Good thing movers are scrappy, because the economy has not been kind.
Leads are down. Ad prices are up
Profits are down. Costs are up.
Lucky for us, the always-inspiring Louis Massaro has a game plan for winning the second half of this decade. And spoiler: it's not the same one he used last decade, or the decade before.
Here comes change, ready or not
When it comes to the future of moving, Louis shoots it straight: "The game has changed. If you can't adapt and pivot quickly, you're done."
Even if what you're chasing hasn't changed—you want to be smart about marketing, you want to keep your team sharp, you want to outshine the competition—the how has.
And according to Louis, most people aren't ready for that.
“We need to come up with a new way of operating this industry. We've got technology and tools today that make the old way... I don't know if I want to say obsolete just yet, but definitely harder—less lucrative, more stressful,” Louis explains.
His mission? Help get movers to the sweet spot where they're less stressed, customers are happy, and we're all making money.
Never one to promise without a plan, here's Louis' "operating system" for the future.
Louis' 7 profit pillars
Purpose. Processes. People. Positioning. Performance. Pivoting. Planning.
Try saying that 5 times fast.
Now let's plunge into each of the P's in this power-packed playbook!
1. Process
If you've got documented processes and SOPs—that's a great start.
Instead of having them sit on a shelf or in your software, Louis urges the industry to move towards "a dynamic operating system that allows you to pivot quickly." (More on that in a minute.)
While this concept gains momentum, you should lock onto of AI like it's interest rates in 2020.
"The speed of which we can do things now is at a level we've never seen before and it's rapidly advancing," Louis reminds us.
🏆 Quick wins. Ask AI to...
- Listen to sales calls and suggest improvements
- Update sales scripts, highlighting your unique value prop
- Write outreach emails for your referral program
- Generate content for your social media accounts
- Analyze the sentiment across your customer reviews
- Optimize your pricing strategy based financials and market trends
Grab even more AI use cases for movers here.
"AI's not going to take your job, but somebody who knows AI will," Louis warns. Translation: don't put AI in your 'later' pile. Get good at it now.
💪 Power move: Pick one process that’s eating up your team's time and test an AI solution for 30 days. Track the hours saved. Once you see the results, you'll wonder why you didn't start sooner.
2. People
Your team can either fire you up—or exhaust you.
Same goes for your bottom line. As Louis puts it, "Your people are either turbocharging your profits or draining them."
Louis' advice? Create a culture of change.
"Some companies have had people there for 25-30 years. Change doesn't mean out with the old. It means getting your company to understand that change is going to happen—that you're going to track performance and pivot."
❤️🩹 Health check for your team:
- Are they aligned with your company's purpose?
- Can they adapt to new tools and processes?
- Are they providing fuel... or pumping the brakes?
💪 Power move: Set clear expectations for adapting to change. Help your team see what's in it for them (like making their jobs easier), while reminder them why you're asking for change and how it plays into a bigger vision.
3. Positioning
Are you showing up where you need to show up? That's number one.
Then, how are you showing up?
"If your company's known as 'the cheapest movers around,' don't be pissed off when your customers only care about price," says Louis.
Positioning your company as high-quality and your services as valuable allows you to charge what you need to charge to actually be profitable.
🎯 Positioning gut check:
- Does your moving brand scream 'premium service' or 'super saver special'?
- Can customers spot your value proposition in 5 seconds flat?
- Is your social media game as polished as your trucks?
💪 Power move: Take 30 minutes today to check your company's positioning. Look at your website, social media, and marketing materials. Are you selling on value or competing on price?
4. Performance
If you imagine process, people, and positioning as points of a triangle, performance is the wrapper around all three.
That's how Louis draws it on his whiteboard. Then he asks,
"How many of you feel like you just need more leads right now and that'll solve everything?"
Having spent years behind the scenes with moving owners, auditing and looking at numbers, Louis knows the truth: more leads just mean more are falling through the cracks.
"There are parts of sales process that aren't as optimized as they should be," says Louis.
Start by mapping the customer journey, from a lead coming in all the way to a customer leaving a review.
Do that and you'll see exactly where you're dropping the ball.
Then dive into your marketing ROI (for SmartMoving users, this is built right into your CRM).
"Marketing ROI is the thing that took me from $10m to $20m a year in revenue. When you have the confidence to spend money on marketing because you know it's working—not just pay and pray—it changes everything."
🔍 Quick performance audit:
- Are you tracking your booking percentages daily?
- Can you name your cost per lead across all channels?
- Is your sales team's performance visible in real-time?
💪 Power move: Make sure to track these 5 sales KPIs. Bonus points if you create daily flash reports like Grant at Eco Movers.
5. Pivot
If you were around in 2008 or 2009 when the housing market crashed, you know about pivoting.
Hold onto your hats, because pivoting doesn't stop. Especially now.
Louis predicts a "major divide" between movers who are willing to step into the future and the those that dig their heels into, refusing to change.
"If you haven't made any changes in the last 12-18 months, you're already behind," says Louis.
The problem is—when you're overloaded and overwhelmed, pivots become impossible. You have to dig out from the chaos or you're stuck in quicksand.
🔄 Pivoting gut check:
- Are you adjusting your marketing mix and testing new lead sources?
- Are you tracking results closely enough to spot problems early?
- When something's not working, how fast can you change course?
Power moves: Hold weekly 'what's not working' meetings and test new strategies in small batches. It's not about changing things willy nilly. It's about having feedback loops and responding to what you see.
6. Purpose
Let's be real. No would be be in this business if it weren't for the money.
"You're here to build a business. For what? To buy yourself a job? That's not what you want. What's your higher purpose? When you free yourself from the day to day, what are you going to do? You've got to be unapologetic about that."
Maybe you want to be the kind of boss people love to work for. Maybe your want to give back to your community. Maybe you want to spend more time with your kids.
Once you know your purpose, it trickles down into everything else. You can start asking: What's the purpose of this process? What's the purpose of the people we've got in these seats?
"You can probably eliminate a good amount of inefficiencies right now in your company by just going through them. What's the purpose of this? Why do we do this?" says Louis.
🎯 5-minute purpose reset:
- Does your team know their 'why' beyond a paycheck?
- Are your daily actions aligned with your bigger mission?
- What outdated systems are you keeping 'just because'?
💪 Power move: Take 15 minutes today to list three company practices that don't serve your purpose anymore. Then ruthlessly eliminate them. Your profit margins will thank you.
7. Plan
If you made it this far—whew! You're in it to win it.
Here's your challenge: on a scale of 1-10, rate yourself on each of Louis' P's.
Start with process. If you don't have any documented process, that's a 0. If you've got everything documented and in a dynamic system that's shooting out results and improving as it goes, that's a 10.
Then go to people. Do you have the right people in the right seats doing the right things?
Keep going all the way to purpose.
Now step back and look at where you need to improve. What's your plan?
"We're not here for shortcuts or hacks—those won't keep you alive in this industry," says Louis. "The plan is what gets you to profits."
If you're being honest with your ratings, you won't have all 10s. No one does. Having a plan and making progress is what matters.
Remember: a mediocre plan that's executed beats a brilliant plan that stays in your head.
📋 Planning checklist:
- Define your current state and your desired state
- Describe in a few words or statements what success looks like
- List out your action steps, KPIs, targets, and timeline
💪 Power move: Block out 2 hours this week for strategic planning. Try not to get pulled away—if you do, come back and re-commit. This stuff matters!
Your path to profitability
Louis has seen it firsthand: moving owners with the best intentions, self-sabotaging their freedom from the business. Allowing unimportant tasks to steal time from your higher calling.
His solution? "Stop managing the mundane and start leading the way."
"It's a new era, and when you decide to lead the way, I promise you, you'll start seeing some of the best years of your life. Not only in profitability, but in your ability to thrive as a human being and enjoy this one and only life you've got."
Watch Louis' full keynote on the future of moving here👇.
