I say it all the time: I can throw the football, but someone on your team has to catch it and run. Marketing gets the phone to ring. Sales is what actually books the job.
That's exactly why I brought Kyle Tweedy onto the show. Kyle is the sales lead at BEK Moving in St. Louis, Missouri, and he has built a reputation in this industry for closing at a high rate; not through pressure, but through genuine connection and a process that actually works. We had a great conversation before recording, and I knew right away he had things to share that every moving company owner needs to hear.
Watch the full episode below, then keep reading for my biggest takeaways.
Kyle's Philosophy: Old-School Connection in a Digital World
What struck me most about Kyle is that his approach runs counter to what many moving companies do. While most reps rely on email and text threads to follow up with leads, Kyle picks up the phone. When he can, he shows up in person.
During an in-home walkthrough, he's not just cataloging inventory. He's looking at photos on the walls, the kids' trophies, anything that opens a real conversation. By the time he walks out, he usually knows the family well enough that the estimate is almost a formality. The deal is already done.
"People buy from people they like." He said it more than once, and I believe it's the entire foundation of how he sells.
Answer the Phone. Really.
One of my biggest frustrations as a marketing partner is watching companies miss the calls I work hard to generate. Kyle named speed and responsiveness among the clearest things that set him apart from the average salesperson. He responds to calls, texts, and emails at midnight if he's awake. Why? Because every inquiry is a potential job, and every missed call is real money walking out the door.
His rule: pick up within three rings. Don't go to voicemail. And when you do connect, don't pitch right away. First, find out what's actually going on with the person.
Turn the Angry Caller Into Your Best Customer
This was one of my favorite moments in the whole conversation. Kyle said he actively gravitates toward people who call in upset—the customer whose movers bailed the night before, the one who had a bad experience with a crew member, the one who feels burned.
Most people treat that call like a problem to manage. Kyle treats it like an opportunity. He slows down, listens, and focuses on solving the problem rather than defending the company. His logic is simple: fix it for them, and you've got them for life. They weren't expecting accountability. When they get it, the loyalty that follows is usually stronger than a customer who never had an issue at all.
I've seen this play out on the reputation side, too. The companies that respond well to complaints end up with better reviews than the ones that never mess up at all.
Price vs. Cost: A Reframe That Changes the Conversation
When a customer hears an estimate and says it's out of their budget, most reps either scramble to discount or lose the job. Kyle does something different. He distinguishes between price and cost: what the job costs today versus what it costs to wait, or to go with the wrong company. That reframe alone often shifts the conversation before it dead-ends.
And if the full job genuinely isn't in the budget? He offers options. A partial move, a partial pack, a prep-only service. Something. He never puts a number in front of someone and just hopes for the best.
Follow Up All the Way to Move Day
Kyle doesn't hand the customer off once the estimate is sent. He follows the job all the way through. His general cadence for a move that's a month out: a follow-up call after the estimate goes out, another two weeks before the move, another three days out, and a final call the day before to confirm inventory and set expectations.
That last call matters more than most people realize. It catches changes to the scope and means the crew shows up prepared. Fewer surprises on move day mean fewer disputes afterward. I'd add that this kind of consistent follow-through is also exactly what drives five-star reviews.
When to Hire a Salesperson (and What to Look For)
For owner-operators handling every call themselves, Kyle had direct advice: you have to let go. If you're doing all the selling, you're capping your own growth.
The time to hire, he said, is before you're drowning: when you're starting to miss third callbacks, when leads are slipping through during slow season, or when your growth would be faster if someone else owned the sales function. He's at that point now with BEK, and they're actively building out a training process so the next hire has a real foundation to work from.
What does he look for in a sales hire? Not the flashiest talker. Not someone watching the clock. Someone who reads people, goes the extra mile, and is coachable. He also made a point I really appreciated: not everyone is motivated by the same things, and good sales training takes that into account.
Get Out from Behind the Screen
Kyle and I are aligned here. Digital marketing matters, but it can't be the only thing you're doing. The chamber of commerce, real estate luncheons, community sponsorships, charity events — those offline touchpoints still move the needle, and in many markets, they're underused.
Kyle shared a story about a client who resisted joining their local chamber until he pushed them to do it. That one connection landed them a $30,000 job.
He also made a point I hadn't considered in exactly this way: offline presence feeds into online visibility. Google and AI tools look for consistent signals: citations, mentions, and community ties. Showing up in your community doesn't just build word of mouth. It builds the kind of credibility that eventually shows up in search.
Be the Face of Your Brand
Near the end of our conversation, Kyle talked about something he heard at an industry retreat: a highly successful moving company owner whose entire strategy was to be personally and visibly associated with his brand, everywhere he went. His face on the homepage, the About page, the contact page, and the thank-you page. A personal video thanking customers after they filled out a form.
Kyle and I both agreed: in a world where AI makes everything look polished and perfect, what builds trust is the human being behind the company. Real photos. Imperfect ones, even. An owner who actually shows up.
And one more thing I want every listener to hear: if you still have stock photos of generic movers in blue bibs on your website, please take them down today. Buy a couple of branded shirts, get your team together, and go take real pictures. It costs almost nothing, and it makes a difference.
Key Takeaways
Here's what I want you to walk away with from this episode:
Pick up the phone.
- The speed of response is one of the simplest and most overlooked competitive advantages for moving sales.
- Treat angry callers as high-value opportunities, not damage control. Solve the problem, earn the loyalty.
- When a customer pushes back on price, reframe the conversation around the cost of waiting or choosing the wrong company. Then offer options.
- Follow the job all the way to move day. Don't ghost the customer after the estimate goes out.
- If you're the only salesperson at your company, you're capping your own growth. Build a process before you hire so the next person has something real to work from.
- Get out of the office and into your community. Offline relationships feed both word of mouth and online reputation.
- Put your face (and your team's real faces) on your website. Authenticity builds trust faster than any stock photo ever will.
About Kyle Tweedy and BEK Moving
Kyle Tweedy is the sales lead at BEK Moving in St. Louis, Missouri. BEK Moving was recently voted the number one moving company in St. Louis after four years in the running. Kyle brings over a decade of sales training experience from his time in telecom retail and has spent the past several months building BEK's sales culture from the ground up.
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