MATT Moving Systems is opening up its unique online quoting platform to users, through its new, free, cloud-based service: The MATT Cloud.
The system could allow moving companies anywhere in the world to quote international work, door to door, instantly, without even leaving the customer’s home.
The company launched its online quoting platform back in 2012. Its founder, Paul Farthing, had significant experience in the moving industry and concluded that making origin agents wait for e-mailed destination quotes was not sustainable in a digital world. Instead he used his knowledge of the industry to develop an online platform on which subscribing companies could upload their tariffs and make them available to their agent clients worldwide. Using the system, agents can get detailed quotes for destination services, to specific inland locations (not just within 30/100 miles of the port) in seconds. “It’s much faster than even writing an e-mail,” said Paul, “let alone waiting for a reply.”
Quotes provided every day around the clock
The MATT system is virtually invisible behind the subscriber’s own branding but drives an efficient mechanism that provides quotations 24-hours a day, every day. There are currently 61 companies using the system in 59 countries with each one able to upload its own rates, set discounts for each customer, or block customers if it chooses. Rates cannot be viewed by local competitors. When it’s busy the MATT system is handling around 1,000 quotes a day completely automatically. No need to worry about time zones, public holidays or sabbath days.
The MATT Cloud is free for users
The new MATT Cloud version is free to use for all enquirers and provides even easier access. If you want to try out the system you simply need to visit www.mattmovingsystems.com and click on the ‘Create profile’ tab. After a short vetting process participating companies will begin to accept you as a user and you can start obtaining quotations for destination and origin services straight away. Paul said that there is, and never will be, any charge to users for the service.
From $95/month to subscribe
“It would cost users nothing to send an e-mail requesting rates, so I won’t ever charge them to use The MATT Cloud,” said Paul. He simply charges a flat monthly fee, starting at $95, to companies that wish to upload their rates. “I will build anybody a test system to put their rates in and if they don’t like it they can walk away. It makes no difference how many quotes are given or how many users they have. I don’t want to penalise people for being successful.”
Paul said that the new cloud system provided users with access to all the system's subscribers at the same time. “With the original system users had to remember different passwords for each agent from which they requested rates,” said Paul. “Also, the system would not allow users to compare rates directly as only one tariff could be accessed at a time. The MATT Cloud allows users to interrogate as many users’ tariffs as they wish and so compare rates in seconds.”
Brings back the art of selling
There is another aspect to this. The MATT Cloud will enable users to get destination services rates for virtually any destination, on a smartphone or tablet, in seconds. This means that there is no excuse for not working out the total cost of a move while still face-to-face with the customer. It’s only when a price is given that the selling process begins.
Sales people will easily be able to judge a customer’s reaction, sell the benefits of their own company’s offering, justify price differentials and, if appropriate, close the sale. Using old manual systems this was more difficult to achieve therefore the closing process often had to be done over the telephone at the follow-up stage. Some companies even purposely separated the surveying and costing processes, to prevent errors, thereby actively preventing the salesperson from completing the job on-site. Using The MATT Cloud reduces the opportunity for human error and puts the salesperson in a much stronger negotiating position.
“The future is Internet-based,” said Paul. “You wouldn’t expect to wait for a price from Amazon or an airline. Why should it be acceptable for customers to wait for a quote when they are moving abroad?”
The MATT Cloud is in continual development and Paul is currently extending the service to include more origin rates. When combined with video survey technology this will allow users to build full door-to-door quotations, even for third-country moves, without leaving their offices or having to send a rate request.