NOVEMBER 15, 2007 -- Where does a guy from England go to get a taste of how American businesses move? David Stacy, a manager for the United Kingdom’s largest office mover, will tell you it’s VIC’S Moving & Storage in Kansas City.
Stacy just returned to Business Moves Group, Ltd. (BMG) where he manages the company’s Reading, England branch.
“I have been lucky enough to experience the innovative methods that VIC’S Moving has adopted to enhance their service level,” said Stacy after a week of hands-on experience under the wing of VIC’S owner, Richard Bitterman. “I'm missing the place already.”
Mutual training led to the long-distance visit. Both VIC’S and BMG have earned the Certified Office Mover designation from the International Office Moving Institute (IOMI). Stacy saw in action everything that he and BMG learned recently from their IOMI training sessions in the UK.
“As IOMI-certified movers, key employees at both companies have been trained in common methods, techniques, highly specialized equipment, and our proprietary job estimating formula, but as a new manager with BMG, David Stacy needed experience with a veteran organization,” said Ed Katz, head of IOMI. He found it at VIC’S, an IOMI-certified office mover for four years.
During his visit, Stacy sat in on VIC’S mover training sessions, went along on sales calls, worked on and supervised local office moves, and even prepared job estimates using IOMI’s proprietary formula.
“David was able to come to Kansas City from England and prepare an accurate job estimate. IOMI’s job estimating formula improves price quote accuracy and the chances moves will finish on time. We proved the formula works no matter what side of the ocean you’re on,” said Bitterman.
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David Stacy, a manager with Business Moves Group, Ltd., the UK's largest office mover, spent a week at VIC'S to learn how businesses move in the US.
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Innovations at VIC’S also include the “boxless move” and extensive building protection using green-tech office moving equipment. Stacy practiced operating VIC’S Spider Crane, an odd shaped device that saves customer downtime by moving lateral file cabinets fully loaded and, therefore, “boxless” since no packing or unpacking is required.
“It was interesting to compare the difference between the UK and the USA and whilst some of the operating produced similar hurdles the biggest
UK visitor David Stacy uses VIC'S Spider Crane on a local office relocation to move fully-loaded lateral file cabinets.
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difference was how the clients were so well trained,” said Stacy.
How valuable was the US training to his employer?
“Dave came back so pumped up and inspired and feels that his experience at VIC’S will help him raise BMG’s service to even higher levels,” said Simon Darvall, owner of BMG.
As an IOMI exchange student, visiting managers can step in and contribute and also get a fresh prospective from the host organization.
“Richard Bitterman is welcome to send one of his staff members to work at BMG to see how we utilise the IOMI process,” said Darvall.
“According to Dave, it wasn’t a vacation. Instead, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see how IOMI-certified movers in the USA tackle office moving.”
Though maybe not a vacation, Stacy’s week wasn’t all work either. His first order of business was to rent an American muscle car. He also enjoyed Kansas City’s famous cuisine.
“I'm sure going to miss those barbecues,” Stacy said.
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