» Executive Travel Experience

Matt realized that he would have to transfer jobs soon. He had always known that with the job he had it would be a possibility for the future. Now he and his wife Lacey were facing the prospect of moving halfway across the continent and they were both very stressed out about it. They talked long nights about what they would do. Lacey made numerous lists of things they needed to check into and information they needed to find out. Among these lists of things was finding a national real estate management service. Lacey had been told by a friend that if she would be trying to look for a house long distance, then finding a national real estate management service was practically a necessity.

Lacey and Matt soon found out that with the benefits of finding a national real estate management service, they would eliminate many of their problems with finding a new house so far away. Lacey had been very apprehensive about the possibility of not seeing a house until she had bought it. The company they chose was helpful on this point, sending all the pictures, video clips and information about the house that the couple needed, and even more besides. Lacey and Matt had the opportunity to look through countless pictures and information about different homes, which made them both feel so much more comfortable with the situation. They soon realized that dealing with national real estate management made them much more relaxed in this naturally stressful situation, and neither of them regretted going through such a company for their needs.

The young couple now had plans beginning to form. They had narrowed down their choice of homes to just three, and were planning on taking a flight the next weekend in order to see all of the homes and make a final decision. What was even more helpful was that the national real estate management service they had chosen to work with helped them find a local inspecting agency which would be ready to send an inspector to the house of their choice at any time. This helped them greatly, as they did not know the area they were moving to at all, and did not have any idea of a good inspection agency to hire.

They flew out of state and saw the three remaining houses on their list. After long deliberation, they chose one. Immediately after the choice was made, more problems came into Matt and Laceys heads. Lacey told Matt that they would need a moving company and truck that would have an office in both locations, the home they currently lived in, and the home they were moving to. Matt told her that this would probably not be a problem at all. He had spoken with a representative from the company they were working with and she had told him that they would be happy to help them find a moving company. They would get the information and make the phone calls they were necessary, and get back to Lacey and Matt when they had found a moving company that would fit their particular needs. Lacey could not believe this!

All in all, the couple was very happy with this company, and their move ended up being much less stressful than they had anticipated. If they ever needed to do something similar to this again, they both knew exactly what steps they would take.

Columbia Furniture Storage

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Heather sat at the desk in the corner of her dining room and sighed every time she had to write another check. She really thought that after tax rebates and stimulus checks she and her family could go on vacation together later this summer. Unfortunately, she did not anticipate the extra 200 dollars per month her husband would be spending in gas to get to work.

She thought about taking a second job to help offset the cost of gas and maybe, just maybe save up enough to go on a weekend trip to the lake. Even if they can not afford to fly to Florida this year, just a weekend getaway would do wonders to relive everyones stress.

After she paid the last bill her paycheck could stretch to cover, she opened the classified section of the newspaper. Nothing seemed interesting or practical for her. She already has a full time job and does not have a lot of flexibility for a second job.

She puts the paper down and gives up. She would rather spend her free time with her family than at another job, even if it means no vacations this year.

Several days later, Heather is still daydreaming about a lounge chair on the beach. She unconsciously begins to surf around on the Internet for discount travel packages. There are several viable options but she still is not sure that even the 500 hundred dollars for the hotel room, as great a deal as it is, will work. How will she get there? It costs too much for gas and would take too long to drive. Flying is expensive too and she will have to pay extra to check her bags. Since when was taking a vacation so stressful!

In one last ditch effort, she searches for more discount travel destinations. She is excited to see a website advertising a free travel program. It seems like this company has a secret shopper program that asks passengers to take a survey in exchange for free travel expenses. Could this really be true?

As quick as she can type, she enters her information to join the secret shopper program as an undercover tourist. Soon enough, she is lead to a page where she lists any experience that might prove she is qualified to test several areas of travel and leisure industries. She is surprised to find herself well qualified to shop gold courses because of her knowledge of the sport. She is also glad she knows a thing or two about hospitality. Aside from the scary news coverage shows that report what the dirtiest things in hotel rooms are, she use to work as a housekeeper for a cleaning service. That experience gave her a good eye for what other people might overlook.

This secret shopper program has saved her hopes of having a family vacation this year. She submits all her information and waits patiently to receive an assignment. Finally her secret shopper program sends some job requests through. They are for destinations in Arizona near the golf courses and tourist hot spots there.

Luckily, she had saved up some time off work for a vacation anyway and once she cleared her schedule and coordinated it with her husband, they were off to Arizona on a free trip from her secret shopper program .

Odenton RV Storage 

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Our Vegas convention team has returned from another successful business outing. Four members of our staff including our director traveled last week to Las Vegas for a very large self storage convention. We prepared and met prior to the convention so that we would all bring our A-game. The secret shopping team composed of the director and an agent presented information about our secret shopping services. The convention was very busy and on the opening day, many people stopped by our booth to inquire about our secret shopping services. Also in the booth were the call center director and a client services representative. We were all there for the same thing, meeting, greeting and getting new business.

This particular convention is popular in the self storage industry because it attracts many newcomers to the business. Besides information about secret shopping services, there were companies that build self storage, manage self storage, supply self storage, gates, boxes, tapes and sales seminars rounded out the convention floor. Besides our company that offers self storage call center services, secret shopping services and management training, there were only a handful of competitors in our market.

Here are some of the great responses that we received while on the trade show floor.

Your seminar this morning on motivation was excellent.
We already do business with you and we love it.
You guys have the booth that is the most fun.
What else do you do besides call center?
I cannot wait to get started with your company.

We made sure that most of the people passing by our booth received some sort of handout about our company. We provided people with call center information and information about our secret shopping services. Our secret shopping services are just the icing on the cake as far as what we do as a whole to provide the self storage industry with appropriate services.

On Friday morning we presented our vendor information in the morning to a small crowd. We considered this a great turnout considering it was the last day of the conference and it was an optional event. We took turns speaking about our call center services and management software along with our secret shopping services and our management training. The presentation was well received and a few attendees stayed and inquired about additional information.

The last day on the show floor was a little slower than the first, but it was to be expected. Many people try and visit the booths they are interested in the first day. But that did not deter us from staying strong and meeting and greeting. A few more potential clients came by to take advantage of our call center show special and our special on secret shopping services. Because many people choose to shop around there is still business to be had on the last day of the conference.

We would like to take this opportunity to Thank all those folks that came by and said hello. We got to visit with current, past and potential call center and clients looking for secret shopping services. Las Vegas treated us well and we are thankful for the opportunity to spread the word about our company and the great job that we do. Contact us if you are looking for call center or secret shopping services. We would love to talk to you!

Arkansas Storage Units

StorageMart Rt 59 & Lake Street (Rt 20) Elgin, IL 60120

Automobile Storage

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I flew in this morning to attend a meeting of the National Speakers Association in the French Quarter. I am going to a product development lab that will help us fine-tune our newest training and secret shopping products. I really enjoy going to creative conferences that are outside of our normal spheres of business, because I get to rub elbows with people from many different business classifications who help stir my creative juices.  It was sad to see that there was only one cab line at Louis Armstrong airport. Before Katrina there were always two or three lines going. You can’t see whether the city is making progress or not on your trip in form the airport to the French Quarter. The French Quarter did not suffer too much from the Katrina business and was brought back up to speed quickly. I did notice a new self storage facility along Interstate 10. This may not be a sign that something good is happening. It may just have been a replacement for a self storage facility that floated away near Louisiana self storage.

I was on the plane with a group of pre-teen or early teen kids who, some of whom were flying for the very first time. I got some smiles remembering how awesome it is the first few times. It still is amazing to fly so fast and so high and move so many miles in such little time.  I might be flying over Lake Charles self storage right now. But these days, I’d rather take a nap than spend the whole flight examining the landscapes.

I intend to do some good eating while here in New Orleans and get some great inspiration for our next service or product offering.

Written by Tron Jordheim, Director of PhoneSmart

Self Storage 

Self Storage Article Directory  

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DJ Johnson, PhoneSmart Client Development Coordinator recently traveled to Tennessee to do a training workshop for a local self storage company. She had tremendous response from the store managers she trained.

Over the course of several days, she taught them principal sales techniques that are sure to help bring a sales increase to each of their self storage facilities. Before she introduced herself to the group, she visited each location and conducted a secret shop on their store.

I’m sure the look on some of the managers faces could be compared to the Candid Camera television show when they realized she had been their customer just hours ago. DJ was able to benchmark their sales level by shopping them and her training was more focused on what she knew their growth areas were.

The client is now following up the training by reinforcing the lesson with monthly Feedback Mystery Shops. These shops are a great way to begin a training program or follow it up.

This is one example of how the many services at PhoneSmart compliment each other to form a complete sales solution. Some of PhoneSmart’s services include call center, Mystery Shopping, Feedback Shopping, Role Play Helpline, Telephone Teachers, Sales Training, Sales Seminars and more.

If you’re interested in having a PhoneSmart trainer come to your self storage company for sales training contact Sarah Little, TQA Director at 855-639-1715.

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

Self Storage Locations

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I had the pleasure of spending a couple of days in New York last week attending a conference on mystery shopping and secret shopping.  The Mystery Shopping Providers Association got together to share ideas and work on their professional development. I had not spent much time in Manhattan recently and it took me about an hour or two to get my New York rhythm back in my walk.

It is clear from the new buildings and the ever growing pedestrian traffic that New York continues to be on e of the capitols of the world. The transition form industrial to residential continues at a brisk pace in many of the older neighborhoods. The capital continues to flow in. The immigrants continue to flow in. The tourists won’t stop. I guess the early European sailors like Hudson and Verrazano knew what they were talking about when they reported finding one heck of a spot to build a trading port.

The dichotomy between rich and poor also continues as the rich get richer and the poor get nowhere. I was reminded of a famous evangelist named Reverend Ike who used to work the New York Market. He was one of the early “prosperity preachers” who talked about how getting rich was righteous. He once said something like, “the best thing you can do for poor folks is to keep from becoming one”. Amen, reverend.

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I had another opportunity to attend a trade show in Las Vegas. Those of us who get there several times a year have a bit of a warped perspective of the city. Each time I fly in, I see that the city has spread further. Each time I take a cab to the Strip, I see new hotels in the works and new condos on the rise. I read in the local Vegas paper that the group that owns the Venetian and Steve Wynn are now developing casino properties in Macao, China. SO it is quite likely that our most valuable import to China will be gaming.  We may depend on gaming to restore some trade balance with China. As American consumers pump money into China from purchasing everything made in China, the new monied class in China will send their profits right back to Las Vegas by way of the felt tables and spinning roulette wheels.

This would prove my gut feeling that Las Vegas has all the money. I mean all the money. If you traced the path of money movement, I would bet that 63% of the world’s money passes through Las Vegas or through a Las Vegas based company.

I tell people I know who have never been there, that you can smell the money as soon as you step off the airplane. The place is dripping in money, the way the Louisiana Bayou drips with dew in the late Spring. Because of this, the city continues to grow in leaps and bounds. Jobs of all kinds are crated every day. Service industries of every nature spring up around theses jobs. Hustlers of every stripe, legitimate and otherwise, flock there to try to get one little droplet of the money that you can feel dripping everywhere.

A boom market like this has its own biology and chemistry. If you do not know the market and do not have insiders guiding you through it, you could easily end up like the gold miners who headed to California in 1849 and be stranded with no more than a shovel in your hand. On the other hand a boom market like this is just what is needed for entrepreneurs to make their mojo happen and create prosperity for their companies.

I imagine the next time I go out there in a few months, there will be even more money out there and more hustlers trying to get their mojos working.

Brought to you by PhoneSmart & Public Relation Solution

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I recently took a trip to Newport Beach California for a day long business conference. The Orange County Coast is a great place to visit for business or pleasure. Flying in from St. Louis to John Wayne airport in Santa Ana (Airport code SNA) is very convenient. The flight schedules at American allow you to leave St. Louis at a reasonable time in the middle of the day and still get into Santa Ana in the mid afternoon. Flying home, you can get out of bed at a normal time and be home in Columbia for dinner. This time I chose MO X to get to St. Louis and back. Their schedule matched my flight schedule nicely and parking at Parkade to boarding the van is pretty easy.

The only thing I don’t like about John Wayne airport is the landing. The airport is tightly surrounded by the office and commercial areas of Irvine and Santa Ana. You pretty much have to drop out of the sky to make the landing and sometimes you can get a pretty good bump on landing. Once you get through that, you find the John Wayne airport is very easy to get around in. It has all the amenities you need, but the traffic and size make it very comfortable. I choose it over LAX every time I can, when coming to the Los Angeles area.

Flying into the Los Angeles/Orange county are is always amazing. You fly over so many hundreds of miles of unpopulated, uninhabitable desert. Then you cross one last mountain range and presto, you see development as far as the eye can see, and the ocean, which is usually covered in some coastal cloud cover. This time we got to see the massive Yucca Valley wild fire from the plane. It was only up to about 25,000 acres at this time, but the smoke plume was still hundreds of miles long. We could see the fire line from the plane, too, and it was a bone chilling sight.

Once you are through security at Santa Ana, you take a short walk across the road to the parking garage and you are right at the rental car pick up. On the way you pass a big bronze statue of John Wayne in cowboy character. The statue captures his “swagger” very well.

On this trip Avis was promoting their new “Cool Cars” that they have available and they upgraded me for free to a brand new Mustang convertible. Nice. They hadn’t even taken the plastic wrap off of the steering wheel yet. If you are going to drive a convertible, Southern California is the pace to do it. So I saw the place like a native might…with the top down.

When flying to Santa Ana, the first thing you must do is drive southwest on Mac Arthur Boulevard. Once you pass the entrance to Fashion island ( a great spot for food and shopping by the way) you will come to the crest of the hill and all of a sudden you are looking over the ocean. What a lovely sight and a lovely site. Keep going down Mac Arthur and take a left on the Pacific Coast highway. Drive a while. You will see beautiful homes and gorgeous gardens. The weather is ideal for all sorts of flowering everything.
Then you will drive by Crystal Cove State Park where you can see how the California Coast line looked to the first settlers. You can understand how people have been and still are mesmerized by the place.  A little further on you will come to Laguna Beach, which is a great art and shopping community. It gives you an idea of what Columbia’s downtown could grow into as we add more interesting shops and wonderful galleries and delicious restaurants.

Now you will have to make a decision. Where will you take your dip in the ocean? Do it now in Laguna Beach, or on the way back to Newport Beach? Will you swim, boogie board, surf or just jump around in the surf? This will effect your decision. Most of this you can do anywhere along this stretch of coast. If you want calmer water, try Laguna Beach or head back up the coast to Corona Del Mar State Park and try Big Corona Beach just south of the channel jetty.  In any case, spend some time at Crystal Cove Park. You will love to see the different flora and fauna. It is nothing like you see here in the Midwest.

If you are not going to swim at Corona Del Mar, you need to at least walk the bluff top side walk above the beach close to sunset. Wow. What a view. And the homes up there are very sweet. No one has much yard and they don’t have many square feet of space, but what they have is a view of Catalina Island and sunsets like nobody’s business.

Okay, time to get something to eat. There are umteenth choices all along the Pacific Coast Highway and in the Fashion Island Circle. You can do like I do and just stop wherever the fancy strikes you, or you can hunt down something you favor.

There are lots of options for a great place to stay. If you want to save a few dollars and have a quick trip to the airport for your journey home, there are some good choices up by the airport. The meeting I attended was at the Balboa Bay Club, which is an older and elegant property right on the Newport channel opposite Lido Island. It would be a neat experience if you want an older California feel. I stayed at the Hampton by the airport. You get some extra room at very reasonable rates and a five minute trip to the airport. But if you are coming for vacation, try one of the hotel/spas on the beach in Newport Beach. I hear they are very comfortable.

If you love boats, you will love Newport Beach. The open portico where we had our meeting at the Balboa Bay Club looked out over the slips. There were some magnificent yachts and some beautiful sailboats that you could almost reach out and touch. Watching the boasts large and small going through the channel helps you understand why people put up with living in such a densely populated and expensive part of the world. The living is good.

If you come to play, try taking a sailing course or a surfing class while you are there. That is the real California life. A friend of mine who I see at these California meetings says his favorite surfing spot is at 56th street right there in Newport Beach.

Well I have to get to my meeting now. It is time to get to work. If you get a chance to come to Newport Beach for fun or for a function, make sure to take a few minutes to explore the area. You can have a mini vacation even if you have just an hour or two to spare.

Brought to you by Tron Jordheim — Director of Operation at PhoneSmart Your off sites sales solution.

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