Setting up Yesoma for a moving company

Yesoma's moving-company playbook pre-loads a workspace with eight services, six policies, eight FAQs, and eight reply templates written specifically for the moving industry. If you run a residential or commercial moving business, applying this playbook during onboarding gives you a fully functional inbox setup in minutes — services with realistic starting prices, deposit policies already written, and reply templates that calm nervous customers and move them toward a confirmed booking.

1. Applying the moving playbook

During the Yesoma onboarding wizard, select Moving company from the industry picker. The wizard loads the playbook and walks you through three light customization steps:

• Your service area — replace the default ("local moves within 50 miles") with your actual coverage. Long-distance movers should note their interstate authority here.
• Your hourly rate — the playbook anchors prices in USD starting points. Update the rate to match what you actually charge. The template math updates to use whatever rate you set.
• Your deposit amounts — the playbook defaults to $150/$200/$300 by move size. Adjust to match your policy before the workspace goes live.

After onboarding, every setting is editable from the Business Brain tab. Services, prices, policies, and templates can all be updated without touching the playbook defaults again.

2. The "needs a walkthrough" workflow before sending a formal quote

Moving is a quote-after-survey business. Unlike a haircut or a restaurant booking, a moving price cannot be finalized without knowing what is in the home, what floor it is on, whether there is a piano, and how far the truck has to travel. The playbook is built around this reality.

The first-reply template asks five specific questions: move date, origin and destination addresses, home size, stairs and elevator situation, and specialty items. These are the minimum inputs needed to produce an estimate range. Without them, any price you quote is a guess — and a guess that comes in low destroys trust on move day.

For medium, large, and long-distance moves, the playbook includes a walkthrough step in the booking flow. This is either a free in-home visit or a video call where the customer walks you through each room. After the walkthrough, you send the formal estimate. The "Formal estimate sent" template in the playbook is structured to follow this step — it references crew size, hourly rate, estimated hours, and total range in a format the customer can read and act on.

The sequence in Yesoma:

1. Inquiry arrives. First-reply template fires (or you send it manually).
2. Customer responds with their details. You schedule the walkthrough or assess from the information given.
3. You send the formal estimate using the quote template.
4. The automated three-day follow-up fires if no deposit has been received.
5. Deposit paid — date is confirmed. Week-before confirmation template fires.

3. Hourly rate vs total-cost transparency in templates

The most common source of customer complaints in the moving industry is sticker shock at the end of the job. A customer was told "$120/hr" and assumed the job would take three hours. It took six. The final bill is double what they mentally budgeted, and they feel misled — even if the hourly rate was quoted accurately.

The playbook addresses this directly. Every pricing template is written to show the math explicitly:

"Hourly rate: $[rate]/hr — Estimated time: [N]–[N] hours — Estimated total: $[low]–$[high]"

The customer sees a range before they commit. The range is realistic — not the best-case scenario. This approach means:

• Customers who are price-sensitive self-select out before you have invested in a walkthrough.
• Customers who commit to the deposit do so with accurate expectations.
• End-of-job conversations are easier because the customer already knew the range.

In your Business Brain, the Overrun policy covers what happens when a job tracks over the estimate. The template language is already included: "We communicate before going past the estimate window — we never silently run the clock." Paste this or a version of it into any pricing conversation where the customer asks about overruns.

4. Insurance and license messaging that builds trust

Moving scams are a real consumer concern. Customers search for your USDOT number, look for liability insurance language, and check whether you hold a state mover's license. The playbook includes this trust-building language in two places:

In the FAQ: "Are you licensed and insured?" is FAQ number three. The answer references your USDOT registration, state mover's license, commercial general liability insurance, and cargo insurance. It also notes that customers receive a copy of "Your Rights and Responsibilities When You Move" before any interstate move — this is a federal requirement, and naming it signals that you operate by the rules.

In the liability policy: The policy explains the difference between released-value protection (the federally mandated minimum at $0.60/lb/article) and full-value protection. Most customers have never heard of this distinction. Explaining it proactively in your policy — before they ask — is one of the clearest trust signals a moving company can send. It shows you have nothing to hide about how claims work.

To use these effectively:

• Update the FAQ answer with your actual USDOT number and state license number. Blank fields undermine trust; specific numbers build it.
• Add your certificate of insurance to the documents section of your Business Brain so you can share it instantly when a property manager or building management office requests it.
• If you offer full-value protection as an add-on, add it as a line item in the formal estimate template so the customer can opt in or out explicitly.

5. Peak-season pricing and advance-booking nudges

May through September is peak moving season. End-of-month dates (the last week of any month) are the single most contested dates on a mover's calendar because most residential leases turn on the first.

The playbook handles this in two ways:

In the cancellation policy: The standard 72-hour deposit forfeiture window extends to 7 days for peak-season bookings. This is noted in the policy and referenced in the estimate for any peak-season job. Customers who read the estimate know the stricter rule applies before they deposit — no arguments later.

In the no-availability template: When a peak-season date is already full, the template explicitly tells the customer why and how to avoid it next time: "Our peak-season dates (May through September) and end-of-month dates typically book 3–4 weeks in advance. If you need a specific date, booking early is the best way to secure it."

This language serves two purposes. It handles the current "we are full" situation with a constructive alternative. And it trains the customer — if they come back next year or refer a friend, they know to contact you earlier.

You can reinforce the advance-booking message in your first-reply template. The default template already closes with: "We book up fast on weekends and at the end of the month, so the sooner we can confirm the date the better." This is a low-pressure urgency signal that is factually true and does not feel like a sales push.

6. What your reply templates look like in action

The moving playbook includes eight templates. Here is how they map to the stages of a typical booking:

First reply — move inquiry. Fires when an inquiry arrives. Asks the five questions needed to produce an estimate: move date, addresses, home size, stairs or elevator, and specialty items. Short, direct, and warm. Sets the expectation that you reply fast and take the job seriously.

Pricing reply — hourly rate and estimated total range. Used before the formal estimate when a customer asks about cost before you have all the details. Shows the rate and a rough range, explains the assumptions, and asks whether they want a formal estimate. Prevents the customer from misreading a per-hour rate as a final price.

Formal estimate sent. Sent after the walkthrough or detailed inventory review. Shows the full math in a summary block — crew, rate, hours, range, deposit amount, payment link. Clear enough that the customer can act on it immediately.

Deposit reminder. Sent when a formal estimate has been out for more than a day or two with no deposit. Reminds the customer that the date is not held and links to the payment. Non-pushy; just accurate.

Week-before move confirmation. Sent approximately seven days before the move. Covers crew arrival window, what to prepare, parking, and the balance due on completion. Reduces the "what do I do to get ready" calls on move day.

Day-after thank you and review request. Sent the morning after move completion. Thanks the customer, opens a door for any concerns, and asks for a Google review. The timing is deliberate — the customer is surrounded by their belongings in a new space and the crew's work is vivid.

Quote follow-up at three days. Fires automatically three days after a quote is sent with no deposit received. Checks in, answers the three most common stall questions, and keeps the conversation open.

No-availability reply. Used when the requested date is full. Offers two alternative dates, explains the advance-booking dynamic for peak season, and keeps the lead warm rather than closing the door.

All templates use {{customer_first_name}} and [bracket] placeholders. Update the bracket values for each job before sending. The {{review_link}} placeholder is populated automatically from your Google review link in Business Brain settings.