Its been a while since ive written an article but i feel tat the changes in the industry still continue to be drastic. This industry in no longer viable ! If a removals company is doing well now its pure luck that they have hit a niche or perhaps a top map listing position that by luck google lets them have.
A removals company called me the other day and asked for work from me. They seems to have a good presence online and he was good on the phone and his hourly rate was way too low. Even he was struggling to get work at an incredibly low price.
Its time to go now , its all over. The marketers have won , google has won. Removalists have lost and the customers have lost. Whats the future in removals ? Well there will be no more actual removalists around. It will be just new immigrants straight off the boat or plane. Companies that pay no income tax , pay no superannuation , no workers comp , no public liability , no transit insurance , probably share a truck with cousins. They will have to manage as owners operators with no english and work for some marketing company as underpaid subcontractors.
Marketing websites will continue to sell leads to small individual companies but they will steal the leads and also give them to their own secret subcontractors , this is currently happening. They will take all the good leads for themselves in secret and give the small leads to the bottom feeders new n poor immigrants.
Those customers that remember what removals companies are will get a big shock when they start dealing with these Iraqi's, next to come are the Sirians i guess. Or what ever new wave of new immigrants is at the time.
People who still call me because they know we have been around. But they still don't understand that we are a very cheap price. When they shop around they find what seems to be cheaper.
The truth is difficult for me to keep saying to them. That it all just seems cheap , they will get more from you on the day.
SUPPORT THE REMOVALS COMPANIES !!!!!!! (the real ones)
www.sydneyfurnitureremovals.com.au
I will be rebranding soon as a last ditch attempt avoid the hundreds of copy cats that collapsed my business.
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Sunday, December 18, 2011
CHEAP REMOVALS
Well if your reading this article the chances are that you are looking for a cheap removalist. I'll try to be un bias in this article, and i do have a removals company that offers cheap removals service but i'll going to discuss the cheap removals industry in general.
Basically it has been a growing industry ! The cheap removalist is everywhere now , I bet you have seen a mind boggling number yourself on the net right ?. How to you decide an judge. OK so here are a few tips. Look at the website and try to determine if you really think that the website is from an actual removals company. They might have some real looking photos on it rather than just the profession American bought photos. You can tell that the really super professional photos are not really what the small cheap removals company have taken, just a small tip. Don't go looking for the cheapest service at the very top of the paid ads. They generally are the companies that will make you think its very cheap but the extras will add up and really take you by surprise.
Just keep in mind that removals prices are generally very low so you are going to get value for money, but if you want to squeeze the price lower and lower then you will probably end up going for a company that just seems cheap. Well to get a good price they will be cutting all the corners up front and trying to scavenge them back when on you job.
My advise is very generally to just use you common sense. Don't go for the very cheapest, try to find a company that has existed for a while and more important than anything is make sure they ARE actually removalists. That might sound strange but many marketers now are pretending to be removalists but they have never even picked up a piece of furniture in their lives.
Basically it has been a growing industry ! The cheap removalist is everywhere now , I bet you have seen a mind boggling number yourself on the net right ?. How to you decide an judge. OK so here are a few tips. Look at the website and try to determine if you really think that the website is from an actual removals company. They might have some real looking photos on it rather than just the profession American bought photos. You can tell that the really super professional photos are not really what the small cheap removals company have taken, just a small tip. Don't go looking for the cheapest service at the very top of the paid ads. They generally are the companies that will make you think its very cheap but the extras will add up and really take you by surprise.
Just keep in mind that removals prices are generally very low so you are going to get value for money, but if you want to squeeze the price lower and lower then you will probably end up going for a company that just seems cheap. Well to get a good price they will be cutting all the corners up front and trying to scavenge them back when on you job.
My advise is very generally to just use you common sense. Don't go for the very cheapest, try to find a company that has existed for a while and more important than anything is make sure they ARE actually removalists. That might sound strange but many marketers now are pretending to be removalists but they have never even picked up a piece of furniture in their lives.
Hourly rates vs Quotes in removals.
Are hourly rates better than a quote ? Well here ill try to give an un bias opinion. The removals industry has become extremely competitive in the last two years. Internet marketing stimulates price competition so much that there has a downward push on price. Many of the removalists that have Internet presence must give a very low price if they want to get good volume, so generally the hourly rate prices in removals industry are the way to go and are good value.
Some people distrust the hourly rate system because they feel that the removalists will drag on the time and invent ways to delay the job. This is not generally what happens. Generally the removalists will just want to get the job finished and they will get a little break between jobs. I believe that very few removalists will intentionally delay jobs. I have heard of it happening but its not generally done.
Quotations however , can be good if you want to meet the removalists that are doing your job and that s good, but your probably going to end up paying less if you go for an hourly rate. The reason that quotes are generally more is because it very hard to guess how long a job will take. There are always extra requirements from the client and some unforeseen delays are very common. Traffic , difficult items, dismantling beds etc. So when a quotation is done it is more often done based on the worst case scenario. If the guys comes and under quotes a job then it almost impossible to ask the client for more after the fact, so they tend to make sure they quote to make money on the job.
Hourly rates will be cheaper almost always in this business. Another good thing about hourly rates is that they give you flexibility. So can be extra prepared on you removals job or even you have have done some Ute loads yourselves. SO now your job will take less time because you have done some work. Quoters also generally know that they stand a very good chance to get the job. They have met the client face to face and made the effort , there's a great chance they'll get the job. So they will make the price nice and profitable while they are at it. Im not saying they don't deserve the money i'm just saying that hourly rates prices are generally best.
Quoter ofter also try to make you fear hourly rate services aswell. They will make you think that hourly rate service will take forever, you will feel the fear.
Some people distrust the hourly rate system because they feel that the removalists will drag on the time and invent ways to delay the job. This is not generally what happens. Generally the removalists will just want to get the job finished and they will get a little break between jobs. I believe that very few removalists will intentionally delay jobs. I have heard of it happening but its not generally done.
Quotations however , can be good if you want to meet the removalists that are doing your job and that s good, but your probably going to end up paying less if you go for an hourly rate. The reason that quotes are generally more is because it very hard to guess how long a job will take. There are always extra requirements from the client and some unforeseen delays are very common. Traffic , difficult items, dismantling beds etc. So when a quotation is done it is more often done based on the worst case scenario. If the guys comes and under quotes a job then it almost impossible to ask the client for more after the fact, so they tend to make sure they quote to make money on the job.
Hourly rates will be cheaper almost always in this business. Another good thing about hourly rates is that they give you flexibility. So can be extra prepared on you removals job or even you have have done some Ute loads yourselves. SO now your job will take less time because you have done some work. Quoters also generally know that they stand a very good chance to get the job. They have met the client face to face and made the effort , there's a great chance they'll get the job. So they will make the price nice and profitable while they are at it. Im not saying they don't deserve the money i'm just saying that hourly rates prices are generally best.
Quoter ofter also try to make you fear hourly rate services aswell. They will make you think that hourly rate service will take forever, you will feel the fear.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Old school removalists
The old school removalist is almost extinct now. Yes yet another article about how this industry is changing. I guess if feel like someone has to say something. Is service in general a thing of the past. Removalists these days have no idea what a removalist is. They think they are removalists ! Totally convinced of it. Ask them who trained them and they will say proudly "i trained myself". They don't' need anyone to tell them how to lift furniture right. The truth is that there are so so many skills required to be a good removalist. The biggest single skill a good removalist is in fact to be firstly a good truck driver ! Say what ? ! Truck driver yes , crashing trucks is the easiest thing to do. It IS very easy to drive a truck, but can you drive one for years on end with crashing it ? Well thats a skill that some people will never be able to achieve. The type of person who has a sense of awareness, what is going on around me ? Where could the next accident happen ? How do I do this safer ? How do i get my offsider to do this safer ?. This is a constant condition of a good removalist. Always looking around the corner and turning his head from side to side looking behind him as he walks backwards. I can tell a good removalist by the way he walks you know. Back straight walking backwards turning his head constantly.
So what are the odds you are going to get a good removalist ? Do you remember what a removalist is ? Ask you father he will know !
Moving in sydney
Sydney is a city where a large amount of people move and there are many many removals companies to choose from. People migrate in the summer towards the beaches, and they also move alot more when there is a move in rental prices up or down. People move more when the prices come down because they think they will get a better deal if they move unit. Its going to be easier than asking the landlord for a reduction in rent. Moving in sydney seems to be as easy as a web search then pick and and choose a removalist. But is it ? More than likely you will search for a cheap removalist and end up with a marketing company. You will never know the difference. Marketers are now becoming the actual services. After all if you get the leads why not just keep them and pay a subcontractor.
Please be sensible in your choice of a removals company, don't go for the cheapest you can find, we deserve to make some money so we can keep up the service.
QUESTION FOR YOU:
Does a company deserve the right to grow and have someone to answer the phone ? Or should they answer the phone from the truck. Do they deserve to have a office to rent ? Or should they just do their office from home. Can a new business starting no ever have a depot,accounts dept,marketing dept etc . This scenario is looking more and more distant. If you want the find a cheap removalist then you have to also be a bit sensible about your expectation of service. You will never get it both ways , don't dream ! The super cheap services available and also complain about them being late or damaging you furniture beyond belief.
Go for a middle of the range priced service, will be able to manage a bit better. An they may even be able to pay the wages for proper removalists, if your lucky.
How to choose a removalist in sydney.
Choosing a removalist in sydney , is an interesting subject if you look at it purely form the point of with of choosing a removalist from a search engine such as google.
Here's the thing ! When you type in your keywords to search such as "sydney removals"(try a search !) you will get the paid ads at the top and down the side. You will also get some of the map listing at the top. In general the top listings are companies that pay lot of money to the search engine and do massive volume but they have to also be cheap. The problem is that they are very often not really removalists, they are actually marketers and the marketers are taking over the industry. This is because they are more clever than most good removalists in Sydney. But not a lifting furniture !
It is better to find a more established removalist that you know is actually a removals company and not a marketing company. Very generally if a company has been around for a while then they will appear in the more natural listing in google. Search engines do like website that have been around for a while to they give them good results naturally. So keep this in mind, search on the net but choose from companies that look more established and are in the natural results of the search engine.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Removals industry changes rapidly.
As a removals company owner Im absolutely blown away by how fast this is industry has changed. 10 years ago I really felt like I knew that the internet would change the industry, and a lot of the things I thought would happen, have indeed happened. For instance I knew that the internet was the future of business and that being up in google is the best way forward. I have been there for a long time now, but what I didn't know, was that, as much as I thought the change would be fast , the pace of that change has STILL caught me by surprise ! Go figure ! you know its coming like a train you are watching the train, but you still get a shock as the train passes, like watching a high speed japaneze train. Now that we are at the passing point and the train flashes past and disappears into the distance.
The main problem with this industry is the pay per click system. If you are not an expert at it, then its way too complicated and way to expensive now. The price of the click gets driven up by the keyword auction system, and the price is now at the tipping point, where there is now very little profit to be made in the industry. You can put as much money into clicks as you like and get all the hits to our website but you have to pay for that. I for one, have never done a pay per click ads for my business but have experimented a little bit to see what its like. It drives the industry.
The pay per click industry drives a lot of industries now , the problem is that it drives it down. As the price of the click goes up and up, only the real pay per click marketers can manage . They have students on low commissions converting the leads , and its ALL about the up-sell.
To get clicks that convert to bookings, you have offer the lowest price, because these clickers want the cheapest, and its a price war !!!. An all in brawl of highest bidders but cheapest prices. "Guarantee lowest price", "cheapest on the net.
Quotes nowadays have moved towards the half hour rate. "say what ? ! ". Why half an hour rate ? Well if you ask them, they say things like "We only charge by the half hour" or "other companies will round up to the nearest hour". But this really means nothing because an hourly rate service is just that, TIME * LABOUR ! Its not rocket science but they seem to be successful at changing the way the its all quoted. The truth is, that its all about getting a click and then to get a lead.
QUESTION FOR YOU !
Is $20phh a better deal than $44hr ? Which would you click on ? Well sorry I don't mean to insult your intelligence, i guess your still reading this because you are interested and you can understand whats going on here. So thats the game in a nutshell , just make it sound super cheap then up-sell, over charge, extra charge and go go go .... Offer 5% discount n VIP pass.
Well we are supposed to be talking about the removals industry right ? I doesn't seem to be really about the removals industry at all, and its not ! Its about internet marketing now and all the old school removalists have been wiped out and are a dying breed. The old school removalist is almost exticnt now and well probably never see him again.
Prices in the old days for a common two man and truck 10 years ago were about $150/hr, yes that's PER HOUR including GST (that would be $37 per quarter hour, ex gst). I myself started in the industry close to ten years ago, This is our brief price story. We decided to quote cheap and undercut the industry a bit, just to get started at $85ph (lets now just talk per hour inc GST) Then later we raised the price closer to the normal price at about $110ph then years later at an almost normal price of $120ph. By that time the real established reputable removalists were charging much less at about $130 per hour. Now lately I have had to come back down to $110ph THATS 8 YEARS LATER ! An not only that people ask me why am I so expensive ? They have had quotes for cheaper, can i do a better deal and match the other company that quoted $45 per half hour.
Should i join them if I can't lick them ? Should i now advertise $10 per quarter hour for a 1 man and ute service ? Whats your opinion ?
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