People are creatures of habit, often crystallizing ourselves within the confines of our limited thinking. We assume that our lives are not going to change much, even though they are changing every moment. We look at the lives of other people, doing what we would love to do, and immediately discount the fact that we could be doing the same thing if we chose. Whether it is creating beautiful works of art or learning how to be a mystery shopper , we can certainly achieve it. All it takes is the heartfelt acceptance that we are worthy of such an experience in our lives.  We each have within us the capacity to create our lives based on how we feel about our ability to do so.

If we want to start sculpting, all we need do is to allow for the opportunities to do so and then take the initiative to act on them when they arise. Look for a way, and the way will be shown to you. Assume that you, too, can learn how to be a mystery shopper , and without fail, an opportunity will be presented to you, and you will know how to be a mystery shopper . Treating our lives as if each moment and each day is new and precious sure beats the assumption that each day rolls on, the same as yesterday, with nothing new, boring, boring, boring. Who would want that?

Most people just blindly assume that more money will solve all of their problems, but it simply will not. What makes their heart sing is magical, and it can transform us, utterly. By doing what makes your heart sing, whether it is walking in a field of wildflowers, cooking for those you love, drawing, organizing and putting things in self storage , sewing, gardening or yoga, you are giving yourself permission to enjoy your life. How many people really do that, consciously, every day? When we enjoy our life, we attract the opportunities that serve ourselves and others, best. If learning how to be a mystery shopper will serve ourselves and others, then the opportunity will come for us to know how to be a mystery shopper .

The point is to be open to it. Allow new things. Be flexible in life, bring joy to what you do. When things do not go as anticipated, understand that the world is full of possibilities and that we simply cannot see them all. Vow to live with intention, the intention to enjoy life and to fulfill that which makes your heart sing. In finding what moves us and living it, we can fulfill our potential.

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

Tweet This Post 

Qualities that make best mystery shopper .

1. A disguised shopper who wants to perform his duty well, needs to have good observational skills. A disguised shopper has to be observant. The person should be aware of what he is looking for, but he needs to make sure that no one understands his mission. It is well known, that you will not get a chance to note down all observations at that moment, hence your recalling skills are also important. The shopper needs to remember and note it down accurately in his books. The shopper should have enough confidence of returning home and noting down everything that he had seen in the shop.

2. Honesty is one of the most important qualities of the best mystery shopper . It needs to be kept in mind, that when you are visiting any shop or establishment, you are representing your company. Your behavior or any kind of misrepresentation on your part can go against you and the reputation of your company.

3. Another interesting feature of the shopper in disguise, who needs to out perform the others, needs to be a self motivator. Since his work is completely independent, and he is his own boss, it is essential that he motivated enough to carry out work well and within time. There is a tendency among many shoppers, not to actually visit the shops, but make a report on certain assumptions or reporting on whatever he observed during his previous visit. In such kinds of assignment a best mystery shopper is usually highly motivated. The shopper spends long hours in the location, visits different department and sections, so that his report and survey is not biased and based on observations on a certain part of the store.

4. A shopper who wants to carry on the job on long term basis should try and win the confidence of his employing company. The company should be able to rely on him. Once the company mails the shopper with an assignment, the shopper should communicate back, confirming the receipt of the mail and at a later stage mentioning the status of the work and updating the company on his progress. The company is assured and gets a confidence, that the shopper has started his work and will be able to complete the job successfully soon.

5. A best mystery shopper enjoys whatever work is assigned to do. He usually does not create a fuss and not refuses any assignments on small reasons. Retail work and self storage calls or mini storage jobs should be done with the same vigor. Unless the shopper enjoys the work completely, he will not be able to justice to his work. If the shopper is a beginner, it is advisable that he learns a little about the job that he will be required to do, so that he can carry out his responsibilities from the beginning.

Storage

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

Tweet This Post 

• One of the primary requirements of mystery shopping jobs is that the identity of the agents should not be disclosed. Otherwise the very purpose of the visit is defeated. The agent should not take any forms or papers with him to the store when on an assignment as the property managers and the consumers will become suspicious. If required the agent can take a video camera with him to record the activities in the store, but he should be careful enough to conceal it.

• An important criterion of mystery shopping jobs is to read the instruction sheet that is provided by the employer very carefully and to follow the instructions to the letter. The report form should also be read carefully before going on the assignment. This will give the agent an idea as to the factors that he needs to concentrate on when he is on his assignment. This will help in saving a lot of time and going about his work efficiently. Otherwise the employers get displeased when the agent does not perform as expected.

• The next important thing is for the agent to fill out the report forms and other information sheets within twenty four hours of visiting the mini storage , RV storage or retail store. The memory of the mystery shopping jobs agent can be expected to carry the details of his visit only for twenty four hours at the most. After that it either fades or distortion creeps in. As the reports and other information documents prepared by the agents are expected to be very accurate and reliable, it is best to prepare the reports within twenty fours hours of the visit. Many firms have strict deadlines within which the reports are expected to be submitted.

• The reports are based on a lot of details. The agent is supposed to fill in information in the form of answers to questions. There might be a number of questions on a single behavior that the agent needs to fill out. Usually the questionnaire is a pretty lengthy one with about a hundred questions. The agent is expected to be very observant and very accurate with his narrations. As reports are used by the decision making bodies of a firm, detailing is of utmost importance.

• The mystery shopping jobs agents should be very specific in their reporting. They should be able to furnish the names of the employees about whom they want to convey their observations. As it is not possible to ask them for their names, it is better for the agents to carefully observe the names written on their badges and sales receipts. If names cannot be observed a description of the person can be given.

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

Tweet This Post 

1. The monotonous problem of rent collection will get solved instantly if you employ a residential property management organization . Normally the professional companies follow specific systems and tactics for better, on time rent collection, which may not be possible for you.

2. A management company will pursue certain scientific methods to calculate the optimum rent for your property. Overpriced properties are not easily saleable. Even if the cost is higher just by 25 dollar, no tenant will select the property. This is because, the tenants can easily find out the range of the rent in your locality through internet. Considering all these facts, only a professional manager can help you to fix your leasing rate.

3. Your residential property management organization will help you to find out educated tenants, so that you never face any dispute. The company will take written application from the aspiring candidates, along with their photo identification. Other than this the company will check their credit history, references and reputation as a tenant. The whole process of selecting the right candidate will guarantee you a sophisticated tenant for your property.

4. Generally the companies have years of experience in marketing and advertising your property to the prospective renters. They use latest methods for advertisement, so that your property does not remain vacant for a long time.

5. There are many state laws and federal laws related to property, many of them might be totally unknown to you. Again, the state laws will vary from state to state. Only the residential property management organization can give you legal guidelines by knowledgeable person.

6. The company will perform regular property inspection before and after renting. They will also inspect the property during tenancy, by giving prior intimation to the tenant. This will help you to resolve any maintenance issue, before it turns into a major one.

7. The residential property management organization will send you monthly reports on your account showing income and expenditure. This way you can be free from any headache of maintaining a bank account by yourself. In addition to it, the company will also manage the security deposit money and provide annual tax report.

8. The company will save you from answering any kind of emergency call from the tenant, so that you can rest at peace and you never have to deal with any late night call for issues like fixing up the toilet or inactive heating system.

9. You will get help from reliable managers for any of your property related problem for 24 hours 7 days. Fully trained and skilled managers will be at your service making the renting process quite easy to handle.

10. A good management company will suggest you other available business deals, so that you can make money out of your investment.

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

Tweet This Post 

A genuine secret shopping company will not charge anything from you. If you search internet you will find a big list of companies. Many of them are trustworthy and others might be fraud. You have to check each and every website to find out their details. This is a painstaking process. There are companies which accept enrolling fees from the shoppers. You can guess that they are not legitimate. Again, there might be few genuine companies, who are really worth for investments. However, it is better to avoid these companies for enrollment, which might create complications in the near future.

If the secret shopping company is a member of the renowned association then you can rely on them. The association has certain rules and regulations, which are to be followed, if the company wants to be a member of the association. If the shopping company does not meet up to the ethics and the standards specified by the association, the membership of that company might be cancelled. Generally the legitimate companies use the logo of the association in their websites. However, the fraud companies can also show this logo by simply copying the picture, even if they are not a member of the association. So, before enrolling to any company, verify their membership from the website of the association.

You can also check the forums for the shoppers to search for a trusted secret shopping company . Give a search with the name of this company and find out what other shoppers are saying about it. You might find many shoppers sharing their experiences about this company. If you find shoppers having lots of complains about it, then it is better to avoid the company. Otherwise, if there are one or two bad experiences, whereas others liked their jobs, then you might depend on the company. If you find nothing about the company, then you may ask to other shoppers. Some shoppers might share their experiences to answer your question.

When you are checking the website of any secret shopping company , read it thoroughly. There might be some hidden clause, which you might be missing apparently. Check their payment process. Are they going to cut the mailing cost while sending the payment check? Print off the various policies and keep them in a storage unit in your home. If the company uses the online account system over the internet, then you might feel safe. Until and unless you are receiving the money in your hand you can not be rest assured about the legitimacy of the company. In case of any doubts, it is advisable to move on to the next company. Work with those companies, where you feel confident and secured.

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

Tweet This Post 

All the agencies that send special shoppers to a secret shop reimburse the expenditure that has been made on account of the survey. It is called the purchase allowance and is generally reimbursed. The interesting thing about it is you do not necessarily buy any fixed product or any special objects that has been specially instructed. Similarly, when surveying a restaurant one gets an allowance to meet up the expenditure related to dining. In every case the shopping involves some money and to an extent the company compensates it. This tends to inculcate a habit of overspending. But do not go overboard and spend only to find that the company is not reimbursing it all. Get to know the limit of expenditure that will be reimbursed before spending.

Remember that you are doing this special shopping to earn money and not spend it. Make full use of the shopping allowance and you can store up many products that you are going to need anyway. You can mix up your general shopping with your special shopping but be careful that you do not miss out on any details of the job you are actually doing in the secret shop . While shopping exclusively for the program make sure you do not end up buying so much that your remuneration also gets sucked into the bill at the store. Then you will end up with no money from the assignment. If that means getting some household products then it is justified but if the shopping spree strands you with a lot of trash then you are surely at a loss.

For example, if your secret shop assignment sends you to assess the performance of a property manager at a self storage facility , and you rent storage for 12 months, it will be a loss to your income. However, if you intended to use a professional storage company anyway, then combining your errand with your shopping job was a wise decision.

The other thing you must remember at a secret shop is that do not act in any way that can isolate you from the pack. You should be the commonest of the common and this is your tool of business. The most successful shoppers are those who cannot be remembered to have visited any particular store. So spending big time and more than the normal will definitely mark you out. Sometimes the agency you are working for posts warning and limits the amount you can spend. To remain incognito keep your purchases and spending to a normal limit.

For the best results follow the instructions that are given by your agency when they send you to a secret shop . They know what they are looking for and how they have devised their program. If you are experienced enough you can innovate but if you are new to the job make sure you do not try out something new.

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

Tweet This Post 

Rental property management encompasses more than just the legalities of the business, though. It also requires that you maintain the buildings and structures, as they do belong to you. When there is a vacancy, the dwelling must be made ready for new tenants, and this may or may not require a good bit of work to achieve. Finding tenants that are agreeable to your terms and whom you feel will take proper steps to insure that your house stays clean and well cared for is challenging.

Marketing skills are necessary, often times, to achieve this. It may take some time and money. Of course, you have to abide by the equal housing laws, which means that you can not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, religion or physical disability, though you can certainly choose based upon the renters history and credit checks. If you can find no references at all, or no positive references from previous rental property management that you were referred to, then chances are you would be better off moving on. Specifying your requirements upfront, for example no smoking in the house or no pets, will help narrow down the qualified applicants right from the start.

When good tenants go bad, bail out or stop paying rent, it can create an emotional as well as a financial strain on your rental property management skills. What do you do when they are not paying rent on time? What do you do when they are not paying rent at all but they are still living there? What do you do when they leave in the middle of a lease, your house in shambles? What are your rights as the owner of the house, and what are their rights? Do your homework here. Consult with an attorney ahead of time, if you can, before such things occur. Some attorneys will not charge for customer service consultations or advice.  If you suspect that there might be a discrepancy in what your tenant is telling you and what is actually happening, you will want to be proactive rather than reactive.  Knowing what the proper steps are in pursuing an eviction, should that ever become necessary, eases your mind. It lets you know where you stand.

This business is fraught with its ups and down. There are challenges that you may not have thought about in the beginning, when all you wanted to do was to remodel an old house that you found for sale. But learning the ins and outs of rental property management gives you a firm foundation, and a greater reach in your own business. It builds confidence, and in the end, you profit from this knowledge, even if it was not so easy to come by in the beginning.

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

Tweet This Post 

One of the foremost criteria for enhancing work efficiency is to work in a systematic manner. The first step in this direction is to identify the routine activities and the ones that are done under special circumstances and develop a working methodology independently for each of them. The routine activities should be organized well. The daily input, daily processed information and daily output information stores should be maintained well. The staff handling these data store should be trained on handling them in a formal procedural manner.

The real estate office management staff should design a concrete system to deal with data storing and processing, and following the system should be made mandatory for the relevant staff. This will ensure fast retrieval of data when dealing with clients. A good assets managing firm will always try to take precautions against any special situations that they might encounter. Hence, if electronic databases are being used, then it is always better to be prepared with backups as electronic systems are highly susceptible to viral attacks and technical failures. 

A good way to eliminate chaos in the work environment is for the real estate office management firm to make individual job descriptions for all its employees. These job descriptions should be conveyed clearly in writing to them so that they become aware of their individual roles and work accordingly. Assigning a particular job to only one person and not to more people will eliminate confusion. If a job is too huge in quantity or is highly complicated one job can be allotted to more than one person. But in that case, the role that each and every member of the delegation has to play should be conveyed clearly by the team leader.

Real office estate management gurus opine that it is always better to make any modifications and up dates to the databases as and when required rather then take them up as a separate task later on. This error usually happens where paper databases are used as the modifications and up dates have to be done manually. But in the case of electronic data basing this problem is overcome to a large extent as the effects of a change at one point ripples across all the relevant areas of the database automatically.

Lastly, an important criterion of commendable real estate office management is to organize the physical workspace systematically. The tables should be kept neat and tidy. Storing files and paraphernalia should be done in a logical manner so that accessing them does not take a lot of effort and time. A neat, hygienic and organized workspace reflects an efficient working environment. Managing workplaces is an art and it reflects the personality and work efficiency of the people working in that place. It makes the organization efficiency wise trustworthy in the eyes of the clients.

Boat Storage in Oakland

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

Tweet This Post 

• Feature enriched software are abounding the markets today. The managing assets firm should not be carried away by the number or the power of the features. Rather they should see if the features are actually being of any use to them. The rental property management firm should choose software that has got a lot of features useful for the assets managing firm.

• The assets managing firm should consider the hardware and software configuration of its automated systems before selecting software because many of the software are platform dependent. Many firms usually spend huge amounts of money in buying software that does not actually run on their machines. It is always better to buy software compatible with the existing hardware and software configuration than to upgrade the configuration to suit a particular type of software unless it is absolutely inevitable. 

• The software that a rental property management firm chooses should have the capacity to maintain huge databases of client details. Hence the assets managing professional should have an idea of the amount of data that he is going to enter into the automated database. For this, he can take the advice of both the assets managing as well as the automation experts. It is no use taking software that has limited capability.

• It is always better to take software that can support a large number of users simultaneously. The automated system will be accessed by not only the management professionals, but by the owners and the tenants as well. Hence there will be a huge traffic accessing the networked sites. Most of the functionality is interconnected. The software chosen should be efficient and fast in yielding results.

• The data entry, management and retrieval processes should be user friendly. The owners and the tenants who operate these systems may not be computer savvy. Hence simple procedures are going to be understood easily. Otherwise, these people who are not comfortable with the online applications might turn away from the rental property management firm that uses such a complicated system. After all, people do not have the time to spend on process that they do not understand as there are many competing firms offering a very convenient automated ambiance.

• The software selected should handle details of a lot of tenancy processes well. Software that offers advanced features like, late payment recording and calculation of the associated penalty should be selected. The software programs should work on the same kind of logic that you understand and yield the expected criterion that you are looking for. For example, if you are interested in calculating the penalty that the defaulters have to pay after a six months period, the software that you choose should have a feature to calculate that. By having functionality for calculating the monthly defaulted amount only, the rental property management professional has to put the extra effort of making separate calculations which might prove to be quite burdensome and time taking when it comes to calculating for thousands of people.

Furniture Storage in Athens

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

Tweet This Post 

• A lot of assets managing firms advertise their services in popular media. Many of them promise a lot of services at very attractive fees and one might get lured to them. After hiring them it will be seen that they are not being punctual with their services or not available to their clients during emergency. One has to be careful in selecting a genuine firm.

• Usually a property management company that is well established in the business for a long time should be chosen, though new comers tend to lure clients with tall promises. The firms that have a proven track record should be chosen. The firm that the owner of an asset chooses should be a registered one and should not be in listed in any criminal records or legal disputes. One can also take the advice of past or present clients as they will be able to give a firsthand account of the quality of services that they availed or are availing.

• One should be aware that some assets managing firms are better at managing residential assets while others are better at managing commercial asset. It is always better to opt for a property management company that has specialized in managing a single type of asset because such a firm will have a lot of experience to its credit and hence will be able to manage your asset efficiently.

• One should select a firm that is closely situated to the asset so that the managing executives can attend to any problems promptly. The firms that offer a continuous helpline feature should be selected. Otherwise in the case of any calamity or any urgency the occupants of the asset may have to put up with trouble for long hours till some help comes over.

• If one is a commercial investor, it is better to go for a property management company that has a large buyer or tenant contact database. The firm should take the responsibility of advertising the property for customer or tenants, selecting prospective customers or tenants, interviewing them and finalizing the sale or tenancy deal for the owner. It should convey the forecasted value of the asset to the owner and advise him about the correct time to make profits on an asset or dispose it of. On the whole, the selected firm should be able to bring profitable business to the owner of asset in every possible way.

• After selecting a firm that provides genuine services one should visit the firm personally to finalize the deal. The services that the property management company intends to offer should be clearly stated in writing. The pay details and the hours of service should also be talked out in details and documented. A formal written contract should be made and both the owner of the asset and the managing team should have a copy of the contract. After starting the work there should be no discrepancy between the terms and conditions mentioned in the actual contract and the ones that are followed practically.

RV Storage in Milledgeville

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

Tweet This Post 

• The property management experts say that the first thing that the owner can do is to minimize the amount that he pays as interest in performing some activities that are related to the property that he has rented out. These may involve the loan that he has taken to buy or renovate any assets that have been hired out to tenants. The owner should also cut down on the interest that he pays for using credit cards for meeting any expenditure that is related to the hired out property.

• The owners cannot expect to recover the total cost of the house or apartment that they have invested in, right in the first year itself. The property management experts say that this money is recovered over the years through depreciation. The money is collected in the form of monthly payment from the tenants.

• The owner might think that repair work can prove to be pretty expensive, but you can recover the amount that you spend in getting the repairs done within a year. However, only those repair expenses that are not abnormally high and which were inevitable are deductible. If the window of a house is broken, a water pipe bursts, or some painting is required the property management experts say that one need not worry about the expenses because these ordinary repairs are fully deductible.

• There is a provision for the owners to deduct the expenses incurred when they travel for performing some activity related to the houses that they have hired out. Usually house owners visit the houses that they give out on hire to collect the monthly payments of the tenants, to listen to their grievances, to get repairs done and to inspect the premises. The expenditure incurred on all these activities is deductible from the tax that the owner pays. The property management experts say that there are two methods of deducting the expenditure of the vehicles. In the first method the owner can claim his actual expenses by calculating the amount of money he has spent in buying fuel and any necessary parts of the vehicle. Otherwise he can claim the standard rate that is deductible for traveling a certain distance.

• Another situation in which tax deductibles come into play is when the owner visits a place on some business related to the house that he has hired out. He can deduct his lodging and dining expenditure. The experts say that many people try to take advantage of this deductible by actually utilizing their trip more for pleasure than for any business purpose. The tax officials are vigilant about such practices and they ask the travelers to furnish proper proofs of the purpose of their visits before claiming their deductibles.

But whatever you do it is advisable that you know about the current prevalent policy prevailing.

Self Storage in Franklin Park

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

Tweet This Post 

It was hard for Karen to make the right decisions in her life that actually benefited her. With already working two jobs and trying to take care of two children, Karen had to be efficient with her time in order to make ends meet. But no matter what happens day in and day out Karen still has to do what is needed to make her life work.

She was at one of her jobs and she was talking to one of her co workers that she read an article on how to become a mystery shopper . In the how to become a mystery shopper article, it listed how a person can learn how to become a mystery shopper . It broke the steps down for Karen to understand.

Step 1 – The search

The first thing that Karen needed to do is to search for a company in which she could work for. The how to become a mystery shopper article told Karen that there would be a many companies out there offering this kind of service. She realized that she would have to eventually choose one or a couple of the companies in order to get started. She searched on the internet, by word of mouth and in the newspaper.

Step 2 – Do your research

Now that Karen has realized that there are many companies out there and she realized that she would have to do the research to find the right company for her. She looked at all kinds of reports showing different companies and their pros and cons. She thought she was ready to call and take on being a shopper, but she decided to read on in the how to become a mystery shopper article.

Step 3 – Become a member

Karen read that usually to become a member at some of these companies you have to pay a membership fee or an annual fee. Most people feel that if you have to pay a fee, the company is just running a scam to get more money out of you. There are many companies that do not ask you to pay a fee in order to become a member. After doing the research, Karen had to realize that she had to decide what she wanted to do.

Step 4 – Choose your assignments

Once you become a member of a company, you will be given multiple assignments to go on. Usually you have a choice on which one you would like to go on. You will see a good description on what the assignment entails and that will help you decide which assignment you would like to go on.

Step 5 – Fill out the report to the company

After you go on the shop, you the most crucial part of the process is to give a detailed rapport to the company. The better the report, the better the company can be to their future customers.

Karen learned a great deal on how to become a mystery shopper from the article and from her research. She decided to go ahead and try out this type of program. She did a great job when she was on a shop. She reported to the company well and she was compensated well.

Boat Storage in Columbia

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

Tweet This Post 

Lisas second self improvement tip that she was determined to follow was a little bit deeper than her superficial enjoyment, though. She wanted to begin forgiving people who had hurt her, and not only that, but forgetting. She knew from past experience that the forgiveness part was extremely simple when compared to the forgetting, but she also knew that it was a necessary part of her life in order to keep growing and have nothing that would keep her held back to the past and to sadness or bitterness. She did this for herself as well as those she would forgive.

An important, and also fun, thing that Lisa decided to do to help improve her character and life was that she determined to do at least one kind thing for a stranger every day, even if it was only something as simple as opening the door for an elderly lady with a walker. She soon found that these small efforts she made gave her a better and more optimistic outlook on life in general. It was amazing how fast Lisas small acts of kindness grew into bigger ones that happened more and more often! What also amazed Lisa was how her character, and even personality, seemed to change with these actions. She found herself getting less angry in traffic when someone cut her off, and she had much more patience in general with people and situations that used to make her nervous and upset.

Lisa chose a very straightforward and logical next step to her self improvement plan. She began keeping a list of everything she wanted to accomplish within the day, stretched out to weeks and sometimes even months. She kept it in a highly visible place in her home where she could see it multiple times during the day, and made sure that she checked off the things she accomplished as she went along. Seeing things getting marked off her list made her have strong feelings of achievement and satisfaction. Also, seeing these things in writing, right in her face every day, she found that she was more likely to actually get them done than she had been previously.

The last thing on Lisas list was something to benefit her mind. She decided to try her best to read at least one book a month, more if possible. This gave her the down time to relax and forget the worries of the real world for just a little while, and more importantly gave her a chance to take a break from the insistence of television and media for a while.

RV Storage in Kansas City

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

Tweet This Post 

If you are in need of a home then you can search through the internet network and you might get more then one company who are offering homes for all kinds of necessities and budget. When you find real estate management services of your liking you can go through the details of the property that they recommend. You will get the elaborate free description of the home, its locality, the type of home – whether it is single storey or multistoried or condo type, duplex, townhouse etc. You can even get pictures of the house itself and often there are details like pictures of the bedroom, living space, kitchen, and bathroom and also there are many angles of the pictures so that you can be satisfied at the first look. Few things that should guide you while searching a home are climate of the region, employment and public education performance along with the nearest medical facility etc.

These are contributing factors when someone wants to move somewhere and is in search of real estate management services . Searching for homes on internet is very easy. First you will have to place your choice of locality you want to go and then which types of houses you want to take. After that, click search. Now the page is ready. Give view option. Each page will display near about ten interior or exterior pictures of the home. But these may vary from one site to another. So the process is very much scientific. As you can look at the home from different angles it becomes easy to choose the house according to your need.

These sites also list the utility services of the region and all the related matters that a person moving into some place might want to know. For example, by checking the school information parents can easily understand the quality of school situated in the locality. They can find and study the statistics given by each school. Other elemental facilities such as hospitals, shopping complexes, police and fire station, all can be located by the help of the maps. These types of maps give very minute details of the area which pin point all the services. You can print out your application, that you made to the provider of real estate management services directly from the page where you have seen the advertisement. You yourself can directly contact the landowner, either over telephone or by email.  You can question your landowner about the home if you have any queries. When you have decided on a home for the purpose of rent you will have to go through a number of formalities before you can move into the new home.

The homes that are recommended by real estate management services usually come furnished with basic fittings in the bathroom and the kitchens are usually furnished with cooking ranges, cooking counters, etc. The owners are responsible for the repairs and renovations while the tenants are responsible for keeping the property in a condition that they walked into.

Self Storage in Secaucus

Tron Jordheim , director of operation at  PhoneSmart ( a subsidiary of StorageMart ) will be interviewed by Syndicated News on 7/23/2008 6:00 PM. The topics of discussion will include Self Storage , Secret Shopping , property management , Self Storage Advertising and Self Storage Marketing . 

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

Tweet This Post 

We have all seen an infomercial or advertisement for something obviously simple, yet necessary or desirable to increase our quality of living. In those moments we think, Why didnt I think of that!

The race to invention is sometimes just that, a race to beat the other guy with the same idea.

However, do not let yourself be discouraged if all the inventions and million-dollar-ideas you come up with are already taken. Who is to say you cannot make a living from those very things anyhow? Many innovations come from improving what someone else has already invented.

So we are right back where we started, walking down the home decoration aisle and thinking we could make that just as easily and save a buck – telling ourselves we could do is better, cheaper.

A note of caution though, there are undoubtedly industries and goods that we dreamers look at and know we are about to bite off more than we can chew. Usually, that does not stop us and we keep on chewing until we are in over our heads.

To be sure, there are professions and industries where the work is best left to the professionals. (Of course, a serious dreamer is now convincing himself that he is a professional – a jack of all trades.) Nothing is stopping you from learning and becoming proficient in any field, but there is certainly something to gain from taking advice and learning from someone more experienced that yourself.

Take home renovation, for example. A first-time homeowner does not even realize that the quick-set screwdriver kit from his rental days is far less than adequate when there is something to repair. However, he probably will not go out and buy a drill, a ladder, a circular saw, a level, a flashlight, a sander, etc just because he might need them. He will collect all those things, one by one as he needs them. Soon enough, he has become somewhat skilled at minor repair work. When it is time to remodel the kitchen, hopefully he has learned enough to know he might need to seek a professional hand.

Business owners are not exempt from thinking they can do everything on their own, for cheaper, either. For someone who has grown a business from the ground up, they may feel uneasy about delegating the operations of their business when it begins to grow. After all, the have nurtured it into existence. However, there comes a time when it is a joy to see that the business has grown so much that more staff or new systems are needed. And it is a relief when those staff and systems are set in place.

Once such area where most small business owners try to be a do-it-yourselfer is the mystery shopping business . The business owner thinks how easy it would be to call the facility himself, acting as his very own mystery shopping business . Then, he asks his wife, brother, cousin, nephew, friend to walk into the store as a customer and conduct their own mystery shopping business survey.

Soon enough, he will realize that his resources have ended, not to mention the time this takes out of his busy schedule. Inevitably, he will call an expert mystery shopping business and allow the professionals to do their job.

Does this mean he has stepped back from impacting the customer service at his store and allow the mystery shopping business to do all the work? No, in fact, a wise business owner will team up with a mystery shopping business and oversee the program.

So you see, whether your passion is crafting your own decoration, improving the value of your home, or running a small business, the advice of a professional home builder, mystery shopping business , or whomever the expert may be is a welcomed thing. Soon enough, you will have learned enough to consider yourself an expert too.

San Antonio Boat Storage

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

Tweet This Post 

Corporate real estate management had seemed like the perfect career choice for him. He was intelligent, well respected at University and he had a well honed sense of organization, charm and seemingly unending energy to complete his projects with verve. As the years went racing past him, a marriage blossomed and crumbled before him, and his sense of style gave way to convenience, he began to question what was truly the most important thing that life had to offer him. He had watched the news every night as he had always done, as his father had done. Throughout his life he had absorbed the suffering and devastation of many natural disasters as the pictures played across the screen. He had lost friends and loved ones to car accidents and disease. He had even known a woman who had been found murdered some years back. Through all of this pain, his career in corporate real estate management had grounded him. His work had given him an identity to plug into. His work had defined the parameters of his life, paid his mortgage and included him in a social network of other professionals that he felt could identify with him and his responsibilities. Indeed, corporate real estate management was a highly respected career, and one he chose with some deliberation all those years ago. Still, he could not shake the tiny voice of understanding that life carried with it the promise of something much more vast and meaningful. There simply had to be more to know.

At this stage of his life he had come to the realization that he was not simply a professional business man in corporate real estate management. He was yearning to know himself deeper, beginning to identify less and less with the roles he played every day at the office, with friends, even family.  As he stared off in the direction of the ceiling of the coffee shop, he began to feel a comforting movement in his chest. It was a warmth that began first as a flutter, but gradually expanded. It was not an actual burning sensation. It was emotional in nature, though he could feel the shift. Perhaps for the very first time in his life, on that cloudy grey morning in a small cafe, corporate real estate management became less of a description of who he was and more of an adjective of what kinds of things he had been choosing to do with his time. In a moment of personal wisdom, this previously embittered man allowed himself to open, just a fraction, to the truth of the beingness of living. He sat in silence. His mind grew still as his labels fell away. The self imposed label of corporate real estate management fell to the wayside like a clay mask, as did the labels of ex husband, son and man. His soul spoke to him as his chest filled with love, radiant in the understanding that it is not what we do in our lives that matters, but it is the intention and grace with which we do them that remains precious. He realized that he was truth, he understood that he was love. For just a moment, he knew what it was all about.

Columbia RV Storage

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

Tweet This Post 

It is sure that when these people that were proactive in looking at the future saw that they would have to pay almost four dollars for milk and if they drive a heavy duty truck, four and a half dollars for gas. Depending on what they do for a living, they sometimes have to take money out of their super secret vault in order to make some of their everyday needs to be met. Many people are taking on additional jobs and trying to get a secondary income of some type to flow into their wallets.

When you take a closer look mystery shopping is a great program that can bring a good amount of income into your home. Now depending on where you get the information, this service is a lucrative gold mine if you get on board with the right company. When you take a closer look mystery shopping is great because you can do it on your spare time. Let us put on our spectacles and see how this service can help you.

After a hard days work, you want to come home and unwind most of the time in front of your enormous, monstrosity of a picture tube and guzzle down a cold brew. Some feel completely exhausted and do not want to do anything but sit there. While you are sitting there watching television, reading a book, or creating a fine piece of artwork, you could be making money. When we take a closer look mystery shopping comes in all different shapes and sizes and is not a one size fits all kind of job. You can do various services such as telephone shops, in person shops, go on the Internet and shop them, or even take some kind of survey that pays money. Do you think you have time in between beers to do any of those options?

Just think about it, the next time you and your family decides to go out to dinner, you can be getting paid on the back end or be eating for free. Believe it or not restaurants pay good money to hear your feedback on why their service is up to par or not up to par. No one business has the secret sauce to a great experience for the regular hard working individual. Taking a closer look mystery shopping is a benefit to these companies because you are able to inform them on how to provide better service. The great thing for you is that you benefit in a couple of different ways. You benefit because you get to spend time with your family while working, you get free food or money to go out to eat and you get to make one of the places where you go frequently, get better at their service. Those are reasons enough people want to get involved in this service.

When taking a closer look mystery shopping can benefit all walks of life. See if you can fit this service into your busy life and you will benefit greatly.

Columbia Boat Storage

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

Tweet This Post 

However, a lot of parents make guilt or social acceptance a factor in making decisions, especially a mom. Although our society has dramatically changed the opportunities for women, we would be remiss to admit that a part of us does not want to stay at home and play with baby all day instead of go to work.

The truth is, that no matter what decision you make, you and others may second guess or judge the decision. If you have a career that you love, you may feel guilty for leaving the baby. Or your mother in law or other friends and family may pressure you to stay home, like they did.

On the other hand, if you are a stay at home mom, you may feel like you are not contributing to the familys income. And still, others may treat you as though you do nothing worthwhile. You may even find yourself missing the excitement and interaction with coworkers.

As a mom, you should make these decisions based on yourself. So many things about parenting will require you to put yourself aside, but your career should not be one of them. If you thrive at work and feel you would not be happy at home, then you should make the decision to go back. The last thing you want is regret or resentment towards your husband or even your children.

If you want nothing more than to be a stay at home mom and raise your children, then kudos to you. Make that decision and do not take to heart those that look down on it. A stay at home mom is certainly a full time, and sometimes stressful job. And consider the cost you would be saving the family in child care. Sometimes the income of a job and the cost of child care barely break even.

But what if you would like to stay home, but your family needs your income?

There are lots of jobs and careers that allow flexibility. One thing to consider is becoming a secret shopper . Becoming a secret shopper would open a world of opportunities for a stay at home mom.

As a shopper, you would be sent on assignments to local restaurants, fast food chains, retailers, doctors offices, etc. The great thing about becoming a secret shopper is that is not only provides some income, but often includes free or discounted merchandise. By becoming a secret shopper , you may be sent to evaluate the local grocery store and asked to buy some fresh produce. Of course, you could multi-task and do your other shopping while there and now you have been paid to do your errands. In addition, the fresh produce should be reimbursed as part of the assignment.

Becoming a secret shopper is a great way to compromise being a stay at home mom, having a career and making some money for bills. And, as you will quickly learn, parenting is all about compromise.

Hopkins Storage

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

Tweet This Post 

When researching different companies there are a couple of things that you should look for. You should look for the different pay outs, how many jobs are available in your area, will there be a fee, and how the process works. Let us go over the different things to look for and see why they are important.

How much does it pay?

How much a particular job pays should be clearly listed when you accept a particular job. There are some mystery shop companies that will make it plain as day and some that will not make it as noticeable. Most people need to understand that some companies advertise having a multitude of jobs that pay 50 dollars or more, but they do not actually have that many. Most of the time, the companies have many jobs that are 10 bucks or less. At that point, it is up to you to accept the job. After you accept the job you are usually paid one to four weeks after the job is completed. Of course it depends on the company.

Are there jobs in my area?

There most likely will be jobs in your area depending on where you live. There is never a guarantee in which to say you will definitely see a lot of opportunities where you live. Most mystery shop companies are in a metropolitan area in which there are many companies in need of this service. Before you sign up and make a commitment, you should be sure that there is a way for you to have an opportunity to work in your area.

How much will it cost me?

Be leery of this next part. Some mystery shop companies ask you to pay to enroll into their company. Some companies do not. There are many experts that wonder why companies ask for a fee to join their shopper association. Now in most companies, even storage companies, require some sort of fee in order to process your application or do the proverbial paperwork. Sometimes you are paying an annual fee that might be more than you received from that company in salary.

What is the process of shopping?

Each company has a different way of running their business. The basics are that you enroll in the company, create a profile, search and sign up for the jobs that you want, go on the shop and then write a report on what you found out while you were at the company. The more information and insight that you can get from your shop the better the company that you are shopping for can improve their service.

What does all this mean for you?

It means that you have some thinking and research to do. It means that now you have some information on how mystery shop companies work. Find the right company that you feel you can benefit from and profit the most. Understand that if you do enough research you will find the right one that can fit you the best. 

Lake Charles Storage 

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

Tweet This Post 

On a side note, if you take time to think about it, and ask yourself if this kind of service is needed in your company, the answer is Yes. Every single company can benefit from this service. How you use the service is up to you but it can tremendously drive results if used properly and consistently.

But let us talk about how to be a mystery shopper ?

First you have to look at yourself. Are you a driven individual? Are you able to give constructive feedback to a company to help them get better at their trade? Can you honestly write down or type out the truth about the level of service you received at that point in time? Are you quick on your feet and able to react to what the sales person says to you? If you can answer yes to all of these questions, then you can start to look for a company that can use your talents.

Where do you look for information on how to be a mystery shopper ? You can find such information all over the Internet, in help wanted ads and through word of mouth. You should explore all the different options there are before you make a decision on which company you would like to work for.

If your mode of exploration is on the Internet, you can type in the keywords how to be a mystery shopper and you will see anywhere from 2.3 million to 6.7 million different links that can give you great insight. Depending on your search engine of choice, you will see many differences on what is displayed.  Usually you will see the most visited sites being the first on the list of links and you have the option to visit any of the links to get information. You can even take it a step further and check out multiple sites and gather information, and then choose the path you would like to follow.

If your media of choice to search for information on how to be a mystery shopper is the newspaper, you must find out what days are the best for searching. In most areas you will get the most advertisements on Wednesdays and Sundays. Depending on your area you will get many companies looking for people in need of this kind of job opportunity. Most likely the way you gather information this way is make a phone call and they invite you in for an interview or an informational meeting.

In many different environments, you might find out that the person that sits in the cubical next to you has a great part time job.  Through talking to them you find out how the program works and if you believe that you can be part of this business endeavor. It is always good to hear from someone already involved in the program. You are not being sold on an idea, you are being sold on actual proven results from your peer. No matter which way you find the most information on how to be a mystery shopper , you will find out a lot of information. Then the ball is in your court.

Overland Park Car Storage

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

Tweet This Post 

First, it is not necessary for one to know how to be a secret shopper . One should also understand that there are not any pre-defined requirements in order to be successful. The idea is simple enough, a shopper makes a call inquiring about a product that a store offers. Small, simple questions are natural. However, the shopper should not lead the sales representative in any direction because the idea is to evaluate the representatives level of customer service, proficiency, and knowledge about the products and services offered.

The whole idea of the shop is for the caller to keep their identity and intentions secret from the sales representative, unless the shopper is conducting a Feedback Shop. During a feedback call, the representative is told at the end of the call that they were being shopped and the two parties talk about different aspects of the call and how the sales performance might have improved. With a feedback type call, the level of difficulty rises significantly. There are many personality traits that are helpful when working in this area and learning how to be a secret shopper . These can include being out-going enough to attempt the call with a chosen scenario and processing the call well enough to provide an accurate and unbiased evaluation of the call.

Learning Curve of Becoming A Shopper

Secondly, it is possible for one to learn how to be a secret shopper . One could even become rather good at it. The concept is not about deception. Instead, it is about an honest evaluation. This starts with the shopper knowing at least a basic knowledge about the products and services offered. This is not a requirement, but it is helpful when having to answer a few simple questions. Some of these questions may even involve identity. This is where some people have a hard time. Many people have said that they do not want to be dishonest. However, it is important to have a name, number, and scenario ready if being a shopper is part of the job. Becoming good at this type of job can come with training and experience. The more calls one completes, the more relaxed they may become.

Mastering The Shop

Third, there are some companies that exist that teach and train one how to be a secret shopper . These companies specialize in a variety of training areas. These can include but are not limited to generating reports about the level of quality a business provides as a whole as well as some character training of the personnel they employ. Some people, as mentioned before, feel that they are being dishonest and must look at their task in another way. Other people may tend to lead the call or not keep up with the original scenario that they provided at the beginning of the call. It is fair to say that shopping is not an easy task. There are a few aspects that can prove to be difficult until experience refines the shopper.

Finally, tackling the task of learning how to be a secret shopper can seem tricky at first to an outsider who is looking in, but once the task is complete one can see how simple it truly is. One can also understand and appreciate the reasons for shopping companies in order to determine and improve the level of customer service and efficiency.

Merriam Furniture Storage

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

Tweet This Post 

While State and Federal tax make it nearly impossible to find a free secret shopper assignment, the quality assurance industry is not to blame because these jobs do exist.

Death and Taxes

You cannot outsmart the tax laws by finding free secret shopper work that offers compensation in the form of a free meal or free merchandise rather than an outright monetary commission for your service. While small exchanges for your services seem trivial individually, they do add up and you are require to claim them on your yearly income, these items are taxable. It is unlawful to omit the exchange of property or service from your tax statement.

Taking a chance or thinking that you will not be found out or they will not bother to audit you is like playing Russian Roulette. Think about this, these free secret shopper coporations file income tax reports and all those small meals and merchandise values add up to big dollars. That business is reporting where all those dollars went. The IRS is likely to notice if there are discrepancies between what the business reports versus your personal income statement.

Scams and Fraud

Do not be naive enough to think it is impossible for you to become a victim of free secret shopper scams. Unfortunately, there are people out there who promise independent wealth, so long as you buy their secret book to success or register to receive their list of shopping assignments.

As a rule, we are all taught to believe that there is no such thing as a free ride. That is exactly the mindset that con artists use to lure in their victims. A shopper should never pay to join a group of shoppers or pay a set-up fee to receive a list of job opportunities.

The quality assurance industry is perhaps the only one that goes against this rule – there is such a thing as a free ride. The truth is, it should cost you nothing to become a shopper.

Separate the Wheat From the Chaff

Even if you are wearing your super-commonsensical goggles, you can still find yourself being lured into false free secret shopper ads that promise gold at the end of the rainbow. The most legitimate shopper jobs are usually mixed into search engine results alongside the fraudulent ads. It is up to a very resourceful and skeptical shopper to determine which ads are for real.

Would you apply for a part time job at a local restaurant and expect to pay an application fee just to be considered for employment? Of course not, that is absurd! Likewise, why would you pay a quality assurance company to consider your service. After all, it is them who are in need of filling these positions in order to fulfill contracted work for their clients. It only makes sense that they openly accept applicants without requiring moneys.

Some legitimate shopping jobs do require the shopper to purchase a product, for later reimbursement. These jobs should be accepted with caution, and only after looking into consumer reports and business bureau records.

Merriam Boat Storage

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

Tweet This Post 

A management company handles all the tasks involved in the daily operations of the property as well as acting as the liaison between the tenants and the owner. The manager is responsible for negotiating contracts with services such as janitorial, trash removal, security and landscaping or grounds keeping. They will solicit bids from several different contractors for repairs and maintenance needs and for housekeeping services.

The management company that you hire will be responsible for resolving tenant complaints, filling vacant properties and enforcing the lease agreements. They collect rents, maintain accurate records, and evict tenants when necessary. They are responsible for marketing the property through leasing agents, advertising and other means. They often set the rental rates according to the market in the area the property is located.

A professional real estate property management corporation will help you increase your profits by keeping the property in great condition. The professional firm will employ excellent managers who immediately have any problems repaired and maintain the interior and exterior through routine maintenance. The will paint and clean quickly after a vacancy, respond to any tenant complaints, and maintain the grounds with routine lawn care. A good manager keeps good communication with the tenants about problems and thoroughly checks out a prospective applicant.

Finding a professional real estate property management corporation takes research. You should interview several firms to find out how they conduct business. Do they have a solid list of experienced managers at their disposal? Will they be charging one set fee for all their services or do they charge for separate services? Do they keep in contact on a regular basis with the owner and managers?

Ask for a list of their clients and get the clients opinions about the company. Check references and drive by any properties they may be managing to see how well maintained it is. Get proof of any required licensing. The professional real estate property management corporation should have managers accredited from reputable real estate management institutes. The accreditation usually provides designation in property management, residential management and management organization.

A reputable company will carry insurance for automobile liability, general liability, workers compensation and other necessary insurance. Ask for proof. They should also have a significant fidelity bond to protect the owner from if the employee or mishandles or embezzles money. The company should have separate accounting for each of the properties it manages.

A professional real estate property management corporation should offer quality service. They are essential for keeping an eye on your property. They make sure it is not being vandalized and tenants are taken care of. They act as the go between for the owner and the tenants, freeing the owner from the everyday tasks of managing the property.
As the owner of several properties, an investor should carefully look into the services of a management company to help them maintain each of their units in good condition. These companies can help the investor by providing services such as accounting, management and act as tenant liaison. The company will contract with outside services to keep the property in good repair, clean and repaint as needed and maintain the grounds.

Northbrook RV Storage

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

Tweet This Post 

For that reason, many job seekers overlook the secret shop industry and pass it off as just another scam. However, there are well established and reputable companies in the secret shop industry that pay good money to shoppers every year. This industry may be one of the best kept secrets in the job employment field.

Imagine being a shopper for an airline and getting your fare for free. Of course, you should be qualified in the SOP and expectations of each airline before you can assess the employees of that airline. The airline industry, in particular, is one that lives or dies by good customer service. For that reason, there are shopping companies contracted by airlines to offer an unbiased opinion of their customer experiences.

Travel and destination points are another fun and legitimate secret shop industry that many consider an urban legend. If you already have a background in hospitality, then you know the importance of running an excellent hotel or resort community. Becoming a shopper for one of these companies would only take some searching and filling out a few applications.

No matter what industry you dream of becoming a shopper for, the important thing is to not disregard all things as too good to be true. If you take a few precautions in applying for shopping positions, you will find that you can quickly be on your way to working as a part time or full time shopper.

The first thing you should consider about yourself when deciding whether or not you want to become a shopper is, do you have the drive and determination to work independently? Most shopping companies will send you an assignment notice and it will be up to you to perform that assignment in time for the deadline. Other shopping companies may post all available assignments and it will be up to you to pick and choose the jobs you think suit you best.

The next thing you should mentally prepare yourself for is that legitimate shopping jobs do not promise untold amounts of wealth, and so you should not set your future on making a fortune in just one year of shopping. Like all other jobs, the pay is equal to the workload.

There are also a list of things you should be aware of so you do not fall victim of the shopping scams that do exist. First of all, you should never pay a fee to join a list of shoppers or to access a list of assignments. Legitimate shopping services may require you to register, for free, with their pool of shoppers, however, they should never ask you to pay any fees.

Secondly, if you do not see any address or contact information for someone directly affiliated with the shopping company, you should be suspicious that it is a fly by night company. However, because of the traffic that a shopping company website may receive, some may choose to allow their contact information to only be viewed by registered shoppers. So, if you register and still do not see any contact information, you may want to consider looking elsewhere.

Checking with business bureaus is also important. Legitimate secret shop companies are also likely to be a member of a shopping association, to which you could inquire about their business ethics.

Like everything else in life, if you take a few precautions to protect yourself against the few bad apples, you may find a great career and have a lot of fun doing it.

Bogart Storage

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

Tweet This Post 

The pro of stalling to give the price is that it helps you build value in your storage facility and allow the caller to see what they are getting for the price. It also allows you the opportunity build a relationship with the caller and helps you set up the reservation process. Stalling to give the price sets you up to explain how you are different from your competitors and shows that you are best place to store their belongings. In property management, the only cons of stalling that most can see is that if the caller is in a rush, they are getting impatient waiting to hear about the facility, etc. At that same time, they still should know what they are putting their money towards.  

It is good to look at the other side of things as well in property management. With the employees on your staff, you have to ensure that everyone is on the same path or believes in what you are trying to accomplish. The pros of giving the price without going over the amenities are that the caller can know up front what the price is. They do not have to wait through a spiel of amenities when their whole focus is the price. To them it will not matter what you have to offer as long as the price is within their expectations. The cons to this method is that as soon as you give the price to them, they may end the call right there with out giving you the opportunity to discuss your amenities. Then when they shop around, they will only be checking the prices and not the features. To most customers, they would not know why different facilities offer different prices and could potentialy make the wrong storage decision.

Being in property management, you have to ensure that not only your building is being maintained but also you have to maintain the performance of your staff. With proper staffing and coaching, you can see your facility benefit. If you are not nourishing your employees and getting their opinions, your staff might not believe in your vision or you goals. Most owners want the customer to be able to see the storage facility for what it really worth. If you are allowing your people to just give out a price, you are selling yourself short. No one in property management wants to lose money due to their employees not following a plan that they laid out.

The decision whether or not to give the price immediately or stalling until you have given them your amenities, is up to you. Just know there are pros and cons to both ways, but stalling to give out the price has proven to rent more spaces. The caller can see the facility for what it truly has to offer. Customers should not choose where they place their belongings on price alone.

Property Management 

Oregon RV Storage

San Antonio Storage

September 2006 Property Management Blog Archive

Food Storage

Self Storage Article Directory – Self Storage Locations by City

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

Tweet This Post 

There can be pros and cons to building a business from scratch as well as to purchasing an existing building.

The pros for building from scratch are that the owner or partners can strategize and customize each detail from the buildings appearance to the location to the niche they will fall into. Building from scratch and starting fresh also means that an owner will not have to battle against any negative publicity or bad reputation an existing business may have had.

Some of the cons of building from scratch are the initial costs. The devil is in the details and things like building and construction licensing, permits, purchasing inventory, advertisements, liquor licensing (if the business is a restaurant or bar) and considerably more than these things will break the bank if an owner does not keep a close eye on cost. It is easy to make small upgrades or changes here and there, but the total bill should be kept within a pre-set budget. Other cons of the building from scratch may be that no name has been made for this business. An owner has to start spreading the word about the business and will most likely have direct competition from businesses who have been there for years and built a loyal customer base.

One of the decisions that many new business owners and well-seasoned business owners alike agree on is commercial property management.

Some business owners use commercial property management services as your realtor and ask them to locate an ideal space to rent. This is a great idea because most real estate agents are in touch with properties for sale, and may not have the right connections for commercial rental property. Commercial property management businesses can easily provide a new business owner with a list of available space for leasing.

Leasing a space for your business is a smart way to offset the costs of building from scratch and a safe way to protect yourself from ending up with a possible money pit. Leased space should include an agreement between the commercial property management company and the tenant to guarantee the tenant with basic things such as available power, gas, water and maintenance of the building. These things can save a business owner money, should something need repair.

On the other hand, the pros for purchasing an existing business are that the time from acquisition to opening the doors to the public is usually less than a few weeks. This means almost zero time spent in construction. Purchasing the right business can be a great turn key experience for a new business owner. Other cons may be that the business you are purchasing is in financial trouble.

The cons for purchasing an existing business are that you may have to sacrifice a little location. The business is probably already established in a building and moving the location can be as costly as building from scratch. 

Commercial property management agencies still come in handy for business owners that want to purchase an existing business. They may have listings of businesses for sale or know of them before they go on the market.

Storage Business 

New Mexico Furniture Storage

Orland Park Storage

May 2007 Self Storage Blog Archive

Car Storage Revisited

Self Storage Article Directory – Self Storage Locations by City

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

Tweet This Post 

Most companies out there in the world have some kind of customer service standards. Companies are looking to gain the edge against their competition to acquire the most customers. Some companies will print guarantees on their packaging promising money back or some other type of compensation to assure the customer. Some companies and businesses have a customer service pledge printed on a sign at the business.

Here are some common customer service guarantees that you might see.

Your lunch in 35 minutes guaranteed
We promise that you will love our special of the day
We are confident that you will enjoy your stay here, or your money back
Money back guarantee
Yeah, our product is that good
If you are not completely satisfied, we will give you your money back
Satisfaction guaranteed

What is another other way that you can provide great customer service without a sign or a posted promise? One way is evaluating your staff and seeing first hand what kind of customer service that they are providing each and every day to your customers. How can you do this? Hire a company that provides monitoring and evaluations of your employees and your business. Having your employees shopped will allow you to see how the are interacting with your customers.

What is mystery shopping? This type of shopping is done at your business or during a call to your employees on the phone while the shoppers pretends to be a customer. The shopper will have an assignment or agenda on what they would like the employee to tell them or help them with. While some businesses and companies have first hand experience with this type of service some are still asking, what is mystery shopping?

Some companies and businesses might be asking, what is a mystery shopping, and how can it help my company. It can help your company see how your employees are interacting with the customer. Over the phone, the shopper can act like a real customer inquiring about the business or service. In person, the shopper will shop around and see what the business looks like and what the employees are doing. This can be valuable information since everyone is on his or her best behavior when the boss is around. The shopper can see what the business is like on a normal visit or phone call. 

Does this sound like it might be important for your business? Many companies and business out there are so impressed by the feedback they receive from the shopper that they have their own internal shopping departments. These people travel around to the different store locations and shop the site. This type of shopping not only monitors customer service, but company standards as well.

If you find yourself thinking, what is mystery shopping, there is plenty of information out there about this type of service. The Internet is by far the best place to find our about shopping. You can find businesses that are dedicated to providing shopping services to many different types of companies. Some of these companies will offer a trial shop or something similar so that you can try out their services. Even one shop can show how your business is treating customers on site and on the phone. You might be surprised at what the shopping company says. Hopefully it is all good news.

Self-Storage

Nevada RV Storage

Basalt Storage

September 2007 Self Storage Blog Archive

Self Storage Rates Revisited

Self Storage Article Directory – Climate Controlled Storage

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

Tweet This Post 

This is really tricky, because if you do not know how to do it gracefully, it can be a disaster. It can be done, however. When answering the phone and the caller says that they have already talked to you about that 5×10 self storage unit, is it really necessary or even a good idea to bypass your normal presentation? This is where your skills will show your true colors on these specific calls. If on every other call you have mastered the skill of the typical property management and self storage call by helping a caller through the storage shopping experience, then it is time to up your game. If you are good at reading your callers, then you may be able to side step certain information and then call back to it. Do not by leave anything out, but there may be a need to reroute your call. Hi, that 5×10 self storage unit, is it still available? For this call you can side step it. For some this will be a new dance. Maneuvering around the callers inquiry does take finesse.

Great, did you already speak to someone about it?

Yes. 

Do you remember whom you spoke to?

And this location on Smith Street is the correct one, yes? 

And was it the climate controlled unit or the standard unit that you are interested in?

What was the price they quoted you? 

When you get the information you need to verify that yes they have spoken to someone already and that the property management unit at you self storage facility matches what they previously discussed, then it is time to get their name and number and start the reservation process. This caller is giving the green signal. The go if you will. So instead of the possibility of sticking your foot in your mouth, get the callers information first and reserve it. You can go back and cover everything in the wrap up of your call to confirm that they are aware of the gate hours, the great security and office hours as well as any additional fees and so on. If you were to treat this property management call as a normal first time rental inquiry, it could mean the loss of the reservation. So, learn the different steps and sometimes it does take learning a new dance.  But practice will make you more fluid and more confident when learning and practicing these new steps for your property management business.

Columbia Self Storage

Louisiana Self Storage

Brooklyn Storage

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

Tweet This Post 

Real estate management services often manage several rental communities at a time in any local area. Future renters can look through lists of availability and sometimes specify their search to locate the price range, amenities, location and features that works best for them. Real estate management services are happy to assist possible renters. However, there are some things you can do, as a future tenant, to present yourself in the most positive light to your local real estate management services.

Try a few of these things to let your local real estate management services know you are a serious renter and qualified to be an ideal tenant.

• Pre-qualify your finances by searching for rental properties that cost no more than one-third of your income so that you will not be too far stretched to afford the other necessities and luxuries of life. Even if real estate management services allow a renter to over-extend their financial circumstance, you should be cautious to do so in order to avoid a financial burden and possible credit problems should you fall behind on your rent, which would also affect the possibility of being approved for future rental properties.

• Gather copies of your proof of income. It is usually a good idea to have at least your last check stub, but your last two check stubs are ideal as proof of income.

• If you are self employed, real estate management services may require copies of at least the past two years of your tax papers in order to prove you have a stable income.

• Research the neighborhoods of the rental communities you are interested in. (Asking real estate management services specific questions about the safety of the community may not result in the most honest answer. Real estate management services sometimes cannot disclose security problems because of liability reasons.)

• Discuss any pets with the real estate management services you consider. Real estate management services will be able to tell which of the properties they represent allow pets and which of them do not.

• Do not lie about things that may appear on your credit report or past problems with landlords or other real estate management services. Being up front about these problems may result in more lenient property owners to extend a rental opportunity your way. However, lying about these situations will certainly not make you a considerable candidate for renting a property.

• Call ahead and make an appointment with a representative of the real estate management services you are looking at. This will not only prevent you from driving to the office and finding the real estate management services manager busy with another renter or out of the office showing a property. Real estate management services will appreciate the courtesy of making an appointment. In fact, some real estate management services will not meet with prospects without an appointment.

• Avoid waiting until the last minute to start looking for a new rental property. Real estate management services may take a few weeks to process your application. In addition, you would look like a more responsible candidate if you begin filling out applications at least one month before your lease is up in your current rental property.

Following these simple guidelines will allow you to put your name at the top of the list of prospective renters.

Self Storage 

Florida Self Storage

Brooklyn Storage

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

Tweet This Post 

Moreover, people can pretty much store just about anything. A prospective renter does not have to be in the process of moving. Once again, there is over half of our nations population who has never, ever rented a self storage unit. So how can the self storage industry market its business in a creative way that will appeal to those who have never thought about renting a self storage unit before is the question? The answer comes down to Creativity. Anyone who purchases anything can find a use for self storage. The key is to get that purchaser to find a reason or a motive as to why they should look into self storage. What does a prospect self storage renter gain by renting a self storage unit?  How do you market self storage in a world where we are technology driven? By examining your secret shopping results, you will be able to figure out what is best for your self storage company. Secret shopping results usually come in the form of an evaluation. These secret shopping evaluations can be tailored to fit your business needs.    

While it is extremely worthwhile to focus on internet marketing, there still needs to be a continuous incoming flow of fresh, new and creative ways to market self storage. Spending some of your marketing money on a reliable secret shopping program can also boost business. This can seem and sound extremely difficult to do, especially when it seems like all avenues go about  marketing a good or service to an untapped market have been exhausted. But it should make the secret shopping industry very hopeful and enthusiastic knowing that there is still that untapped market out there. There will always be the returning self storage renter. How to go about tapping that secret shopping market is something that is much needed to be worked on. With the use of the internet as a large marketing tool, cell phones are becoming a daily tool for just about every other American, if not more so than the internet. Perhaps text messaging will be the next avenue to look into. Marketing, advertising and secret shopping programs must be present in avenues where people have visual or audio access on a constant and daily basis in continuous and repetitive fashion until it is drilled into minds of people.

Property Management Trend

Alaska Car Storage

Lawrenceville Storage

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

Tweet This Post 

When you sign up for real estate management courses, one of the classes you will probably take is real estate law.  This will give you an overview of real estate laws in your state.  As real estate laws differ from state to state, it is important that you sign up for real estate management courses in the state in which you plan to practice. You should also be aware of special county or city laws that may apply to the local area of real estate management.

Other real estate management courses will talk about commercial real estate.  There is a lot to know if you plan to embark in a career in commercial real estate.  Real estate management courses with regard to commercial real estate will probably discuss tenant and landlord lease laws.  It is important to be familiar with all of the laws that affect a tenant and landlord in your state.  Real estate management courses will focus on the commercial and residential aspect of tenant and property owner leases. 

Other aspects of real estate management courses will discuss accounting principals.  In real estate management, you will most likely be doing accounting for your clients.  This entails making sure that all assessments or rents are paid on time and that all bills are paid to vendors or workers in a timely manner.  It also entails balancing books and providing a financial statement for the landlord or association. Tasks may also include gathering financial statements for taxes.  This can be taught in real estate management courses that focus on accounting principals. 

To sign up for real estate management courses, you should check out your local community college or online college.  In many cases, you can earn a degree in real estate management online.  Taking real estate management courses online makes sense because you can do so from the privacy of your own home, in your own time.  If you are working at a dead end job, you should consider taking some real estate management courses so that you can advance your career as well as your paycheck. 

Real estate management courses online cost about the same as those at your local community college.  There are some instances where you can get grants when it comes to taking real estate management courses online.  To discover how, you should check out the online colleges.

Most real estate management courses will require that you purchase books.  These books can serve you throughout your career as you refer to them for reference and will be a helpful guide when you are fresh out of school.  If you are taking real estate management courses, you should keep any materials and books for references at a later date. 

Anyone who is interested in developing a career in a field that is growing should consider taking some real estate management courses either online or at their local college.  There is no reason to be stuck in a dead end career.  After taking real estate management courses, you will find an entire new world open to you in a very lucrative field. 

Iowa Storage Units

StorageMart Columbia St & Dunlap Milledgeville, GA 31061

Storage

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

Tweet This Post 

A very important part of any sales call a mystery shopper is paying attention to is the Close.  Because the sales rep is unable to see the look on a customers face or observe the customers body language, then they must rely on what a customer says.   Helping the customer along is a sign of a good call, and will receive positive marks from any mystery shopper.

During the telephone call, the mystery shopper knows a good sales rep will control the call in a positive manner.  Even if the customer gets off track a bit, the sales person is able to reel them in and take back control.  During the Close the sales rep wants to be sure to offer the customer two choices.  Did they want the self storage unit that is upstairs or on the ground level?  Did they need the climate controlled space, or will a regular unit be okay?  Did they want to come into the office on Saturday morning or afternoon?  Giving the customer choices will let them feel involved in the decision making, while at the same time getting a commitment.

The mystery shopper will make certain the sales rep always asks the customer for a name and phone number.  This helps to build a better rapport, and the information is useful for future follow up.

The mystery shopper is taking note that the sales rep creates a sense of urgency.  There are only a few 10×10 units available or, this is the last 5×10 storage unit that is open.  Creating a sense of urgency will let the customer know they need to make a decision now, as opposed to next week.  Otherwise, they may not get the size unit they need.

The mystery shopper is listening to make sure the sales rep uses this sense of urgency to encourage the customer to reserve a storage space with a credit card.  The mystery shopper knows the customer is far more likely to actually go to the location and rent a storage unit if there is a sense of obligation, thus the reservation.

If the caller is unable to reserve a unit, then the mystery shopper is noticing if the sales rep invites the customer for a site visit.  Pinning down the customer to a day and time will again make it more likely that the customer will go to the facility and rent a unit.

An important thing the mystery shopper is listening for is that the sales rep attempts to overcome any objections the customer may have.  A customer claiming they need to speak to their spouse before committing to anything is probably just making an excuse, and trying to take the easy way out.  Suggesting to the customer that their spouse will probably be pleased that they no longer have to be concerned with finding a storage unit will usually earn bonus points from a mystery shopper.  It is a good rule of thumb to only attempt to overcome a customers objection three times.  Any more, and the sales rep will appear too pushy.

A mystery shopper pays a good deal of attention as to how a sales rep handles the Close of any call.  This is because the mystery shopper knows that a good Close can often be the difference between an actual sale, and just another phone call.

Hermitage location, 3986 Central Pike, Hermitage, TN 37067

Secret Shopping

Property

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

Tweet This Post 

First of all, decide up front what you are hoping to discover. One mystery shop cannot tell you everything about everything. If you try to collect too much information, you will not be able to process it, make sense of it, or take action on it. If you have not used the mystery shop before, then focus on one very narrow portion of the interaction. If you run a self storage property and have never done a mystery shop of your property, you might have someone visit your property just to see if the curb appeal and cleanliness is up to par and if the staff people are friendly and inviting. This seems like a simplistic mission for a mystery shop, but it is enough information to start. This would enable your staffers to work on two simple things, curb appeal and cleanliness and being friendly and inviting.

You also need to make sure that you have a straightforward method of judging the mystery shop. For instance you might rate the curb appeal on the freshness of the paint, absence of litter, cleanliness of the front windows and door handle, cleanliness of the carpet, counter and show room area.  You might rate friendliness by how long it took to get eye contact and a smile. If you are not specific about what is being judged on a mystery shop and what levels of attainment are unacceptable, acceptable, very good or excellent, then your staff people will not know how to pass a mystery shop and will never be able to satisfy you.

If you set up your mystery shop so it is ambiguous or so that no one knows what has to be done to get an excellent rating, then the mystery shop becomes a de-motivator and a disincentive. Many companies create lots of initiatives that backfire. If your first attempts at using the mystery shop backfire on you, it will be very hard to reestablish a mystery shop program.

The last tip is to be sure you give the feedback on the mystery shop quickly. The longer you wait the less effective the feedback will be and the less action a feedback will create. If you tell your staffer that last month on the second, there was litter piled up in the corner in front of the building, you will get little action and little behavior change. Your staffer will probably shrug the shoulders and carry on with whatever he or she was doing. If, on the other hand, you tell your staffer that there was trash piled up in the corner in front of the building yesterday and you are not happy about it, your staffer will probably get outside and get on litter patrol right away and keep up with litter control for a week.

And if you need help in getting your mystery shop program going, whether it is a telephone mystery shop or an in-person mystery shop, you are in the right blog.

Franklin location, 1138 New Highway 96 W, Franklin, TN 37064

Secret Shopping

Property

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

Tweet This Post 

These stories are not just urban legends because such mystery shopping jobs do exist. However, finding these mystery shopping jobs is somewhat of the mystery. Where does one go to sign up for free dining? Where is that career field listed in job fairs and college majors? There is no clear cut way to preparing oneself for mystery shopping jobs, except to have a good understanding of customer service and to have the ability to critique and express the difference between desirable customer service and poor customer service.

Employers for mystery shopping jobs want to hire someone with some experience in their industry. The level of experience may differ depending on the service or product being evaluated with mystery shopping jobs.  For example, the majority of the population has experience with the fast food industry. Therefore, a secret shopper with little training could easily conduct fast food mystery shopping jobs. Let us take a look at the massage industry. An inexperienced person applying for these mystery shopping jobs would likely be more excited about the free massage and unable to critique the techniques of the massage therapist because the mystery shopper has had no formal training in that field. This is why some mystery shopping jobs may require specialized training.

When we think of mystery shopping jobs, legend and our own imagination flashes images of a woman bedazzled with bags of free new clothing, free five star dining and a glamorous life. These images are, more often than not, inaccurate ideas of what mystery shopping jobs are. Most mystery shopping jobs offer some compensation to the mystery shopper for visiting a business and then reporting several observations concerning how clean the property was, how friendly and knowledgeable the staff was, and how satisfactory the product or service was. In some mystery shopping jobs, a good or service may be given to the mystery shopper for free. However, there are also mystery shopping jobs that only offer a free service or good with no compensation for the time spent conducting the mystery shop.

When looking for mystery shopping jobs, the Internet is a very good source for information and employment opportunity. It is important to select the mystery shopping jobs that are contracted through reputable businesses that hold memberships with national mystery shopping associations or mystery shopping associations within their industry. It is also important to do some homework on an employer before beginning mystery shopping jobs for them. One can access public information regarding a business through several business bureaus and other online sources.

Finding the right mystery shopping jobs may also mean narrowing down the keyword search. For example, searching the keyword phrase mystery shopping jobs may result in too broad a result. One could narrow down the search by using a keyword phrase that reflected what kind of mystery shopping jobs he or she were looking for by using a keyword phrase like self storage mystery shopping jobs.

Storage-Mart on South Federal Hwy. in Pompano Beach

Shopping

Property Management

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

Tweet This Post 

There are many resources for finding a self storage unit for car storage. The traditional way is the phone book, but the best way is the internet. Through the internet you can view each company’s web page and get a better understanding of what that company offers than you can with the phone book. A web page offers more information than an address and phone number. You can learn about your options like storage unit size and climate control. If you are not sure where a storage company is located, map it and get directions. Reading up on storage will help you in the reservation process.

Here are some options in storage that you need to consider when shopping around for car storage. First you want to make sure that the location is convenient for you. Traveling far away to a storage facility to save money will end up costing more in the long run. Next, make sure that the facility allows car storage in a storage unit. Not all properties permit this. The property manager will ask what you plan to store, but if not, tell the property manager that you want to store your car. He will be able to find the right unit size for your vehicle. Also, there is a chance that you may want to use the storage unit for more reasons than car storage. Again, a property manager can accommodate appropriately. 

If you are storing a classic car or luxury car, you might want to consider a climate control self storage unit. Most likely you are storing your vehicle to protect your car from extreme weather elements. A normal storage unit puts a roof over your car’s hood, but it is still vulnerable to freezing temperatures. However, a climate control storage unit will keep your car comfortable at room temperature.

Lastly, you want to make sure wherever you use car storage that it is a safe and secure facility. The optimal self storage business should have video surveillance, fenced in property, access control gate, and bright lighting. Some facilities have an onsite management team posing as an extra security guard.

Once you find out about all of the amenities each self storage facility offers, such as location and security, then you can talk about money. Everyone wants the best deal, but remember a lot goes into that deal.

Written by Kurt Schellenberger

Storage Concierge is your premier Storage, Storage Unit, Car Storage, RV Storage, Furniture Storage, Boat Storage, Yacht Storage and Self Storage Finder.

Maryland Storage Units

Storage

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

Tweet This Post 

Oftentimes someone needing self storage is not in a good point in his or her life. Not many people wake up in the morning happy to spend money on a self storage rental. Because not many people have the extra money, transportation or drive to get a self storage unit rented. They might be going through a divorce, the loss of a job, a sudden move, or a death in the family.  The self storage caller is upset and terrified, and it is easy for them to think the entire world is against them. We get a large amount of self storage calls from people who are calling for someone else that needs self storage. These people are trying to get self storage information from the call center so they can help the friend or relative in their life manage a self storage unit.  

If a PhoneSmart sales agent answers the phone nonchalantly the caller will notice immediately.  They will simply assume we are just another person in the world that does not care about them or their self storage problems.

If one of our PhoneSmart phone reps answers the phone upset (because we did not leave our personal problems at the door) then our potential self storage renter will think we are uncaring.

But we here at PhoneSmart answer the phone at our call center with a smile on our face and a lilt in our voice (because we are focusing on the job at hand) then the customer knows that someone really does care about them; that life is going to get better. Which makes our job great that we can help someone in his or her time of self storage need and hopefully make his or her day go a little smoother? When you make someone else feel better, then the feeling will be returned. It warms the heart to know that you have helped another person in need. 

Today’s tip is: no matter what kind of mood you are in or what kind of day you are having, ALWAYS answer the phone in a cheerful and professional manner.  Even though you may be having a bad day, chances are pretty good your caller is having an even worse day than you are. Take a breath, push the button, smile and then answer the phone. Your self storage callers will appreciate your professionalism and you will brighten someone’s day with your friendly and helpful demeanor. When you are done helping them, they will feel relieved that they can cross find self storage off of their to do list.

Storage Concierge is your premier Storage, Storage Unit, Car Storage, RV Storage, Furniture Storage, Boat Storage, Yacht Storage, Self Storage finder.

Alaska Storage Units

Storage Unit

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

Tweet This Post 

I have heard so many people just give out the price without asking any questions. How do they expect to sell self-storage? You have to ask the caller questions. How many questions do you need to ask a customer in order to discover all of their needs? That is up to you, essentially but I believe there are seven basic questions you should always ask. Those questions are: what is the customer’s name, when do they need storage, do they know where my facility is located, is my facility convenient for you reach when you need your belongings, how are you getting your belongings to the storage facility, what are you storing, and why are we in need of storage today. There is no specific order these questions should be asked, but if you can get it to flow through all of the questions it will not sound scripted.

Let us dive into why we ask the questions from above.

• What is the customer’s name? This question is asked to build rapport. The caller or customer is most likely to buy from someone they have been introduced to. Additionally, without a name, who do we reserve a unit for?
• When do they need storage? This information can be used to create a  sense of urgency to rent soon and to check the availability of the space they need.
• Do they know where my facility is located and is my facility convenient for you reach when you need your belongings? A powerful tool used to make sure the caller knows how to get to your facility to visit and to ensure that they are not inconvenienced driving periodically to your facility.
• How are you getting your belongings to the storage facility? We can use that to find out if the caller would need the services of a truck or mobile storage.
• What are you storing? Knowing this helps determing the storage unit size they need.
• Why are we in need of storage today?  This one is not common in the self storage industry, but it is an awesome way to develop that you care about what their storage needs are and to further build rapport. Also, this will help if they are in need of other packing supplies or climate controlled storage.

If we take the time to ask the caller questions about their storage needs, we are in a great position to satisfy their needs. The more you know about the caller, the more that they agree to and the less objection they would have to reserve a space with you. It would be hard for the caller to say no to someone who has completely taken care of all their concerns.  So take the time to listen and then to accommodate. The caller will be taken care of and I am sure that they will recommend your services to a friend or family member.

Joel Little, Experience Manager.

LA Storage Unit

Self Storage Article Directory. Visit our Self Storage Locations by State Section.

Storage Units

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

Tweet This Post 

1. If you have not already given your name, tell the caller instead of them having to ask
2. Let the caller know what your office hours are so they will know when to come by
3. Ask the caller if they have any additional questions, and let them know to call you if they think of any questions after the call has ended
4. Thank the caller, and end with your self storage company’s name.

Even if the caller was not listening to your every word, they will remember if you were friendly and helpful. That first and last impression on the phone will stay with them and be part of the reason that they choose which self storage company to rent from. By doing your part at the end of the call, you can make sure that the caller has a good picture of your self storage facility. The end of the call is just as important as the beginning and the middle of your sales presentation, make sure that you end on the high note for great customer service.

Written by Natalie Thomas, TQAS agent.

CA Storage Units or CO Storage Units

Self Storage Article Directory. Visit our Furniture Storage section.
 

Storage Units

Storage Units Locations

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

Tweet This Post 

Written by Natalie Thomas, TQAS agent.

Storage 

Self Storage Article Directory.  Visit our Climate Controlled Storage Section.

Secret Shopping

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

Tweet This Post 

So here I was holding a box of nail care products listening to someone who’s wearing a Santa Claus hat, wondering to myself how I got into this predicament.  As I listened to her talk all I could think of was asking her to work for us in the Call Center.  Her sales techniques grabbed my attention.  She didn’t just tell me about the product but she showed me exactly how easy it was to use.  She demonstrated how to use the product on my hand and nails so I could see for myself how wonderful the product was. 

Not only did she have me thinking that I wanted to purchase this item, but who else I could purchase it for. In the self storage business you can utilize these same sales techniques to up sell your customers on the products you sell inside of the store.  Although they may not have intended to purchase boxes when they came to rent their self storage unit, they could leave your store with boxes in hand. 

Her attitude and confidence level was great.  She smiled and kept a positive attitude and she didn’t let my rejections for the product stop her in her tracks.  She continued as if to say she hadn’t given me enough information to appropriately make an educated decision.  She responded to my concerns.  Not just one or two of them but all of them. And when it came to the money concern  she was able to give me a cut in price.  Not only once, but she cut the price twice with the approval of her supervisor.

So with product in hand and paid for, I walked away.  Only to walk back past her to get to my car and leave, she approached me again and introduced another product the same way she did the first time.  There I was going home happily with 2 products I didn’t even know I needed.

Written by Robin Turner, Call Center Co-Director

Self Storage

Self Storage Article Directory. Visit our Boat Storage Section.

Property Management

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

Tweet This Post 

Written by Natalie Thomas, TQAS executive.

Self Storage 

Self Storage Article Directory 

Secret Shopping 

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

Tweet This Post 

These have been familiar sounds here in the Midwest these last couple of days. Snow is one thing, but right now we are experiencing what is being dubbed the Ice Storm of 2007. 

Thankfully the weather forecasters gave us some advanced warning, and most people were somewhat prepared.  The problem, of course, is that it is always easier to prepare after the fact. So here are several things good Missouri property management teams need to do before this weather system heads to the Northeast; things that should ideally always be done before Ol’ Man Winter ever even strikes.

Clear all powerlines of any overhanging tree limbs.  The electric company does this every couple of years or so, but it is a good idea to stay ahead on this chore.  Freezing temperatures can be a nuisance; freezing temperatures without power can be deadly.

Clear all large and/or dangling tree limbs away from buildings and structures.  A combination of ice and snow will cause that seemingly harmless branch to come crashing down on that structure, probably in the middle of the night.

Have someone reliable lined up to clear driveways and sidewalks before any inclement weather arrives.  There are a lot of scammers willing to take advantage of people in desperate situations.

Keep an ample supply of Ice Melt, salt, and sand on hand.  No matter how treacherous the weather conditions are, there will always be self storage customers driving and walking on your property.

Make certain all of your tenants know what to do in case of an emergency.  Prolonged power outages can be very serious, especially for the elderly and anyone with special needs.  Contingency plans are of the utmost importance in self storage. 

Certainly ice storms can be intimidating.  But just think, we are one day closer to spring!

Written by Ann Sheehan, PhoneSmart Call Center Representative

Self Storage 

Self Storage Article Directory 

Secret Shopping 

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

Tweet This Post 

Written by Natalie Thomas, TQAS executive.

Self Storage 

Self Storage Article Directory 

Secret Shopping Blog   

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

Tweet This Post 

I wish I owned a self storage business, somewhere fun like Austin self storage or Colorado, Basalt self storage. Owning a self storage business would be a great way to take advantage of land that might not be desirable to develop into something else. Maybe a site in Kansas City self storage would give you a large city atmosphere but not as big as a self storage unit in New York City. What do you wish you had a self storage unit full of?

Written by Natalie Thomas, TQAS executive.

Self Storage 

Self Storage Article Directory 

Property Management Blog

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

Tweet This Post 

The armoire is a great option for a homeowner that needs an area to house snacks. Children often have great difficulty getting their own snacks from cabinets and can even get hurt trying to climb up a counter to reach a snack. With an armoire, you can simply show them how to open the large doors and they will be able to easily access snacks. In addition, a snack armoire will look great in any kitchen and will keep your home trendy and fresh.
 
Another option for food storage is to purchase a book shelf to place in your kitchen. Use the shelf for boxes like cereal or other things that are used often by those in your home. If you keep the shelf nice and organized, you’ll find it can be an inexpensive and trendy way to store your food. Your kids will also be able to access these items readily if the shelving unit is not too tall.
 
As you can see, there are many simple food storage business options that are easy to implement and can make your life a lot simpler. Just be creative and use what works for you and your family!

Submitted by our Guest Blogger.

Total quality Assurance Services is brought to you by PhoneSmart – A quality assurance firm.

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

Tweet This Post 

Here are a few things should be considered when you are placing an ad:

1. A catchy phrase or word that will capture the reader’s interested to continue throughout the ad.
2. The answer to the five W’s (who what, when, where, and why)
3. The contact number and then to summarize it up with another catchy phrase or word that will get the reader to act on the advertised product.

Here are some things to consider when capturing a reader’s eye:

1. Color- Bright colors are difficult to ignore
2. Word usage-Small or short, choppy wording is easy and quick to read
3. Type of words-Big and bold lettering

Whether the advertised product is in the self storage industry, or advertising for property in the property management industry, or just advertising another product in a different industry; consider the above suggestions and the ad will pay for itself as the reader’s will not only read, but call and purchase the advertised product.

Written by Angela Perry, business blog writer.

Thanks for reading our property management blog, a blog about the property management industry. 

Find your next car storage, boat storage or self storage at your StorageConcierge – Your premier national and local self storage search engine and free quote provider.

Visit our Self Storage Pod cast

We have storage in, 3006 Druid Park Drive, Baltimore, MD 21215

Planning a move to Kansas City, Missouri? Visit our partners at the Kansas City, Missouri moving information center.

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

Tweet This Post 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060611/ap_on_re_us/reeducating_admirals

This is of utmost interest. The question is can you do the same thing for your small business? The answer is most likely a big No. Ask yourselves what the alternative is? 

Email us with your thoughts.

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

Tweet This Post 

Background

As obviously implied by the word itself, diversification refers to inclusion of a greater and more unique poll of participant. According to Wikipedia “Diversity is the presence of a wide range of variation in the qualities or attributes under discussion.” This simply translates into greater unique individuals in terms of background, religion, race and gender. Naturally, as in any business related activity, measuring and controlling actions are the best way to collect data and create more effective ways of implementation.

Others have defined work force diversity as organizational commitment to value differences and uniqueness beyond statistical prove, positive internal reinforcement of individuality and diversity, legal commitment and reverse discriminatory actions in order to rectify historical discrimination against minorities. There have been also two dimension of classification within diversity. First dimension is based on natural factors “gender, race, ethnicity, age physical ability/qualities, sexual/affect ional orientation”. The second dimension which is considered changeable factors, include “educational background, geography, income, material status, religious believes and work experience”. However, there appears to be a lack of uniform and realistic ways to quantitatively measure diversity.

Necessity of Workforce diversification

One of the more important issues that has to be considered is the reason why diversification is not only necessary but increasingly vital. First and most importantly, there is an ever increasing trend in the diversified composition of the U.S. population. Secondly, there is a growing participation of foreign companies within U.S. territory and its economy. Thirdly, U.S. Owned companies increasingly conduct business in foreign countries. Thus leading to the logical conclusion that the growing poll of potential and actual participants and employees are composed of a greater diversification.

Impact of workforce diversification

Another important issue is the impact of diversification on organizations. One of the most significant issues within any organization is acquisition and retention of human capital: those firms that achieve an equal quantity of diversification within all levels of organizations are more likely to access the poll of talented minority employees. Further, a diversified workforce not only allows the managers to make better choices, it also enable the organization to market to untapped minority markets. Companies such as Wal-Mart have utilized such diversified force in order to serve to minority markets and minority consumer which feel that a diversified firm can more easily relate to their particular needs. All of these factors create a better platform for success by addressing multi dimensional aspects of business.

Levels of diversification

Further, it is important to differentiate between levels of diversification. There are three different level / stages of diversification: monolithic, pluralistic and multicultural. Monolithic refers to those organizations which are composed of a majority group with the expectation of minimal minorities to follow the norms of majority. Pluralist refers to those organization that have minority members because of creation of special programs to promote minorities, however, those minorities are still expected to follow the norms and standards of majority (Allen, Montgomery 2001; p.150).

 Multicultural refers to advanced organizations which strive for actual integration of minorities in the corporate culture by adapting values of minorities within the organization. Organizations which fall under the last category are the once which benefit the most from diversification programs.

Implementation of workforce diversification

Yet another significant issue is the ways in which diversification can be successfully implemented. One of the rather successful approaches has been social pressure on corporations to implement diversification. In this particular approach socially important goals are rephrased and reworked to fit the language and understanding of business oriented organizations in order to enable the decision makers to recognize the benefit.  This approach assumes that in order to initiate change, the internal cultural settings have to be in tune with the goals of the change. This will virtually always translate into profit, which can / should not be opposed buy profit oriented organizations. Another way to successfully implement diversification is information diversification. In this particular approach educational training which contains diversified material is supposed to benefit the diversified composition of organizations. Some studies even suggest that educational diversification may illustrate a better foundation to reach the goal of diversity than other modes of implementation. Further such approach may lead to better usage of information, knowledge advancement, knowledge creation, team work and decision making. Naturally there are other ways to initiate and implement work force diversification such as internal organizational pressure, internal and external legal actions, and customer demands.

One particular approach to manage and implement diversity effectively has been coined as “organizational diplomacy” referring to the process of deep commitment to resolving institutional and constituency conflict that may among other issues entail and oppose diversification.“Organizational diplomacy” is supposed to encounter the artificial and superficial commitments termed as “pacification”. The diplomatic approach is based on the premises that encouragement of employee input, proper policy design and implementation, and all possible attempt to minimize organizational conflict will lead to more effective implementation of diverse workforce. 

Ethics

One additional crucial factor in organizational behavior in implementing diversity is ethics. First and most importantly, a successful implementation of diversity has to be based on eliminating stereotypes within an organization. Second, emphasizing uniform and common organizational goal that will lead to increased value of diversity. Thirdly, an ethical approach will have to include affirmative action whereby it should be as a part of “valuing diversity” instead of caving into external pressure. Fourthly, the ethical implementation of diversification should be broad and inclusive of diverse workforce, thus resulting i

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

Tweet This Post 

Just recently, I had a discussion with a potential new client which told me about some study that corporate giants’ such as Boeing are increasingly attempting to enhance their telecommuter capabilities. The discussion led to citation of some astonishing results: Telecommuters work twice as many hours at home, than they would in office. Consider the impact of such infrastructure and its implication as virtual organization: the cross sourcing, cross networking, and enhanced time and human capabilities. Personally, I believe that virtual organization are a natural evolution of traditional organizations: in the age of advanced technological tools such as VPN, Satellites,  high speed internet, and enterprise high end communication solutions, it is safe to assume that adaptive approaches have a good chance of replacing the traditional methods of collaboration.

In my experience virtual organizations have even a better chance to be more innovative: remote communication and collaboration is sometimes accompanied by unexpected challenges. For instance, using old technology such as fax maybe common in every office, but is cost effective in terms of hardware, ink, paper, maintenance, etc.? I would say no. Alternative methods such as eFax may eliminate some of the cost. I would go as far as suggesting that virtual organizations, in my opinion, are in a better position to compete with their counterparts; given the fact that the concept is in its infancy, only time will tell.

Brought to you by Public Relation Solution a division of World Consulting Solution

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

Tweet This Post 

Public Relation Solution

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

Tweet This Post