| Faces of Business
Professional Movers, Inc. Trust and Quality...
by Larry Banner, Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce
Eddie Giles moves things. His business is to move things. He moves offices, homes ... people. "I like people - I like dealing with people. When you are in the moving industry you meet all sorts of people, different people; you see the lifestyles of people. It's a very unique business," explained Eddie Giles, owner of Professional Movers, Inc.
"There's a lot of trust - I go in and move people when they aren't there - get keys from people I have never met - we know what we are supposed to do - we even set people's houses up for them."
Professional Movers, Inc. has been in business for 3 1/ 2years. "I like to explain it this way," says Giles, "The business was born Feb 16th, 1999. It started walking in March."
Before launching his own company, Giles had worked for seven years in the moving industry. He was Operations Manager for a moving company here in Charlottesville.
"I felt I had taken that company as far as I could," says Giles. "I left not really knowing what I was going to doÉ I thought about it for two days and I realized I love the business, I loved what I was doing."
Giles had no doubt he could run his own business, but he consulted with his wife, family members and his pastor. All supported his idea to start a moving business in Charlottesville, so Giles got down to the work of making it happen. "I was getting up at 5:30 every morning and looking into license, insurance, trucks, hats, uniforms and everything - I wanted to get the company started right."
Giles purchased his first truck in Charlottesville and the business took off from there. "I had people waiting for me even before I started the company É Previous customers sought me out, because they liked the way I ran the business."
His biggest challenge at the start was financing, but Giles had saved up some money. He invested it all with confidence, feeling certain that if he did the job right he would be successful.
Marketing of his company primarily comes from word of mouth and referrals, though he does run an ad in the yellow pages and occasionally in local papers. "When I started the company, the yellow pages were already published," says Giles. "And it came out in November, so from March until November I had no visibility there É but I stayed as busy as any other mover in Charlottesville - through referrals."
"Customer Service at its Best" is one of Professional Mover's slogans. And professional image is very important to Eddie Giles.
Giles told me a story that caught my attention. He arrived with his movers at a residential job. The woman came out on her porch and just stood there staring at the truck.
"Ma-am, is everything OK?" said Giles.
"I have never seen such beautiful moving trucks - so nice and clean," she replied. "And you guys look so nice. Have you ever thought of opening a company in Northern Virginia? - because we don't have movers up there like you all."
"I like to keep my vehicles looking real nice - trucks cleanÉ" explains Giles. And image is important to him and his business. "It's professionalism," says Giles. "If you go into someone's house - you have to represent the business - everyone looks the same." Giles has chosen the colors of black and white Ð a very clean combination. His trucks are black and white and he requires his employees to wear a uniform of black & white, including a black and white baseball cap emblazoned with the company logo.
"A lot of people don't like uniforms and complainÉ but you are representing the business - not yourself. The way you look is the way people will judge youÉsad but true," said Giles. "If you look professional they are going to treat you professionally."
Giles is quick to note that his employees are "the best that can be found." And he attributes much of the business's success to his workers, currently four full time with very little turnover across the years. "Trust is a main goal," says Giles. "If I can trust my guys to go into my house when I'm not there, then you can trust them to. I hire quality employees and expect a high degree of quality and professionalism."
An interesting aspect of their job is the business of moving in the case of fire or water damage. Professional Movers, Inc. will come in, move items out of a location, and then return after repairs have been done, replacing the items..
Giles tells a story of a water damaged home. "We were asked to come in and basically remove everything from this lady's house, store it for a week, and then put it back exactly as it had been." They took photos and video of the rooms, packed the items up and when they brought them back, laid out the photos as reference, carefully replacing everything. "I even noted in one photo," explained Giles, "magazines laying on a table, some of them were hanging over the side. I set them up exactly." The owner came home after the week and couldn't even believe the work had been done, the rearrangement was so accurate.
"How much does one pay for that kind of accuracy," I asked Giles. " Well, that was a pretty expensive job," he says with a smile.
Professional Movers Inc. is also active in the community, supporting a number of non-profit organizations in their own unique way. For the last two years they have sponsored a T-ball team playing at Penn Park. They volunteer for Computers4kids, helping to pick up computers from donating businesses. They deliver them to a lab for refurbishing and then help to distribute them. They have also donated moving services for a number of organizations including I Have a Dream Foundation and the Alzheimer's Assoc. "I'm glad to do it," says Giles. "The community has been good to me so I'm glad to do it."
Since going into business, Professional Movers has been a member of the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce as well as other professional organizations such as the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors. "I have been active with networking," notes Giles." I pass my cards out. It's good PR work and you enjoy yourself while you are doing it."
Giles notes that about 85% of his moving business is residential, and also, of his total business, about the same percentage is local transfers. "There's lots of moving going on in Charlottesville. This is a very transient community."
And as long as there is moving to be done, Professional Movers. Inc. will be accomplishing it with quality and trust, presenting a great image for the Charlottesville regional business community.
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