Stop Waiting for the Phone to Ring: How Movers Fill Their Schedule When Speed Matters

Running a moving company isn’t just about trucks and tape. It’s about keeping the phone ringing and the schedule full. And unless you’ve got an army of marketers behind the scenes, that can be a difficult puzzle to solve.

The following strategy won’t be the perfect solution for everyone, but one hurdle comes up more than almost any other: “My biggest challenge is getting enough jobs and keeping my crews busy.”

That’s where short-term demand tactics, like working with lead providers, can play a role.

Why movers turn to faster demand channels

Many movers turn to third-party lead sources who spend big on SEO and paid ads so they don’t have to. They capture consumers the second they search “movers near me.”

For some movers, working with lead providers can offer faster access to demand than waiting for long-term marketing channels to mature.

Benefits to the strategy:

• Predictable business flow: Adjust your spend up or down based on your availability and capacity to keep work consistent.
• Better cash flow: You pay only for potential customers, not for ad clicks (more on maximizing this later).
• Greater focus: Your time goes into booking jobs and delivering great service, not testing marketing experiments.
• Stronger sales performance: Nothing forces you to sharpen your sales team’s skills like knowing you’re likely 1 of 4 movers chasing the same lead. Remember this? “If you’re not first, you’re last.”

When speed matters more than strategy (at first)

Let’s talk about the elephant in the marketing room: time and money.

Building a marketing funnel from scratch—running Google Ads, testing keywords, managing social campaigns, tweaking your website—takes weeks or even months before you see results. Even a “quick promo” can feel like watching paint dry while you wait for calls to trickle in.

And all the while, you’re spending money (or worse yet, your time!) on SEO, ad platforms, marketing, social media managers, and coffee (lots and lots of coffee).

Think of lead buying as prioritizing speed and volume while your long-term strategy catches up. Instead of waiting for the algorithm gods to notice your ads, you get direct access to real people who need movers. NOW.

That doesn’t mean you abandon traditional marketing, it means you use lead providers to bridge the gap. Buying leads gives you instant volume while your long-term marketing machine ramps up. Think of it as prioritizing speed while you build momentum.

Not all leads are created equal

Here’s where many moving companies waste money: they buy anything that looks like a lead and wonder why they’re not booking more moves.

Best practices:

• Buy selectively: Ask each vendor how they verify leads, how many other movers get the same lead (“shared” leads), and whether they refund “bad” (junk) ones.
• Stay tightly targeted: If you’re working in a specific region or move-type (local, interstate, small load, full house) make sure your vendor allows filtering by zip code, size, and move-type.
• Track outcomes: Some leads originate from real search intent, while others come from sweepstakes or general interest forms. Test a small set of providers and measure performance based on booked jobs and revenue, not just cost per lead. Double down on the sources delivering the best ROI and cut what is not working.
• Speed wins: If you’re calling a lead 30 minutes after the form submission, you’ve probably already lost it. The movers who call within 5 minutes or less win more often.

The technology edge

If you’re wondering: “But how do I know which provider/vendor(s) to try or test?” don’t worry about that or you’ll end up spending hours down the internet search rabbit-hole. SmartMoving helps moving companies centralize leads from dozens of sources automatically.

More importantly, SmartMoving’s Sales module creates a consistent sales process so that these leads get the rapid-fire attention they require.

How?

• SmartMoving allows you to literally “flip a switch” so that lead provider’s leads pop right into the CRM, alerting your sales team both in and outside (email/text) the system!
• SmartMoving connects with many commonly used third-party lead sources, allowing movers to route opportunities into a single sales workflow.
• Once the leads are connected (and tested for receipt in SmartMoving), the CRM can be set up for internal and external alerts (yes, you'll receive a text message in real time when leads are hitting at 7 or 8 PM, in case you decide to “wow” the customer with a call within minutes of their request!)
• All of your Sales team’s activity (calls, emails, SMS messages) are tracked in the customer’s lead profile. Follow-up activity can also be automated and tracked, with automatic reminders and task workflows.
• The “Marketing ROI” report in SmartMoving’s Report module easily tracks everything from booked jobs ratio and actual revenue to marketing spend and cost per lead—providing you with insights that most company owners dream about.

The bottom line

Using lead providers isn’t a shortcut or a silver bullet. It is a tactical tool. The key is to be strategic, not desperate. Choose your vendors carefully, call fast, and measure everything.

Finally, partner with the right technology that enables you to impress the customer with:

1. How quickly you get in touch after they submit a request
2. Your consistent and powerful communication and follow-up
3. An accurate moving quote received quickly and painlessly
4. An overall quoting/sales experience that helps you rise above the pack

Competing for third-party demand can be challenging, which is why speed, process, and follow-up matter as much as the source itself.

You’ll want to arm your team with the tools that give them an edge over others chasing the same clients. Do that, and you’ll spend less time worrying about your next job and more time doing what you do best: moving people’s lives forward.