I N T E RV I E W up through the company from European Moving Manager (two and a half years) to Overseas Moving Manager (five years), Customer Service Manager (four years), International Pricing Manager (two years), and finally International General Manager before joining Aspire Mobility Group as Group Director last year. The length and breadth of Lyrums experience Lyrum believes we need to communicate to prospective employees why moving is such an exciting choice of career SARA LYRUM ON ONE OF HER ALL-TIME FAVOURITE MOVES It is always interesting when you move a royal family or famous people, but the funniest or strangest moves I have had was when running a project for an account that was setting up a factory in Brazil. To begin with, we moved 30 families to Brazil. The project was very challenging, not only for us, but also for the account and their work with the local government. We also 26 FF296 AprMay20 pp24-27 Sara Interview.indd 26 helped move clothes and furniture to the local school and church. This was supported by the account, who also helped improve the roads from the location to the port, so they could export their commodity more safely. The first 30 families moved back, and the next batch was sent to Brazil and so it continued. The project took years and was a fantastic experience. means she has seen the industry change on many fronts, and has had to navigate the challenges this has produced. When I joined the industry, it was easier, because we were all movers and depended on each other. We knew who our competitors were, and we thought our customers were interested and impressed by how many different moving boxes or trucks we had, she says. But no; the RMCs moved in and suddenly our competitors did not even have moving boxes, trucks or warehouses they had something else that our customers wanted. This was a huge change. Today, we see movers being movers; we also see movers covering relocation services and immigration services; and relocation and immigration companies cover these services, too. The number of service providers has increased, and we are all trying to get a piece of the same cake. While hard periods often make doing a job more rewarding, Lyrum feels the current situation is particularly tough. In our industry, there is never a dull moment, and there are always challenges and difficult times but, today, the challenges are different, she says. We need to have all the right certifications; be transparent; have a global footprint, flexible IT solutions, and unique supply chain management systems; deliver high quality; and be focused on customer service but the prices and margins have never been lower, and there are long payment terms. To me, these are the difficult times. In addition, our customers and clients expect answers within a very short timeframe, and believe that booking an international move or relocation is like ordering an Uber and we just need to get it fixed around their preferred schedule. For all the difficulties, there have also been some positive changes in moving, including the increasing diversity of the business. I remember my very first IAM conference, in Washington DC more than 20 years ago. Back then, women were outnumbered by far, says Lyrum. I remember being the only woman in many of the meetings, and being the only woman in a meeting with 20 men. This was very intimidating although Im sure some of the men who joined these meetings felt the same way. WWW. F I D I . OR G 31/03/2020 08:43