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If you’re a movie star, you may believe in the phrase, there’s no such thing as bad publicity. However, in the property management industry you know nothing could be farther from the truth.

How many vendor decisions were swayed one way or the other by a word-of-mouth experience you heard from some one else? Most businesses look at the integrity of a vendor and even their tenants before signing the dotted line.

So how do you overcome bad publicity, or bad word-of-mouth? You stop it before it starts. If your client, tenants or even vendor has a bad experience with you, do what you can to rectify the situation. It’s my belief that when your customer is unhappy and you go out of your way to make them happy, they’ll value your service all the more. To a reasonable extent, we all know things don’t go as planned, so some error is understandable. Owning up to it, apologizing and then fixing the problem is the best way to ensure you maintain a positive image.

Written by: Sarah Little

Thanks for reading our property management blog and inside view of the self storage and property management industries.

Rent a storage unit at 5950 Southcenter Blvd, Tukwila, WA 98188

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Who needs medication? We all have needed or will need drugs. One thing that I don’t like to do is go and get prescriptions filled. I dislike the line to drop off the prescriptions and then a longer line to pick them up.

I went to the pharmacy today to pick up some prescriptions for my wife. Usually what happens is that they check our insurance and then give me the drugs I need. Well this time, for some reason my insurance had not been recorded right in the pharmacy’s system. When we actually got it figured out, they told me that the prescriptions are a total of $100. I was like whoa and said, That can’t be right.  The pharmacist told me that was right and my insurance has some sort of deductible to meet. I had never had to pay a deductible in the past so I was wondering why now. I figured these drugs were needed so I paid the $100 and drove off, intending to call my insurance company and make things right. Boy was I wrong.

It was a big ordeal trying to get the insurance company to understand that my coverage says just co-pays, no deductible and my deductible was met and that I shouldn’t need to pay anything but the co-pay. They told me that I was incorrect and that I had to pay for the whole amount. So, now I have some drugs that I overpaid for and I just found out that when you leave the pharmacy with the drugs you can not return them. After some calling to the pharmacist, they told me that they could return it this time. Whew!!! That was close.  

Almost every self storage facility requires some sort of insurance to cover the belongings of the customer. The managers or facility workers should ensure that they do a good job explaining what type of coverage the customer has if they get insurance through the storage company. It is up to the self storage manager to discuss insurance coverage, whether recommending they use their homeowner’s policy or purchase the self storage facility’s insurance.

Written by: Joel Little

Thanks for reading our property management blog and inside view of the self storage and property management industry.

Rent storage at 11506 E. Indiana, Spokane, WA 99206

Are you moving to Brooklyn, New York? Visit our partners at Brooklyn, New York 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.

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Since having my second baby, I have been working from home a few days a week. Honestly, it is our way of offsetting the extra cost of more childcare and we spend a lot less in gas, it makes up for the extra diapers and formula we have to buy. I enjoy being able to work from home. However, a few problems have presented themselves. The biggest one is that I’m not on the office network, so any files on my desktop at work have to be emailed to me. I’ve solved that by keeping a briefcase, rather than a normal folder icon, on my computer and laptop. I can upload and update each one so I’m not constantly emailing my files back and forth.

Another issue, well really it’s more of an inconvenience, is that I haven’t transferred all of my contacts to my laptop. Yesterday I went to Best Buy and looked at some PDA or cell phone options that might help me keep my schedule and contacts more organized. They were all more expensive than I had hoped, so I left the store empty-handed.

I didn’t want to extend my current cell phone contract another two years just to save some money and I didn’t want to fork out the retail price of the phone either. The PDA options were pretty bleak. There were only 3 choices. The cheapest one looked like just that, the cheapest one. And the other two were more expensive than the cell phone/ organizer combination. So that threw those options out the door too.

Really, I could just take the time to transfer them all to my new email account, but I have more important work to do.

Convenience really is what drives us, isn’t it? I’m sure I’ll break down and make one of those purchases. Hopefully I can hold out until there’s a sale. Perhaps I’ll camp outside again for the day after Thanksgiving sales. Convenience does have a price and most consumers will end up willing to pay for it.

Written by Sarah Little

Thanks for reading our property management blog and inside view of the self storage industry.

PhoneSmart is your offsite sales force and call center in Columbia, Missouri.

Want to be our next guest blogger? Send your 200-400 word entry for consideration to Sarah Little.

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The majority of customers in the self storage business do not rent a unit on impulse.  Usually there is some type of crisis in their life such as a death in the family, they are involved with a natural disaster, there is a divorce, etc.  This is one reason why it is extremely important the telephone is always answered promptly and professionally.  These folks are not just calling around for the fun of it; they need help, and they need it now!

People in these situations usually do not know anything about self storage.  They are confused, upset, and very stressed out.  The last thing they want are more hassles!  This is when the PhoneSmart Call Center comes in handy.  Our qualified staff is excellent at assisting customers over the telephone.  Many of us have taken thousands of calls, and several of us have had personal experiences with needing self storage ourselves.  We know how to be empathetic with the customer, while at the same time not getting too personally involved.  (We are not psychiatrists, we are storage professionals!)

We quickly ascertain what the customer needs, sell the store with its features and benefits, and reserve a unit for the caller – all in a matter of minutes!  This gives your new customers the peace of mind of having a storage space reserved for them, making that one more chore they can cross off of their list!

Written by: Ann Sheehan

Thanks for reading our property management blog and inside view of the self storage property management industry.

PhoneSmart is your offsite sales force and call center in Columbia, Missouri.

Rent self storage at 11333 Owings Mills Blvd, Owings Mills, MD 21117

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When I am talking with a customer about self storage that is new to the business, I always try to inform them of everything they will need to know.  From the monthly rent to the security features, and of course the little things that seem to add up.  It is usually at the end of a call when I mention the self storage insurance. 

I get a mixture of reactions.  Some ask why they would even need it.  Others ask how much more a month they will have to pay to get it.  Some are not even interested in it.

But there is always a need for insurance.  The concept that anything can happen at any time, anywhere, to anyone, and no one can do anything to stop it is a powerful thing.  I have also learned through my experiences that nature is powerful too.  I always recommend the site insurance unless their homeowner’s or renter’s insurance covers off site storage.

As unpredictable as the weather, anyone can benefit from insurance.  It is a small amount that can cover up to a couple hundred dollars worth of one’s belongings.  Why not have your belongings insured when they are stored because the self storage industry is no match for a natural disaster.

Do yourself a favor and put a replacement value on your belongings.  Insure them whenever you store because no one knows what can happen, and sometimes it can’t be helped.

Written by Marie Batchen

Thanks for reading our property management blog and inside view of the property management industry.

PhoneSmart is your offsite sales force and call center in Columbia, Missouri.

Rent storage at 17705 W. Washington, Hagerstown, MD 21740

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I did it!! It only took me 485 days to get unpacked since we moved into our new home. I know what you are thinking. Over a year to get unpacked??? Well, it wasn’t just unpacking, it was unpacking my life. When we moved into our new home, my parents brought over everything from their home that I had been storing there. We even cleaned out a small storage unit that we shared. When I say everything, I mean everything. Lots of old college books, notebooks, some high school stuff and even a box full of old report cards and projects from elementary school. As an adult, I have never been in a situation until now to get all my stuff in order. I was taking over half of our two car garage, and now it’s done. We have some more organizing to do in that space and are working on it as we speak. My parents gave us some heavy duty steel cabinets to store stuff in the garage and get it organized. I didn’t want to just shove everything into the attic, I wanted to go through everything and sort through it. We ended up with over 17 bags of trash, 4 boxes of old paperwork to shred, 10 boxes of recycled cardboard, numerous totes of stored (pictures, old letters, memorabilia) items, enough re-saleable stuff for a garage sale, a van load of donated items to charity, many repacked boxes and of course my items to put in my new house. Whew! I am glad it’s done and I feel lighter.

Written by Natalie Thomas, TQAS executive and business blog writer, and previous self storage renter. 

Thanks for visiting our self storage blog, a blog that covers everything from the business of self storage to the personal side of storage.

PhoneSmart is your offsite sales force and call center in Columbia, Missouri.

Rent self storage at 14211 Gallant Fox Ln, Bowie, MD 20715

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It has been just a little over a year since I started working here and selling storage at PhoneSmart. I can’t believe how much I have learned about storage and storage trends in that amount of time. One lesson I did learn last year was that spring is a very busy season for storage. People need storage to declutter a home going on the market. Others may be starting projects for home improvement and need some extra space to displace that room. Then there are the college kids. Thousands of out-of-state young adults around the country are just waiting till the last minute to get storage. College kids are a sub-class of the motivationally challenged who don’t procrastinate about the paying of bills (Mom and Dad usually take care of that part). However, they do procrastinate in obtaining the unit.

For those who don’t know, we’re in Columbia, Missouri. It is home to two colleges and a big 12 university. So come March, the race is on to get the last storage unit. Now obviously, not much fits in a dorm room, so the first units to go are the smaller units.

Timmy Freshman: Hi I need to store my mini fridge and 4 boxes.

Me: The smallest unit I have available is a 10×10

Timmy: That’s a hundred square feet! I only need like five.

Me. Are you a Freshman?

Timmy: Ya?

Me: You’re upper classmates started getting storage about a month ago. They learned their lessen last year.

Timmy: Fine. I’ll take it. The other place I called only had 10×20’s left.

Comparing last year to this year, our first store in town sold out around mid May. This year, our first two stores sold out in April.

The college kids are catching on. Have we as a storage industry?

Written by: Julio Montes

Thanks for reading our property management blog. We give you an inside look at the self storage and property management industry.

PhoneSmart is your offsite sales force and call center in Columbia, Missouri.

Rent self storage at 7233 Windsor Mill Rd, Baltimore, MD 21244

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Once again, I paid a visit to my favorite lunch spot, McDonalds, and I came across a pleasant but surprising change.

As usual, I ordered my number two value meal (for some reason it keeps getting more expensive each time I go) and then I pulled around to the first window to pay. The gentleman asked for my money, I slid him my debit card, and he said thank you (so far no big deal). As I waited for him to give me back my card, I was bopping my head to the cool tunes I had in my car. As he gave me back my card he uttered words I had never heard from a McDonalds associate- Thank you sir. You enjoy the rest of your day and come see us again. I was like whoa!!!

I shouldn’t be surprised because the fact of the matter is McDonald’s is in the customer service field just like any other business. But usually they just hand me my card and say thanks or nothing at all. 

I mentioned my experience to a few other people and they knew exactly which store location I was talking about. They had been impressed by the same service.

As a self storage managers, you should want to ensure that you are giving great service all the time so the customer expects it and wants more of the same. You want to be known for your assistance vs. your short comings. Wow the customers each time and you will continue to have a flow of customers.

Written by: Joel Little

Thanks for reading our property management blog and inside view of the customer service industry.

PhoneSmart is your offsite self storage sales force and call center in Columbia, Missouri.

Rent a storage space at 7401 Old Pimilico Rd, Baltimore, MD 21209

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