» Self Storage Business

Who do you let answer the phone at your self storage or property management company? Chances are your employees answer the phone for your business, but can your employees answer the phone and help the customer and reserve a storage unit or an apartment, maybe not.

A few of the companies that we secret shop and mystery shop are still slow to recognize the power of the telephone sales script when answering the phone. Some of these companies answer the phone and maybe ask one or two questions and then give the price of the unit. They don’t try and get the most information from the caller to provide them with great customer service. They don’t let the caller know about some of the features and benefits of the property to add value to the price of the storage unit. They don’t build rapport, they don’t smile and they don’t get the callers name and phone number.

If you have these types of employees working at your counter you might want to evaluate your systems for providing customer service. Mystery shopping professionals strive to provide owners and managers with programs to help employees with customer service and sales training. Secret shopping can help your employees hear what they sound like on the phone and sometimes that will bring a change in attitude and willingness to learn a new system.

Written by Natalie Thomas, TQAS executive.

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

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Like most artisans, the odds are rather good that over the years you have accumulated a vast amount of craft supplies. Finding room for your craft storage needs can be somewhat challenging, and there are many crafters who find that between the garage, attic and basement, there is still not enough room to store supplies, finished projects, and those that are in the stage of mid-completion. Craft shows, store sales events, yard sales, and many other venues quite frequently offer deeply discounted supplies, and rather than reducing the amount of craft supplies you will have as you use them for your various projects, the odds are good that you will actually end up with more rather than less that needs storing.

If you are in the position that craft storage in your home has reached critical mass, think of climate controlled self storage! Ready to be rented are the smallest units that will accommodate your overflow of straw, beads, and feathers, and the large units that will safely contain totes upon totes of clay, wreaths, and easels.

Furthermore, by choosing a climate controlled facility for your craft storage needs you will ensure that all of the supplies will remain in optimum condition and not disintegrate; if you use natural ingredients, such as pressed flowers or straw, this is especially important. In addition to the foregoing, by using a climate controlled self storage facility for your craft storage needs, you will minimize the risk of insect infestations and incidents of rodent damage which may be the case in some facilities where the outside elements dictate the inside temperature.

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

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While the saying Size Does Not Matter may pertain to a host of situations in life and business, self storage is not one of them. If you have ever tried to load a folded stroller, infant car seat, wet dog, four bags of groceries, a diaper bag, and a host of toys into a car the size of a Toyota Tercel, you will most likely agree that size indeed does matter. The same is true for your self storage needs.

Making your self storage quotes count, operates on similar lines. While you might be able to shoehorn in all of the above into the aforementioned vehicle, the fact that a Toyota Camry might be a better vehicle choice will make sense. Thus if you are inviting quotes for a self storage unit, make sure you get quotes for a unit of adequate size. If you fail to plan accordingly, you will miss out on the first vital tip of self storage quote shopping: know what you are renting! Rates for storage units vary greatly all across town, and they do not go up in logical progression, but instead rise and fall with the amount of consumer demand for a certain sized unit in a specific neighborhood.

Secondly, ask about additional fees. While telephone quotes are usually the bare bones monies required to get you moved in, further questioning will reveal that one facility may charge first and last months’ rent plus a cleaning deposit, while other’s will only charge a prorated amount for two additional weeks to cover the cost that they may lose when seeking to rent out your storage unit to someone else. Last but not least, make sure you understand the taxes and surcharges which some companies do not quote unless specifically asked to do so.

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

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I take a lot of phone calls as a sales rep for the PhoneSmart Call Center. Needless to say, every now and then I make a few blunders. Granted it is easier to save face when I make a fool out of myself over the telephone than it is in person, but it is embarrassing none this less. Here are just a few examples of some of my recent blunders.

• A woman’s last name was different on her credit card than the surname she gave me to reserve a self storage unit. She explained to me that it was her maiden name on the credit card. I said Congratulations on getting married! Seems she was in the process of getting divorced.
• I try to build rapport with my self storage customers by asking some generic questions. A young shopper told me he needed to park a car for about a year. Thinking he was going to study abroad or travel, I asked him where he was going. He replied, To Jail.
• A woman was rather irate and was rambling on and on. I asked her if she spoke Spanish, since PhoneSmart has several Spanish speaking reps that could better assist her Even more annoyed with me, she replied in broken English, No. Do you speak Japanese?
• A man was explaining to me that he needed to park another company vehicle with us. I thought he said the name of the business was Sterling’s Plow, so I assumed he worked for a snow plowing company.   I was building rapport with him by talking about the upcoming winter season and all of the work they will have plowing the snow off of parking lots. Seems the company’s name is Schering Plough, a well known pharmaceutical company.

I’m just trying to be friendly! Open mouth, insert foot, oops.

Written by Ann Sheehan, Call Center Representative

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

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One thing I like about my company is the opportunity to advance. Not only do we have over 850 stores nationwide but also we have 3 stores overseas and 45 in Canada. Therefore, I have the chance to go anywhere I desire as long as I perform. That is one passion that I have that keeps me going and brings me into the building each day. No, this is not a blog about passion, but it is a blog about where your people go from where they are. 

Do you know what your employees want in their career? Do they want a career with you? Do you know if working in self storage is what they would like to do long term. I have heard some managers working for over a decade in this industry and I have heard some people leaving after a couple of months. Of course, we know this type of job is not for everyone, but as property managers, we need to know how long we can expect people to work for us. 

If we take the time to get to know our people and what they want to do in life, maybe it corresponds with our business. There are many people that work for me that want to be architects, doctors, lawyers or what have you; they are greatly benefiting from working with me because we focus on developing skills that they can take with them. I do have many people that want to move up the ladder and see where it takes them. I do not treat those people any differently from those who would like to leave the company after they graduate college.

By knowing the passion and commitment level, you can plan to hire new people or use your time to develop those who want to stay with the company for years to come. Once again, do not treat people differently, but you would have different focuses with some people than others. Always plan so that no matter what hiccups might come in staffing your business will not suffer. Get to know you people and what they would like to accomplish in their life and they will help you to accomplish your goals as a property manager.

Joel Little, Experience manager.

Thanks for reading our property management blog. Self storage and property management go hand in hand.

94612 Self Storage

65201 Boat Storage

Rent storage at 9455 215th St W, Lakeville, MN 55044

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Our Call Center reps enjoy being able to offer specials to their self storage callers, just as much as the callers love the specials themselves.  If ever you want to offer a special just because, it’s the time of year to do so.  We all know that the self storage industry is slowing a little bit.  Not as much as we’d a thought, but none the less, it is slowing.  

Christmas specials would be perfect to start right now, before the Christmas shoppers spend all of their hard earned money and don’t have any left over. As you know, the Christmas items are out and the Christmas decorations are up.  Which only means one thing, the Christmas shoppers may not have a place to put their gifts.

During the summer months, specials are offered everywhere because people are moving and the kids are off to college. But, what about the Holiday shoppers, that don’t have room in their home to hide the Christmas gifts? Offering a special self storage rate, such as a 5×5 or 5×10 self storage unit would be great to gain a few renters.  You know the average renter rents for about 6 months.  So offering a move in special won’t hurt, if you gain a new customer for the next 6 months, will it?

Written by Robin Turner, Call Center Manager

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

Planning a move to Oakland, California? Visit our partners at the Oakland, California moving information center.

Storage available at 7332 Tolbert Rd, Nashville, TN 37209

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.

Self Storage Owner — Where Self Storage Owners meet Self Storage Customers

30606 Climate Controlled Storage

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My husband and I started making jewelry about 2 years ago.  When we started, it was by fluke after he created a necklace at one of the local stores here in town that offer a make your necklace service.  They have all of the beads available and you put it together yourself paying for each individual piece.

We haven’t taken any classes on how to make jewelry, so we’re babes at it.  However, we have made an appearance at craft shows and festivals so we could check out the competition.  A lot of research on our own has given us an insight as to what the current trends are. And I’ve also picked up on some tips that would make our sales increase by utilizing different sales techniques.

To stay in business, no matter what the business, you have to know as much as you can about the industry and you need to know about the competition.  You have to know about your product and you need to know how to sell.  PhoneSmart offers services in order to help self storage, automobile storage and property management companies out there that are interested in doing the same.  Give us a call, 866-639-1715.

Written by Robin Turner, Call Center Manager and maker of fun jewelry.

Thanks for reading our property management blog, a blog about the property management business and more.

Self Storage available at 2290 Greenbriar Rd, York, PA 17404

Planning a move to Chicago, Illinois? Visit our partners at the Chicago, Illinois moving information center.

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.

81621 Wine Storage

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How easily can your self storage prospects find your local self storage facility online? Data shows that a generous 50 percent of your client base will look online before making a phone call or entering the store. This means that web advertising greatly impacts your bottom line.

Shoppers looking online will narrow their search and create a short list. Of the storage providers on the list, they will likely choose one of these to do business with. This means that customers calling on the phone are more serious about renting and are closer to making a decision than those callers going down a list in the phone book.

What can your business do to be a dominant force in local self storage online searches? First, you should hire a professional to design your web page and maintain it. It is well worth the money; a user-friendly web page draws more interest and ultimately, more tenants.

Consider the content you should include. Prospects want to see a list of nearby locations, a picture of the property they choose, the address and phone number, hours of operation, a map, and a list of units offered at the location. These things should be arranged clearly and easy to select from pull down menus or tabs.

You may also consider advertising your ancillary products such as boxes, tape, bubble wrap, locks, etc. Motivating your prospects with a free or discounted moving truck will also get the phones ringing. Some self storage owners offer coupons for a percentage off their rent or moving supplies. This is also a great way to offer an incentive to get prospects in the door.

Internet advertising is as viable and essential as your phone book listing. Try searching for your local self storage by typing in something like, Austin Self Storage (or whatever your city name) and see where your property falls on the list. And review your web page with fresh eyes to judge how easily it can be navigated.

Written by Sarah Little, TQA Account Executive

Thanks for reading our secret shopping blog; a diary of life in the self storage and rental industry.

33040 Self Storage

Are you moving to San Antonio, Texas? Visit our partners at San Antonio, Texas moving information center.

Rent storage at 807 South Frederick Ave, Gaithersburg, MD 20877

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I don’t know what your statistics are at your self storage properties for lengths of stay. If you don’t know, then you need to find out. Guessing an average length of stay is great as a quick little thumbnail, but you need to know more than that for making good long term decisions. You need to know how many people stay a month, how many stay two months, how many stay six months, how many stay twelve months, how many stay twenty-six months, and you need to know that by class of units. You need to know by small, medium, large; you need to know the difference between homeowners, apartment renters, students, and military. You need to know all of these statistics to be able to run your business well. If you don’t know all of these statistics, take some time and start making some notes or start a self storage owner blog. If your software that runs your self storage or automobile storage property doesn’t give you all of this information, you’re going to have to find a round-about way to get it. There are a lot of facilities where people are staying more than a year at a rate of 60 percent. That is enormous. That means that every effort you put into figuring out how to sell to more people has a serious payout.

Written by Tron Jordheim, Director of PhoneSmart

Thanks for visiting our property management blog, a blog that deals with self storage, customer service and the property management industry.

Storage available at 1376 Switzgable Dr, Brodheadsville, PA 18322

60062 Self Storage

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Here’s why people stay with you: It’s convenient. It’s an easy place to hide stuff, get stuff out of the way, keep organized, deal with your seasonal items and keep from cluttering up the house. If you’re in a business, it is much cheaper to store your files in your storage facility than it is to take up part of somebody’s office. Businesses need to buy time, too. They’re always moving people around, moving cubicles, moving desks. It buys them time to deal with their excess inventory, their excess furniture. They don’t have to decide what to do with things now, they can stick things in the storage unit; they don’t have to worry about how the decision will be made or who has to make it.

Another big reason why they stay is because it’s a bigger pain to move out than it is to pay their current self storage rate, and that’s the simple equation. People pull out their checkbook and think to themselves, Nah, it’ll be a big pain to move out. I’ll just write the check.

Or they look at their credit card statement or their bank statement and see the charge to you. They think to themselves, I’ve already spent a bunch of money on storage. But you know what? It would be a huge pain to decide what to do with my stuff and even a bigger pain to move out, and they stay another month. This is exactly the thought process and behavior you need to stimulate in your customers.

Written by Tron Jordheim, PhoneSmart Director

Thanks for reading our TQAS blog, a blog that deals with customer service, self storage, mystery shopping and secret shopping.

Planning a move to Pompano Beach, Florida? Visit our partners at the Pompano Beach, Florida moving information center.

Storage is available at 80 S. Kensico Ave, White Plains, NY 10601

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.

Self Storage Owner — Where Self Storage Owners meet Self Storage Customers

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