Dear readers, I want to dedicate this story to all successful women who are working very hard in our industry.
The idea about this editorial project came to me about a month ago when I read “Badass Women of Washington” – a series produced by Dana Bash and her team at CNN Politics. And so I thought of 7 badass women who have made moving their own mission to accomplish every single day.
Although the moving industry is a male-dominated industry, women, applying their unique set of skills, play a significant role in lifting up and promoting success in the relocation businesses they work for.
Our industry is in quite a volatile situation right now, with technology and government disrupting it evermore.
I asked 7 successful women about the greatest issues that we are currently facing up to, about their own triumphs and mistakes, inspiration and superpowers. Some of them work for a moving company, some own a moving company, and others supply moving companies, here are they (listed alphabetically):
Danielle Rankin – Marketing Manager, Gentle Giant Moving Company
How long have you been working in the moving industry and how did you start working in the moving business in the first place?
I started working in the moving industry in 2005 over a summer break from college. A friend helped me get an interview for the Quality Control department. Dealing with customers when things go wrong is a great way to learn the industry from the ground up.
What is your superpower? Describe your typical daily responsibilities.
Danielle Rankin – Marketing Manager at Gentle Giant Moving Company
My superpower is squeezing extra hours into every work day. I am a “Jill of all trades” on any given day I could be event planning, working on a technology project, analyzing market reports, or helping organizing a fun event around the office.
What is the toughest decision you have ever made?
Professionally, I would say choosing to go into Marketing. I worked on both the sales side and the technology (project management) side of the company. Marketing was more aligned with my degree, but it was a whole new challenge for me. I am still taking classes, watching webinars, and reading every article I can get my hands on. It is a part time job to keep current in today’s marketing world.
What is the greatest mistake you have ever made and what was the lesson learned?
Professionally, launching a new website at the beginning of the busy season! Everything that could have gone wrong, did! I learned the hard way that you need to always anticipate things will go wrong with technology projects, and so use your slow season to ramp up new tools.
Where do you find inspiration, what motivates your work?
The people! You don’t have to look very far to find an inspirational coworker. I work with Olympic athletes, marathon runners, triathletes. We have one particular coworker who races up the stairs of tall buildings all over the country (and wins nearly every time); I am always amazed at the determination and dedication my coworkers bring to everything they do in life. It reminds you that you can accomplish almost anything you put your mind to it, as long as you can keep motivating yourself.
What has been your most satisfying moment in your career so far?
Leading the marketing team had been a very satisfying experience. I learn new things and face new challenges every day. It forces me to keep thinking outside the box. Our industry is finally starting to catch up and leverage technology. It’s a very exciting time.
What are the greatest challenges our industry is currently facing up to and how could those be possibly addressed?
The biggest challenge I see, is keeping up with all the technology tools and platforms. Uber set the standard for the transportation industry in terms of consumer expectations. The new baseline is to have GPS enabled arrival times, tracking and seamless payment options. Moving companies haven’t quite met these new demands yet. There is opportunity for a market leader to emerge with a solution to this problem. I think most of us would jump to adopt a product that fulfilled these new customer expectations.
How do you see our industry changing in the next 5/25 years?
Technology will completely transform the moving industry. A typical (accurate) moving quote is turned around in 1 to 24 hours depending on the complexity of the move. I can only imagine that time will be reduced to minutes in the coming decade. Self-driving trucks will be on the road. Storage access at a touch of a button from the phone will be available for consumers. These are all things that are already being developed. It is going to be fun to see them unfold.
What is your next goal in your career?
I have told myself for years that I need to get my MBA. I think that has evolved to keep taking classes. My goal is to keep up with all the current marketing trends. It is so easy to sit back and ignore them until you have a direct business need, but I want to continue to be engaged as much as possible.
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Kathy Grigsby – Director of Field Safety Compliance and Risk Management, Coleman Worldwide Moving/Covan
How long have you been working in the moving industry and how did you start working in the moving business in the first place?
Kathy Grigsby – Director of Field Safety Compliance and Risk Management at Coleman Worldwide Moving/Covan
I have been with Coleman American Moving Services, Inc. and Covan World-Wide Moving, Inc. 22 years all so far.
I came to work for Coleman/Covan after selling our small trucking company running under the name AG Carriers. It was a refrigerated hauler based in Florida. I was hired by Andrew G. Coleman, who was a Safety Director at that time and succeeded him shortly after that when he moved up in management.
What is your superpower? Describe your typical daily responsibilities.
I would say that my superpower is that I don’t know how to quit. I will get it done eventually because I am stubborn.
I have responsibility over the Service Centers Safety Auditing, Training of GM’s, concerning Safety and Policies, monitoring Loss Experience, Allocation of Claims, Loss Control, Insurance Premiums, and putting together all Loss Control Measures. This includes 60 Warehouses and their employees.
Thankfully, I have an outstanding group of people that work in Safety who are very good at their jobs. Everyone is very dedicated, conscientious and caring about the drivers and people they deal with on a daily basis. Gwen Vickers, is my Safety Director, and I have complete confidence in her. I travel all over the country and she handles the daily office operations. I am engaged more in field operation.
What is the toughest decision you have ever made?
My toughest decision that I made professionally was the termination of a driver who was the husband of a dear friend. No one likes to do that. While I am fair, I never back down where regulations are concerned. That doesn’t mean that it isn’t hard to terminate someone you like.
What is the greatest mistake you have ever made and what was the lesson learned?
When the CSA 2010 first came out I tried to handle that data and sort it into some kind of sense by myself, so that I could allocate resources in order to make changes to address current problems. After about six months of an overwhelming amount of detail work, I found Vigillo and signed on with them for the management of the data. Then I was able to see it all sorted, sliced and diced so that I could get the big picture, with our worst problems spotlighted. Vigillo’s data management allowed me to allocate staff and work out the problem more easily.
What was the lesson learned?
You can’t do everything by yourself and there are times you must look outside of the company for answers.
Where do you find inspiration, what motivates your work?
My inspiration has always come from my faith in God. Everything I do is because I believe that I am accountable for my life and making it pleasing to God.
What has been your most satisfying moment in your career so far?
I would have to say when I was the Chairman of the AMSA Safety Committee. I was the first female elected as chairman and my project during my tenure was to get every Safety Director certified as a CDS (Certified Director of Safety) through the North American Transportation Management Institute.
I had been in several mediations that were very difficult because I didn’t have anything in writing that verified my credentials. I had lots of experience but it was difficult to prove in a courtroom or in a mediation.
I wanted to make sure the other Safety Directors had this credential to help them with vital issues.
What are the greatest challenges our industry is currently facing up to and how could those be possibly addressed?
Driver retention is one great challenge. I firmly believe that if you treat people like they matter and that they are valuable to the company, they will be loyal and stay with you.
The ELD mandate is the next biggest hurdle that is immediately coming up. We need to be compliant by 12/17/17 and there are still some small companies that are not even started getting ready.
Regulatory burdens on the Moving Industry are another great issue. We have just experienced 10 years of harsh regulations impacting the whole transportation industry while drivers were dwindling in numbers. Moving & Storage industry must be able to make a living for our drivers or we are going to have an industry in crisis.
How are we going to attract new drivers if we have drivers that feel they are defeated by excessive regulations, fines, and constant scrutiny?
How do you see our industry changing in the next 5/25 years?
Millennials are the tip of the iceberg for changes in our industry. They are very good with technology and social media, and they want instant results without a lot of input. We need to figure out how to provide this in our industry, or they will figure it out and leave us behind. We cannot keep using the same methods to attract business with millennials as we did with their parents and grandparents.
What is your next goal in your career?
I want to be more proactive with our Service Centers Loss Control and Risk Management. I have been unable to address this as I would like in the past few years because of the challenges of the CSA and the ELD’s. Now that they are being successfully managed, I will be able to return to my heart’s desire, which is in Risk Management. I might even be able to go back to school and get some new training myself!
Maureen Beal – CEO and Chairman, National Van Lines
How long have you been working in the moving industry and how did you start working in the moving business in the first place?
When I was a little girl, I dreamt about becoming a wife, and a mother, and a ballerina!
So, how did a nice girl like me end up in the trucking business?
After I dropped the ballerina idea, I held on to the dream of becoming a wife and a mother. I got married when I was 18 years old and I found myself a single mother at 20.
Not what I had planned. However, I had the good fortune of being born into a family business – the moving business. So I went to work there as the switchboard operator. At the time, I had no idea I was embarking on a career – I just needed the job! And I certainly was not the “heir apparent” to the family business, as I was the youngest of three.
Also, I did not spend my entire career at National Van Lines. In fact, I left the family business for 10 years and worked for a manufacturing company. However, family was always important to me and so, when my father asked me to head up the international division, I was glad to. And I was ready to.
What is your superpower? Describe your typical daily responsibilities.
I have always considered myself an “implementer” – while I am not the visionary my father was, I can spot a good idea and put it into play, effectively. That is why I always feel I need strong idea-people on my team. My day-to-day has changed considerably since I have named my successor; but I am still very hands-on, and my favorite gauge of the company’s health comes from managing the cash. I still read all of the customer reviews ASAP, as it reinforces that we have some of the best agents and drivers in the industry – and it allows me to see that we make course corrections when something goes wrong.
Maureen Beal – CEO and Chairman at National Van Lines
What is the toughest decision you have ever made?
I found myself needing to change paths with my succession plan. We had a purchaser for National Van Lines, but the program we put together just wasn’t working. It was hard to shift gears, but the final outcome was very rewarding. Instead of selling, we created an ESOP for the employees – giving them a stake in the outcome and creating a wonderful retirement benefit for them.
What is the greatest mistake you have ever made and what was the lesson learned?
I read a long time ago that you need to be slow to hire and quick to fire. Since I always try to see the best in people, I like to give them a while to settle in. I’ve learned that this doesn’t always work, and the atmosphere created by a bad hire can affect the rest of the organization. It comes down to setting aside personal impressions and making the best business decision. Then communicating that decision in a positive way. You cannot let mistakes or bad decisions fester – you have to move beyond them positively.
Where do you find inspiration, what motivates your work?
I had wonderful parents who served as the best role models:
My mother, Erna Meyer came to America from Germany when she was 18 years old. She visited a relative and decided to stay, which was really something for a woman to be on her own, in 1925. She went to business school, while working, and learned bookkeeping. And, that is how she eventually landed up at National Van Lines as their bookkeeper.
She saved up enough money to go back to visit her family, but the war broke out and she was not able to contact them at all. In 1945, a returning American soldier gave her the news that her beloved father had died two years earlier. I can only imagine how hard that was for her to not knowing how her family was doing during those war years. Later, mom and dad were able to bring mom’s mother and sister over here and they lived with them for the rest of their lives.
My Dad – FL McKee, who worked 5 ½ days a week until well into his 90’s, when he named me as his successor in the company, it spoke volumes to me. He saw something in me that I’m not sure I even realized – but he knew that I treasured his vision for National Van Lines and would do whatever it took to protect the family legacy. What an honor. He didn’t consider my gender an obstacle. He knew I understood the concerns of the relocating family.
What has been your most satisfying moment in your career so far?
I was presented the Moving & Storage Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award at the American Moving and Storage Association’s Conference for 2015. I was truly humbled to be included with the previous awardees in this prestigious category. I found myself thinking that my mother and father would have been really proud, and that maybe my father should have been the one honored in his lifetime. I know that the award criteria is extensive and to be selected was such a surprise.
To hear my name from the stage, and realize what was happening – Wow! And – when people pointed out that I was the first woman honored since its inception in 1983, I was absolutely floored. I am more dedicated than ever to promoting women in business, and especially in the moving industry.
What are the greatest challenges our industry is currently facing up to and how could those be possibly addressed?
Aside from the driver shortage, over the last few years, I have grown increasingly alarmed over two things. First, the influx of companies that are brokering business in the moving industry. I cannot imagine a more personal service than household goods relocation, and I am appalled at the number of families who are entrusting their belongings to organizations they only have met over the Internet.
Relocation brokers are literally selling moves to the lowest bidder, and, even though they are legally required to disclose the fact that they are not movers, they must be putting it in the small print! I certainly would never purchase a high-value service under those conditions.
And secondly, the unscrupulous and unlicensed movers. I am making it my personal mission to do everything I can, to see that the general public, once again, has a positive impression of moving and storage companies. I am tired of seeing unprofessional organizations, who are posing as movers, take advantage of relocating families, especially in times of stress. I want our customers to be well informed of the moving process, to receive accurate estimates and be charged reasonable prices. If we all commit to informing the moving public that they should be suspicious of prices that sound too good to be true, or promises that haven’t been put in writing, I believe we can eliminate these kinds of problems.
How do you see our industry changing in the next 5/25 years?
I think autonomous driving is the major breakthrough – I am fascinated by the possibilities and opportunities that are presented by allowing the “over-the-road” portion of hauling to be handled with autonomous vehicles, while the “up-close-and-personal” loading and unloading can be serviced with local, well-trained crews who can live normal lives and actively participate in their family and community activities, rather than being away from home for months at a time.
What is your next goal in your career?
I have taken my succession planning very seriously. So seriously, in fact, that we constructed an ESOP program for our employees. Today, I am proud to say that those employees are now the fourth generation of family management at National Van Lines. I’m so glad to have taken this step. After all these years of serving as Chairman and CEO, I made one of my best decisions. I named Tim Helenthal as my successor and equally important to his experience and knowledge is the fact that he is well-liked and respected by his peers, and has great family values. Currently, he serves as President and COO and will become Chairman and CEO, when I retire at the end of 2019.
Patricia McLaughlin – Executive Director, Illinois Movers’ and Warehousemen’s Association
How long have you been working in the moving industry and how did you start working in the moving business in the first place?
Patricia McLaughlin – Executive Director at IMAWA
I started working as the “office manager” (literally aka “the girl”) at Illinois Movers’ and Warehousemen’s Association on June 1, 1972. I was attending community college while working part time in a local office. A co-worker whose husband managed another association in town had heard the IMAWA full-time position was open (association people are famous for networking about everything!), and so I went for it and I never left.
What is your superpower? Describe your typical daily responsibilities.
My superpower is helping people. That can include anything from assisting a consumer with finding a good moving company, to teaching a compliance class for movers, to helping a legislator understand our business, to brainstorming with a fellow association management professional about a policy question.
I have even been asked by an association member what they should do about a construction contractor who gave them a bad deal on replacement windows at their house! After all these years in the association business and in the moving industry, I have been able to help all kinds of people with networking connections, and it has been extremely rewarding.
What is the toughest decision you have ever made?
My toughest decision in my career so far has been setting a date to retire. Since I have basically worked for the Illinois Movers’ Association my whole adult life, it has been more like a family than a job in many ways. Obviously, it’s been satisfying enough all these years, since I didn’t explore other opportunities after being appointed executive director in 1989.
Making the decision to cut the cord and start a new chapter without the safety net of my “family” and a regular paycheck has been difficult for me. However, as they say in some circles, you can’t get to second base if you never take your foot off first base! So, although I hope to be retained for a while in a consulting role, the new retirement adventure is set to begin early next year. Of course, the control freak in me is happy that our board of directors has listened to my recommendation for a transition plan and replacement, and so it will be easier for me to ride off into the sunset.
What is the greatest mistake you have ever made and what was the lesson learned?
One part of my job is to register as a lobbyist in Illinois to monitor state legislation that would affect the moving industry. Early in my career, I didn’t realize what pitfalls I can ensue with inexperience and lack of knowledge about how this shark-pit (legislative process) really works.
While in 1991 we successfully defeated (after an ugly fight) a bill that would change the state law to allow anyone (of any age) with a standard auto driver’s license to rent and drive a rental truck up to 26,000 lbs GVW for personal use, my inexperience allowed the proponents to do an end run around me and change the regulations instead. I didn’t even know it until it was too late.
My mistake allowed the rental truck industry to do less scrutiny of people coming in to rent big trucks, which allows the bandits to get away with illegal moving service and also makes our neighborhood streets less safe because of inexperienced people driving very big trucks that they seriously don’t know how to handle safely. (For commercial purposes, drivers must have a special category of driver’s license achieved after special testing. For personal use, “Katie bar the door.”)
How did I fix the mistake?
Sadly, the regulation still exists and any idiot with a driver’s license can rent and drive a great big truck for personal use. What I DID do, however, was to convince our board of directors that we needed help with monitoring and handling legislative issues. We hired an experienced contract lobbyist and have never had a similar problem again. It was a very humbling experience, but the lesson learned is that networking and reaching out for help and education is critical!
Where do you find inspiration, what motivates your work?
When I was a little kid I wanted to be a teacher. Working with association members and their customers affords me the opportunity to help people learn about regulations and issues affecting our industry, how to be safe when choosing movers and how to resolve conflicts. It is very rewarding to know how often we are truly able to really help someone – it keeps me coming back for more.
What has been your most satisfying moment in your career so far?
There have been two: in 1996 I received the Illinois Movers’ and Warehousemen’s Quality Service Award (which is ordinarily presented to an association member); in 2017 I received (via the American Moving & Storage Association) the Moving & Storage Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award for Distinguished Service. Both these important moving industry awards were truly humbling, unexpected, and very much appreciated acknowledgments of my contributions to the moving and storage industry.
What are the greatest challenges our industry is currently facing up to and how could those be possibly addressed?
The shortage of drivers to take shipments long distances is a serious issue for this labor-intensive business. Until the compensation for long-distance drivers is high enough to be an incentive, the problem will continue.
Sadly, too many consumers don’t understand (or care about) the real cost of hiring a mover, and they remain unwilling to pay what they should be paying for the service. Even on local moves, they will pay a plumber $120+ per hour for one plumber to fix their toilet, but paying $120 per hour for hiring 3 or 4 men to safely move everything they own to a new apartment seems to be an outrage to many customers.
The overhead cost of being a legitimate company in the moving business is high, and too many customers are unwilling to recognize that also must translate into higher fees for the service.
Too many customers resort to shopping online for the cheapest promised price, without considering the safeguards that will protect them from being swindled or even endangered. Until we can convince customers that moving is a serious profession and that quality service has related costs, change will be difficult.
How can we help educate consumers about the safeguards they should consider BEFORE they make the decision to hire an unlicensed or bad mover?
This is a challenge that we moving association professionals have been wrestling with for decades – and especially since about 1997 when the internet made it easier for the bad guys to make handsome promises they have no intention of keeping.
How do you see our industry changing in the next 5/25 years?
Technology changes everything. Some changes are ahead of their time and still need the bugs worked out – like phone apps to choose a moving company. Hiring a service provider to move everything you own is not the same as ordering floor cleaner from Amazon, and the apps existing today do not share enough important background information with prospective customers. Until the safeguards catch up to the technology, many people will be harmed. The improvements are inevitable, however; and hiring movers in a few years may, indeed, be as simple as ordering from Amazon.
What is your next goal in your career?
After 45 years in the industry, it is time for me to wind down and move over for someone else to step into this very rewarding position as executive director of the IMAWA. By early next year, I want to be a part-time consultant to the Association and enjoy more time with my husband on our farm.
Rachael Fletcher – Director of Operations, Crater
How long have you been working in the moving industry and how did you start working in the moving business in the first place?
I have been in the industry for 11 years and my start was not intentional. I met a woman in my MBA program that worked for Prudential Relocation. She made it sound like such a great company that I applied for several jobs there when I was laid off from a home builder during the real estate bust.
I was unfamiliar with relocation and did not care what job I had because I just wanted to work for the company. My original intent was to move around the Prudential brand but I learned there was so much I could do in the Global Mobility space that I chose to stay there. When I decided to work for Crater I was excited to stay in the industry and apply my relocation knowledge to a whole other side of the industry.
Rachael Fletcher – Director of Operations at Crater
What is your superpower? Describe your typical daily responsibilities.
Lately, managing business in multiple time zones is my superpower. I manage operations in the US office and in our office in Europe. I am also the Regional Leader of Business Development for the Americas and Australia/New Zealand. My day starts by addressing operational needs for the team in Europe before they sign off for the day. I then focus on US clients and Executive Team responsibilities mid to late day, spend time with my family, and then in the evening tend to the Australian market. I have learned that the 3 hour time zone difference between the West and East coast of the US is a cakewalk compared to the difference between the West Coast and Melbourne, Australia. It is quite intense but I love what I am doing.
What is the toughest decision you have ever made?
Leaving my previous corporate job to join a technology start up for the moving industry was by far the toughest decision I have made. The last two years at Brookfield Relocation Services I worked in compliance so I was not exactly known for taking risks. However, I realized that though the opportunity before me was going to be challenging and risky, being part of something that was changing an industry was something I could not pass up.
What is the greatest mistake you have ever made and what was the lesson learned?
Oh my goodness, I will admit that I have made my fair share of mistakes. However, the one that jumps out at me the most was not following my instincts and making a bad hire. Years ago I recruited someone after seeing their customer service skills in action. After interviewing him, my gut was saying he was not what I originally expected but I was so caught up in having some change on the sales floor, so I hired him.
It did not take long to realize my gut was right and he was not a cultural fit for the company or the team. He and the company felt the effects of it. We both agreed he needed to move on and I have never forgotten how horrible that felt. After that I changed the way I interviewed and evaluated key characteristics I was looking for during recruiting.
Where do you find inspiration, what motivates your work?
I get inspiration from powerful women around me. They may be in leadership positions or are just intelligent and really good at what they do. I am very competitive and always push myself in my work to be the best at what I do. When I hear about other female leaders and their accomplishments it drives me to do and be more.
What has been your most satisfying moment in your career so far?
The day I was told that I was part of the leadership succession plan for my previous company. As mentioned before I always want to be the best at all I do and be known for that. I am however, humble about it so I let my actions speak for my performance rather than telling others what I have done. Knowing that my actions alone had spoken to the leadership team enough to consider me a future leader made me realize all my hard work and diligence truly was paying off.
What are the greatest challenges our industry is currently facing up to and how could those be possibly addressed?
The industry is quite disjointed. You would think by now we would be more connected and have a better way to communicate with all parties involved in a move. We need to have a centralized platform where the relocation moving company, the corporate client, and all sectors of the household goods move could have the same information in one location and use that platform to communicate with each other and the transferee. Transparency and convenience should be key.
How do you see our industry changing in the next 5/25 years?
In the next 5 years I definitely see a shift in how services are provided. Moving companies will have their own apps and web interface that allow transferees to communicate and obtain information in real time. All documents will be accessed and signed within this centralized platform. Transferees will be able to see where their shipment is, who their moving team is, as well as precise dates for packing, loading, and delivery. I would be remiss if I did not point out that virtual pre-move surveys will be commonplace and customers will receive on demand quotes on video.
I can’t even imagine what changes we will see in 25 years. By that time millennials will be running the industry with a whole new view and world of possibilities. I truly hope that we will see 10 times more change in the next 25 years than we did the last 25.
What is your next goal in your career?
If you asked me that question a year ago I would have had a laundry list of future career goals. Now the main goal I have in my career is to help Crater grow exponentially. Helping build a company has allowed me so many opportunities I could not get otherwise. I can’t imagine a different step in my career providing me more than my current role which is a really good place to be.
Rachel Peretz – Director of Marketing and Business Development, the American Moving and Storage Association
How long have you been working in the moving industry and how did you start working in the moving business in the first place?
I have been in the moving industry for about four years. I lucked into it as I had been laid off for the second time in cable television, and it occurred to me that I needed to change industries entirely. There was a position open with AMSA, I applied for it, and here I am!
What is your superpower? Describe your typical daily responsibilities.
Some days, I think that my superpower is making order out of chaos for others; some days, I think that my superpower is marketing strategy; and some days, it’s just taking the time to listen to a colleague and make a suggestion on how to improve something (but only if they ask for advice!). I’m a fixer, that’s what I do.
Rachel Peretz – Director of Marketing and Business Development at AMSA
My daily responsibilities vary with the time of year. If we are preparing for the conference, it is very different than other times. For example, recently, we have been working on improving our digital strategy, so I have been looking at additional social media outlets and researching new online tools. We are also looking at ways to automate our new member acquisition programs. I am almost always working with the Chairman’s Circle and Member Discount Partners on various projects and usually trying to add new partners to both programs, also.
What is the toughest decision you have ever made?
Terminating someone is difficult, but laying people off is impossible. I have had to do it in a couple of different cable leadership roles, and it is never an easy conversation to have, because generally, they have done nothing wrong, and it is incredibly difficult to tell people that they don’t have a job anymore through no fault of their own.
What is the greatest mistake you have ever made and what was the lesson learned?
The biggest mistake I have ever made was when micromanaging someone who reported to me. When my own work kept me from being as interested in how she was doing things and let her do things her own way to achieve the result, she flourished. The lesson that I learned was that if you let people find their own way, it empowers them to make better decisions and they learn to trust that you will help when they get stuck.
Where do you find inspiration, what motivates your work?
I find inspiration everywhere. Sometimes, it is in a story I hear on the news, or read on social media. Sometimes, it comes from a meeting I have attended, a webinar, or someone with whom I am connected on LinkedIn, friends. Inspiration for being a better marketer, to me, is everywhere.
I am motivated by the desire for AMSA to lead the industry in best practices as it relates to how we help our members manage their business, advocate and market their products and services. I am here to help them do it better, and that motivates me, too.
What has been your most satisfying moment in your career so far?
I have been blessed with many, but among my recent favorites is deciding to continue to grow the Women in Moving reception into a LinkedIn group (coming soon!) and creating a driver app (also coming soon!). I think that is what keeps me fresh is that I am continually looking for new ways to do things that make sense.
What are the greatest challenges our industry is currently facing up to and how could those be possibly addressed?
I watched the cable industry completely change in the 15-plus years that I was part of it, and one way that it changed A LOT was when satellite providers, like Dish and DirectTV came in, then there were companies like Verizon and AT&T that offered cable service that was cheaper and of similar quality to what cable companies could do. Cable companies buried their heads in the sand, and tried to compete in the same way that they had been, and the customer base eroded.
The moving industry is changing, too. Moving companies should not try to keep doing what has already been done and expect that it would work in the future. Look at what the competition is doing and see how you can adapt or improve it, so that your company is in front of the trend and not behind it. This world moves quickly, and there is not a minute to lose!
How do you see our industry changing in the next 5/25 years?
Autonomous vehicles and virtual surveys will definitely shape the industry. And I don’t think that is a bad thing. I think that between the driver shortage and people’s desire to do things now (like a survey on demand, for example), there are ways to make these two things work to a company’s advantage.
That having been said, there are ways that it will stay the same, and I think that the front-line folks, like packers and customer service will have a place in running a good moving company – there is nothing like good customer service to keep people as repeat customers!
What is your next goal in your career?
My career goals are two-fold. Firstly, I would like to go back to having a team report to me and secondly, I would like to become a VP of Marketing. But for now, I am pretty happy to be where I am – AMSA grows on you, and we have some incredible members.
Tina Buckley – Executive Assistant, JK Moving Services
How long have you been working in the moving industry and how did you start working in the moving business in the first place?
Tina Buckley, Executive Assistant, at JK Moving Services
I started at JK in October, 1988. Chuck was a friend of friend who needed some help in the office answering phones.
What is your superpower? Describe your typical daily responsibilities.
I am a multi-tasker. My current role enables me to assist in the day to day operations in the area that needs some extra support. I would consider my superpower to be my experience and knowledge of the industry and history of JK.
What is the toughest decision you have ever made?
On September 11, 2001. We had to decide if we should close the office early due to the horrific events that had taken place in the morning. We wanted to be available to our customers; however, no one could get through to us.
What is the greatest mistake you have ever made and what was the lesson learned?
The largest mistake was extending credit to a client who I thought was a loyal, trustworthy customer. JK never received payment for services rendered on multiple jobs. The lesson learned was to have customers complete a credit application and have it approved before extending credit.
Where do you find inspiration, what motivates your work?
I am inspired to see my co-workers hard at work and our leadership leading by example. It takes a team to come together to deliver a successful relocation.
What has been your most satisfying moment in your career so far?
I am part of the original team that made JK what it is today. I remember when we had our first million dollar month. That was a great feeling of accomplishment.
What are the greatest challenges our industry is currently facing up to and how could those be possibly addressed?
One of the greatest challenges in our industry right now is recruitment. There is a driver shortage throughout the industry. We need to attract the next generation to our industry.
How do you see our industry changing in the next 5/25 years?
Our industry has changed very little in the last 25 years. I think technology will play a large part in the next 25 years. With technology, the industry will have the capability of becoming paperless. Also, video surveys will make a big difference when perform pre-move surveys.
What is your next goal in your career?
I’m not sure what tomorrow will bring. I’m thankful to currently maintain good work/home balance through technology (work from home) and a considerate boss!
T H A N K Y O U!
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