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Would you call yourself a humble business owner? Would you call yourself a humble business owner that can realize when their company is not doing so well and needs to make changes? If you answer yes to both of these questions, the next logical thing to ask is what are you doing about it? You might be humble enough to know what the problem is or know why you are not succeeding in your market, but you can not stand by and do nothing to make an difference. Are you in the business to gain money or to waste it?

Most companies look around and see that they are the only company not growing. That would normally make any business owner upset to the point that they would make some drastic changes if necessary to grow their business. What steps are necessary to make a foot hold on the new market that you are in? Do you feel comfortable enough to go and evaluate the competition? If you can see what they are doing differently than you, maybe you can change before you they do.

Before you try to see what all your competitors are doing to gain market share, you should look within the walls of your company first. From the top down to the entry-level job, is everyone doing what is necessary to grow your business from the inside out? That is what a smart business owner would do first. Why waste your time and money out there in your market and discover new ideas when the people within your business cannot perform their current duties?

There has been a program out there for years that some companies have taken advantage of and some companies are to proud to solicit help from. With secret shopping , most companies can see right away that their level of customer service is not as stellar as they thought. With secret shopping , you as a business owner have the insight that you need to make changes within the levels of your business. Do you want to know how the people closest to the customer are treating them? Do you want to know if their experience was so outstanding that they are telling their friends and family? Then the way to do that is through secret shopping .

The secret shopping agents can either arrive in person or call on the phone in order to evaluate your staff. As soon as they hang up or leave your place of business, they begin evaluating what they heard, saw, and then send you a detailed report. They base their presentation off what you desire them to look for and listen to. You know what you want your customers to expect once they visit or come in contact with your facility. The agent is just an extension of your company with and outside perspective. They give you eyes when you cannot see.

The next question is why are you not using this service? Are you scared that you will see something that you already knew about your company, but now it is in the open? Are you unwilling to change your business for the better? The decision is ultimately up to you, but secret shopping can be a great tool that your business can use to grow its prospective clients and make a difference in your workplace.

Key West RV Storage

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When you as a business owner are hiring people for your company, you have some expectations that they need to follow. You are not just looking for a warm body to take up space, not producing for you. If this is true in your case, do you have people on your staff that are not pulling their weight? Why are those people still employed by you? Now this might sound harsh, but take the time to think about it. You are a business owner, who probably worked hard to get your company up and running. Now that it is up and running, you need to have people in place that will have the same goals that you have. You might ask yourself, what is the point of all this? When you have different programs in place to train and help associates achieve the company goals and the associates do not appreciate it, why are they still with you? Many companies pay for programs like secret shopper programs and the associates do not use the coachings that result from that experience to better themselves. You are throwing away your money.

Many companies use the secret shopper programs in order to improve their level of customer service. Unfortunately, there are people within those companies who do not believe this program is a good use of company resources. They believe that they know how to sell and how to take care of the customers. They do not even try to learn or take feedback from the evaluations. It is unbelievable the level people go to so they will not have to do something they do not want to do.

If you are a company using secret shopper programs as a way to improve the level of service in your company, we applaud you for you commitment to getting better at your trade. A question to the same people who are using this service, what are you doing with the information? Are you receiving the individual evaluations and just filing them away for safekeeping or are you making sure your employees know they were shopped and they know their results? You can use this as a training tool for them to get better. Otherwise you are wasting your money. Stop wasting your money if you are not going to use secret shopper programs to improve your company.

This might sound like a shock to you, but people in the secret shopper programs work very hard to ensure that each and every employee that you have is getting great feedback from these shoppers or at least a detailed report. You are wasting your money if your people never see it. You are lowering your morale because most people want to be performance managed and you are not using a great tool to do that.

As stated before you have to have people on your team who care about how the company is growing. With people on your team that care to growth, you still might have some profitability coming your way. On the other side of that, how much more could you gain if you had someone who was able to take feedback and criticism? Having someone on your team who is not willing to learn or to help the company get to where they need to be should not be on your payroll. In this market, you have to adapt all the time. If they remain on your payroll, you are paying for future failure.

Dania Beach Car Storage

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Business management has resulted in evolutionary real estate property management software that allows a business owner to quickly access reports, information, history, etc. Typically, an accountant kept financial records and the property owner trusted that they were keeping track of the tedious information. Most importantly, the property owner was trusting that the accountant or management company was keeping a close eye on profits, rents being collected on time, rents that are overdue and also making sure any loans and taxes are paid on time.

Nowadays, a quick click on your real estate property management software can show you a general report of how many outstanding tenant accounts you have and what the status of their account is. For example, you may be able to sort outstanding accounts in descending order, with oldest accounts at the top. Or you could use your management software to sort outstanding accounts beginning with which tenants are still living in the rental property and which have moved out or been evicted.

Your real estate property management software should give you an option for sorting outstanding tenant accounts based on legal course of action. For example, has a notice been left at the residence? Or has the next step been taken and an eviction notice been given to the tenant? Has the tenant been taken to small claims court or are they being prosecuted?

A general search should display results that allow a property owner the opportunity to see a quick list of these references. However, from there, the real estate property management software should allow a property owner the power to zoom into, or pinpoint the focus on exactly what steps have been taken for each tenant.

For example, the real estate property management software may list the tenants in apartment B as being severely overdue. The property owner should be able to select that profile and see the details such as the date the overdue notice was left at the residence, the deadline for payment before eviction processes began, the date an eviction notice was officially given and the date when eviction occurs. In addition, the property owner should be able to see a payment history and account balance of individual accounts.

Another useful tool of management software is that a property owner or management business should be able to access a history of average rental rates. This can be useful in tracking the fluctuation of the market and in judging whether or not a new rental increase is due. If the property owner sees that it has been 5 years since rates have gone up, he or she may consider a rate increase for existing tenants and a higher rental rate for newcomers.

Typically, a property owner will set the rental fee very close to similar properties in the area. If the market will not sustain current rental fees, the rates may even be inclined to lower.

The software should also keep track of profit and loss, beginning with how much is owed against the rental property versus how much income they bring. In addition, the cost of staff, routine maintenance, lawncare, taxes, etc must be factored into making a decision about the profitability of a rental property and should factor into the going monthly rental rate.

Software will also help a property owner keep track of building maintenance schedules, which is an important practice in keeping an investment such as this in top shape.

Self Storage Facility

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There is a lot of land out there for anyone to get a hold of and purchase. Now, you have to be smart and decide if this plot of land will be a good foundation in which you want to build off. That plot of land will have to stand up to the weather conditions in your area, construction damages and more. Is the location great for the business you would like to start? What do you hope to gain from this plot of land? After all is said and done, what are you getting for the money?

When most individuals are looking to invest their hard-earned money into land to build on to they do their research. They do not want to make a bad investment. They are looking to get the most profit out of their decision. In todays market, real estate is unstable but building apartments, condominiums and such are still profitable because someone always needs a place to live. Most people are not coming out on top in selling their homes to make a huge profit. If you are not looking to run your apartment complex yourself you have to find someone who can do it for you. Just like researching land, you also have to research to see which company out there can provide the best property management services out there.

Finding the right company that can provide great property management services is not always an easy task. You can find different companies online or even in the newspaper, but you have to ensure that they are located in your area. With some companies providing property management services, they are located in areas in which they cannot serve you. In smaller markets, your chances to have some diversity of choice will be limited.

There are many different types of care these companies can provide. These property management services are not limited to the client, tenant or land. What kind of expertise do you think these companies can offer? For the client or owner they can, and are not limited to:

• Managing owners monthly mortgage payment
• Managing owners property taxes, insurance or other payments as instructed
• Handling requests for repairs and maintenance
• Arranging and making payment for required repairs or maintenance work
• Paying to owner or depositing to owners account amounts recieved in excess of required disbursements
• Providing owner with fully itemized and computerized monthly reports and year-end accounting statements
• Inspections of the property during lease in order to ensure proper maintenance
• Arranging tenant notices and evictions when necessary
• A final inspection and closing statement, upon tenants vacating the property
• Collecting monthly rents

As you can see, if you can find a good company that can provide great property management services, you have to little except for sit back and watch the profit roll in.

Remember they are not limited to what you saw above. They can also help your business with getting your buildings full of tenants. By utilizing some companies, you will get:

• Comprehensive expertise and knowledge of local laws and market conditions
• Exposure to real estate professionals
• Advertising on the Internet
• Detailed records and accounting reports
• Professional screening of tenants.
• Professional relationship with tenants
• Reduction in tenant turnover and increased occupancy rates through strict screening and constant supervision
• Efficient rent collections

You are in the drivers seat with your individual business. You can try to do it all yourself or find someone or a company who can take all or most of the load off you. With finding the best property management services out there for your budget, you cannot lose. Ensure that you choose wisely.

Secret Shopping

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October 2006 Total Quality Assurance Service Blog Archive

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Thinking of starting your own business? If so, and you have done any further looking into the details, you may be shocked at how all the little things can add up quickly. Business start-ups can be especially pricey when the owner is building from the ground up, rather than acquiring an existing business.

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 

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May 2007 Self Storage Blog Archive

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Being in property management is so easy and many encourage everyone to do it. Think about it, the long hours, the management of staff, keeping the property up, ensuring everything is functional, etc, is a blessing and everyone should do it at least once. Ok, well maybe owning a business is not for everyone. When you are looking at or trying to maintain your business, every decision that you make ultimately affects the bottom line.

In property management there is a lot to think about from a business standpoint. From how much you pay your staff, to how much you pay someone to mow your grass, to how much electricity it takes to raise your computerized gate, these are all things, plus more that you have to look at monthly. In property management, your bottom line is how you see if you are a profitable business or a non-profitable business. When making any decisions, you have to think to yourself, how this decision will create a profit for me in the future. If you are not thinking this way, you are possibly placing your money somewhere it should not be. You could be carelessly throwing your money away.

How do some people in property management attempt to deal with the struggles of everyday life? Most mangers have some type of to-do list or some method of keeping things straight. They make sure that someone comes out and fumigates the facility, building maintenance is performed, etc. They make sure all this is done and also they are protecting the costs associated with these maintenance calls. The managers on site have to take the time to ensure that everything on the site runs smoothly and they are not spending any unnecessary costs.

Being in charge of the property is not an easy task. Most people do not have any idea on what it takes to run an efficient property. It is sure no one can imagine what their everyday life involves unless you have actually been the manager of the property. Most of us can attempt to guess what their job is like form day to day. They sometimes control the pricing of different facilities, the specials that run and the look and feel of the environment. Some managers have to ensure that their staff is trained and able to help each person that calls or walks through their doors. It is not an easy task being in charge of the property. There is more pressure on them than most jobs.

Most people involved in property management will always preach that the first line of defense of your bottom line comes from how well your staff is trained. If they can understand the P and L (profit and loss report) as you do, show them some kind of incentive to reach the goals you establish, your bottom line will be extraordinary. Everyone in your business should understand how you make money and how you lose money. Knowledge is power and now you can empowered your whole staff to make sound business decisions around the bottom line. Some companies give their associates incentives at the end of the year to hit their bottom line goals. Make good decisions and understand what is costing you money and what is making you money. Trim down the costs, and increase the profit. 

Rental Rates

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October 2007 Property Management Blog Archive

Food Storage Revisited 

Self Storage Article Directory – Self Storage Vendors

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Self storage and property management facilities are popping up everywhere. So how do you determine which one meets your needs? First take a look at as many self storage and property management facilities as you have time for. This can be made easy with a little planning. Most self storage and property management facilities are located in commercial districts and you may often find several competing self storage and property management facilities in a very small area.

Now that you have found self storage and property management facilities, what criteria should you use to select the best self storage facility for you? The most important thing is, location, location, location. You should choose a self storage facility on a busy street with the majority of units visible from the street. Why? Self storage and property management facilities can be a prime target for thieves. If you choose a self storage facility visible from a busy street thieves are more likely to by pass it for more secluded self storage and property management facilities.

You should also look for self storage and property management facilities that have a gated front entrance where a key code or an attendant grants access to the units. The self storage and property management facilities should also be enclosed by a fenced topped with barbed wire or some other type of deterrent to climbing. If you find a self storage facility with an attendant you should determine the hours an attendant works, most facilities do not have 24 hrs attendants and you will only have access during the time an attendant is on duty. Self storage and property management facilities that do not utilize attendants should still have something in place to deter casual visitors. If a key card is used to gain entrance ask if the coding is unique or if the code is a generic code that can be opened by non-official key cards.

You will also want your self storage facility to have several security cameras placed in strategic locations throughout the units. It might seem trivial to want a self storage facility with cameras, but you must remember you are paying this facility to store your belongings. If someone should break into your unit a strategically placed camera might make the difference between recovering your possessions and losing everything. You should also make sure the self storage facility you choose either has security guards who patrol several times during the day and night or an alarm system that is monitored 24 hrs. You should also look for dawn to dusk lighting that illuminates the area around the units.

Now that you have evaluated the security or lack of security at the self storage and property management facilities it is time to move onto amenities. You should look for well spaced units with wide doors, usually the garage door type, which can be secured with your lock. You want a self storage facility that offers fire suppression systems in each unit with fire proof or at least fire resistant walls between units. Depending on what you are storing, you may want a unit that is climate controlled and offers a humidifier or dehumidifier depending on the season.

You should look for self storage and property management facilities that offer well lighted units, preferable track lighting indoors and dawn to dusk lighting outside. The self storage facility you choose should have well maintained grounds, lots of trash barrels and no litter on the ground.
 
Choosing a self storage facility can be just as hard as choosing a place to live. By having a list of your requirement in hand, the decision can be an easy one.

Yacht Storage

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The kiosk can be a wonderful asset to any type of property management company. Newspaper and soda companies have used them for a very long time. The banking and airline industries have been using them for the past few decades. And in the last several years, the kiosk has become a very common property management tool at self storage facilities.

These interactive computer terminals are user friendly and take up very little space. They are connected to the Internet so everything is in real time. These features make the kiosk a perfect property management tool for any sized self storage company, from a small satellite location all the way up to a huge facility located in the middle of a big city. 

The kiosk can rent storage units, take payments, and sell locks and insurance. It is able to do many of the things that a self storage employee can do. The advantage to having a person working at a storage facility is the warm and fuzzy feeling that can come with human contact. The advantage to employing an automated property management kiosk at the location is that the machine does not call in sick, ask for a raise, or demand benefits. 

The kiosk allows customers to rent a new self storage unit without having to rely on a self storage employee. It lets the tenant see a virtual map of the various sized units that are available. This property management device then shows them the different prices and any specials that are currently going on. The customer next picks which unit will work the best for them and proceeds to rent their unit using the kiosk. The new lessee can pay for the unit, get their gate code, and then move into the storage space immediately.

The property management kiosk usually has a camera to take pictures of the new renter and scanners for a copy of a fingerprint and drivers license. The customer signs a digital signature reader. They are able to pay using cash, check, or credit or debit card. Everything is completely legal and secure. An intercom is often available that connects to a self storage employee located offsite or in a call center, in case the new tenant has any questions or problems.

A small self storage location or a satellite property can benefit from using a kiosk. The self storage property management company does not have to hire a person to simply sit around the location, waiting for a customer to arrive. 

A medium sized self storage location can take advantage of a kiosk as well. Customers are able to come to the location after hours and on holidays to pay their bill. They do not have to worry about their money being lost in the mail or misplaced in a drop box. And the property management company can keep costs down by not having to pay an employee overtime, or differential for working Sundays, or time and a half for working holidays.  

A large self storage facility can also benefit from a kiosk. These locations are usually extremely busy and very hectic, with a lot of customers and employees milling around. Tenants do not have to stand in line waiting for a self storage worker in order to rent a unit or make a payment. They can use the property management kiosk and help themselves.

Labor is a large chunk of the costs for running any business, including self storage. The kiosk is a great property management tool that can help alleviate the cost of that labor. This of course means a larger profit for the proprietor of the self storage company.

Self Storage Locations By State

Maine RV Storage

Basalt Storage

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When you are on your floor trying to sell your property, trying to drive the customer experience, you should always look for the best ways to coach and train your people. Most of the time, it is great to give feedback right after a sale. You can kind of see in the associates eyes that as they are talking if they have an annoyed attitude and just want to go back to work. Role-playing sometimes works to see where the problem in a sales presentation is but that does not give real life situations.  
 
Mystery shopping has to be the best way to get and give feedback to your associates. Mystery shopping is a great business investment because it allows you to pull up a form and go down the list of things they are supposed to say and how the mystery shopping agent grades them. When they see that print out from the mystery shopping experience, their reactions go straight to Wow or Oops. Because of mystery shopping, you now have proof if they are not doing so well and what they are doing well.

In the self storage industry, it is crucial to have this mystery shopping feedback so you can ensure your business is doing as well as it could and to get real life examples to your staff. When you hear recordings of a good mystery shopping agent do a good job sounding like a real customer, the execution of a simple script is mediocre. You have some people out there who probably do an awesome job each time they pick up the phone. Mystery shopping challenges you to see what that other half is doing or saying, once that phone is picked up and the conversation begins.

As a property owner, manager, or whatever your title might be, could it hurt you to participate some sort of mystery shopping program? There have been examples of property managers being shopped by a mystery shopping agent and they did not do so well. The mystery shopping agent opened that managers eyes to have them realize that they have to change their approach to the business. It is very hypocritical for you as a manager to expect your people to provide excellent customer service when you do not. It is like one of those parental quotes, Do as I say, not as I do. In most businesses, that will not fly. With mystery shopping, it holds all employees, even managers to the same standard.

Mystery shopping is one of the best ways to track your employees progress and to see how they react to your competition. If you take the information you receive from mystery shopping and use it coach your employees effectively, you will succeed. If you choose not to use mystery shopping for what it is worth, you are losing money in more than one way. You lose money because you are paying for a service you are not reaping the benefit from and you could be getting more production out of your staff if they knew what they could do to improve. Mystery shopping gives you the best real life examples and gets away from the boredom of role-playing. Mystery shopping will produce a lift in your business and your profits will grow. What are you waiting for? Your competition to get smart and use the service before you?

Self Storage Industry 

Louisiana Furniture Storage

San Antonio Storage

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Most people love being sold to when they are looking to buy a product. Think about the last time you went to buy something. Some of us had some pleasant experiences and some not so good. Now, when you got to the register or when you picked out a product, does the sales person or the cashier try to get you to purchase other items as well? Do they pressure you to get their store credit card or a savings off your product if you buy more? That sucks right? Wait, do we not do that to some of our customers?

In property management, some of us run the property differently than others. When it comes to the sales portion of our property management, some of us decide not to tell the caller about any additional costs there are to rent (lock, admin costs, etc) until they come down to the facility. The customer does not deserve that. If they come down ready to move all of their belongings and bring enough money to cover their unit and tax, they will not be too pleased to pay more than what was quoted on the phone. In your property management, ensure the caller knows what they are paying for, or any extras they need, before they rent with you. You can maintain that great relationship with the caller if you do so. 

In property management, you are trying to get your property to grow. The relationships you build with customers are one of the ways you will grow your business. Most people involved in property management, want their people to ask for credit cards over the phone in order to hold the space for the caller. When trying to get the caller to reserve a space with a credit card, sometimes that could be done better. Instead of just offering to have the space held, tell the caller why they benefit from giving you their credit card. In property management, your business could grow if a customer can understand limited availability or ensuring that they get the great special that was offered. They will not enjoy the fact that you are pressuring them to give you their credit card with no tie in to why they should give it to you. Would you just give your credit card to a person that says something like, You can hold this space if you give me your credit card. In that statement, most people would figure they have many spaces so they do not need to give them a credit card over the phone. In property management, you have to teach your employees to show the caller some value when asking for their credit card. Their credit card is their identity. In property management, your job is not always going to be sales, but you are there to ensure the customer has a great experience while they are renting from you. Protecting their identity would be something the customer would appreciate.

In property management, we have people that are there to help the customers that call or come into our building. In property management, you should take the time to ensure that your associates treat them as they would want to be treated. Make sure the customers are not pressure them. Your associates should take the time to develop a relationship and take care of their needs. Do not surprise them with extra costs, as you would not like to be. Take care of them now and they will refer people to your facility or rent with you for a long time. In property management it is your job to either be the one to ensure customer satisfaction, or appoint someone to do the job. Make sure your customers are taken care of.

Property Management

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