34 Years of Moving Secrets: What Industry Veterans Know That You Don't - Jason Will

What does it take to succeed in the international moving industry for more than three decades? According to Jason Will, Country Manager of Asian Tigers China, it’s not just about boxes, trucks, or even logistics. It’s about people.

After 34 years across Australia, Indonesia, China, and Singapore, Jason has seen just about everything—including the time a client tried to ship a Hong Kong “junk” boat to the UK. (Yes, that really happened.)

In this episode of The Global Move, host sits down with Jason to unpack:

• The two critical components of successful relocation
  
• Why hiring for attitude beats hiring for experience
  
• How to identify a quality moving company
  
• What separates good movers from great ones
  
• The role of training and staff retention in long-term success
  

Jason explains why empathy and communication are as essential as packing materials, and shares his philosophy for building teams that stay for 5, 10, even 15+ years.

If you’re planning an international move—or advising someone who is—this conversation is a must-watch. With insider knowledge from someone who’s been on the frontlines for over three decades, you’ll learn exactly what to look for when choosing a moving company:

• Proven credentials and years in business
  
• Directly employed staff and owned warehouses vs. subcontractors
  
• Industry accreditations (like FIDI)
  
• Online reviews and customer feedback
  
• Word-of-mouth recommendations
  

Check out more episodes of The Global Move for more stories and advice from industry veterans.

Host: Welcome to the Global Move brought to you by Asian Tigers Group. Where we get insight from professional international, hey, sensational leaders in the business and try to help you smooth your move

Jason Will: Happy to be here Ryan.

Host: Jason, it’s great having guests like yourself on the podcast because you literally bring decades of experience to the moving discussion. When did you first get into the moving industry yourself?

Jason Will: Initially in 1991, and since that time, I’ve worked for three professional major moving companies in the industry. Learned a lot best practices, worst practices. So, I bring real-world experience to the table today.

Host: No doubt 91, that is, significant amount of experience. Can you tell us a little bit about the Jason Will back story.

Jason Will: Yeah, I started the industry in Australia, and then, I lived in Indonesia, China and, Singapore and Indonesia, in the again in the industry. So, yeah, I’ve had good experience like relocating myself, which helps when I work with our clients.

Host: You know, it seems to me that everyone at Asian Tigers, the whole group, that everyone has so much experience in this industry. What are some of those best practices you mentioned and what have you picked up along the way over 34 years in the biz?

Jason Will: Yeah, I mean we’re fortunate at Asian Tigers Group. We we have a lot of very experienced, people, who’ve been with the company for a long time. So I think the components of a successful relocation are twofold: one is that you’ve got a crew that is using the best packing materials, well-trained and packing the ship in such a way to minimize any potential for damage. So that’s one component. The other component is on the communications side. You want your staff to be empathetic to the client’s situation, understanding their needs, communicating well with them, understanding the questions before they even ask them. And treat them as like the priority number one. So that’s two components that are central to relocation. Those two components. And I think that at Asian Tigers Group we do well on both.

Host: And and as a follow up to that you know when you’re putting together teams and building teams in this space you know it’s not just a box and trucks, right? So what’s the secret sauce that goes into building a resilient team that just delivers super quality, and great customer service every time.

Jason Will: Sure, yeah, in my experience, it’s not about necessarily having someone with the right experience, having someone with the right, attitude. So when we hire people, we’re looking for people that have empathy, to our customers that get delighted and excited when we have a happy customer. It’s all about, I mean, our business is, yes, packing boxes and shipping containers. But I think the success the secret to success – is having people, the right people to deliver excellent customer service. And that’s not easy. You got to pick the right person based on their personality that they want to, they’re good communicators, that they’re proactive in communicating, and even simple things like one of the colleagues is busy and they’re not. They offer to help the colleague, take some of the workload off. So, you know, recruitment is, I would say, majority of the success of any moving company picking the right people with the right attitude. And if who are delighted by having happy customers.

Host: And on that note, what would you say that the, you know, if I, if I forced you to tell me what is the the thing that Asian Tigers team members have that that other move companies might not.

Jason Will: Well, I think training is a big aspect to what we do with our staff. Selecting the right staff from the get go is important as well, but the training, and treating them, well, I mean, you know, every time you lose a staff member, then you’ve got to take find the right next person and train them, which takes a long time. So I think if you look, amongst our group in Asia, many of the staff that we have working for us have been with us for at least five, 10 or 15 years. So, you know, yeah, getting good staff and keeping them is critical.

Host: For sure, and those longevity awards, I mean, like some people 30, 40 years with Asian Tigers, it’s crazy and it speaks volumes. If we took you out of Asian Tigers and you had to, for the first time, go through the process doing your homework, selecting the right moving company. What are some things that you look for?

Jason Will: Well, certainly it’s, it’s very important, you know, decision to make. So you’re looking at the credentials of the company, how long they’ve been in business for? They have their own staff that own warehouses. Are they accredited by organizations like, FIDI? You’re looking for online feedback Google Reviews, for example, and you’re asking people who have used them before, for their feedback as well. That’s a critical decision and should not be underestimated how important it is to choose the right company for your move.

Host: So, Jason, one thing I really wanted to ask you today, because of the amount of experience you’ve had, I’ve heard some crazy stories about the moving industry and I’m just curious about, you know, what would be one of the top ten stories you have to tell about the adventures in moving globally?

Jason Will: Well, after 30 plus years, a lot of crazy stories, but the one that probably comes to mind was, a client who is moving from Hong Kong, I think, to the UK, and the company asked what he wanted to move. He said, well, you know, my usual household goods and junk, which they took to be “junk”. At the time of moving, he presented a, Chinese boat, a Hong Kong boat called junk, a junk.

Host: A Hong Kong “junk”.

Jason Will: A Hong Kong junk. So that created some difficult conversations about, no, we’re not going to ship a boat for you to the UK. So that was one of the ones that comes to mind.

Host: That is pretty crazy. Although, you know, in some, some kind of strange universe, I could see somebody asking that, but nobody actually doing it. Thanks so much for your time today, Jason, and sharing your insights and experience. And, we hope to have you back sometime soon.

Jason Will: Yep. Looking forward to it. Pleasure to be here.