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It is only self storage, it is not rocket science. When training your employees on how to sell self storage these two statements are good to remember and important to mention to your new hires. Although it is only self storage there still needs to be requirements for your employees to follow in order for them to become self storage experts. Product knowledge should be first and foremost in any business. Secret shopping can help with training your self storage company. It is an important requirement for each self storage member on your team to be trained accordingly. Having a secret shopping program in place will allow you to connect with your customers. As with any business if you know the product well then the rest should follow. How can you sell a product if you do not know anything about it? Get your employees to know every product and every service inside and out so they can answer any question regarding them that may pop up. With self storage it will be the unit type and sizes that are appropriate for each type of self storage customer. Or it could be the moving and self storage supplies that people want to know about. Your employees should know what type of boxes a customer needs based on what they need packed. Every lock and the benefit of using the different types and styles will also help your customer. Each of your employees from the part timers to the full timers should know all self storage product information so they can confidently answer any customer questions. Up-selling is an important part of the self storage and secret shopping business. If your employees are only familiar with self storage units then they are not being of maximum use to your customers. Your customers should feel very comfortable with every one of your employees, not just the ones that work full time. A company is only as good as the worst employee, right?

Once this phase is well versed by your employees then the next phase of your secret shopping training should fall in which would be the actual presentation to someone who has never rented self storage before. Secret shopping involves a person that poses as potential customer and tries to rent self storage. Those tend to be a bit easier as normally you would simply take the customer by the hand and walk them through the entire self storage process and the caller is o.k. with that. The next phase would be the types of self storage questions that need to be asked of the potential renter so you know what is important to them. You can help them make a decision or suggest to them something that they may not have thought about when storing. Now the employee should be pretty confident in knowing what they are talking about. Now they need to understand what the different types of questions are that they should be asking of the potential customer. Yes and no questions will not lead you to the end of the call by itself. Sloppy transitions to cover other topics of the self storage rental process could also hurt you by losing some of the callers interest. So those too need to be practiced, memorized and used to obtain the maximum effect for the secret shopping training.

Once the above has been completed and successfully versed in the new employee, then it is time to put it in writing. Some sort of scripting always helps the memory and the secret shopping training. A secret shopping tip, have a quick script handy with you at the front desk so in case you are having one of those days you can refer to it in order to get everything covered. Each conversation will be different and you do need to be prepared for each type of scenario from the easy going customer who wants to rent right now, to the just shopping around caller to the irate current customer who has an over lock on their unit because there bill was not paid. Secret shopping evaluations can even help your employees with how to handle manger calls.
 
If we do not know how to answer a callers or customers questions then how does the customer feel when there is not an answer available for the current tenant at the moment. A good secret shopping program can help your self storage business succeed. And when you have a better self storage business, you will have more rentals. Check out a secret shopping program today to help your self storage business.

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There has been a lot of talk in the media lately about a possible recession. People seem to be buckling down and keeping their nose to the grindstone in hopes that the economy will heal itself. Businesses are doing the same and that is why if you are a business owner you need to have a game plan.

The business game plan needs to include ways in which you can spend money on training your employees while getting the most value for your dollar. How does this happen? It starts with evaluating what you want your employees to be doing while they are at work. Are they there to sell, clean up, and provide customer service and a safe and secure atmosphere? Sometimes when employees are given many duties they will prioritize them in an order that is not the best for the company. If you have an employee that is well organized and likes to clean, they might put selling a little lower on their list of duties. If you have an employee that is a super people person than customer service and a well-kept office might be lower on their list. It is important to convey to your employees how you would like your business to be run. 

Secret shopping is a great way to help your employees with additional training. Typically, secret shopping programs are affordable and very helpful to many businesses. Here are some things that a secret shopping program can help your business with.

• Monitoring- evaluating employees in their natural setting. For example, the sales floor, the counter, the register, the entrance and more.
• Compliance- making sure that your employees are following company procedure at all times.
• Incentive based- giving your employees rewards based on their positive secret shopping evaluations. Rewards can be monetary, gifts, awards, a pat on the back, lunch, or whatever sounds like fun.
• Customer service monitoring- making sure that your employees are giving the best customer service possible.
• Competitor information- some secret shopping companies will shop your competitors and provide you with evaluations on their customer service and selling skills.
• Training- we all know that training is important. It is important to train new employees and provide on-going training for existing employees.

Most secret shopping programs can be tailored to fit your business and your business profile. Not all secret shopping businesses and programs are the same, so be sure to do your homework to see if they will work with you. The best secret shopping programs will examine your business needs closely and communicate the best plan of action for you. Sometimes it can take more than just a secret shopping program to complete the big sales picture. Ask potential secret shopping companies if they offer other training services to help and back up their secret shopping. Additional training can sometimes be combined in packages with secret shopping to obtain the maximum amount of training exposure to the employee.

By doing a little homework you will be able to provide your employees with the best training solution for the money. Investing in a secret shopping program will help your employees bring in more sales and more sales equal more revenue for you and your business. Remember, get the most out of your hard earned money. Make sure your business game plan includes additional training for your employees to insure a long and profitable business.

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Remembering what it was like to know nothing about self storage sometimes feels like a lifetime ago. When I think back, the thing that impresses me most are all the amenities and security features the self storage industry has to offer, and yet most consumers are unaware that self storage is more than an empty garage space.

Before my career in the storage business, I’m sure I had driven past countless storage facilities without ever taking notice. Maybe this is true for many Americans who have yet to find a need for self storage. But what happens when they do need a place to store their daughter’s college dorm room for the summer, or put their parents’ houseful of items into storage? They might not have any idea that self storage is more than an empty shell to fill their stuff with.

Educating self storage customers should be at the forefront of every self storage owner and property manager’s mind. Consider that nearly every other industry and specific retailer has trained consumers about what services they should expect within specific industries. Customers shop around and look for the best deal when buying a new car, they know how to bargain for furniture, they compare the fine print between which cell phone provider offers what.

For example, today I bought a bed for my toddler. Several weeks ago, I knew I’d be purchasing a bed so I called my local stores. When I made the calls, I simply asked for the price of the cheapest twin mattress. There were a few furniture stores that refused to give me the price over the phone and insisted I come in, most rattled off a price between $150 to $200. Only one facility asked me what was creating my need for a twin mattress, told me about the features of their mattress, and reminded me I’d also need a frame and because kids tend to spill and make messes, I’d need a mattress protector. Although that facility quoted me the highest price, I was very close to going there to buy the product.

Consumers have been trained to seek out the best deal based on their needs. So when a situation arises that requires offsite storage, they expect the self storage manager to take care of them by understanding their needs and offering them the best solution. Asking the customer a few key questions is still, hands down, the best way to build an accurate self storage quote.

Tron has told stories about going down a list in the phone book and calling self storage facilities to measure their sales skills. You may or may not be surprised to hear him say that it takes several, sometimes 10, calls to get someone to sell their facility to him and ask him to reserve a storage unit.

Because consumers are more savvy than ever, they will find the facility they feel is the best value for their dollar. If you, as a self storage manager, fail to tell them about the access controlled gate and video surveillance, UPS and Fed Ex pickup services, covered loading docks, free truck, etc. but your competition tells their customers about those features, your customers won’t think you forgot to tell them. They’ll assume you simply don’t have that much to offer. (And isn’t it a shame that we use business as an excuse not to provide excellent service.)

Capturing every opportunity to earn a new tenant in more important than ever. One way to tip the scale in your favor is to teach your customers about the services you offer. Tell them during your first contact with them and you’ll leave a lasting impression that will bring them through your door.

Written by Sarah Little, TQAS Director

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Primary business analysis consists of inputting and manipulating data in a financial model, built specifically for projecting revenue streams and changes in expenses for self storage facilities (could be used for other businesses as well). Before all data is inputted, it must be verified to insure that projections are realistic in all aspects of the model. Key components are the projected expenses, rent up (percent of total units rented per month), occupancy, cost of the business/facility, and financing terms. Projected expenses are formulated by looking at past expenses as well as other facilities that StorageMart owns in nearby markets (if applicable). One expense that is typically always different is insurance, as StorageMart has an extremely low insurance cost. This is due to one of their connections through a primary partner that has many other insured assets. It is important to determine actual expenses—as they are typically fixed—no matter how high or low the occupancy may be. Rent up can be determined by past occupancy trends, with increases due to improved management. This is taken into account if a property is mismanaged, which is often the case. Occupancy is looked at in both the physical sense and economical sense. Often a facility may be 85-90% full physically, based on square footage, but the owner may have neglected to raise rents for storage units rented years ago. This implies that there is often a discrepancy in rental rate; rates for some units could be increased to be brought up to market price. Prices can be raised sometimes as much as 10-20% without dropping occupancy if units are under priced. The demand for self storage is very inelastic, meaning that the customers often have little response to increases in price. The cost of the business or facility being acquired is obviously the main sticking point of any deal. No matter how good a business may appear, there is always a point where it may be too expensive to acquire and still meet an acceptable return to the investors. Financing terms may be flexible to some degree, but lenders also have investors to please. StorageMart benefits greatly from their excellent track record and past relationships in the financing realm.

Written by Brice Bernskoetter

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As an intern at StorageMart, I recognize that one of the company’s primary objectives is to analyze other operating self storage facilities and businesses for the purpose of possible acquisition. This is in addition to maintaining current operations and continuing development projects in progress. The purpose of an acquisition is to find a worthy vehicle for investors’ funds, in this case a storage facility.  When looking at a possible acquisition of a facility, there is much in-depth and scrutinous analysis that must be performed.

It is typically difficult to get all information needed to accurately model an acquisition in a timely manner. This is due to the vast amount of information that must be processed in a short due diligence period as well as the type of ownership, mom and pop sole proprietorships. The key items needed to evaluate a self storage facility—obtained  from the operator—are the unit mix, rent roll, financial statements (and all actual bills and bank deposits), occupancy history, site plan, and environmental report. Competitive analysis must also be done to fully evaluate the business. This involves mapping competing facilities, obtaining their rental rates and other information about the facility, such as security features, retail products, and other amenities. Competitors should be compared to the targeted acquisition, based on all amenities as well as quality of location based traffic counts, street size, visibility, accessibility, neighborhood quality and demographics.

Written by Brice Bernskoetter

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Henry Paulson, Treasury Secretary and President George W. Bush revealed a plan yesterday, December 6, 2007 that aims to help homeowners with adjustable rate mortgages. Qualifying homeowners would be protected from increasing interest rates by freezing their current interest rate for five years.

The goal is to help the economy by keeping homeowners out of foreclosure as a result from the housing slump. Extremely high foreclosure rates would force people to leave their home and would have a rippling effect throughout the economy.

The self storage industry will be affected no matter which way the housing market rises or falls. But is self storage in danger of seeing a slump of their own?

Homeowners value their treasures and belongings such as wedding albums, family heirlooms and handmade crafts maybe more than they do the four walls they live in. After all, it’s those things that make a house a home. If they were forced from their home, those items wouldn’t be sitting in the dumpster. Families would look to self storage for safekeeping their belongings until things start looking up for them.

If President Bush and Mr. Paulson’s plan does keep Americans out of foreclosure, then those consumers would continue spending, and collecting more treasures. Families will find themselves needing extra space to store Christmas decorations and knickknacks and look to self storage for the answer.

It looks like self storage owners are still wise investors in an industry that has proven necessary for all walks of life by meeting humanity’s basic needs, shelter.

Written by, Sarah Little TQA Director 

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My favorite commercials right now are the ones which portray people helping each other and then passing it along to someone else. One of the commercials starts with a delivery guy about to walk into the street and oncoming traffic. A lady puts her arm out and stops him from being hit by a car, then that delivery guy helps someone and then that person helps someone else and so on, all the way back to the first person. 

Secret shopping and mystery shopping is like helping your employees learn the self storage business and then they help their customers and then those customers tell their friends and co workers about how great your storage site is and they come in to rent. Do you see the connection here? By providing a cyclic track for your self storage business to provide excellent customer service they will be paving the way for future customers to come and rent a self storage, wine storage, or an automobile storage space from you.

PhoneSmart provides different and varied methods to help your employees and managers get on the right path to being able to provide great customer service. From the Role Play Helpline to the newest release of the Feedback shops, PhoneSmart has many tools to fine tune your staff. Contact us at 866-639-1715.

Written by Natalie Thomas, TQAS Executive and business blog writer.

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You hear people talk about objections and rebuttals in the sales world. Those are really poor terms for what really happens. People don’t object to what you’re offering them. You don’t have someone jump up and say, I object to buying salsa with my chips! That’s not what they do. Buying is not a scene of two lawyers slugging it out in the courtroom, objecting to each other’s lines of questioning. People have concerns. They are concerned that if they buy something, it’s not going to work for them. They’re concerned that they’re spending money on something that’s not going to work out, like self storage. They’re concerned that their friends might think they’re an idiot for spending the money on something goofy. They are concerned they will make a poor decision, or that you will give them a bad experience. People have concerns. So you have to figure out what concerns people have about your offering and how you can assure them that accepting your offering is a good move for them.

How you help people accept your offering is by understanding before you counter. If someone is raising a concern, allow them to tell you what their concern is. You may have heard this concern 57 times today, buy if you cut that person off thinking you know what they’re saying; they’re not going to like it. So let people finish what they have to say. Understand what they said. Try to look between the lines to understand their emotional position. Use paraphrasing to help them to explain it some more, and then assure the person that what you are offering is a good thing. That’s how it works. Understand before you counter, assure that person that their concern is not a new concern. Show them how your offering takes these concerns into account and makes everything better.

Written by Tron Jordheim, Director of the PhoneSmart Call Center

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One thing I’d like to cover with you is the challenge of operational changes. If you’re a store manager or a storage consultant and you’re reading this, you’ve probably gotten it from a regional manager, from your operations director or from your owners, and you’re thinking, Oh, geez, not another training program. Oh, no, not another operational directive. I feel for you.  You have probably been given many operational changes to implement and given many new sales directions to take. The follow up from your superiors has not always been very thorough. The strategies and initiatives have not always been very well thought out, either. I think you may feel that someone’s giving you grief by giving you this information which represents yet another operational shift, and you’re probably right. There is a certain amount of grief involved in adopting new ideas and implementing new programs.

If you are the owner, operations manager or regional director I was writing about in the last paragraph, I apologize for suggesting that you hatch some half baked schemes and then don’t follow through on them very well. But you often have too many irons in the fires and even some of your sensible initiatives have died for lack of resources, attention and follow through. Isn’t that correct?

Contact PhoneSmart for your secret shopping, mystery shopping and self storage training needs.

Excerpt from the writings of Tron Jordheim, Director of PhoneSmart.

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Here’s some phrases you can use over the phone or in your self storage or property management office to help persuade the potential customer.

• You’ll receive all these benefits of our property:
• We think that you will find that
• We think you will agree
• When every dollar counts, it’s good to know that
• Seeing is believing. (Always offer the site visit)
• You can see for yourself that
• Our availability is limited
• Take advantage of our special offer (let them know what it is)
• Think of what you have to look forward to (paint a picture for them about an uncluttered home or life)
• It’s time to make your choice (would the 5X5 or the 5X10 work better for you)

If you know you have a great location, secure site and competitive prices that will show in your presentation of your self storage, craft storage or property management business. Remember to smile and be proud of your property. People entrust you will their most precious belongings and you will need to provide that sense of security to every person walking in your door or calling you on the phone. Self storage customers don’t want to have to worry about leaving their items with you, they want to store it and forget it.

Written by Natalie Thomas, TQAS executive and business blog writer.

Thanks for reading our property management blog, a blog about how to manage your self storage or property management company.

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