In a recent interview, Jake Green, the owner of Dixie Moving & Storage, shared his experience and how Jake and team have established themselves as the go-to moving experts in the St. George area.
Here are some key takeaways from the interview:
1. Extensive Expertise in Moving:
Dixie Moving & Storage brings a vast amount of experience to the table. Over the years, they’ve handled a wide range of moving needs, earning a reputation for their reliability and professionalism. Whether you’re planning a local move, a long-distance relocation, an office move, or require specialty services like piano moving, or safe moving, Dixie Moving & Storage has the skills and know-how to ensure a smooth transition.
2. Making Moves Stress-Free:
Moving can be a daunting task, and Jake understands that better than anyone. That’s why he and his team are dedicated to making your move as stress-free as possible. They prioritize transparency, professionalism, and exceptional customer service to ensure every client feels at ease throughout the moving process. From punctual arrivals to polite staff, Dixie Moving & Storage takes care of the details, allowing you to focus on settling into your new home or office.
3. Convenient Storage Solutions:
Recognizing that not every move is straightforward, Dixie Moving & Storage offers convenient storage options. Whether you need short-term storage while you’re in transition or a more extended storage solution, they’ve got you covered. Their secure storage facilities provide peace of mind, knowing your belongings are safe until you’re ready for them.
Jake Green’s commitment to excellence and customer satisfaction has propelled Dixie Moving & Storage to new heights in the moving industry. Whether you’re planning a local move, a long-distance relocation, or any other moving-related service, you can count on Jake and his team to make it easy and hassle-free.
If you’re in the St. George area and looking for a reliable moving company, reach out to Dixie Moving & Storage today. They have the experience, expertise, and dedication to ensure your move is a success. Stress less, and let Dixie Moving & Storage handle the heavy lifting!
Contact Dixie Moving & Storage for a personalized moving quote and experience the difference of moving with experts who truly care about your needs.
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Transcription of Audio:
Michael Mollenhauer
Welcome back to another exciting episode of “Make it easy for people to give you money.” My name is Michael Mollenhauer. I’m your host for today, and you know the company called 1 to 1 Network. We are an advertising and marketing company with locations in Laguna Beach, California, and also Southern Utah in the St. George area. I hope you guys are set for a really great show today. We have a really excellent special guest today. His name is Jake Green, and Jake is the general manager for a company called Dixie Moving and Storage or Bekins franchise based out of Washington County, St. George, UT.
Jake, how are you doing today?
Jake Green
Great. How are you today?
Michael Mollenhauer
Oh, I’m just doing fabulous. Thank you so much. Hey, thanks for joining us on the show today. I know you’ve got a lot of great information that people who own businesses can benefit from, and also people who are in need of your services can also benefit greatly from. You know before we get into this, Jake, tell us a little bit about you and your background. I know that you’ve got a bachelor’s degree in construction management from Brigham Young University, is that right?
Jake Green
That’s true. Yeah. I was in construction for a little while after college, and then I just decided I was mentally unemployable. And then I started a landscape company after I built some Home Depots and Walmarts and some.
Michael Mollenhauer
Is that the phone already ringing off the hook? Is that a bear in your background?
Jake Green
And then there’s a big bell in the warehouse. But it goes off when the phone rings, so.
Michael Mollenhauer
Well, now that you know nobody’s ever done that on this year before? So this is the first congratulations for freaking out all the listeners. All right. So I’m sorry. So you started here, you decided you were mentally unemployable, and you started a landscaping business?
Jake Green
Started a landscape company, yeah. Here in St George and uh. Had a great three-year run, and then I decided I was ready for the next thing, and I had an opportunity to buy into this moving business, and I bought in, and then eventually after a 5-year buyout, I own the company 100%. So that was 12 years ago.
Michael Mollenhauer
Well, congratulations on that. But we might want to update your bio on LinkedIn because it shows that you’re the general manager, and we need to update that so it shows a rumor, which is a good thing?
Jake Green
Yeah, I probably haven’t logged into LinkedIn for three or four years. So maybe I should do that.
Michael Mollenhauer
So there’s a lesson to be learned there for everyone who’s lesson. If you want to make it easy for people to give you money, update your social profiles, especially when they’ve improved like that. So that’s cool. So I need to ask you really quick. So when you were, when you owned the landscaping company, what lessons did you learn in that company that helped you in? Your business that you have today.
Jake Green
You know, I just love working with people so when people would present problems and issues that they have in their landscape business and. I just love to solve problems, so that really helps me in the moving business. You know with. Timing, timing wise, when somebody sells a home and they’re building a new. Home or can’t? Close on the new home until the old one’s closed and stuff like that. You know, that’s just that’s just. Helped me figure out think outside the box and. You know, mostly just how to deal with people. In the moving business is actually moving this right up there among the top three stressful things that somebody can go through in their life along with death and divorce, so. You know, we’re we don’t see people at their greatest moments, and we’re we’re happy to try and. Solve a problem and provide a way to, you know, to make the move.
Michael Mollenhauer
I have moved several times in my life. The most recent was when we relocated from in Laguna Beach up to the St George area and. You know, it seems to get. Harder every single time. So the first few times that we. Moved. It’s like, oh, we can do this ourselves. It’s not a big deal. Yeah, you know and and now with as time is going on and I look at all the stuff we have and it’s like I am not lifting any of those boxes and my wife goes, we’re calling someone, we are not doing this. And even though we had help you know we had someone do it. It’s still horrible. I mean, you know, I still had. I had my I had a family member. Still we, you know, drove some stuff up here in addition to the big truck and everything and. I don’t know why we never do this again. Well, maybe one more time and I think you’re right about the the the death and moving them to the point where you know, it might be easier. Just to die or I’m just going to call Jake?
Jake Green
Call me. It’s not worth dying over.
Michael Mollenhauer
No, no. I’m just gonna call Jake. You know, it’s like we’re we’re not doing this ever again. This was the. This was a pain in the neck. So I know that you were a Bekins. You’re a Bekins franchise owner right now, right.
Jake Green
Yes, we own a. Dixie Movement and Storage is an agent for Bekins, so it’s not really a franchise. We’re like a moving like an agent. Like a travel agent. Except we only book through Bekins. So yeah, that’s how.
Michael Mollenhauer
Oh, OK. So. So you mentioned that when we. First started before you. Acquired the agent status and you and you own this now. You were like a general manager with the with. With Bekins. How does that? How did all that work?
Jake Green
Yeah, our local company is called Dixie moving. And storage. That’s the OK, so. That’s our local, our local company. Our trucks are all labeled with Bekins because we we do operate under their authority. I. But I started here as the as the sales manager and with the understanding that. I was going to eventually buy the buy the business if if things worked out after I sold my landscape company.
Speaker
So OK.
Jake Green
I had that that foundation laid when I started here, but. OK, yeah, it was. It was nice because I had I had on the job training and. I could steer the. The company in the direction that I wanted it to go and. You know, shared in the in the liability and responsibility of of the growth. And and opportunities that that were there. So, OK, yeah, it was. It was a great great for the previous owner who was ready to take a step back and great for the new owner. Me and you know, it’s it’s been a great thing and it’s a great brand to be a part of. And and we feel like we are the face of the company. So we’re kind of like a mom and pop moving. Company with with the. Infrastructure of Bekins and we we definitely have a strong brand to lean on and. You know, all the resources that come with a company that’s been around for a long time.
Michael Mollenhauer
So how long has Bekins been around?
Jake Green
Oh, 1903 is when. The Bekins family started. Yeah.
Michael Mollenhauer
Holy cow.
Jake Green
They’re actually the. They’re actually the originators of the moving industry. They were the first company to put rubber tires on a horse-drawn carriage. So they used to be, they used to be a carriage manufacturer and then they. I. They put rubber tires on them so they could move people’s belongings and things like that.
Michael Mollenhauer
That’s incredible. You know, and I know that that’s the brand that you have is so strong and when we talk about. You know, you and I have had several conversations over the years, and you know, when we talk about different strategies and things like that, you know, one of the things that you have really impressed upon me is, you know, it’s like, OK, it’s not just about moving stuff. I mean, that’s what we do. But it’s not just about that, it’s it’s really about the people, right?
Jake Green
Absolutely. Absolutely. It’s it’s it’s about the relationship. You know, we we make sure that we, we hire for character. Train for skill, you know, we can we can teach somebody to be a mover, but we can’t teach them how to be a nice person, and. And we we believe that. The moving industry has kind of had a bad reputation in the past, and we we want to. Raise the bar and change that, and we know that. You know, 80% of the companies in the in the country are, you know, under 10 employees. So there’s a lot of these guys out there that are, you know, fly by night or under the radar. And and, you know, they don’t don’t have any kind of insurance, they don’t have background checks. I mean, a lot of the bigger companies, they hire. Just whoever will answer the phone and they just send him out, and they don’t know anything about the customer or the crew, and they don’t even call and follow up after the move to make sure that everything went well and, you know, that that was one of the things that we we changed here was. We believe that. You know, our reputation is everything and and we have to take care of our customers because without our customers, we’re not. We’re not anything.
Michael Mollenhauer
Sure, sure. So I want to take you back to when you first got started. And, you know, you’re you’re the sales manager at the company, and, you know, you’re going to work your way up to potentially owning the company. You know, when you first started out in this in this role and when you were looking at the industry, what were some of the things that you saw that you said, you know, we could do this differently, we could do this better, we can change this. And that would help us be successful.
Jake Green
Oh, there was a lot of stuff. So first, the first thing that I noticed was that. There were a lot of companies out there that were charging the. Hourly rate with a truck charge and all this and all these extra fees and things like that. And we, you know, we believe in just a straight, flat hourly rate. There’s no extra fees or anything like that, and we don’t. We don’t charge for a lot of the things that that other companies charge for, and then and then we guarantee that you’re not going to pay. A penny over what we estimate you for. And so that that was a big thing, was just transparency and and so that was one of the first things I changed. And then the other thing was, you know, having a dress code, background checks. And and that was a that was a big change for the company, but it’s something that we, you know, we believe in, and we, we we’ve seen the benefits of that. You know, having having a professional looking crew and and and that we can trust and and then that the customers can trust. And then just a lot of little things, you know, we we had, you know, the previous owner would just, you know, grab whoever was available to. To go out on a move or send somebody in their car to go get a. Truck that they rented from U-Haul or Penske or whatever, and, you know, then the customer’s paying for that time, and that was one of the things that I that I saw a lot of the competitors doing, and I thought that’s not the right way to do it. And so I wanted to change that and and have it to where, you know, the company owns the truck. It’s there, it’s there. When you want it, and we’re not wasting your time and and your money by doing things that that aren’t related to the move. So, you know, and it was and it was a struggle at first, you know, it’s it’s hard to to to turn down moves when you don’t have a truck available or a crew available. But, you know, we we did it and we did the right thing. And then over time, it’s just, you know, our reputation started to grow and we were able to get the business that that we wanted and and it all worked out in the end.
Michael Mollenhauer
That’s fantastic. I love that, you know, the idea of transparency and just being straightforward with customers. And I think that’s something that’s so important in any business, but especially in your business where, you know, moving can be such a stressful experience. And if customers feel like they’re being nickel and dimed or there are all these hidden fees, that’s just going to add to their stress. So I think that’s a fantastic approach. And, you know, the idea of having a professional-looking crew that people can trust, I think that goes a long way as well because, as you mentioned, you’re not just moving stuff, you’re helping people through a potentially very stressful and emotional time in their lives.
Jake Green
Yeah, absolutely. And and it’s you know, it’s kind of. Kind of funny because, you know, you wouldn’t think that appearance would would mean so much to a customer, but it does, you know, when somebody. Opens the door and they see somebody who’s, you know, dressed professionally and and and that they can they can tell that that the person knows what they’re doing. It just it just helps them feel more comfortable and and confident in in in the in the move. So it’s it’s. It’s kind of one of those things that you don’t really think about until until it’s pointed out. And then and then once it’s pointed out, you’re like, oh, yeah, I get that. Yeah.
Michael Mollenhauer
Absolutely, it makes a lot of sense. So, you know, you’ve made these changes, you’ve focused on transparency, on professionalism, on customer service. How did you see these changes impacting the business? You know, what was the shift that you started to notice as these changes took hold?
Jake Green
Yeah, so, you know, like I mentioned, at first, it was a struggle, you know, we were we were turning down moves because we didn’t have a crew available, and that was that was tough because, you know, we had to tell people, sorry, we can’t help you. But over time, you know, we started to see a shift in in the type of customer that that was calling in. We started to see a shift in in the in the. In the feedback that we were getting, you know, customers were saying, you know, I really appreciate that you guys showed up on time and and you were dressed nice and and. And the guys were, you know, polite and professional and and just all that kind of stuff, and then we just, you know, we we started to get more and more referrals from our customers. You know, they were telling their friends and family about us, and then we started to see our online reviews go up, and that was a big thing, too, because a lot of the competitors. I mean, they, they, they were either not really caring about the reviews or they would have, you know, a couple of good ones and then a couple of bad ones. And and that was just kind of the way it was. And so when we came in and and we started to get all of these. These positive reviews and and just the customers raving about us and and, you know, telling everybody how great we were. It just it just changed everything for us because. You know, these days, when when people are looking for a service, the first thing they do is they go online and they look for reviews. And and if you if you have a bunch of positive reviews, you’re going to get more business. So so that was a huge thing for us. And and and then as as that started to happen, you know, we we we started to be able to charge more because, you know, we knew that that we were worth it and and and customers were willing to pay for for a quality service. And so that was that was a big change for us. And and and, you know, we we also started to do more training with our crew, you know, because when when you’re, when you’re hiring for character, you know, some people just they haven’t been in the moving industry before, so they don’t know what they’re doing. So so we we we developed a training program that that just kind of. I guess you could say indoctrinates them into the into the moving world and and shows them, you know, the right way to do things and and how to handle different situations that they might encounter. And so that that was a big thing for us, too, because, you know, we wanted to make sure that our crew was top notch and that, you know, they knew what they were doing and that they could. You know, provide the quality service that our customers expect. So so all of those things combined, you know, just it just made a huge difference for us. And, you know, I’d say the biggest thing, though, was just the the reputation and and all the referrals that we were getting because that was just. You know, that was just like an avalanche. Once once that started, it just it just didn’t stop. And it’s it’s been that way ever since.
Michael Mollenhauer
That’s incredible to hear. And it really underscores the power of delivering exceptional customer service and making sure that your customers are not only satisfied but delighted with the service you provide, because as you mentioned, word of mouth referrals and positive online reviews can be incredibly powerful in today’s digital age. People rely on those recommendations. And when they see consistently great reviews and hear from friends and family that you’ve done an excellent job, that can make all the difference. So it’s it’s really a testament to the focus on delivering quality service.
Jake Green
Absolutely, absolutely. And and, you know, I think it’s it’s one of those things where. You know, it’s it’s not always the easy thing to do, but it’s the right thing to do. And and if you if you do it long enough, you know, it’s it’s going to pay off. And and I think that’s something that a lot of people, especially, you know, business owners, they they want they want the quick fix and and they they want the. You know, the instant gratification and and, you know, it’s it’s not always like that, but but if you if you if you stay the course and and you do the right thing and and you you stay focused on the on the on the long game, it it’ll it’ll definitely pay off in the end.
Michael Mollenhauer
Absolutely. And that’s such an important perspective to have because you’re right. Sometimes the easy way or the quick fix might seem appealing, but if you’re looking at building a business for the long term, if you’re looking at establishing a strong reputation and brand, it often takes time and consistent effort, as you mentioned. And that’s where the real rewards come in. So, you know, your story is really a testament to that approach. And, you know, speaking of the long term, you know, you mentioned earlier that you started in this business, you were the sales manager, and now you’re on the path to potentially owning the company. What are your long-term goals for Bekins Moving Solutions? You know, where do you see the company going in the years to come?
Jake Green
Yeah, so I definitely want to continue to grow the company, you know, I think there’s there’s definitely a lot of room for for expansion and and and we we just acquired a new branch last year. And so that’s that’s definitely helping us to to grow and and to be able to take on more business. But but I think long term, you know, I definitely want to look at different markets. And and you know, we we just opened up a storage division last year, and that’s been really successful. And so I want to I want to continue to grow that and and potentially. Open up some more storage facilities and then and then, you know, we we have a couple of other ideas that we’re that we’re looking at, you know, maybe. You know, expanding into, you know, maybe like a a senior moving division, you know, because there’s there’s a lot of people that are, you know, moving into assisted living facilities and and things like that. And there’s not really a whole lot of companies that that do that kind of thing. So that’s something that we’re that we’re looking at. And and then, you know, potentially. Looking at some more acquisitions, you know, and and I’d say. I’d say that’s one of the things that that’s definitely in the works is is looking at some some some opportunities to acquire some more companies and and and be able to bring them into the Bekins family and and and really just help them to grow and and become more successful. And so I think there’s there’s definitely a lot of opportunity there, and I’m excited for for what the future holds and and where we can take this company.
Michael Mollenhauer
That’s fantastic. It sounds like you have some really exciting plans for the future and a lot of growth potential ahead. And, you know, it’s it’s always great to hear when a company is not only focused on its own growth but also on helping other companies grow by potentially acquiring them and bringing them into the fold. So it’s really exciting to hear about the direction that Bekins Moving Solutions is heading in.
Jake Green
Yeah, yeah, we’re definitely we’re definitely excited for the future and and, you know, we feel like we’re in a really good spot right now and and and there’s a lot of potential for for growth. So so it’s it’s it’s definitely an exciting time for us.
Michael Mollenhauer
Absolutely. Well, Jake, I want to thank you so much for joining us on the show today. It’s been a pleasure talking to you and hearing about your journey in the moving industry and the incredible changes and improvements you’ve made in your company to really provide top-notch service to your customers. So thank you so much for sharing your insights and your experiences with us today.
Jake Green
Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much for for having me on. It’s been a pleasure and and, you know, we’re we’re always excited to share our story and and and just kind of let people know what what we’re all about and and and how we can help them. So so thank you for for giving me the opportunity.
Michael Mollenhauer
You’re very welcome. And for our listeners, thank you for tuning in to another episode of “Make it easy for people to give you money.” I hope you found this episode as insightful and inspiring as I did. If you have any questions or if you’d like to connect with Jake or learn more about Bekins Moving Solutions, we’ll be providing some contact information and links in the show notes. So be sure to check those out. And if you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing, leaving a review, and sharing it with others who might benefit from the insights shared here. Thanks again for listening, and we’ll see you on the next episode.
