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This is a follow up on the test launch of Walnut, a startup moving company. If this is your first time hearing of Walnut, we suggest you start here:
“Seriously, a moving company?” — Nick Kim
An Introduction to Walnut — Dylan KindlerThanks, Nick & Dylan
Using Seinfeld videos to teach hospitality, and how empathy makes Walnut unlike any other moving company
Before every move, Walnut operations teams prepare meticulous gameplans. But on moving day, our teams are ready to throw out those plans.
Why? Let’s explore beds for a moment.
Beds are glorious, but they can wreak havoc on moving trucks. They are large and awkward, and finding secure places for them gets harder as trucks fill up. As a rule, we load mattresses near the midway point of a move.
But recently, our team broke this rule and removed the bed last. Why? Our customer was pregnant, and we wanted her to have a comfortable place to sit until everyone was ready to go. She was very satisfied with her move, but what she’ll always remember is our empathy.
These are the moments of hospitality we’ve driven since launching Walnut in June. We have many questions about our business model (coming soon), but we’ve validated one hypothesis: hospitality-inspired moving works.
How do we deliver hospitality in moving?
Our peers often ask how we plan to transform moving services from a faceless logistics industry into a hospitality industry.
Like everything at Walnut, this starts and ends with our people.
Training our approach
Every new Walnut employee participates in a three–day training program. Instead of starting with moving logistics, our team first learns our approach to customers. Using role play scenarios and Seinfeld videos (no joke), we teach movers to listen for and anticipate customers’ needs in the moment.
Training also includes an empowering message: we celebrate those who break protocol with the customer’s best interest in mind. As a result, our operations plans are constantly improving—and now they include specific considerations for pregnant customers.
Hiring for empathy
Training and feedback guide our team, but the real work is put in at hiring. It only works if you have the right people.
Take our teammate Craig for example. He didn’t have moving experience prior to joining Walnut, but he learned hospitality while working at a French fine–dining restaurant. His hospitality intuition helps delight customers every day. It didn’t surprise us when he suggested we gift a LEGO set to a customer’s young son to occupy him during a hectic move.
We borrow this approach from Danny Meyer. More than skills, he looks for people with a high Hospitality Quotient at his award–winning restaurants. Specifically, individuals who share six traits: optimistic warmth, intelligence, work ethic, empathy, self-awareness, and integrity.
When push comes to shove, we’ll hire the inexperienced person with high empathy over the experienced, less empathetic mover every time.
Showcasing our people
Brian is our moving foreman. Before joining Walnut, Brian led commercial moves for companies like Major League Baseball, Google, and J.P. Morgan. He has moved MTV awards, Grammys, and even an original Keith Haring silkscreen. Fun fact: as a teenager, he signed a record deal with Arista Records and opened a show for Notorious B.I.G. (It was not a dream.)
We send bios like this to all of our customers. Our foremen also send text messages to introduce themselves the day before. These practices showcase our amazing team, and create a warm introduction for moving day. Knowing who to expect gives customers peace of mind.
After all, we are guests in their homes for a day.
What’s next?
Our central belief is that hospitality is critical to the success of any business where customer interactions are at the core of the product offering. Based on early feedback, we’ve validated that our team’s hospitality creates incredible moving experiences.
Still, big questions remain. Does it work as a business?
More to come.
About Walnut
We set out to learn if we could become the first hospitality brand in moving. A great moving company should not simply execute transactions like faceless transportation and logistics companies. Our goal is to build relationships with our customers and change how they feel about moving.
If you are moving in New York or the surrounding areas, please fill out this Moving Roadmap so we can get to know you better. If you just want to say hello, email me at nick@walnuthome.com.
Read more below and follow our story by joining our mailing list!
“Seriously, a moving company?”—Nick Kim
An Introduction to Walnut—Dylan Kindler
