Lead follow-up is critical to your self-storage sales effort. Who can afford to leave money on the table? The good news is technology can help you track and connect with your prospects and achieve higher conversion rates.

Alissa Stoeckel, Marketing and Communications Coordinator

March 12, 2022

6 Min Read
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If you want to overcome the competition and grow your self-storage business, you must improve your sales process. This includes following up on leads—effectively. Remember, your prospects are bombarded with marketing messages all day long through emails, social media, texts and phone calls. Much of this communication is one-sided and fails to connect with consumers on a personal level. It isn’t very productive.

If you want to improve your sales effort, consider technology. It can help you track and follow up on leads. It can also show prospects that you’re paying attention to their needs. Both will result in higher conversion rates, maximum efficiency and higher profit. This article will explain:

  • How to successfully implement a lead-management tool into your daily workflow

  • How to use lead-management best practices to your advantage

  • How to optimize leads for better conversion rates

What’s Most Important in Lead Management?

There are many factors that play into successful lead management. While your self-storage services and rates might be better than your competitors’, it won’t mean much if you don’t communicate with prospects properly. Lead follow-up needs to be:

Timely. If a customer doesn’t hear back from you in a reasonable amount of time, they’ll move on to the next option. Similarly, those who get slammed with too many messages in rapid succession can feel overwhelmed, annoyed and dissatisfied from the start. The key is to find the right timing to stay in contact without overcomplicating the process.

Clear. Your team’s ability to expertly walk through the specifications of your self-storage offering will build prospects’ confidence in your company and help them understand your commitment and authority in the industry. Answering questions on the spot and providing all the necessary information to close the deal goes a long way in making them feel like they’re making the right choice.

Personalized. Keeping track of a customer’s needs is one of the best ways to illustrate the kind of experience they can expect from storing with you. Rather than making a prospect begin every communication with the same information-gathering, being able to pick up a conversation where they left off shows your dedication to assessing their concerns and accommodating their needs for the long haul.

For example, if a customer reaches out to you via email and tells you their contact details, when they need storage and what size unit they think they need, they shouldn’t have to repeat that information when they visit the facility for a tour. Those items should be logged into a system, so every employee knows who the prospect is and where they are in the sales cycle.

As you’ve likely experienced, keeping tabs on all these components is no easy feat, especially if you’re managing multiple self-storage locations and customer-service teams. Without a straightforward system to help you manage your leads, it’s likely that something will fall through the cracks, creating missed revenue opportunities. While it’s possible to set up your team for success using conventional methods, introducing technology into your lead-management system can help reduce human error and keep prospects moving forward with consistency and accuracy.

Finding the Right Lead-Management Tools

Adding technology to your current lead follow-up process can save time and produce better results. Rather than manually keeping track of all leads and their corresponding details, a tool can store all that information for you, scheduling follow-ups at reasonable intervals and allowing self-storage managers to pick up right where they left off with each caller. The right lead-management tool can help you:

  • Manage leads more effectively: Having a dedicated system will allow you to see where every lead stands in the sales process, eliminating confusion and unnecessary busy work.

  • Track performance: The tool can help you understand what’s working well in your sales process and where things are getting lost, helping you adapt and improve over time.

  • Support your team: When you have technology doing the heavy lifting of tracking timing and data, your team can focus on what they do best—providing excellent customer service. Removing the burden of remembering who to call, and when, about what will help them zero in on selling your services and supporting your customers.

Choosing the right lead-management tool can make a big difference in how your self-storage team uses it to their advantage. Look for features and benefits that make the most sense for your staff and business. The technology should be flexible, allowing you to customize screens and workflows to fit your needs. You should have the ability to mold the tool to what makes the most sense for your operation. Some features to consider include:

  • Customizable sales scripts

  • Call logging with contact-information capture

  • Automated follow-ups via call, text or email

  • Employee performance tracking and support

  • A way to identify duplicate leads to minimize error

Lead-Management Best Practices

Having technology isn’t the same as using it well, so let’s dig into best practices that can create a better experience for your self-storage customers and staff. We already know that good timing, clarity and personalization will help you convert more leads, but how is that made possible through the right lead-management tool?

Timing. Technology can provide customizable call schedules, so there’s no question as to when to follow up with a potential customer. Because most systems automatically log and track every call, it’s easy to see where each lead is within the sales process. Set timelines cut out the guesswork, keeping leads engaged but not overwhelmed.

Clarity. A strong way to ensure every prospect is getting the same quality sales experience regardless of which team member they speak with is to create a series of scripts for every stage of the process. This eliminates confusion as to what needs to be communicated and when, as well as how to convey information that’s on brand and targeted to audience needs.

Look for a tool that provides customizable scripts that flex to your sales process, helping you refine your messaging for ultimate conversions. In addition, the system should allow self-storage managers to easily access crucial sales details such as inventory availability, sales and specials, pricing, and more, putting everything needed to close the deal at their fingertips.

Personalization. Customers want to feel their needs and concerns are being addressed. With a lead-management tool, self-storage staff are able to capture exactly what services and specifications prospects are seeking, allowing for more targeted conversations. Rather than following up with generic sales speak, they can easily pull up what was previously discussed, showing your attention to detail and willingness to accommodate customers’ needs.

Optimize Your Leads

With technology on your side, you’ll have support that bolsters your entire self-storage team and provides tangible growth opportunities. A good lead-management system will help you:

  • Nurture leads through the sales process

  • Create automated call scheduling and follow-ups

  • Capture detailed customer information for a personalized experience

  • Analyze sales data to find strengths and weaknesses in your process

  • Create customized scripts for more targeted conversations

  • Support your team by having everything they need in one place

  • Go beyond customer expectations with a seamless process

The best way to see how technology can simplify your self-storage lead follow-up is to take it for a test drive. Schedule a demo of a few different programs to see how the right tools can improve sales, boost revenue and enhance your business.

Alissa Palmisano is the marketing and communications coordinator for CallPotential, a provider of a customer-relationship-management and communication platform that integrates with self-storage property-management software to produce operational insight, transparency and control. New to the self-storage industry, she has experience as a copywriter, content creator and social media expert. For more information, call 877.552.2557 or email [email protected].

About the Author(s)

Alissa Stoeckel

Marketing and Communications Coordinator, CallPotential

Alissa Stoeckel is marketing and communications coordinator for CallPotential, provider of a CRM and communication platform that integrates with self-storage property-management software to produce insight, transparency and control into operations. New to the self-storage industry, she has experience as a copywriter, content creator and social media enthusiast. For more information, call 877.552.2557; email [email protected]; visit www.callpotential.com.

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