Education, Value and Trust Get the Appointment

By Brad North

Have you ever picked up the phone and shopped around for astorage unit? This is a great way to discover which sales presentations you likeand dislike. If you call enough places, however, you will also find most salesconsultants in the storage industry do not earn the right to make anappointment with the customer. Even if they ask for a reservation or site visit,they often do not educate, build value and earn the prospects trust.

It is critical for self-storage operators to properly trainand equip managers to be sales professionals who understand theimportance of maximizing their potential through more appointments. In thisindustry, we convert less than one-third of our callers into renters. Industry statistics also tell us that if we can create anappointment with the customer, we will rent a storage unit more than 90 percentof the time.

If we become better in our telephone-sales presentation, can weincrease our site visits and rent more storage units? Absolutely! Doesnt this tell us we need to be more focusedon becoming telephone-sales professionals, developing better skills to createmore visits? Not only will this allow us to be more successful, it will prepareus to overcome increased competition, now and in the future.

Tracking Sales Performance

Once you understand the wonderful concept of being a salesprofessional, you must start with measuring your sales performance. How can youimprove if you do not know where you stand? Determine the most effective systemfor tracking your performance, and implement it in your everyday business. Youwill be amazed at what you discover. Areas of a sales program worth measuringmight include:

These are just a few examples of items worth measuring. If tracked properly, they can provide powerful information for pinpointing areas of future improvement. Effective tracking systems can turn good managers into greatones. But what kind of system should you use? One possibility is amystery-shopping program.

Mystery shopping allows a facility manager and anyone elseinvolved in the selling effort of a self-storage operationthe opportunity tobe evaluated on his telephone-sales performance. This is a great way to discover strengths and weaknesses inyour sales program. If you choose this kind of service, incorporate it into yourefforts on at least a monthly basis to develop overall consistency.

Improving Performance

Once you have identified areas for improvement, there are anumber of avenues to increase performance. For example, consider availabletraining resources. Is there someone in your organization equipped and qualifiedto perform sales training? If not, you might consider a consultant whospecializes in this area. The money and time you spend can be valuable to the futureoperation of your business.

Once you upgrade your staffs sales performance, put intopractice the systems necessary to reinforce training. This will helptremendously in making changes and breaking bad habits. It will also provide anongoing means to measure and determine how sales performance is impacting yourbottom line. If you use a consultant, be sure he is effective in his salestraining and can make good recommendations on systems and programs that can makethe transition successful.

Your sales training and resources must be centered oneducating, building value and developing trust with the self-storage customer. The second most important reason a customer chooses a specificfacility (after location) is perceived trust. If your sales professionals focuson building the value of the product and earning prospects confidence, theywill be experts in setting appointments and creating site visits, which willtranslate into more rentals and higher profits.

In an article published in the March 2004 issue of the SSAGlobe newsletter, industry consultant Ray Wilson pointed out that, in somemarkets, physical occupancy in stabilized facilities has dropped to less than 80percent; and economic occupancy has dropped to less than 70 percent. He says,Given the amount of new competition, it is not likely to return to previouslevels. This further supports the importance of hiring people who can besales professionals.

Once you understand the importance of the sales program,invest in your team. One of the most productive ways to grow any organization isto grow the people within it. Self-storage operators who are willing to adaptand continually improve their operations are the ones who will rise to the topof their markets. Set your operation apart from the rest by educating, buildingvalue, earning trust and creating appointments with customers.

Brad North is founder of Advantage Business Consulting, whichspecializes in on-site sales, marketing, feasibility and operational trainingfor the self-storage industry. He has produced two live videos and a workbooktitled Maximizing Your Sales and Marketing Program, which can helpmanagers improve their sales and marketing efforts. He most recently launched ATelePro, a mystery-shopping service that assists in educating, evaluating andimproving the phone-sales performance of self-storage professionals. For moreinformation, call 513.229.0400 or visit www.advantagebusinessconsulting.com.