AMSA DIRECTION MAGAZINE JAN / FEB 2018 WITH STEPHEN SELIGSON MENTIONED IN ARTICLE ON MILENIAL MOVING

1. The Magazine of the American Moving & Storage AssociationJanuary–February 2018
Moving.org
—10—
ACQUISITIONS
Updater Gains Moving
Software Companies
—18—
MEMBERS DOING GOOD
AMSA Members Respond to
Recent Disasters
—46—
ON THE HILL
Autonomous Trucks,
Agency Nominations and Beyond
—48—
FAST FACTS
Home Rentals Are Rising.
How Can You Beneit?
How age can affect a move, and how your company
can win each generation’s business
MILLENNIALS
GEN X
BOOMERS
SILENT
GENERATION
ON THE

2. MILLENNIALS
GEN X
BOOMERS
SILENT
GENERATION
Direction
22
JANUARY|FEBRUARY2018

3. T
he housing market is getting
healthier and more diverse. That
means moving companies must
prepare for an uptick in business.
Since the Great Recession, the
housing market has steadily improved,
with sales of previously lived-in
homes reaching 5.45 million in 2016,
the highest number in a decade,
according to the National Association
of Realtors (NAR).
“In general, we do see a strong
correlation with the housing market
for obvious reasons,” said AMSA
President and CEO Scott Michael. “If
someone can’t sell their house, they
probably can’t move. If someone can’t
ind a house to buy, they probably
can’t move. And renters typically are
less likely to hire a full-service pro-
fessional mover than a homeowner.
Fewer possessions and less wealth.”
Who’s buying? NAR’s “2017 Home
Buyer and Seller Generational Trends
Report” takes a hard look at this
question, noting trends in the ages of
people who are buying—and moving.
The market is being driven by
people ages 27 to 51—a combi-
nation of older millennials and
younger Generation Xers. You
might think there’s nothing surpris-
ing about that. After all, isn’t that
the age when most people have been
likely to move?
But if you think that—and you
dismiss the real diferences between
this group of buyers and those who
are older—you could be overlooking
signiicant opportunities to take
advantage of growing and changing
markets, said Rue Lamb, manager of
ProMover and compliance for AMSA.
Lamb, 33, who is an older millen-
nial, said he recently hired a mover
for the irst time to move him and
his family into their irst home. The
experience was eye-opening.
By Jennie L. Phipps
ON THE
A healthy housing market means moves are on
the rise. Learn how to cater to the nuances of each
generation in order to earn their business.
DirectionJANUARY|FEBRUARY2018
23

4. “Before this, I got a truck, loaded
up the house and moved myself a little
at a time,” Lamb said. “But now that
I’ve had a pro move, I’d never do it any
other way.”
Lamb is betting that his friends
will feel much the same way. That’s
good news for the moving industry,
since older and younger millennials,
combined, represent 34 percent of all
people who moved last year, according
to the NAR study.
As Michael said in AMSA’s 2017
State of the Industry address: “We have
to reach out and convince all segments
of the population. We need to be
listening to what our customers want
and then meet that need. We can’t
aford to ignore any possible markets
for our services.”
Jessica Lautz, managing director of
survey research and communications
for NAR, ofers these eight pieces of
advice that she believes the moving
industry should take from NAR’s
generational study.
• Millennials are moving to the
suburbs. Some people thought this
generation would be city dwellers all
their lives, but as they age and have
children and pets, they are more
interested in single-family homes
with space and yards.
• Pets are important. “We found
that half of people who bought a
home made a renovation for their
pets. Moving pets is a business
opportunity for sure,” Lautz said.
• People are living longer in the
homes they buy. Tenure has
increased from six to 10 years, Lautz
said. “That means it is imperative
that clients keep you in mind for a
longer period of time, so you remain
the company they turn to when they
do move.”
• Millennials want a trusted
adviser. “Sure, millennials care
about technology, but they rely on
referrals more than other genera-
tions,” Lautz said, noting that good
will and good recommendations
are vital.
• Millennials are cost-conscious.
“Afordability is very important,”
Lautz said. “They have credit card
debt, auto loans and student loans.
You not only have to prove your
value, you also have to be afordable.”
• Gen Xers are the most multi-
cultural and the most likely to
have multigenerational fam-
ilies. That includes kids younger
than 18 right up to Grandma in
HOMEBUYERS BY GENERATION
Year Born Age in 2016 Percent in Category Median Age in Group
Younger Gen Y /
Millennials 1990–1998 26 and younger 6% 25
Older Gen Y /
Millennials
1980–1989 27–36 28% 32
Gen X 1965–1979 37–51 28% 43
Younger Boomers 1955–1964 52–61 16% 57
Older Boomers 1946–1954 62–70 14% 66
Silent Generation 1925–1945 71–91 8% 75
Source: National Association of Realtors, “2017 Home Buyer and Seller Generational Trends Report”
Direction
24
JANUARY|FEBRUARY2018

5. her 100s. You have to be able to
accommodate all kinds of people,
Lautz said. That can include mov-
ing family members from several
places into one place, or vice versa.
It also can mean moving kids to and
from college, working with people
who don’t speak English and being
willing to accommodate unusual
timing and household items.
• Boomers are unwilling to
compromise. And a lot of them
can aford not to. “If you want their
business, you have to appreciate
that,” Lautz said.
• The silent generation needs
patience and expertise. One-
quarter of them are moving into
senior-related housing. They are
also more likely to be moving lon-
ger distances than younger people,
and they may need more help with
that move.
Many movers already have igured
out these bits of wisdom. Here are
some examples of how they are
responding to and proiting from
these opportunities.
BUILDING TRUST WITH
THE OLDEST CUSTOMERS
Since 2005, Andrew Androf,
co-owner of ProfessionalMovers.com,
an agent for Wheaton World Wide
Moving, based in Detroit and Walled
Lake, Mich., has been focusing a
major part of his business on seniors
with an average age in the mid-80s.
“We ofer them a custom moving
package that is more hands-on,”
Androf said.
This approach started when the
company was asked by a large senior
community in Novi, a close-in suburb
of Detroit, to be its preferred moving
vendor. To establish the company as
the go-to mover for this community,
Androf’s company made a “concerted
efort to make sure that a move from
the initial planning to the last piece of
furniture was the way the customer
wanted it to be,” he said. “We were
very methodical.”
Those irst moves were a template.
Since then, “We have perfected the
process,” Androf said.
The senior moves start with a
lengthy conversation between the
move consultant and the customer.
“Our average home survey is 20
minutes,” Androf said. “With these
seniors, we plan to be there an hour
to an hour and a half. It is a very
important part of the process. We use
it to build a trusting relationship.”
This includes identifying family
heirlooms and tagging them for
special handling. It also involves
learning about other members of the
family who will be part of the move
and, if possible, talking to them about
their concerns.
“If we are working with a son or
a daughter, we try to do as much as
we can to know their entire situation
and what their highest pain point is,”
Androf said.
This visit is held at the time most
convenient for all the customers.
“We are extremely lexible—we
The money you save using AMSA’s Member Discount Program partners could pay your annual dues,
and then some! Whether you operate one truck or ten, you can save thousands of dollars a year on
products and services you already use.
AMSA Membership Pays for Itself
To view a complete list of partners and special offers, visit ProMover.org/Discounts.
DirectionJANUARY|FEBRUARY2018
25

6. will come at any time, seven days a
week,” he added.
The move consultant uses this
conversation to provide a proposed
outline of the move. “Here is when we
will be arriving,” Androf explained.
“This is how long we will take to load
the trucks. This is an estimate of the
time the drive will take, and here is
when we will be unloading.”
This approach comforts the
nervous. “They can consult the move
plan themselves, or a son or daughter
can reassure them that we are on
schedule,” he said. “It reduces their
stress levels.”
It also helps for the movers to
emphasize that they are taking
particular care of the special pieces.
The conversation might go like
this, Androf explained: “I’m James
Turner. I am going to move you
today. We know that you have a
concern about your marble table.
We are going to wrap it while you
stand here and watch. We are using
a premium blanket, and we are
putting the table in the safest part of
the truck.”
If you screw up you’d better be
prepared to ix it. Seniors talk and rely
heavily on each other’s opinions. “You
have to take that liability waiver and
throw it out the window,” he said. “If
it is broken, you have to ix it.”
But there are rewards. Between
2005 and 2009—years when the
Michigan housing economy was
tanking ahead of the curve in other
places—ProfessionalMovers.com saw
its revenue increase 11 percent. Plus,
business in this segment continues
to grow annually, now relecting 20
percent of total proit for the com-
pany. “We are focusing our eforts
on setting ourselves apart from other
movers in this segment of the indus-
try,” Androf said.
ProfessionalMovers.com is cur-
rently the preferred mover for 10
large senior communities in southeast
Michigan, which means these com-
munities get preferential treatment.
Even in the busy summer season, if
the communities get a new resident,
ProfessionalMovers.com handles the
move—no matter if it is a blackout day
for other kinds of moves. The seniors
also receive a 5 percent discount.
Most importantly, Androf said, “we
make sure the new resident has a great
moving experience.”
REACHING MILLENNIALS BY
NONTRADITIONAL MEANS
When Stephen Seligson went to work
as the director of residential sales and
marketing for Molloy Bros. Moving
& Storage, an agent for Maylower
......................
138Years InThe Making
Tough. Safe. Dependable. That’s what you
need in a truck body, and it’s what we put
in every vehicle we’ve built since 1879.
No one builds a better truck body than
Kentucky Trailer. No one. Each is custom
made, and every one is
“Built KT Strong”
Contact:
888-598-7245
kytrailer.com
CONTACT US:
To order your
Custom-BuiltTruck Body.
“Built KT Strong”
Kentucky Trailer
Custom-Built Truck
Bodies
Direction
26
JANUARY|FEBRUARY2018

7. The Most Completely Integrated Mover’s Software on the Planet

8. Transit based in Farmingdale, N.Y.,
he noticed something important.
Most of the other employees had been
with the company for a long time.
Seligson, who had taken the job after
leaving a position as director of design
for a company that created annual
reports, not only had to learn the
industry, but he also had to persuade
his staf of eight salespeople that he
knew something that would help
them succeed.
So, he took a sales management
training class through Maylower
Transit and came away convinced
that “we need to cater toward a
millennial audience,” Seligson said.
“We need to give that customer a
diferent experience.”
He started out by embracing video
estimates for customers who didn’t
want a salesperson to come to their
homes. “Millennials stay up late at
night, and then they go to work early,”
he said. “They want the estimate at
9 at night, not at 3 in the afternoon,
when I could send someone.”
Using technology from Crater,
Seligson discovered the beauty of
video. “In the past, we did phone esti-
mates, then the driver would show up
and ind that there was a lot more stuf
than we heard about on the phone,” he
explained. “Now, with the video, you
can see everything.
“It is similar to [Apple’s]
FaceTime,” Seligson added. “They
see us, and we see them. We walk
them through the whole house, and
the app records the whole thing.
Video is just as accurate as being
there in person.
Seligson has also had success selling
small-shipment moves to millennials.
“Millennials are, generally speaking,
minimalists,” he said. “They don’t
accumulate big furniture. They don’t
have a lot of stuf.”
Previously, Molloy Bros. had a
2,100-pound minimum. Today, it
can ofer a 1,000-pound, small-move
package, utilizing a container. “It is
very eicient and quick,” Seligson said.
“I can do a full-service move—when
they go with the PODS guy, they have
to provide their own labor. I can ofer
free storage for 21 days, schedule the
date of delivery and appeal to them on
price. It works.”
Additionally, Seligson has
discovered the art of persuading
millennials. “They don’t like to be
sold; they are a referral-based gen-
eration,” he said. “And you have to
play where they play—online. They
don’t keep paper. A postcard goes
right in the garbage. We are all over
social media, Instagram, Facebook,
LinkedIn, Snapchat. They don’t want
Direction
28
JANUARY|FEBRUARY2018

10. a phone call from the mover. They
are much happier communicating
with text messages and much more
likely to respond.”
Here’s the real question: Is it work-
ing? “Our closing ratio with millennials
has increased,” Seligson said. “No
question, we are ahead of the game.”
EARNING LOYALTY FROM BOOMERS
James Sullivan, president of Boston-
based Humboldt Storage & Moving,
divides these groups based on life
stage. Gen Xers are busy and at the
peaks of their careers. They still
have children at home. They are
paying tuition as well as a mort-
gage. They do both online and
in-store shopping.
“We do Facebook ads and email
marketing, but we also do direct mail,”
Sullivan said. “We don’t send millen-
nials direct mail, but Gen X is OK
with it. They grew up with that kind
of marketing.”
Sullivan also has had success reaching
Gen X through community service.
“They like to see us doing things in the
community,” he said. “We get a lot of
leads though things like volunteering at
the Special Olympics.”
Overall, service and lexibility are
key. “This group is a big part of our
business today,” Sullivan said. “They
are corporate people at the peak of their
careers. They have money to spend, but
they don’t have much time—they are
always checking their email.
“They need our services to pack
and to make the move as stress-free
as we can,” he added. “And they like
discounts and coupons—more so
than boomers.”
Boomers are diferent. “Baby
boomers are loyal to a brand,”
Sullivan explained. “A lot of them
are repeat customers, or they come
through a referral: ‘You moved Mary,
and she suggested I give you a call.’
They aren’t looking for discounts.
They want top-shelf service.”
Patience and willingness to ofer
extra service are vital when dealing
with boomers. If the boomer needs
a home organizer, Humboldt will
make a recommendation. “We quite
frequently do these kinds of things for
boomers,” Sullivan said. “It’s rarely a
straight home-to-home move.”
Since many boomers have been
in their homes for 30 years or more,
Sullivan recognizes that a move can
be an emotional time for them. “We
try to make it as easy and painless as
possible,” he said.
Is this kind of handholding prof-
itable? “They pay for the service,”
Sullivan said. “I don’t think we can
retire just ofering these services, but
they build loyalty. They feel like they
made the call and you are making
it happen. And that is what they are
going to tell their friends.” n
Jennie L. Phipps is a veteran business jour-
nalist based in Michigan. She is a frequent
contributor to Direction.
Direction
30
JANUARY|FEBRUARY2018