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Keith A. Koehler, CMC

Keith Koehler

Vice President of Quality & Business Development
AMSA-Certified Moving Consultant since 1981

Representing the following Bisson divisions:

  • Bisson Moving & Storage
  • Bisson I&R Commercial Service
  • Bisson Document Security
  • Bisson Transportation
  • Atlas Van Lines Agent

Moving Industry Experience

  • June 19, 1978 – Started as Mover’s Helper (Bisson-Bath, ME)
  • 1979-1980 - Driver (Bisson-Bath, ME)
  • 1981-1983 - Asst. Operations Manager/Sales (Bisson-Bath, ME)
  • 1984-1985 - Office Manager (Bisson-Bath, ME)
  • 1986-1988 - Branch General Manager/Sales (Bisson-Manchester, NH)
  • 1988-1989 - Moving Consultant/Sales (Bisson-Bath, ME)
  • 1989 - East Coast Regional Sales Manager (Bekins Moving & Storage, Glendale, CA)
  • 1990 - Sales Manager (Central Moving Systems – Somerville, NJ)
  • 1990-1997 - Moving Consultant/Sales (Bisson-Bath, ME)
  • 1999-present - VP of Quality & Business Development/Sales (Bisson-Bath/Brunswick & Westbrook, ME)

Affiliations

  • American Moving & Storage Association (AMSA)
  • National Institute of Certified Moving Consultants (NICMC)
  • AMSA "Pro-Mover"
  • American Record Management Association (ARMA)
  • Better Business Bureau of Northern New England
  • AAA of Northern New England
  • Maine Association of Realtors
  • Merrymeeting Board of Realtors
  • Southern Midcoast Chamber of Commerce
  • Androscoggin County Chamber of Commerce
  • Portland Regional Chambers of Commerce
  • Rotary Club of Brunswick, Maine (Past President)

Community

  • Member of Shiloh Chapel, Durham, ME (Trustee & Secretary of Finance Committee)
  • Member of Brunswick Rotary Club since 1988 (Past President 1996-97)
  • Past and/or current Board and/or Committee Member of Midcoast Chapter American Red Cross, Southern Midcoast Chamber of Commerce, Portland Regional Chambers of Commerce, Androscoggin County Chamber of Commerce, Southern Maine Business Group, Bath & Brunswick Chamber of Commerce Consolidation Committee, Maine Motor Transport Association, Brunswick Assets...
  • Junior Achievement In-School Volunteer Presenter – Mt. Ararat Middle School
  • United Way of Midcoast Maine – Presidential Cabinet Co-Chair for Commerce & Industry Division
  • Past Judge for Mt. Ararat High School Science Fairs
  • Past Judge for Brunswick High School Speech & Debate Tournaments
  • Motorcycle Marshall – Tour d’Merrymeeting Bay Bicycle Tour Fundraiser

Awards/Certifications

  • 1981 - Tested and certified as a Certified Moving Consultant with the National Moving & Storage Association (NMSA), now known as the American Moving & Storage Association (AMSA)
  • 1987 - Nationally recognized as 1 of 16 (out of over 70 nominees worldwide) recipients of a Young Executive Development Fellowship by the National Moving & Storage Association (now known as the American Moving & Storage Association in Washington, DC)
  • 1988 - Bekins Van Lines “Circle of Excellence” Designation
  • 1990 – “Arpin Accredited” Moving Consultant
  • 1990-1997 – Numerous Bisson “Top-Dog” Sales Awards
  • 1997 - Rotary International “Presidential Citation”
  • 2008 - Brunswick Rotary “Service Above Self” Award

Education/Training

  • Primary education throughout the contiguous United States, plus Greece and Hawaii.
  • 1975 Graduate of Brunswick High School, Brunswick, ME – Alumni Class Treasurer
  • 1979 Graduate of New Hampshire College (now Southern NH University) – Business Administration
  • 1981 - Graduate of Dale Carnegie Sales Program
  • 1984 - Graduate of Dale Carnegie Management Seminar
  • 1987 - Graduate of Xerox Professional Selling Skills III
  • 2003 - Completed 1910 General Industries OSHA 30-Hour Course – Maine Department of Labor
  • 2004 - Certified as a “Bullet-Proof Manager” presented by Crestcom
  • 2004 - “Lead Like Jesus” Leadership Encounter presented by Ken Blanchard’s Faithwalk Institute
  • 2007 - Certified Military Mover presented by Transportation Management Training
  • 2007 - 2008 – Sandler Sales Institute – Sales & Sales Management Training
  • As an avid student of Quality Management, Sales, Marketing, Customer Service and Personal Development, I have attended numerous courses and seminars, read scores of books and listened to dozens of audio programs…and I still have a lot to learn!

General

  • Married to Laurie Koehler since 1979
  • Father of two grown, gainfully-employed daughters in their late-20s
  • Hobbies include: Family Time, Golf, Motorcycling, Masters Swimming, Hiking, Camping, Hunting, Jeep 4-Wheeling, Reading, Writing, Listening to Rock-n-Roll/Blues, Playing Harmonica

Philosophy

Having moved 36 times in 53 years it seems fitting that I spend my life’s work helping people with their moving experiences. After all those moves and 33 years in the moving business it would be too-easy to suggest that I “know it all”.  I suppose I’ve learned a thing or two.  However, I continue to learn from my customers and co-workers about how to fine-tune the many aspects of providing high-quality transportation services that benefits all parties.

Working for Bisson is much more than just a job for me. It is a passion I cannot escape, and in years past I tried!  When I began at Bisson in 1978, our founder, the late Lucien Bisson was often on-site, fervently instilling in all of us a work ethic that harkens back to 1919; an ethic that is not as prevalent these days. Mr. Bisson and his sons Richard and Francis often referred to themselves as “dumb French truck drivers”. I never agreed with that intellectual assessment of them.  These guys grew up doing it all themselves.  They knew the business inside and out.

Starting as a mover in my late teens, I was teamed up with an older, well-seasoned master mover named Fred Milliken.  Fred was a mentor to me.  I’d like to share this one experience that sums up our relationship. One cold February evening after Fred and I had completely filled and emptied the moving van since morning, we were preparing to go back and to the origin location to load up the rest of the load that didn’t fit on the first trip. I was complaining that it was cold and dark, it was getting late and I was tired.  “Why couldn’t we just tell the customer we’ll be back tomorrow to finish, or call for more help?”  Fred’s reply, “This truck is needed for another job tomorrow. The office is closed so we can’t get more help.  The customer needs to be moved tonight.  It’s just the two of us and the furniture isn’t going to move itself.”  Such words of wisdom.  His words rang true then, and still do today.  Whatever the tasks we have in life, things don’t get done by themselves or by hoping someone else might do them. Just do it!

Working for the Bisson family taught me a lot, including the rewards of completing the hard work at hand, coupled with an honest, caring and positive attitude.

In 1990 Bob Cooper purchased the company from the Bisson family.  As a well-educated visionary, Bob is well-suited to be the owner and President of Bisson.  Under his leadership, the Bisson Family of Companies has enjoyed consistent success.  After a decade of 440% growth and sustained profitability, in the early 2000’s the Bisson organization began to suffer from “growing pains” in the form of eroded morale and factionalism between departments.  This was not acceptable to Bob.  To remedy this situation, in 2002 he began crafting what we call Bisson’s “cultural revitalization”.  Bob and I worked together to “align” the Bisson organization within the boundaries of our new culture. To most, this cultural revitalization represents the best thing that ever happened to Bisson, Bisson employees, Bisson customers.

Bisson’s culture shifted gradually to an environment of collaboration, teamwork, trust, personal accountability, and empowerment of Bisson people.  Individuals who were unable or unwilling to adopt our shared Values were flushed out.  Our improved culture attracted better people and enabled those who remained to become better and more effective leaders under our shared, timeless Values of Competence-Respect-Integrity-Stewardship-Service (our CRISS Values). We initiated a promise of “Service you can Trust from People who Care”.  Today every Bisson employee promises to try to deliver on this promise; internally and externally.

“Service you can Trust from People who Care” is not a slogan.  It is a promise. It is our collective misson.  Today, Bisson employees strive to make good on our promise everyday.  In the rare event when we fail on our promise, we promise to fix it as best we can. This shared philosophy has translated into making Bisson a better place to work and do business.  That’s easy to say.  How do we measure this?  In our Post-Move Perfrmance Report (customer survey) data collected from over over 17,000 customers surveyed over the last eight years, Bisson customers rate Bisson at 4.80 out of a possible 5 points in delivering on our CRISS Values, and 97.7% report they would move with Bisson again.  It really works!

There are a lot of moving companies out there whose owner’s and representative’s primary focus is profitability, too-often at their customers’ and their employees’ expense.  All other things being equal, wouldn’t you prefer to partner with a moving company that promises to deliver, “Service you can Trust from People who Care”?

My job is to provide “Service you can Trust from People who Care”, and to make sure that every move is the very best it can be in the eyes of the customer and for Bisson.  I am at your service.

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