SALES & MARKETING – ANTHONY LICATA – Page 3
Q1 Sales and Coordination
And with a blink of the eye, we are already in Q2 of 2023. The past 6 months have been undoubtedly tough for our company and for our nation as a whole. Everywhere you turn; all talks seem to be doom and gloom. The Russia-Ukraine war is taking a toll on us all, talks of war with China over Taiwan, failing banks, and this dooming economic recession on top of inflation and rising interest rates. With all this going on, it is no wonder that people have been hesitant to move and especially after many of us refinanced just a couple years ago, people are hunkering down and staying put. Luckily as Q2 came to an end, we have been seeing an uptick in leads. Not quite as much as last year or the years before, however certainly a sign that better times are hopefully coming and that we may just have a peak season after all. Unfortunately though; despite the increase in leads, our bookings remain fairly flat thus far which is especially aggravating for the sales staff to work with slim to no reward. For those who have no choice but to move or who are deciding to do it anyways, price is a concern for our consumers more than ever. “Do it yourself” movers such as PODS, Uhaul, etc. are having record breaking years as people are turning to them for cost savings. To combat this, we are attempting to reinvigorate our own DIY service called Smart box; which is essentially the same service as PODS. You may have never heard of it, being that our staff has never been good at selling the product. However you may expect to start seeing it more often. Reebie/Jackson, along with many other agents around the country has also been pushing SIRVA to lower pricing levels and only raise them if and when we see demand climbing. Fortunately, they have listened and dropped pricing down as much as 10 levels in some cases. With all this going on, I can’t help but to think back to last summer when we were all exhausted and at each other’s throat from the never ending post-COVID peak season and Richard said “we are busy but its a lot more fun when you’re making money then when you’re not” he certainly was right. With all that being said, I would like to thank our operations, coordination, and accounting staff (pretty much everyone LOL) for their patients and willing-ness to bend and work with the sales staff to secure more business. Last winter I warned that times of picking and choosing higher quality and higher paying jobs were over and that we would have to lower our standards and book what was available. I am thankful to see that everyone listened and is cooperating with us. The difference between success and failure is the ability to adjust to our climate. It is extremely heartwarming to see that everyone is on board in doing what it takes for REEBIE. The better off Reebie is, the better off we all are.