HARMONY NETWORK INTERVIEW, Classic Moving in Singapore – where cultural diversity and personalised service really make the difference
We caught up with Brian Milligan and Carl Häggström at Classic Moving in Singapore to find out the latest about the business and about life in Singapore for them and their team!
Tell me about Classic Moving’s history and the key people in your organisation.
Classic was formed in 2012 by Brad Street. It really was a humble beginning, a small example being that during the first few months the staff (of just two in total) had no office chairs so they had to stand up to work. How far things have come since then! Today, Classic has 50 employees (all with chairs) and carries out approximately 1800 moves a year. We have a very modern and secure warehouse and storage facility with a capacity of 7,000 sq. metres, six vehicles in our fleet, and four packing crews who work on a full-time basis.
Our main focus is International household goods moves, but we provide commercial moving services, as well as business premises and office relocations. We offer our clients a one stop solution for all of their relocation requirements, including providing VIP destination services via our sister company, DSP Relocations Singapore.
What makes Classic different from its competitors?
We are large enough to be able to offer everything a client needs to relocate, but small enough to be able to offer tailored services and to offer the level of attention that our clients need and deserve. If our clients need a small air shipment, we can help. If they live in a ten-bedroom mansion and they need to ship everything and need a handyman or a maid service, we can help with that too.
We are just the right size to be able to be agile in our decision making. We can fine tune our programme offering to meet individual needs and this gives us the luxury of being creative when finding solutions for our clients. No two transferees, families, corporations, or HR departments are the same.
For a company that is only eight years old, we’re phenomenally proud of the fact that much of our business comes through recommendations and word of mouth. We’re a small company offering a personalised service, but we have the backing of being a part of the Harmony Relocation Network, and membership of our shared, global-local network has also had a huge effect on the rapid success of our business. This industry is all about building relationships with people you can trust, and being members of Harmony makes that easy to do. We truly value the network and we’re very thankful to the members for the opportunities that membership presents. The personal relationships are everything.
What really sets us apart though, is the cultural diversity in our team that enables us to truly understand and empathise with our customers. Our team is made up of members who have local and regional experience and expertise, so we truly understand the intricacies of operating in Asia. Yet many of our team members have experience of working in locations around the world themselves, or are currently expats working here in Singapore. You can only really understand what it’s like to move to another part of the world when you have experienced it for yourself, and this experience that our team has helps us to better support the needs of our customers. We’re not a large corporate relocation company with offices all over the world- we’re local specialists who take the time to really listen to and understand our customers. We’re a really strong team and we all get on well together both in and out of the office. Our customers can feel this, and that’s what makes us unique.
