On the Move

This week I got to be my own client as our remodeled bathroom and kitchen became “done enough” for us to move back into our home. After living with friends for 8 months (yes, they are GOOD friends!), my beau and I have a renewed appreciation for our little corner of the world and couldn’t wait to resume our “real lives” back in our own home. In spite of our friends’ over-the-top hospitality, I have felt a bit discombobulated regarding my normal home and business routines.

As I was wiping off construction dust, putting away dishes and hanging the shower curtain, I realized just HOW important having a comfortable and functional “nest” is for my physical and emotional health. I got to thinking that whether old or young, rich or poor, 900 square feet or 9,000, we are all alike in that need.

I realized that daily I get to help people who are moving THEIR nests and that it is my and my team’s passion for doing this work that keeps us going. I understood why our clients sometimes focus on what might seem minor details to an outsider, but are of utmost importance in their lives and why our inclusion of any detail that is paramount to them sets a Seamless Move apart from a routine one.

Why do we take a picture of a senior’s family photo wall or of papers and items on the table next to their TV chair? Because those are the important things for us to replicate to maintain continuity from one home to the next. Why do we unpack and set up the bedroom for a special needs child before any other room in his new home? So he and his mother can watch videos while we unpack the kitchen. Why do we visit The Container Store so often? So we can better advise our clients regarding organizing solutions. (OK, you caught me–The Container Store is fun!)

One of the things I particularly remember about my friends’ and my military relocations was how important it was to set up our new homes as quickly as possible to lessen the stress on children and spouses whose routines have been disrupted by moving across the U.S. or to a foreign country.

My mother jokes that when I was a child she could never punish me by sending me to my room because I would happily rearrange the furniture, reorganize my bookshelves or clean out my closet. After 13 years in this business, it surprised me to have an “aha moment” this week when I realized that the reason I founded the precursor to today’s Seamless Moves was because having a comfortable, cozy, functional nest is SO important to me that I wanted to help others to have the same.

How about you? How important is YOUR nest?

I’m curious– how should a businesses handle the challenge of getting clients to trust you and/or trust the process before they are able to experience the results?

Recently, Seamless Moves had the opportunity to bid on helping “Sam” (approx. 90 yrs old) and “Jill” (approx. 80 years old) with their move into a lovely local retirement community. We came highly recommended by the Community Relations Director who has seen our work firsthand numerous times. Even though our bid for the same services was a bit lower, Sam chose to use a local moving company for packing and moving services due to their corporate structure, with which he felt more comfortable. We were very concerned and tried to explain to Sam that he was not “comparing apples to apples,” but his strong feelings about supporting a company with his preferred corporate structure won out.

A week after their move, we were in the building visiting another client when we happened upon Sam and Jill. They invited us in to their apartment, which was disorganized and still full of boxes. The first thing Sam said was, “I made a mistake not hiring your company for this move.” He told us the movers had arrived at their former home four hours later than originally scheduled, which meant the truck was stuck in rush hour traffic on the way to the new apartment. It also meant that their furniture and boxes were not inside their new place until quite a bit later that evening. Tiring for anyone–but for seniors, exponentially so.

The movers added costs for the additional time the move took to complete to Sam and Jill’s bill which, as you may imagine, did not please them at all. Sam has called the moving company several times trying to get his bill adjusted.

Jill, who is legally blind, had been doing a yeoman job of unpacking the boxes and had friends who removed the “empties” from their apartment. (Sam is immobile.) A week later, however, the only room that did not have unpacked boxes was their bedroom, two large bookcases still needed to be moved into a different room and their lovely artworks and family photos were piled in a corner.

“You know Sam,” I told him, “if we had done this move for you, you would have no boxes in your apartment now. In fact, the day after the movers left, the furniture would all be in place where you wanted it, everything would be put away; even your pictures would have been hung on the walls. We also would have ensured the movers arrived on time or they would have been replaced on the spot with another company.” I gently asked him if we could help them finish unpacking and setting up their apartment, but Sam said, “No thanks; we can handle it.” Jill sank in her chair visibly and shook her head. (I should mention that we are not talking about a large sum of money and that these folks have the ability to pay for the service should they decide to. We understand that not everyone has that option.)

Sam and Jill’s situation is not at all unique. In our business, we are sometimes in the unenviable position of trying to explain a relatively new type of service to clients who have never heard of it, or need to be shown its value. Our situation reminds me of my own recent visit to a Clinical Nutritionist. She reminds me of her years of experience helping people feel their best and that I came to see her on very high recommendations from two friends. “Trust me,” she says, “I know what I’m doing. This WILL work.” It strikes me that she’s saying the same thing to me that I say to our clients, “Trust us; we do this every day. You will have no stress—we will handle it all.” But how does any business convince someone who has not even been aware of this option before today? Even with glowing testimonials from previous clients?

Well, it’s official. You’ve 1) bought a new home; 2) been hired for a new job; 3) gotten married/merged households; 4) kids have left home and you’d like to downsize, or 5) many, many other reasons (some happy; some, unfortunately–not so much). And now you have to M-O-V-E. Uggghhh! All of your precious, favorite, special belongings now have to be shoved into boxes and trucked across town or across the country. Could anything be worse?! Remember what a horror it was LAST TIME? Why can’t you just snap your fingers and it would all be done? (Actually, you can if you have a Project Manager such as Seamless Moves, but that’s not the point of this post.)

I was surprised to find that the often-cited Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale lists ‘change of residence’ at only 20 points out of 100. Of course changing your residence, as noted above, is usually the result of another life-event. For instance, a marriage is assessed at 50 stress points, a major mortgage is 32 points and retirement is 45 points. And those are considered ‘good stress.’ ‘Bad stress’ such as death of a spouse (100 points) or divorce (73 points) are assigned significantly more stress points. Added together, you can see why moving can be a major headache for most people.

Pour yourself a cup of peppermint tea, sit down and take a breath; you’ve come to the right place. In the next few weeks, we’ll share some tips that we’ve acquired/developed over the last dozen or so years that you’ll be able to use when you move (or when your friends or family co-opt you into helping with their moves!). We hope you’ll add your tips to ours so we can all help each other to have a more Seamless Move!