Cord Moving and Storage on Technology and Charity
Cord Moving and Storage operates under a simple creed: Customer, objective, respond, and deliver. Ultimately, the family-owned and operated company based in St. Louis, Missouri, judges their success in terms of customer satisfaction. Wayne Daniels, SVP of Marketing and Sales at Cord Moving and Storage, has been in the business for over 35 years. We spoke with him about the company’s commitment to exceptional customer experience, giving back to the community, and how technology is changing the moving industry.
What makes Cord Moving and Storage unique?
“It’s a nice place to come to work; that alone makes us unique. And there’s not a move that we haven’t faced before,” Wayne tells us. “Most people started on the trucks; we’ve learned the hard way.” The average tenure at Cord Moving and Storage is about 17 years, and about 25 for those in customer service. Wayne says, “Our salespeople have retired after 25 years. Only recently have I had to replace some of them.”
Cord Moving and Storage’s partnership with Updater
Wayne’s Pappy used to say, “When you get up in the morning, people are counting on you.” The same could be said for the team’s everyday operations and mission. “Anxiety about moving is extremely high,” Wayne says. “Our ability to bring that down a few degrees is what takes our customer experience from good to exceptional.”
“Updater lowers that level of anxiety that our transferees feel,” Wayne says. “They can sit at their computer and make all of the changes to their lives (like gas, electricity, mail forwarding) in 10 minutes — rather than trying to find out who a provider is in a new city or state. Our engagement numbers are higher than the industry average, and the folks who have participated tell us: ‘This is just unbelievable.’”
The role of technology in the moving industry
Technology may be changing the moving industry — from the way people update their accounts to making sure they have internet access on day one in their new home — but as Wayne tells us, “It’s still a people business. It’s not like The Jetsons. We still have to pick up the furniture and move it; we still have to have people who are background-checked and have a personality. Technology helps because we’re able to communicate with the transferee right from the very beginning. We can streamline the process — everything from estimates to signatures, etc. — with scanners, email, and smartphones, and get things done much faster than we did in the past.”
How Cord Moving and Storage gives back to the community
Updater and Cord Moving and Storage both partner with Move for Hunger, the industry nonprofit championing the effort to end hunger in the U.S. Cord Moving and Storage also works with other incredible organizations, like Habitat for Humanity and the Gary Sinise Foundation. Wayne says, “If you’re truly part of the community, it’s important to give back. There are people without the means to get into a home, people who are going hungry, and we have soldiers coming back that are severely wounded.”
For the Gary Sinise Foundation, Wayne explains, “We deliver the smart technology going into smart homes.” For wounded vets, it’s important that these homes have the necessary details; the washer and dryer come down to a wheelchair level, lights and other electronics are accessible from their smartphone or tablet… And as Wayne tells us, all of these materials are donated, and Cord Moving and Storage delivers all of the donated furniture directly to the homes.
While the Gary Sinise Foundation was an organization close to Wayne’s heart, their involvement with Habitat for Humanity was more of a fateful epiphany. He tells us, “When someone was getting rid of a bunch of furniture and wanted to bring it to a dump, I said, ‘Really? Why do that when I can take it down the street and you’ll get a tax write-off?’ She looked at me and said, ‘If you can do that, you’ve got the move.’ And I thought, Why aren’t we doing this nationally? We went national with Habitat for Humanity and the Gary Sinise Foundation.”
The moving industry may be deeply rooted in old traditions, but it’s traditional values like those at Cord Moving and Storage that are helping reinvigorate an industry that touches so many lives every day.
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