How do you pick a removalist when you move house?

The lowest quote is probably a determining factor for most folks but for me – a jaded veteran of a dozen moves -- it’s important that the company exudes professionalism with the assurance that your precious belongings will be taken care of really well.

When you get a company representative in for a quote how impressive would it be if he carries a tablet PC and is able to instantly tally your items, knows the total volume, how much wrapping material and boxes you’ll need and prints out a quote on the spot?

Welcome to RelMS, Aussie-made Relocation Management Software, now a moving target for the removalist industry and selling worldwide.

We can look at RelMS in three ways: from a customer’s perspective, from the sales rep’s point of view and we can look at the benefits for the removalist company.

Before we go into these aspects let’s first look at the program itself.

Developed and fine-tuned over many years, RelMS installs fairly quickly on any moderate Windows platform. Ideally you will install it on a tablet PC so that you can interact with the screen and carry it around as a slate. It also works just fine on my Dialogue Flybook which has a touch screen but runs Windows XP Pro.

After installation the software generates a code for which you need to obtain a key from RelMS by sending an email. This process will be automated very soon so that there is no waiting time to complete the install.

Here’s a typical scenario when you invite a removalist around for one of the obligatory three quotes to select the best company for the move.

He rocks up, whips out an inventory list, makes copious notes and might get back to you with the quote in a few days. In the meantime you’ve changed your mind about a few major items that you also want to include in the transfer and if you’re lucky, the company on moving day will be none the wiser. They just take what you point out to them.

We’re all familiar with how it goes.

Let’s see how RelMS software revolutionizes the field, bringing benefits to not only the company and its representatives but also for the customer.  

I used to work as a rep for a company in the life insurance field for a few years. I was one of the first to invest in a laptop computer before they became mainstream. I used it very effectively in showing my prospects how much they needed to save now in order to have a comfortable retirement. With on-screen visuals and interactive quotes my conversion rate – making a customer from a prospect – was much higher than with colleagues who did not use laptops. Why?

Not only does it inspire confidence when the customer perceives you as a professional, but having ALL the answers at the “tip of your tap” makes for a convincing meeting.

With RelMS on a tablet PC you, the customer, have the benefit of knowing immediately what you’re up for and seeing, interactively on the screen, how items are wrapped and packaged.

Change your mind on what to take? A few quick taps on the screen will show the effect on the bottom line.

The finalized quote can instantly be mailed to head office and downloaded on PocketPCs for the guys who do the heavy lifting on the day.

A great benefit for the company is that there are no arguments on what to take.

The professionalism of company reps is boosted immediately and their conversion rates zooms up correspondingly.

People want to get instant answers these days and so they should. The technology is there and now the program to cater for the moving industry is here as well.

Imagine a program that instantly transfers the quote – once the customer signs off on it – to the company’s main computer for scheduling. They know the required volume and can perhaps ship it together with another load to the same destination. They know how much packing material is required and whether there are any special items to take along. Move a piano? The program reminds you to take a dolly. Ship stuff overseas? All packaging now includes bubble wrap instead of blankets. And on it goes.

The inventory is massive but if there are any items that are not on the list you can write them in on a separate notepad section and they’ll be included as well.

If the volume for a particular item is different it’s quickly changed.

I spoke to Ken Keys, the brains behind the program, about upcoming developments.

Ken has been in the moving industry for over 30 years and owns a few franchises of one of the biggest moving companies around.

There isn’t a lot he doesn’t know about RFID and, not surprisingly, these Radio Frequency ID tags will feature heavily in his vision of the future.

Says Ken: “Our ideal is to have every box and major item tagged with RFID labels so that when they are carried into the truck the system will automatically “tally” what’s onboard, saving on labour and improving security.”

Of course, all his trucks will have GPS data logging so the whereabouts and progress of all shipments is monitored 24/7.

Version 2.5 of Relocation Management Systems will be out in the next few months and upgrades will be free.

Pricing? If you have to ask…you probably can’t afford it.

This is a rather expensive piece of software but at the same time it will help save gobs of money if you’re in the moving industry. I would even venture to say from my experience with the software that you can’t afford to be without it.

Fact is, for my next big move I will insist on a removalist with Relocation Management Software – unless they need only 1 (pine) box to carry me to my final abode…