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The Self-Storage Call Center: Part of Competitive Management

Be on guard and ready when the phone rings

Susan Head
04/15/2008
Continued from page 2

The point of all this is to understand the scope of call center services, then decide what you need. In a general sense, the advantages of an effective call center are numerous. Ask yourself this: Do you want your manager to be more efficient, follow up on delinquencies, and free to spend more time with customers or out in the neighborhood marketing your facilities to residential and commercial prospects? This is the proper way to look at a call center—a valuable asset and enhancement to your facility.

Perhaps the greatest value of a good call-center service is it will boost profits. Too often, owners view this service as an expense, rather than an opportunity to enhance a facility’s profit margin. When it generates new rentals each month, the expense turns into a profit. Sure, a reliable center will charge a fee for its services, but the cost will be justified by the benefits provided. Another cost-saving advantage of a call center is having it available at all hours. This can cut your overhead by reducing employee hours on the job.

Today’s ever-increasing competitive self-storage market—manned by smarter, better informed owners willing to spend big bucks—means succeeding in this environment gets tougher every day. As an owner, you need all the ammunition you can get, and a first-class call center can be a formidable weapon. 

Susan Head is vice president of sales and marketing for The S&W Group, which provides management and consulting services to self-storage owners, and Phone Advantage, a division of S&W Property Management, offering off-site rental service. For more information, e-mail shead@sandwgroup.com; visit www.sandgroup.com.

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