A Bit of Bad Press: Could This Be You?

This week the big guys in the self storage game got a bit of bad press. Unfortunately a storage facility near St. Louis, Mo. sold the contents of one of their customer’s self storage locker because his checks to them had bounced. Sounds like a normal policy action, right? Well, turns out that the man was in the army, serving in Iraq, and the automatic payments to the storage company were bouncing because while he was serving his country someone tried to steal his identity and most of the money in his bank account! He got the bank problems resolved and resumed his payment, but details are not known whether he reconciled with the back payments he owed the storage company or whether or not the facility was able to contact him before they auctioned his things. So even though this was clearly an oversight and a “Murphy’s Law” sort of situation for both sides, it looks like this storage facility is getting a lot of negative publicity for following one of their normal policies. I mean, the guy was off fighting for his country and all! But, as Tron states in an article you can read in the upcoming PhoneSmart Guide to Self Storage Customers the storage company doesn’t always know the situations of their customers or why they want to store. So things like this mix up are bound to happen. The storage business issued a response and stated that they had reached an agreement with the soldier and “resolved this unfortunate matter.”  You can read the full statement at their website.

It’s almost here!
Our baby, our labor of love; the publication we’ve worked so hard to bring you (for over three months!) is finally going to press next week!

Be on the lookout in February for The PhoneSmart Guide to Getting Self Storage Customers. Everyone at PhoneSmart has contributed to this full color guide to help you maximize your customer base and sky rocket your profits. Every week or so I’ll be excerpting from an article that will pique your curiosity about the Guide and make you excited for its debut so that you can read more. This week, the PhoneSmart Off-Site Sales Force wants to help remind us that different closing techniques can work in different situations. The following is from “Closing a Sale, Opening an Account,” from The PhoneSmart Guide to Self Storage Customers:

“If we had a well rehearsed repertoire of effective closes in our memory, just waiting to be used, think of the possibilities! We could be like the expert batter that not only swings to hit the ball, but also adjusts his grip, angle and swing to deal with different types of pitches. This is what distinguishes the mediocre from the great.

One type of close is the order blank close. This involves simply gathering information, without the customer necessarily being aware that a sale is being finalized…”

Read more when The PhoneSmart Guide for Self Storage Customers  is available in February, in hard copy and on-line at the PhoneSmart website.

Written by: Angela Lechtenberg

Thanks for reading PhoneSmart’s property management blog; we know self storage and property management.

Your local self storage unit provider in 1310 South Enterprise Olathe, KS. 66061

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Disclamer: This entry is intended to promote our partner StorageMart and some or all participants received compensation.

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