Follow one move by phone and email.
This is how the company handled every job before we built their system: careful people passing the details along by conversation and email. Follow one move from the first call to the invoice, and keep an eye on the tally.
1. Book the move
You're in sales. Marcy Hollins just called about moving her four-bedroom house on Tuesday, June 10, and you wrote it down. Before you promise the date, find out whether operations has a crew.
Tue 6/10: 2 of 3 crews booked. Crew 3 is yours.
— Theo
2. The customer reschedules
Marcy calls back. The closing on her new house moved, so can you do Thursday, June 12 instead? Thursday had a crew open when you last asked, so you say yes.
3. Did the change make it?
Now you're Theo in operations. It was a busy morning. Find the reschedule in your inbox.
Inbox: 41 unread
Here's the schedule board on the wall, as it stands today.
Tue 6/10
- Crew 1: Ortiz
- Crew 2: Nguyen
- Crew 3: Hollins
Thu 6/12
- Crew 1: Baker
- Crew 2: Park
- Crew 3: Lindqvist
What's wrong with the board?
4. Get the contract reviewed
Back in sales. At $6,850, the Hollins move is over the $5,000 line, so Pat, the manager, has to review the contract before the move is confirmed.
Looks fine. Approved.
5. Moving day
Thursday, the crew finishes the Hollins move, and the crew lead texts Theo.
Hollins done. All good, customer happy.
Theo needs to let accounts receivable know, so the move gets billed. But Friday morning, a truck breaks down with a crew on the way to a job.
6. Bill the move
You're in accounts receivable. Three weeks later, you're sending the month's invoices for every job you've heard is finished.
- Ortiz: Tue 6/10
- Nguyen: Tue 6/10
- Baker: Thu 6/12
- Park: Thu 6/12
- Lindqvist: Fri 6/13
Has the Hollins move been billed?
Hollins: paid yet?
Check in 15 days
That was one move.
One customer, one reschedule, one contract. Everyone did their part, and the job still went missing twice. Now picture a busy season with dozens of moves a week, every one of them passed along by phone and email.
- 0emails
- 0calls
- 0places the job lived
- 0handoffs dropped
See the same move in the system they use today.
Same customer, same reschedule, same contract. The difference is that the job always belongs somewhere, and it's always in front of someone.