NASMM Gathers the Like-minded

The National Association of Senior Move Managers (NASMM) began in 2002, after those doing this kind of work on their own searched the Internet for others like themselves. Twenty-two senior move managers (SMMs) “came together as strangers” in Virginia to discuss starting a professional association designed for the senior move industry.

“It’s hard to believe that this is such a recent phenomenon,” Buysse said. “It seems like this should have been around for 50 years.”

Back then, the board was all-volunteer, but as membership grew, it became too much to handle, and a professional management company was engaged. In one year, membership jumped from 60 to 220, which triggered another change that put Buysse at the helm and Jennifer Pickett as associate executive director in 2006. Membership is now at 520.

“It’s not for everyone,” Buysse says of the industry, which she adds is definitely not a hobby. “Some last a year, some didn’t get it off the ground. . . . We had a number of starts and stops with different members. Even through all that, we have grown it so much. Last year, we added 150 members, and they are really in it for the long haul.”

Some SMMs are solo entrepreneurs, while others may have as many as 30 employees. Senior move management companies are locally owned and use local resources. What services they offer is up to the individual businesses, although membership in NASMM requires that they offer four of the six services on the application form. The more services the business offers, the better, Buysse said. It helps the company “become a one-stop shop for older adults and families.” Although the physical move is usually left to a moving company, some members have even added the trucking component, she said, although “there’s a whole lot more regulation at that level.”

SMMs depend heavily on referrals—and they’ve been embraced by senior living communities, which report that they often solve the problem of the elderly being unable to settle in to their new residences at these communities, Buysse said. The facility could be gorgeous, “but if it doesn’t feel like home, they (clients) don’t want to stay there. And they would leave.”

The NASMM site has links to a couple of training programs, including eSMMart Start, a Web-based program developed by Margrit Novack, NASMM’s founding president. Next year, NASMM will roll out an accreditation program. The site also offers networking opportunities, hosts a Web-based locator of SMMs in the United States and Canada, and maintains an active listserve where members can pose questions and get answers. The association develops affiliations with industries that offer complementary services, such as the National Association of Professional Organizers.

Annual conferences, which started in 2003, have been very popular. They’re often attended by up to 60% of the members, Buysee said. “Because we’re such a new industry, we only have each other to connect with.”

SMMs have had a good year. “We’ve been somewhat insulated from the general recession,” Buysse said. “You can’t outsource this. You can’t send it to India or China.” And if a physician tells the family that Mom can’t live alone anymore, it doesn’t matter what equity is in the house or what the economy is doing. “A change of some sort has to happen,” she said.

And with nearly 20% of the population projected to be 65 and older by 2030, this is going to be a familiar refrain for years to come.