Like something like that. Like, just whatever the issue is, take them aside and train them on that. Specifically.

Appreciate and incentivize.

You know, you've got to be able to show that appreciation.

And a lot of times, for a lot of people, that doesn't come naturally. Meaning, like, for us, and we have to remind ourselves that appreciation can go a lot further sometimes than compensation.

Right? Appreciation can go a lot further than compensation. Letting somebody know that you appreciate them and that you understand the hard work.

Can go a long way, right? So how does this. This could be a simple, you know, in the morning, this, hey, great job yesterday. That customer was so happy. Like, recognize them in front of everybody else, right? Have some mover barbecues once in a while, right? Get everybody together at the office, have a cookout, let them bring their families. We used to go to, like, a state park and rent out a pavilion. Have people come and, you know, just show some appreciation for them. But on a daily basis, it could just be words. It could just be words. And even if they don't seem to be caring about it, right? You know, because a lot of times, if people didn't get appreciation in their life growing up that they don't. They don't know how to react. And if there's like, yeah, yeah. You know, you're like, oh, man, thank you so much. You guys did an amazing job yesterday. That customer is so happy. There's like, you know, or that's what we do. That's what we do, right? Like, however they respond, don't think that it's not affecting them, right? And then incentivize them by giving them something to shoot for. The last thing is.

Accept bs.

BS in the sense of what you're thinking BS means, but also BS in the sense of accept the fact that you're going to be a babysitter.

I don't know how else to put it. You know, the quicker you could get over that resistance and just accept it, that that's, you know, if you don't like doing it, good, hire an operations manager or a dispatcher to be that babysitter, because that's what it's about. It's not a demeaning term, right? It's not a demeaning term to the movers. It's a sense of like, look, I've heard it so many times. I don't want to be a babysitter. I don't want to be a babysitter. I don't want to be a babysitter. Well.

Then find another solution. Because, you know, sometimes when, you know, as you go higher up, as you start to build your company and you have more people working for you and you have more managers and you have more directors and people of departments, you don't have to be a babysitter. But as that chain goes down to the bottom of the organizational chart, someone's going to have to do some babysitting. Someone's going to have to do some micromanagement, right? And for me, if you just early on, I just accepted it, I'm like, I would tell dispatchers, look, you're like a glorified babysitter. Just so you know, like, I hope you're okay with that. Because if you're not okay with that, you know, because some people can't take it. Some people are so, like, I'm on point. Why can't they be on point? I'm on point. Why can't they be on point? And there's a certain amount of BS that you've got to deal with.

All right, my friend, what'd you think of that episode? Did you learn something new? Did it spark some ideas that you can implement your business right away. Did it get the wheels turning? Did you love it? If so, do me a favor. Share this episode somewhere out there on social media where you know there's some people that will get value from it. Make sure you hashtag the Moving Mastery Podcast so that we'll be able to look you up and find you on Instagram. Sometimes we just randomly pick a few people and send them gifts like free training T shirts, hats, swag, tickets to our three day seminars. So make sure you let us know you're listening and share what you thought about this episode out there on social media.

Thank you so much for joining us on the Moving Mastery Podcast and being a part of this amazing community. And until we talk next time, go out there every single day. Profit in your business and thrive in your life.

I'll talk to you soon, my friend.