Latest / Charleston's Leading Producers / #28 | Collin Fowler

Transcript

#28 | Collin Fowler · Charleston's Leading Producers

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: I was actually on the truck doing the jobs as well.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: And it was uh my first week on the job was July, and I worked the first six days out of seven, it was all ninety-three degrees plus.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: And so the real feel was, you know, a hundred, hundred and two, one hundred and one.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I would go through literally two shirts a day.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_01: So hey leaders, I'm Jake, a loan officer obsessed with business growth and finding out what's actually working in our market.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: If that sounds useful, hit follow.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: Now, this week's leader.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_01: All right, we're recording.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: Colin, thanks for coming on and joining me, man.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no problem.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for having me.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: So you run Saltwater Moving.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: You just wrapped a full rebrand and actually doubled the size of your business over the past year.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and you've built a lot of that growth partnering directly with real estate agents and other people within the real real estate industry.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: Do I have that all correct?
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, sir.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: That's all correct.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: Cool.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: So I want to dive right into the actual process of doubling production over the past year in saltwater movement.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I love that.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_01: I am just obsessed with business growth and business changes.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm curious, what were the main drivers of that growth?
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: What did you step in and change that's really driven production over the past year?
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's a that's a great question.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I would say there's really like two or three main areas where I kind of came in and changed what we were doing.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: The rest of it's pretty much been the same since before we did the rebrand and everything.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: But the first thing I would say that trained that changed was the training.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: So the guys that we bring in, we make sure to train them in-house.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: So I gathered furniture off of moves that people were getting rid of and just accumulated it, um, different pieces, different sizes to make sure we knew how to wrap everything, how to protect the pieces as best as possible.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then also how to pack the trucks as well.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: So we go through all that training with our guys before they even get put on the truck.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, usually it takes between six to 10 hours before they even, you know, come in your house to move.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: So uh we want to make sure that they're feel they feel prepared and that they're ready for what they're gonna see.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because I know everybody has, you know, nice things.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: They want to keep them protected, and that's what we're here to do.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: So the training aspect is number one.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: The number two, I would say, is the marketing side of things.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: So, like you said, with our rebrand, we've uh tried to put on a professional face, you know.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: Before we um we didn't really have the company logo everywhere.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like we had it, you know, on our uniforms and everything when we showed up, but it took a while to get the wraps on the trucks done.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: And I feel like that makes a big difference around town, especially um where people can see us in our uniforms in the truck, um, and then make that connection with our phone number on the back and just be able to give us a call right from there.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because it's it does take, you know, the right type of people to make sure that every detail of the move goes right.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: So you want somebody that's professional and uh is gonna make sure that they're taking care of the details because that means they're taking care of your stuff in the way that you need.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: So those two things I'd say are the the biggest drivers for the growth and production.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: And then also just putting my head down and just grinding.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's pretty much all it's been.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like uh, we do work seven days a week, and right now I'm the only one in the office.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: So it's if we have a job that day, then I'm there.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: And if I'm not, if we're not doing a job, then I'm taking care of stuff at the office, trying to set up moves, set up meetings, join networking groups, all that stuff.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: So um those three things I would say are what the biggest drivers were for the you know doubling in size.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and that's actually how how we met was through a networking group up in Nextton, man.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, then I want to dive a little bit deeper into a couple of these because I love what you said.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_01: You mentioned training, you mentioned marketing, and you mentioned just grinding.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: So love all three of those.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of the people that listen to this are either realtors or they're it's real estate adjacent.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_01: And I always think that we can take a page from you know the quote unquote like more standard businesses as far as marketing goes.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: Because so often, loan officers, realtors, we think marketing and we think Facebook, you know.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: And I love that you you mentioned the like more traditional things, like, yeah, I'm gonna wrap my truck.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: We're a moving company, people are gonna see our truck, and then they're gonna associate our brand with when they see that, you know.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: So, like what I'm hearing is like not everything has to be the fanciest thing on social media, like these basic marketing principles could apply to all of us, you know?
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: Are there other simple things that you guys do that you feel like you've leaned into?
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I would say those are like things you mentioned are really simple, like graphing the trucks.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: The guys that are like working on on the jobs have uniforms on with our contact information and everything.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: So when they're on the jobs and working on the trucks, then if somebody were to see them and like the way they're working, then they can just grab the number right out the shirt, you know?
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's anywhere.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: The best thing for moving companies is we're gonna be all over the Charleston area.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: And so you're gonna see people, people are gonna pass by that may not have seen us before and they'll be curious.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: So we want to make sure that we have a way to contact us that's very easily accessible.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: And so those things are very simple.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, having a good website, um, we we have a great team that works on our website and make sure that it's very simple to submit a form request.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're sitting at work one day and you're thinking, man, I need to move like two weekends from now, then you can go on, do your research, find our website, and then all you have to do is enter a little bit of information and we can call you at the most convenient time for you.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's not just like uh, oh, we keep missing each other, we keep missing each other, and then you never get anything done.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: But we uh we try to make it intentional with how we how we reach people.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, that's another one.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: Simplicity in communication.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: If there is any friction in that process of communication, people just check out and they go to the next thing, you know.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: So you mentioned the website, like in and for us, you know, having those social media pages that are easily reachable, you know, and it's like one click, submit, and then that's it.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: There can't be any more friction than that.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's really interesting.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you have to make it very streamlined for people to want to go through the whole process because it's already intimidating as it is, it's a stressful process, especially moving.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: So I know it is like with mortgages as well.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of a scary unknown for a lot of people.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: So, what we try to do is make it as stress-free as possible and just make it very, very easy and be upfront with what's going to happen, what it's gonna cost, and then make sure to get the job done right.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: So you mentioned the Charleston market.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: Do you work in other markets as well?
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_01: Like for people who are relocating from other states or anything like that.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_01: Do you guys handle that too?
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: So if people are, you know, coming in from out of state, we do have a partner that we work with called uh Wildcat Bandlines.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: And basically we do all of their local moves around Charleston area.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: So if people are coming in from out of state, we'll do their unloads.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: And if people are leaving, going, let's say they're going to Savannah, Georgia, or they're going to Charlotte, North Carolina, then we'll like load them up before they head out.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: And so we work with that company very closely.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so through four interstate moves, we uh can accept the um request for you know a quote or whatever, and then we move on to those guys and they kind of handle it from over the top because they work with us and then other companies on the other end that are gonna unload as well.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: So that's how we do our interstate moves, but within state lines, we can use our trucks for those moves and do them all ourselves.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: Love that.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_01: Let's back up even a little bit from there.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: We were chatting before, um, and your parents were both were both in service heavy careers.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you mentioned having some great parents that have influenced the way you work now.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: Dad was insurance or you're in insurance and investments.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_01: Uh mom worked for a property management company.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I'm curious how much of watching them work.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: And I think about this with my kids, you know, because they see me work all the time.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_01: I'm in my house right now, they see me, Daddy's, you know, daddy's in the office, he he's working.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: You mentioned the word grinding.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but how much, you know, did they influence the way that you run salt water today?
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: I would say they they have the majority um of the influence in it.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because watching them while growing up, um, they were always putting in work for us.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: For so I have two brothers and a sister, all younger.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm the oldest sibling.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but they were always working.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and whether that was on a job or whether that was getting us to and from school, to and from practices, coaching teams, all that, they were they were always there and uh just made it very easy, very comfortable for us.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, I never knew if we were struggling or if we were doing great.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: It just was very smooth for me the whole time.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: And so I know that it's life is not like that.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: And so they were basically taking the brunt of everything that was coming in and keeping it off of us, which I'm very grateful for.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: So for my kids, when they come along, I'm gonna do the same thing.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: And so it starts, you know, with business.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: This is the thing that I can control right now, but that's what they were doing was controlling what they could and making sure that we had what we needed.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I have that same mentality.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_01: I I love I'm totally stealing that the kids not knowing if you're struggling or if you're doing great.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_01: I I I absolutely think that is like such a great place to land when I think about my kids because I don't want them to be over the top, like thinking that we're, I don't know, somebody that either we're not or that you know might be short-lived.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_01: So, man, what what a great place to be as far as a family goes.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: That that's so cool.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you mentioned some of the current processes um in moving.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: You mentioned training um and getting in there.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: And when we were talking before, you talked about how you implemented the way uh your movers are interacting with clients and trying to clean up some of that tech.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_01: Can you walk through some of that a little bit, some of the technology that you've put in and how that's affected the client experience?
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so um definitely anything we can do that's client-facing that can make it easier and you know, not take as long before the job starts or after the job ends is gonna be great because we don't want our guys to have to worry about that too much.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: And so what we did um from the time when we rebranded to now is we've kind of streamlined all that stuff by putting all three of our processes together.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: So the information for the actual jobs itself, so the addresses, what's going, you know, the inventory, um, the client's information, their phone number, everything, so that the movers have it, the supervisor has it.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that's all on one side.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: And then the payment process is all on there now.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: And then the third thing is um is being able to upload pictures of our packs and any pictures of damages or anything like that that may come up.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: So being able to kind of see everything in my chair is a big part of what I do.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: So being able to control our processes from you know the office, because if we do have multiple crews running, then I'm not able to actually go out to every job site and see what's going on.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: So those three things being all put together on the same platform has made it super easy for our guys and a lot easier for our customers to um to kind of deal with.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: Because before we had paper contracts and then we had an electronic payment system, and then we had to, you know, take pictures and then they had to bring them back to me.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so it's like putting all that together has made it super, super easy for both the movers and for customers as well.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: Man, paper contracts, they are not happening anymore.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_01: Nobody's doing it.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: No, we we were actually doing paper contracts until about February of this year.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, geez.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_01: That that's actually, I don't know.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_01: I'm trying to think outside of like sitting in a closing table, uh, I'm trying to think of any other place in the world that you do a paper contract where you're actually sitting down and signing things.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_01: I can't think of one.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: Now everything's docu signed, so it's yeah, yeah.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: So real estate world, when are we catching up?
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_01: But who knows?
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um we finally did.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm glad to hear.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_01: Is there any AI that you're putting into your business or anything that you work with AI on your end to help your business?
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: So one of the things that that we do is we have an AI bot that receives calls that we aren't able to answer immediately.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: And so that bot's been trained to gather information about the person, kind of what their contents are that they're looking to get moved, where they're kind of going to and from, uh, just details like that.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: And then they it all goes into our CRM system and then it's able to create kind of a profile for that person.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: And then once we have somebody available to reach back out, then they can create the estimate and already have most of the information.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: So that phone call when they call back is not 30 minutes long gathering, you know, information that was easily um given to the AI.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's you know, five, 10 minutes.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, you need this, you're going here, this much stuff.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, gotcha.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: We got this truck, these amount of guys, and this is gonna be the price for it.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: Here you go.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: So it makes it a lot quicker, and it's not like you know, taking too much of the time out of the product.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_01: So man, that's actually really parallel to our industry.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_01: So, like my process is I talk to a borrower, but then they're doing the application on their own, you know, and then once everything's worked up, then we're meeting on our consultation, you know.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: But shrinking that time in that they're actually working um is really is really interesting because it runs exactly the same way we are.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but we've been leaning into a lot too of like this kind of barbell strategy of I think people they want more face-to-face connection than ever.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm considering virtual face-to-face, you know, as long as we can look at each other and see each other's faces while we're talking, um, but then we also want the speed of AI and technology, you know, and I think the business leaders who are really taken off are the ones that are able to do both of these things, you know, and and you do this really well, Colin.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, you're talking about these technologies that you're putting in and using AI and all these things, but you're also showing up Friday mornings and we're meeting together at our networking group, you know.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so you're doing both of these things really well, leaning on both sides of these spectrums.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate it.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: Are you doing any other networking activities?
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: I'm kind of curious, um, as far as getting out and meeting real estate professionals and meeting great referral partners.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, what what has that end of the business looked like for you?
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so not just networking groups, but um also kind of social groups as well.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: So I've been to a few just like public events where there's you know been some speakers or been some, you know, like a happy hour or something like that, uh, just for people to get to know each other.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: So getting to meet people in the Charleston area has helped our name spread uh because you never know where somebody's gonna be from.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like I've met people downtown that were from John's Island, I've met people in Daniel Island that were from Mount Pleasant, and it's like we cover all of those areas, so it really doesn't matter who I meet there.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: I want to be able to help them um let them know that we're here.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_01: What's one thing your team at Saltwater does that people might be surprised to know?
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: One thing that we do that they might just be surprised to know.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um that's a good question.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: Are you talking about operations-wise?
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: Are you talking about what I do or either way?
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: Probably I'm thinking more something that you might do in your either in your day-to-day, you know, or in the running the process running the processes of the business.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: That's kind of like behind the scenes.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: The people might not think about when they think of a moving company.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: So um what I do is part of what I do is on social media.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: So I run our you know, Facebook and Instagram pages.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: And so sometimes I, you know, go out and take content uh at job sites, get pictures, videos of the guys working, um, scour Google for our reviews that have popped in recently, um, be able to be able to post those on our social media pages.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's part of what I do.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: And then the other part is actually following and you know, messaging different real estate agents in the area, mortgage lenders in the area that I haven't met before to try to set up meetings and uh, you know, just get to know people a little bit better.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: Because realistically, I've only been down here for a little over three years now, or a little under three years now, and been in moving for about two and a half.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like I'm still pretty new to the area and still getting to know a lot of people, especially with there being, you know, thousands of real estate agents in Charleston.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: Where'd you move from?
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: I moved from the upstate of South Carolina, so I'm originally from Greer, South Carolina.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_01: Do you miss it uh uh upstate at all, or do you like the low country?
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: I like it down here.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's different.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um where I'm from is a little bit more like um I don't know how to describe it.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's very similar to Somerville, like where I'm from.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, just um, and it's about the same now with the amount of growth that Somerville's getting.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: Greenville's Greenville Greer is the same way.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: So um I enjoy it though.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's a little bit more country, a little bit more laid back.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, I do miss it a little bit for the weather aspect as well.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: Being closer to the mountains means it's a lot a little less humid, but yeah, yeah.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_01: I I um so I'm an early riser.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_01: I try to be in my garage working out by five, and by 5 a.m.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_01: I step outside and I already just start sweating.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like so just to put it.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_01: If you're listening to this of the future, we're recording in July in Charleston, but it's like, what are we doing?
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_01: It's 80 degrees already at 5 a.m.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_01: I couldn't imagine the movers, man, out there in the afternoon.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, those poor dudes, they're grind, they're they're grinding through some heat.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and that's that's when I started.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: I was actually on the truck doing the jobs as well.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: And it was um my first week on the job was July, and I worked the first six days out of seven, it was all 93 degrees plus, and so the real feel was you know 100, 102, 101.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I would go through literally two shirts a day.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: So we had two uniforms.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: I would wear the first shirt in the mornings to do the load up to load the truck, and then once we finished loading the truck, I would change shirts and do a different shirt for the unload.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: And so that was how I would roll that whole week.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: So I'd have to go home and do laundry after that to make sure both my shirts were clean.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: Then I finally gave in and asked the guy who hired me, like, hey, could I get another shirt, please?
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm curious, you mentioned the different parts of Charleston, you know.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm actually I'm sitting up in Somerville right now.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: I'm in one of those neighborhoods that's building thousands and thousands of homes, and it's crazy.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but you are working directly with the clients, correct?
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_01: In your communication?
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: The clients that you work with pleasants, the IOPs, um, dealing with that kind of side of things.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just kind of curious, other than the size of the move, I'm sure there's some bigger homes down that way.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I'm just kind of curious if there's a way that you communicate or just maybe different patterns you see with people up in Somerville versus some of these more fluent areas of Charleston.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, I don't think there's a different way we communicate.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um, what I have seen is that it's a little bit easier with all the new builds and the way that Somerville is set up.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's easier for us to get a truck in and do the move.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's more standardized because, like downtown, you'll have townhomes that are on narrow streets and they're three, four stories high.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's kind of tough for us to gauge that um because we don't all we don't do all of our estimates virtually and we don't do all of them in person.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: So most of the time it's just over the phone.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: We have whoever the customer is relay what information they can to us about, you know, how many bedrooms, what's the standard furniture in the bedrooms, how about how many boxes, that kind of thing.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I would say the way we communicate with people in Somerville is the same as, you know, everybody in downtown, Mount Pleasant, James Island as well.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um and the good thing for us is we're centrally located in North Charleston.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: So um we're pretty standardized like with how we charge everybody.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a travel fee and then it's hourly rate.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: And then if you need you know extra materials or something, then we add those on as well.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: But um, so being centrally located, our travel fee is based on a radius around us.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so we can you know cover somebody in Daniel Island, James Island, and Somerville for the same travel.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, you know, some companies, if they're coming from Somerville, they wouldn't be able to go to downtown very, you know, affordably, or if they're in downtown, they wouldn't be able to go to Somerville very affordably.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, love that.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, a lot of moving companies they chase homeowners directly, which I'm sure you you do as well.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um but you have done, we've we've mentioned it a couple of times, you have done a great job in the partnerships um that you've been able to develop in our area.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_01: But I I am curious as to um the decision to lean into those partnerships more than chasing.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: uh the direct kind of end consumer, the person who's moving a little bit more.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: Was that a strategic decision on your part or is that something that's just kind of developed that way?
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I feel like it's part of both.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, being able to connect with the realtor or the mortgage lender or whoever's interacting with the homeowner first, um, they might have, you know, more information about what's going on and what the homeowner actually needs.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: And so if I see somebody's houses for sale, maybe they don't, they aren't even taking any of their furniture, you know, so it it could be not a waste of time for me to send them something, but it kind of would be if they don't need my moving help, then um reaching out to those people directly would be something that's um not as efficient as working with a partner who may know, okay, these people are moving from Somerville to Mount Pleasant and they are definitely taking their stuff with them.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: They have two kids so they have a bunch of rooms.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: They both work so they won't be able to do it themselves.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: Like that this would be a good potential person to to need help from U.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's that's kind of why we lean into why I lean into the uh the partnerships more than directly reaching out to homeowners.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_01: So what does a strong partnership for you look like?
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: So a strong partnership for me looks like somebody who we the trust goes both ways.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: So they trust us to you know handle their clients and put on professional face and be a good representation of their business as well.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: And then we, you know, do the work and make sure that it's done correctly that way that the customer is very happy with what happens and who they're referring.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: Because I really believe that real estate professionals are the ones who have the biggest kind of rosters for service industries.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_00: And so if they have a service industry where they're lacking, then they need somebody there to be able to help and be able to recommend to their clients because ultimately the client's going to choose whoever has the most knowledge and the most information and is the most available to them.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: So if you want to you know help multiple people at the same time you need to be able to re relay professional services as well as answer questions and you know all the drill.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah I love that you mentioned that we all need a call in on our list.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_01: So I I love that.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_01: Hopefully people listening will will definitely put you on there.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_01: Just focusing on the future to kind of wrap us up here.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_01: What does the next chapter look like for Saltwater?
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah so right now we just moved into a new office building with you know a little bit of yard space where we keep our trucks at so everything's all together now for the first time.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: And we moved in there in February.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: So planning on being there for a little bit and growing in that space.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: And then after that we're looking at you know expanding into you know farther areas.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: We're not really looking at opening multiple multiple locations or anything like that, but we want to keep growing this process um to the fact where we can serve all of Charleston.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: Because right now there's 45 professional moving companies in Charleston um that are legitimate that have their insurance that have their registration that are actual businesses.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_01: 45?
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: 45 yeah and you can you can go and look those up but um yeah if you're if you're looking through I mean I'm sure not all 45 are worth looking through um usually typically when people are looking for a movement company they're you know clicking through the first three or four and they're like okay all right if one of these will be fine right so um just being able to show up at the top of everybody's list um whether that's from word of mouth whether that's from you know a neighbor you'll put in a good word or whether that's from Google whether that's from Facebook ads, whatever it is we just want to be at the top and able to serve as many people as possible.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: What I don't want to have happen is have to turn people away because we don't have enough capacity.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_00: So that's that's really what we're trying to do and maximize what we're doing in Charleston itself.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_01: So well you're crushing it man I I mean I think you've done just a great job um you've got incredible business advice as well as running a great machine there.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm really glad that we've gotten to know each other uh the past couple months through our group there.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_01: So if anybody wants to reach out to you uh just to ask some follow-up questions about something you mentioned today or just connect further how can they uh how can they find you?
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah the best way to reach out to me um is probably gonna be email that way I can you know have it there because I'm always in the move like you said I'm at networking events I'm here at home doing the dishes like it's I'm all over the place.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: So um yeah the email would be the best so if we can set up a meeting or something then or if people have questions then I can definitely answer them there.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: But it's gonna be saltwatermoves at gmail.com.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_00: Perfect would be the best place.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate you uh taking a few minutes and hopping on and doing this man.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah no problem I appreciate you Jake it's great.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for listening to Charleston's Leading Producers Podcast.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_01: Could you take a moment to hit subscribe on the platform that you're currently listening on that allows this show to grow and bring you more of the top of the line producers and business leaders.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_01: And if you think these stories will help someone you know, please share this with them.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_01: New episodes every Wednesday I'm Jake Cummings see you next week.