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Mover’s Edge, May, 2012

The Canadian Mover – It’s in the Mail!

The spring 2012 issue of The Canadian Mover is in the mail. Watch for your copy.

CAM’s New Online Web Search

CAM’s new online web function is up and running. We have had a large number of comments on it – both positive and negative. It’s important that you know what we are doing.

The reason that we installed it was that the previous search function did not necessarily provide consumers with movers who are close to their location.

The new system asks the consumer for two pieces of information:

  1. Is this a local or long-distance move?
  2. What is the origin of the move? For this, the consumer can provide a street address and city, a city only or a postal code.

The system then provides the consumer with six movers who can perform the move. The six movers are ordered from closest to furthest from the consumer with only current CAM members showing. Only movers within a 50 km radius from the consumer are shown.

Below is a summary of the most frequently asked questions regarding the search along with responses in red:

  1. Why does our van line not appear in the search? The system was set up to show an originating agent, not a van line.
  2. Why doesn’t my (domestic) company appear in the results list? This may be because your company is not one of the six closest members, you are further than 50 km from the consumer (or the consumer’s city centre) or you may not have paid your membership fee.
  3. Why doesn’t my (overseas) company appear in the results list? Are there plans to add international movers to the drop-down list? We have a limited number of international members in Canada and it was originally felt that there was not a sufficient number to provide consumers even with one mover within the 50 km radius. This may change shortly.
  4. My company appears in the results list when I enter my company’s physical location. But it doesn’t appear when I search in our service area (i.e., within 150 miles of our physical office). Why not? The search area is based only on the 50 km radius from the consumer’s location.
  5. My company appears when I search for movers in my own town, along with movers in a nearby town. But my company does not appear when I search the nearby town. The town you are in may be small and has only one or two members. The nearby town has enough members to meet the six-members-within-50-km requirement.
  6. Are the movers listed in the results randomly selected? Are they in any particular order? The order of the six members listed is from closest to the consumer to furthest.
  7. If there are more than six movers within the 50 mile radius, only the same six closest to city centre will be listed. Is this fair? Can the names be rotated? The movers chosen are based strictly on what consumers choose as their origin location.
  8. What happens if there are no movers within a 50 mile radius? I’m thinking of those people who live in smaller centers and are looking for a mover. No movers will be displayed. We are working on a suitable message for this eventuality that will direct consumers to our online membership directory.
  9. Why are the accented characters in a French request for an estimate not properly formatted? This was an error in our programming and we are working on a fix right now.

Our programmers are reviewing comments that many of you provided. Watch our future newsletters for developments.

HGTV

CAM has been approached by a company that validates suppliers for HGTV (the Home & Garden television channel). The proposal is that CAM would supply a list of mover members and these movers would appear on HGTV’s website listing of preferred suppliers. This would all be done at no charge to members, but members would be required to provide up-to-date insurance and workers compensation certificates as part of the validation process.

Watch for details.

Press Releases

CAM’s marketing committee is continuing the press release program that was instituted a couple of years ago. We have issued the following press releases so far this year:

  • March 2012 – Consumers Who Get a Good Estimate are Likely to Have a Good Move.
  • April 2012 – A 10-Point Plan for a Summer Move

Press releases related to “getting ready for your move” and “packing for your move” will follow in the next several weeks. This is all in an effort to direct consumers to you. Let us know if our messages are mentioned in your local media.

Website Access

Some members have had difficulty in accessing the MEMBERS-ONLY area on the CAM website. It’s not intuitive! Instructions can be seen on the website in the LOGIN INFORMATION area. Your username is the four digit number that appears beside the word SEQUENCE on all your invoices. Your password is your name exactly as it appears in our magazine or in our online directory beside the word CONTACT. Of course, you can always call our office for help.

Buy – Sell

Check out the buy-sell area on the website. There may be something you need.

IF YOU HAVE NEWS THAT CANADA’S MOVING INDUSTRY SHOULD KNOW ABOUT, please let CAM know and we will include it in upcoming issues of this newsletter.